The Wizard from Tian (The Star Wizards Trilogy Book 3)
Page 49
“They retained autonomy from the Pandoras.”
“But they were still programmed to obey the directives of Eric and Athena.”
Carrot asked, “Matt, you never reactivated the mentor units inside Archimedes, Prin, and Andra. Are your suspicions the reason why?”
“I've always wondered about why Archimedes left Kresidala and entered military service to the Emperor of Rome. He refused to consciously betray his homeland, but it often seemed as if he did so unconsciously.”
In the pause, the fire crackled.
Carrot said, “I have a question, Older Matt.”
Older Matt chuckled. “Is that what we're calling me?”
“Do you prefer another name?”
“Yes, but I'm afraid it is taken. So I'll work on an alternative. Your question?”
“What is the history of the name Arcadia?”
“Arcadia Station is where I worked on Tian. Britanians were always asking me to name things, so I went with what I knew.”
“What was Arcadia Station named after?”
“Well, it goes back to a region of ancient Greece, which was the birthplace of European civilization. From there I don't know.”
Matt tilted his head. “Ivan says it was known as the home of the god Pan.”
“Pan is a god of war?” Carrot asked.
“Nope. Something to do with nature and dancing.”
“Good.” She doodled in the dirt with a stick.
“Were you expecting something more symbolic?”
“Sometimes it's best if we make new symbols.”
After a pause, Older Matt continued, “Well, I had high hopes for Arcadia. An entire city built by bio-engineered life forms. Then I got chased away by Athena. You were up there – how is the town doing these days?”
“It is mostly deserted.”
“I suppose. I got the snails to make walls and roofs, but to make the place habitable, you'd need plumbing and lighting and a lot more. Well, maybe I can go back someday and finish the job.”
The next day, they entered the Midlands, and the long line of returning refugees that had formed behind the Romans returned to their farms. Or what remained of their farms, for the Romans had looted many and others had been burned by their owners to prevent Roman looting. Carrot wondered if the Roman Senate would abide by the terms of the treaty and provide for the welfare of the refugees. She doubted it. It would be up to Britanians to provide for Britanians over the coming winter.
They passed the scene of the Battle of the Falling Star (which seemed to be the name that everyone was settling upon) and, touching the crown, Carrot flash-backed to the confrontation with Boudica that had been cut short by the explosion. So much had changed since then, it seemed like it had happened to a different person on a different world. Still, when the road elevated, she saw that there in the south was the blackened scar of the crater.
Finally they arrived at the intersection between the Oksiden and Pola Roads. The crossroads were deserted; armies have a way of diverting commerce.
She directed the Britanians northward onto the Pola Road, then galloped back to meet Bivera as the Romans reached the crossroads.
“This is where we part,” she said. “I hope Romans and Britanians never face again in battle.”
“I cannot say what the Senate will do,” Bivera replied. “At least know this, Queen Arcadia. I have lived in this country long enough to consider it my second homeland. When I return to Rome, Britan will have an advocate.”
I hope you live, Carrot thought. She feared that as a man who commanded the loyalty and affection of the legions, it didn't matter that he wasn't interested in imperial politics; imperial politics would be interested in him.
They made deep bows to the other. Carrot retreated to the northeast quadrant of the intersection and watched the passing of both armies, of West Britan to the north and Rome to the east.
The legions marched past to Londa in rows of ten. Soldiers snuck glances toward the girl upon the horse and the curved hilt that she had lain upon the ground to face her former enemies unarmed. Many smiled and she smiled back.
Geth rode alongside and said, “I wonder what the Wizard thinks of you flirting with the enemy.” He was smiling and his tone was not serious.
“Father, I am not flirting. This is . . . diplomacy.”
“Ah. I'll ride ahead and tell him that.”
“Don't you – “
He was already galloping north. She stayed to watch the end of the Romans, then rode to the fore of the Britanian army and joined him. Matt was talking with his brother and it seemed that her father's threat had been empty.
Sometime later, Geth pointed to the farmland where the Army of Boudica had assembled in early summer. Carrot remembered sewing sergeant's stripes and questioning whether she was ready for the responsibility that came with such rank.
Sometime after that, Geth had nothing to say as they crossed the bridge over the River Umbrick.
The day drifted into late afternoon. Behind her came muttering from the men, aimed northerly toward the towering cone that touched the low overcast. Farmland gave way to a plain barren of grass where a pungent odor arose from pillars of sulfur-infused steam.
They left the steaming plain and entered a forest. Given that it had been more than a century since the last violent eruption, trees grew in the rich soil right to the base of the mountain. Carrot had the procession rest, and a hundred men with crossbows were selected as the guard.
Geth stayed with the army, and Older Matt begged off the climb. So it was Carrot and Matt alone who led the hundred guards and their carts and the litter bearing Pandora Gamma up the winding and stepped path.
“This path is certainly convenient,” Matt said. “Who built it?”
As an Umbrickian, Carrot knew the legends from childhood. “There was once an ancient cult that worshiped the god of Skawful. The priests would bring animals for sacrifice.”
