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Chapter Eleven: Expected Visit
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Earth -1427 I. dies Mercuris ad IV Non. Nov. MCLXXIV a.u.c.
(3th of November of the year 421 B.C.)
12th of August 1844
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Earth -1715 IR5. dies Mercurii prid Id. October DCXLVI a.u.c.
(11th of October of the year 108 B.C.)
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Earth -1819 IR0. dies Solis ad IV Non. Sept. DCCLXVII a.u.c.
(31th of August of the year 14)
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Nola – Imperial Residence – Augustus' Private Garden Shed
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Augustus wasn't surprised to find the man sitting in the guest armchair he had asked to be installed the very day he had arrived…
- I feared you wouldn't come back…
The man looked up from the device he was examining. A device that was clearly showing pictures.
- I had a few things to conclude before coming back here, answered the man with a smile. Meddling in the affairs of more than one world does take a toll on your free time. But since you go back to Rome tomorrow, today was the last day I would have been able to answer to your invitation.
He rolled his eyebrows.
- And within my family we tend to be rather meticulous when it comes to respecting the given word.
His smile shifted towards irony.
- How were the figs this year?
- Those I ate, after having them tested, were quite good, thank you.
- I heard your wife went to spend the summer with her son in Capreia?
Augustus nodded.
- She's always been of very good counsel when it came to buy and restructure real estate. Tiberius' decision to buy Senator Ahenobarbus' property on the Island was a good pretext to send her help her son supervise the architects.
Augustus snickered.
- Roman architects, if I might add…
- Good choice, said the man. And an even better first step in the right direction.
The man nodded once and, finally, stood up to bow to the Emperor.
- I never really introduced myself, your Majesty. Let's correct my little mistake. I'm Charles Bingley and I would be honored if you would call me Charles…
- The honor would all be mine but only if you call me Augustus. Your Majesty is so formal, too reminding of Royalty and, coming from you, it seems preposterous for me.
- No problem, Augustus, acknowledged Charles with a smile. And let's not beat the bush any longer. I did come to honor my promise but I'm also here because I need you to make some tough decisions to change the Empire's tax laws.
Augustus couldn't help but frown.
- Change the Empire's tax laws? What about the Empire's tax laws? They do seem quite adequate to me… Especially after the reforms I pushed through the Senate a decade ago.
- I don't try to be rude but for me, the current system, if better than the former one, is still just very badly thought through, my dear Augustus and it really needs to be renewed. If you really want the Empire to last, you need to create something a lot more efficient.
Here Charles winked.
- And lucky you, I do have a lot of experience in that precise matter…
Augustus who was a great manager wasn't surprised to hear the God's appreciation. He had, ten years ago, tried to introduce a few technical changes, but the Senate's opposition had each time convinced him that going farther would awake even more opposition and wouldn't go through the Senate's agreement. At least not easily and, at the time he wasn't ready for another fight...
- How more efficient?
- If we do it right, and take the time to prepare the right foundations, I'd say ten times more efficient, answered Charles. But it will signify a major change in perspective.
- I guess and I already did change quite a lot of things… I'm not sure the Senate is ready to accept any more major changes.
Charles nodded with a sly smile on his lips.
- I agree that it could be difficult even for the great Augustus. But for anyone but you I know it would be impossible. You, the Senators know and, let's be honest, fear quite a lot. Tiberius -or any other successor should you last a few decades more- they won't fear at all, and they will attempt to have them do their bidding. Be it by manipulation or veiled threats they will try to get the new Emperor to do what they wish and believe me, paying more taxes is not at all what rich men want.
- I agree with your opinion but I'm not immortal and I will soon be replaced…
Charles' smile changed into something even more threatening than a snarl.
- You are not yet immortal, Augustus, said Charles. And weren't you already so old and brittle I would probably have insisted to grant it to you but as you are it would be a double curse.
- Double curse?
- The curse of immortality paired with the curse of eternal frailty? I wouldn't do that to a man I admire. And to be even more radical, I wouldn't do it to my worst enemy either.
He let out a long breath.
- Are you really interested to live for a few centuries in the body you have now?
Augustus made a face. Eternally old and ailing was exactly the double curse Charles had described.
- Couldn't you grant me my youth again?
- We could but that would mean changing your identity, you realize that, don't you? Nobody would believe the young man who would appear could be the same ruler who had scared them shitless for the last two decades. You would just be a young and youthful nobody… And to be very truthful, should you happen to survive an attempt to convince them of who you really are, which is not extremely high in our opinion, for us you'd be a very useless nobody. At least considering the fate of the Empire. I'm quite sure we would find some useful occupation for a young man of your background and experience. But it would be somewhere else…
Charles could read the temptation in Augustus' eyes. To be young again… While having all his present knowledge and experience.
