Muses of Roma (Codex Antonius Book 1) (45 page)

With the knowledge of Cordus’s Muses—and the boy’s own blood—Gaia’s Saturnist medicus team created an antidote that helped Dariya’s body defeat the Cariosus. However, the antidote itself was not enough. It only weakened the Cariosus. To eradicate it, Dariya had to endure a way line jump while awake, just like Ocella. She claimed she didn’t remember much about the jump, but Kaeso saw it had changed her, just as it had changed him. She was calmer now, less abrasive with the rest of the crew, especially Lucia. Kaeso believed it was a change for the better, but he knew it bothered Lucia. She missed sparring with Dariya.

Blaesus strode into Cargo One as Kaeso closed the ramp door. “Centuriae, your daughter was breathtaking! I watched her concert on the bands. She has a voice that would make Apollo weep. How she came from your loins, I shall never know.”

“You’ve never heard me sing,” Kaeso said. “I could be very good.”

“Centuriae, you have many talents, but I doubt singing is one of them.”

“Get enough wine in me, and I’ll prove you wrong.”

“Deal! We shall test your voice in the most expensive tavern at the next way station we dock!” Blaesus clapped Kaeso on the back, then left Cargo One.

Kaeso and Ocella entered the corridor and then climbed the ladder up to the command deck. Lucia sat in the pilot’s couch making pre-flight checks on her tabulari. She nodded to Kaeso.

“Centuriae,” she said, then returned to her checklist.

Things had been awkward between them since he came back from the way line jump. She only spoke to him when she had to, and even those times involved the ship or crew. They left many things unsaid just before the jump. It seemed Lucia wanted to forget those things, but her silence told him she couldn’t. Kaeso knew he’d have to face this sooner rather than later.

Kaeso strapped himself into the command couch, while Ocella took Nestor’s place in the delta couch. Nestor was with a Saturnist team searching the Menota system for the way line termini Kaeso saw in the Pomona vaults. So far they had not found any, but they were there. He could still see the way line map in his mind. If what Petra said was true, they had to be found. Humanity could ill afford a surprise Muse invasion from way lines they never knew existed.

Especially now that humanity was in a struggle for survival against itself. Roma was in chaos, with dozens of subject worlds rebelling. Civil war was breaking out amongst the Legions themselves in the fight over succession. The Zhonguo had annexed several Roman systems and made threatening moves toward some of the Lost Worlds. Libertus would take years to rebuild after the siege and was in no shape to resist attacks on its Lost World allies. Humanity had not been this fractured since the days of Marcus Antonius Primus.

“Avita flight control has cleared us for take off,” Lucia announced.

“Ion engines online,” Dariya said over the com. “Wayline engines spooled and ready once we reach orbit.”

From the delta couch behind Kaeso, Ocella said, “Delta systems ready for way line jump.”

Kaeso checked his delta couch readouts and saw that his crew was safely fastened in. “Take us up, Lucia.”

Caduceus
rose above the ships in the Avita yards, hovered two hundred feet above the ground a few moments to wait for another freighter to launch, then shot toward the upper atmosphere. Kaeso watched the rear cameras on his tabulari. The lights of Avita grew smaller until they became a tiny point on the horseshoe continent of Taura.

He was still watching Avita when he engaged delta sleep.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS