~*~
Lisa couldn't seem to relax enough to sleep, and she was in her pajamas reading a book on medieval technology when Sims told her Milton was approaching the ship.
"What's the local time, Sims?"
"Twelve minutes past midnight."
She hadn't expected to hear back from him before tomorrow—well, later today. Something important must have happened.
She placed her reader on the shelf by the bed, slid out of her sleeping cubicle, and quickly dressed in one of her jumpsuits.
"You may as well wake the others," she said as she made her way to the airlock. "Whatever the news is, I'm sure they'd like to hear it."
"Acknowledged," the AI's emotionless voice replied from speakers in the corridor.
When she got to the bottom of the ramp outside, Milton was waiting along with Ferman, standing uncertainly in the bright glow of the ship's landing lights. Both men looked up with droopy, tired eyes, but their mouths were smiling.
"The news is good, I take it," she said.
"Very good," Ferman said. "The king has tasked the Guild of Magicians to build one of your sewer systems to service the palace. He even agreed that we could use orcs to do much of the labor—under certain conditions, of course."
"What conditions?" Lisa asked with a tone of suspicion.
"Nothing onerous. They are to be guarded and supervised at all times, and none may be on palace grounds after nightfall, but we can manage that. We're going to bring in more apprentices under a new subdivision for natural philosophy within the guild."
"So the Guild of Magicians will have a department of natural philosophy?" The idea bothered her at first because it implied that this new way of looking at the world would be subservient to their old, magical worldview. But then she remembered that some of the earliest scientists of her world, Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, and others were also priests, alchemists, or astrologers. New ways of thinking must be built from the old. They can't just spring into existence fully formed.
"Yes, Milton actually suggested that. I think it's a good idea, but I suspect some of the more conservative mages went along with it mainly to distance themselves from it. They still don't like the idea of nontraditional magic, and they certainly don't like orcs, but when we explained how this could actually bring in money, enough of them went along with it to tip the majority to our favor."
"I doubt it was easy to convince them," Doc said, approaching with Brax and Sandra from the ship.
Milton lowered his eyes and shook his head. Ferman laughed and said, "Hardly. We've had an exhausting evening. We went from the guildhall to Milton's shop first because some of the guild members wanted to see Gorbo to assure themselves that orcs could be domesticated."
"The teacakes helped, I think," Milton said. "Gorbo makes nice teacakes. And he was wearing the apron with flowers on it that he likes. It's hard to see someone in a flowered apron as dangerous."
"I quite enjoyed our talk, in fact," Ferman said. "I can't say Gorbo is a deep thinker, but his simple honesty impressed me. If this construction project goes well, I imagine the orcs can be put to all sorts of jobs."
"I hope you're not thinking of making slaves out of them," Doc said. "Slavery is abhorrent to my people."
"Is it?" Ferman's rhetorical question carried no sign of anything other than innocent curiosity. "How odd, but no; in fact, we decided that they should be paid, but they will be regarded as indentured servants to the Guild of Magicians for a year. Some members insisted on this as reparation for the damage they did, especially to the outer part of the city. That doesn't mean they will be abused in any way. We're going to try to make sure of that."
"Gorbo actually suggested that the orcs would work better if they were paid," Milton added. "He says it will be a way for them to keep score among themselves. I think they have some kind of instinctive status seeking behavior. Talking with him about this has been very informative. There is still much to do, obviously, but I'm sure we're going to be able to make it work."
"Yes, quite," Ferman said. "Many details remain, but the idea has support. After leaving Milton's shop, we went to see some of the masters of other guilds. They were resistant at first, but the leader of the Guild of Merchants came around fairly quickly. He said clean streets would help business, and he helped us sway others. By the time we got to the palace, it was well after dark, but we had the leaders of a dozen guilds with us."
"Some were already asking about hiring orcs for other jobs," Milton said.
"True," Ferman agreed. "King Genrex granted us a late night audience and listened to everything we told him. By this time, Rennart had already sided with us because his dislike of the orcs was overruled by his love of money."
Rennart? The guy who tried to turn me into a frog? I got the impression he doesn't like us."
"Oh, he doesn't. Especially you, Commander Chang. You threaten his status. He's one of our most formidable magicians. When your ship first arrived, it proved that his magic pales in comparison. And then when his spells failed against you, well, let's just say he did not take it well and began looking for a way to regain what he thought he lost to you. He's not being enthusiastic with his support for the sewer plan. He's just not actively opposing the idea. When I told him you would ensure the good behavior of the orcs by casting an Obedience spell, he withdrew all his objections, but I think he may be hoping they'll misbehave and prove you are not as powerful as everyone seems to think."
"What a devious, self-serving slime toad," Sandra said.
"There are many who would agree with you," Ferman said. "But he is influential."
Brax smiled. "Well, if you're living in a sewer, you have to expect the worst stuff to float to the top."
Sandra slapped him. "Ignore this oaf. Stupid stuff just falls out of his mouth all the time. I'm sure he meant no disrespect to your city."
"No offense taken," Ferman said. "And if I understand his metaphor accurately, it is not inaccurate. Fear, self-interest, and money are often more influential than wisdom, I'm sad to say. But in this case, they seem to be working in our favor."
"What about General Sevritas?" Lisa asked. "I doubt he's onboard with all of this."
"Well, no, he's not. But one of the other officers mentioned that orcs, if properly trained, might make good soldiers—"
"You're not going to—"
"No, Commander Chang. Not anytime soon anyway. Everyone is still a bit too uncertain about the orcs to arm them. But who knows? In time, if they integrate well into our city, they may end up being trusted in all sorts of professions."
She kept forgetting how different this place was from her universe. In her world, wars were close to unthinkable, and nations maintained armies mainly due to tradition. The primary job of soldiers, at least in the modern world she was from, was to provide assistance for disaster relief. The idea that the orcs might become soldiers in the old-fashioned sense, which meant killing other soldiers, disturbed her.
"I see. I'm sure that would be a sure sign of success, then," she said.
"Indeed it would," Ferman agreed. "But I am forgetting one of the main reasons for our late night visit. The king has ruled that the boon he promised will be presented to you tomorrow morning. We're going to assemble the captured orcs outside your ship at two hours past dawn so that you may cast your Obedience spell. I'm quite looking forward to seeing that, actually."
"So, we'll get the palladium after I cast the spell?"
"Yes, that's right, and complete the, um, promised transfer of funding."
"Of course. Anything else?"
"Well, yes. A minor thing. I was told to retrieve the sword loaned to Brax for the mission, if you have no objection."
"None at all," Lisa said.
Brax was currently wearing it along with the expression of a kid just told he could not have a second helping of dessert.
"Come on, Brax," Sandra said. "You don't need it, and you'd just end up cutting yourself with the stupid thing anyway."
"I'm doing it," he said with reluctance, undoing the clasps and buckles holding the sword belt. When he finally handed it to Milton, he seemed to have shrugged off his disappointment at not being allowed to keep his new toy and was actually smiling.
"Thank you," Ferman said. "We'll see you all in the morning."
~Chapter 18~