And then he saw the temptation just disappear.
- If we don't go down the rejuvenation road, how many years more could you provide me with?
- A few more, that's for sure… A decade more wouldn't surprise me. Two decades, unlucky accidents of course not included, would be, in my opinion, easily attainable. Over that amount even we would have difficulties to provide the means for your body to stay healthy.
Augustus' face relaxed visibly.
- Twenty years more with enough health to stay in power?
- Let's say twelve with certainty. A longer period depends on too many different variables that are at the same time in and out of your life. Let's say that, assassination not included, twenty years more are within easy reach if you take a few precautions about your diet and general health.
- And what would be the price to pay for those years?
Charles shook his head.
- The promise to do your best to make the Empire a better place? Or no price at all, it isn't important. You going-on with what you have already done these last years and decades would be, in my opinion, quite enough. If, this time, you could concentrate on what the Universe and its Central Force awaits from you and all those who have been placed in your exact circumstances, it would be welcome. But know that things will never again ne "normal". We believe that, now that you have been informed, you have lost the right to plead ignorance! A foray from what we consider as the rule will be forgiven a lot less easily. The years we will bestow upon you won't be simple gifts but should be considered as a whole new period of examination and testing.
Charles looked Augustus in the eyes and smiled.
- Know that I believe in you and even if I'm sure that there will be mistakes, it is, after all, anybody's fate to make mistakes, all in all I'm sure that you'll do an overall very good job.
He plunged his hand in a satchel he was wearing under his white and yellow toga and showed Augustus what looked like a metal cylinder with a handle and needle.
- Your next twelve years are within this little feature. Shall we go to your room? You need to lie down to get this powerful shot. You will suffer for a few hours, and it will be extremely unpleasant.
- Is the unpleasant part necessary?
- Not at all, I always have the possibility to make you lose your consciousness, but I'd rather not.
He pointed at the cylinder and smiled.
- Our little friends within there don't need you awake and aware but it would be better.
- Little friends?
- Little tiny friends, even, said Charles with an encouraging nod. They will enter your body and look at everything within there. And what's no longer in great shape they will rebuild, hence the pain. It won't be an excruciating pain, but it will be as painful as when you use an arthritic knee or elbow. Really very unpleasant, not debilitating but very painful. And since you are the only one who will be able to discern where it hurts you are also the only one who will be able to know where your body has begun to fall apart. It could be a good idea to know where your body's weaknesses are to be found. Your medics will be able to give you a better advice if they know where your body will again begin to be damaged.
- Will the tiny friends stay within me?
- Some of them will use their own matter to rebuild what's damaged while others will awake your body's own regeneration possibilities. In the end they will be flushed out of your system when you are again functional.
- Functional?
- No more pain in the knees, the hands or the elbows, no longer signs of short breath, a strong and functioning heart and perfectly healthy guts. Add to that that your muscles will again, if you make the efforts, be able to deal with a little bit of activity and you should think yourself younger and springier. But, and that's why it is better to stay awake during the painful phase, your body is still the same and, after a few years, it will break at the same places than before. If you do what you did to become ill in the first place, you'll be ill again. No secret there…
Augustus pointed at the pressure syringe.
- You could give me another dose of that, couldn't you?
- Not for at least the next five years. That's the time your body will need to replace what's left of our tiny friends with real bodily structures. If I give you another shot before this has happened, the new friends will attack the remnants of the old ones and that time it will be excruciatingly painful. Not sure you'll survive the stress.
Augustus took a few seconds to look his guest in the eyes. And he couldn't see any trace of duplicity.
But then wouldn't a God also be a surprisingly good liar?
- Let's go to my room, Charles.
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Earth -1819 IR0. dies Lunae ad III Non. Sept. DCCLXVII a.u.c.
(1st of September of the year 14)
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Nola – Imperial Residence – Augustus' Private Restroom
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And suddenly the pain stopped.
Abruptly in his chest where it had been for what looked like hours the most intense.
- Chest and heart, said he to the half dozen scribes who had been taking notes while his personal physician and surgeon had been monitoring him throughout the evening and the night. And now it's finished. No more pain anywhere.
Strabo was there too, and his ashen complexion spoke volumes about what he had endured.
Augustus stood up and made a few movements with his arms, his legs and finally his upper body.
A huge smile blossomed on his lips.
- No more pain and I feel like I have never felt for at least three decades.
