The Other Time

by Mack Reynolds

  Bernal looked at him questioningly and growled, “Many of your words I do not understand, Don Fielding. But I accept. I will teach the use of the sword to your men.”

  The address to the Tlaxcalans was made by Cuauhtemoc and it went even easier than Don’s to the Spanish. And they were as astonished as the latter had been. They had expected the sacrificial knife and there were few of them who had looked forward to pleasing the gods, particularly since most of their gods differed from those of Tenochtitlan.

  The conception of parole was foreign to them and Cuauhtemoc had to explain an institution which had been unknown to him as well until this morning. They all accepted and Don suspected that they would turn out to be at least as honorable in keeping their sworn word as would be the Europeans.

  When all was agreed, Don said to Cuitlahuac, “Take two of them. Feed them well. Give them as many presents of the type they would appreciate most as they can carry and turn them loose.”

  The war chief fixed his eyes on him in surprise. “And why would we do this, Don Fielding?”

  “Because already we wish to begin to woo the Tlaxcalans away from Malintzin. We want them to know that their people are being taken care of here in Tenochtitlan. Each ten days that go by, we will release another two, with presents. And the Tlaxcalans will soon begin to realize that we are not their true enemies. On top of that, Cortes and the other Spanish cannot refrain from their arrogance and before long the Tlaxcalans should begin to weary of them.”

  “It shall be as you suggest.”

  After he returned to his room, he looked up Malinche to see if his orders had been followed and she had been given suitable quarters and arrangements made for her other needs.

  She looked at him coldly. “I cannot honor a man who would allow his blood brother to go into war while he remained behind, though he is the largest man in the land and unwounded. The Captain-General I have turned my back upon, but at least he was no coward.”

  Don looked at her quizzically. “Did not the priests Olmedo and Juan Diaz remain behind when the army went into combat?”

  Her head was high. “You are no priest.”

  Don sighed. “I am afraid I am more than a priest, if I wish to be or not.” He turned and left her.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  In the morning, he returned to the tecpan and had the Spanish assembled again. They had elected their committee. It consisted of Padre Juan Diaz, Avila, and Sandoval. So Sandoval had had his way in spite of what Don Fielding had said the day before; he was one of the army’s representatives.

  The priest acted as spokesman.

  “Despite my words of entreaty and those of Don Gonzalo de Sandoval, approximately half of the men have decided to accept your offer and turn traitor to the Captain-General and their emperor.”

  Don spoke to the assembly. “All you who have decided to cooperate, step to this side of the enclosure. All who have decided not to, step to that side.” He indicated with his hand.

  When the division had been made, Don addressed those who had turned him down. “You who have not given your parole will be forced to remain confined and under guard. The rest of you have the freedom of the city; however, in view of the fact that you have the antagonism of the people and the fact that you are unarmed, I suggest that you not leave the tecpan. If unwilling to cooperate, you will be fed on hard rations, the simplest of Indian food. If any of you change your minds, contact me.”

  He had an inner feeling that most, if not all of them, would come over in time, especially when they noted how their collaborating comrades fared.

  He went over to the other group, which was headed by Avila.

  He said, “Divide yourselves by occupation and let each group quarter themselves together. Those men who are the single representatives of their trade quarter themselves alone. There are plenty of rooms here. Repair to it and take up those that apply to your trade, if any, and take them to your quarters.”

  Alonzo de Avila stepped forward. “Some of us have no trade. I was a gentleman farmer on my family’s estates outside Avila. What can I do?”

  Don said with satisfaction, “A great deal, my friend. You are a superlative horseman. You will teach our men to ride. You undoubtedly bred horses on your finca in Spain. You will also help supervise the breeding of the mares that we have captured.”

  Avila was taken aback. “Teach the Indians how to ride?”

