by Ted Mayes
She heard Jon and Kevin begin yelling at the recruits to move faster, and she contributed her share, although she didn’t look around, but depended on the display Molly put up on her goggles. She had started running up the stairs, but, of course, that didn’t last long. When the recruits couldn’t keep up that pace, Jon told her to slow down and went into a long, and incredibly inventive, denunciation of the shortcomings of the recruits, which lasted for four stories, punctuated by Kevin’s shouts of ‘move faster.’ (Beth was especially proud that Jon had been able to say so much without ever repeating himself, using profanity, or screaming.)
When they finally reached the barracks for 614, she pointed out the bunks that Jon had assigned. Then she demonstrated the various compartments for their clothes and supplies and was finished in plenty of time to move out of the way. Then Jon gave them ten minutes to get into uniform, put their belongings away and fall in out in the corridor.
Then the trips up and down to the various supply offices began. Beth remembered how hard it was for her, even as an athlete, and it was no easier for these new recruits. It was interesting to see from an ‘impartial’ viewpoint, how the habits of helping your codjit were ‘encouraged’ from the very beginning. Any attempt by a recruit to get out of line and bypass a slower member of the platoon was instantly met by one of the decurions loudly ‘getting in the face’ of the offender. On the other hand, any slowdown of the decury in climbing the stairs was met just as quickly with loud demands for more speed. It wasn’t very long before each squad was working together, codjits helping each other climb the steps.
There were, of course, times when the decury had to simply wait. Jon used the time for instruction. Beth realized that she must had the same thing happen to her in basic, but she’d been so overwhelmed that it just wasn’t very clear in her memory.
One time it was how to stand at attention or at ease – and lots of practice for both.
Another time, it was how – and when – to salute. “As recruits, you will salute, when appropriate, anything that moves. If a pet dog runs by, you will salute, because the dog outranks you.”
Another time, “None of you will probably ever hear from the emperor personally, but what he tells you to do takes precedence over everything else. If you are bleeding to death and the emperor contacts you, you will stop bleeding until you complete his orders. Is that clear?”
Another time, “Unless you’re even dumber than I think, I hope you’re aware that both sexes are in this platoon. You will consider yourselves brothers and sisters – one big happy family. I will say this only one time – rape, which is defined as any forced sexual activity, is punishable by death – and imperial justice is very fast. If anyone is stupid enough to try something, please do it tonight – after I haul your dead carcase out of the barracks, it’ll be easier to stick a replacement into the decury.”
The afternoon wore on, and Beth was interested to see that Jon was careful not to exhaust the recruits, although from the volume of his comments, she was surprised his voice wasn’t giving out. The decury was semi-comatose at supper and each of the decurions took turns stalking around the table, making sure that the recruits were actually awake and eating. Then there was drilling in the evening, and finally the recruits were tucked in. In fact, some of them were unconscious in sleep before their heads hit the pillow.
Beth met Jon and Kevin in the commons and they shared smiles with each other. “They’re good kids,” Jon said. “I think they’re becoming a unit faster than we did.”
“I don’t know about that,” Kevin said, “but, in my humble opinion, you’re a scarier decurion than the one we had. Did you take lessons from First?”
Jon laughed softly. “During the last three months, the consul had us learning from all the praetorians. Enough is enough, though. Our temporary quarters are one floor down and we can use all the sleep we can get. One more day of full volume and then I can ease up on them.”
Beth took Jon’s hand as they walked down the corridor. “I’ll be looking forward to the weekend when we can have some time together.”
* * * * *
Michael kissed Amanda goodbye as she headed off to the IP office. He’d been married almost three weeks now and he found he was enjoying it more than he thought he would, more than he remembered. However, he was not going to take a chance on losing his wife again. With the emperor's permission, he had tasked a small number of speculatores with the job of keeping an eye on Amanda. In particular he wanted to know if anyone or any group took too much interest in her activities.
That, however, was for later on. Today, he got to ‘break in’ two new aides, and it looked like an interesting challenge. Benjamin Luthuli, South Africa, was a Zulu whom tests indicated had the potential of being a financial wizard for the empire and possibly a future head of the Imperial Bank. Sigrid Vaasa, Finland, was tapped to be a diplomat and perhaps head the Foreign department. What made it even more interesting was that, right now, both of them were optio rank and had no idea that they were selected for the cursus.
He came out of the hallway into the atrium and found what he had expected – the two new aides at rigid, unmoving attention, and the First Centurion and the First Lieutenant of the praetorians prowling around them, as if they were aching to jump in with criticism. Michael stood there glaring at them for a moment and, if anything, the new aides became even more still. Finally he said, “Tommy, James, your recommendations?”
The two older men came to attention and Tommy answered for both of them. “They’ll do, sir.” James nodded and added a smile.
“Okay, then you two can go about your other duties. Luthuli, Vaasa, at ease.” The two new aides smartly and in unison moved their feet and relaxed, marginally. Michael smiled and motioned to the praetorians in the room to bring up chairs, and they placed them at either end of the table. “You’ve shown that you can handle a little bit of pressure, so let’s see how you handle what’s coming up next. Take a seat,” and he indicated the chairs at the end of the table.
