Muses of Roma (Codex Antonius Book 1)

by Rob Steiner

  Nestor leaned near Kaeso and looked out the window. “I've never been to Roma,” Nestor said.

  “I thought a man with your interests would’ve visited by now.”

  “Things got in the way.”

  When he didn't say more, Kaeso said, “There's no other city like it in the universe. You're going to enjoy it.”

  Nestor gave him a wry smile. “After our recent travels, I’d enjoy any planet with a breathable atmosphere.”

  Caduceus had left the Jupiter system after Galeo’s death and arrived at the Terra way station two days later. When the way station authorities challenged them, Kaeso used the credentials Umbra prepared for them: cargo hauler from the Lost World of Llahsa running the Terra-Jupiter trade routes. After several tense minutes, the Romans allowed Caduceus to dock at the massive Terra way station.

  During the two-day journey from Jupiter to Terra, Kaeso and his crew hid the bodies of Flamma and Galeo refrigeration crates they used for transporting produce, and then hid them in the ship's smuggling holes. It was an awfully big risk keeping them. If Roman agents boarded and inspected Caduceus, Kaeso could say Dariya was a patrician using the sleeper crib to slow her aging (a common practice among the wealthy). Finding two dead bodies, however, would be trouble.

  But Kaeso couldn’t stomach jettisoning old friends as if they were trash. If they succeeded in this mission, he would return Galeo’s body to Libertus, and Flamma’s to his father in Egypt. If they didn't succeed, it wouldn't matter what happened to the bodies.

  Kaeso ordered Blaesus, Lucia, and Daryush to stay on board Caduceus. It was an order he probably didn’t need to give: Blaesus was an exile, Lucia a known deserter, and Daryush an escaped slave. Though Umbra gave them fake credentials and gene coatings, the off chance that someone would recognize them was too great a risk. As long as they did not leave the docked ship, they would not encounter Roman authorities.

  Unless, of course, the Romans decided on an abrupt ship inspection. Umbra was very thorough, so Kaeso had faith that Caduceus's credentials were in order. An inspection was unlikely. He relied on the fact that Roman bureaucracies were like every other throughout human history: They did not take on more work than they had to.

  The winged dropship glided onto the airport's runway and then rolled to the orbital terminal where the other dropships docked. Along the way, they passed terminals designated for planetary air traffic. Dozens of airplanes sat on the runways or waited in line at the terminals to dock. Kaeso reminded himself that while this airport was incredibly large and busy, it was only one of eight in central Italia. The crush of 120 million people in the greater Roma region still amazed Kaeso, himself a native of Avita, the largest city on Libertus with three million residents.

  Once the dropship finished docking, Nestor and Kaeso made their way through the crowded cabin toward the exit. Inside the terminal, the crowds were just as thick as Kaeso remembered. Romans in business attire mixed with people of all ethnicities and colorful clothing: Africans with light flowing robes; Indian women with the red bindi on their foreheads; Gallic men with their traditional long hair and beards; and bronze-skinned men from the Atlantium continent with rings in their ears and noses, yet dressed in the business togas favored by Roman merchants. There weren’t many places in the world, much less human space, with such a diversity of people crowded into one place. Roma was the center of human civilization, and five minutes in the interplanetary terminal proved it.

  Kaeso and Nestor carried their small shoulder bags through the teeming crowds. Kaeso noticed a large visum wall with a male newscrier in front of a picture of Libertus from space. Kaeso made out the planet’s familiar brown and green continents floating on blue oceans beneath a sprinkling of clouds. He stopped among a crowd of people watching the visum wall.

  “...the duplicitous Liberti have once again reiterated their claim that they did not kidnap the Consular Heir, or know his whereabouts, despite the proof the Consul and the Collegia Pontificis recently presented. Their denials have forced Lord Admiral Gneaus Cocceius Nerva to destroy another Liberti city.”

  Sickness rose in Kaeso’s stomach when the image zoomed to Taura, a continent in the southern hemisphere of Libertus. Taura looked like a sideways horseshoe. Clouds floated above the green and brown continent, the sun glistening off the blue waters of the Mare Pavo within the horseshoe’s curve.

