Scaevola's Triumph (Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy Book 3) (6 page)

"Then tell the Ulsian we must immediately go to that warship in the enemy's ferry and capture it," Gaius said. "Once they realize their men . . . or whatever they call themselves, have failed, they may well destroy this ship."

There was a further discussion, then the Tin Man said, "The Ulsian agrees with your analysis, however he wants to know why you wish to go?"

"I am protecting my wife and sister," Gaius said. "Tell him I think he needs help. He did here, anyway."

"And not for revenge?"

"Timothy is a casualty of battle," Gaius said, then suddenly he realized. "Tell him if I were so keen on revenge, I would have killed the other while I was standing on him."

"You looked like you were going to."

"I had no idea how to ask him to surrender," Gaius replied. "I assure you, though, I could have killed him if I wanted to."

"Now," the Tin Man said, "about Timothy."

"Vipsania will keep him company in his last minutes," Gaius replied. He looked at Timothy, and said, "I must go, old friend, to help save the rest. You do understand?"

Timothy nodded, and waved him away with his other hand.

"I cannot save him, that is true," the Tin Man said, "but I can do something else." He looked at Timothy. "I can take everything that is in your brain, and store it."

"Store it?" Timothy gasped. "What do you mean?"

"All the information in your brain, your very essence, will be stored . . . I can't explain how, because as yet you wouldn't understand."

"And me?"

"I'm afraid there cannot be a new Timothy," the Tin Man said. "On Ulse, it would be possible to make a repaired Timothy, but not here. However, in one sense, you will live on. That information could be critical to helping to keep your friends alive, and some of you will live on." He paused, then added. "There is a price, though."

"Which is?" Timothy gasped. He writhed in pain, and coughed a little blood.

"It will kill you immediately and it will be painless," the Tin Man said. "The alternative is that I could keep you alive for maybe a day and −"

"Do it!" Timothy said at once. He turned and looked towards Gaius, and said "Farewell, Gaius. May the Gods be with you."

"Farewell," Gaius said. He took Timothy's hand, squeezed it, and stepped back, a tear coming from his left eye. The Tin Man picked up Timothy and effortlessly carried him away.

"Gaius?" The Ulsian was standing in front of him, and pointing.

"Yes."

He pointed towards himself, and said, "Klendor."

Gaius understood this to be the Ulsian's name, so he pointed to the Ulsian, and said, "Klendor?"

The Ulsian nodded in the affirmative.

"Then, Klendor, let's go."

Klendor stood there, and shook his head in the negative.

"But . . ." Gaius started in frustration.

Klendor held up his hand, and to Gaius' surprise, there were four fingers, but thumbs on each side. He did something, which removed the view on one wall, then indicated that Gaius should stand in front of the wall. He stood before a screen, and spoke into it.

Gaius stared at the screen, then saw writing:
Gaius, you must wait for further equipment
.

"The enemy may not wait," Gaius said to the Ulsian, who in turn pointed at the screen.

They are now enquiring as to progress
.

"Then at least I suggest a subterfuge," Gaius replied. "Tin Man! Can you hear me?"

Writing immediately appeared on the screen,
Of course. I told you I am effectively the ship
. Then, from nowhere came the Tin Man's voice, "I can talk to you wherever you are on this ship."

"Send back a message, in their language, that we, that is, their men, have found some important military information, and one of them is bringing it back to secure it on their ship."

There was further conversation with Klendor, who eventually nodded in agreement, and continued talking.

"Klendor wishes to know why you feel you should command," the Tin Man said. "He is a soldier, and commands ten ships."

"Tell Klendor operational command is not an issue," Gaius replied. "Klendor will effectively command over there because he knows what is involved with space ships, but also tell him that I am a soldier, I commanded six thousand, and in my whole career, with worst odds of five to one against and best odds even, I have yet to lose a battle. Tell him I do not expect to lose now."

