Piranesi(24)

I was delighted to have this confirmation that I was right. Perhaps it was a little conceited of me, but I could not help it. The consequences for my future work and collaboration with the Other I have yet to decide.

It was clear from many things the Prophet said that he and the Other had known each other at one time. The Prophet called the Other ‘Ketterley’ and said he was his student. Yet the Other has never spoken of the Prophet. I have talked to him on several occasions about the fifteen people the World contains, but he has never said to me, ‘Fifteen is an incorrect number! I know of one more!’ Which is strange (especially when you consider how much he likes to contradict me whenever an opportunity arises). But the Other has never been interested in finding out the number of people who have lived. It is one of the areas where our scientific interests diverge.

The closer 16 gets, the more dangerous Ketterley will become.

I have never known the Other show the least predisposition to violence.

You might like to head off the danger by killing him or something.

The Prophet, on the other hand, was clearly a violent person.

You know I don’t regret refusing to see you when you asked me before. That letter you wrote to me. I thought you sounded an arrogant little shit. You probably were then.

This was the most baffling of all the Prophet’s utterances. I never wrote him a letter. How could I when I only discovered yesterday that he existed? Perhaps one of the Dead wrote him a letter – Stan Ovenden or poor James Ritter – and the Prophet is confusing me with that person. Or perhaps prophets perceive Time differently from other people. Perhaps I will write him a letter in the future.

The Other describes the circumstances under which it will be right to kill me

ENTRY FOR THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF THE SEVENTH MONTH IN THE YEAR THE ALBATROSS CAME TO THE SOUTH-WESTERN HALLS

Naturally I was anxious to tell the Other all about my meeting with the Prophet. It was vital that he know as soon as possible of the Prophet’s intention to tell 16 the way to our Halls. Between Friday (the day I met the Prophet) and today (the day I was due to meet the Other) I looked everywhere for the Other, but I did not find him.

This morning I entered the Second South-Western Hall. The Other was already there and I saw immediately that he was in a state of some agitation. His hands were thrust into his pockets, he was pacing up and down and his face was dark with suppressed anger.

‘I have something important to tell you,’ I said.

He made a motion with his hand to brush away my utterance. ‘It’ll have to wait,’ he said. ‘I need to talk to you. There’s something I haven’t told you about 22.’

‘Who?’ I said.

‘My enemy,’ said the Other. ‘The one who is coming here.’

‘You mean 16?’

A pause.

‘Oh, yes. Right. 16. I can’t keep them straight, the bizarre names you give things. Well, there’s something I haven’t told you about 16. It’s you that 16 is really interested in.’

‘Yes!’ I exclaimed. ‘Strangely enough I already know. You see …’

But the Other interrupted me. ‘If 16 comes here,’ he said, ‘and I’m beginning to think now that it’s a real possibility – then it’ll be you that 16 will be looking for.’

‘Yes, I know. But …’

The Other shook his head. ‘Piranesi! Listen to me! 16 will want to say things to you – things that you will not understand, but if you allow this to happen, if you allow 16 to speak to you, then those words will have a terrible effect. If you listen to what 16 says then the consequences will be awful. Madness. Terror. I’ve seen it happen before. 16 can unravel your thoughts just by speaking to you. 16 can make you doubt everything you see. 16 can make you doubt me.’

I was appalled. This was a level of wickedness that I had never imagined. It was frightening. ‘How can I protect Myself?’ I asked.

‘By doing what I’ve already told you. By hiding. By not letting 16 see you. Above all by not listening to 16’s words. I can’t stress enough how absolutely vital that is. You have to understand that you’re particularly vulnerable to this … this power that 16 has, because you’re already mentally unstable.’

‘Mentally unstable?’ I said. ‘What do you mean?’

A flicker of annoyance crossed the Other’s face. ‘I told you,’ he said. ‘You forget things. You repeat yourself. We spoke about it a week ago. Don’t tell me that you’ve forgotten already.’

‘No, no,’ I said. ‘I have not forgotten.’ I wondered whether to tell him my theory that it was he, not me, whose memory was at fault, but, what with one thing and another, now did not seem the time.

‘Well, then,’ said the Other. He sighed. ‘There’s more. There’s something else I need to say and I want you to understand that this is as painful for me as it is for you. If I find that you’ve listened to 16 and that 16 has infected you with this madness, then that puts me at risk. You see that, don’t you? There’s a danger you might attack me. In fact it’s very likely that you would. 16 will almost certainly try to manipulate you into hurting me.’

‘Hurting you?’

‘Yes.’

‘How terrible.’

‘Quite. And then there’s the whole question of your dignity as a human being. You would be in this degraded, mad condition. It would be very humiliating for you. I can’t imagine that you would want to go on like that, would you?’