Constant Fire

8. In which Miss Ming begins to feel a certain curiosity concerning the intentions of Emmanuel Bloom

If anyone at the End of Time expected Mr Bloom to begin immediately to exercise his particular plans for bringing Salvation to the planet they were to be disappointed, for his extravagant spaceship (which the fashion of the moment declared to be in hideous taste) remained where it landed and Emmanuel Bloom, the Fireclown, did not re-emerge. A few sightseers came to view the ship — the usual sensation-seekers like the Duke of Queens (who wanted to put the ship at once into his collection of ancient flying machines), My Lady Charlotina of Below the Lake, O'Kala Incarnadine, Sweet Orb Mace, the Iron Orchid, Bishop Castle and their various followers, imitators and hangers-on — but in spite of all sorts of hallooings, bangings, catcalls, lettings-off of fireworks, obscene displays (on the part of the ladies who were curious to see what Miss Ming's most ardent suitor really looked like) and the rest, the great Saviour of Mankind refused to reveal himself; nothing occurred which could be interpreted as action on the Fireclown's part. No fires swept the Earth, no thunders or lightnings broke the calm of the skies, there was no destruction of artefacts nor any further demolition of landscapes. Indeed, it was singularly peaceful, even for the End of Time, and certain people became almost resentful of Mr Bloom's refusal to attempt, at least, a miracle or two.

"Doctor Volospion exaggerated!" pronounced My Lady Charlotina, all in blue and sage, the colours of dreams, as she lunched on a green and recently constructed hillside overlooking the ship (it now stood in clouds of daisies, a memento of the Duke of Queens' pastoral phase which had lasted scarcely the equivalent of an ancient Earth summer) and raised a turnip (another memento) to her ethereal lips. "You know his obsessions, my dear O'Kala. His taste for monks and gurus and the like."

O'Kala Incarnadine, currently a gigantic fieldmouse, nibbled at the lemon he held in both front paws. "I am not familiar with the creatures," he said.

"They are not creatures, exactly. They are a kind of person. Lord Jagged was good enough to inform me about them, although, of course, I have forgotten most of what he said. My point is, O'Kala, that Doctor Volospion wished this Mr Bloom to be like a guru and so interpreted his words accordingly."

"But Miss Ming confirmed…"

"Miss Ming!"

O'Kala shrugged his mousy shoulders in assent.

"Miss Ming's bias was blatant. Who could express such excessive ardour of anyone, let alone Miss Ming?" My Lady Charlotina wiped the white juice of the turnip from her chin.

"Jherek — he pursues his Amelia with much the same enthusiasm."

"Amelia is an Ideal — she is slender, beautiful, unattainable — everything an Ideal should be. There is nothing unseemly in Jherek's passion for such a woman." My Lady Charlotina was unaware of anything contradictory in her remarks. After her brief experience in the Dawn Age she had developed a taste for propriety which had not yet altogether vanished.

"In certain guises," timidly offered O'Kala, "I have lusted for Miss Ming myself, so…"

"That is quite different. But this Mr Bloom is a man."

"Abu Thaleb's tale was not dissimilar to Doctor Volospion's."

"Abu Thaleb is impressionable. On elephants he is unequalled, but he is no expert on prophets."

"Is anyone?"

"Lord Jagged. That is why Doctor Volospion apes him. You know of the great rivalry Volospion feels for Lord Jagged, surely? For some reason, he identifies with Jagged. Once he used to emulate him in everything, or sought to. Jagged showed no interest. Gave no praise. Since then — oh, so long ago my memory barely grants me the bones of it — Doctor Volospion has set himself up as a sort of contra-Jagged. There are rumours — no more than that, for you know how secretive Jagged can be — rumours of a sexual desire which flourished between them for a while, until Jagged tired of it. Now that Lord Jagged has disappeared, I suspect that Doctor Volospion would take his place in our society, for Jagged has the knack of making us all curious about his activities. You have my opinion in a nutshell — Volospion makes much of this Bloom in an effort to pique our interest, to gossip about him in lieu of Jagged."

O'Kala Incarnadine wiped his whiskers. "Then he has succeeded."

"For the moment, I grant you, but unsubtly. It will not last."

