Muses of Roma (Codex Antonius Book 1) (21 page)

Kaeso didn't know how to make his crew understand what it was like to live on Libertus. Yes, it was a wealthy world. Its economy was bigger than all the Lost Worlds combined, its cultural output one of its largest exports, its cities and islands a source of tourism revenue that kept it from taxing its own citizens like every other world or nation.

But it lay between two hostile empires—Roma and the Zhonguo—who would like nothing better than to take the Liberti jewel for their own treasure vaults. As a school child, Kaeso endured constant drills of running to bombardment shelters. He remembered speeches from Liberti Senators thanking the gods and the
numina
for protecting Libertus from foreign invasion. Without a large space fleet, the only weapons Libertus had were economic, cultural, and diplomatic. Those seemed like a flimsy shield to most Liberti. Since they could not fathom why Libertus was still free, they just assumed the planet had the gods’ favor. In some ways the Liberti were more religious than the Romans. Their “religion” was to work hard and make a lot of money. If they did that, they would continue to enjoy the gods’ protection.

“That’s why Umbra encourages those
numen
legends,” Kaeso continued. “To make other nations think twice about attacking. Umbra is in almost every nation in human space. It listens to politicians, military leaders, and the ruling classes. When someone advocates an aggressive policy toward Libertus...Umbra takes care of the problem. No need for large space fleets or wars when you can take away your enemy's desire to attack you.”

Blaesus frowned. “I suppose it is more humane than targeting entire cities and worlds. Dishonorable, but humane.”

Nestor asked, “How did Umbra get all this 'magical' technology to fight its secret wars? I've been to Libertus. It is more prosperous than most worlds, yet its technology is not that different. Are you saying the gods have favored Umbra with tech that not even the Romans have?”

Kaeso hesitated. Speaking of Umbra, a crime worth assassination under normal circumstances, was one thing. But to discuss the Muses, secret alien allies of Libertus since its founding, would be stretching Fortuna's grace. Kaeso decided to be cautious and keep the Muses to himself.

“Libertus is a prosperous world,” Kaeso said. “Prosperity brings many things most worlds don't have, like a good education system. What can I say, the Liberti are clever.”

Blaesus snorted. “My Roman heart takes offense, since it’s widely known Romans are the most clever race in the universe. But my Roman brain concedes that if half of what you say is true, then the Liberti must be
very
clever.”

Kaeso grinned. “Only you could admit a shortcoming while also complimenting yourself.”

“One of my many talents.”

“So why does Umbra
really
want us to go to Terra?” Lucia asked. “It's sure not out of concern for Dariya.”

“You're right,” Kaeso said. “You heard some of it yesterday.”

Kaeso glared at Blaesus. The old Senator shrugged. “It's not my fault you don't know how to keep your voice down.”

“So it's true,” Lucia said. “They want us to kidnap the Consular Heir. They must be mad. It's impossible. There's no way we can get close to him.”

“The Consular Heir wants to defect to Libertus,” Kaeso said.

The crew stared at him in stunned silence. Blaesus and Lucia shifted in their seats. While they did not practice most Roman religious rituals, they were still Roman, taught from birth that the Consular Family, especially the Antonii, were gods. That was a hard faith to abandon. Even when the belief was no longer there.

“The Consular Family,” Blaesus said, “rarely leaves their walled palace on the Palatine. An army of Praetorian Guardsmen protects them. They cannot just come and go as they please. Many attempts have been made to infiltrate the Consular Palace over the centuries. None have succeeded.”

“None that you know of,” Kaeso replied.

“Well perhaps your Umbra comrades have found a way, if they're as all-knowing as you say they are. But getting in is one thing. Getting the Consular Heir out is another.”

“He's already out,” Kaeso said. “Three weeks ago, an Ancile got him out of the palace. They've been on the run ever since. At least, that was their status before the Romans attacked Libertus.”

“That is why the Romans attacked Libertus?” Blaesus asked. “Because they think Umbra has the Consular Heir?”

“It’s not just that,” Kaeso said. “Being the Consular Heir, he knows things about the Roman government even Umbra doesn’t know. Supposedly he wants to tell Libertus everything. Including this cure for Cariosus.”

