by Ted Mayes
It was an enjoyable hour, playing with her nephew and niece and talking with Mom. She got to hear that, at least right now, they were pulling in a surprising amount of money. The only question, according to her Mom, wasn't so much if they'd expand to another location on the Boardwalk, but when, and, who would be in charge of which store. It was comforting to know that the rest of her family was doing well.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs indicated that Jon was coming up, along with her Dad, and she got up quickly, not wanting Jon to find her sprawled on the floor, making noises and faces at Sophie. They came in and her Dad asked them to sit, unexpectedly. “We wanted to have a little talk with you two before you left,” he said. “No,” he said, noting Beth's suddenly worried face, “it's nothing serious, but, in the interests of full disclosure, we wanted you two to know that Dr. and Mrs. Harrison came over early this afternoon to talk with us.”
“Most of it was just bragging about our children, but they also wanted us to know that they were comfortable with the dating 'restrictions' that you kids came up with,” Beth's Mom said.
“Well, I don't know about comfortable, but I'd go along with 'reluctantly agreeable,'” her Dad grumbled.
Jon grinned suddenly. “My Dad said something to me about the same thing, but along the lines of I should consider how Beth's Dad would feel. He asked me to consider what I would feel if the girl involved in the dating were my little sister. I'm afraid,” he said, shaking his head, “that I'm not going to be a very understanding big brother.” They all laughed and Jon turned to Beth. “You'll appreciate this, Beth. Ruth happened to be nearby, heard the conversation, and came over to tell me, very emphatically, that when she decided to have a boy, I wasn't going to have anything to say about it at all.”
They all laughed again, and, after Beth's Mom saying that was all, they just wanted Beth and Jon to know that the parents were in contact, the two of them said 'goodbye' and left. On the way down the stairs, Beth was muttering something to the effect that the two of them could have managed very well without knowing that the parents were comparing notes. Jon supposed that was probably the very reason the information was passed on, in order to put a little more pressure on them.
However, putting that behind them, the evening started out normally for them. They'd gotten in the habit of sharing with each other what had gone on in their day and they fell into that discussion quickly. Beth had been trying to listen to the recordings of Jon's classes and asked some questions of Jon about ideas she was having trouble grasping. Jon listened to the events of her day and asked questions about which of her friends were which. They arrived at the restaurant Beth had wanted to try and were able to get seated before the Friday dinner crowd arrived.
They were nearing the end of their conversation about their days at the same time they got to the end of the meal. Beth had mentioned how Mr. Simpson was so excited about the events happening in the field of space and wished that he could go 'out', some day.
Jon looked thoughtful. “This is the guy you got the lunar samples for, right?”
“Yes. Are you getting an idea?”
“Maybe – didn't NASA do something like a contest some years back to find a teacher to fly on the Shuttle?”
“It sounds vaguely familiar. Do you know any details?”
“No, but if the emperor is still interested in publicizing the empire, a contest that would fly a number of teachers out to Capitol would make an impression, wouldn't it? Maybe we could slip your Mr. Simpson's name in and see if we could get him a seat?”
The suggestion certainly had Beth's approval. After Jon paid for the meal, they left the restaurant discussing the idea and how to present it. All the way to the stadium, they discussed it, and only disagreed about who should take the credit for the suggestion. Beth wanted Jon to be the one, but he insisted that she was the one who had mentioned the teacher. They could only agree that they disagreed on which one of them should get the credit.
After parking the car and walking into the stadium, Beth was basically too busy to continue the discussion. Friend after friend came over to say 'hi' and to meet Jon. At one time, before the game started, the whole cheerleading squad came over to be introduced. She found herself very thankful that she and Jon had dreamed up the 'dating rings' and that she had 'claimed' him, because the quiet comments directed her way when Jon was listening to someone else could have been very disturbing. The comments either (1) expressed admiration for her 'choice of men,' (2) hinted that if she ever got tired of him there were others who wouldn't mind taking him on, or (3) wanted to know if there were other men like him among the marines.
They were finally able to sit down in the stands a few moments before the game started. She sat close to Jon and leaned against him, enjoying the feeling of closeness. The atmosphere at the game seemed a little surreal, mainly because she'd been so much a part of it all last year. This year it felt like she'd already graduated and left it all behind her, only to return for a visit. She sat there thinking of the outrageous flirting that her friends had tried with Jon and how he'd be tolerantly amused by it all – and that's when an idea struck her.
Turning to Jon, ignoring the long pass play that was setting up a Northmen score, she asked, “How about another contest, to go along with the one for science teachers and geeks? How about one along the lines of 'Who wants to take a Marine to the prom?'”
Jon looked thoughtful for a minute. “Well, if some of your friends are a representative sample, it might fly. I'd guess it would partly depend on how well known the Imperial Marines become in the months before prom. It would probably have to be limited to new Marines and trainees – I just can't see sending out veterans like the praetorians out on dates with teenagers, and I doubt the emperor would go along with it.”
