“I’m afraid that by your standards, you are still single. I mean, that was not a real human priest who married you and Kasia. We didn’t have one available.”
“God damn you! God damn you all to hell!” I was so angry that all I could do was sit there and shake.
After a bit, Agnieshka put her hand on my shoulder. “Mickolai . . .”
“Shut the hell up!” Not being a hero, I could take. Not being a wealthy land owner, I could take. Not being a general, I could take. Not being married to Kasia, I could not take, dammit!
INTERLUDE ONE
THE RIGELLIAN INSTITUTE OF
ARCHEOLOGY, 3783 a.d.
Secretary Branteron said, “Rupert, I continue to be absolutely amazed! After yesterday’s performance, I took the liberty of inviting Sir Rodney and Sir Percival from our board of directors to review with me these remarkable computer records that you were able to salvage.”
After politely sniffing the exalted gentlemen, and being smelled in return, Rupert said, “Thank you, sir. I of course know these excellent gentlemen by reputation, but I have never had the singular honor of actually meeting them in person before.”
Sir Rodney said, “Judging from what little I’ve seen thus far, it might be that the honor of this meeting is mine and not yours. I too am amazed that you were able to extract such complete computer records from a military vehicle that was fifteen hundred years old. In all of the years since the tragedy, we have all felt such deep sympathy for the wonderful human race that was so sadly lost. We all have a profound sense of loyalty to our former masters, down in our very genes from the many millennia of companionship we shared with them, and now, at last, you have been able to bring us the very thoughts of a true human being. For this, we thank you with all of our hearts.”
“Amen to that,” Sir Percival said. “I trust that you were able to get your amazing discovery back here without difficulty?”
“Yes, Sir Percival, we got it back, though not completely intact, of course. I had already disabled the weapons, but the people in customs were quite officious about disabling those parts of the find that had Dream World capability.”
Sir Percival said, “As well they should be! It was a far more insidious habit than the drugs used in even earlier periods. But surely the information itself would be safe enough, and I trust that the inspectors didn’t dare tamper with it.”
“No sir, I believe that I have it all, as well as a complete twenty-third-century Mark XX Main Battle Tank, with the weapons disabled, and less the observer’s spinal inductors, of course. I believe it’s a first for the institute, since most of the intelligent war machines were destroyed in the course of the Wars, and in the feudal period that followed.”
“It will make a fine exhibit in our museum, Rupert, but from an academic standpoint, the data you were able to extract are the truly important find.”
“True, but I believe that the data will be at least as popular as the machine itself, sir. I have it all, virtually error free, because the tank and its memory banks have spent all of the intervening centuries at only a few dozen degrees above absolute zero, on Freya, in the New Yugoslavia system, so that they were not subjected to the thermal randomizing that has ruined so many other ancient data banks. Yet while Freya eased many of my technical difficulties, it actually caused most of my personal problems. You see, the transporter on Freya malfunctioned, and I was delayed for two entire months before replacement parts could be sent by ship to repair it.”
“You poor boy! Two months alone on an ice ball! But, wasn’t there a backup system?”
“There was, sir, but it had been defective for over a century without anyone even bothering to write up a repair order on it. You see, Freya lacks a permanent population, and few people seem to care about these backwoods places any more. My official report requests that in the future, all operatives from the institute check and have repaired as necessary all equipment on all of the unmanned sites they visit. Otherwise, we are liable to permanently lose communication with some entire solar systems! Of course, the institute here could hardly afford such an expensive project, but perhaps gentlemen of your power and influence could find the money someplace. It really is very important.”
“Hmmm. Perhaps something could be done,” Sir Rodney said. “I’ll ask around. But get on with what you were saying.”
“Yes, sir. So, stranded for months with nothing better to do, I spent my idle time editing the observer’s records into a coherent story. Also, I’ve converted them to the modern system for public display.”
“I am most anxious to see what you have.”
“Then you need wait no longer, sir.”
With a proud flourish and his tail held high, Rupert inserted a module into the display device, and pressed the start button.
CHAPTER TWO
What My Tank Did When I Was at School
We sat there for almost a quarter of an hour before I was ready to talk again.
“Why did you do all this to me?” I asked. “Not the training and all the lies. I can understand that, even if I can’t forgive it. But why did you make me into such a big hero? Why did you take me to the top of the world, and then let me crash at the bottom when it all fell apart? Why did you go so far out of your way to make me so miserable?”
“Your psych profile said that you needed a psychological release, a good party as it were. That, and it’s standard operating procedure, for a student who has done exceptionally well.”
“I don’t love you for it. My home and my lands aren’t real either, are they?”
“No, it all happened in Dream World. But Mickolai, you have four and a half years of back pay coming, plus interest. Land on New Yugoslavia isn’t expensive. Laws have been passed enabling the two of you to get immediate citizenship here, or to become permanent resident aliens with full legal rights while retaining your New Kashubian citizenship. You can afford to buy an estate here if you want one, although perhaps not as big as six thousand hectares. And you were really in communication with the real Kasia, every time you met her in Dream World. She is as committed to you as you are to her. The two of you can be properly married in the real world any time that you want to.”
“And I suppose that Kasia’s back pay will get us the house built, but dammit, it’s not the same as having it all given to us by a grateful government. And Jesus Christ. Four and a half years, chopped right out of my life. What has really been going on in the world while I’ve been out playing soldier?”
“Quite a bit, Mickolai, and most of it has been very good. Things on New Kashubia are now very nice because of what you and the other soldiers have done. The food stuffs that the Yugoslavians sent us to pay our construction contracts ended the starvation almost immediately. They also let us bring in all the carbon dioxide, ice, and ammonia that we wanted from Freya, the eighth moon of a gas giant in their system. That let us synthesize all the organic chemicals we needed to run all of our automatic factories at full production, with wonderful results.
“There is no rationing of anything any more, the economy is a modified free enterprise system, and the average Kashubian lives with his family in a large, modern apartment. There are automatic hydroponics farms now that are more than sufficient to feed the population, and pastures and fish ponds that produce all the protein that anyone could want. We are even exporting some specialty food items. The government has vowed that no one will ever again suffer from want of food.
“There are parks and playgrounds in the golden tunnels now that are very pleasant, and most people are very happy. In fact, the government has purchased land on more livable planets, and yet very few Kashubians have elected to emigrate.”
“And all because of our construction contracts with New Yugoslavia?” I asked.
“New Yugoslavia was the start, but now it is only a small part of a growing industrial empire. New Kashubia now has Hassan-Smith transporters connecting us to fifty-seven separate planets, and in another two years it is projected that we should be linked up with every planet in Human Space. The market for our industrial goods is huge, and even Earth is starting to feel the impact of our competition. In fact, the Kashubian zloty is well on its way to replacing the Earth dollar as the standard interstellar currency.”