Emperors of Time (9 page)

“That’s still amazingly
disconcerting,” said Billy, shaking his head and closing his eyes for a
moment. 

“It truly is,”
agreed Rose.

Tim took a
moment to look around.  A few hundred yards in front of them there was a
metallic wall marked “electric.”  The wall was maybe two stories high and,
from this distance, did nothing to obscure the view of five buildings that were
almost a half-mile high, many miles away.

“So… 
that’s only five buildings, right?  So it’s not Jefferson, because
Jefferson had six…  which one is it?” asked Julie.

“Jackson, but it
doesn’t matter much.  Suffice it to say that we are in what was formerly
Argentina.  As you can see, we are outside the metropolis.  About a
thousand yards to my right, underground, is a high-speed subway that can get
you to any of the other metropoles in this hemisphere within fifteen hours,
twenty-four hours to any metropolis in the world.  But that is the most
presence the metropolis has for hundreds of miles outside these walls. 
Inside the walls are hundreds of square miles of farmland to support the
population.  Anyone who is imprisoned…  well, perhaps
ex
-prisoned
would be a better term for it, is exiled to the land outside the walls. 
Some, who have angered the government in some exceptional way, get sent to
Australia, where there are no metropoles at all.”

“But most are
just exiled?” asked Rose.

“Yes…  I
suppose it does not sound quite as bad as it is.  What would you imagine
the world population
should
be in the year 2347?” asked Hopkins.

“I think I read
somewhere that it should stabilize somewhere between eight and ten
billion.  Is that about right?” asked Rose.

“That was the
common prediction in your day, yes.  In my timeline, before the Emperors
of Time started fussing with things, there were ten billion, so they were not
too far off.  But in this timeline, excluding the people who live inside
the metropoles, there are only about 300 million people, about the population
of the United States in your time, spread all across the world.  Or, to
put it in context, the world population in 1000 AD,” said Hopkins.

“That’s a total
world population of only a billion.  Why is it so low?” asked Julie.

“The metropoles
make sure they have a monopoly on technology.  Outside the walls, there is
no electricity.  They have no hospitals, no schools, no homes made out of
anything sturdier than wood.  If anything too advanced is built, the
metropoles bomb it.  Many people live off the land, hunting and
gathering.  Some people farm, but only for survival.  This is why the
Emperors of Time flattened the cities, all the buildings outside the
metropoles.  They will not allow the exiles anything that could allow them
to organize and rise up.  The metropoles allow individuals to store a
little bit for winter, but anything centralized, they get rid of.  I hear
a government tried to form somewhere in North America around the turn of the
century.  The idea was that the people would band together for survival,
store some food for the winter, so fewer people would starve.  As soon as
they started bringing food into the granary, the metropoles bombed it.”

“So the
metropoles have them under constant surveillance?” asked Tim.

“From
satellites, yes,” confirmed Hopkins.

“But how do
these Emperors of Time that you keep talking about figure into all this?” asked
Billy.  “Do they control the metropoles?”

“All eleven of
them control the government.  Some as puppet masters, but Russell wanted
glory.  He is the president of the world government,” answered Hopkins.

“And why do they
want to keep the population so low?” asked Tim.

“To ensure the
population in their metropoles are docile and easy to control.  Knowing
they could be sent to join the exiles is a good method for keeping people in
their place,” said Hopkins.  “But enough talking.  Let us find some
exiles.  I remember there being a camp nearby.  I was here recently
and took the stone I just used to travel back.  We are currently two days
before our first arrival in 2347.”

Billy shook his
head, as if to clear it.  “I agree with the less talking bit.  This
is all starting to give me a bit of a headache.”

“We want to go
over this mound,” Hopkins instructed, pointing to a nearby hill.

Once they did,
they could see a small group of about a dozen people, mostly women and
children, gathered around a makeshift building.  It was one story high,
made of a few tall tree-trunks with a canvas stretched over them.  Limbs
and branches filled in two of the sides, although there were still gaps in the
walls.  The other two sides, however, were completely open to the weather. 
A few of the children were playing in a river a hundred yards away from the
hovel.