He sat and made a sign to his health managers who had spent the night sitting at his bed's side.
He liked both. Gaius Alba Sinbono and Flavius Rubio Caranis were both simple people who had learned everything they knew while serving in Legio III Galica in Syria. Impressed by their bed manners and knowledge he had snatched them out the Legion's staff during one of his journeys in the East. They were both typical Celtic Legionaries with no relations in Rome or amongst the Roman elite. Without him they were nobodies and they had every possible interest to see him survive as long as possible. They were his and his alone and he knew he could trust them with his life.
- Have a good look at me, gentlemen, I want to know everything about my present health condition.
He turned and smiled at Strabo.
- It seems, old friend that the God's offer was worth a few hours of pain and stress. If what I feel is the truth, I'm quite sure that I have been granted at least another decade of life. And while I'm alive, I'm staying in power, you know that don't you?
Strabo nodded while a small smile crouched on his lips.
Ten more years with me, you can't decide if it is a boon or a curse? I can't help you there but I'm quite sure that there will be a lot of unsatisfied people out there in the Empire. And luckily for me my Heir isn't one of them.
He couldn't help but laugh out aloud.
Luckily the mere existence of Charles Bingley was putting a huge restrain on anybody's current ambitions.
I will have to build them a temple somewhere, discreetly of course since they insist not being Gods… But if there ever was a God worth worshiping it's a member of that family.
- You seem in good health, said finally Alba Sinbono the physician. Your reflexes are way better than they were yesterday or the whole year before that, if I can add that, and your eyes are no longer hazy and reactionless to bright light. We will have to make a test in bright daylight, but you should see a lot better and the grey dot in front of you should have disappeared. We will have to investigate your hearing, but it seems that there too, you have a whole range of hearing possibilities back.
Alba looked at his surgeon friend and they both nodded.
They were both old Legion staff medics and they had been following the Emperor for twelve years now and never had he been in a better health.
- You are in a better shape than you were when you disrupted our stellar career in III Gallica! Never since we came to monitor your health was it better.
- It seems that some people can be true to their word, said Augustus while standing up. You have been here, and you've witnessed what I felt during that night. Every part of my body I mentioned was ill, injured or damaged and it is now back to health! Your mission is to make sure that those parts of my body stay healthy and are never again damaged by any misconduct of mine. I promise I will be an agreeable and respectful patient.
Alba's smile became genuinely ironic.
- We are at your service, your Majesty and since you seem to no longer suffer from your knees, ankles and hips, we can only restate our old demands about having you walking at least ten thousand paces each day. You can have your clerks reading you your post and reports and scribes writing up your answers while walking. Walking is good for the heart and even better for the mind.
- You do love to be my personal despots, aren't you?
- It slightly compensates the awful circumstances of having to work for a bloodthirsty despot like you, your majesty.
Augustus sighed ominously and stood up.
Easily and without pain…
- Well let's go and walk! The earlier I'm finished the better.
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Earth -1819 IR0. dies Lunae ad III Non. Sept. DCCLXVII a.u.c.
(1st of September of the year 14)
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Nola – Imperial Residence – Augustus' Private Restroom
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- I don't see any preparations for your departure to Rome?
Augustus couldn't help but snicker while turning around.
- Do you ever use doors?
- Only when I'm in company, your Majesty. Sorry, Augustus! It's so much easier to just arrive where you are needed. And it reduces the possibilities of people committing suicide…
- Committing suicide?
- Attacking me is, it seems, a very popular way to commit suicide in the Roman outliers and suburbs.
- I still don't see the link…
- I'm the family's businessman and since I lack almost any martial proficiency, I do tend to lash out with every means at my disposal. My brothers and nephews are a lot better and they usually show a lot more restraint while dealing with attackers. I don't! I am no klutz but I'm no warrior either. I do survive because I'm almost indestructible but, I've verified it a few times, being backstabbed hurts, nevertheless and it tends to make me angry! Last time I tried to make a discreet visit to look at the old Thermes I was attacked twice. It's rather inconvenient. Where are the guards?
Augustus frowned at his guest.
- Is there a message included in your little story?
- Perhaps, admitted Charles. Let's say that Rome is not a very safe place, creating a police force with real powers and enough means to get more safety on the streets would be a great thing. I'd like to walk the Roman streets without being disturbed in my wanderings.
Augustus answered with a smile of his own.
- And I suppose you do have ideas to share with me?
- I do, indeed, your Majesty... Sorry, Augustus! When all is said and told, I'm a real treasure trove of interesting ideas. Just ask and I can help you on a huge range of subjects. But first we need to give you the means to have an even richer Empire. Taxes, you remember?