“Just animals. No humans?”
“Just animals. Rams mainly.”
“The sacrifices. Do they still do that?”
“Skawful has not erupted in a long time. The god was forgotten and his cult has died.”
Deep inside her soul, near to the child who had heard those legends, she wondered how the volcano god would react to the sacrifice they brought this day. Matt would say that it was just a seeder probe equipped with artificial intelligence – but it would not be inaccurate to say that it was also one of the three immortal mothers who created, sustained, and ruled the world.
The trudge was long and tiring. Overcast and haze shrouded the view. Carrot had hoped to see the Romans marching to Londa. She could barely see her own army waiting below.
The trail ended where a long-ago landslide had formed a deep crack in the rim. The procession assembled onto a flat area that had been hacked from the mountain. The litter was lowered onto the rough-cut rock. Soldiers formed a ring around the litter, held crossbows ready, and watched the sky.
Matt directed the assembly of the trebuchet whose components they had brought on the carts. He supervised the transfer of the Box from litter to sling. Pandora Gamma's lights blinked furiously, but the Wizards had sealed her vents and there wasn't anything lethal she could do – at the moment.
Carrot walked to the edge of the caldera and peered within. It was something that she had wanted to do ever since she was a child, but she found it disappointing. Most of the bowl interior was shrouded with steam and smoke. What she could see of the bottom was boiling mud. A blast of hot air forced her eyes shut. She back-stepped to the catapult, which Matt was positioning.
He gestured to the release. “Do you want to do the honor?”
She added a few rocks to the counterweight, to compensate for the wind. She looked at the release. She reached –
Pandora Gamma, who had been silent since her capture, spoke cheerfully:
“Mother oh Mother, why have you forsaken me! It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever don
e! A certain butterfly is already on the wing! This dying is boring. A dying man can do nothing easy. Jefferson still survives. You too, child? Earth, dost thou demand me? Hasten to the rising sun! I am becoming a god! They couldn't hit an elephant at this dis – “
Carrot yanked the release.
The beam swung on the pivot and the counterweight basket descended and, much more swiftly, the sling on the opposite side of the pivot was swung upward. The Box flew from the sling pouch, hurling in a perfect trajectory toward the center of the caldera.
At that instant, what had seemed only a rocky projection broke from the higher elevation of the far rim. It spread bat wings and swooped after the arcing Box. Talons clutched and wings flapped, and creature and Box began ascending into the overcast while crossbow arrows missed or bounced ineffectually from the creature's hide.
Carrot grasped the First Wizard's rifle that he had given her at the base of the volcano and whose strap she had slung around her neck for the trek to the rim. Remember to lead, he had said, as if she had never shot an arrow. If anything, because the projectiles were so fast she had to lead less.
She squeezed the trigger hard, felt the comforting rattle as the bullets cut paths through the vapor and riddled the creature. Droplets of blood and wattles of flesh spurted from the wounds. The creature's wing strokes became weaker and shorter.
The creature and Box slowed their ascent, hovered, then spiraled downward. The impact with the superheated mud generated a cloud of thick steam that obscured them from sight.
Carrot kept her finger on the trigger, waiting for something to emerge. When the vapor cleared, however, both objects were sinking in the mud. A corner of the Box and a clawed hand were the last to submerge.
Matt tilted his head. “Loss of EM-noise signature. She's gone.”
“What was she saying at the end?” Carrot asked. “It sounded as if she had gone mad.”
He shrugged. “Garbage in, garbage out.” He tilted his head again. “Radiation levels are increasing. The RTG shell must be leaking more than Ivan projected. We'll be all right if we leave now.”
She issued orders and the men marched down the trail, leaving the catapult where it rested. As Matt clasped her hand and gently tugged her away, Carrot took one last look at the bubbles in the center of the bowl. She remembered all the troubles it had caused, all the people who had suffered and died, all the blood that was on her hands forever because she had to fight its minions and armies.
“Lying thing!” she hissed.
22.
News of the traveling army had spread during the trek north, and when they returned the way they had come, villagers by the thousands were waiting to greet them.
As the Wizard from Aereoth, Matt was accustomed to crowds, but not crowds that ignored him. Without his neon blue jumpsuit, he was invisible on the wagon. What the crowds wanted to see was the Queen. It didn't matter that she kept her hair dark and wasn't wearing the crown. She was the pretty girl in front.
Women swarmed, presenting babies to be held. Children, glad to be let out of chores, gleefully wove near the legs of the horses, mindlessly courting a trampling. Men gathered in the fields, leaning against hoes and puffing pipes, pretending to be unflappable while they cast frequent long glances.
“Your girlfriend is certainly popular,” Matt Four said.
They were riding together on the wagon directly behind the officers on horses. The cheering and shouting was overwhelming, and they had to subvocal to communicate.
“I wonder how I'm going to fit into her life,” Matt said.
“I wouldn't worry about that, kid. She seems quite taken by you. Almost as much as you are by her.”