Hopkins
approached one of the women, who was sitting and sewing what appeared to be two
deerskins. 

The woman looked
up, “You are back sooner than I thought.  It has only been twenty minutes
since you left.  These are the children you were talking about?  They
must have been hiding very close by if you were able to bring them so soon.”

“Not exactly,”
said Hopkins.  “But no matter.  May we speak with you a little
while?”

“The men aren’t
back from hunting,” the woman said.  “You may speak with me, but when they
return, I can’t guarantee your safety.  There’s a trading post nearby
where those clothes the girls are wearing could sell for a hundred pounds of
game apiece.”

Hopkins nodded. 
“We have our ways of making a quick escape,” he said.

Two of the kids
who were running around the camp went by.  One of them, who looked to be
about four years old, smiled up at Rose as he passed.

“What did the
kids do to deserve being exiled?” Rose asked angrily.

“Nothing, of
course,” answered the woman, narrowing her eyes.  “They were born in
exile.  As was I.  I have been alive for thirty-five years, and have
never entered the metropolis.  I assume the same cannot be said for you,
with those fancy clothes, although how you got them to let you take them with
you into exile is beyond me.”  The woman, who was missing several teeth
and whose dry skin was peeling from a harsh sunburn, looked a good deal older
than thirty-five.

“Were any of you
exiled?” asked Tim curiously.

“My husband and
his brother were,” said the woman.  “They are the leaders of our
tribe.  They worked inside the metropolis, as sales representatives. 
As young men, they shirked responsibility just a little too much, missed too
many days of work.  They were fired from their jobs, and when they
couldn’t find others, they were sent out here.  They weren’t too broken up
about it either.  They say it was terribly boring in there.”

“So, they’re happier
out here?” asked Rose.

“You ask a lot
of strange questions,” the woman said, eying Rose suspiciously.  “I might
even suspect that you’re spies, except I can’t imagine the metropolis caring
about our happiness.  Unless…  you aren’t here for a callback, are
you?  Because if you are, I can tell you now, we aren’t interested.” 
It was strange, but this was the first time the woman really seemed angry.

“What’s a
callback?” asked Billy.  He looked first at Tim, Julie, and Rose, but it
was clear that they were just as confused as he was.

“Sometimes, the
metropoles get concerned if the birthrate is too low.  People have
children later in life, resulting in smaller families.  If they didn’t do
something about it, the population would shrink over time, and they don’t want
that.  Parts of Western Europe had the same problem in your time- or at
least, in your time in the normal timeline- low birth rates and all that, but
it’s different for the metropoles.  They’ve built the metropoles
structurally and organizationally for about 750 million people, so that’s the
number they expect to have at any one time.  Western Europe could deal
with it by allowing immigrants in, but the only pool of potential immigrants
the metropoles have is the exiles, which explains why they keep them around,”
explained Hopkins.

“Yes, and quite
a favor they’re doing for us, too,” said the woman sarcastically.  “Look,
I don’t know why you want to know, but we don’t want to live by the
metropolis’s rules or have them regulate what we do out here.  They’re
monsters -- pampered, shallow, out of touch monsters -- and I don’t know why
anybody would consider going for a recall even if they did have the
opportunity.  But no, I don’t think that ‘happy’, would characterize what
we feel out here either.  I’ve had three children, only one is
alive.  She’s ten now.  Her brother was killed by a disease that
could have been treated if we were allowed to have hospitals.  Her sister
died of hunger.”

By this time,
one of the other women in the camp had walked over.  This second woman
looked a little younger than the first, but with the hard living the exiles
endured, it was hard to guess her age.  When the first woman finished
speaking, the second woman jumped in, saying, “My name is Jacinta.  Pardon
me interrupting, but we hardly ever see any strangers here.  There are a
few small clans a couple miles up or down the river that we meet with once a
year when we have brides to exchange, but otherwise, it gets a bit repetitive
here.  Who are you?”

