In the Heart of Darkness b-2

by Eric Flint

  A sudden bright flash on the horizon drew his gaze. Holkar halted, stared. Moments later, the sound of the cannonade rolled over the encampment.

  He resumed his steps.

  Soon, yes, Ranapur will fall. And the cobra will sate itself again. As it has so many times.

  He drew near his master's tent. For a moment, he stopped, studying that simple structure.

  Not much to look at, truly. But, then, the mongoose never takes pride in its appearance. It simply studies the cobra, and ponders the angles.

  Holkar began pulling back the tent flap. Another rolling cannonade caused him to pause, look back. For a moment, his scholar's face twisted into the visage of a gargoyle, so driven was he by hatred for all things Malwa.

  But there were no Malwa spies close enough to see that face. Such spies had learned quickly that the endless squabbles over women between the foreigners and their Kushan escorts seemed to erupt in sudden brawls which, oddly, injured no one but bystanders watching the scene. In the first days after the foreigners set up their camp, two Malwa spies had been accidentally mauled in such melees. Thereafter, the spies had kept a discreet distance, and reported as little as possible to their overseers, lest they be ordered to resume a close watch.

  The slave pulled back the flap and entered the tent. He saw his master squatting on a pallet, staring into nothingness, mouthing words too soft to hear.

  Hatred vanished. Replaced, first, by devotion to his master's person. Then, by devotion to his master's purpose. And then, by devotion itself. For the slave had closed the demon world of Malwa behind him and had entered the presence of divinity.

  He knelt in prayer. Silent prayer, for he did not wish to disturb his master's purpose. But fervent prayer, for all that.

  Across the ancient, gigantic land of India, others also prayed that night. Millions of them.

  Two hundred thousand prayed in Ranapur. They prayed, first, for deliverance from the Malwa. And then, knowing deliverance would not come, prayed they would not lose their souls as well as their bodies to the asura.

  As Holkar prayed, his family prayed with him, though he knew it not. His wife, far away in a nobleman's mansion in the Malwa capital of Kausambi, hunched on her own pallet in a corner of the great kitchen where she spent her days in endless drudgery, prayed for her husband's safety. His son, squeezed among dozens of other slave laborers on the packed-earth floor of a shack in distant Bihar, prayed he would have the strength to make it through another day in the fields. His two daughters, clutching each other on a crib in a slave brothel in Pataliputra, prayed that their pimps would allow them to remain together another day.

  Of those millions who prayed that night, many, much like Holkar, prayed for the tenth avatara who was promised. Prayed for Kalkin to come and save them from the Malwa demon.

  Their prayers, like those of Holkar, were fervent.

  But Holkar's prayers, unlike those of others, were not simply fervent. They were also joyous. For he, almost alone in India, knew that his prayers had been answered. Knew that he shared his own tent with the tenth avatara. And knew that, not more than five feet away, Kalkin himself was pouring his great soul into the vessel of the world's deliverance. Into the strange, crooked, cunning, mongoose mind of his foreign master.

  Chapter 3

  The sun beat down on a nightmare landscape. Once, these had been fields and orchards. Now, the ground was criss-crossed with deep trenches; stripped bare of any life beyond a few splintered trees, handfuls of crushed wheat, a single stalk of corn.

  "Where are we?" asked Belisarius. He spoke in a low mutter. His eyes were closed, the better to concentrate on the images flashing through his mind. "And when?"

  Near a place called Kursk, replied Aide. The facets flashed for a microsecond, translating the crystalline precision of Time's Arrow into the bizarre fiats of human calendrical custom. A millenia and a half from now.

  A line of monsters surged onto the field. Gigantic things, tearing the soil with strange continuous belts-metal slats running over wheels. Forward, from cupolas, immense snouts protruded. The snouts belched flame and smoke. Emblazoned on their flanks were crosses-some, square with double lines; others, bent.

  "Iron elephants," whispered Belisarius. "Like the ones the Malwa will build-but so much better!"

  Tanks. They will be called tanks. These are the type which will be called PzKw V "Panthers." They will weigh 45 tons and travel up to 34 miles per hour. They fire a cannon whose size will be called 75 millimeter.

