Scaevola's Triumph (Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy Book 3) (3 page)

"You are correct," the Tin Man nodded. "Both of you." He paused, then added, "This is quite disastrous."

"Believe me, being here's more disastrous for us," Gaius said coldly.

"On that you are quite incorrect," the Tin Man said in his same toneless voice. "I have lodged this conversation into the ship's computers −"

"What's a computer?" Vipsania asked.

"Don't ask those sort of questions!" Lucilla hissed. "We mustn't look −"

"Primitive?" the Tin Man asked. "Do not worry. That crisis is over. Now, Gaius, the force you could not understand. That was generated by the ship itself, as a convenience to stop the crew and cargo from floating around the way they would otherwise. I shall demonstrate that you were correct. Prepare yourself, and I shall turn it off. When I do, do everything gently. Let yourself float, and move only with very small forces. I shall turn it off . . . now."

"What!" Lucilla almost shrieked, as she found herself rising from the floor. She flailed with her arms. Vipsania reached out to help her, and found herself flailing.

"Keep your arms and legs still!" the Tin Man said, "and I shall help you." He floated across the space, grasped their arms, and held them. He then let them go, and drifted back.

"How did you do that?" Gaius asked, as he found himself drifting legs upwards.

"I have little thrusters," the Tin Man said. "Now, Gaius, are you satisfied? Your theory is quite correct. All objects fall in what I call a gravitational field, and what you seem to call, 'towards the centre' at the same rate. You correctly deduced that if you were orbiting, you should be weightless. Are you happy?"

"I am strangely happy to be right," Gaius exclaimed, "but I'm not exactly happy about spending the rest of my life in a zoo, with −"

"That will not happen now," the Tin Man said. "If you are finished floating around, I shall slowly restore the force to hold you to the floor."

"I'm going to land on my head," Gaius muttered.

"You will do so very slowly," the Tin Man explained. "Reach out with your hands, then push up to right yourself. I'll wait until you are all safely upright before I restore full force."

Gaius felt quite strange as he realized the floor was getting closer, but he followed instructions, and after a little trial and error, he found himself upright, but strangely light. Then when everyone else was upright, his weight suddenly returned.

There was a noise, and the ship's creature marched along, with two stranger and uglier beings behind it, all highly agitated, making strange squeals at each other and at the Tin Man. The zookeepers. Gaius stared at them. Strange furry creatures, with long arms, and dressed in black overalls and boots. The Tin Man moved to the door of the cage and began speaking. Immediately, the creature began screaming and waving its arms around. It seemed to threaten, but the Tin Man continued speaking, as if the creature was not there. The zookeepers looked angry, but the Tin Man kept speaking, and then they turned and fled.

"What was that?" Vipsania asked.

"I simply told the zookeepers they had two of your minutes to leave this ship, or be immediately taken to the planet Ulse to stand trial."

"You told them what?" Lucilla asked.

"I would take them to a planet called Ulse. I can do that," the Tin Man said, "because effectively I am the ship. He," and he pointed to the creature, "does not like that, but he is going to be taken there."

"This planet, Ulse," Gaius asked. "Is that where, er, that comes from?"

"No," the Tin Man replied. "Ulse is the centre of a Federation, and it is also from where I was made and programmed. In your terms, it is a little like taking someone back to Rome. He doesn't have to come from Rome to be bound by Roman law."

"I understand," Gaius said, then added, "at least partly. What will happen to him?"

"He will be charged with intervening in the development of an emerging technical civilization, and possibly even stopping the emergence. It is the most serious crime he can be charged with."

"More serious than murder?" Lucilla asked.

"Oh, more serious than the murder of a million," the Tin Man replied.

"Unless you lock him up, I think you will find he will take control of the ship and fly elsewhere," Gaius shrugged.

"On that you are quite incorrect," the Tin Man replied. "He has no more chance of flying this ship than you have. However, he will be confined."

"You may have noticed," Gaius remarked dryly, "he has fled."