  “You can teach me, too. I’ve never been on a horse in my life. All of you gentlemen who know horses will participate in a concentrated effort to train our men not only to ride but to fight with Spanish weapons from horseback. We have thirty-three horses. Each horse will be assigned four students, and the horses will be pushed to whatever point is consistent with their health all day long. As soon as one group of students has satisfactorily learned all you can teach them, you will be assigned to another group. I want every warrior between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five to learn horsemanship.”

  “What do you say, giant brother?” Cuauhtemoc asked. Don told him.

  “But why so many? If there are but thirty-three of these horses, why do we need more than thirty-three braves to ride them?”

  “Because we’ll get more later,” Don said grimly. “We’d better.”

  “Very well, I accept,” Avila said.

  “Traitor!” Sandoval called out sneeringly from the other side of the enclosure.

  Avila turned, his face dark. “I shall demand satisfaction, Don Gonzalo.” He started for the other.

  Don grabbed the man’s arm. “No, you don’t. There’ll be no dueling, no fighting between you men. For the time you are no longer gentlemen; you’re working men.” Under his breath he said in English, “The damndest bunch of proletarians ever assembled.”

  When they had all dispersed, he stood there and thought about it for a moment. First things first. But what was first? In actuality, he was getting a better start than he could have hoped for. To build the four brigantines, the Spanish had brought up tools from the coast and those that they didn’t have had been made by the blacksmiths and other toolmakers right here in Tenochtitlan. Most of these had been rescued from the causeways and the lake, and divers were bringing in others continually as the recovery effort continued.

  He sought out the blacksmiths and took them to the room in which the Spanish armor and that of the horses had been piled.

  “Your job will be to melt this stuff down, or whatever you do to it, and to make tools for the other occupations, such as saws for the carpenters. I’m going to send some of the Indian metalworkers over to be your apprentices. Each of you will have four apprentices, and part of your job, the main part, will be to teach them everything you can. Do not abuse them. As soon as they’ve learned that, you’ll get a new batch of apprentices.”

  He thought about it. “I’m going to start a school. We have four Indian boys who speak Spanish. They’ll be the teachers and teach you all to speak Nahuatl. The school will be for three hours each morning and attendance will be compulsory for all Spaniards.” He considered it some more. “We’ll have other classes taught by Spaniards to instruct more students in this language. However, the most important thing is for you people to learn the Indian tongue as quickly as possible.”

  He rounded up the wheelwright and took him over to the room occupied by the carpenters. He had hit the jackpot with them. There were three.

  He said, “Initially, you’ll work on building wagons or carts, two-wheeled carts. If you need additional tools, see the blacksmiths. I believe they already have a jury-rigged smithy here; if not, they can make one. The Indians will supply them with charcoal. Draw on them for whatever additional tools you need, nails and so forth. Use iron products just as seldom as you can; our supply is very small. I’m going to send you Indian apprentices, four to each of you. Perhaps they’ll be able to show you how to substitute wooden pegs or copper nails for iron ones.” Through all this, Cuauhtemoc and several of his warriors had been following Don around, comprehend
ing little, but sometimes being able to help out running messages or whatever. Now a messenger came up and spoke to the Tenocha chief.

  Cuauhtemoc said to Don, his voice upset, “It is as you foresaw. The Tetzcucans mustered all their forces and sallied out and met the retreating teteuhs at Otumba, at the head of the lake. In spite of how weak the teteuhs were and in spite of the small number remaining, it was a great disaster. The war chief, Cihuaca, was killed and many, many of his chiefs and warriors.”

  Don swore. “Damn, this is a setback for morale. And just when we were riding high.”

  The other said, “A council of the chiefs has been called.”

  The government of the city and the confederation was still being conducted in the Eagle clan building. It had been decided, at least for the time, to continue to allow the captured Spanish and Tlaxcalans to occupy the tecpan since they were used to it.

  When Don and Cuauhtemoc strode in, the others had already assembled. There was a new something in all faces. Don didn’t realize it at the time, but with his calling of the shots in his confrontation with the now-dead Tetzcuco chief, his credit rating had zoomed. There was no doubt in any mind now of who he was. Quetzalcoatl returned to help his people in time of great crisis, as long prophesied.

