The Children of the Company by Kage Baker Read Free Book Online Page A

need books for?”
    “Think of them as stage-dressing. They’re to impress your initiates.”
    “What initiates?” said Imhotep, reaching for his beer. He turned the cup in his hands uneasily. “I thought the whole deal with me becoming a god didn’t happen until way later in history.”
    “Of course. This is another matter entirely. You’re to start a, to put it in the mortals’ parlance, a ‘Hermetic Brotherhood.’ The most secret of secret societies. You’ll feed them snippets of philosophy and arcane gibberish as revelations from the gods. Flashy conjuring tricks to impress them. Hints of real science, with demonstrable results. The equipment in the chest is for that purpose.”
    “Don’t tell me there are still Rosicrucians in the twenty-fourth century, and they’re paying the Company to do this?” Imhotep sighed.
    “Not at all. You’re simply laying the groundwork for certain others to build on at a later date,” Atrahasis told him. “The real challenge will be convincing your little king that the whole affair is his idea.”
    Imhotep looked unhappy.
    “Okay,” he said. “I can do that. No problem.” He drained his beer in one gulp and reached for the pitcher. “More?”
    “Not for me, thank you.” Atrahasis turned in his chair and surveyed the garden. “Quite a comfortable posting you have here. It must nearly make up for the air pollution and the crowds of mortals.”
    “It’s great,” said Imhotep earnestly. “And the pollution’s no worse than anywhere else. You try living in the same cave with the rest of your tribe through a six-month winter—now, that’s pollution!”
    “Undoubtedly,” said Atrahasis. “Still, one can’t help wish the wretched things would grasp the basic principles of birth control.” He transmitted the rest of his thought subvocally: Or that the old Enforcers had been allowed to continue their useful work .
    Imhotep gulped down a second beer even more quickly than the first.
    Hey, times change . I hear most of them are adapting real well to the new jobs .
    Atrahasis considered him coolly. You don’t find what was done to them shameful? How professional of you. I’d have thought you could summon a little outrage on their behalf. You were one of Budu’s recruits, weren’t you? Just as I was.
    That’s right.
    Yet you never spoke out on behalf of our immortal father, when the orders came.
    Imhotep narrowed his eyes. What’s it to you? I went to him and we talked, if you must know. Sure, he had his reservations about closing down the old operation . But he was smart enough to see that times were changing, and he’s changed with them. Not like that dumb ass Marco.
    Marco was rash, have to admit.
    He was a loose cannon! He’d grab any excuse to slaughter mortals. Budu’s smart, and he’s got self-control, and he’s going to be just fine. It’s not like there aren’t going to be plenty of wars to keep him busy.
    How true.
    At this moment they were interrupted. A tiny brown naked mortal came marching into the garden, fists clenched, scowling in furious determination, heading for the street. Imhotep spotted him and jumped up.
    “Excuse me a minute. Benny, come back here!”
    Atrahasis turned, staring in disbelief, as Imhotep ran after the mortal infant and caught it. A conversation took place in the ancient tongue that would be translated approximately as follows:
    “Whoa! Where do you think you’re going? Remember what Daddy said about chariots?”
    “No potty go.”
    “Oh. Benny, you have to go potty like a big boy now.”
    “No potty go!”
    Imhotep looked around. “Okay, okay. Come on. Big boy on the tree like Daddy showed you, all right?”
    “Big boy.”
    Atrahasis averted his gaze as Imhotep led the infant to a fig tree in the corner, where it urinated. The mortal woman came running from the house, calling for the child, and Imhotep turned and waved to her.
    “I caught him, honey, it’s all right.”
    “How did you get the door