My Lady Charlotina sighed and sucked at a celery stalk, letting her gaze wander to the scarlet spaceship. "Our curiosity is still with Jagged. Where can he be? This," she indicated the vessel with her vegetable, "is no more than a diversion."

"It would be amusing, though, if Mr Bloom did begin to lay waste the world."

"There is no logic to it. The world will be finished soon enough, as everyone knows. The very universe in which our planet hangs is on the point of vanishing forever. Mr Bloom has brought his salvation at altogether the wrong moment and at a time when salvation itself is unfashionable, even as a topic of conversation."

"The reasons are obvious…" began O'Kala, in a rare and philosophical mood, "… for who would wish to discuss such matters, now that we know —?"

"Quite." My Lady Charlotina waved. An air car was approaching. It was the shape of a great winged man, its bronze head flashing in the red light of the sun, its blind eyes glaring, its twisted mouth roaring as if in agony. The Duke of Queens had modelled his latest car after some image recently discovered by him in one of the rotting cities.

The car landed nearby and from it trooped many of My Lady Charlotina's most intimate friends. From his saddle behind the head of the winged man the Duke of Queens raised his hand in a salute. He had on an ancient astronaut's jacket, in silver-tipped black fur, puffed pantaloons of mauve and ivory stripes, knee-boots of orange lurex hide, a broad-brimmed hat of panda ears, all sewn together in the most fanciful way.

"My Lady Charlotina! We saw you and had to greet you. We are on our way to enjoy the new boys Florence Fawkes had made for her latest entertainment. Will you come with us?"

"Perhaps, but boys…" She lifted the corner of her mouth.

My Lady Charlotina noted that Doctor Volospion and Mavis Ming were among those pouring from the body of the winged man. She greeted Sweet Orb Mace with a small kiss, laid a sincere hand upon the arm of Bishop Castle, winked at Mistress Christia, and smiled charmingly at Miss Ming.

"Aha! The beauty for whom Mr Bloom crossed galaxies. Miss Ming, you are the focus of all our envy!"

"Have you seen Mr Bloom?" asked Miss Ming.

"Not yet, not yet."

"Then wait before you envy me," she said.

Doctor Volospion's cunning eye glittered. "There is nothing more certain to attract the attention of a lady to a gentleman, even in these weary times of ours than the passion of that gentleman for another lady."

"How perceptive you are, dear Doctor Volospion! It must be admitted. In fact, I believe I already admitted it when I first greeted you."

Doctor Volospion bowed his head.

"You are looking at your best," she continued, for it was true. "You are always elegant Doctor Volospion." He had on a long, full-sleeved robe of bottle-green, trimmed with mellow gold, the neck high, to frame his sharp face, a matching tight-fitting cap upon his head, buttoned beneath the pointed chin.

"You are kind, My Lady Charlotina."

"Ever truthful, Doctor Volospion." She gave her attention to Miss Ming's white frills. "And this dress. You must feel so much younger in it."

"Much," agreed Miss Ming. "How clever of you to understand what it was to be like me! How many hundreds of years can it have been?"

"More than that, Miss Ming. Thousands, almost certainly. I see, at any rate, that your would-be ravisher has yet to come out of his little lair again."

"He can stay there forever as far as I'm concerned."

"I have made one or two attempts to rouse him," said Doctor Volospion. "I sought to shift the ship, too, but it is protected now by a singularly intractable force-field. Nothing I possess can dissipate that field."

"So he does have the power he boasted of, eh?" Bishop Castle in his familiar tall tete which cast a shadow over half the company, looked without much interest at the spaceship.

"Apparently," said Doctor Volospion.

"But why doesn't he use it?" The Duke of Queens joined them. "Has he perished in there, do you think. In his own mad flames?"

"We should have smelled something, at least," said O'Kala Incarnadine.

"Well," Sweet Orb Mace was now a pretty blonde in a black sari, "you would have smelled something, O'Kala, with your nose."

O'Kala wrinkled his current one.

"He's playing cat and mouse with me, that's what I think," said Mavis Ming with a nervous glance at the vessel. "Oh, I'm sorry, O'Kala, I didn't mean to suggest…"

O'Kala Incarnadine made a toothy grin. "I pity any ordinary cat who met a mouse like me!"

