Scaevola's Triumph (Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy Book 3) (9 page)

"And there's someone waiting for you?" Vipsania asked sympathetically.

"Oh no," Klendor said. "Anyone I knew on Ulse would be dead for several hundred years, unless they also went off on space voyages." He paused, and nodded towards Lucilla, then said, "It is true. It is impossible for you to go back to your husband."

Lucilla nodded glumly. She had more or less accepted her loss, but acceptance did not mean that her burden was lifted.

There was a silence, then Klendor noted that Gaius was staring at him. "Now what?" he said.

"You've learned Latin?" Gaius exclaimed.

"You've noticed?" Klendor taunted with a strange cackle that Gaius was later to realize was a laugh.

"I'm surprised," Gaius shrugged. "I couldn't learn a language that fast."

"Don't feel inferior," the Tin Man interposed. "If you had access to his equipment, you could too, and if he didn't have such access, he would be as slow as you, if not slower."

"And here was I relishing the thoughts of demonstrating my superiority," Klendor cackled.

"And I'm not going to get access to this equipment," Gaius challenged, "which is how you will maintain your superiority?"

"You can't use it," Klendor said, and stepped back a little. He suddenly realized he had said something he should not have said.

"That is true," the Tin Man said, "at least for the time being."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You learn, and think, through your brain. Do you accept that?"

"I really don't know," Gaius started, then realized that he was going to have to accept a lot very quickly, so he looked at the Tin Man and said, "If you assure me it is true, of course I accept it."

"It is true," the Tin Man said. "Now, Ulsians who have demonstrated the ability to learn have a device implanted in their heads, a small machine if you like, in fact you can think of it as something akin to me, which helps the brain interface with external machines. So Ulsians can learn very fast, although nowhere nearly as fast as I can, of course."

"Of course," Gaius said sarcastically.

"As yet, this cannot be done for you," the Tin man continued, seemingly having failed to notice the sarcasm, "and it is not because Ulsians don't want to, but because no such device has ever been designed for your sort of brain."

"So we're going to be the only ones on Ulse without one of these . . ."

"Yes."

"I see," Gaius muttered.

"You were always going to be different from everyone else," the Tin Man said in a flat tone, "and while the absence of this device will be a significant disadvantage, we can't do anything about it right now."

Gaius felt a little angry, but he realized that anger would be self-defeating. He needed these two to help him when he got down there.

"The presence or absence won't make that much difference to the way you live," Klendor offered. "You can't use the language teachers, and you can't use some other teachers or other certain devices, but you may find slower learning an advantage. It'll give you something to do."

'Oh yes,' Gaius thought, but he kept that to himself.

"I discussed this with Timothy before he died," the Tin Man added. "Accordingly, after he died I extracted his brain and I have preserved it. It may be possible, one day, to have such a device built for you, but I cannot do it."

"You're not allowed to, you mean," Gaius said in a sour tone.

"I meant exactly what I said. I can't!" the Tin Man said. "There are only two places on Ulse itself where this could be done for a new species. And that is not without considerable risk."

"I see," Gaius muttered. What he saw was different from what the Ulsians thought he meant. He always knew they would be second-class citizens on Ulse. That was inevitable, for irrespective of how well treated they were, they could not be Ulsian. Now, however, it appeared that the problem was far deeper than he imagined. There would be a number of things everybody else could do that they could not, simply because the others had mechanical enhancement that they did not have. And, it appeared, there was no way around this problem.

He decided to keep this conclusion to himself. It appeared the others had not realized this yet, and there was no point in adding to their depression. What he had to do was to work out what were the requirements for going home. That was his only priority.

* * *

The waiting in orbit continued, as messages flowed to and fro. The continual level of evasiveness became tiring, and Lucilla had more than once protested that if they were too primitive to be on Ulse, they should be returned to their home planet.

"You will be permitted to land," Klendor kept assuring them. "There is only one thing you will not be able to do."

"Which is?"

