The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 20

Devnum

“So what do you think?” Lucilla asked Valdar, the young shipmaster, as they walked away from the docks crowded with workmen.

It was drizzling and the streets were all mush, but Lucilla had insisted they still go out. The rain had started days ago and had been off and on, which meant she needed to take what chances she could to get outside and observe some of the projects. Today, it was a tour of the new ships under construction followed by a visit with some of the Scandi families living outside the walls of the city.

“I think I have never seen a ship built like that before. We always build from the keel up, but you’ve started with the frame of the ship, which is massive, by the way. You also aren’t overlapping the boards, but are fitting them together, which I have never seen. While it’s amazing how precise your boards are, cut to exactly the right length, I can’t figure out how you will keep them watertight. We seal our ships, but the seal doesn’t hold well enough to keep planks pressed edge to edge from leaking.”

“I don’t know much about shipbuilding, but the man who designed these said that this is using something called a carvel construction as opposed to something he called clinker construction, which I think is the one you use, with the overlapping boards. He said that the ship would be less flexible with the carvel construction, allowing for multiple masts with large sails, also allowing it to be more stable in the rougher waters of the ocean, and that is why the ships can be longer and broader.”

“I get that they draft deeper than our ships and have larger holds, but I’m having trouble seeing it hold the volumes you were suggesting.”

“These won’t. These are smaller ships called caravels …”

“From the type of construction you mentioned?” he asked, interrupting her.

“I think so. Again, I’m just telling you what I was told about them. Like your Scandi friends said, my people aren’t generally good on the water, so I never spent a lot of time learning about seafaring. Anyway, after we finish these, the next set will be something called a carrack, which will be similar in construction, but larger with higher sides. Beyond carrying capacity, the caravels will have a much more shallow draft than the larger carrack, although not as shallow as some of your current ships, they’ll be able to sail into the wind more, and will need smaller crews. Beyond their speed, the main reason these were chosen to be built first is the need for a smaller crew, since manpower is our biggest concern at the moment.”

She was getting this from Sophus only a little faster than she could repeat it, and didn’t understand everything she was explaining. Valdar, on the other hand, seemed to follow along well and apparently found the explanations exciting.

“That all sounds impressive, although I still have trouble seeing how ships like this would move well in the water. We have to be careful of overloading our ships, because our sail won’t give enough push for them to move well even on windy days. The weight of these ships alone would be the same as one of our smaller vessels half-loaded, before a single piece of cargo is put aboard.”

“It will make more sense when you see how we have changed the sails. There is also something called a rudder at the back of the ship, which is very different than the steering oar you currently use.”

“Seeing how different these ship hulls look, even half completed, I’ll have to assume you know what you’re talking about and all of these changes are with a purpose.”

“I appreciate your trust,” she said.

They were headed into one of the camps set up for the Scandi near the docks, but outside of town. Beyond not having housing for all of the sailors currently staying in Devnum, because they had decided to not become citizens, there was a concern about having this many foreigners walking around the city. She thought it short-sighted, since they were relying on the Scandi for nearly all of their trade, and would continue to be reliant until they built up their own fleet of ships.

Several members of the Roman Senate had been stirring up trouble of late, making noises about infiltrators and saboteurs coming mixed in with the other foreigners, which had been driving up tensions. The Germanics had managed to escape the brunt of the distrust. Although that might have been partly due to their swearing loyalty to the Empire, Lucilla was pretty sure the main reason none of the allegations stuck to them is how widely they’d started integrating with everyday Romans.

Most of the Germans had chosen not to join the legions, which was expected. Men of the age to join the military would have already been conscripted by the Carthaginians, so what was left were men too old, too young, or too infirm to fight. The variety of work in the factories, from working the nitrate pits to weaving and textiles, to farming and foundries, made for a wide range of jobs that needed different levels of physical ability. Several businesses actually preferred the older workers who had more experience and needed less training over the younger, stronger workers, especially in the more technical fields.

This had caused the immigrants to disperse widely among the farms, mines, and factories, putting more Britannians in contact with their new neighbors. Regular contact with immigrants seemed to go a long way toward breeding familiarity and keeping people from being afraid of them.

