Scaevola's Triumph (Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy Book 3) (19 page)

"Yes."

"Well, think about it. Suppose you have a particle, and something that exerts a force on it suddenly comes to be beside it. It must change its energy if it exerts a new force on it, correct?"

"Yes," Gaius agreed. There seemed to be little point in disagreeing.

"And since that which came to be could be attractive or repulsive, you have no idea even of the sign of the energy change. Agreed?"

Again, as he wondered where this was going, Gaius agreed

"And suppose it is in motion, and this thing comes to be right in front of it so that it bangs into it? It's going to slow down, right?"

"Yes."

"You see what has happened?" the droid said in a calm tone, and to save Gaius having to answer, it continued, "If the motion does not depend explicitly on the nature of the space or time, that is, they are essentially homogeneous, you have conservation of momentum and energy. The conservation of angular momentum, as you will no doubt remember, comes from the fact that motion does not depend explicitly on the orientation of the experiment. Now, when there are random comings to be and passings away, there is, at the level at which this happens, uncertainty. If it is restricted to the quantum level, you have the Uncertainty Principle, and the basics of quantum mechanics. Because these comings to be and passings away average out over longer times and distances, when you reach these longer times and distances you get your conservation laws, and in physics these allow you to get unique solutions.

"In sociodynamics, one piece of time is not the same as another. Think about Rome? If you wanted to go between Rome and Pompeii, it would take very much longer before the road was built. The road changes everything relating to the movement of goods, agreed?"

"Of course!"

"You could not have invaded Britain successfully before you conquered Gaul?"

"Of course not."

"If you needed to make steel weapons, there is a limit to how many you can make, because a miner can only mine so much iron in a day, a forester can only make so much charcoal a day, and you can only smelt so much in one place at a time. Once industrialization takes place, these limits are multiplied enormously, so the equations for what you can do depend critically on to what part of the history of our civilization they are applied. Everything is much more complicated and instead of getting unique answers, you get a multiplicity of options. With no unique solutions, your planet can develop in many ways."

"And there's no way of knowing whether they are going to develop sufficiently that we can go back," Gaius said sadly.

"No, but look at it from another point of view. Because things change, and because there are a number of changes required, the probability of your planet being adequate increases as time passes."

"Unfortunately," Gaius smiled, "I can't live forever."

"No, you can't," the droid agreed, "but you can chew through as many centuries as you need to."

Gaius suddenly looked up with more interest. "You mean space travel?"

"Exactly. Travel at relativistic speed for a few hundred light years, and you dispose of a few centuries."

"I doubt anyone is going to give me space ship just to chew through light years," Gaius smiled.

"That is true," the droid said, "but there is another way."

"There is?" By now Gaius was curious.

"Ulse is as war," the droid pointed out. "There are going to be a great number of ships going great distances. This is a unique time to chew up centuries, if you have any military capability."

"I think mine's a little out of date," Gaius smiled.

"In detail, but in terms of principle? If you can persuade the authorities you have something to offer, you can always be taught the detail."

"So you think I should take more interest in the Ulsian military?"

"And in sociodynamics," the droid challenged.

"To work out how many centuries I have to chew through?" Gaius asked.

"Partly," the droid said. "There is another reason. If you present a reasonably well made out analysis of why you think the time will be suitable, you also provide your fall-back reason."

"I don't understand," Gaius said, after a pause.

"You can never be sure what will have happened," the droid said, "but if everything on your planet has gone wrong, you could always carry out a sociodynamic study explaining why, and this might be an adequate reason to let you go. Such studies on new planets are quite rare, and this could be an unexpected situation, in which case your study would be very valuable."

"I'm sure Ulsians will be better equipped to do such a study," Gaius said.

"In the sense of knowing more about sociodynamics, yes," the droid said, "but in understanding the behaviour of your species, I doubt it."

"Then I suppose I might as well try," Gaius offered.

"That's the spirit. Of course you won't necessarily succeed. And even if you get past the first hurdles, you may get killed on your first military expedition."