  From the opposite side of the field, a new line of monsters-tanks-charged forward. They began exchanging cannon fire with the other tanks. Belisarius could sense that these new tanks were of a slightly different design, but the only feature which registered clearly on his uneducated eye was that, instead of crosses, their flanks were marked by red stars.

  This was the best tank of that era. It will be called the T-34.

  The battle was horrible and dazzling at the same time.

  Horrible, in its destruction. Belisarius saw a tank cupola-

  Turret.

  — turret blown off. Tons of metal sent sailing, like a man decapitated. The body of the tank belched flame, and he knew the men inside were being incinerated. Saw men clambering from another burning tank, shrieking, their uniforms afire. Saw them die, suddenly, swept down by an invisible scythe.

  Machine-gun fire.

  Dazzling, in the speed of the tanks, and the accuracy of their fire. Like a vision of St. George battling the dragon, except the saint was a dragon himself. And his lance a magic wand belching flame and fury.

  "How?"

  Images of complex-machines?

  Internal combustion engines.

  Images of perfect metal tubes-cannon barrels, Belisarius realized. He watched as an object was fit into one of the tubes. A perfect fit. He wondered what it was until he saw the cannon fire. Cannonball, he realized-except it was not a ball. It was a cylinder capped by its own cupola.

  "How can metal be shaped so precisely?"

  He was inside a huge building. A manufactory, he realized. Everywhere he could see rolls and slabs of steel being shaped and cut with incredible speed and precision. He recognized one of the machines as a lathe, like the lathes used by expert carpenters to shape wooden legs for chairs and tables. But this lathe was much bigger and vastly more powerful. The lathes he knew were operated by foot pedal. No such lathes could rip through metal the way this one was, not even bronze. He watched a stream of steel chips flying from the cutting tool like a waterfall.

  The other machines he did not recognize at all.

  Horizontal boring mill. Vertical turret lathe. Radial drill press.

  "Impossible," stated the general firmly. "To make such machines would require making machines to make machines to make machines which could make those machines. We do not have time."

  The facets shivered momentarily, confused. The crystalline intelligence which called itself Aide viewed reality in an utterly different manner than humans. The logic behind Belisarius' conclusion was foreign to it. Where the man saw complex sequences, causes and effects, Aide saw the glorious kaleidoscope of eternity.

  Malwa will have tanks.

  The thought carried an undertone of grievance. Belisarius smiled, faintly. He was reminded of a small child complaining that the neighbor boy has a nice new toy, so why can't he?

  "The Malwa tanks are completely different. They are not made like this, with this-" He groped for words to describe a reality he had never seen in real life.

  Aide filled the void. Precision machining. Mass production.

  "Yes. The Malwa do not use those methods. They use the same basic methods as we Romans do. Artisanship. Craftsmanship."

  Incomprehension.

  Belisarius sighed. For all Aide's brilliance, the strange mentality was often befuddled by the simplest human realities.

  "Each Malwa tank-the tanks they will make in the future-will be unique. Handcrafted. The product of slow, painstaking work
. The Malwa can afford such methods, with their gigantic resources. Greek artisans are superior, but not by that much. We will never be able to match the Malwa if we copy them. We must find our own way."

  The general made a short, chopping gesture with his hand.

  "Forget the tanks. Show me more of the battle. It could not all have been-will be-a contest of tanks."

  Montage of images. Infantrymen in a trench, firing hand cannons and hurling grenades. A line of cannons hidden in a copse of trees, belching fire. A strange glass-and-metal wagon hurtling to a stop. There was no horse to pull it; no horse to stop it. Atop the wagon was a rack of tubes. Suddenly, the rack plumed flame and a volley of rockets streaked forward. Another-

  "Stop! There-focus there! The rocket wagon!"

  The wagon, again. Belisarius could now see that men were sitting in the glass-enclosed front. Other men were placing rockets into the tubes. The tubes rested on a flat bed toward the rear of the wagon and were slanted up at the sky. Again, the tubes plumed fire. Again, rockets soared.

  "What are those?"

