Doctor Illuminatus by Martin Booth Read Free Book Online Page B

practiced magic. Yet this is by the way . . .” He paused as if to gather his interrupted chain of thought. “Gloucester knew he was no match for Henry Beaufort and so he traveled to France, where he took into his commission a French alchemist by the name of Pierre de Loudéac. They struck an alliance. If de Loudéac would help Gloucester gain power, he, in turn, would withdraw the British from Normandy. Henry Beaufort came to hear of this and entreated my father to use his knowledge to defeat that of de Loudéac.”
    “What was de Loudéac’s plan?” Pip asked.
    “It was simple,” Sebastian answered. “He was going to make a homunculus to replace the infant king.”
    While Sebastian had been talking, the swan had moved slowly downstream and was now drifting towards the reeds on the opposite bank, her cygnets keeping close. Sebastian watched them for a moment, then stood up, brushing dry leaves and dirt from his jeans. He set off along the riverbank. Pip and Tim followed him.
    “Did he succeed?” Tim wanted to know.
    “No. He failed.”
    “What has all this got to do with you?” Pip asked. “It all happened centuries ago.”
    Sebastian made no response until he was well away from the willows.
    “That is so,” he eventually replied, casting a sideways look at the swan, which was continuing downstream, its wings set like parallel sails, “yet, after the attempt to replace the infant king had failed, de Loudéac persevered with his quest to make a homunculus.”
    “So what . . . ?” Tim began.
    “It is a vital matter,” Sebastian interrupted him. “A homunculus is more than just an artificial creature. It is a living human, yet one that has no soul.” He fell silent, to give this fact time to sink in.
    “What you’re saying,” Pip said, after a pause, “is that this . . .
thing
isn’t just a created man, but one that, if it has no soul, has no mind of its own.”
    “Exactly so!” Sebastian came back. “This creature, without its own free will, may be commanded by its maker.”
    “I don’t see the problem,” Tim declared. “It might be unnatural, but . . .”
    Sebastian sighed. “You see nothing wrong in an evil man being able to create a creature — or many creatures — that will do his every bidding?”
    “Wow!” Tim held his hands up. “This is way too sci-fi! Any minute now,” he added skeptically, “we’ll have some Hollywood hulk charging over the hill, toting a laser gun, with half his computer-generated skull split open to show the circuit boards inside, and liquidizing anyone that gets in his way.”
    “You may be flippant, Tim,” Sebastian said curtly, his voice growing agitated, “but what I tell you is fact. De Loudéac has, through the centuries, not given up on his quest — and he continues to this very day.”
    “C’mon!” Tim said. “You’ve got to admit it’s a bit off the wall. Like, what’s he going to do with this fleshand-blood robot? As he failed to get power over Henry the Sixth, what’s next? Take over the royal family? Turn them into zombies? Clone them? Rule England? Rule the world?”
    “These may well be his intentions, for has he not already sought to overthrow the established throne of England?” Sebastian rejoined, continuing, “Of this I can be sure. Whatever his plans, he seeks to do terrible wrong in the world by his creation and, should he achieve his end, it will mean much danger. If he were to fashion a homunculus, there would be abroad in the land a creature of infinite malevolence, a fearful beast spawned of great iniquity, capable of bringing such wickedness as you would never have known, nor could imagine. Therefore, it is imperative,” he went on, his voice calming, “that I succeed in foiling de Loudéac’s plan, prevent him from reaching his objective. Should I fail, it will be the beginning of chaos and an age of evil will commence that may destroy all we know as good.”
    “Don’t you think that’s just a teensy bit