I worked with the lab people and the people in Fotis’ metal work group to create bronze rebar to reinforce the concrete (we still couldn’t get a good flexible steel) and we worked to develop a more or less clear glass. I didn’t think we could put in windows (breakage, leakage, no good system for making plate glass, etc.), as such, but I wanted to let light in, so I settled on large expanses of glass bricks that we set in the walls. You couldn’t see through them, but they did let in light.
I was happy with the design. It was going to be something unique in monumental architecture. It was going to cost a fortune, but projecting the power of the God was always a good investment.
Chapter 24
The gravity of the moon causes sea tides (see section on gravity).
Book of Questionable Facts - 336
“Robert! Can I talk to you?”
“Sure Tros, what’s going on?”
“I’ve just received a report from one of our Spartan spies. They are preparing an invasion. My spy says they intend to attack here in Megara and then move on to Athens.”
“That’s what I would do too. We’re not heavily fortified here.”
“How do you want to handle it? There probably isn’t time to do much construction. We do have substantial gunpowder supplies. Plenty of rockets, 6 hot air balloons and food for at least a year. We can try and scare them like the last time. But I doubt it will work as well.”
“Right. They have 3500 veterans who walked, well ran, away unscathed. So, I doubt that they’ll run this time without taking some actual injuries. I really don’t want to hurt anyone if we can avoid it. How many people do we have working out here?”
“About 5000 at the compound and maybe another 6 or 700 in the city.”
“We’d have to send most of them to Athens. The disruption to our trade and banking networks would be too painful.”
“So, what do you think?”
“I think it’s time we did a little traveling. I hear Sparta is lovely this time of year.”
“You want to go to Sparta?”
“Well, not just you and me. Let’s take the army too.”
“You want to invade Sparta? Do you think we can win? You said yourself that they won’t frighten as easily as before.”
“I’ve got a…”
“Plan!”
“Ok, so I’m predictable! But, I’ve got a plan. Take 150 soldiers and go see Dikaiopolis. He and Fotis have been working on something I think you’re going to like. Tell him to show you Bertha and her sisters. And get the soldiers trained. After you see it, if you don’t think we can win, come see me and we’ll talk about evacuation.”
“Ok! Yes Sir Boss!”
I hate it when they say that.
Tros came to see me late that night in the apartment I shared with Melite and Rose. Melite was in the bath and I was playing with Rose.
“Ok, Robert.”
“Not now Tros, I’m horsey right now! Can’t talk! Fix yourself a drink and I’ll be with you as soon as little Rose is tuckered out.”
It was about 20 minutes later when I pranced into the room with a sleeping Rose In my arms. “Ok. Sorry. If she doesn’t get her horsey ride she can’t sleep. I assume you saw Bertha?”
“I saw her, and her sisters. We can definitely win. I’ve never seen anything like it! But, you know, this time. If we use those things. Someone is going to get hurt. I know you’ve tried to build this, this …. this thing! Without hurting anybody. But, well, those things seem uncontrollable.”
“Oh, I imagine we can avoid doing any real harm. Once we take down their walls, they should see reason.”
“They don’t have walls.”
“What?”
“Sparta doesn’t have any walls. They say their soldiers are their walls.”
“That’s crazy!”
“I know, but this is what I’m trying to tell you. If you attack Sparta, you’ll find their entire army, 15 or 20,000 men, waiting for us on the fields outside the city. There are no walls to destroy. Only people. Turn Bertha and her sisters loose on them and we’ll win. No question. But a lot of people are going to be killed.”
“Wow! That changes things. Why hasn’t anybody mentioned this no walls thing before?”
“Well, we’ve been busy, and nobody thought you would be crazy enough to attack Sparta.”
“Really Tros? Have you met me?”
“Ok.” He laughed. “We knew you would be crazy enough, and we hoped that if nobody brought the idea up it wouldn’t occur to you.”