  They will be called katyushas . These are eight-rail 132 millimeter rocket tubes mounted on what will be called 4X6 trucks.

  "Yes. Yes. Those are possible."

  The thought which now came from Aide carried more than an undertone of grievance.

  Why is this possible and not tanks? Both are made by the same methods, which you said were impossible. Contradiction.

  "You are confusing the-trucks? — with the rockets. They are two different things. We cannot make the trucks, but we can make the rockets. Not as good, but good enough. And then-we can substitute a different-" He groped for unfamiliar, as yet unknown terms.

  Weapons platform.

  "Yes. Exactly."

  Belisarius straightened his back, stretched his arms. The movement broke his concentration, slightly. He saw Dadaji Holkar kneeling on his pallet, engrossed in silent prayer. The slave looked up. Holkar and Belisarius exchanged a silent stare for a moment, before the Maratha bowed his head and resumed his devotions. For all the solemnity in the man's posture, Belisarius was amused to note the smile on his face. He had never said a word to Holkar concerning Aide, but he knew that the Maratha had drawn his own conclusions. Conclusions, Belisarius was certain, which were not too far from the truth.

  Belisarius closed his eyes and returned to the task at hand.

  "You keep showing me things which are much too complex and difficult to make," he whispered. "We must stay within the simple limits that are possible, in the next few years."

  A flash of exasperation came from Aide. A new vision erupted.

  A man shuffling through a forest, stooped, filthy, clad in rough-cured animal skins. In his hand he clutched an axe. The blade of the weapon was a crudely shaped piece of stone, lashed to the handle with rawhide.

  Belisarius chuckled. "I think we can manage a bit more than that, Aide. We are civilized, after all."

  Again, exasperation. Again, a vision:

  A man standing in a chariot. He was clad in gleaming bronze armor-a breastplate, greaves. A magnificent, ornate helmet, capped by a horse-crest, protected his head. His left arm carried a large, round shield. In his right hand he held a spear. The chariot was a small vehicle, carried on a single axle, drawn by two horses. The back of the chariot was open. Beside the armored warrior, there was only room for a charioteer, who handled the racing horses while the spearman concentrated on the approaching foe.

  Belisarius started to laugh softly. Aide was still sulking. The image, for all its clarity, was a mocking rendition of an impossible, legendary figure. Achilles before the walls of Troy.

  But then, suddenly, the laugh broke off.

  "Yes!" hissed Belisarius. "Chariots!"

  Now he did laugh, loudly. "Mother of God-nobody's used chariots in warfare for centuries! But with rockets-and some changes-"

  The facets splintered, reformed, shattered, coalesced-all in an instant, trying to follow the branching trail of the general's thoughts. The kaleidoscope swirled around sequences. Aide brought sudden order. A new image, melded from crystal vision and human reasoning:

  Another chariot. A bit longer, and wider. Also drawn on a single axle, also open to the rear. Again, a single charioteer handled the reins. But now, the warrior who accompanied him wore only light leather armor and no hand weapon beyond a semi-spatha scabbarded to his waist. He was not a spearman, but a rocketeer. Rising from the center of the chariot was a solid pole, five feet tall. Atop the pole, swiveling on a simple joint, was a bundle of six tubes-three abreast, in two tiers. The warrior aimed the launchers ahead and to the side, at an enemy army advancing some few hundred yards distant. He called out a signal. He and the charioteer crouched. The rocketeer touched a slowmatch to quick fuses. An instant later, a half-dozen rockets were hissing their way toward the approaching army.

  The charioteer turned the horses, raced away. Behind, other chariots copied the same maneuver. Within not more than a minute, the ranks of the enemy were being shredded by a hail of rockets. The missiles were not very accurate, but made up for the lack by their numbers and the manner of their explosion.

  Fragmentation warheads, came the thought from Aide. This time, the thought was saturated with satisfaction. Shrapnel.

  Belisarius slumped back, sighing. He rubbed his eyes wearily.

  "Yes, there's promise there." Again, he scratched his chin. "But these-katyushas-will only work on level ground. In mountain terrain, we'll need something different. Something that a small squad of men can carry by hand, and that can be fired over hills."

