everything." Ouranos took in a breath and the imperator watched him closely. "Dr. Karin Baraz is too immersed running her company now to tend to you, her firstborn. Soon, though, she and the others will see the Psilons' value. They'll be let off the examination tables and allowed to create much like you desired. If you are stowed away, not working, they will be working all the harder. Researching the things you wanted to research. Creating that which you intended to create."
Ouranos found himself nodding, almost imperceptibly.
Caesar smiled. "You had a goal. Yes?" Ouranos didn't move. "You were working toward something … the Psilons were only aiding you on the periphery. Indirectly. Yes?"
Ouranos' eyes looked toward Gaia and then back toward Caesar.
The leader nodded and said, "They will not be sitting on the side of the field now. Now they will be fully engaged in your project. First as subjects and then as leaders. Scientists." Ouranos' nostrils flared and the Caesar smiled again. "All you need to do … is tell me … what is that project's goal?"
Gaia inhaled sharply and said nothing. Ouranos didn't look at her. He stared straight ahead. He tried to regulate his breathing. Caesar simply stood a few meters away and watched. It surprised Ouranos more than anyone when he answered the emperor.
"Wirelessly linked life."
Ouranos blinked repeatedly and didn't look at Gaia when she turned to face him.
"Yes," Caesar said. "Perfect bodies without illness. Their consciousness tethered to a spare." Maxentius shook his head and clapped his hands together once. "A remarkable idea. An amazing feat which you have already attained."
"Damn you sixty times," Gaia muttered.
"Now, now," Caesar said. "Ouranos has only said what I already knew." He stood between the two and said, "You've done it in the lab with carefully selected genes and such, but you haven't done it for a real person yet." Neither of the two answered. Caesar prodded, "Correct? You have not been able to accomplish this with a person who already exists?"
Ouranos looked up and shook his head.
Caesar smiled. He opened his hands, palms up.
"You're offering yourself, of course," Gaia said.
"Naturally."
Both of the prisoners lowered their heads again.
"As I said," the imperator began as he moved toward a bureau in the back of the marble conference room, "no hook. You can continue your work without interference from either Psilons or humans …" He opened the doors of his closet and turned to step back into it. "Or you can sit in a comfortable room for the remainder of your days. However long they may be."
Ouranos lowered his head to think. As he did, his eyes traced the intricate pattern on the floor. What seemed to be a simple collection of white marble tiles was actually a beautiful work of craftsmanship. Slightly different hues and grains of marble were cut and carefully placed in swirls and circles. Ouranos was studying the artistry so intently he wasn't thinking about the Caesar's offer.
Gaia, though, reacted. She stood and sprinted for the balcony doors.
Ouranos' head whipped up as she slammed her shoulder into the wood. The lock broke and panes of glass cracked and fell. The Praetorian Guard raised their weapons and moved toward the balcony. Ouranos stood and ran toward her and wound up standing next to the Ceasar, looking out on Viminal Square in the middle of the night.
A guard took aim with his rifle. Gaia ran from the palace toward a group of administrative buildings on the opposite side of the Square. Ouranos looked at the aiming guard and saw him begin to squeeze the trigger. With a flick of his shoulder, the taller man knocked the rifle aside and a shot went astray into the dark night. The guard fell against the others and all of them lost their aim before Gaia disappeared into decorative topiary.
"Go get her," Caesar said. One of the guards raised his sidearm against Ouranos, but the imperator shook his head. "Go." The guards left the room. Ouranos reentered the palace with the arm of Caesar's puppet on his shoulder. "Don't fear," he said. "She won't be harmed."
Ouranos nodded. After a few more steps, he asked, "And me?"
Caesar stepped back and held the man by the shoulders. "I've assumed, because you didn't jump over the balcony to follow her, you have decided to remain here." He paused. "And continue your work?"
Ouranos' heart beat loudly in his ears. He didn't seem to be breathing, though. He forced himself to inhale and then he looked the imperator in his eyes. His perfect plastic and glass eyes.
"Yes," he said.
XXVIII
BARAZ
147 Years Before the End
Karin sat in her chair with her fist pressed against her jaw. She hadn't slept in two days. She leaned forward slightly as Doria's intelligence minister spoke.