The Scandi, on the other hand, didn’t integrate with the population and had refused to swear allegiance to the Empire, making them automatically suspect. The growing distrust among the populace caused the citizens to be upset and put the Scandi in more danger, which had ultimately led her father to ‘suggest’ the merchants set up outside the city, near the river, where they could live, coming into the city docks each day for work. In an effort to keep the merchants, who were really the lifeline the Empire was relying on to supply it funds for the ongoing war effort, the Emperor had created several public projects to build up a semi-permanent area that would be set aside for the Scandi’s use just outside the city wall, and have the praetorians post guards to the entry into this area for their protection.

Although Lucilla generally agreed with this idea, Sophus said that the same thing had been tried other times, with mixed results, and warned caution at keeping them isolated for too long. Apparently, other places that had set up these separate compounds for groups considered outsiders to the city sometimes ended up a scapegoat for anything the people inside the city feared, which had led to massacres and violence.

Lucilla hoped that wouldn’t happen here. Unlike the places that Sophus described, the Scandi were still adamant that their presence was temporary and that they had no plans to become permanent residents.

In spite of the growing mistrust, she found the Scandi she stopped to speak with friendly, especially the families who were living in the makeshift camp, waiting for the foreign sector to finish being built.

Finishing up her conversation with the group of families she had stopped to talk to, she walked on to the next tents. People were excited, although mostly because of all the people following after her as she visited with each group, since it was unlikely that most of these people actually knew who Lucilla was.

She stopped at the tents as older men, women, and small children, along with a handful of men, gathered around to see what all the fuss was about. If they were anything like the other groups she’d stopped to talk to, the men were mostly sailors visiting with family members while their ship was in port loading up for its next journey.

She’d just started asking an old woman, who looked to be the matriarch of this clan, which was how the Scandi family groups were organized, trying to get a better sense of what these people were looking for or needed while they were in Britannia or their thoughts on staying here in general, when one of the few men in the group pushed forward.

He didn’t have the look of one of the sailors visiting family while their ship was in port, but was younger than the rest of the old men she’d seen, most of whom continued on the ships until the harsh conditions killed them.

She’d just finished her question when he screamed ‘death to traitors’ and lunged forward with a knife that suddenly appeared in his hand. Her guards reacted quickly, but she’d ordered them to stay back while she interviewed the families, not wanting the women and children to be frightened, which put all of them several steps away from the threat that suddenly materialized in front of her.

She saw Modius’s sword plunge into the man even as she fell, a burning pain in her side where the blade had pierced her.

“Ky,” she managed to say, hoping Sophus could hear her, before she dropped to the ground, overwhelming exhaustion overtaking her.

***

Londinium

“We need to figure out another source,” Ky said to Auspex as the two watched a ship unloading at the docks. “I know the Carthaginians let their stockpiles run low, but our supplies are already low until the harvests come in. I know they were keeping supplies away from the people, but the governor and his cronies seemed to be doing alright. What happened to their food supplies?”

“Nearly depleted. Had the siege gone on a few more weeks, they would have had to go on rationing as well.”

“They had half the island under control for almost a hundred years and we know they brought in tenant farmers to work the land. What happened to the food stores? It’s not like they were overpopulated before, and once they started conscripting the populace into their armies for the final push against us, they had even fewer mouths to feed.”

“We’ve been hearing rumors from the handful of ship captains that stayed behind that, at least until they lost at the Battle of Venonis, they were shipping out every bit of food and fodder they could get their hands on to Insula Manavia, probably to feed the army they sent over to Hibernia. All of the soldiers they sent here leading up to Venonis ate a lot of what was left. Their shipments had already started to cause some famine before we pushed the rest of them behind these walls. As word has started to spread about our relief efforts here, people from the surrounding countryside have started coming into the city to get food for their families. That’s why we’re having such a problem meeting the demand.”

“What about the fishing boats? The Carthaginians had been supplying their soldiers almost entirely off of what those boats brought in.”

“Most are gone. As soon as Carus launched the attack, those that could get to the docks did so, sailing with whatever crew they could get their hands on. Most never came back and we can only assume they went to Manavia, Hibernia, or the continent, since none of those boats could have made the ocean crossing to get back to Africa. Regardless, if they were coming back here, they would have. As of now, we only have two ships able to go out each day, and that isn’t enough to put a dent in the demand.”

