Sergei Lukyanenko - The New Watch

‘As you think best,’ Gesar replied unexpectedly.

I hesitated and looked at my boss.

Then I walked out, closing the door firmly behind me.

There were three people sitting in the duty room – Las, Semyon and Alisher. What they were discussing wasn’t the boy-Prophet and it wasn’t the Tiger. Their topic of conversation was far more exalted.

‘And then I suddenly realise,’ Las was saying, ‘that I have been granted peace and the world of the spirit. So my decision to turn to God was the right one!’

‘I should think so, after a bottle of cognac,’ Alisher remarked. ‘Hi, Anton!’

‘Hi,’ I replied, perching on the table. The duty watchmen’s room is fairly large, but the two sofas, large round table with chairs around it and mini-kitchen along one wall don’t leave much free space.

‘The cognac’s got nothing to do with it!’ Las exclaimed indignantly. ‘Do you believe in Allah?’

‘I do,’ Alisher replied. ‘But then, I don’t drink.’

‘What about beer?’

‘I drink beer. But the prophet said the first drop of wine kills a man – he didn’t say anything about beer.’

‘Excuses, excuses’ Las snapped. ‘So why mock at my faith in God?’

‘I’m not mocking,’ Alisher said calmly. ‘It’s very good that you believe. Only you shouldn’t confuse a state of intoxication with the touch of God’s hand. It’s improper.’

Las gestured dismissively. ‘A slight intoxication helps a man to cast off the chains of convention and frees his mind.’

‘That’s no condition of divine revelation, far from it,’ Semyon chuckled. ‘I like going into churches, it’s calm, the smell’s good and the aura’s benign. But I don’t sense God.’

‘Your moment will come too!’ Las declared solemnly. ‘You’ll sense God within you. You’re a good man, after all.’

‘I’m an Other,’ Semyon replied. ‘A good one, I hope. But an Other. And for us, I’m afraid, there is no God…’

‘Guys, can I ask a question?’ I put in.

‘What is it?’ asked Las, livening up.

‘If you know for certain that it’s impossible to win but, if you don’t fight, someone’s going to be killed… what would you do?’

‘If it’s impossible, why should I die too?’ asked Las.

‘If you have to fight, it’s not important if you’re going to win,’ Alisher answered.

‘Why, are the lad’s chances as bad all that?’ Semyon asked, with a frown.

I carried on with my own questions. ‘Guys, have you ever heard of the Twilight Creature?’

Silence.

‘I’ve only just found out about him too. That’s because we don’t read children’s books. Only I’m not sure if I ought to…’

‘If you’ve started, then finish,’ said Semyon. ‘Either say something straight out, or never mention it. It’s not fair otherwise.’

‘I think Gesar has left the choice up to us,’ I said. ‘Guys, tonight the office is going to be stormed. Attacked by a certain creature, that is… And we can’t possibly defeat it.’

QUITE HONESTLY, I’D got the idea that Gesar had given me his unspoken blessing to enlist volunteers. I could see immediately the way it would be – me telling the guys, them telling their friends, the entire Watch gathering in the office, and the Tiger showing up to be met by all the Light Ones in Moscow… And together they would see him off. After all, who said that a Twilight Creature couldn’t be defeated? Those lousy analysts… origins unknown, strength unknown, intentions obscure, impossible to defeat…

We would defeat him. We’d all get together – and beat him. It would be more fun all together. How could Semyon, Alisher and Las possibly agree that we ought to hand over a defenceless child to some mysterious, unknown creature?

‘If it was one of us that ended up in a mess like that, then I’d get involved,’ said Semyon. ‘If it was your daughter… knock on wood,’ said Semyon, tapping the table. ‘But for that kid – no way.’

‘He is one of us!’ I exclaimed indignantly.

‘He’s a Light Other,’ said Semyon, nodding. ‘But not one of us. Maybe in a year’s time he would have been one of us. Maybe in a month. But not yet. You say yourself there’s no way we can beat this thing. Why would it be better if we all died?’

‘But how do we know it’s impossible?’ I asked indignantly.

‘Judging from the skirmish this afternoon, it is impossible,’ Semyon replied calmly. ‘We don’t have a chance. And wiping out the Watch for the sake of one Other is stupid.’

‘Semyon’s right,’ said Alisher, nodding. ‘I’m not afraid of being killed in battle, if there’s a chance of winning. But this – this is a game beyond our level. I saw him… and I didn’t like what I saw. Let’s hope Gesar can teach the kid to prophesy.’

‘But you just said that if you have to fight it doesn’t matter if you win or not!’

‘Right. But we don’t have to fight on this one.’

I looked at Las.

‘Why does the Prophet have to be an obnoxious little kid and not a beautiful young girl?’ Las exclaimed. ‘There’s no motivation to sacrifice yourself!’

‘I thought you were about to get baptised…’ I reminded him.

‘Exactly. I want to be able to do that. You know, even those thick-skulled knights who picked a fight at every chance they got only dashed off to do battle with a dragon if it had carried off a delightful young maiden, not some scruffy brat of a shepherd boy.’

‘How egotistical your motivation is,’ I said sarcastically.

‘Aesthetic,’ Las corrected me. ‘If I’m going to sacrifice myself, I want the goal to be exalted.’

‘And the life of a Prophet isn’t an exalted goal?’

‘Prophets usually give utterance to predictions that are pretty grim.’

A chilling presentiment stole into my mind as I looked at them.

‘Have you already discussed the situation, then?’ I asked.

‘Of course,’ said Semyon. ‘We didn’t know who it was we were dealing with. But it doesn’t take a genius to predict that the attack will be repeated.’

‘And what if I dig my heels in and try to defend the lad?’ I said, looking Semyon in the eye.

‘Then I’ll help you,’ Semyon said, with a nod. ‘And we’ll die together. So I ask you not to do it. Think of Svetlana. And Nadya. And tell me honestly – are you prepared to die for some kid you don’t even know?’

I looked at my friends.

Thought for a few moments.

Imagined Sveta and Nadya…

Then the boy-Prophet.

And I said: ‘No, Semyon. I’m not.’

‘And you’re right,’ said Semyon, nodding. ‘Exalted feelings, noble impulses, reckless courage, foolhardy self-sacrifice – that’s all very fine. But there has to be a reason for it. A real reason. Otherwise all your Light Other aspirations amount to no more than stupidity. The annals of the Watches recall many Others who were noble but stupid. But they’re history now. And unfortunately their example is not worth imitating.’

‘You’d better go home,’ Alisher put in. ‘You’re not on duty.’

And I realised that when Gesar gave me permission to reveal the information about the Tiger, he’d had a different purpose in mind. To make me see sense.

Well, he’d done just that.

I didn’t go home, of course. No, I didn’t pester anyone else with questions about whether they would wade into a hopeless battle with a Twilight Creature. And I didn’t make the rounds of the office, mentally placing Others in the key defensive positions. I went to the analysts and scrounged a copy of the report for Gesar (before they gave me it, the guys contacted the boss and got his go-ahead). A close reading convinced me that Gesar wasn’t lying and in the opinion of the analysts (based on rather poorly documented attempts to fight the Tiger – in the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries) we wouldn’t be able to defeat the Twilight Creature.