"He's hoping I'll give in and go to him. That's typical of some men, isn't it? Well I had enough of crawling with Donny Stevens. Never again I told my friend Betty. And never again it was!"

"But you have been tempted, eh?" My Lady Charlotina became intimate.

"Not once."

My Lady Charlotina let disappointment show.

"I wish," said Mavis Ming, "that he'd either start something or else just go away. It must have been weeks and weeks he's been waiting there! It's getting on my nerves, you know."

"Of course, it must be, my dear," said Sweet Orb Mace.

"Well," the Duke of Queens reminded them all, "Florence Fawkes awaits us. Will you come My Lady Charlotina? O'Kala?"

"I have a project," said My Lady Charlotina, by way of an excuse, "to finish. Of course it is very hard to tell if it is properly finished or not. An invisible city populated with invisible androids. You must come and feel it soon."

"A lovely notion," said Bishop Castle. "Are the androids of all sexes?"

"All."

"And is it possible to —?"

"Absolutely possible."

"It would be interesting —"

"It is."

"Aha!" Bishop Castle tilted his tete. "Then I look forward to visiting you at the earliest chance, My Lady Charlotina. What entertainments you do invent for us!" He bowed, almost toppled by his headgear.

The Duke of Queens had resumed his saddle. "All aboard!" he cried enthusiastically.

It was then that there came a squeak from the space vessel below. The airlock opened. All heads turned.

Emmanuel Bloom's bright blue eyes regarded them. His high-pitched voice drifted up to them.

"So you have come to me," he said.

"I?" said the Duke of Queens in astonishment.

"I have waited," Emmanuel Bloom said, "for you, Miss Ming. So that you may share my joy."

Miss Ming drew back into the main part of the gathering. "I was only passing…" she began.

"Come." He extended a stiff hand from the interior of the ship. "Come."

"Certainly not!" She hid behind Doctor Volospion.

"So, the one with the jackal eyes holds you still. And against your will, I am sure."

"Nothing of the sort! Doctor Volospion is my host, that is all."

"You are too afraid to tell me the truth."

"She speaks the truth, sir," said Volospion in an off-hand tone. "She is free to come and go from my house as she pleases."

"Some pathetic enchantment, no doubt, keeps her there. Well, woman, never fear. The moment I know that you need me I shall rescue you, wherever you may be hidden."

"I don't need rescuing," declared Miss Ming.

"Oh, but you do. So badly do you need it that you dare not tell yourself!"

My Lady Charlotina cried: "Excuse me, sir, for intruding, but we were wondering if your plans for the destruction of the world were completely formulated. I, for one, would appreciate a little notice."

"My meditations are not yet completed," he told her. He still stared at Miss Ming. "Will you come to me now?"

"Never!"

"Remember my oath."

Doctor Volospion stepped forward. "I would remind you, sir, that this lady is under my protection. Should you make any further attempt to annoy her I must warn you that I shall defend her to the death!"

Miss Ming was taken aback by this sudden about-face. "Oh, Doctor Volospion! How noble!"

"What's this?" said Bloom, blinking rapidly. "More posturing?"

"I give fair warning, that is all."

Doctor Volospion folded his arms across his chest and stared full into the eyes of Emmanuel Bloom.

Bloom remained unimpressed. "So you do keep her prisoner, as I suspected. She believes she has her liberty, but you know better!"

"I shall accept no more insults." Doctor Volospion lifted his chin in defiance.

"This is not mere braggadocio, I can tell. It is calculated. But what do you plan?"

"Any more of this, sir," said Doctor Volospion in ringing tones, "and I shall have to demand satisfaction of you."

The Fireclown laughed. "I shall free the woman soon."

The airlock shut with a click.

"How extraordinary!" murmured My Lady Charlotina. "How exceptional of you, Doctor Volospion! Miss Ming must feel quite moved by your defence of her."

"I am, I am." Miss Ming's small eyes were shining. "Doctor Volospion. I never knew…"

Doctor Volospion strode for the air car. "Let us leave this wretched place."

Miss Ming tripped behind him. It was as if she had found her True Knight at last.