Lucia shook her head. “It just doesn't make sense. A member of the Consular Family doesn't defect. Especially the godsdamned Heir. Why does he want to leave Roma? It's never happened.”

“We don't know,” Kaeso said, “but whatever information he has, the Romans are willing to go to war with Libertus to get him back.”

Nestor asked, “Our deal for Liberti citizenship? Does that still stand after…” He glanced at Lucia, who frowned.

“There are few things Umbra believes in,” Kaeso said. “One of them is sticking to their contracts. They will honor the deal I made with Galeo.”

The rest of the crew seemed unconvinced. Blaesus drummed his fingers on the table, Lucia stared at her hands, and Daryush kept glancing out the door. Kaeso himself was unconvinced.
I have to trust in the deal I made with the Muses. It’s the only way I can save my crew…and get back into Umbra.

Nestor nodded thoughtfully, then said, “What if I told you there was another way?”

“What do you mean?”

“There may be a third party that would like to meet the Consular Heir.”

“The Zhonguo?” Kaeso asked. “Of course they’d love to get their hands on the Heir.”

“Not the Zhonguo.”

Kaeso stared at Nestor, who held his gaze without speaking. A strange look came over the medicus, one Kaeso never saw before. The medicus usually avoided eye contact with those whom he conversed. This time the medicus stared directly at Kaeso, and it was Kaeso who wanted to turn away from those hard eyes. But he held Nestor's gaze and asked again, “What do you mean?”

“I will tell you,” Nestor said. “But first you must tell us the whole story of Umbra. And do not forget the Muses.”

Kaeso stared at Nestor as if seeing him for the first time. He sat straighter in his chair, and seemed more confident. This was not the skittish medicus Kaeso had known for two years.

“Who are you?” Kaeso asked.

Nestor licked his lips. “I am the same man you've always known, Centuriae. I'm Nestor Samaras, a medicus from New Athens and a Pantheon priest. I also belong to a society that wants to free humanity from slavery.”

Blaesus grunted. “You’re an abolitionist?”

“Yes, but that’s not the slavery I’m referring to,” Nestor said, staring at Kaeso.

Kaeso narrowed his eyes. “You're a Saturnist.”

Nestor nodded once, then smiled.

Over 150 years ago, the Saturnists popped up on Libertus with stories that the government had aliens inside their brains. They were a joke to most Liberti, but Umbra took them seriously. Over the next few decades, Umbra systematically wiped them out so that now hardly anybody on Libertus knew what a “Saturnist” was.

Blaesus threw up his hands. “Am I the only one on this ship who's
not
in some secret organization?” He looked at Lucia. “Are you in a secret organization?”

Lucia turned to Nestor. “What is a Saturnist?”

“Centuriae,” Nestor said to Kaeso, “it would make more sense to them if you told your story first.”

Umbra conditioning taught Kaeso to distrust or ignore Saturnist propaganda. When Kaeso was in Umbra, they knew Saturnists still existed, but the group was so marginalized and scattered that Umbra didn’t think them worth the resources to hunt down.

Now Kaeso had a self-professed Saturnist on his ship.

“No,” he said.

Nestor shrugged. “I am going to tell them my side of the story, and it will leave them with questions you’ll have to answer sooner or later.”

“Jupiter’s cock,” Blaesus exclaimed. “
Somebody
start talking!”

Kaeso glared at Nestor. The Greek medicus returned Kaeso’s glare with a nonplussed gaze.

How fast could I kill him before he—?

Kaeso shook away that thought, horrified it even came to him.
Why?
the old Ancile in him asked.
It’s what you were good at.

Kaeso ground his teeth, keenly aware Nestor and the crew were watching him. “If I tell you what Nestor wants me to tell you,” Kaeso said, looking from Daryush to Blaesus to Lucia, “then it’s possible you will have a permanent death mark on your heads. Umbra may track you down and kill you for hearing this.”

All three looked at each other. Blaesus asked, “What are the chances they won't kill us for knowing their name?”

“The deal I made with the Navigator might prevent that. The key word is
might
, especially after…” Kaeso glanced at Lucia again.

She slammed one hand on the table. “If I could take it back I would, but I can’t. He’s going to live, so could we just move past it and figure out what to do now?”

Kaeso knew she was right about focusing on their future plans and not the past. But he would not let her off as easy as she wanted.

