Annales Imperii - I. Ostiia

by Ted Mayes

  “I wanted to give you advance warning that you have four scientists coming in to see you at 1530. They seemed to be a little upset. Did you want me to stall them, or what?”

  “No, no need for that. I should be there in time if the traffic isn’t too bad. Who is it this time?” Jenny gave her the names, and she recognized them as astrophysicists interested in Mars. She was used to complaints from most of them, because things weren’t being done they way they wanted, but their requests hadn’t been too outrageous. Who knows what it was this time, she thought. She got the car moving and had Molly read some of the summaries of current astrophysical articles to her as she drove. She certainly couldn’t do the math (in fact, didn’t want to, either) the articles required to follow everything, but she could at least appreciate the summaries and critiques that the university students were providing.

  She parked the car, hurriedly slung her weapons and her coat on and rushed through the undergate. She bounced through Jordan’s, saying a quick ‘hi’ to her Dad and grabbing a large coffee. She made it to her office with a few minutes to spare and was able to drop her things in the small closet she had before sitting down behind her desk and taking a large swallow of coffee.

  Right at 1530, Jenny ushered the scientists in and Beth rose to her feet. “Gentlemen, please come in and be seated.” When they were seated, she continued, “What can I help you with today?”

  The one she recognized as the acknowledged senior member of the Mars team, Dr. Edmund Lynch, cleared his throat first. “Well, Miss Jordan, there has been an unusual development on Mars.”

  “Yes?” she said, after he paused for a moment. She knew it couldn’t be anything about Jon because she’d talked to him last night and everything had been fine.

  “Well, I believe you know that one of the surprising first discoveries on Mars was that it had no magnetosphere, and that was theorized to be the reason for the thin Martian atmosphere – the solar wind had stripped off the Martian air.”

  “Yes, I remember that.”

  “Well, new readings, taken over the last few days, indicate that Mars now has a magnetosphere.” He paused again, as if Beth would automatically understand the meaning behind that statement.

  She shook her head in mild exasperation. “Gentlemen, Dr. Lynch, as I’ve told you before, I’m not a scientist. I was placed in this position because I’m supposed to have people skills. If you wouldn't mind, please expand on your statement. Is this a good thing or a bad thing, and, more importantly, what am I supposed to do about the existence or non-existence of Mar’s magnetosphere?”

  “Well, the problem is ...” Dr. Lynch began.

  Dr. Chou Lin, one of China’s top scientists, interrupted, “The problem is, Miss Jordan,” (which she noticed was said with a little bit of a sneer – Dr. Chou’s people skills were, to be polite, underdeveloped), “that the new Martian magnetic field appeared instantaneously and is of a suspiciously uniform nature. It is the opinion of my colleagues that this new magnetosphere is artificial, and perhaps man-made, in nature.”

  That, Beth thought to herself, was probably one of the things that Jon had meant by ‘changes’ that would soon be happening. To the scientists she simply said, “I’m in fairly regular contact with the Martian expedition,” (yeah, like every night), “and I’ve heard nothing about your new ‘discovery,’ but,” she held up her hand to stop a protest that was about to be uttered, “there’s no reason why anyone would say anything to me. Once again, what do you want me to do about this?”

  Dr. Lynch calmly said, “We would appreciate it if, using your connections, you would find out whether imperial science had anything to do with this event.”

  “I will be happy to investigate that for you and I’ll get a response to you as soon as I have any answers. Would it be possible to hear an answer to my other question – is this a good thing or a bad thing?”

  Dr. Maurice Cambrone, France’s expert, shrugged. “There is a difference of opinion on that, Mademoiselle. It would, of course, be, shall we say, unexpected, to find out that the empire could generate an artificial planetary magnetosphere. Such a thing could be good, because it would allow for more of a Martian atmosphere, but it could be bad in being a first-step in terra-forming Mars.”

  “That would be intolerable,” Dr. Chou stated, somewhat rudely. “I would not permit such a thing.”

  Beth looked at him in silence for a moment or two, but he didn’t seem to realize what he had said. Rising, she said, “Thank you for the information, gentlemen, and I will make inquiries for you.” As the scientists got up to leave, she said quietly, “Dr. Chou, just for my own personal curiosity, some day I’d like to see your title deed.”

  “My ‘title deed’?”

  “Yes. You so often speak of Mars as if it were your own property, and I’m just curious who sold it to you.”

  Dr. Chou’s face clouded with anger, and he might have said or done something, but he was hurried out of the office by two of the other scientists. The last one, Dr. Randy Williams, the young scientist from NASA, stood in the doorway, blocking Chou’s sight of Beth. “If it means anything, Miss Jordan, it’s not you – he’s that way with everyone. We’ll try and keep him out of your hair.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Williams, but why would you bother?”

  “I’ve read about you, Miss, and it just seems safer.”

  “Read about me?”

  “Yes, Miss, I don’t suppose there are too many imperials who are gone most of the day during the school year and carry around high school textbooks.” He quietly took his leave while Beth was fuming. That article of Amanda's! Was she ever going to get away from it?