She thought a bit as well. “We'd probably have to build into the program or contest some way for the parents to meet the Marines, probably several times. I wouldn't even want to try and imagine what my Dad would have said if I'd come home and told him, without some warning, that I was taking a Marine to my prom.”
Jon put on a mock sorrowful face and, pouting, said, “So you're planning on dumping me before spring? I'd had such hopes!” It took her a bit to understand what he was saying, mainly because she hadn't thought that far ahead, but she realized that she probably would be taking a marine to prom. She blushed and was about to say something when he stopped her. “No pressure, Beth. I was just teasing you.”
She slapped his shoulder. “Well, my father has already approved my dating a marine, and don't forget, your parents would have to approve of you going to a prom with a marine.”
“As you say, Optio. So do you think that female marines could, should, be invited to a prom as well?”
“Well, the final decision will be made by the people with all the stripes, but why not?”
By the end of the first quarter, they'd hammered out what details they could think of, and had finally decided to make both suggestions jointly. They found a relatively quiet place, figured out exactly what they wanted to say, and had George and Molly send the suggestions off signed with both their names.
They spent the rest of the time just enjoying the game, although Beth enjoyed even more, when her hands got cold later on, having Jon hold her hands in his big warm ones. They walked back to the car, hand in hand after the game, and, once they got back to Ostia, made their way down to their apartments still holding hands. She even managed to give him a good-night kiss without attracting any attention. It was a wonderful evening, she decided as the door of her apartment closed.
That was when Molly informed her that the consul wanted to see Jon and Beth at his residence at 0800 in the morning. He wanted to hear, personally, more about their suggestions.
9 – September-October 1993
For some days after the emperor had talked to her, Amanda was, to put it bluntly, paranoid. For a while she almost hid in her room, which was ridiculous, as she recognized at the time, for if the
re was one place she knew that Samuel was active, it was there. Eventually, she realized that, not only was it boring to hide, it was also pointless, so she began to stir again.
One thing she did do was to go over her list of questions and examine all of them in terms of what they said about the emperor, and she pestered Michael with questions, most of which he refused to answer. She even tried grilling the First, and, although he was willing to part with a few nuggets of information about Michael, he was no more help about the emperor. Then she sat down and wrote a story about the emperor, and sent it out as the next story to be released. She was dissatisfied with it since she knew so little, but everything seemed to hinge on the emperor and she felt compelled to point out what an 'unseen' force he was.
Late on the afternoon of the day when the emperor story was released, Michael came back to the residence and came into the great room, apparently to relax, and sat back with a book to read. It looked familiar, and she realized it was the book he'd been reading when they encountered each other in the airport. “That isn't the same book you were reading before, is it?” she asked.
“Yep, On the Law of War and Peace, Hugo Grotius, 1625.”
“Why?” At his look, she went on, “I mean, why are you reading such an old book?”
“Because the emperor thought I needed a little more education on law and diplomacy, so he wanted me to read it.”
She considered him briefly, while he looked steadily at her. “Why follow him, I mean, why do you follow him?”
Michael looked thoughtful for a moment. “The way I look at it, it's only common sense, because I think he's the smartest man in the world.”
Amanda looked a little skeptical. “What about those British scientists with the high IQs, smarter than them?”
“Once again, we're just talking about my view, but my opinion is this, what have those guys accomplished? Did they start with literally nothing nineteen years ago, build a state, an empire, and put a colony on the moon and an exploring mission on Mars?”
She was astounded. “You mean the emperor is the one who's responsible for all the impossible things that are happening?”
“That's not what I said. What I said was that if they were so smart, why aren't they doing what the emperor is doing? And don't say they don't have the money, the resources to do so, because the emperor found a way around that obstacle. He wasn't born with a 'money pit,' you know.”
She considered what he said carefully. Although he hadn't said that the emperor was the genius behind what must be the astounding scientific breakthroughs the empire must have made, it was obvious that he meant it. “If it's not breaking any rules, can you tell me about how you met the emperor?”
He thought carefully and then said, “I can tell you a few things. I doubt if you'd be able to conceive what my early life was like,” and with that a look of such cold, bleak despair crossed his face that she almost shivered, “but let's just say it wasn't nice. By the time I was 10, I'd had my fill of words and promises – lots of good people had good intentions, but nothing ever got done, at least as far as I knew. I was living on the streets at 15 when, one day when I was trying to do a little begging, a man stopped and looked me over carefully. I figured he was looking for a fun time, but I wasn't that hard up, yet, so I was starting to edge away when he gave me a $100 bill, as a gift. Told me if I'd meet him again, same spot, 24 hours later, to say 'hi' to his wife, he'd give me $200. Want to know what I did with that hundred?” he said with a smile on his face. Without a waiting for a response, he continued, “For the first time in a long time, I ate till I wasn't hungry anymore and that night I slept indoors – not in a great place, but it was inside.”