  The facets flashed excitement.

  Mortars.

  Belisarius' eyes widened. "Show me," he commanded.

  A small motion caught his eye. The Maratha slave had finished his prayers and was lying down on his pallet in preparation for sleep. His face could not be seen, for it was turned away. Belisarius put aside his dialogue with Aide, and devoted a moment to contemplating the man Dadaji Holkar.

  Aide did not object, nor interrupt. There were many things about humanity which Aide did not understand. Of no human, perhaps, was that more true than of Belisarius. Belisarius, the one human of the ancient past whom the crystals had selected as the key to preserving their future. The choice had been theirs, but they had been guided by the Great Ones.

  Find the general who is not a warrior.

  Belisarius, the great general.

  That strange thing Aide was coming to know, slowly, haltingly, gropingly.

  Belisarius, the man. That stranger thing Aide already knew.

  So Aide waited patiently. Waited during that moment of sorrow for another man's anguish. Waited, patiently, not because it understood grief but because it understood the future. And knew that its own future was safeguarded not by the weapons it was showing the general, but by the nature of the man himself.

  The moment passed. The man receded.

  "Show me," commanded the general.

  Chapter 4

  Constantinople

  Spring 530 AD

  "You're positive?" demanded Theodora. "There's no mistake?"

  The Empress of Rome leaned forward in her luxurious chair. No expression showed on her face beyond a certain tense alertness. But the knuckles of her hands, gripping the armrests, were white as snow, and the tendons stood out like cables.

  Irene met the dark-eyed gaze squarely.

  "I am certain, Your Majesty. I've only met Narses face-to-face on three occasions, but I know him quite well. I've studied the man for years, as one professional-and possible competitor-will study another. I could not possibly mistake his appearance, undisguised. Nor he mine, for that matter-that's why I took such elaborate precautions with our disguises."

  Theodora transferred her piercing gaze to Hermogenes. The young general winced, shrugged.

  "I can't vouch for it myself, Your Majesty, one way or the other. I've never met Narses." He took a deep breath. "But I do know Irene, and if she says it was Narses-"


  The Empress stilled him with a curt gesture. The black eyes moved on to Maurice.

  "It was Narses," growled Maurice. "I've met the man many times, Empress, in the service of my lord Belisarius. We've never been personally introduced, and I doubt if he'd recognize me. But he's a distinctive-looking man. I'd know him anywhere, as long as he was undisguised and the light was good." The grey-haired veteran took his own deep breath. "The man was undisguised. His face-his whole figure-was clearly visible the moment he stepped out of Balban's villa to wait for his palanquin. And the light was good enough. A half-moon in a clear sky."

  The Empress looked away. Still, there was no expression on her face.

  Irene spoke hesitantly: "It's possible he's playing a double game. Simply trying to draw out treason before he-"

  The Empress shook her head. The gesture was short, sharp, final. "No. You do not understand, Irene. Narses and I have been close-very close-for many years. If he suspected treason, and wanted to draw it out, he would have told me. There is only one explanation for his presence at that meeting."

  She turned, raised her head imperiously, looked at Maurice and Hermogenes.

  "Thank you, gentlemen," she said. Her voice was cold, perhaps a bit choked. A bit, no more. The Empress turned her head slightly, staring at the wall.

  "Now-please leave. I wish to be alone with Antonina and Irene."

  The two men in the room immediately left. After they closed the door behind them, they looked at each other and puffed their cheeks with relief.

  "Let the women handle it now, lad," muttered Maurice. He stumped down the corridor, Hermogenes in tow, making no attempt to soften his footfalls.

  In the room, the Empress continued to stare blindly at the wall, maintaining her rigid posture, until the sound of the receding soldiers faded completely away. Then she broke, not like a stick, but like a stone might crumble. Before the first tears had even appeared, Antonina was out of her own chair and cradling Theodora's head against her stomach. The Empress clutched her, sobbing, her face buried completely in Antonina's skirts. The tiara on her head was pushed back onto her hair, making a mess of the elaborate coiffure.