Page 49 of The Lost Future of Pepperharrow

‘Really? Beautiful piece of kit. What’s it for?’

‘Oh, you can predict storms and so forth. And we send random numbers to university mathematics departments and so forth.’

‘Random numbers,’ Thaniel said, and tried not to look too attentive. ‘Why?’

‘They use it for all sorts, I think. Codes and … well, it’s a bit beyond me. But atmospheric electricity is the best source of random numbers in the world,’ he added, proud by proxy. He tapped the side of the machine, and then saw something on the strange photographic readout that made his smile falter. ‘Anyway, as I say, the house is by the gingko trees.’

The lighthouse-keeper hurried Thaniel down. When the door shut, the keys clanked as he locked all four locks.Random was random even for Mori. If Six could shock him with some dice and a firecracker, someone who had replaced dice with lightning would be able to do anything they liked.Thaniel wondered what the firecracker would be.

Thaniel was just navigating back down the uneven steps when someone whistled at him quietly from just over the pebbles. He looked round. A dark shape resolved itself into Kuroda. Behind him were two of his men, walking at a respectful distance but not too far.

Kuroda smiled. ‘Poking round, are we?’

‘Just interested,’ said Thaniel. ‘They’ve installed some wonderful stuff up there. Random data generation, that’s really something.’

‘What, did you think we lived in mud huts?’ Kuroda said with a sparkle.

‘No, sir, but it’s pretty impressive for anyone to come up with a system that allows his bodyguards to rotate at random intervals a clairvoyant can’t predict. That machine up there generates the numbers, the lighthouse goes on when it hits – what, a particular range – and then anyone who sees it rings a bell; and your men change posts. That’s right, isn’t it?’

‘Clever boy,’ Kuroda said. It wasn’t as patronising as it could have been. He had noticed Thaniel was having to walk slowly up the steep stretch of shale, and in a gentlemanly way that took Thaniel by surprise, held out one hand to help him over the last spray of rocks before the short stretch of flat sand. Thaniel felt himself bristle and then had to talk himself down. He was actually glad of some help, pitiful though that was. His whole chest ached, and it wasn’t just the bruises from the policemen.

‘The machine is called an … ah, you won’t know it in Japanese. Electrograph,’ he said, in perfect English. He had a precise American accent. ‘Heard of that?’

‘No, sir.’

‘No. Normally we use them just to predict the weather, but it’s good, isn’t it, how you find other uses for things.’

Thaniel nodded in the dark. Behind them, pebbles squeaked as Kuroda’s men followed. It was a horrible sound. He couldn’t tell if he thought so objectively, or because they were sticking just a fraction too near now. He could smell them; one of them smoked.

‘You know, when I took office,’ Kuroda continued, ‘I don’t think I realised what an almighty fuckabout everything would become. I can’t piss without these two coming with me. You should have seen the frothing the security detail did when I said I was visiting Mori. Clairvoyant? they said. Yes, I said. We’re going to have to think about this, they said. Cue the installation of machines and bells and hell knows. Sorry about Tanaka, by the way, he’s a bit direct. But you understand why he wants to keep an eye on everything. Mori’s been in London for years, doing nobody knows what. Now Russia.’

‘He didn’t defect. He just makes watches.’

‘You’d know, would you, if he had?’ Kuroda said. ‘Good spies don’t tell their families, you know, never mind their geisha.’

‘What?’ said Thaniel, a bit flatly.

‘Come on, lad, you’re a musician. Don’t get me wrong, you play beautifully and you’re not bad-looking, but all this is a bit beyond you.’

‘What the hell are you—’

‘Christians; give me strength,’ said Kuroda, as the muzzle of a gun pushed into Thaniel’s back and a quiet voice behind him told him to calm down. The safety catch snicked white. He put his hands up slowly. ‘Don’t get angry, son, you’re in a normal country now, no one’s going to lynch you. You can put your hands down. Let him go, let him go.’

The gun lifted away. Thaniel let his arms sink. ‘I don’t know what the hell it is you think is going on, Mr Kuroda, but—’

‘They really will have you face down in the sand; it’s fun to watch,’ Kuroda said mildly.

Thaniel put his teeth together and let his breath out, trying to get his heart back to a normal speed.

‘They had a thing or two to say about a foreign diplomat breaking into government property, actually.’ Kuroda nodded to the lighthouse, which was a gaunt, leaning silhouette against the moonlight now. ‘I’ll let it go this time, but do me a favour, lad. Don’t do it again. Stick to your music. I know it’s all interesting, but this lot will get tetchy if they think you’re interfering with ministerial security, and then they’re likely to want to interfere with you.’ He looked rueful. ‘I expect Mori will be pissed off with me if his geisha ends up in the sea tied to a brick, but he can always get another geisha. All right?’

There was nothing to do but nod and try to press down the shame and the helpless, pointless fury seething up through his ribs. A dark part of him he’d never known was there wanted to turn and punch one of the guards, because being shot and dead would be better than having to stand quiet.

Kuroda smiled. ‘Good boy. Now come on, tell me about this music you’re writing while we walk up. Mrs Pepperharrow’s always telling me I don’t get enough culture.’

Thaniel wondered if real geisha painted themselves white so that it was harder to see how angry they must be all the time.

TWENTY-ONE