“So, what do we do? If we stay here, they’ll slaughter us. Unless we slaughter them. If we evacuate to Athens, they’ll follow us and it will essentially be the same thing. Either they’ll kill our people, or we kill theirs. Why are those bastards so stubborn? Do they really think they can win?”
“I think they think they can. Look, here’s what they know. What everybody knows:
“You took Athens, without a single casualty. You’re Great God’s Priest flew over the heads of the assembly, without a single casualty. You defeated the Spartan army, without a single casualty.”
“That citizen was killed by a patrol.” I interrupted.
“That was more of a police issue. I don’t think anybody would say that he died in battle. You took Megara, without a single casualty. Do you see a pattern?”
“I’m a nice guy?”
“People aren’t so sure that your god has the power to do actual harm. It’s not a problem here or in Athens. The people WANT to believe, so they don’t even wonder about it. Nobody wants to question the power of the God who makes it rain gold!
“But the Spartans, they question if there’s any real power behind us. And they look at our growing wealth and realize that they have to do something soon, because even if our God is powerless, one day we’ll have a real army and they will have lost their chance.”
“So, what do we do?”
“Oh no!” He held up his hands. “I’m just telling you how I see it. But, like it or not, you’re the boss of this...” He waved his hands around, looking for the word. “Thing! Like it or not. It’s your decision and you have to decide what you can live with.”
“What happens if we abandon Megara and evacuate back to Athens.”
Someone made a throat clearing sound. We turned to see Pericles in the doorway.
“I’m sorry I didn’t interrupt earlier, but your analysis was so interesting.”
“Ok, come on in. Want a drink? “
He declined.
“Do we need to bring you up to date of did you hear pretty much everything.”
“Heard pretty much everything. You really should get in the habit of keeping your door closed during state secret discussions.” He made a big show of closing the door.
“Do you have an opinion? Or did you just come by to give us door closing lessons?”
“Oh, I’ve got an opinion. We should attack and, if possible destroy Sparta.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes. That’s it.”
“Your reputation as a great orator is a tad overblown.”
“Ok, let me expand. Since the defeat of the Persians, over 2 generations ago, Sparta has been the greatest threat to Athens and all of Greece. Their warped culture, with its emphasis on constant preparation for war puts them outside the nature of men. And, as you can see, a culture that focuses on war, eventually must find an outlet in war. All of Greece flocks to our banner, because they see the benefits. Our banks and trade networks, make Greece richer. The new products that are created in our labs, the schools we establish, our police forces and other services all confer never before seen gifts on the people. Our cotton gins, increase production of fabrics, our water wheels and wind mills, increase production of goods from sawn lumber to flour to iron. On my farms alone, your screw press design has more than doubled olive oil production, with less labor!
“We benefit the whole world, but the Spartans spurn us. They won’t join our networks. They won’t let us open banking or insurance
offices. Why? Because they aren’t interested in trade. They aren’t interested in making life better for their people. They believe in the benefits of a hard life. So they have no interest in improvements. Their allies, who would LOVE to join with us, can’t out of fear of Sparta.”
“Ok, so they’re a little intense, but does that justify killing?” I asked.
“It does. It does, because they are intense. And because they are intense they’ll never give up. If we flee to Athens, they’ll follow us to Athens. If we hide behind the walls, they’ll wait. If they return to Sparta and we return to Megara, they’ll come back the next year. They’ll keep at it until they defeat us, or we defeat them.”
“So what do you suggest, we kill every Spartan? I can’t see that.”
“One day that soft heart of yours is going to get you in trouble. No. They’re intense they’re not stupid. We don’t have to kill every Spartan. But we do need to demonstrate our power, make them see that capitulating to us isn’t capitulating to a weaker power, but to a stronger. Then we systematically destroy their culture and remake it to be more like the rest of Greece.”
“Wow Pericles! Who took the jelly out of your donut?”
“What?”
