by Gene Wolfe
Eventually I came to resent Jolenta’s sleep. I abandoned the oar and knelt beside her on the cushions. There was a purity in her sleeping face, however artificial, that I had never observed when she was awake. I kissed her, and her large eyes, hardly open, seemed almost Agia’s long eyes, as her red-gold hair appeared almost brown. I loosened her clothing. She seemed half drugged, whether by some soporific in the heaped cushions or merely by the fatigue induced by our walk in the open and the burden of so great a quantity of voluptuous flesh. I freed her breasts, each nearly as large as her own head, and those wide thighs, which seemed to hold a new-hatched chick between them.
When we returned, everyone knew where we had been, though I doubt that Baldanders cared. Dorcas wept in private, vanishing for a time only to emerge with inflamed eyes and a heroine’s smile. Dr. Talos, I think, was simultaneously enraged and delighted. I received the impression (which I hold to this day) that he had never enjoyed Jolenta, and that it was only to him, of all the men of Urth, that she would have given herself entirely willingly.
We spent the watches that remained before nightfall in listening to Dr. Talos chaffer with various officials of the House Absolute, and in rehearsal. Since I have already said something of what it was to act in Dr. Talos’s play, I propose to give an approximation of the text here — not as it existed on the fragments of soiled paper we passed from hand to hand that afternoon, which often contained no more than hints for improvisations, but as it might have been recorded by some diligent clerk in the audience; and as it was, in fact, recorded by the demonic witness who dwells behind my eyes.
But first you must visualize our theater. Urth’s laboring margin has climbed once more above the red disc; long-winged bats flit overhead, and a green quarter moon hangs low in the eastern sky. Imagine the slightest of valleys, a thousand paces or more from lip to lip, set among the gentlest turf-covered rolling hills. There are doors in these hills, some no wider than the entrance to an ordinary private room, some as wide as the doors of a basilica. These doors are open, and a mist-tinged light spills from them. Flagged paths wind down toward the tiny arch of our proscenium; they are dotted with men and women in the fantastic costumes of a masque — costumes drawn largely from remote ages, so that I, with no more than the smattering of history furnished me by Thecla and Master Palaemon, scarcely recognize one of them. Servants move among these masquers carrying trays loaded with cups and tumblers, heaped with delicious-smelling meats and pastries. Black seats of velvet and ebony, as delicate as crickets, face our stage, but many in the audience prefer to stand, and throughout our performance the spectators come and go without interruption, many remaining to hear no more than a dozen lines. Hylas sing in the trees, the nightingales trill, and atop the hills the walking statues move slowly through many poses. All the parts in the play are taken by Dr. Talos, Baldanders, Dorcas, Jolenta, or me.
Chapter 24
DR. TALOS’S PLAY
ESCHATOLOGY AND GENESIS
Being a dramatization (as he claimed) of certain parts of the lost Book of the New Sun
Persons in the Play:
Gabriel
The Giant Nod
Meschia, the First Man
Meschiane, the First Woman
Jahi
The Autarch
The Contessa
Her Maid
Two Soldiers
A Statue
A Prophet
The Generalissimo
Two Demons (disguised)
The Inquisitor
His Familiar
Angelic Beings
The New Sun
The Old Sun
The Moon
The back of the stage is dark.
GABRIEL appears bathed in golden light and carrying a crystal clarion.
GABRIEL: Greetings. I have come to set the scene for you — after all, that is my function. It is the night of the last day, and the night before the first. The Old Sun has set. He will appear in the sky no more. Tomorrow the New Sun will rise, and my siblings and I will greet him. Tonight… tonight no one knows. Everyone sleeps.
Footsteps, heavy and slow. Enter NOD.
GABRIEL: Omniscience! Defend your servant!
NOD: Do you serve him? So do we Nephilim. I will not harm you, then, unless he suggests it.
GABRIEL: You are of his household? How does he communicate with you?
NOD: To tell the truth, he doesn’t. I’m forced to guess at what he wishes me to do.
