Chapter 95
Lester: “The hermit's chapel, the pilgrim's prayer”
There was rejoicing in the Capitol, but he did not rejoice. So many decisions had been made. Everyone seemed to have gotten something. Jeffrey got to rule a country – the new Honcho got to go back to his people unscathed. The Governor got the beginning of a new Union. And Xander got the founding of his new School. He hadn't decided on a name for it, as far as Lester knew. But workers were already clearing out a couple of floors near the top of the building, under Aria's gardens, and for all he knew the old wizard would be off soon hoping to find some promising youngsters to form their first class of student wizards.
But what do I get, Xander? he grumbled mentally, as he plodded his way back to the quarters he shared with the wizard. He still could barely believe Aria had made the suggestion that had started the consolidation. How could she do it?
Xander opened the door before Lester could grasp the doorknob. “I thought you might need to talk,” he said.
Lester threw himself on a chair. “How can she do it? How can she marry that, that – “
“That ruler of Texas?”
Lester collapsed. “Yes. She doesn't want to be an empress! Sometimes I think she doesn't even want to be Governor. So why would she marry him? She doesn't know him well enough for it to be love.”
Outside, the column of six tanks were still lined up across from them. Lester tried to imagine the consternation the guards must have felt when he and Xander led the vehicles up the street to where they were parked. It had not been easy telling Jeffrey that his father was dead. It had been even harder getting him to come to the Governor's building.
The tanks had provided the solution. They were drawn up in an orderly line, but they had their orders. If Jeffrey was not allowed to come out of the building by sunrise, they were to assume he was dead and swivel their guns ninety degrees and begin blasting the building.
This plan had accomplished two goals. First, it had helped give Jeffrey the confidence to go into the lioness's den. But even more importantly, it had effectively immobilized the tanks while he was in there, preventing them from going off to demolish more of the city, or at least the parts that the Fall and the invasion had not yet toppled.
They were still waiting. Dawn was a few hours away. There would still be enough time for the clauses to be negotiated, and for the ink to dry on the new official documents. And for the announcements of the engagement to be prepared.
But what do I get? “How can she do it?” he repeated.
Xander sat down across from him and got out his pipe. “By thinking about her people,” he said, loading the pipe. “In the old days, alliances were often sealed by marriage.”
Lester didn't look at him. “I mean, yes, the part about leaving the tanks here was clever. Without the tanks, their fuel is useless and without the fuel, we can't use them either. But why do they have to get married?”
Xander lit the pipe with a touch of tonespace and took a couple of puffs before answering. “Either country could still attack the old fashioned way. This will help put an end to that. Their children will be heirs to both thrones.”
“The Governor doesn't have a throne!”
“No,” Xander agreed. “But you know what I mean. It's a good deal for both countries, belonging to the new Union. They have more farmland and a longer growing season. We have more metals.”
“And your school. Tell me something. Are you going to accept students from Texas? The only reason we survived this invasion was the fact that we had wizards and they didn't.”
“Actually,” Xander pointed out, “they did have one. Fortunately for us, he never mastered making swizzles, or they might have shown up even sooner, before my tank pit was ready.”
Lester scowled. “Ludlow. Because of him, we nearly lost. I wish he hadn't gotten away the way he did, once he saw the way things were going, when we showed up to talk to Jeffrey.”
Xander nodded. “He'll never be the wizard you are, but he did learn the invisibility weave. Just be glad he didn't have more tricks up his sleeve.” Xander puffed again. “You know,” he said, “I think he was planning to vanish, so to speak, even if the invasion had succeeded. He would have been eliminated the moment the Honcho didn't need him any more. He knew Martinez didn't want a future depending on wizards. ”
“Does anyone? I mean, I'm glad you're finally going to get the school started and all, but will regular folk ever accept people like us?”
Xander shrugged. “It may take a while. But one thing I know is, they'll accept what we can give them.”
Lester sighed. “How's that?”
