The Twice and Future Caesar by R. M. Meluch Read Free Book Online Page B

him watch. Faunus said, “They’re not picking him up. Why aren’t they picking him up?”
    Cinna had told his brothers that
Merrimack
would pick Nox up. It was frightening to see a patterner make a mistake.
    â€œGo get him!” Pallas cried.
    â€œNo,” Cinna said softly. “We can’t.”
    The patterner was rattled.
    I really thought they would pick him up
.

    He blinked.
    Nox was still cold, but he was breathing pure oxygen. And he wasn’t in the life pod. A light was on. He was in a metal compartment.
    He tried to rise, but that didn’t happen. He was strapped down. There was a drone medic inside this compartment. Through a porthole he saw the American space battleship. Her running lights defined her majestic shape.
Merrimack
. The Americans hadn’t brought Nox on board. They’d taken him into some much smaller, more expendable craft. He didn’t hearany other people on board. He guessed the Yanks weren’t going to risk him blowing up inside their battleship. But the drone medic hovering over him wore the Red Cross.
Merrimack
was trying to save him.
    How ’bout that?
    Nox lost consciousness.
    Woke again. He was in a different chamber now, comfortably warm. The biggest difference was the ambient sounds. It was noisy here. Lots of clanging, hissing, voices, banging footsteps, engines. All those sounds, some close by, some a lot farther off. He wasn’t in the small craft anymore.
    He was on the
Merrimack
.
    That could only mean
it worked
! The Americans wouldn’t have brought him aboard if he weren’t free of nanites.
    I’m alive
. He laughed out loud. He was going to live.
    He tried to crank his head around. Couldn’t. He couldn’t really lift it either. He was mostly immobilized.
    He was tied down. They also had a partial nerve lock on him. That was redundant. So were the shackles. Physical shackles. That was primitive. But then this boat had been known to carry swords.
    He was going to live—until the Yanks sucked the intel out of him. Then they would execute him for so many murders.
    He strained to look to his left. He could just see the Marine guards posted at the hatch. They were big men, dripping two-hundred-proof hatred. Only thanks to their training they weren’t mauling Nox into little strands of shredded pirate. One was a square-built, mean-faced brown guy, the other a fleshy boulder of a black guy. They called each other Twitch and Dak.
    The compartment hatch opened. The Marine guards snapped to rigid attention.
    A long tall white swan in Navy blue undress uniform swept in. Four bars and a star on her cuff. That was a captain.
    She sent the Marine guards out. She kept herself three meters away from Nox.
    This had to be Captain Callista Carmel. Nox had heard of her. Who hadn’t?
    â€œEmpress Calli,” Nox said. His voice came out scratchy.
    â€œThat is not my title.”
    It was what they called her in Rome. It was kind of a joke.
    Nox had seen pictures. In person she was a you-can’t-be-serious, swallow-your-tongue kind of stunning. She could be a stunt double for Helen of Troy. But Calli Carmel only launched one ship. She could flatten Troy for herself without backup.
    Nox cleared his throat. “What’d you do to me?”
    â€œBesides save your life?”
    â€œYou took my badges.” His scars and braids he meant.
    â€œI will not have your mother see you like that when she visits you on death row. Tell me about Adamas. Or was that just a line you threw out there to make us pick you up?”
    â€œI couldn’t make that up,” Nox said. “It was great bait, so I used it. I really did see Adamas. Last I heard he was a Colonel on
Merrimack
. I couldn’t believe it when I saw him . . . where I saw him.”
    â€œAnd where exactly is that?”
    â€œIn the place you’re looking for.”
    â€œWhat am I looking for?” Calli asked.
    â€œIt’s a