Other Time

by Mack Reynolds

  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, comprehending 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."

  The war chiefs nodded at that.

  The Tlacopan, who invariably seemed more bloodthirsty than the rest, liked that idea. "And loot them and demand tribute!"

  Don shook his head negatively. "No. Merely defeat them in combat and then insist they join the Aztec Republic and send their senators and representatives of their clans to Tenochtitlan."

  Xochitl, who had remained ominously silent through all this, demanded, "And destroy their gods and make them accept ours!" His eyes were mad again. Don knew he was going to have continuing trouble with this one.

  "No," he said. "Each tribe will be free to worship whatever gods they wish, though there shall be no human sacrifice throughout the republic."

  He had said enough at this stage, he felt.

  He said, "And now I leave you to your debate. But remember this. It will be as I say: All the tribes will be united, or all will fall."

  A long sigh went through them. He had never made a prediction that hadn't come about.

  Don Fielding turned and left the conference hall.

  He spent the balance of the day working on the preliminaries involved in getting his Spaniards under way. Orders were given to build an enclosure in Chapultepec embracing a good deal of that mainland area. It was for the horses, both for their graze and a location for the riding school.

  He consulted with his four miners. All were from Asturias in Spain, where they had worked both in the coal and iron mines. One even had some smelter experience. Don Fielding knew very little indeed about iron and couldn't have recognized any type of iron ore for that matter. He would have given his weight in gold for the Hoover translation of Agricola's history of metallurgy, but the notion made him smile. At the moment, Agricola was a young schoolmaster in Germany who would not write that book for another thirty years. Don explained their needs as well as he could.

  One of the men, Diego Garcia, looked thoughtful. He said, "There is iron ore just south of Cholula. I saw the signs as we marched past. How much, I do not know, since I was not particularly interested at the time. But there is ore there."

  "I know nothing about extracting iron from the ore nor turning it into steel," Don said. "Can it be done with charcoal?"

  "Yes," one of the others said. "But that won't be necessary. I went with Olid to Toluca, when we were in possession of this city, on an expedition to collect gold and silver. I saw a vein of coal about halfway there, up in the mountains."

  "What would you suggest? How many porters would you need to bring the required coal and ore here so that you could begin smelting it?"

  Diego Garcia shook his head. "The better way would be to build your smelter where the ore is. Transport the coal down there, and when you've got your raw iron, bring it back to the city."

  "All right. You four will be in charge of the operation. You will be given all the manpower you need to produce all the iron you can possibly turn out. Now, come with me.

  He took them to the room in which the recovered gold and silver were deposited. There were also some scales which the Spanish had used to split the loot, back when Hernando Cortes was still in control of the city.

  Don said, "Weigh out three portions of the gold into piles of fifty pesos each."

  They regarded him quizzically for a moment, but then proceeded to do so. Fifty pesos turned out to be a respectable amount of gold. Don took up each pile, took it to a far side of the room, and laid it against a wall.

  "This is yours," he said. "To be given to you when the war is over. If you are completely successful in your project, there will be a bonus. We all know that if I allow you to leave the city, you will have your opportunity to escape and rejoin the Captain-General. However, if you do, you will never receive this fortune. Not even if Cortes manages to recapture the city, because if he does, I'll have all the treasure spread across the deepest part of the lake." The eyes of the Spaniards glinted greed.

  "We gave our parole," Garcia complained. "But how do we know that you'll keep your word? Or even if you wished to, how do we know the Indians would let us leave with our share?"

  "The Indians do not care about gold and silver beyond using them for ornaments. As for me, I don't care for it either. Gold and silver have brought more trouble to the world than possibly any other single thing."

  He ran into a hitch, though. When he checked with Cuitlahuac and Cuauhtemoc, it was to find that his expedition to the area of Cholula with its iron deposits was out of the question. Cholula and especially Huexotzingo, which was nearby, were both enemy country. The coal was no problem. In that direction the Aztecs controlled, but workers sent to Cholulan territory would surely be attacked.

  Don's face worked in irritation.

  He said, "All right. We've just this moment created a standing army. I want you to muster two thousand warriors from Tenochtitlan, two thousand from Tetzcuco, and one thousand from Tlacopan. They will be under arms at all times and must not return to their fields so long as the war continues. Others will have to do their work, and they will be fed and equipped from the common supplies of their cities."

  He considered it for a moment. "They will be drilled in the method that I taught the other day. The phalanx, in groups of one thousand. But
there will be one difference; our depth was too shallow. Instead of standing two-deep, they will stand three-deep. Perhaps we'll find that four-deep will be better, or even five. The men in front will carry short spears and shields. The second row will carry a spear half again as long and a shield. The third row will carry a spear twice the length of the short spears and a javelin to throw, but no shields. As many of the first rank as possible will be armed with the swords we have captured from the Spanish; the rest will have to rely on your own obsidian swords until we have managed to produce good Mexican steel."

  He looked at Cuitlahuac. "I am not a warrior. You will have to work out the details yourself. Hurry as much as possible. When you feel the men ready for combat, we march on Cholula and Huexotzingo."

  "But this is only five thousand men," the other protested. "What of the rest of the warriors?"

  "They will act as auxiliaries to the phalanx, on both sides and to the rear. With longbows, with the captured crossbows, and the arquebuses, they will keep up a galling fire on the enemy, while the phalanx advances."

  "And the cannon?" Cuitlahuac said. "By that time we should have learned the use of the cannon."

  Don shook his head. "We can't afford to expend the powder yet. It is bad enough to use the arquebuses. We're saving the cannon for the return of Captain-General Hernando Cortes."

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  He spent part of the next day in Tlaltelolco, the northern part of the twin city, in the section of town largely devoted to the pochteca traders and with its special temple to Yacatecuhtli, Guiding Lord, god of commerce. He was accompanied by Tlilpotonque, the Snake-Woman, and a group of Don's aides, a force that was rapidly accumulating from subchiefs and scribes, messengers and porters. Cuauhtemoc was busy drilling drill sergeants who could take over the task of shaping up the five-thousand-man phalanx.