"I've seen the video. There's nothing to identify them at all."
"There's blood on the lawn," Mione said. "They dragged the six dead bodies off, carried out their wounded, but they left blood behind."
The minister shook his head, "You don't have some sort of database on Tiberian genetics, do you?"
No one spoke.
"Look," he said, "I've said it once and I'll say it nine more times: I believe you. We simply don't have sufficient actionable intelligence."
Baraz looked up and said, "Or will." Her words slurred from fatigue and she saw confusion on the minister's face. "Even if we gave you the evidence you want, Doria is in no position to launch any kind of rescue operation or … punitive strike against the Empire."
He inhaled deeply and then shrugged slightly. "You are not incorrect."
"We could report them to the world." Mione got no reaction. "The Pact of Nations?"
The minister smiled and said, "The Pact has been impotent for almost a century."
Karin straightened up and spoke softly, "Foreign soldiers on Dorian soil, in the capital city, no less. Four Dorian citizens attacked and two people abducted as part of … industrial espionage waged against one of the commonwealth's biggest businesses. And we can expect no fingers to be lifted?"
The minister stood and said, "Fingers will be lifted, doctor, if you wish to pay."
Baraz shook her head to the side once and said, "Doria: where free market sensibilities run wild in both business and government."
With a smile, the minister said, "That's why BBM came here, right?" He nodded toward Mione and walked out the door.
Karin's assistant sat down and tapped on her wristband for a moment. "It's almost noon. Are you hungry?" Baraz shook her head. "You should sleep, at least." Karin nodded. After a few long moments, Mione said, "Do we consider them lost?"
Baraz blinked slowly and took in a deep breath. "I think we have to." She looked out her window over the city. "I've been too immersed in numbers and paperwork. I haven't been in the labs. What were they working on?"
"Not much, from what Hikka says. Ouranos was still working on his memory transmitters. Gaia had been working on gene repairs but she seemed to give that up after a while."
Karin looked at her desktop. "The Titans are still being tested on, yes?"
"Oh, yes. Hikka says they've been invaluable."
"Perhaps this loss isn't as devastating as I feared." She waited a moment and then jerked her head up. "I don't really mean that. They were my first." Mione nodded. "I want them home."
XXIX
DONOVAN
147 Years Before the End
"It was a remarkable thing, doctor," Caesar said. He paced atop the throne room's platform in front of his marble chair. He placed his hands in the air to approximate the position of someone. "I saw my brother standing right here."
The doctor shifted nervously. He grinned a little and said, "I'm sorry, lord, but that's just not possible."
The imperator nodded. "I agree." Caesar was walking about, "nude," and admiring the flexing of his metallic flesh and muscles. "I had a thought. And I acted on it." He started to descend the steps toward the doctor
.
Ryall clasped his hands behind his back. "I see. What was that thought?"
The Caesar smirked and said, "The Dorians, you know. Baraz Bio Medical." Donovan nodded. "They are experts at cloning. They created several distinct individuals for testing and entry into our Project." He turned quickly and the cables extending from his back slapped against the marble steps. "I thought, 'Perhaps they went to Arba and got a sample of Faustus' blood.'" The doctor smiled. "'Perhaps they grew another Faustus … one they could control.'"
"Possible, dominus, but unlikely." He tried to maintain his composure. Donovan knew the Caesar would be able to detect any abnormalities in his behavior.
"Yes. That's not what happened. I did study all manner of security information about Arba, though." The leader stopped moving. His frame grew in size and his "muscles" bulked up. His skin flushed red and his eyes narrowed on Ryall. "Imagine my surprise when I discovered dozens of clandestine meetings between you and my sister-in-law, Constance."
Donovan's head went light and his skin rippled with heat. He stumbled back a little and closed his eyes. He knew this day would come. Everything was just taking too long. "Lord, …"
"Silence!" Casesar shouted. He resumed his former size and studied the doctor's mannerisms. Try as he might, Ryall couldn't hide his fear. "Faustus. Bedridden, addle-brained brother of mine. He could never be the emperor. Constance … not a blood member of the line, so she couldn't be empress. Her son, though," he held out his hand and his flesh rippled and stretched upward. It formed a rudimentary mask