Muses of Terra (Codex Antonius Book 2) (29 page)

When
Vacuna
emerged from a dense bank of low clouds, the lights of Roma spread out before them. They were two miles up, but the city’s lights still reached from horizon to horizon. Raindrops tapped against the windows, then flew off in streaks from the ship’s speed. Cordus’s tabulari verified they were still on course toward the Palatine landing pad in the center of Roma.
 

“When we land,” Cordus said, “will they—?” He looked at Aquilina, but her eyes were glassy and stared at a point much farther away than her tabulari.
Is that how I look when Marcus Antonius is talking to me?

She blinked, and then a haunted expression fell over her.
 

“What is it?” Cordus asked.
 

“It was my mother. She wants to see us at once. She will meet us personally at the landing pad.”

“The great Dictator herself will greet me? I’m honored.”

Aquilina remained stone-faced before Cordus’s attempted levity, and he suddenly felt foolish. “Has something happened?”

“She didn’t say, and that’s what worries me. She confides in me about everything, especially over implant com. She didn’t this time.”

“Do you think she no longer trusts you?”

Aquilina scowled. “Of course she trusts me, I’m her daughter. What worries me is that she may no longer trust the implant com. If someone can tap into that, we would lose our most secure com.”

“Who could do that?”

Aquilina frowned. “One powerful warlord, a former senator named Quintus Arrius Wendatus, managed to buy off some Praetorian engineers who were close to our Muse-based research. Arrius is my mother’s biggest rival, and they’ve had many battles over the last two years, but none decisive enough for either to gain an advantage. If he can tap into our Muse com, or gods forbid use implants…”

“We’ll find out either way in a minute. We’re at the Palatine.”

Just as he remembered, the Palatine Hill was alit with multi-colored lights that illuminated the historic and massive Consular Palace. Beyond the Palace, on the Capitoline Hill to the northwest, sat the structures that were the heart of Roma—the ancient Senate House and the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, also gloriously alit. Each building had the iconic, towering marble columns and ornate bas-reliefs just below red-tiled roofs. A powerful nostalgia swept through Cordus at the sight. While his childhood was mostly a nightmare of feeling like a prisoner, the hours he spent exploring those structures were among the few bright spots.

Vacuna
landed in the middle of a landing pad surrounded by a vast garden within the Consular Palace’s walls. The pad was large enough to hold four ships of
Vacuna’s
size, but this night it was clear.
 

Memories of the garden and the palace assaulted him with surreal intensity. The massive olive tree from which he had fallen when he was seven still towered over the lesser trees a dozen paces beyond the landing pad. The Fountain of Diana near the olive tree still spouted water fed from the ancient Aqua Marcia aqueduct that served the Consular Palace with water from the Valles Anio east of Roma. The palace columns and terraces surrounding the garden brought Cordus back to the days when as a child he would explore each one by himself, wondering why he was so different from his family. Wondering how he could escape.
 

He glanced at the path that led through the garden to the palace. As he suspected, a dozen or so toga-clad officials and red-uniformed soldiers stood nearby waiting for the ship to land. Off to one side, a group wearing light-green medical suits with matching head covers stood near a stretcher. Before them all stood a trim older woman dressed in a red Legion uniform, a purple sash draped over her right shoulder and chest signifying the Dictator’s “temporary” post as the “first among equals”. She had more gray in her close-cropped hair than black. Her back was straight and her chin level. Cordus got the impression that despite her current role, Vibia Servillia Gemmella was Legion to her core.

Vacuna
touched down with a slight bump, and Cordus powered down the engines. The ship was suddenly quiet, something that always felt strange to Cordus after days and weeks on a starship. It would take him several more days on-world to get used to the lack of a background hum.
 

Aquilina arose from her couch. “Let me talk to them first. I already gave her the details of our bargain, but the senators will probably have questions.”

Cordus frowned. “Did she tell them who I was?”

“I told her to keep it quiet until you declared yourself, just as you asked. But if implant com has been compromised, then anyone can know. Stay on the ship until I motion for you.”

Cordus nodded, and they both left the command deck.