- I do remember and I'm quite amazed about your insistence. We don't need more money I've created the structures to get to the Empire the money it needs.
- That's true for now but soon the Empire, at least under Tiberius and Caligula, would have reached bankruptcy levels and the only way your successors would have succeeded in avoiding said bankruptcy will be to invade and pillage a few of your neighbors.
- Britain included…
- Don't worry about Britain! A few dedicated members of the family are, as we speak, working on a method to get the British Isles within the Empire without any invasion, bloodshed or mass murders. And even if you don't believe me, Britain will within only a few decades be a major contributor to the Empire's wealth! And I don't even imagine what it will be after one and a half centuries. Meanwhile, since we will take measures to have the wholeness of the British Isles joining you'll have to garrison it with a lot less than the number of legions which would have been needed to secure an occupied country. It still will cost you a lot of money but it should within a few decades be a beneficiary deal. No, the real money-making invasion would have been the annexation of Dacia.
- Dacia? You believe it would be worth a campaign?
- They have gold mines and those fools have hoarded their gold for decades! Not a great idea with greedy Roman Senators as neighbors! And to answer your question: of course, it will be worth the campaign! But that's not what I consider a humane way of managing an Empire! If it is money you need, I have the right tools to get you all the money you need to warrant a safe and wealthy Empire for the next millennium. Without having the necessity to rob your neighbors to be able to pay your bills! But if you prefer the Greek way of killing and mugging the so-called Barbarians, I'm perhaps not the person you need to talk with!
- Don't get on your high horse, I was just curious, and must I remind you that you are in favor of the German campaign?
- I am not a hypocrite, I am in favor of any campaign that gives the Roman Empire better chances to survive in the long run but I frown at campaigns that are launched because of greed. Killing and robbing your so-called Barbarian neighbors because you are shitty managers or because you are brainwashed by your Hellenic slaves is not the best way to ensure the safety of the Empire. And we will show you with Britain how it can be done peacefully and to everybody's satisfaction and enrichment.
- Alright, I already got the general idea last time… Let's talk about taxes!
- Indeed, let's talk about taxes and what even more important let's talk about the tax base! There is a preliminary you must get through the Senate as soon as possible and that is that nobody, not even the emperor will –can- be tax-free. You do something that generates taxes for the Empire, you owe them, and you pay them! And should you cheat the Tax collectors, you and your whole gens will pay the price of being an enemy of the Empire! That's the foundation of your future wealth and the future civil peace within the Empire.
Charles let a sarcastic smile brush his lips.
- I will deal with any Senator who believes that his wealth is more important than the Empire's future. And to be sure that the message is understood I will deal with this Senator's whole gens! And I will do it in such a way that there won't be a doubt with the rest of the Senate what needs to be done…
- Let's not go overboard, here. I do have lots of experience in how to deal with the Urbs' most reluctant Senators. And I have shown that when something is important, I'm ready to do whatever's necessary to get what I want. I believe I won't need your direct intervention.
- You are sure? I could give the whole thing a very scary side show. Imagine the Senators entering the Senate and finding their colleague's whole gens sitting on their seats desiccated like Egyptian mummies and all with wide terror filled eyes… I'm quite certain that no Senator will ever again even think about voting against one of your proposals.
- I'm quite sure you are right but, believe me, it would be overkill.
His face was soon covered with a scary smile.
- And don't take me wrong, I am not reluctant because of some squishy moral argument, I will do it because I don't want them to fear me because of you; I want them to fear me because of me! There is a difference, I swear!
- You are probably right, Augustus, I will limit my interventions to a few interactions with you. And you deal with the outside world.
Charles sighed.
- But I do fear that my presence here will soon be known everywhere in Rome. Won't that disrupt your status?
Augustus shook his head.
- The fact that a God…
- I'm no…
- A powerful ally, then! The fact that said powerful ally has decided to help me and, since it will be very visible the first time I enter the Senate, gave me back my health and a pinch of my youth, will immediately show who's where and who's who. The Senators are for the most of them greedy ambitious powermongers who believe only in themselves and their families, but to get where they are they have shown that they are a long way from being idiots. They will exactly know how the wind blows and what not to do. They won't be happy, but they will know what's in their interest.
- And there's always the little mummies' theater should they not understand, wouldn't there?
- Indeed, there would, but believe me it won't be necessary.
Since Charles had walked around his desk and taken a seat, he sat back into his armchair and rubbed his hands.
- Let's talk about taxes, tax bases and wealth.
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