Before any of
the teens had a chance to answer, Hopkins jumped in.  “That question would
take a bit too long for us to answer right now, but let me just say that we are
good listeners without hostile intentions.  Will you tell us a little
about yourself?”

“If you’d had
hostile intent, I expect you would have brought a weapon,” said the woman with
a shrug.  “My father was the elder of the tribe, until he was killed in a
raid three years ago.  We sometimes get raided by a larger tribe from the
North that swoops in and takes a woman or two and kills any men who
resist.  That raid three years ago was the most recent one.  My
father was exiled from the metropolis because he got caught cheating one of the
casinos at cards.  I had a sister, who died during childbirth giving birth
to my niece. I take care of her now because I have no children of my own. Was
there anything else you wanted to know?”

Hopkins again
answered for the group, saying, “No, but thanks to both of you for your
willingness to talk.  I know you don’t get many strangers out here. 
I cannot go into any specifics now, but I want you to know that I intend to
bring the leaders of the metropoles back to their normal human size.”

“That would be
fantastic, although I don’t expect to see any such thing happen in my
lifetime,” said Jacinta.  The other woman merely grunted in
agreement. 

Hopkins led the
four teens back over the hill. 

“That probably
gives you a decent idea of why the Emperors of Time need to be stopped, quite
apart from any personal vendetta I may have against them.  There are
millions of men, women, and children with stories just like the ones those
women told.  There is little use in having you hear more stories. 
You can multiply them yourself when considering the 300 million people living
in exile, either as exiles themselves or their descendants.  But before I
send you back to your own time, I want to show you one more thing.  Let us
link hands again?”
               

They did, and
Hopkins pulled out his Dominus Temporis and a bigger stone from his
pocket.  This time Billy and Rose closed their eyes before they hopped
from one place to another. 

The place where
they ended up was beautiful, although Tim had the sneaking suspicion this was
not what Hopkins had brought them here to see.  They had materialized on
the shore of a large lake, on a promontory where the land jutted into the
water.  On three sides of their little peninsula, there was water for
about a mile before they could see grassy land again. 

“This is the
year 2346, and this lake is located in what was once Ohio.  I found this
event by talking to some of the locals in my own year, when I was trying to
decide who I should take you to see.  I will not always have time to learn
the intricate details of the timelines that the Emperors of Time create, which
is why I am asking you to take over, so I can focus on hunting them down. 
Still, I decided it was important to show you the sort of worlds the Emperors
create, to give you a motive to stop it.”

“I think the
stories we heard from the exiles are motivation enough,” said Rose.

“Perhaps, but I
would like you to see a little bit more,” said Hopkins.  “Remember that I
am not being cruel by showing you this.  What you see here will be more or
less replicated a thousand times around the world in this timeline.  You
see, this particular lake is very rich in fish.  It was part of a state
park back in your time.  It is called Lake Deer Creek, and the dam that
kept it so full of water and fish survived the scourges of time and was
overlooked by the Emperors of Time.  But now there are so few people in
the world, with none of them taking recreational fishing trips to Ohio, that
the fish have populated the lake quite heavily.  A man can walk into the
shallows and catch a fish in his net quite easily.”

Julie nodded, “That’s
interesting, how the fish rebound without as many people around…  Does
this happen with other animals?”

“Some,” said
Hopkins.  “But that is hardly the point I am trying to make. 
Consider how appealing this lake would be for a group of exiles like the ones
we just met.  Not only would you never have to worry about starving, since
this lake is quite accessible for ice fishing even in the depths of winter, but
you could also live your life without ever having to take long hunting trips,
tediously walking from field to field collecting wild wheat, or even sowing
your own seeds.  Naturally, whoever occupies the area around the lake is
in quite an enviable position.”