"Have children," the Tin Man interposed. "I have informed Ulse about your species. They accept you, but they do not wish to have more of your species. And do not worry. You may continue as you wish. Ulse itself will prevent the formation of children. You will be unaware of how they do it."

"I see," Vipsania said.

"But that's not what's stopping us going down," Gaius said.

"No, it isn't," Klendor said. "The problem is, what to provide for you, and also on what basis do they admit you to Ulsian society."

"You've promised a certain minimum," Lucilla reminded him. "We expect . . ."

"That is not the current issue," Klendor interrupted. "In fact one issue is embarrassing to me."

"They're not going to live up to . . ."

"No," Klendor assured her. "That's not it at all. In fact, they want to make a hero of me, and I've insisted you must share."

"A hero?" Gaius asked. "I can't think that we've done anything heroic, at least not as far as Ulse is concerned. I mean, we didn't even know it existed until . . ."

"I said they'd been fighting a war," Klendor said.

"They haven't?" Gaius asked in amusement.

"It seems it's more like they've been losing a war," Klendor replied. "In fact, the enemy has taken 80 % of the territory in their direction before Ulse even knew there was a war going on."

"That's ridiculous!" Lucilla snorted. "You must know when a war's going on around you."

"All the planets were a long way away," Klendor said, "and . . ." He stopped, as if he was wondering how to continue.

"Let me guess," Gaius offered. "They led surprise raids on a number of planets, and it took several hundred years for the news to reach here, because of this speed of light problem."

"That's part of it," Klendor admitted.

"The other part is that the enemy had prepared well," Gaius continued, "and as soon as they conquered one they set off after the next. If the forces were militarily weak, it might only take a few days to conquer a poorly defended planet with a surprise attack, then they could set off after the next one. The wave of conquests might be travelling almost as fast as the news."

Klendor stared at him, then said, with apparent respect, "That is roughly what happened."

"So Ulse is now building up forces to fight?"

"They are," Klendor said. "Unfortunately . . ."

"They have had some reverses?"

"That is a polite way of summing up," Klendor admitted.

"So why are you a hero?" Vipsania asked curiously.

"Because we've brought home a captive enemy ship," Klendor said. "It's the first captured enemy ship, and we have our first prisoners."

Gaius was at first stunned, then he leaned back and laughed, and muttered something about little boots.

"What's so funny?" Klendor asked, his voice laden with what Gaius was later to recognize as hurt.

"Klendor," Gaius smiled. "You may not think such an event is hugely significant, but if they want to make a hero out of you, take it."

"It's not right," Klendor protested. "When I think of the legends of Ulse . . ."

"Consider the people now," Gaius countered. "If they've been barraged with bad news, even a small success is important. Just think. One Ulsian destroyed one enemy vessel and captured the other. If one can do that, think what the planet could do if it got its mind to it."

"There wouldn't have been any raid at all without you," Klendor replied. "I was outnumbered three to one and I was losing. I . . ."

"Then own up to me," Gaius said. "One Ulsian and one barbarian. Just as good." He paused, then said, "You must understand why I was laughing. We had a situation back in Rome once where something quite humiliating happened. In fact," he shrugged an admission, "the mighty Roman army had to resort to defeating an enemy by making one up, and collecting sea shells to prove it. It was thoroughly embarrassing to everyone, except when the
Princeps
announced it as a victory, everyone accepted it as one because the alternative was too terrible to contemplate."

"This
Princeps
?" Klendor asked. "He was a bureaucratic fool?"

"He was no fool," Gaius replied, "but he wasn't always effective either. This stupid exercise was a way out from admitting he was in danger of losing control. If he'd gone on with his original intentions there could have been a revolt. Now I know the situation is hardly the same, but the principle is. In war, the population wants success. Any success is better than no success. Everybody may see through this, and realize that the capture of one ship and the taking of half a dozen prisoners is hardly likely to alter the outcome of the war, but you have to realize that presenting the population with a hero will raise their spirits, and that may be critical to the outcome."