The ‘invitation’ to sit down really got their attention. They looked at him, at the chairs, and at each other and slowly began to move to the chairs, still mute. He sat down and waited for them to be seated as well. “The two of you are being reassigned – your decurions have already been notified.” They remained quiet, but it was easy to see their eyes widen in surprise.
“You are being reassigned – here.” More quiet, more eyes popping in surprise. “The two of you have been selected as outstanding members of your basic cohort to begin a cursus honorum, a series of assignments to expose you to all aspects of the empire in the understanding that the emperor will most probably be calling on you in the future for leadership. Questions?” It was time for a break in the surprises – Vaasa was definitely pale and he thought he could even detect a lightening of Luthuli’s dark face.
The two youngsters glanced at each other. Then Vaasa cleared her throat. “This is quite a surprise, Sir. No offense is intended, but are you sure you have the right people here, Sir?”
“I find myself agreeing with Optio Vaasa, Sir,” Luthuli said in his deep rumble. “I find it hard to believe that my superiors would make a mistake, but I find it harder to believe that the two of us would be picked out of the cohort and assigned to whatever special duty this is.”
Michael smiled again and leaned back in his chair. “I’m glad that both of you have retained or recovered enough of your wits to politely suggest that I’ve gone crazy. A lot of information will be coming your way today and it is imperative that you have a clear understanding of what will be happening in the future. Therefore, the first order I have for you this morning is for you to ask me a question when you are unclear about something. The only stupid question is the one you do not ask. Clear?”
Although they struggled not to pop to attention, the two aides managed a chorused “Yes, Sir.”
“Now, for the next three months, you will be working here as my aides, helping work through all th
e reports and decisions that cross this desk. Just so that things are clear – you will be seeing and working with documents that are top secret. You will not discuss these matters with anyone else except the emperor without clear direction from me. And you should remember that the penalty for treason – and disobeying my orders in this case would be treason – is death. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Sir!” They were almost sitting at attention now.
“Your work here will generally be in the morning, since I tend to reserve the afternoon for inspections and judging the occasional court case. Since you are both slated for the University, you will take one or two classes in the afternoon. Exactly which classes you will be taking during the summer quarter is something you will discuss this afternoon, 1300, with Dr. Roslin, Praetor of the University, in the Capitoline building.” He grinned at their expressions. “Yes, the Praetor of the University is your academic advisor.”
“After you’re done here, you’ll take a decury through basic. The quarter after that you’ll be working at the Imperial Hospital. Then a quarter at the Imperial Bank. Yes, Vaasa?” He looked at the young woman who was even more confused.
“Take a decury through basic, Sir?”
“Yes. The praetorians will be available during this quarter to offer advice on how to do that. Also, as of now, you are both promoted to decurion and raised one pay grade, so by the time you face the recruits, you should be used to the position. There will be other assignments after the bank, but they have not yet been completely decided on.”
Luthuli took a breath and looked like he was going to speak. Michael nodded at him and gestured to go ahead. “Sir, this seems like quite a bit to take in at once.”
“It may, but the two of you have had it relatively easy for the last six months. You’ve probably heard that the University is hard, but you will be taking classes as well as following the cursus. Based on what my two former aides said, you’re going to be busier than you ever thought you could be, but we’re sure you’ll be able to handle it. Now, any other questions?”
“Just one, Sir,” Sigrid said. “Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider your decision about us?”
“Ah, but it’s not my decision, youngster. It’s the decision of the Imperial Council and the emperor.” He waited a second, then continued. “Then, let’s get busy so you can get used to your duties here.” As Michael went through the various reports, he indicated what the duties of the two new aides would be – reviewing, summarizing, critiquing, drafting responses.
The Mars colony was not only growing, but with the first flight of the ISS Tycho Brahe a first group of ‘outside’ colonists were on their way to Mars, along with re-enforcements to Landing. In fact, an agreement made with a private group of colonists had resulted in the empire beginning to excavate a second Mars colony at Perrotin Crater, northeast of Landing, on the north side of the Valles Marineris. The plan to have a ‘nature preserve’ in valley seemed to be gaining consensus – there was a brief note attached to the Mars report that indicated a suggestion from the ‘outside’ colony about tying in their underground colony to a tunnel exiting onto the floor of the valley.
On Ark 1 the vegetation was growing fast and the increased grazing was leading to a faster growth of the animal population than had been expected. Additional types of animals had been released and an earlier release of predators was being evaluated. Ark 2 was under construction and plans for the introduction of fauna and flora were being drawn up. Ark 3 was entering initial planning stages – suggestions for its interior habitat had been narrowed down to an Amazon rain forest, a Chinese bamboo forest, or a southeast Asian mixed habitat.