  A white light erupted from the horseshoe’s southern tip. Clouds expanded away from the explosion like ripples in a pond. When the light dissipated, a dark smudge glowed with orange fires where the Liberti city of Dives once sat.

  The crowd surrounding the visum wall cheered.

  “As you can see,” the crier said, “the Liberti city of Dives is no more. Maybe now the Liberti will give the Roman people back their Consular Heir. But that is doubtful judging by the Liberti government’s stubbornness so far. They've already let two cities die, Agricola and now Dives.”

  Not Avita, Kaeso thought. Thank the gods, Claudia is still safe. For now.

  “If the Liberti government has such a low regard for its own people,” the crier continued, “the Roman Republic urges the Liberti people to rise up and overthrow their government and install one that is more reasonable. One that does not kidnap children, or let its citizens perish in fire.”

  The crowd cheered again.

  “Serves the bastards right for kidnapping Cordus,” said a young Roman man in a white toga in front of Kaeso. “I say slag the whole planet.”

  “Cocceius Nerva won't do it,” said another young man with a half-beard. “He's too soft. Besides, what if Cordus is on the planet?”

  “True. Even if we don't get Cordus back, though, at least the Liberti are getting what’s coming to them. They've been acting like a power for a hundred years. Time we showed them what a true power is.”

  Kaeso tightened his grip on his shoulder bag to keep from breaking their necks.

  The man with the half-beard frowned, then said in a low voice, “You shouldn't say such things. The numina...”

  The man in the toga laughed. “You're such an old woman. The Liberti numina are fairy tales. The Liberti are no more protected by numina than the Kaldethians. Look what happened to them.”

  Half-Beard still seemed uncomfortable and didn't say anything.

  Nestor put a hand on Kaeso's shoulder, guided him away from the crowd and the visum wall. He must have sensed Kaeso’s anger, for he gave Kaeso a meaningful look once they'd walked several paces from the wall.

  “Are you all right?” Nestor asked.

  “Fine. Let’s leave before I strangle someone.”

  Two armed lictors with pulse rifles stood at the terminal exit. They only eyed the crowds and did not check credentials. Nestor and Kaeso walked past the lictors and through the terminal exit archway without sparing them a glance.

  Kaeso and Nestor stepped outside into a chilly gray dawn and made their way, with hundreds of other people, to the central Roma train. They found two seats next to each other in the last car and sat down amid the cacophony of different languages and crying children.

  As the train glided out of the station, Nestor watched the Roman metropolis speed by. The train ran along side the ancient Appian Aqueduct, its stone arches and brightly painted frescoes still sharp after twelve hundred years.

  “Do they still use that?” Nestor asked, marveling at the ancient structure.

  “No,” Kaeso said absently. “Their water comes from underground pipes, just like any other city. They keep the Aqueduct for historical and religious purposes now. It still empties into a fountain in the old Forum Boarium.”

  Nestor nodded, his eyes taking in the sights. Kaeso smiled to himself, remembering the first time he came to Roma. He had wanted to see everything. The city was so vast and historic, vibrant and seemingly eternal. But Kaeso arrived that first time as a spy for Umbra. His cover was a local Roman merchant, so he had to contain his overwhelming desire to gawk at everything.

  Now that he thought
about it, Kaeso realized he'd never toured Roma’s more famous sights, even though he lived in the city for five years. Ancilia always worked, always noted subtle hints of surveillance, and always sought out Romans willing to help Umbra. It never left time to see the places that gave birth to humanity's ascension to the stars. He remembered how Petra had wanted to bring Claudia to Roma to see the museums, plays, horse races—

  Kaeso blinked away the tears clouding his vision. It was easy to think of his family now, after all those years of forced and intentional forgetfulness. It was also painful, and would be the rest of his life. He missed the mundane things most: eating dinner with them, watching a holo together, going to the market, the hugs and kisses when he went to work.

  Petra was long dead and he might as well be to Claudia, but at least he could ensure she lived. His daughter would not become a Roman slave or turn to ash under Roman guns. He vowed to fix this. He vowed to find Cordus and give the Roman Muses something to fear.