Matt returned his smile.
The return to West Britan, Fish Lake, and Ravencall was even more tumultuous, and it was followed by celebrations of the army that gave intent of lasting well into the night. Dancing and bonfires, drinking and singing, stories told amid laughter – it all became a blur and he and Carrot couldn't talk to each other because of the demands on her social presence and his medical attentions.
Matt excused himself early and went to inform Andra and Prin in their hut. Andra sniffed and Prin looked hollow and ashen.
“A memorial service?” Prin asked. “No, he wouldn't want that. 'Leave me for the trash collector,' he used to say. I'm afraid few would attend a service here, and Rome never wholly embraced him and presently regards him as a traitor. Yet the city is his monument. Such is life.”
They talked into the night. Carrot came in and Matt was surprised at her outpouring of affection. As he looked from face to face in the lantern light, he realized that Archimedes had gotten a memorial service after all, and albeit small a good one too.
Matt wasn't sure when he went to sleep. It was natural sleep because of the exhaustion of the previous days. He had dreams of flying, and falling, and then he awoke on the floor of his hut at Fish Lake. It was dark and quiet outside. He decided to go for a walk. He saw a silhouette on a hill, whose casual slouch he would have recognized even if Ivan hadn't indicated the presence of a fellow implant. He decided to join him.
“Just looking at the stars,” Matt Four said. “Guess you still can't see Sol or Alpha from here.”
“Nope.”
“You ever miss home, kid?”
“I did at first. Not that much anymore.”
“Any thoughts as to why?”
“I guess I really didn't connect to people there.”
“Not even Mom and Dad?”
“Dad, a little. But Mom, she left for the outer system and we didn't really talk. I kind of got the feeling that she didn't want me as part of her life.” He shrugged. “Well, I guess I don't need to tell you that.”
There was a moment of silence. “You haven't watched the message, have you?”
“Message?”
“The one she sent just before you left Earth.”
“I've been busy.”
“I recommend that you watch it.” Matt Four stretched and yawned. “So tomorrow is the big day.”
“For what?”
“We're going back to the Other Side. Prin says the cells are leaking from our tussle with the dreadnaught and we need to get back to the repair facilities at Binti ASAP or the Goodie won't be going anywhere at all.”
“And you're going to take Athena back to Victoriana too.”
“Yep. And then we're going to stay there.”
“Who is 'we?'”
“Me and Ada and Andra and Prin.”
“Why?”
“Kid, your reaction surprises me. I kind of had the impression that I made you uncomfortable.”
“Well, you just got here, and now you're leaving? It doesn't make sense.”
“It makes a lot of sense. Frankly, other than you and your girl and Andra and Prin, everyone here is a stranger to me.”
“You could get to know people.”
“What are you, a social director now? It's not just that, though. Look around you, this place is next door to the Stone Age. I'm not getting any younger – literally, since Ivan says his rejuvenation powers are limited. I need a place with hot and cold running water, central heating, indoor plumbing, and other comforts you're not going to have here for at least a decade or two under the rosiest of scenarios.”
Not knowing about troll technology, Matt nodded.
Matt Four continued: “Since you've got the energy, I'll leave you the task of sustainable industrial growth this side of the planet. Meanwhile, I have a couple projects in mind, and they require a somewhat more advanced technological base than you've got here.”
“You're planning to download Synth's dendritic archive and print her a body.”
“It's what I've been wanting to do all along. Victoriana is only a few decades from full body printers, if I help. And by then they'll have the technology to interface with the station's communications too, so that we can download the file.”
“You said a 'couple' projects. What's the other one?”
“You'll need a spaceship.”
“And I'll build one with the help of an advanced industrial base, which I'll build first.” He tapped his head. “Now that I've got my own Ivan back, all the technological knowledge to do it is right up here.”
“I suppose it's possible. If Athena lets you.”
“You have doubts about your own idea?”
“I always have doubts. I suppose things are different with you.”
Matt Four laughed. “We're not that different, you and me. Maybe that's why we each need our own half of the planet.”
“And Prin and Andra. They're going to stay there too?”
“Yep. To take care of Ada, Andra says. But also, here's what I think, they're both what used to be called 'nerds,' and Victoriana is like a steampunk paradise for them.”
Matt nodded in reflection. “Mom was into steampunk.”
“Yep. Personally, I never understood the attraction.”
“You're telling me?”
Matt Four grinned. “Guess I don't have to, do I?”
Matt fell quiet and looked at the ground. “I have a personal question.”
“Sure.”
“You don't have to answer if you don't want to.”
“I can tell this is something uncomfortable, but go ahead.”
“How do you handle your conscience?”
The rest of the universe might have wondered what he meant, but Matt Four immediately replied, “I don't know if this is the answer you want to hear, I don't know if this is the answer that I want to admit, but – it's scary how easy it is to get over it. You know, in the course of fighting to stay alive, I've had to kill before. I find that it is all too easy not to feel guilt. I used to wonder if that had to do with being a clone. I guess you would know the answer to that.”