“If I tell you the rest,” Kaeso continued, “I don’t know if my deal with the Navigator will protect you when they find out what you know.”

“How will they know?” Lucia said. “Who will tell them?” Lucia glanced around the room, her gaze resting on Nestor.

Nestor shook his head. “You have nothing to fear from me. Umbra would kill me too if I went to them with this. Never mind the fact they would kill me for being a Saturnist.”

“It’s me,” Kaeso said. They all turned to him, and Kaeso explained how his reactivated implant worked.

Blaesus sighed. “So according to you, our only hope to survive this is to extract the Consular Heir from Roma and hand him over to your Umbra people.”

“Yes,” Kaeso said.

“But even then,” Blaesus continued, “they may still kill us for knowing about these ‘Muses.’”

“Yes.”

Blaesus turned to Nestor. “And you, whoever
you
are, say we can avoid an assassin’s bullet and give the Heir to your ‘Saturnist’ friends.”

“I cannot guarantee against a bullet from Umbra,” Nestor said, “but, yes, you will be more protected by my people than if you work with Umbra.”

Blaesus sat back and folded his arms. “Well I don’t trust either of you.”

They all stared at each other for several long moments, and Kaeso didn’t have long before Nestor began spewing whatever Saturnist propaganda his people assumed about the Muses. Then Kaeso would have to refute those claims, but from a defensive position.

They’re going to know anyway,
he thought.
They should at least know the truth.

He looked at his crew and said, “The Liberti are no more clever than any other human nation. But we were lucky, because we colonized a planet with intelligent alien life.”

Blaesus and Lucia leaned forward in their chairs, while Nestor settled back with a satisfied smile.

“We call them the Muses,” Kaeso said. “They’ve never told us their real name. They seem to like being compared to the gods of inspiration.”

“How has Libertus kept this secret so long?” Blaesus asked. “
Bona Dea
, people have been searching for alien intelligence since before humans left Terra. What do they look like?”

“A bit like influenza.”

“Wait,” Lucia said. “They look like a giant virus?”

“No, they
are
a virus.”

Blaesus's eyes widened. “The Muses are an intelligent alien
virus
?”

“That's right,” Kaeso said.
I pray to the gods I’ve not just killed you all.

“Fascinating,” Blaesus said. “So they infect people? How do they communicate? When did the Liberti discover—?”

Kaeso held up his hands. “It would take days for me to tell you everything. Here's what you need to know right now. Umbra's tech comes from the Muses’ ancient wisdom. The Muses infect human volunteers—we call them Vessels—and pass that wisdom on. The Vessels communicate tech designs to Umbra engineers who make it a reality.”

Lucia stared at him. “Are you a, um...”

“No I'm not,” Kaeso said, “but the Navigator is.”

“The Navigator has this alien virus in him right now?” Lucia asked. “Is that why he's healing so fast?”

Kaeso nodded. “Among other things, the Muses transform their host’s metabolism and cellular structure. Makes them virtually immune to other diseases, and helps them heal faster than normal humans.”

Kaeso turned to Nestor. “There. Now your turn.”

Nestor cleared his throat. “A succinct description of an intelligence that has enslaved humanity.”

“‘Slavery,’” Kaeso grunted. “I call it protection. You cannot deny that Libertus has enjoyed unprecedented freedom and prosperity with the Muses’ help.”

“Of course you're prosperous,” Nestor said. “For now. But you are not free. Have you ever asked what the price will be? Did you ever ask what the so-called Muses want from you? I can assure you they're not helping Libertus out of the goodness of their nucleic hearts.”

“They thrive on experience, on wisdom,” Kaeso said. “Every Vessel they infect gives them a lifetime of memories the Muses record in their collective consciousness. Experience to them is like gold to us. That is how we pay them.”

“Ah, Centuriae,” Nestor said, “you’ve bought the lie as well.”

“Fine,” Kaeso said. “What do
you
think they want?”

Nestor smiled. “That is the question we Saturnists have been trying to answer for the last thousand years.”

“I told you, the original Liberti colonists discovered the Muses when they settled the planet two centuries ago.”

“True,” Nestor said, leaning forward. “But the Muses have been with
humanity
a lot longer. My friend, the Muses infected Roma first.”