"The Cartha?" Andrew looked over at Vincent. He had deliberately assigned the task to him. He knew the hatred was still there, and he could only pray that this exposure might somehow soften it.
"We've got nearly fourteen thousand prisoners, sir, including their commander, Hamilcar. I've given them the same offer you made back on the beach, and they're damned surprised, most of them. Hamilcar, however, has asked for some galleys."
"Tell him to go to hell," Marcus snapped.
"Why?" Kal asked softly.
"This Hamilcar says they know they can't go back home, the Merki will kill them. He says some of them want to try to rescue their families."
"Give them the ships," Kal said.
"After what they did?" Marcus snapped.
"We agreed earlier, Marcus, that the captured galleys were yours. I'll buy six of them back—name your price. But by Perm and Kesus I want to give them a chance. We'll let the six go. If they come back as promised, I'll give them more. We can use these people, and even if we couldn't, I'll help anyone trying to fight or escape from the horde."
Andrew looked over at Marcus, who shook his head.
"You're nothing but a lot of damned idealists," Marcus growled, and Vincent laughed softly as he translated.
"All right, then."
"Anything else?" Kal asked.
"Declare tomorrow a day of rest and thanksgiving," Casmar said evenly. "We all deserve it."
"Agreed!" Kal announced. "Now let's end this. I want to get up to the hospital and see that O'Donald."
The group got up and left the room. Kal fell behind, and Andrew paused in the hallway and watched as Kal walked through the doorway into the Senate chamber. The rest of the men proceeded up the hall, and he motioned them on. Turning, he went in to join his old friend.
Kal stood alone in the middle of the room. As Andrew entered, Kal looked back at him self-consciously.
"For a time there I didn't think we could survive it," Kal whispered. "I thought all you had told us might have been stories after all, that your dream could never survive the harsh realities of a world such as this."
"As long as there are people of strength such as yourself, to stand against men such as Mikhail who would make a mockery of our dream," Andrew said evenly, "it will endure."
Kal nodded absently, and taking up his crumpled stovepipe hat, he put it on and walked out of the room, Andrew by his side.
"Andrew, you'd better get out here!"
Hans was standing in the doorway. There was an urgency to his voice that sent a shock into him. Andrew ran down the corridor and out onto the steps of the capitol.
"Over there!" Hans shouted, pointing off to the south. Andrew looked up and felt his heart tighten with fear.
"What in the name of the devil?"
"It's a balloon," Vincent shouted.
"Hell, it looks like a cigar!" Hans growled.
A faint buzzing filled the air, and Andrew noticed that everyone in the square had fallen silent. The dark ship drew closer, the sound even louder.
"A thousand feet up at least!" Vincent said. "Damn, who owns it?"
"Field glasses, someone get some glasses!"
"In my office," Kal shouted. "Behind the desk."
Andrew walked down the steps of the capitol, still looking up. The sound was getting louder. An orderly came running back out of the capitol and handed the glasses over to Andrew.
"Merki," Andrew whispered in awe. "Two of them sitting in a cage underneath it. There's something blurry behind it. It must be a propeller of some sort. But there's no steam, nothing."
The ship passed directly overhead, its thunder washing over the city, and then turned eastward.
"My God, the factories!"
The ship started to angle downward and then seemed to disappear.
The airship reappeared, climbing rapidly into the sky, and behind it a column of fire and smoke leaped up to the heavens.
"The powder factory's gone."
An explosion washed over the town, the few surviving windowpanes shattering across the square, glass tinkling into the street.
The airship continued eastward and disappeared from view.
In consternation, the men looked at each other.
"The war is still on, gentlemen," Andrew sighed.
He looked at their crestfallen faces.
"And dammit, we will endure, no matter what they send against us."
"Colonel Keane."
Andrew looked away and saw Tanya running across the square, Ludmilla desperately trying to keep up behind her.
"Tanya, what is it?" Kal snapped peevishly.