"True," Gaius said thoughtfully, "but that at least is a problem I understand. Teach me what you can, and let's see what happens."

"Excellent!" the droid said enthusiastically, and to Gaius' dismay, produced the material for the next lesson. No time was to be wasted.

Chapter 14

No time was being wasted on making the program on Gaius' war experience either. It appeared to Gaius that this program was being made at an incredible speed, but the Tin Man merely commented that without Gaius' ability to clog progress, machines could do this work so many orders of magnitude more quickly.

"I get the picture," Gaius muttered.

"You probably don't," the Tin Man countered. "The speed is almost entirely due to the fact that everything has been mechanical. Since we are discussing your exploits, the plot, so to speak, is written. Since we are relying only on Timothy's memories of your report for historical accuracy, no research is required, and there is no room for debate. Machines just get on with it."

"Good for them," Gaius muttered again, but the tone was lost on the Tin Man.

In the event, Gaius was amazed to see how authentic the scenery, the troops, the oasis, and the equipment looked. It was almost as if he were back at home. He was also amused to see that the event recollection was not exactly authentic, however he was not going to object too much because at the personal level he appeared in a far better light than he would have had he made the program himself. He had always given Timothy an account of what had happened, and why he had carried out which deployments, but Timothy had also discussed these battles with other participants, including survivors from the other side. It seemed he had been able to use influence to alter who received the faster treatment, in return for information, and he had used such influence lavishly. It turned out Timothy had been writing some sort of history. Histories of the time were to record Roman glory, so the periods of uncertainty were removed, small mistakes overlooked, fortunate breaks adjusted slightly so they appeared to be planned. The Tin Man had interpolated the gaps, making the stories even more heroic.

Perhaps the biggest surprise, however, was that this and the other programs were watched. They were interesting, they were different, and things got resolved. Now, when Gaius accompanied Lucilla and Vipsania on walks, he noticed that Ulsians noticed him, pointed him out to their friends, and seemed to make positive gestures. On one occasion Gaius gave a friendly wave, and after a pause during which they tried to work out what this meant, they received waves back.

That, however, was as far as it went, for it seemed the average Ulsian was almost afraid of approaching such a barbarian. For his part, Gaius simply wished someone would approach.

Eventually it happened. One day, a "child" approached Gaius, and stood in front of him while his friends stood well away, watching. The child held out a pad, and asked for something. Gaius simply stood there, not comprehending.

"He wants you to write something on the pad for him," the Tin Man said.

"Why?" Gaius asked, bemused.

"So he can show it to his friends," the Tin Man said. "He will have collected something written from someone prominent, and a hero."

"I'm hardly a hero," Gaius snorted.

"He seems to think you are," the Tin Man said. "You should do so. It would make him happy if you did."

"Tell him I shall be pleased to," Gaius said, then added, "What do I write?"

"Your name and position."

Gaius nodded, took the pad, and wrote

GAIVS CLAVDIVS SCAEVOLA

LEGATVS LEGIO XX VALERIA

While the child was triumphantly gesturing to his friends, the Tin Man looked at what Gaius had written, and then added some more in Ulsian. The young Ulsian stared almost in disbelief, then stared at Gaius in almost awe, then bowed and almost ran, in case his treasure was removed.

"What was that?" Gaius asked later.

"I explained that a Legate corresponded roughly to a Major-General," the Tin Man said, "I explained that you came from Earth, and that you always won your battles."

"I see," Gaius said, a trifle bemused.

"It's a big thing," the Tin Man added. "What the Ulsians see are commanders who always lose their battles. He'll be a hero showing that to all his little friends."

"Then I'm glad," was all that Gaius could respond.

The young Ulsian had friends, and the word spread. Soon, on these walks, Gaius would see such young Ulsians following him, pads in hand, tentatively hoping to catch his attention. Gaius would wait until a reasonable procession had formed, then he would find a convenient spot to sit down, then he would wave to encourage the young Ulsians to come. Gaius did not mind; as he remarked, signing pads helped fill in the day. But it did mean he was beginning to get noticed as all the adult Ulsians nearby could hardly help but see the small processions.

