‘I heard that.’ Gnaeus Junius, in a loose-fitting toga, came walking from one of the buildings, trailed by Michael, who was more plainly dressed in tunic and light cloak, with a satchel at his waist. Through the open door behind the two men Stef glimpsed lantern light, a low table covered by scattered scrolls, some kind of fresco on the patterned walls – a mosaic on the floor?

Titus stood to attention. ‘Sorry, sir. Didn’t mean to be insolent.’

‘Not at all. That’s good advice, about posting guards. Sort it out when you return to barracks, would you? And consult the other officers about a similar arrangement, at least until the slaves are back.’ He smiled at Stef. ‘It’s good to see you again, Colonel Kalinski. How are you enjoying the journey?’

‘I’m intrigued by it all. But I have a tooth that wants to get off.’

Titus grinned. ‘Broke it on a bit of bread. Whatever army you once served with, you wouldn’t last a month on the march with a Roman legion, madam. With all respect.’

‘That’s probably true of most of us.’ Michael deftly produced a small mirror on a probe from the satchel on his waist, asked Stef to open up, and made a quick inspection. ‘No sign of infection or other injury. I’m afraid the tooth will have to come out, however.’

Stef winced. ‘I was afraid you’d say that. I’m not terribly good with pain.’

‘Don’t worry. I have treatments, in particular a paste concocted from certain flowers unique to Valhalla Inferior. You won’t feel a thing.’

‘I’ll say you won’t,’ Titus said with a grin. ‘They give me that stuff when I have problems with the stump. Why, I remember once on campaign—’

‘Oh, hush, legionary,’ the optio said, ‘you’re not in barracks now.’

‘Sorry, sir. Stef asked about the boy, Chu Yuen, who was assigned as a carrier for, umm, Collius.’

Gnaeus nodded seriously. ‘There is an issue in the slave pen, I’m afraid. None of the slaves have been released yet, since the launch.’ He smiled. ‘Which has caused rather a lot of grumbling from those who miss their little conveniences.’

Conversations about the slaves always made Stef wince. Yet she felt compelled to press the point; as the ColU had said Chu at least was one slave they maybe could protect. ‘You couldn’t make an exception for the boy? He was remarkably useful.’

Gnaeus glanced at the doctor. ‘Well, Michael, you’re due to go down to the pen for another inspection anyhow. Why not seek out the boy, and see if he’s fit to be released? Take Colonel Kalinski with you.’

Michael didn’t look thrilled at the idea of such a journey, Stef thought, but he nodded amiably enough. ‘Fine. And perhaps you could spare Titus here for our protection.’

Titus looked even more gloomy, but he nodded grimly. ‘I’ll do it, optio. After thirty years in Legio XC, sir, I’ve probably caught everything I’m going to catch and survived the lot.’

‘That’s the spirit,’ Michael said. ‘And it is possible the boy, being of Xin stock, will have been spared the plagues running around the rest of the herd down there.’

Plagues?

‘But first things first,’ the doctor said, smiling, and he took Stef’s arm. ‘If you would lend us a room, optio, let’s sort out this tooth.’

Gnaeus led the way, and Stef, reluctantly, followed, with Titus grinning after her.

CHAPTER 14

The doctor advised her to wait three hours, in a dark and quiet room, after his brisk and painless treatment, to allow the after-effects of the drug he rubbed into her gums to wear off.

Titus was waiting for her, with Michael, when she emerged. Titus grinned. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘You were right. The medicus here had to peel me off the ceiling.’ In fact she still felt giddy, but she wasn’t about to admit that to Titus.

‘Well, when we take the ascension again, prepare to have your head float away once more.’ The legionary led them across the parkland to the fireman’s pole. They paused under a complex set of anchors that held cables supporting the various cradles that rode up and down the pole. A couple of legionaries stood by the installation, at ease. ‘Since Michael is with us we have permission to ride the ascension all the way down to the pen. It’s quite a trip, I can tell you. You’ll feel like Jesu Himself in the End Times, when He will descend on Rome with Augustus and Vespasian on His left and right hands, to establish the final dominion of the Caesars across the stars.’

‘Is that what you believe?’

‘So all soldiers believe,’ Michael said drily. ‘Jesu the warrior god embraced Rome by leading Constantius I to a famous victory. I, like most Greeks, take a more philosophical view – I’m more interested in what Jesu said rather than what He did. As for the Brikanti, they are Christians too, but they cling to the image of Jesu the ally of the fishermen, rather than the holy warrior who cleansed Jerusalem of corruption at the point of a sword.’

‘But it’s all in the Bible,’ Titus said briskly. ‘You can’t deny that, medicus.’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it.’

‘I must read the Bible,’ Stef said. ‘Your Bible, I mean.’

Michael looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Implying yours may be different? Hm. There is another interesting conversation we must have some day.’

This time the ascension cradle they took was an open cage, built stoutly of steel. Titus showed them seats – padded couches – and handrails, and even a small bar stocked with slim flasks of water, cordials and wine. ‘Not that the journey is very long, but officers always like to travel in style.’ He glanced up and waved. ‘All right, lads? Let her go.’

With a clatter and groan the pulleys started to turn, and the platform lurched downwards, dropping immediately beneath the level of the floor. Stef still felt giddy from Michael’s Valhallan potion; she grabbed a rail.

‘There’s an engine up there, powered by steam, kernel heat,’ Titus said. ‘Actually it’s usually human muscle that’s used to operate the pulleys. Slave parties, and punishment details from the army units. Honest work and good discipline for a miscreant. But today we’re riding, not Roman muscle, but hot air …’

The floor, itself a thick slab of engineering riddled with pipes, cables and ducts, rose up past Stef’s head. A plaque marked clearly with ‘VII’ above and ‘VI’ below showed her which decks she was passing between. Below her now opened up the sprawling urban landscape of the township where she had her own small house with Yuri. Hearth smoke rose up from some of the buildings, wisps that drifted off towards great wall-mounted extractor fans. It was still morning, she knew, by ship’s time; the big fluorescent lamps were not yet raised to their full noon brilliance, after an eight-hour ‘night’ illuminated only by emergency lanterns. It struck her now that there were few people to be seen, that the neat little community seemed oddly underpopulated. But this township was lacking its slaves, who might number as many head as the citizens and their children themselves.

As their cage descended, dogs barked, and barefoot children ran to see the party pass. Stef smiled at the children, and resisted the temptation to wave.

Down from VI to V, and having passed through a Roman city, now Stef and her companions descended towards the Roman military camp. It seemed a hive of activity; Stef saw units marching around a track at the perimeter of the deck, heavily laden with packs, while others were building some kind of fortification of sod and dirt – the sod and dirt having been shipped up from the ground for the purpose, Stef supposed.

‘We train hard,’ Titus said, looking around approvingly. ‘Suspended as we are in emptiness, we do not forget how to march, with our gear. We do not forget how to build a camp in a few hours at the end of a marching day. We do not forget how to command, how to lead.’