“Nothing. Just, I’m surprised by the depth of your feelings on the subject. That whole ‘then we systematically destroy their culture’ thing is very mad scientist/evil dictator.”
They gave their standard “we’re going to wait patiently until you start making sense again” faces.
“Ok. Thanks. You’ve both given me a lot to think about. I’m going to call a general meeting at mid-day tomorrow. You guys let everybody know, will you? Thanks. Good night.”
I ushered them out. Melite was waiting for me in bed. Well, she was sleeping, but I woke her up, when I slammed myself down, so it’s like she was waiting for me.
“Did you hear any of that?”
“No. Anything new, other than that the Spartans are coming to kill us all?”
I filled her in.
“Robert, honey, I love you, but I’ve got to tell you, I don’t understand, NOBODY understands, this idea of yours to wage war without killing anybody. Greece has always been at war and people have always been killed. And life goes on. Well, not for the dead, but for the rest of us. We’re all of us going to die. What matters is how we live. I learned that from you, so I surprised that you don’t seem to understand it.
“The Spartans hold tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of slaves. Did you know that part of the training of a Spartan boy is to find and kill a slave? And now, they are coming to kill us. Or chase us out of our home and destroy everything we’ve built.
“I’m sorry, but if the price of making this new world we are building safe is to kill a few, or a few hundred, or a few thousand Spartan slave owners, well, I’m willing to pay it. I’d be in favor of attacking them just to free their slaves. Even if they didn’t want to kill us. Which they do.”
“Thanks Honey.” I gave her a kiss and we settled in to sleep.
But I couldn’t sleep!
I got out of bed.
“Where are you going?” She muttered.
“I’m going to find Socrates. Go back to sleep.”
“OK.” And she was asleep again. Sleeping the sleep of the just.
I found Socrates in the yard in front of the building where his apartment was, lying on his back in the grass with a big jar of vodka.
“Ah, Robert. I’m guessing you want to talk about invading Sparta.”
“Are there no secrets around here?!”
He shrugged. It was a funny gesture since he was lying down. “You don’t close your door.”
“Ok then. What do you think?”
He shrugged again. “I was a soldier you know. I fought in a couple of battles. I killed a man in one. I thought it was right at the time, and I don’t think it was wrong now. If, Sparta attacks us, I would fight, and kill if I had to. Still, if I could avoid it, I would.
“What is the good? You told me, the first time we met, that you don’t believe in justice and so you do what seems best to you. Then you destroyed a great and ancient culture as casually as tearing a piece of papyrus. But you created something better in its place. The same evils you saw in Athens, exist in Sparta. But, as you know, the cost of removing that evil, will be greater.”
“So, what should I do?”
“Oh, I have no idea. But, I’m going to drink some vodka and watch the stars. You’re welcome to join me.”
So, that’s what we did.
Chapter 25
Photosynthesis – All food in the world is ultimately created by plants. Plants convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into simple sugars in cellular organs called chloroplasts. These were once free living bacteria that now live within plant cells and use a light sensitive chemical, chlorophyll, to convert the power of the sun into food (see sections on carbon, oxygen, cells and bacteria).
Book of Questionable Facts - 632
“Thank you all for coming. I’m sure you all already know the situation.”
“You don’t close your door!” They all shouted
“Ok. I’ll work on that, but then you would never know anything. Anyway, I’ve talked to several of you already and, pretty much everybody, seems to be in favor of attacking Sparta. Except Socrates, who, as usual, is hard to pin down. Is there anybody who has a good argument against attacking? Anybody in favor of evacuating to Athens and making a stand there? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller? Bueller?”
“What?”
“Nothing. Well, I’ve been thinking about it long and hard.”
“Is that what you call leaving your wife in a cold bed and drinking all night with Socrates?” Asked Melite.