* * *

The boredom for the women, and the sociodynamic lessons for Gaius, continued. The party members were so limited in what they could do. Finally, Gaius approached the Tin Man, and asked why there were so many limitations.

"What you would call money," the Tin Man replied. "We are at war, and since you cannot earn anything . . ." He stopped and said nothing further.

"I see," Gaius muttered. This, he could understand, and there was little he could do about it. As he explained to Vipsania later, going for walks and going to the library may not be ideal, but they might have to accept it was all they were going to get.

Then things got worse. The Tin Man disappeared, and hence the library or staying at home, were their only two options. Lucilla, in particular, felt the strain. Gaius always seemed to find something interesting, but Lucilla did not. Vipsania also found the library unsatisfactory; she tried to read Ulsian literature, but found that parts were not translated. When she asked why not, she was told there was no satisfactory translation because Latin had no suitable words. This infuriated her, but since her interface at the library was with another metallic Ulsian, there was nothing she could do.

Then two weeks later, the Tin Man reappeared. He invited them back to the site of the steam engine, then announced "I have found you something to do, if you wish."

"What?" Lucilla and Vipsania both asked eagerly.

"Through Timothy's memories," the Tin Man said, "I can reproduce more or less exactly, a number of Greek plays. You can produce them, and gain a payment every time they are shown."

"That won't be often," Gaius smiled. "There can't be a lot of Greek speakers on Ulse."

"On the contrary, they should earn enormous amounts, and you will be rich. The language is not an issue. They will be translated into Ulsian, or any other language."

"By whom?" Vipsania asked. "How many . . ."

"By me," the Tin Man interrupted, "or by a number of other translating machines. There're a huge number of languages in the Ulsian Federation," the Tin man continued, then added, "or at least there were."

"Before the war?"

"Yes. Now we have no idea how many planets have been lost."

"Can I find out more about this war?" Gaius asked. While he was making progress with his sociodynamics, the problem of how to get onto a warship seemed totally insoluble.

"Of course. You may use your screen to find out anything you can understand, although if you wish, I can guide you, and explain things."

"These plays?" Vipsania asked, returning to the first topic directed at her. "How can you find people to act? Gaius is . . well . . . shall we say . . ."

"A man with limited acting talent is what she's trying to say," Gaius offered.

"I'm not trying . . ." Vipsania started defensively.

"It's a fairly accurate picture," Gaius laughed.

"In any case, he's the only man," Vipsania continued. "Gaius trying to pretend to be twenty soldiers fighting another twenty of him might seem, shall we say, a little odd."

"You can make your own actors."

"Make?"

"Create, whatever."

"Make people?" Lucilla asked incredulously.

"No. Make illusions of people," the Tin Man said. "I'll show you. You remember the droll Tiberius?"

"Yes."

"Well, wait a minute," the Tin Man said. He stood there, then said, "There."

"There what?" Vipsania asked.

"Over there."

They followed his finger, and there, on a small rise, stood the figure of Tiberius. The figure bowed.

"That's amazing!" Vipsania said.

"It's a younger Tiberius," Lucilla noted.

"It's how Tiberius looked when Timothy last saw him," the Tin Man said. "You can make the image do whatever you wish. Cartwheels? Watch!"

To their surprise, the image of Tiberius began doing cartwheels.

"You need a storm?" the Tin Man said. "Watch!"

To the west, huge grey clouds began to build up. The wind picked up, until Vipsania found her hair blowing wildly out, and her clothes were driven into one side of her, and billowed out on the other. Suddenly, it began to rain, and water lashed against them. A huge flash of lightning filled the sky, then a second one drove straight into the image of the Tiberius. The body image was flung aside, electric flames licked across it, then the stench of burnt flesh struck them. Then, with a wave, everything was gone, and they were standing in the peaceful sun.