  After a few moments, she checked with Jenny that there was nothing urgent happening. So, she returned to her office, sent a message to her centurion about the meeting and asking how she was supposed to handle it. After a moment’s consideration, she also sent a brief message on the meeting to Augustus. Then, she left her office and made her way around the small section of the Viminal that was hers, talking with all of her subordinates. She wasn’t surprised at all to find that news of the Mars ‘discovery’ had spread across the spectrum of scientists that were present in Ostia.

  An hour later, she was back in her office, dealing with paperwork. Jenny was just handing her the more important hard-copy mail she’d received when she received an answer to her message. Five pings resounded and she noticed from Jenny’s startled reaction that her secretary wasn’t used to hearing from the emperor directly. “Sir,” she said.

  “Miss Jordan, I just read your message and listened to the record of your meeting. May I ask what the general consensus of outside scientists is, as far as you know,”

  “Sir, based on what my staff has told me, there are three general reactions. First, the one generally held by all is a ‘concern’ about the possibly artificial nature of the new Martian magnetosphere. In other words, they’re scared that this is another indication of imperial science’s ability to do impossible things. The other two reactions seem to be contradictory. There seems to be an enthusiasm that it would be possible to terraform Mars, since providing an atmosphere, or stopping the future loss of a possible atmosphere, is regarded as the first step in terraforming the planet. On the other hand, there is a desperate desire to stop any change at all on Mars until it’s been proven, beyond a doubt, that there is no life present there.”

  “That’s about what we expected. Now, as for how you should handle this, you will soon be receiving an official message from Fleet about the situation through your centurion, which you can share with concerned individuals as you see fit. What that official message says is, basically, that the empire is conducting a practical experiment in regards to what effects a minimal magnetosphere might have on solar radiation on the Martian surface and on a potential increase of the Martian atmosphere. You may feel free to inform concerned individuals that no decision has yet been made on terraforming Mars.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “
On another matter, the flotilla from Mars will return in about two months, roughly the end of February. They will refit, change crews and make another journey to Mars. If you would, please start putting out feelers as to whether any of our guest experts would be interested in being on that next journey.”

  “I’ll do so, sir, but you might as well assume that all of them will want to go. However, with some of them, sir, I’d be reluctant to ‘inflict’ some of them on the temporary governor.”

  “I wouldn’t worry too much about that, because by that time I will have named a permanent governor and the temp will be returning home.” There were five pings and the communication ended. It was a full second or two before the emperor’s last words really registered – Jon would be coming home ‘in about two months.’ She couldn’t wait to see him again.

  As Beth was inwardly rejoicing at the news of Jon’s return, she noticed that Jenny was still standing open-mouthed in amazement. “Your first time to hear the emperor speak?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Jenny struggled to compose herself. “Do you ever get used to it, ma’am?” she asked.

  “Well, I’ve seen some old-timers who seemed to have gotten used to it. As for me, I’ve just gotten better at hiding the surprise. As soon as the message arrives from Fleet, please bring it in.” While Jenny went to check, Beth spent a few brief moments treasuring the idea that Jon would be home in a few months. Then she put that joy away temporarily, at least until evening when she could talk to Jon.

  When Jenny got back with the official message, she studied it carefully and composed a message to the astrophysicists, explaining the ‘experiment’ as best she could and inviting them to visit the office at their convenience to see the imperial message. She appended a note informing them of the projected next expedition to Mars and asked if they, personally, were interested in going on the expedition, or could suggest the names of scientists who would want to go. She sent that off and got the little bit of assigned homework done.

  By a little after 1700, Beth was both tired and hungry. She had taken care of part of the paperwork, but stuffed what was left over into her book bag, deciding that she’d rather work from home anyway. She’d closed up her office and was almost about to leave when Dr. Williams hurried in and asked to see the official message. She stood there, patiently, as he read it, then replaced it on Jenny’s desk and ushered him out of the office. She expected him to leave and go on about his own business but she found that he was following her out of the building.

  Beth turned and faced him. “Was there something else you wanted, Dr. Williams?”

  “Oh, I was just interested in your views and insights on that message.”

  She stared at him for a moment, then turned and walked down the Via Schola toward Jordan’s. “I think the message said what it’s supposed to say.”

  “Surely, you could tell me more than that!”

  “No, I don’t think I could.” She thought to herself that this was starting to get a little strange.

  “Surely the fact that the emperor, the authorities, responded so quickly to you indicates that you have a … special relationship … to the emperor.”

  “Not really. I’ve known other people who have had quicker response times. Besides if this new magnetosphere is as big a thing as you have implied, I’m sure that the emperor had his response written out before the ‘experiment’, whatever it is, took place.”

  “No, I’ve read all the articles about you. I’m sure that you know much more about your fa…, the emperor's point of view than you’re willing to admit.”