“What about the Scandi merchants?”

Ky already knew the answer from talking to Lucilla, but he was frustrated at his inability to do anything about the situation. She’d had to pay almost double for what food they were willing to bring in, since it took up a lot of space they could use for more profitable cargo and there wasn’t much to be had from the tribes that would trade with them anyway, meaning they had to go all the way to the Asian ports on the Baltic Sea for what little food the Steppe tribes, currently controlling that area, could muster.

“Only one ship has come in so far with food supplies, but they were directed here from Devnum and couldn’t tell me if there would be another one,” Auspex said, getting equally as frustrated with his inability to answer Ky’s questions.

“That’s alright, it’s not your fault. We’re going to have shortages until the harvests start coming in. I know you’re going to hear complaints, but try to ration out the food as much as possible. Since the legions here aren’t going to be involved in fighting for a while, we should put them on rations too. You’re going to hear some grumbling, but spread the word as best you can that this is temporary. We’re getting as much land as possible planted and we should have plenty of food once we hit the summer. We just have to survive for a few months. I’ll send word to the Emperor that we should probably put all imperial workers and the senate on rations too. Seeing their leaders undergoing the same hardships will help keep hungry people from doing something stupid.”

“There’s still going to be grumbling.”

“I know. Just do the best you can and we’ll keep trying to bring in more food.”

“Yes, Consul,” Auspex said, saluting and heading off to continue his overseeing of the relief supplies.

Auspex really was doing the best he could and, unless something went very wrong, Ky was pretty sure they wouldn’t have any wide-scale starvation before the harvests came in. The men were unhappy, but they’d deal with that. They’d been on the defensive for so many generations, that they’d convinced themselves that victory on the battlefield would solve all their problems. They now had to learn that victory brought a whole new set of problems and tended to solve very little in the short term. Hopefully, this would be a good lesson for the battles to come.

He was just preparing to make his way back to the governor’s palace, which had become their temporary command facilities, when Sophus’s voice brought him up short. Although the AI’s tone was the same as it always was, Ky could almost feel the desperation in its voice as it began speaking.

“Commander, you must return to Devnum. Lucilla has been attacked and is critically injured,” Sophus said.

Surprised, Ky froze in place.

“What happened?”

“She was touring the Scandinavian merchants’ camps, trying to understand the needs of the merchants’ families and gauge response to the merchant quarter being built on the outskirts of the city when a man stepped towards her and stabbed her.”

“Is she alive?” he asked, his imagination suddenly showing him his worst fears.

“She is, but her condition is critical and I am concerned that one of the local doctors might attempt to treat her, compounding the problem.”

“I thought her guards knew she had some protections not common to other people and were told not to take her to the medics if she was injured.”

“They were, but I left her comm open and can hear discussion among them about what to do, and that option has been brought up.”

Ky was already moving through the streets in a blur, trying to get to a horse, silently cursing their inability to get the semaphore stations set up. He, or any messenger he could send, was limited to the speed of the horses they could ride. A semaphore message could have made it there in less than an hour, but they’d left that project as a lower priority than the cannon or gunpowder, and Hortensius’s injury had put it mostly on pause except for the towers closest to Devnum. Lucilla was his only link to the city, and with her incapacitated, there was no way to tell anyone there anything for at least three days.

“If she was stabbed, why is she unconscious?” Ky asked, the realization that she shouldn’t be incapacitated suddenly coming to him.

With an injury like this, the victim usually retained consciousness until blood loss overtook them, but even if an artery was cut, that would take a minute or two, and it wouldn’t matter what Ky could say or do if it were true. Sophus had said critical, however, and not mortal, and the AI rarely minced words like a person would, so Ky doubted it was that.

Since most of the other wounds Ky could think of would have also left her conscious, Ky didn’t understand why she couldn’t at least hear him and pass on instructions to her guards.

“The injury damaged her kidney, causing a severe amount of internal bleeding. In order to limit blood loss, I had the nanites currently in her system induce a comatose state to slow her heart rate. Although I have managed to increase the lifespan of the transferred nanites, it has been some time since the ones she had were replaced, leaving too few to conduct repairs quickly. They have begun to seal off the injured areas and slow the rate of internal bleeding, but the add-on effects of what bleeding has already occurred will cause additional complications that will take time to heal. It would be best to maintain her in this state until most of that healing has been done.”