"And I know where to," the Tin Man replied. "I have now sealed the exits and I am starting the motors. The ship is moving. Now, I am interested. Tell me what you know of what you call physics."

"First," Gaius replied carefully, "I would like some explanations." The turn of events was baffling, but his experience at command made certain things clear to him. He must learn as much as he possibly could about their situation.

"You will get as much as you can understand," the Tin Man replied. "That is why I need to know how much you know."

"You can explain this," Gaius said. "If you come from another star, why do you understand Latin?"

"We have been studying your planet," the Tin Man replied. "We can send down objects that look so much like your people they can wander through crowds. We have recorded a number of events, and perforce, we have learned Latin. And a number of other languages as well."

"And you are going to catch and imprison my former captor?"

"No, I am not permitted to do that," the Tin Man replied.

"Then how is it going to happen?" Gaius asked. This was a turn for the worse. The Tin Man did not have total freedom of action, and that made him an indifferent ally.

"You will catch him, as you put it," the Tin Man replied. "The easiest way to do that is to wait until he goes to sleep. Don't worry. He has been denied access to any part of the ship where he could conceivably do any harm, and he cannot stay awake forever."

"Neither can we," Lucilla said, "and the fact remains, we are still prisoners."

"No, you are not. I suggest you stay here until I can make better arrangements, and until your former captor is caught, but then you will have the freedom of the ship, apart from those places that would be dangerous for either you or the ship. As for your being asleep at the same time, I can always wake you."

"We're not prisoners?" Lucilla asked, in a tone that showed she did not believe she was not.

"No."

"Then I can see Quintus?" Lucilla almost demanded.

"What is a Quintus?"

"He's my husband!"

"There were eight of us brought aboard," Gaius explained. He had to tone this situation down. "He was one of the other four."

"I want to see him!" Lucilla stood up.

"You can't!" the Tin man replied. "Not because I don't want you to, but because he is no longer on the ship."

"What did you do to him?" Lucilla asked coldly. She advanced as if to tear the Tin Man's eyes out. Gaius stood up and held her.

"He was put off at a planet around another star," the Tin Man said. "By the orders of the being previously in control of this ship."

"Then you must go back and get him!"

"That is impossible," the Tin Man said without emotion.

"You just won't! You're . . ."

"Lucilla," Gaius whispered into her ear. "Don't. He's our only ally right now."

"I really am very sorry," the Tin Man said. "I am also sorry that my construction is such that I can't say this in a way you would believe. It adds to the crimes of my former master. I really am sorry, and I shall try to explain this later, although I am not sure how, given your primitive level of technology."

"What are you trying to say?" Lucilla stared at him. She was angry, but she was also full of dread. "He's dead, isn't he?"

"That's what I don't know how to tell you," the Tin Man replied.

"By the Gods, I . . ." She paused as Gaius tried to comfort her. "How did he die?"

"I don't know," the Tin Man replied. "If it helps, assume he died of old age."

"Look, that's . . ."

"If I took you back to that planet," the Tin Man held his hand up, "Quintus would have been dead for about six hundred years, even if he died of old age."

"What?" Lucilla stared at him. "That's impossible!"

"You mean," Gaius said in amazement, "this ship has travelled into the future? If we went back to Rome, it would be six hundred years later too?"

"And eleven more," the Tin Man said.

"That's ridiculous!" Lucilla spat.

Gaius stared blankly at Lucilla. The prophecy! He would return to find Rome in ruins. It had seemed impossible, but . . . It was impossible! Except, why tell such a lie? It made no sense. All the Tin Man had to say was 'No!' and that would be the end of the matter. He hugged Lucilla, and said softly, "I am afraid that may be true," he said. "At least we don't know it isn't, and so far we haven't caught him out in a lie."

"We don't know he's been telling the truth either," Timothy cautioned. "All we've seen is the inside of this cell."

"I can show you their cell," the Tin Man added. "They left some shields behind, and a couple of other things. I know, that doesn't mean they weren't killed, but I promise you they were alive when they left this ship."

"What would have happened to them on the planet?" Lucilla asked.