  She was just about ready to turn into Jordan’s when the scientist’s words actually registered. She turned and face him again. “All the articles about me? There was only one writer who knew anything at all about me and in her one article she exaggerated my importance. Anything else you might have read was pure fiction – the ones I read certainly were. As for knowing what the emperor thinks, because one stupid writer decided I was some kind of princess, well, follow me.” She led him into Jordan’s and slipped behind the serving counter to give her Dad a hug.

  “Hi, sweetheart, how was your day?”

  “Interesting, Dad. There’s someone I wanted to introduce to you. Dad, this is Dr. Randy Williams, a NASA expert on Mars, and someone who thinks that you’re the emperor.”

  Mr. Jordan looked at the scientist briefly and then remarked, “For a rocket scientist, he’s not too bright, is he?” Turning his attention back to Beth, he said, “If you want a quick bite for supper, your Mom’s got chili on the stove tonight.”

  “Thanks, Dad, I think I’ll take you up on that. I’ll be up in just a minute.” Beckoning to the scientist, she led him over to a quiet corner of the coffeehouse. “I want to make very clear what is going to happen now. Molly, would you see if the First of the Praetorians is available for some advice.”

  After a brief moment, during which Dr. Williams sat wide-eyed, she heard the First respond, “Good afternoon, Miss Jordan, how can I help you?”

  “Sir, to whom do I report an individual who is displaying an unusual amount of interest in me personally?”

  First’s response was a little guarded, “What kind of interest?”

  “It could be a stalker kind of thing, but the individual has been around enough to understand what my dating ring means. He seems to be fixated on my supposedly ‘special’ relationship to the emperor, so maybe it’s espionage.” The scientist’s face blanched.

  “Well, report it to the tribunus speculatorium and let him handle it. Unless you want to deal with the problem yourself, like you did with that one individual during your stay at the residence?”

  “No, thank you, sir. I’m supposed to ease the situation with the scientists, not erase it. Thank you for your information.” She clicked off and got up from the table. “Dr. Williams, I expect that our contact in the future will be brief, and completely business related.” She left him sitting there in a somewhat dazed condition.

  After a restful supper with her parents, Beth returned to her apartment, although she was disturbed enough that she took a long detour to her apartment, making sure no one was following her. She reported the incident with Dr. Williams to the tribune of Intelligence as First had said, and got some more paperwork out of the way, but she made sure she was ready and waiting to talk to Jon at 2000.

  * * * * *

  It had been two weeks since Amanda had left and Michael thought he’d been handling things rather well, keeping things calm and on an even keel. However, that wasn’t the way that Tommy saw things. According to the First, he was short-tempered and grouchy. That may well have been true. Certainly he hadn’t been smiling much recently. On the other hand, he hadn’t hurt anybody, either, so maybe it all evened out. All he could do, at least right now, was to keep slogging away at his duty.

  Tommy had told him, after he had reported it to the emperor, about Amanda’s suggestion that he needed ‘help.’ So, even if he was reluctant to agree that he needed help, the emperor had immediately accepted the suggestion, and now he had a helper. Young Ari Levi, who had been in the first batch of youngsters, was promoted to decurion and stationed at the residence, under orders to ‘assist’ Michael in whatever needed doing. Michael finally had to admit it was a good idea and that he did need the help. He still had all sorts of diplomats to meet and talk with, appellate cases to decide (though, thankfully, there were few of those) and the whole machinery of government to oversee. Ari was turning out to be a big help with scheduling, arranging, summarizing and drafting documents, even though he also had university classes. Tommy swore that he’d heard Ari mutter one day that he wished he were back in basic training so that he could relax a little bit.

  There was one other thing that the emperor had Michael, with advice from the rest of the Imperial Council, working on – coming up with a cursus honorum, a series of positions, that would bring the brightest young minds into contact with all aspects of the Imperial government. It was starting to
take shape. The young people would be rotated through a series of positions, each lasting three months. They would serve as his assistants, take a decury through basic, work with the urban praetor, the Business and Foreign departments, do a stint at the Imperial bank, empty bedpans and do nursing rotations at the Imperial Hospital, etc. It seemed as if every part of the government was going out of their way to make sure that these young discipuli were exposed to every part of the Imperial government.

  Michael was sitting at his desk, drinking coffee and waiting for Ari to rush in after his first class at the university. While he was waiting, Tommy strolled over and quietly said, “I just checked on her, and she’s doing okay.”

  “Tommy, I don’t think you’re supposed to be telling me this.”

  “Bull, Mike. The emperor said nothing about keeping things away from you. I know you too well, brother-in-law – you’re just afraid to get your hopes up.”

  Michael grimaced. “If it were anyone but you trying to tell me that I was afraid, I’d...”

  “Come off it, Mike, before the youngster arrives. I’ve known you too long, and I know, from your time with Angel, if nothing else, that about the only thing you’re scared of is a woman who might care for you. Now, calm down – all I wanted to do was let you know that Amanda's okay.”

  “All right, Tommy – and thanks for keeping an eye on her.” Michael shook his head as if to clear it. “By the way, how do you think Ari’s working out?”

  “I think he’s doing a good job, but he needs some help if he’s going to lift some of the weight off your shoulders.”