There was more conversation, and Klendor stared at Gaius. The Tin Man's voice returned, "I told him, and I also added that you realized that ten ships means more than the thirty-odd crew. I have also told the other ship that we have finally managed to remove this object from the ship's wall, and one of them will be crossing back in a few minutes."

"Thank you," Gaius said. He and Klendor looked at each other, and Gaius felt he had never been so frustrated in his life. There were so many questions he wished to ask, and so far all he had was the alien's name. He was not even sure whether this was a first name or a cognomen. There was nothing to do but wait.

Eventually the Tin man reappeared, carrying something that looked like clothes. "Put these on," he said to Gaius.

"What are these for?" Gaius asked.

"It's not ideal," the Tin Man said, "but Klendor insisted. As best I can describe in your language, it is armour, and it will protect you, to some extent, from the enemy's weapons. My advice is, wear it but don't rely on it. It has been made in a hurry, and it's not perfect."

"I understand," Gaius nodded.

"Klendor also apologizes, but he says you will have to rely on your gladius. We could make you a more modern weapon, but we can't adapt you to using it on this ship, and . . ."

"What d'you mean by adapt me?" Gaius asked suspiciously.

"Don't worry! It isn't going to happen, and it takes too long to explain now. In any case, as Klendor noted, you appear to have discovered a weapon their armour does not protect against, and since you know how to use it, that will have to do."

"That's fine."

"Then good luck, Gaius. Time for you to go. Please do what Klendor indicates with his hand signals."

"Of course," Gaius replied. "Tell him the Roman soldier is nothing if not disciplined."

There was a further conversation that Gaius could not understand, then Klendor signalled. Gaius followed to the hatch, through the outer hatch, and into a very much smaller cabin. Gaius noted that while Klendor had spare headroom, the seats were far too narrow for him. Gaius, however, almost had to resort to crawling on hands and knees. Klendor indicated a seat at the rear. Gaius nodded, crawled towards it, and sat in it. It came as no surprise to him that he did not fit at all well, but at least the seat was low, his head was below the ceiling, and there was room to splay his feet. Then Klendor reached over him, fitted a harness around him, moved to the front seat, harnessed himself, then did something that closed the hatch. There was a shudder, and the ferry departed.

Immediately Gaius felt himself become weightless. The front of the ferry gave the only view of outside, and soon the other ship filled what little of this view there was. Then there was space, the stars of which began to roll, then the side of the ship seemed to fill the view. Gaius was certain there would be a collision, and in a sense there was for there was a light clang as the ferry docked. Klendor did something that released the harness, then indicated to Gaius that he should get behind him. Gaius crawled forward, with Klendor watching with what Gaius later realized was a broad Ulsian grin at his awkwardness. When he was in position, with his gladius in his hand, Klendor did something, the hatch opened, and Klendor thrust himself out, throwing himself directly into the body of the alien who intended to greet them.

The alien was completely surprised, and was unarmed. In physical strength he was no match for Klendor, and after a quick blow the alien slumped to the floor, unconscious. Gaius leaned over, pulled a tie from the alien's robe, and tied the hands behind the back, and to the feet. Klendor nodded in approval, then signalled they should advance.

They moved quickly to the forward part of what to Gaius seemed to be an empty ship. Nothing moved, and there were no surprises. They reached a small flight of stairs, and Klendor cautiously began to climb, but nobody appeared. They reached the bridge door, paused, then after a number of hand gestures that merely puzzled Gaius, Klendor flung it open and they charged in. As a total anti-climax, the bridge was empty.

A brief examination by Klendor found that the ship was flying on auto so that it kept parallel to the target. Klendor made a signal that all was secure there and they should proceed to the rear of the ship. Whether Gaius actually understood was not clear but he followed obediently. They then searched back along the ship and found the next part pathetically simple; the remaining two crew members were in their separate quarters, sleeping. It was a simple matter for Klendor to roll each of them over and pin them while again Gaius tied their arms and legs

A careful examination showed that there was no other life on board, and since the flight was programmed to follow the target ship, Klendor indicated they should ferry the aliens back. Gaius had no objection and, as he remarked later, even if he had one, he had no means of making it. At least he knew there were lockable cages on the cargo ship. They bundled the aliens into the ferry, and once again Klendor piloted the ship. They docked, and when they entered, Gaius found Vipsania waiting.