They met Dariya and Daryush in Cargo One, along with Piso, Gracchus, and Duran. Ulpius was with Blaesus, preparing him for transport to the Roman medical facilities. The three Romans seemed eager to leave the ship, while Dariya and Daryush understandably looked nervous.
 

Before Cordus could approach his two crewmen, Duran stopped him. “I think you’re doing the right thing,” he said. “A lot of people will follow you. Including us.” Piso and Gracchus both nodded once in agreement.

Cordus wasn’t sure how to respond, given they were willing to shoot him yesterday. So he simply returned their nods and then went to Dariya and Daryush.

Before he could say anything, Dariya growled under her breath. “That old man better live through this, or by Ahura Mazda I swear my spirit shall torment his after the Romans behead ‘Ush and I for being escaped slaves.”

“They won’t kill you,” Cordus said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. “I’ll never cooperate if they do anything less than give you official amnesty. I’m too important for them
not
to cooperate.” He paused. “Still…monitor the Praetorian bands Aquilina gave you. The com chatter may give you warning if things go badly. If that happens, you leave as fast as you can. Don’t look back. Understand?”

Dariya muttered something in Persian and then nodded. She took Daryush’s hand. Her large brother was pale and seemed ready to pass out at the slightest loud noise.

Cordus had discussed the situation with his crew before releasing Aquilina and the Romans from their delta couches. He had made it clear that if they refused to go along, he would call off his bargain with Aquilina. They both agreed to it without hesitation. Neither one liked it, but they knew Blaesus’s life was at stake, and that allying with the Romans was the only way to rescue Kaeso, Ocella, and Lucia. Cordus couldn’t imagine the courage it took for them to come back to the heart of the Republic, the place where they had once been enslaved, the place where Daryush had lost his tongue and Dariya her innocence. He prayed he could display the same courage in the days to come.

Aquilina approached her Roman men, and they all nodded to her. She looked at Cordus. “Ready?”

Cordus nodded. Aquilina went to the door controls and tapped them open. The door ramp hissed, then creaked and groaned as it descended. Fresh air—the familiar scents of the gardens dizzying Cordus with memories—rushed into Cargo One. Outside, the medical crew waited with their stretcher. As soon as the ramp was still, the medical crew bounded up. The lead medicus asked Aquilina, “Where is he?”

“Piso will direct you,” she said. Piso told the crew to follow him, and he led them into the ship.

Aquilina said to Cordus, “I’ll be right back.”

Cordus swallowed, then nodded. He watched her stride down the ramp flanked by Gracchus and Duran. All three approached the group of Romans led by Dictator Gemmella. Cordus couldn’t hear what they said, even with his Muse-enhanced senses, but he could tell by their rigid body language that not all was well.

Marcus Antonius walked past Cordus and stared out at the gardens. He took in a deep breath and sighed. “Ah,” he murmured. “We missed this place very much. Here is civilization. Here is where one can live like a sentient being.”

Cordus ignored Marcus and watched Aquilina. Several toga-clad senators behind Gemmella fired heated questions at Aquilina. She stood as straight as her mother, who didn’t speak, and seemed to respond with quiet restraint. However, Cordus could see even from this distance that she was tense.

Dariya leaned close to Cordus. “I feel uneasy, Centuriae.”

Cordus felt the same, but he didn’t want to shake Dariya’s confidence any more than it already was. What was the problem? Did they
all
know who Cordus was and about his bargain with Aquilina? Were they refusing to honor it?

The medical crew entered Cargo One with Blaesus strapped to their stretcher. The old Senator seemed a pale shell of the larger-than-life man he used to be. Cordus widened his eyes to dry the forming tears.

Ulpius strode behind them, giving the lead medicus the history of what he had done for Blaesus. “So the way I see it, he needs massive antibiotic treatments to kill that infection. I got the pulse pellet out, but he’ll need surgery to—”

“We know what to do, Centurion,” the lead medicus said dismissively. The grizzled Centurion frowned and clenched his teeth. He slowed to a stop near Cordus.
 

Cordus watched the medical crew take Blaesus down the ramp. “Thank you for all you did for him, Centurion. I won’t forget it. No matter what happens.”

Ulpius nodded slowly, watching after Blaesus. “He’s a tough old dog, ain’t he?”

“He is.”

“He’ll make it through. Just needs some Roman medicine. Yeah, he’ll make it through.”