“Ok. Ok. Listen, when I lived in my country, I used to see leaders making decisions that resulted in death for someone, and I didn’t know how they could do it. How could they say, ‘We’ve got a problem, real or imagined, or, just fake, and the best solution to this problem is just to kill somebody or a bunch of somebodies.’ I couldn’t imagine it. How do you make that decision and the next day just go about your business like normal? And, this is important, those leaders, never actually had to see the deaths. So, maybe that makes it easier.
“But, now that I’m faced with that same choice, I think I finally understand. If we don’t attack Sparta, they’ll attack us. And potentially kill some of our people. And we’ll still have to hurt or kill some of them to get them to retreat. The fact that we are, in some ways, more powerful than them, doesn’t protect us.
“The safest thing for our people is to invade Sparta. We have a responsibility to our people, to protect them at, almost, any cost, even against relatively remote dangers. But this danger isn’t remote. I think we have no choice but to attack. Anyone disagree? Fotis? Dikaiopolis? Melite? Isodemos? Megakreon?
“Ok. I just wanted to make sure we are all together on this.”
Everyone nodded their agreement
“Tros, Pericles, how long until the army is ready to leave?”
Tros replied, “The troops are training on Bertha right now. We’ll need to gather supplies, carts, horses, everything. We’re more ready for defense than offense. Maybe 3 weeks.”
“Not fast enough. We need to catch them in the city. If we meet them once they’re under march it will be a blood bath. And not necessarily their blood. Let’s shoot for 2.”
So, plans were made, tasks assigned and everybody went about their jobs.
It was a huge undertaking. We commandeered essentially every horse, donkey and mule and every cart or wagon in or around the city. We bought tons of supplies and brought in more from Athens. We were actually going to be moving fairly lightly. When Sparta had invaded Athens, they had 3500 men. We would bring a force of less than half that.
Still, 1500 soldiers need a lot of stuff. Plus Bertha and her three sister and all their supplies. In the end, our 1500 soldiers were accompanied by more than 300 wagons and carts.
When we
had taken Athens, our 200 soldiers had really just been play acting. But now that we directly controlled 2 cities and indirectly more than 100 (through our control of Athens and its control of the Delian League, but more importantly through our banking and trade networks. In fact, a good number of Delian League members had taken advantage of the confusion in Athens to break away from the League, in name a voluntary association, but in reality an Athenian empire, but they had almost all come crawling back in order to get access to our commercial networks), our standing army numbered 7000 well trained soldiers. All true believers.
The problem was that, well trained though they were, they had never fought an actual battle.
Once we started preparations, speed was crucial. Spartan spies, would report our preparations, and they would do one of two things. Either speed up their own preparations in order to be able to attack us on the way, or prepare fortifications. If they surprised us on the road, our smaller, less experienced force didn’t stand a chance.
The Spartans were the toughest soldiers in Greece. We had a supply of small explosives and rockets which we could use to frighten them, but, if the Spartans overcame their fear (something they were famous for not having) they would overwhelm us relatively easily. Nobody harbored any illusions that our soldiers could stand up to theirs in a pitched battle. Plus they would outnumber us at least 8 to 1.
Our only chance was if we could pick the time of battle and come to the field completely prepared. So, I pushed everyone as hard as I could. Almost to the breaking point.
Chapter 26
The Sun is (on average – see section on orbits of planets) about 93,000,000 miles away.
Book of Questionable Facts - 689
When we were finally underway it was something of a relief, even though, we were marching to war, and possibly to death.
From Megara to Sparta is something like 100 miles. You can make it on horseback in about 4 days (well you can now that I’ve shown them how to make a saddle, before, riding bareback, maybe more like 6 or 7). But we moved much slower. The roads were terrible, and were certainly never meant for anything like Bertha. We were lucky to make 5-7 miles in a day. Just as when we took Athens, we were passed by many travelers headed toward Sparta, so we had no hopes of any surprise (I wondered how other armies handled this. Did they kill or keep captive all travelers while under march?). We also encountered many travelers coming from the direction of Sparta and had no word of an army heading our way.
A New York Lawyer in the Court of Pericles Page 18