Klendor was clearly unimpressed, but he accepted the explanation.

Chapter 6

A very large number of orbits passed, and the party became increasingly irritable, then news arrived that they should descend to the planet. By now, any feelings of anticipation, any thrill of the new, had long evaporated. Their faces were quite devoid of enthusiasm as they began to locate their limited belongings before proceeding to the small shuttle sent up to ferry them to the surface. An embarrassed Klendor approached Gaius.

"More bad news?" Gaius asked. He could see from Klendor's face that Klendor was beginning to have regrets about having brought them back to Ulse.

"You must not carry your gladius," Klendor said. "All your property will be protected, but you may not bear arms on Ulse. I'm sorry, but . . ."

"No problem," Gaius shrugged. "That was a law of Rome also."

"You understand law?"

"Rome stood on law," Gaius said, then as he realized Klendor could possibly learn more from the Tin Man, who had Timothy's memories, he added, "although not all Romans kept to the law, and the laws were not always good ones, and they weren't always enforced as fairly as they should have been, but yes, in principle . . ."

"Those problems are not exactly unique to Rome," Klendor nodded with a smile. He pointed to the shuttle door. "So, if you are willing, let me escort you to my planet."

"Go see your wife and friends, eh?" Gaius grinned, as he attempted to raise a smile on the deeply depressed Ulsian face.

"Anyone I knew on Ulse will be long dead," Klendor reminded him.

"I'm sorry. I forgot, and . . ."

"It's fine," Klendor shrugged, as he indicated the seats they should take.

"It isn't really. It's not that I don't care, or even that I don't think. It's just that this is all so new to me, and . . ."

"Don't apologize," Klendor replied. "Coming home is always an emotional problem, but we know that when we leave, and believe me, leaving is far worse."

"How will you find somewhere to live?" Gaius asked, as he buckled into his shuttle seat. "I mean, if you've been away so long, I would have thought . . ."

"I have rooms in a large building," Klendor said, "and my rooms will look exactly the same as when I left, except . . ." Klendor paused, then, after the shuttle detached, added with a rounding of his mouth which Gaius was later to realize was a smile, "it probably won't be in the same place."

"You don't mean they take away your rooms and store them?" Lucilla asked in disbelief.

"No, but for those who travel through space, the rooms you get are the same design. When you leave, your things are stored, after recording where they were. When you come back, they are put back exactly as you left them."

"And in the meantime, someone else uses your room?" Lucilla asked.

"The rooms are used by many over the time," Klendor replied. "Now, if you look out there, we shall soon come below the clouds."

They stared at the view, at first uniformly white, then broken white, then, below, green. In the distance, and to the right, some grey which, as they approached, were clearly buildings.

They saw very little more before the shuttle came in to land. Then, after landing, they seemed to spend quite a long time slowly moving over grey ground, then the shuttle stopped.

"We're here," Klendor announced. "Welcome to Ulse."

As Gaius began to stand up, he became more aware of how heavy he felt. Suddenly, with a sinking feeling, he began to have overwhelming doubts about the whole exercise. There was, however, no option. They shuffled towards the shuttle door, then entered a long corridor. They marched along, then reached a door. Klendor went through it, when a strange roaring noise erupted.

Vipsania stopped in alarm, but Gaius urged her on, whispering that they could hardly stop there. The party walked through the doorway, to be greeted by a huge number of what Lucilla was later to call 'walking tents' on the other side of the barrier. All the Ulsians were covered from head to toe in a loose-fitting garment, in a variety of colours. Then the tents began waving, showing the same sort of hands as Klendor had, and a harsh low-pitched noise started and quickly grew to a roar.

"Are they cheering or are they angry?" Gaius asked the Tin Man.

"Oh, they are cheering," the Tin Man said. "Everyone knows of the capture."

"Then start waving back," Gaius mentioned to Klendor, then to Vipsania and Lucilla, then he turned towards the crowd, and waved to acknowledge.