GABRIEL: I was afraid of that.
NOD: Have you seen Meschia’s son?
GABRIEL: Have I seen him? Why, you great ninny, he isn’t even born yet. What do you want with him?
NOD: He is to come and dwell with me, in my land east of this garden. I will give him one of my daughters to wife.
GABRIEL: You have the wrong creation, my friend — you’re fifty million years too late.
NOD: (Nods slowly, not understanding.) If you should see him—
Enter MESCHIA and MESCHIANE, with JAHI following. All are naked, but JAHI wears jewelry.
MESCHIA: What a lovely place! Delightful! Flowers, fountains, and statues — isn’t it wonderful?
MESCHIANE: (Timidly.) I saw a tame tiger with fangs longer than my hand. What shall we call him?
MESCHIA: Whatever he wants. (To GABRIEL:) Who owns this beautiful spot?
GABRIEL: The Autarch.
MESCHIA: And he permits us to live here. That’s very gracious of him.
GABRIEL: Not exactly. There’s someone following you, my friend. Do you know it?
MESCHIA: (Not looking.) There’s something behind you too.
GABRIEL: (Flourishing the clarion that is his badge of office.) Yes, He is behind me!
MESCHIA: Close, too. If you’re going to blow that horn to call help, you’d better do it now.
GABRIEL: Why, how perceptive of you. But the time is not quite ripe. The golden light fades, and GABRIEL vanishes from the stage. NOD remains motionless, leaning on his club.
MESCHIANE: I’ll start a fire, and you had better begin to build us a house. It must rain often here — see how green the grass is.
MESCHIA: (Examining NOD.) Why, it’s only a statue. No wonder he wasn’t afraid of it.
MESCHIANE: It might come to life. I heard something once about raising sons from stones.
MESCHIA: Once! Why you were only born just now. Yesterday, I think.
MESCHIANE: Yesterday! I don’t remember it… I’m such a child, Meschia. I don’t remember anything until I walked out into the light and saw you talking to a sunbeam.
MESCHIA: That wasn’t a sunbeam! It was… to tell the truth, I haven’t thought of a name for what it was yet.
MESCHIANE: I fell in love with you then. Enter the AUTARCH.
AUTARCH: Who are you?
MESCHIA: As far as that goes, who are you?
AUTARCH: The owner of this garden.
MESCHIA bows, and MESCHIANE curtsies, though she has no skirt to hold.
MESCHIA: We were speaking to one of your servants only a moment ago. Now that I come to think of it, I am astonished at how much he resembled your august Self. Save that he was… ah…
AUTARCH: Younger?
MESCHIA: In appearance, at least.
AUTARCH: Well, it is inevitable, I suppose. Not that I am attempting to excuse it now. But I was young, and though it would be better to confine oneself to women nearer one’s own station, still there are times — as you would understand, young man, if you had ever been in my position — when a little maid or country girl, who can be wooed with a handful of silver or a bolt of velvet, and will not demand, at the most inconvenient moment, the death of some rival or an ambassadorship for her husband… Well, when a little person like that becomes a most enticing proposition.
While the AUTARCH has been speaking, JAHI has been creeping up behind MESCHIA. Now she lays a hand on his shoulder.
JAHI: Now you see that he, whom you have esteemed your divinity, would countenance and advise all
I have proposed of you. Before the New Sun rises, let us make a new beginning.
AUTARCH: Here’s a lovely creature. How is it, child, that I see the bright flames of candles reflected in each eye, while your sister there still puffs cold tinder?
JAHI: She is no sister of mine!
AUTARCH: Your adversary then. But come with me. I will give these two my leave to camp here, and you shall wear a rich gown this night, and your mouth shall run with wine, and that slender figure shall be rendered a shade less graceful, perhaps, by larks stuffed with almonds and candied figs.
JAHI: Go away, old man.
AUTARCH: What! Do you know who I am?
JAHI: I am the only one here who does. You are a ghost and less, a column of ashes upheld by the wind.
AUTARCH: I see, she is mad. What does she want you to do, friend?