Cordus didn’t know if Ulpius was trying to convince himself or Cordus.

Ulpius finally looked at Cordus. “You’ll make it, too, sire.” He then turned and walked down the ramp.

Cordus sighed, then glanced at Dariya. She shook her head. “Do not expect me to start doing that. All that bowing, and ‘sire’ this, and ‘my lord’ that will give you a bigger head than you already have.”

Cordus smiled. “Thank you, Dariya. I would hope for nothing less.”

He turned to see six Praetorian soldiers stride up the ramp, all dressed in black body armor and with pulse rifles in their hands. Aquilina walked behind them, her face tight.

Anger simmered in Cordus. “Aquilina, the bargain was that my crew would have amnesty—”

“Your crew is free to go where they wish,” she said. The Praetorians stopped in front of Cordus and aimed their weapons at him. “It’s you they’re arresting.”
 

33

The octopods dropped to the floor. The golem octopod went to Claudia while the other four assumed their usual stances—four tentacles splayed above them, while they stood on their rear four. Ocella put her hands on her knees and tried to suck in as much air as she could. Kaeso and Varo also breathed hard. Even the four octopods behind the golems looked tired—the four tentacles splayed above them trembled, and their bulbous bodies squeezed in and out as they drew in quick breaths.

Claudia and the octopod golem seemed about as weary as if they’d been sitting still the whole time.

Claudia approached Ocella, Kaeso, and Varo. “The engine room is fifty paces up the corridor.”

Through deep breaths, Varo asked, “How can they tell? This corridor is as unchanging as ours.”

“They can still smell their own scent from the last time they were here.”

“Pleasant,” Varo muttered.

Ocella turned to Kaeso and Varo. “What’s our play?”

Kaeso glanced at the octopods. “Depends on how they fight.”

Claudia said, “They will fight if cornered, but prefer not to. They’ve already lost two of their family and don’t wish to lose any more.”

“Neither do we, golem,” Kaeso said.
 

Claudia’s cheek twitched at Kaeso’s harsh tone, but she continued. “I said they’d
prefer
not to fight. Doesn’t mean they’re unwilling. We just need to make our plans clear to them. If they decide there is a chance at success, they will fight with us.”

Ocella looked at Kaeso. “Solo gambit?”

“Risky,” Kaeso muttered. “Especially without weapons.”

“The
what
gambit?” Varo asked.

“It’s an Umbra thing,” Kaeso said.

“That clears it up…”

Ocella explained the tactic to Varo, who didn’t seem any more thrilled with it than Kaeso.
 

“I know it’s risky,” Ocella said, “but it’s all we have to work with. Maybe we could come up with something different if we had hours or days to plan, but we don’t. I’ve been trying to think up something the whole time we were running. Haven’t you?”

Kaeso and Varo both frowned.

“That’s what I thought.” She turned to Claudia. “Unless our alien allies have a better idea?”

Claudia shook her head. “They used to be cargo haulers. They can fight if they have to, but they’re not tacticians.”

Ocella looked back at Kaeso and Varo. Kaeso shrugged. “Solo gambit, it is.”

Ocella stood before the hatch to the vessel’s engine control room. The hatch’s control pad was a gray glass square in the middle of the hatch. The golem octopod jumped up to one of the rungs above her, then swung its body forward so that two of its fingers tapped the pad. The octopod swung over to the side and then hung from rungs beyond sight of the door.

The door slid open with barely a hiss. Ocella froze. For a brief moment, she wondered if the octopods had led them into a trap. But her eyes adjusted to the room’s darkness, and she saw it was exactly how it had looked on the octopod holo device. Large, irregularly-shaped tabulari dominated all the walls in the octagonal room. Sinuous pipes snaked around each other from the tabulari to the ceiling and walls.
 

Over a dozen naked ‘Lucias’ worked at the tabulari. None turned to Ocella as she stood in the doorway. She kept still for several seconds, waiting for the golems to notice her, but none did.

Cac
. They’re supposed to chase me, not ignore me.
 

Ocella glanced at Kaeso to her right. He and Varo leaned against the wall there. He gave her a questioning look, but she shrugged. She took a few tentative steps into the doorway.