  The train arrived at the Forum Boarium station. Colorful frescoes covered the station’s cavernous ceiling. Stained glass windows twenty feet tall lined the walls, casting rainbow hues down on the teeming crowds. Nestor’s wide eyes echoed Kaeso's thoughts. From temples to coliseums to train stations, it seemed the Romans didn’t know how to build things small.

  They left the station and walked west along the Via Nova. They were in the heart of the Roman commercial district, and the three-story visum walls flashing images and blaring music from every large building confirmed it. Kaeso focused on the mission, but Nestor had a hard time. He stared open-mouthed at the visums, the gleaming white columns of courts and temples, and the statue-adorned arenas.

  “You'd think you'd never seen a city before,” Kaeso said.

  “I've seen many cities,” Nestor said, “but there is only one Roma, as they say.”

  “Well try not to trip over your feet,” Kaeso said, just as Nestor bumped into a toga-clad older man talking on his com pad. The man glared at Nestor, but Nestor ignored him, continuing to take in Roma.

  They walked another three blocks before turning onto the Via Ludus, which was far less noisy and loaded with visum walls. The crowds still existed, but the buildings and business were smaller and more ubiquitous. Niche clothing shops sat next to gourmet food stores, which sat next to jewelry stores neighbored by cafes and taverns. Kaeso found the Scipio Tavern next to a shop selling tobacco from Atlantium. Kaeso opened one of the old-style wooden doors for Nestor.

  The tavern’s interior was dark, smoky, and smelled of decades of wine. Music from forty years ago drifted from the speakers, while a golem gladiator match played on the visum wall in the tavern’s rear. Three older men threw dice on a concave table in the near corner, giving occasional half-hearted cheers. To Kaeso's right, four white haired men concentrated on their latrunculi boards as they sucked on pipes filled with tobacco.

  “So this is where the old men of Roma come to die,” Nestor whispered to Kaeso.

  “Old men of all nations come to places like this to die.”

  He motioned Nestor toward the barkeep in the center. He was a large, middle-aged man with a pregnant stomach and a shaved head. He eyed Kaeso and Nestor when they approached the counter.

  “What's your drink, my lords?”

  Kaeso put both hands on the counter. “I heard this place brews an amazing posca. I could go for a pint.”

  The barkeep frowned. “Sorry, we haven't had posca in months. Got too expensive with the pepper shortage last year. Maybe in another few months when the prices come down a bit.”

  “Posca isn’t hard to make,” Kaeso said. “Only takes sour wine, some water, and a few herbs.”

  “Ah, but the secret to a good posca is the herbal mixture. Pepper is a key ingredient. Won’t sell sub-standard posca at my tavern. Would ruin my reputation.”

  Kaeso nodded. “Can't fault you there, friend, but I'm sorry to hear that. Business has kept me off-world for months. Know where I can find the second-best posca in the city these days?”

  The barkeep grinned. “Well you can find the second best posca at The Triclinium, west end of the Mars Trading Fields. Not as fancy as it sounds, but it'll satisfy your cravings until I can get it back on the board.”

  “Thanks, friend,” Kaeso said and then turned and walked out the door with Nestor behind.

  Outside, Nestor asked, “Was that, Umbra code?”

  “The place is being watched,” Kaeso said, easily falling into his old habit of scanning the street for surveillance without acting paranoid or like a tourist. He decided to run his evasion exercises to ensure he wasn’t followed.

  “Now what?”

  Kaeso thought back to the conversation. He'd known the barkeep Tiro for years, and had worked with him many times to move the secrets Kaeso stole off-world. The man was more professional and steady then some Ancilia Kaeso had known.

  Kaeso had put his hands on the bar counter and asked for posca, a clear code that he was in trouble and needed access to an emergency equipment and money cache Umbra stored throughout the city.

  But Tiro greeted him as a stranger, telling Kaeso the tavern was watched. If Tiro had greeted Kaeso as an old friend, he would have defaulted to his usual cover as a Roman merchant coming in for a cup of red wine.

  Tiro also told Kaeso he should go to The Triclinium for the second best posca in the city. That bothered Kaeso, though he expected it. It meant Tiro didn’t know which caches were safe anymore. Since all Ancilia in Roma were dead or missing, it stood to reason the Romans found the caches as well.

  “So what now?” Nestor asked.