A small scientific settlement would remain on Mercury. Venus continued to show a slow decrease of atmospheric pressure and temperature and a slight increase in rotation and tilt. Squadron 4 was making slow progress with Operation Puzzle. The original holdup had been defining the limits for the size of asteroid to be included in the database. The number of asteroids smaller than 300 feet in diameter was greater than current ‘outside’ theory had predicted. The emperor had ordered that the location, size, shape and composition of such tiny asteroids be cataloged and only then were they to be used in the construction of Arks. Once that decision had been made, the cataloging started. Personally, Michael doubted that the survey of the belt would be completed anytime soon, but the emperor wanted information on at least a small slice of the belt and one asteroid family.
Foreign reported that two new Lunar colonies, India and Taiwan were officially starting this week and a new section would be handling them (he noted that Beth Jordan would ‘keep’ Kepler and the refugee colonies). China, Russia, and the new European Union were still in the planning and discussion stage. (Mary Chen noted that the three ‘countries’ seemed to want some kind of control over their colonies but didn’t seem to know exactly how to bring that about.)
Fleet’s report indicated all five squadrons were officially complete and that the ISS Poland had joined the America, Russia and Czechoslovakia in ferrying tourists and immigrants to the Moon. Recommendations were made for a fifth ‘plane’ to be held in reserve for the Earth-Moon traffic, and four more Terra-class ships to be added for the Earth-Mars trip. The last part of the report included future ‘dreams’ for exploration of the outer Solar system.
Marine reported on full plans for a Red Cohort, but recommended, for the present, only the establishment of three decuries on a temporary basis. Apparently at the moment only the US army was interested a very limited set of war games, set for the western US in August. Expansion to four full basic cycles was now complete, which would bring in 2400 recruits a year.
Commerce reported that business was still booming at Ostia (and the surrounding area) as well as Capitol. Agriculture documented that only about 50 lunar ‘villages’ were ‘filled’, although there were occupied farms in 400 other partially-filled locations. An independent farmer’s co-op was very active and the lunar farms provided a surprising percentage of food for Capitol. Post indicated the amount of tonnage that was being delivered and submitted a set of guidelines for prioritizing shipments, should that ever be needed – first, ships in space, then, food and air for non-Imperial colonies, then Imperial colonies, lastly, everything else.
The Urban Praetor’s office informed him that the decision handed down by the emperor while Michael was on his honeymoon was in the process of being implemented. A smaller office under the command of a propraetor would remain at Ostia, while the praetor would move to Capitol in July with a goodly portion of his staff. The Imperial Hospital would be carrying out a similar process during the same time frame and the Imperial University would be moving upper level classes and faculty to Capitol as well.
The most interesting development came from the Imperial Bank. They would have the Capitol branch led by a propraetor while the praetor remained at Ostia. There was one other matter – the praetor had been unofficially approached by certain countries who wanted to suggest that Imperial currency become Earth’s primary reserve currency. Michael didn’t wait to consult anyone on that matter. He included the topic on the agenda of the next Imperial Council meeting and sent a message back to the bank praetor that his only reply to this, at present, was to be that the subject was under consideration. Then he sent a brief message to the emperor, summing up all the information and adding, ‘They might want or need this, but it could drag us deep into Earth politics!’
It was almost noon before Michael was glanced at the clock, and that only because he was suddenly aware of Amanda entering the residence. He shook his head and glanced at his two new aides. He almost chuckled at the sight. They both looked confused, shaken, harassed and bewildered.
“Let me guess, these are your two new aides, right, Michael?” Amanda said.
He did grin, then. “Yes, dear. These are the brand new decurions Benjamin Luthuli and Sigrid Vaasa. This is my bride, Amanda Baxter.”
The two rose to their feet in greeting, but they were too sha
ken by the events of the morning to move in unison. Amanda smiled at them and said, “I want to thank you for helping my husband. Normally he works too hard, so I especially appreciate your helping him.” She looked at their tired faces and semi-glazed eyes. “I see that he’s been testing you this morning, so I’ll just take him off to lunch and you can get out of here.”
Michael smiled at her. “Okay, the two of you can drop the paperwork right where you’re standing. Remember – 1300 with Dr. Roslin, 0800 tomorrow morning here, and you discuss this information” he waved his hand at the paper stacked on the table, “with no one except me or the emperor. Dismissed.” The two new aides moved out of the residence surprisingly quickly.
“Michael, how hard were you on those poor youngsters?” Amanda came up to him and gave him a quick kiss.
“As hard as I needed to be.” He held her close for a moment. Glancing at the door where the aides had disappeared, he said reflectively, “They’re tough, smart kids. Tommy and James weren’t able to scare them, so I think they’ll do well.” He looked down at her. “Where are we going for lunch?”
“I feel like Mexican, or Tex-Mex, today. Is that okay with you?”
“Sure. Let’s gather Tommy and the boys and get going.”
* * * * *
It was a day to celebrate anniversaries – well, very small anniversaries. Amanda’d been married just over a month, and the Imperial Press was three months old. As for the first, she was almost surprised how well she had adjusted to being married. It was wonderful living with Michael. Oh, there were some rough edges. Michael had lived his single, spartan existence for far too long and he wasn’t quite sure what to do with all that she brought into his life – clothes in the closet, makeup in the bathroom, stylish new furniture in the apartment.
