Read The Causal Angel (Jean le Flambeur) for Free Online

present circumstances.
    ‘It’s a realistic view,’ Marcel says. ‘Ever since the Collapse, we have not mattered very much. I was not at all surprised by what you discovered – that our precious Kingdom was a zoku lie. If anything, I don’t think you went far enough. I believe we have always been playthings, simulations in some Omega Point where Sobornost has won.’
    ‘They haven’t. Not yet. That’s why I’m here.’
    ‘Ah. Idealism. Heroics. Very well. What can I do for you, to help you save the world?’
    ‘Earlier today, someone … asked for my help. It seems that at least in one instance, information about a major event outside the Oubliette that has been lost elsewhere has been preserved in the exomemory. I am trying to find out if there are other examples of unique information that cannot be found anywhere else.’
    ‘I see.’ Marcel touches his lips with a forefinger.
    ‘Paul Sernine used to visit you, did he not? He gave you a Watch.’
    The words come out more rapidly than they should. When the thief asked for his help, Isidore felt something click into a gap in an old unsolved puzzle. What did Paul Sernine find on Mars? Even the thief himself failed to find out, and Isidore very badly wants to see le Flambeur’s face when he tells him the answer.
    Marcel slams his glass down on a table. The cognac wobbles sluggishly in Martian gravity.
    ‘Yes. Yes, he did. And then he took my Time away, just because it amused him to do so, just because it was a part of his scheme. He pretended friendship because it suited him.’
    Isidore sighs. Le Flambeur – posing as a man called Paul Sernine – hid something in the memories of his friends, twenty years ago, and came to reclaim it recently. As a result, nine people were sent to the Oubliette’s afterlife prematurely: after considerable effort, Raymonde and Isidore convinced the Resurrection Men to allow them to return.
    ‘So be careful when you talk to me about Paul Sernine,’ Marcel says. He narrows his eyes. ‘I’ve never noticed it before, but you look like him. Don’t tell me this is another one of his games.’
    ‘It’s not, I promise,’ Isidore says. ‘Quite the opposite. I’m trying to figure out why he did what he did. It’s important to know why he visited you. Would he have had access to your partner’s memories?’
    ‘Owl’s? What does he have to do with this?’
    ‘That’s what I’m trying to find out. Please. It’s important. Not just to me, but to all of Mars.’
    ‘I see.’ Marcel runs a hand along his shaved scalp. ‘I suppose it’s possible. Not with my permission, but then he did give me that damned Watch. The tzaddikim told me that he hid things in my memories, somehow. And Owl and I shared everything: he had no secrets from me. So Paul could have accessed Owl’s memories through my gevulot. What good that would have done him, I do not know.’
    Isidore takes a deep breath. ‘With your permission, I would like to take a look at those memories. The night of the Spike in particular. I have been trying to understand why the person you knew as Paul Sernine came back here, what he was looking for. There is a pattern, I can feel it, and it’s related to the Sobornost civil war, the Spike, what happened to the Earth – to everything. We need to understand it if Mars is to survive this.’
    ‘Hm.’ Marcel smiles a sad smile. ‘So you really think it’s worth it? Saving our world, even if it is built on a lie?’
    ‘Yes, I do,’ Isidore says. ‘Not all illusions are bad. Sometimes they are necessary. My father – my adoptive father – taught me that.’
    Marcel looks at Isidore. Then he picks up his glass.
    ‘Very well. Please come and meet my love. His name is Owl Boy.’
    Owl Boy sits by the window wrapped in a medfoam cocoon, looking out. There are fresh flowers in the room, and a faint lavender smell from scented candles. It is clearly the cleanest room in the house. The view is directly over the Martian