  “I don't know,” Kaeso said, pretending to watch a visum wall while scanning the street. Tiro was the only Umbra contact he had in Roma who was not also an Ancile with an implant. If Galeo was correct, all the Ancilia Kaeso had known were gone. Which meant the odds of finding Ocella dropped to virtually nil.

  “I know where we can get help,” Nestor said.

  Kaeso looked at him, and Nestor smiled. “You're not the only one who has contacts in Roma.”

  “I thought you'd never been to Roma.”

  “I haven't. But I never said I didn't know anybody here.”

  “Who’s the contact?”

  “A sister.”

  “You have a sister in Roma?”

  Nestor gave Kaeso a steady look, and Kaeso assumed he meant a Saturnist “sister.”

  “Can you trust her?” Kaeso asked.

  “Of course. She’s my sister. How do we get to Via Decianae on the Aventine?”

  “It’s two miles south along the river,” Kaeso said. “Rough neighborhood.”

  Nestor grinned. “My sister is a rough woman.”

  34

  “That's the third time that lictor’s passed the hatch,” Lucia said, watching her tabulari screen from the pilot's couch on Caduceus. The camera feed showed the way station terminal outside the connector tube. The brass-capped lictor, with a pulse rifle slung over his shoulder, strolled up the way station corridor without glancing at Caduceus’s hatch. The fact he'd looked at every other nearby hatch made Lucia suspicious.

  “He's just walking his beat,” Blaesus said, sitting in Kaeso's command couch. He had one leg draped over the edge of the couch as he used the command tabulari to watch Roman entertainment channels.

  “He's trying too hard to ignore us,” Lucia said. “I know he’s watching us.”

  Blaesus sighed. “My dear, you need to relax. Stop watching that feed and take in a good Roman comedy or maybe a drama. They've gotten much better since the last time we were home.”

  Lucia frowned at the old man. “How can you watch comedies and dramas?”

  “Because I'm bored?”

  “You know what I mean,” Lucia said. “The Praetorians could storm this ship at any moment and arrest us both. Aren't you the least bit worried?”

  “Of course I am. I don't want to be arrested any more than you, but what can we do? We won’t leave Kaeso and Nestor on Terra
, so we’ll sit here and wait for them. In the meantime, I will distract myself from imminent crucifixion by watching a comedy. Laughter can heal the most sour mood. You should try it.”

  Lucia turned back to the corridor feed. She hated sitting still. She joined Caduceus because they never stayed in one star system longer than a month. It satisfied Lucia's restlessness and her desire to stay ahead of any Roman bounty hunters wanting to haul in a Legion deserter. Doing nothing while her friends were in danger made her want to pull out her one inch of Legion-style hair. Though Blaesus's nonchalance annoyed her, she knew he was right. She should relax, escape her anxiety through comedies and dramas.

  But she continued studying the corridor feed. An armed lictor talked to a maintenance worker across the corridor from Caduceus’s hatch. She wasn't sure if it was the same lictor who already passed the ship. They all looked the same with their brass helmets and dark blue uniforms.

  She sighed. Maybe she was paranoid. Maybe Blaesus was right: The lictor was following his assigned patrols. With the siege of Libertus, Caduceus's Roman docking attendant told them security was the tightest it had been since the Kaldethian war.

  Now if she could only make herself believe it.

  She rose from the pilot's couch. “I'm going to check on Dariya.”

  “Why? She’s not going anywhere.”

  “Then I’m sick of listening to your shows. Satisfied?”

  Blaesus shrugged, then turned back to his comedy.

  Lucia slid down the ladder to the crew deck and then slid down to the cargo and engine deck. She glanced into the engine room and saw Daryush napping in his delta couch. She shook her head. One man watched comedies while the other napped. Was she the only one who knew what Roman arrest entailed? Obviously so, or Blaesus and Daryush would pace the ship, too. She had seen Roman “justice” firsthand on Kaldeth.

  She arrived at the cargo bays and placed her palm on the pad for Cargo One. The hatch slid open with a grinding of metal. The hatch had been grinding for months, and no amount of oil or grease seemed to quiet the noise for long. It was on Kaeso's repair list, but “minor” things like food and fuel took precedence.