I
CAESAR
162 Years Before the End
The noise was deafening.
He had only been awake for a few hours, yet he couldn't shut out the noise. He finally regained his vision but the sounds were painful and distracting.
"Claude?" he said. He wasn't sure if he actually spoke, so he said it again, louder, "Claude?!"
He heard footsteps. Over the din in his mind, he heard the man running. The door opened. As with each sound that was made, now that Caesar looked, he saw every detail of every move Claude made.
"Yes, my lord?" He started to speak before the door was even open fully. He stepped two paces into the room. His hands were clasped above his belt. The finely attired young man's fingers were twitching. Rubbing over each other. Caesar heard his skin scrape. A raw, rough noise that echoed in the room and shook the static that racked his ears.
"Must you do that?" Caesar asked.
"I'm sorry, dominus." Claude's eyes darted around. He didn't seem to know where to look.
Damn it, Caesar thought. He could hear the wet click of the boy's eyeballs as they moved in their sockets.
"Never mind," Caesar said. He tried again to close his ears. The sound lessened a bit. "When will the doctor return?"
The attendant lowered his head. "Another hour or so, lord. He said he would at dawn."
Caesar believed he sighed first and then said, "Bring him now."
"Of course, lord." Claude bowed and began to back through the door. He closed it slowly and carefully, but the snapping of the mechanism and the pressing of wood upon wood reverberated in his leader's mind.
Caesar tried again to shut his senses. The noise dwindled. The sights slowed. Finally, after hours of pain, he had achieved some measure of peace. He didn't want to think about anything. He simply wanted to enjoy the moment.
Step, step, step …
His senses returned and a cacophony of chatter, clanking and footfalls broke through his concentration. He looked and saw natural light had returned. It was almost dawn. He had rested for more than an hour.
"My lord," Claude said as he entered the room, "Doctors Aelianus and Donovan."
A man and woman, dressed in their typical neck-to-toe blue smocks, walked into the room gingerly. Two Praetorian Guards entered as well. They swept to either side of the door and their rifles thunked against the plastic armor by their shoulders when they saluted.
The doctors circled Caesar and looked at him slowly. The guards stood at attention but they were distracted. Like Claude earlier, they didn't seem to be able to concentrate. Their eyes noisily moved around the room. They couldn't focus on any one thing for longer than a few moments.
Caesar tired of their shifting and he ordered, "Leave us."
One guard looked to the other and spoke, "Lord, are you certain?"
"Go."
They snapped to attention, their armor clinking again, and saluted with their fists above their hearts. They turned, opened the door and left. Caesar heard them stop just outside.
"Imperator," Donovan began, quietly, "how are you feeling?"
"The noise is unbearable. I hear everything. Footsteps floors away, a guard cracking his knuckles in another room, your quickened heartbeat, Doctor Aelianus."
"I am sorry," she whispered.
"Don't apologize," Caesar said. "Fix it."
Donovan spoke, "We will do all we can." He pulled a small device from his smock and held it against the leader's side. "Your sight?"
"It is equally sensitive yet I am able to control it more easily."
"Good." Donovan walked a bit more. "Your sense of smell?"
Caesar had to think. What was the last thing he smelled? The incense being burned in his room … but that was days ago. "I don't believe it's working."
"We'll look at it."
Aelianus held her hands behind her back, "How are you feeling?"
The leader felt a rush of anger. "Have I not been speaking to that?"
She got nervous and nearly took a step back. "Yes, but, I mean, how do you feel? Your emotions, the ease of your thoughts …"
Caesar understood. "Of course. Apologies, doctor." She nodded. "The haze I felt for so long has been lifted. There is no obstacle between the desire for a memory and its recall."
"Very good."
"Emotionally," he began, "I am, obviously, still sensitive. I feel prone to anger. That has not been my way."
"Of course not, lord," Donovan said.
Caesar's attention turned toward him. Anger flashed again. Sarcasm? He told himself to relax. "I do feel anxious, though."
"You feel energetic?"
"Yes," Caesar said. "For the first time in years."
Aelianus said, "That is very good."
"Let us discuss my mobility."
Donovan glanced at his colleague and then he looked at his device again, "We have gone over that before, imperator. It may be some time."