Xander blew a smoke ring. “The Ancients had a powerful civilization, no question about that. But it was like having a fireplace with no chimney. They factories, their cars, their shops and planes all depended on burning fuels and spewing the combustion products back into the atmosphere. You can't do that forever, not without consequences. The atmosphere isn't infinite. Sooner or later they would have choked on all the poisons they were creating.”
“But we still do that. Well, maybe not the factories and cars. But everyone burns firewood to stay warm.”
“Soon they won't. One of the things our School will do is turn out things like everflames and give them away to families so they can heat their homes without burning up trees and making smoke.” Xander smiled. “Think about it. We can plug up the chimneys and keep all the hot air inside the houses. And the same principle will apply to the forges and so on. Soon we'll have factories again, but this time they won't spew anything but products.”
Xander's eyes appeared to be gazing at something far away. “And soon, when we're ready, we'll go out into space again. We'll go looking for the Tourists, or for people on worlds around other stars.”
Lester got up and went to the window. Looking down, on the street, he saw a tiny figure that might have been Jeffrey go out to talk to the tank commanders.
“Looks like he's finally telling them peace has been declared,” he remarked. “Do you really think we can trust him to convince his officers that this Union is a good idea?”
“Yes,” said Xander. “Because he knows something you don't know.”
Lester turned and glared at him. “Still keeping secrets from me?”
“No, I'm telling you now because there wasn't a chance to before.”
“Telling me what?”
“That we can refuel those tanks any time we want to. The old Honcho's engineers weren't the only ones with access to old manuals. Those tanks down there,” he gestured with his pipe at the window, “are based on the Abrams M1A2 design. Their engines are gas turbines with over sixteen hundred horsepower.”
None of this meant anything to Lester. He tried to imagine hundreds of horses pulling a tank. “So what?” He came back to his chair and sat down again.
“The point is,” the wizard continued, “they still have most of their ammunition and the engines are a 'multifuel' design, meaning they can burn several kinds of fuel, not just diesel or gasoline. From what I've read, we can probably fuel them up by fermenting alcohol from spare crops and roll 'em into Texas if we ever need to renegotiate.”
“We don't have any spare crops,” Lester pointed out.
“Jeffrey doesn't know that. So yes, I think we can trust him to cooperate.”
They sat in silence for awhile. “So how did it feel?”
Lester looked up. “How did what feel?”
“Killing Brutus.”
“How did it feel to kill the Honcho?” Lester countered.
“That was different,” said Xander. “It wasn't revenge, just something that had to happen. He'd never have given up his dreams of Empire.”
“I never killed anyone before, but I think I can live with it.”
“But it wasn't even a duel, really. You gave him no chance at all.”
“Should I have? I gave him as much chance as he gave my father. All right, I didn't do it for the Governor. It was revenge, pure and sel
fish. I'm not sorry I did it.”
“Well,” said Xander, “you might have a delayed reaction. Still might feel guilty.”
“I doubt it.”
“Maybe you should take some time off from your studies, just in case.”
Lester leaned back in his chair. “Oh, I intend to. Before we get started with the school, I need to go back to Inverness and tell my mom he's dead.” He glanced at Xander. “Okay, maybe it won't make her happy. But she'll have closure.”
“Either way, it'll be good for her to see the man you're becoming. I know you didn't intend it, but the way Brutus died got you some attention. There's a newsman, a fellow here with a manual printing press, and his latest handbill calls you 'LeStar', if you can believe that.”
“Great,” Lester groaned. Made famous by someone who can't even spell my name.”
“Just be sure you get back here soon,” said Xander. “We need to start the school, and I think it's time to start you on learning spinspace. Since one day you'll be teaching it.”
“I know. There's always more work to do.”
---- 6:21PM EST 10/22/2014 Crystal River, FL
Keep reading for a peek at the next novel in The metaspace Chronicles: SPINSPACE
Spinspace: The Space of Spins
Volume 2 of The Metaspace Chronicles
by Matthew R. Kennedy
Copyright © 2015 by Matthew R. Kennedy
Pathspace Page 95