MESCHIA: (Relieved.) You hold no resentment toward her? That is good of you.
AUTARCH: None at all! Why, a mad mistress should be a most interesting experience — I am looking forward to it, believe me, and there are few things to look forward to when you’ve seen and done all I have. She doesn’t bite, does she? I mean, not hard?
MESCHIANE: She does, and her fangs run with venom.
JAHI springs forward to claw her.
MESCHIANE darts offstage, pursued.
AUTARCH: I shall have my piquenaires search the garden for them.
MESCHIA: Don’t worry, they’ll both be back soon. You’ll see. Meanwhile I am, actually, glad to have a moment alone with you like this. There are some things I’ve been wanting to ask you.
AUTARCH: I grant no favors after six — that’s a rule I’ve had to make to keep my sanity. I’m sure you understand.
MESCHIA: (Somewhat taken aback.) That’s good to know. But I wasn’t going to ask for something, really. Only for information, for divine wisdom.
AUTARCH: In that case, go ahead. But I warn you, you must pay a price. I mean to have that demented angel for my own tonight.
MESCHIA drops to his knees.
MESCHIA: There is something I have never understood. Why must I talk to you when you know my every thought? My first question was: Knowing her to be of that brood you have banished, should I not still do what she proposes? For she knows I know, and it is in my heart to believe that she puts forward right action in the thought that I will spurn it because it comes from her.
AUTARCH: (Aside.) He is mad too, I see, and because of my yellow robes thinks me divine. (To MESCHIA:) A little adultery never hurt any man. Unless of course it was his wife’s.
MESCHIA: Then mine would hurt her? I—
Enter the CONTESSA and her MAID.
CONTESSA: My Sovereign Lord! What do you do here?
MESCHIA: I am at prayer, daughter. Take off your shoes at least, for this is holy ground.
CONTESSA: Liege, who is this fool?
AUTARCH: A madman I found wandering with two women as mad as he.
CONTESSA: Then they outnumber us, unless my maid be sane.
MAID: Your Grace—
CONTESSA: Which I doubt. This afternoon she laid out a purple stole with my green capote. I was to look like a post decked with morning-glories, it would seem.
MESCHIA, who has been growing angrier as she speaks, strikes her, knocking her down. Unseen behind him, the AUTARCH flees.
MESCHIA: Brat! Don’t trifle with holy things when I am near, or dare do anything but what I tell you.
MAID: Who are you, sir?
MESCHIA: I am the parent of the human race, my child. And you are my child, as she is.
MAID: I hope you will forgive her — and me. We had heard you were dead.
MESCHIA: That requires no apology. Most are, after all. But I have come round again, as you see, to welcome the new dawn.
NOD: (Speaking and moving after his long silence and immobility.) We have come too early.
MESCHIA: (Pointing.) A giant! A giant!
CONTESSA: Oh! Solange! Kyneburga!
MAID: I’m here, Your Grace. Lybe is here.
NOD: Too early for the New Sun by some time still.
CONTESSA: (Beginning to weep.) The New Sun is coming! We shall melt like dreams.
MESCHIA: (Seeing that NOD intends no violence.) Bad dreams. But it will be the best thing for you, you understand that, don’t you?
CONTESSA: (Recovering a little.) What I don’t understand is how you, who suddenly seem so wise, could mistake the Autarch for the Universal Mind.
MESCHIA: I know that you are my daughters in the old creation. You must be, since you are human women, and I have had none in this.
NOD: His son will take my daughter to wife. It is an honor our family has done little to deserve — we are only humble people, the children of Gea — but we will be exalted. I will be… What will I be, Meschia? The father-in-law of your son. It may be, if you don’t object, that someday my wife and I will visit our daughter on the same day you come to see him. You wouldn’t refuse us, would you, a place at the table? We would sit on the floor, naturally.