"I am afraid the most likely outcome is that they would become servants. You would call them slaves, but they would not be badly treated."

"Slaves!" Lucilla howled. "Oh, my poor Quintus!" She began to cry. Gaius held her, as she sobbed.

"I shall leave you to your grief," the Tin Man said. "I know you will say I don't sound it, and that's because I can't, but I am sorry, and I really cannot do anything about it. You must believe me when I say I would go back and get him if I could, but it is absolutely impossible. I understand your grief, and I'll come back later."

"And we are still prisoners?" Gaius asked.

"No, you are not. Here is an authorization key. Push it into a slot on any door on this ship, and the door will open, provided you are permitted entrance. You will have only limited access for now, that being limited to those places where you cannot accidentally hurt yourself. If you see the ship's captain, you're welcome to try to apprehend him, but I suspect he will avoid you. I shall know where you are, so if you get lost, call out."

"He could get a weapon and . . ." Vipsania said fearfully.

"No, he cannot," the Tin Man said. "He has been scanned and he has no weapons. All weapons lockers are denied to him"

"Suppose we want to go up," Gaius asked. "We came down in a room that moved, and . . ."

"If you remember what the design outside the door looked like, and you see such a door, your card will let you in. To work the elevator, walk in, and say which level you want to go to. The door will then close; it will take you to that level, then open the door and let you out. You can also move between front and back, or go to any room you know about. Now, to get back, this is level five, so say level five, cargo section. The elevator to this section is to the left as you leave this door. What we call the bridge is on level one, and if you go to such an elevator, just say 'bridge' and it will take you along to it as well."

"And what's on this bridge?" Gaius asked curiously.

"It is where the ship is controlled from," the Tin Man said. "You will not be able to control the ship, but if you command, 'View!' you will find the walls, ceiling and floor go transparent, and you can see everything. In about two of one of your hours, we shall pass a large planet, which you might find interesting. Don't worry about doing damage. You cannot."

After the Tin Man left, Lucilla stared balefully at Gaius. "He was lying!" she wailed.

"I rather suspect not," Gaius said slowly.

"But that's impossible!"

"So is flying to the stars," Gaius said softly, "but according to him, that is what we are doing."

"It must be . . ." she stopped, and sobbed.

"If it's a lie," Gaius shook his head, "it is the strangest one I've ever heard."

"But . . . but how?"

"I don't know how," Gaius said softly, "except by travelling in this ship."

"But . . . to the stars? That's impossible!"

"It's as sensible an explanation as anything," Gaius shrugged. "Remember what those so-called zookeepers looked like? Have you ever seen anything like them before?"

"No," she admitted.

"They're like nothing else we've ever seen," Gaius shrugged. "All I can suggest is that we must have gone a very long way to find something so strange. If we've gone that far, we could just as well have gone to the stars." He paused, and saw her doubtful expression, so he continued, "I've just been invited to go look at a planet. Why such a lie? What's to be gained? Especially if there's no planet. And a planet is hardly something that you would have well-prepared as a lie!"

"It's . . ." She sobbed again, louder, as at least part of the truth began to sink in.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you'll ever see Quintus again," Gaius said softly, and he hugged his sister again. "Nor anybody else we ever knew." He felt so strangely flat. The situation was so utterly inconceivable, and yet he remembered watching the stars on Rhodes, wondering what was there. He was going to be the first man ever to find out.

"What?"

"They'll be dead too," Gaius said, "by the time we get back home."

"You seem so sure we'll get back," Lucilla said in a tone that showed she did not believe it.

"Yes, I think we shall," Gaius replied, with confidence he really did not have.

"How?" Lucilla asked simply. "We don't even know where home is?"

"I don't know," Gaius admitted in a flat tone.

"Lucilla," Vipsania said, quietly taking her hand, "if we're going to survive this, we have to believe that eventually we shall return home."

"We have to have hope," Gaius added. "We have to be brave . . ."

"That's easy for you to say," Lucilla howled. Vipsania was about to say something to comfort her, but Gaius held up his hand.