"Thank the Gods you're back safely," she said. Then she looked at him with a touch of expectation, and asked, "You succeeded?"

"Dead easy," Gaius shrugged, then added, "not that I actually did much." He turned to the Ulsian and said, "This is Klendor." He pointed to his wife, looked at Klendor, and said, "Vipsania."

The Ulsian bowed, then said, "
Ave
, Vipsania."

"You speak Latin?" Gaius looked perplexed.

"You have heard his entire vocabulary," the Tin Man intervened. "He asked me for that word, just in case. However, he will learn Latin."

"What happens now?" Gaius asked.

"Provided you accept this, and I beg you to, we shall accelerate and travel to Ulse. I suggest we provide you with quarters that are more comfortable than your last ones, I try to prepare you better food, you do whatever you can to get tired, then you get some sleep. When you wake up, we shall be there, or at least nearly there."

"We're that close?" Gaius asked.

"We're a few hundred years away. It will take about twelve hours to get up to speed, a few of your days to get there, and about fifteen hours to decelerate down. But once you go to sleep, I shall ensure you sleep comfortably until we are there."

"Timothy?"

"He's dead," Vipsania said, and held Gaius' arm.

"However," the Tin Man said, "I have his memories. Anything he knew, I know, and if you wish, I can converse with you in the way he would have. I can . . ."

"No," Gaius said firmly.

"No?"

Gaius sighed, and turned to the Tin Man. "For me, Timothy is dead. By all means, remember things, but do not pretend to be Timothy. It would hurt me too much."

"As you wish," the Tin Man said. "Now, you agree to go to Ulse?"

"Do I have a choice?" Gaius asked, in a weary tone.

"It would be a lot better if you agreed voluntarily," the Tin man said, almost emphatically.

"You said, we could not go back and see our friends because by the time we got there, they would have been dead for hundreds of years."

"That is true."

"If you can explain in words I can understand, and conditional upon certain assurances as to our safety once we get there, then we shall volunteer on the grounds that this assists you."

There was a silence, then the Tin Man began to speak to Klendor. After some further discussion, the Tin Man turned towards Gaius and asked, "What do you mean, assurances?"

Gaius noticed that Klendor seemed quite interested in the response to this. He turned to the Tin Man and said, "I wish it to be recorded that when others come to live in Roman territories under Rome's request, their safety is guaranteed, they are looked after as high status citizens, and they are treated as representatives of their civilization, while encouraged to learn and participate in what they can of Roman life. I wish a guarantee that we shall be treated accordingly. Otherwise I wish you to return us from where we were illegally taken."

There was a further conversation, then the Tin Man said, "Klendor approves of your request and it is so noted. It so happens that request triggers an Ulsian law, and it so happens that Klendor has just sufficient rank to approve the request. He does so, and it is hereby recorded that Ulse is now so committed under its own laws. Now, I shall try to explain the reason why your friends cannot be alive when you return. This is difficult because you do not even have clocks."

"And a clock is?"

"Something that measures time."

"We have water clocks," Gaius said. "Amongst other things, they measure the time of men's shifts."

"How do they work?" The Tin Man asked.

"They have a large tank that narrows towards the top, and you fill them to the mark. At the bottom is a very thin tube, from which the water exits as a regular drip."

"That's adequate," the Tin Man said. "Now, suppose you are beside a large lake, and every time a drip drops, something makes a huge wave on the water. Can you visualize that?"

"That is clear," Gaius nodded.

"So every drip leads to a wave going out across the water. Label that wave one, the next wave, two and so on."

"If you say so."

"Now," the Tin Man said, "what do you know about the speed of light?"

"According to Empedocles, a Greek," Gaius said slowly, "the speed of light is fundamental to physics."