“And I assume you went back the next day and got the $200?”
“And met the empress, who insisted I needed new clothes, and got them for me. She bowled me over with her concern. The emperor, looking back, was kind of funny – he was constantly on guard, constantly scanning the area and paying no attention to me – the empress said that was just the way he was, always acting like a guard dog when he thought she needed to be protected. And then the emperor gave me a plane ticket to … where they lived at the time and offered me a job with him.”
“And everything went happily ever after...?”
Michael snorted with laughter. “You gotta be kidding! For a long time I behaved like a mad dog, trapped somewhere strange and frightening. It was months before I started noticing that the emperor didn't so much talk about things, as do things. I think that's what really won me over – he did things, good things for all sorts of people and didn't waste any time talking about what he was thinking about doing.”
Amanda was quiet for a while thinking about what had been said. Michael excused himself and left the room. While she was still thinking, First came over and quietly, respectfully, said, “Thank you, Miss Ochs. That's the first time he's opened up to anyone in ten years.”
She shrugged helplessly. “You may think he's opening up, First, but I still can't figure him out!”
“My sister thought he was a very complicated man – driven, determined to protect the people who gave him a life, yet dismissive of his own abilities. A fierce warrior, caring for those under his command, but apparently uncaring about his own comfort or safety. A man capable of great violence, but also seemingly capable of great love.”
“You make it sound as if I'll never be able to understand him.”
“I don't know about that, Miss,” First said gently, “but I do know that you've gotten closer to him, quicker, than anyone else.” With that, First nodded respectfully to her and left the great room. Amanda lingered for a while, still thinking.
* * * * *
After a month of school, Beth was glad that things had mostly settled down. Oh, there had been all sorts of questions last week when Amanda's article on the emperor had come out. What was the emperor like? Did she know him well? She had dryly pointed out to everyone that they should re-read the article. No one knew, or was willing to admit to knowing, who the emperor was. Therefore, she could have met him, but she wouldn't know it, so the only things she knew about the emperor were what was common knowledge. And for that, they should just look at the article again.
She was still getting some strange looks from Mr. Simpson. With the colony on the moon and commercial service to the moon starting next week, and with the exploration and surveying of Mars, there were always questions in class. She was grateful that he always tied in the news to the lessons on physics, even though that often meant Mr. Simpson wound up the discussions saying something to the effect that if the reports were true, these happenings didn't fit in with the physics he'd learned. He told the class that their generation would have to rewrite the physics textbooks, and then he always glanced at her.
There was one question that popped up out of nowhere that bothered her more. At the beginning of one study hall, a girl she didn't know very well sauntered over to the table where Beth was and had asked how Jon was. Although Beth was surprised by the question, she had started answering when the girl interrupted, saying, “No, silly, how is he in bed?”
Beth had no idea how her expression changed, because she could only remember feeling shocked, but the girl had blanched and stepped back. When Beth did and said nothing else, the girl had recovered and moved away with a snotty comment about how 'uptight little virgins' wouldn't be able to keep a real man.
One of her friends who was sitting with her, Susan, said, “You looked so fierce there for a while.”
“Well,” Beth said, shaking her head a little, “it's a good thing I was surprised at first, because some of the things I'd like to do to her right now are definitely illegal.”
While Beth was glaring at the girl who had left so quickly, Susan said hesitantly, “You know, there have been a number of people who wondered, especially since Jack had hinted...”
Beth turned towards her, astounded. “Jack, the guy I dated last year, said, or hinted, that I'd slept with him?” Susan
nodded quietly. “Well, feel free to tell anyone and everyone that we didn't. If Jack says we did, then he's a pathetic little liar.”
“So …?”
Beth sighed, “So, no, Jon and I aren't sleeping together – not that way, because,” she giggled a little, “I have to admit that two other girls and I slept in the same barracks with Jon and six other guys all summer long.”
“And you never...?”
“Are you kidding? Listen, no one seems to realize it when I say it, but it was always possible that we were under observation, by our officers, by our parents, by our pastor, by the emperor. You'd have to be a porn star to have any interest in that kind of display.”
Another girl asked with more interest, “Is that the only reason …?”
“No, primarily it's because I'm a Christian and I decided a long time ago that I was going to give myself only to one man, a man who would be with me the rest of my life. That's what my grandparents and parents had and what I wanted, too. So, I'll wait till I'm sure of my man before I jump into bed.”
The discussion turned to boys in general and Beth was glad to sit and do some listening. It felt a little weird to have been the center of discussion. It must have happened to some extent last year because she did remember a few rumors and comments that had been about her as a junior cheerleader. It felt really strange now, though, because it felt somehow like she was only getting to be a bigger target while she was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.
She was out of school and driving to Ostia before a thought struck her. Every day she and Jon discussed what had been happening in their lives – what was she going to say about today, and was this a good time for this particular discussion? She spent the rest of the trip thinking about that upcoming conversation.