  There was another thing he didn’t realize at the time. A life-long believer in the democratic ethic, he had just become the all-powerful dictator of Tenochtitlan and the Mexican valley confederation.

  The Snake-Woman said respectfully, “You have been told of the Tetzcuco disaster. Tell, us, O Don Fielding, what will develop now?”

  Don took a deep breath. “I cannot foresee as well as once I could, since things are changing so rapidly.”

  Cuitlahuac said softly, “Look forward as best you can, Don Fielding.”

  “Very well. As best I know, Malintzin will return to the Tlaxcala cities and be welcomed by them. The Spanish army will rest but a short time, recovering from their wounds, and then begin to prepare to return. New ships will land at the coast bringing new supplies, new arms, and more horses because the word has gone out to Cuba and Spain that there is great wealth here. Within a few weeks Malintzin will begin his campaign to gain new allies. Even cities and tribes that have long been under the control of the confederation will go over to him. He will not be able to operate as well as he did when he had Malinche with him…”

  “We must kill that accursed woman,” Cuappiatzin snarled.

  Don looked at him coldly. “Are you, then, mad? In her head is more information about the Spanish than any person in Tenochtitlan, save the captured Spanish themselves, and she has come over to us of her own will.”

  The Snake-Woman said, “Then what are we to do, Don Fielding?”

  Subconsciously, for the past week, Don Fielding had been mulling this over. He was no authority on socioeconomics. Certainly he was no politician. The ground he was on was as shaky as though an earthquake was under way.

  He said, “We must change the nature of the state.”

  “State?” The Snake-Woman said blankly. Don had used the English word, since there was no equivalent in the Nahuatl of this period.

  “A concept with which you are not as yet acquainted,” Don said. “It was first developed far, far from here by a man named Cleisthenes in a city named Athens and, at approximately the same time, by a chief named Servius Tullius in a city named Rome.”

  “You speak words of the gods, since we know not what you mean,” Cuitlahuac told him.

  “No, of course not,” Don said. “This, then, is what we must do. The confederation of the three tribes must be no more.”

  A sigh went through the assembled chiefs.

  “But… but…” Cuauhtemoc blurted. “This has been our strength. For many generations we have been strong through our three tribes fighting together.”

  Don looked at his blood brother and nodded. “But now we need additional strength. Now we need to include in our new confederation all the tribes of all the lands.”

  They gaped at him blankly.

  All right. He had the ball; this was no time to let go of it.

  He said, “From now on, we shall call all the lands of which we know by the name of Mexico. We shall call our new confederation the Aztec Republic and we shall invite all tribes near us to join. If some will not, we will march upon them and force them to join.”

  They were still blank.

  Cuauhtemoc said, “What is Mexico?”

  Another chief demanded, “What is Aztec Republic?”

  Don said, “You people sometimes call yourselves Mexicas. So all the lands will be called Mexico. Aztec is a name others give you, or will give you. I cannot explain this. It is not a word you use yourself, but we will use it.” He hesitated before adding a clincher. “It came to me in a dream.”

  A sigh went through them. He was a god. His dreams could not be ignored.

  The Snake-Woman said, “But how will we make this new Aztec Republic?”

  “Messengers must be sent out to all the cities, all the tribes in the valley, at first. To the Culhuacans, to the Azcapotzalcons, to the Xaltocans, and all the others. All must be invited to join the new republic.”

  “And what tribute do we demand?” Cuitlahuac said.

  “None. All members of the new republic will be equal and free. Each tribe will send to Tenochtitlan, our capital, two…” He was making it up as he went along now.

  “…two senators, a type of chief who speaks for his tribe’s interests. No tribe will have more, no tribe less.” He licked his underlip. He had to have more government than that. Besides, Tenochtitlan had a considerably larger population than most of the valley tribes and hence had a right to more representation.