Caesar shut down his senses to contain his surging emotions. "I cannot wait months and years for you to pray on bended knee for miracles that may never arrive."
"I understand …"
"I feel trapped in this room already," Caesar continued. "I've only been conscious for six hours yet I feel caged."
"Understandable," Aelianus said.
"Then help me."
Donovan inhaled deeply and slowly. "What you ask is possible, but difficult. We don't have the means …"
"Find the means."
Donovan lowered his hands and stepped back. "The finest minds in Tiberia are working on this, lord."
"Insufficient!" The doctors cowered at the Caesar's volume. "Narrow-minded fools such as you have failed me before. Not now!" They flinched and winced at the sharp sound. "I will scour Larsa for the solution, if I must."
The doctors bowed before the large, gray and black box that housed the emperor's mind. Slowly, they approached again and took readings on the unit. Lights flashed as Caesar thought. Judging by their rapidity, he was thinking quite a bit.
II
BARAZ
162 Years Before the End
Karin Baraz sat in the lobby. Her legs were crossed and her wrist dangled over the edge of her briefcase. Her long finger flicked at the clasp every ten seconds. She was precise about that. She counted it in her head.
A man walked past and she watched him go. She didn't recognize him. She didn't lose count, though. Baraz flicked the clasp again, right on time.
"Lunch is still on schedule, yes?" her assistant asked. "Minister Osporion's secretary just messaged me."
Karin didn't lose count. She nodded.
Mione kept speaking. "I'll let him know." She tapped on her wristband a few times and it beeped. "There's a storm in Helicon so our flight has been pushed back by an hour."
"It's a private plane."
Mione tilted her head back and forth. "Aeroport restrictions in effect."
A young man peered around a corner and said, "Karin Baraz?" She stood quickly and he continued, "The prime minister will see you now."
"Thank you." Baraz walked away from her seat and Mione hissed through her teeth. When Karin looked back, the assistant was pointing to the briefcase. She said, "Keep it."
The young man led her down a hallway. Offices on either side bustled with beeps and discussion. When they approached the large wooden door, Baraz pulled down on the front of her jacket to straighten it out and briefly patted the sides of her tightly bound brown hair.
The assistant knocked twice, waited a moment and then opened the door. He immediately stepped to the side and announced, "Minister. Karin Baraz of BBM."
Behind the desk, a somewhat lanky man stood. He was gray but his skin didn't seem to betray an age. Karin knew from public records that Will Saeros was nearly sixty.
"My dear Miss Baraz. A pleasure to meet you at last." He shook her hand vigorously and nodded toward the door. The younger man left a
nd pulled it shut behind him.
"A pleasure to meet you as well, sir." Karin smiled. It was a smile she practiced. Enough to seem genuinely pleased but not enough to appear overly eager.
"Please, sit." Karin took a step back and sat in one of the two leather chairs before the large desk. Saeros didn't return to his place behind the desk. He sat in the other chair. "I was sorry to hear about your father."
Baraz lowered her head for a moment and nodded slowly. She lifted her right hand and cupped her left bicep for three seconds before returning it to her lap. "He was a good man."
Saeros leaned over and said, "And you are a young woman." Her eyebrow lifted and he continued. "Thrust into a big chair so soon."
Responses pelted her mind. Responses to those responses followed. When she spoke, she had decided to go with a more amiable answer but not one without teeth. "I fit the chair well."
The prime minister grinned and said, "Obviously your board agrees. They like you." She nodded. "I have no reason to disagree."
One side of Karin's mouth turned upward. "Good."
Saeros laughed and said. "Well. Tell me what brings you to Tritaea."
She knew that he knew. It was part of the dance. One that her father told her about many times.
"Matters of healthcare and well being." He nodded and she continued. "In recent years, we've noted that the Ministry of Health is taking far longer than usual to approve our requests for trial reviews. We have made substantial investments in …"
"The delays are for safety reasons," Saeros interrupted. "We have to insure that the proper trials were conducted and that the reviews are both unbiased and thorough."
"The procedures I'm speaking of are not ones of vanity. These are medications and devices and techniques that can save or improve many thousands of lives."
"At a
Lords of Kobol - Prelude: Of Gods and Titans Page 2