MESCHIA: Of course not. The dog does that already — or will, when we see him. (To the CONTESSA:) Has it not struck you that I may know more of him you call the Universal Mind than your Autarch does of himself? Not only your Universal Mind, but many lesser powers wear our humanity like a cloak when they will, sometimes only as concerns two or three of us. We who are worn are seldom aware that, seeming ourselves to ourselves, we are yet Demiurge, Paraclete, or Fiend to another.
CONTESSA: That is wisdom I have gained late, if I must fade with the New Sun’s rising. Is it past midnight?
MAID: Nearly so, Your Grace.
CONTESSA: (Pointing to the audience.) All these fair folk — what will befall them?
MESCHIA: What befalls leaves when their year is past, and they are driven by the wind?
CONTESSA: If—
MESCHIA turns to watch the eastern sky, as though for the first sign of dawn.
CONTESSA: If—
MESCHIA: If what?
CONTESSA: If my body held a part of yours — drops of liquescent tissue locked in my loins…
MESCHIA: If it did, you might wander Urth for a time longer, a lost thing that could never find its way home. But I will not bed you. Do you think that you are more than a corpse? You are less.
MAID faints.
CONTESSA: You say you are the father of all things human. It must be so, for you are death to woman.
The stage darkens. When the light returns, MESCHIANE and JAHI are lying together beneath a rowan tree. There is a door in the hillside behind them. JAHI’S lip is split and puffed, giving her a pouting look. Blood trickles from it to her chin.
MESCHIANE: How strong I would be still to search for him, if only I knew you would not follow me.
JAHI: I move with the strength of the World Below, and will follow you to the second ending of Urth, if need be. But if you strike me again you will suffer for it.
MESCHIANE lifts her fist, and JAHI cowers back.
MESCHIANE: Your legs were shaking worse than mine when we decided to rest here.
JAHI: I suffer far more than you. But the strength of the World Below is to endure past endurance — even as I am more beautiful than you, I am a more tender creature by far.
MESCHIANE: We’ve seen that, I think.
JAHI: I warn you again, and there will be no third warning. Strike me at your peril.
MESCHIANE: What will you do? Summon up Erinys to destroy me? I have no fear of that. If you could, you would have done it long before.
JAHI: Worse. If you strike me again, you will come to enjoy it.
Enter FIRST SOLDIER and SECOND SOLDIER, armed with pikes.
FIRST SOLDIER: Look here!
SECOND SOLDIER: (To the Women:) Down, down! Don’t stand, or like a heron I’ll skewer you. You’re coming with us.
MESCHIANE: On our hands and knees?
FIRST SOLDIER: None of your insolence!
He prods her with his pike, and as he does there is a groanin
g almost too deep for hearing. The stage vibrates in sympathy with it, and the ground shakes.
SECOND SOLDIER: What was that?
FIRST SOLDIER: I don’t know.
JAHI: The end of Urth, you fool. Go ahead and spear her. It’s the end of you anyway.
SECOND SOLDIER: Little you know! It’s the beginning for us. When the order came to search the garden, special mention was made of you two, and orders given to bring you back. Ten chrisos you’ll be worth, or I’m a cobbler.
He seizes JAHI, and as soon as he does so, MESCHIANE darts off into the darkness.
FIRST SOLDIER runs after her.
SECOND SOLDIER: Bite me, will you!
He strikes JAHI with the shaft of his weapon. They struggle.
JAHI: Fool! She’s escaping!
SECOND SOLDIER: That’s Ivo’s worry. I’ve got my prisoner, and he let his escape, if he doesn’t catch her. Come on, we’re going to see the chiliarch.
JAHI: Will you not love me before we leave this winsome spot?
SECOND SOLDIER: And have my manhood cut off and shoved into my mouth? Not I!
JAHI: They’d have to find it first.
SECOND SOLDIER: What’s that? (Shakes her.)
JAHI: You take the office of Urth, who will not trouble herself for me. But wait — release me only for a moment and I will show you wonderful things.
SECOND SOLDIER: I can see them now, for which I give all thanks to the moon.
JAHI: I can make you rich. Ten chrisos will be as nothing to you. But I have no power while you grasp my body.