  He said, “And each clan, in each tribe, shall send one subchief to a council that we shall call, uh… the General Assembly. And each subchief shall have equal standing in the General Assembly.”

  They were goggling at him, but he pressed on.

  “The Senate shall nominate the First Speaker, but for him to be elected, the General Assembly must vote. Each tribe shall govern itself internally, as in the past, but all the chiefs of the republic will be nominated by the Senate and elected by the General Assembly.”

  He was still improvising.

  “At least during the present crisis, the Senate must always be in session, but the General Assembly must meet… uh, at least twice a year to pass upon their decisions. The Senate shall be as the present Tlatocan high council is here in Tenochtitlan and shall make all decisions involving the republic. The First Speaker will execute such decisions. But all must be ratified by the General Assembly when it meets. The General Assembly can change all.”

  There, damn it, was the basic constitution of the Aztec Republic! Let them change it. Let them come up with the necessary applications. Let them decide what additional offices need be established. It was, at least, a basis for welding the warring tribes together.

  They squatted there in dumb silence, assimilating it. “No tribute from the many we have conquered?” Cuitlahuac said finally.

  “No tribute. From now on, anything we bring to Tenochtitlan from other tribes will be as a result of barter. We must make things here worthy of trade. And we shall. Already I have begun instructing the craftsmen in how to manufacture many of the devices of the Spanish. Other cities and other tribes will be anxious to acquire these things.” The Snake-Woman said hesitantly, “Don Fielding, Tenochtitlan is the greatest city in all the lands. In what you propose, she will have no more senators than, say, Tlacopan, which is but a town.”

  Don nodded. “But Tenochtitlan has twenty calpulli, twenty clans. And her sister city, Tlaltelolco, has six more. So, between you, there will be twenty-six representatives in the General Assembly, which is the ultimate ruling body. How many clans does Tlacopan have?”

  “Six.”

  The Snake-Woman, and all the rest for that matter, were thoughtful. This was not as big a shock to them as it might have been. Their institutions were
democratic. This was little more than an extension of them; the clan nature of their society was not being disrupted, nor was their local government.

  Cuitlahuac said, “And the office of First Speaker will be drawn, as for so long, from the Eagle clan?”

  Don smiled and copied the Aztec “who knows” gesture, holding one hand palm-up with a rocking motion. “Perhaps, but not necessarily. The Eagle clan has long produced capable war chiefs and administrators, but in the future the First Speaker of the republic shall be nominated by the Senate and elected or rejected by the General Assembly. The term of office will be six years rather than life. Any member of the republic is eligible.” He decided, while he was at it, to get a blow in for women’s rights. “any adult, male or female.”

  They laughed at that, of course. Obviously, he was jesting.

  And then they studied his expression and thought some more.

  Finally, Pizotzin, a chief from the town of Culhuacan said, “And when all this has been accomplished? When all the tribes of the valley have been brought into the new… republic? What then?”

  “Then we go beyond the valley. We go to Cholula, to Toluca, to Huexotzingo, and all we invite to join the new republic.”

  They were aghast.

  Cuitlahuac said, “But these are long-time enemies! For many years we have fought them. My lord, we have always fought them; it is a cherished tradition…”

  “No more; you will find other sports. All must be brought together. And in time we will go on to the tribes of Michoacan, the Tarasca, the Huaxteca, and even to the Mayans. No matter the distance. All Mexico must come to the republic if we are to defend ourselves against the Spanish. As it is now, they destroy us one by one.”

  Even Cuauhtemoc, his strongest adherent, was floored. “But why should they join us? Why should they wish to belong to this… republic?”

  “Because, through our pochteca traders we shall send them our new products. Knives of iron, such as the Spanish now have, and other tools. Vehicles with wheels, new weapons. To those such as the Mayans, who live on the sea, we will teach how to build the ships that sail by the wind. They will see the great advantages of belonging to the new republic. And those that do not come in at the first, for whatever reason, we will force to join.”