"It's Kathleen, Andrew."
"What's wrong?"
"On, nothing. It's just that you'd better get on home— you're about to become a father."
Stunned, Andrew looked at her and then forced his gaze away to look back at the still-spreading column of smoke.
"As president of Rus," Kal said quietly, "I'm ordering you to go home. We'll talk about this later. John, Hans, you go down to the factory. Emil, go with them. Vincent, go find that Petracci fellow. He built the last balloon—well, he's back in business."
Kal looked over at Andrew again and forced a smile.
"Just like what you would do," he said quietly.
Andrew still felt torn.
"Andrew, we'll endure, and even as we do, we'll continue to live. Now go home to your family."
Andrew looked at the other men, who gazed at him with open affection.
"Go on, son," Emil snapped. "I'll be up later."
He felt an inner release. At least for one moment he could somehow escape all that had happened to him, that would happen. No matter what they did to him, he would still have his family. Clumsily, Andrew Lawrence Keane saluted his president, and following Tanya, he turned and ran back across the square.
The men looked after him.
"At least let's give him this small moment of peace," Kal sighed. "The rest of us had better get back to work."
The soldiers saluted, and calling for their mounts, they started out across the square.
Kal and Marcus stood alone.
Kal looked over at the consul, and with a smile he put a friendly hand on his shoulder. The two started to walk back up the steps of the capitol.
"So are you going to run for president?" Kal asked.
"President?"
"First off, you've got to get the right uniform, like mine," he said, and together the two walked up the steps and disappeared from view.
William R. Forstchen
www.forstchen.com
www.spectrumliteraryagency.com/forstchen.htm
William R. Forstchen is the author of over forty books, has a Ph.D. in history from Purdue University and is a Faculty Fellow at Montreat College. He has a broad spectrum of works including science fiction and fantasy, historical fiction, alternate history, several scholarly works, numerous short stories and articles and the near-future thrillers ONE SECOND AFTER and ONE YEAR AFTER. He is a New York Times best selling author. Dr. Forstchen currently resides in North Carolina with his daughter Meghan. His interests include travel (he has gone on four expeditions to Mongolia), historical research, archaeology, and flying. He owns two aircraft, one a replica of a P-51 Mustang, the other, an original WWII recon aircraft.
Books by William R. Forstchen
ONE SECOND AFTER
ONE YEAR AFTER
THE FINAL DAY
Lost Regiment series
RALLY CRY
UNION FOREVER
TERRIBLE SWIFT SWORD
FATEFUL LIGHTNING
BATTLE HYMN
NEVER SOUND RETREAT
A BAND OF BROTHERS
MEN OF WAR
DOWN TO THE SEA
Star Voyager Academy series
STAR VOYAGER ACADEMY
ARTICLE 23
PROMETHEUS
WE LOOK LIKE MEN OF WAR
ICE PROPHET
THE FLAME UPON THE IDE
A DARKNESS UPON THE ICE
INTO THE SEA OF STARS
The Gamester Wars series
THE ALEXANDRIAN RING
THE ASSASSIN GAMBIT
THE NAPOLEON WAGER
With Newt Gingrich
THE BATTLE OF THE CRATER
VALLEY FORGE
TO TRY MEN’S SOULS
PEARL HARBOR
DAYS OF INFAMY
NEVER CALL RETREAT
GETTYSBURG
1945
With Raymond Feist
HONORED ENEMY
With Greg Morrison
CRYSTAL WARRIORS
Star Trek: The Next Generation
THE FORGOTTEN WAR
Magic: The Gathering
ARENA
Wing Commander series
ACTION STATIONS
FALSE COLORS
FLEET ACTION
HEART OF THE TIGER
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
END RUN with Christopher Stasheff
Novella, available on-line
"Doctors of the Night"
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
About the Author
Books by William R. Forstchen
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
About the Author
Books by William R. Forstchen