“Why … wait,” Ky said, grabbing a horse from the gates of the city and mounting it.

He’d left his lictore behind, and knew his sudden disappearance would cause a panic, since no one would know why he’d suddenly run out of the city, riding north out of town.

Stopping at one of the guards by the gate, Ky said, “Tell my guards when they get here that I must return to Devnum, and they are to follow as best they can. Have them tell the legates to continue relief efforts and I will send messengers with additional instructions.”

The centurion, who’d looked stunned by Ky’s sudden appearance and theft of one of the horses left there for the guard’s use, looked shell-shocked as Ky rode away. He felt for the man, who would be grilled hard by Ursinus when word of Ky’s sudden departure reached him, but Ky couldn’t wait to give more detailed instructions. Thankfully, they had set up a few messenger relay stations, so Ky could ride the horse hard and switch out at each station. Besides allowing him to move quickly and not stop until he reached the capitol, it would make it easier for his lictore to reach him as quickly as possible. They wouldn’t be able to ride day and night, even if they got fresh horses, and would eventually have to stop and rest. He trusted Sellic, Strabo, and Carus to keep from killing their own men in a pointless effort to catch up to him.

“Then why keep her comatose? If the bleeding has been stopped, that should be enough to keep her alive and conscious until I get there.”

“The external bleeding has been stopped through the localized administration of coagulants. The internal bleeding has slowed but hasn’t completely stopped yet. There aren’t enough nanites to quickly repair the ruptured organs. My estimation is that it will be several hours before all of the most critical tears are closed off and the focus can shift from stabilization to more thorough healing. Unfortunately, the blood loss was rapid enough that her blood pressure dropped to dangerous levels. I have assigned some nanites to extract more fluids from other parts of the body and convert them into plasma, but they are having difficulty traversing with such low blood pressure. Without someone nearby who can administer intravenous fluids, or orally introduce fluids, it is difficult to keep her alive and conscious at the same time. Slowing her system is the best way to keep her stable until you can reach her.”

“Once we get her fluids and replenish her nanos, she’ll be alright though, right?”

“She should be, although it will not be immediate and I would suggest having her remain in a comatose state until her kidneys, lung, and heart can be repaired.”

“Kidneys, lung, and heart? I thought just her kidneys were injured.”

“There was minor damage to her right lung as the blade was withdrawn. It is difficult to be precise, but from the reports from the medical nanos and the sounds analyzed during and after the attack, I believe the attacker was pulled down as he was removing the knife, causing it to slice up as she fell down, widening the wound channel and bringing the blade into contact with the lower portion of her lung. Although it does not seem severe, the comatose state will help keep the lung from ripping any further until it can be repaired.”

“How long will she have to remain unconscious?”

“That is unknown. I will remind you, Commander, that we are using nanites designed for your system in her, which severely limits their capabilities. They cannot, for example, generate tissue that her body would not attempt to reject, so it must mend cuts together on the molecular level, and then let her body repair itself. Once that is done, the nanites can remove much of the residual scar tissue, resulting in limited long-term damage. That process, however, means that some steps must wait on her natural recovery time.”

“Make sure you don’t keep her under so deep that it seems to observers that she is dead. Other than feeling a pulse or breath, they have no way to determine if a person is alive or dead. I don’t want someone burying her or doing anything else drastic, thinking she was killed in the attack.”

“Yes, Commander. That has been considered. I am continuing to use audio signals through the comm to surveil the area around her and have used the nanites to simulate a more significant level of consciousness, to ensure her protectors know she is not dead.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’ve simulated both a more prominent pulse and breathing, although since it is clear the people of this time don’t know how to check those things accurately, I have also used the nanites to vibrate her vocal cords, producing sounds roughly similar to a moan.”

“Be careful with that. The idea of possession is still common. I doubt you could make similar sounds to her, and if it is too different, it might provoke a negative reaction.”

“From their responses, I believe the ruse worked, although your advice is taken. I will try and limit the use of that technique except when absolutely necessary.”

“Good,” Ky said, pushing the horse to go faster. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Just keep her alive.”