“Well…” Ashton said. “It’s more than that. We have an important message to deliver to Augustus.”
At the mention of Augustus’s name, Julian’s eyes widened. “How do you plan on doing that? And…why?”
Ashton looked at each of us. “We don’t exactly know yet.”
“It will be difficult,” Julian said. “Very difficult.”
“Maybe you can help us out there?” Makara asked.
Julian shook his head. “I don’t know. It is all very overwhelming. Your goals seem impossible.”
Julian didn’t even know the half.
“Let’s focus on one thing at a time,” I said. “Do you have any idea where they might be taking Anna?”
“Auctions are held in Central Square every Saturday. Central Square is surrounded by all the major buildings of Nova Roma, including the Imperial Palace of Augustus, El Coleseo, the Senate House, the Grand Forum…if they are taking her anywhere, that’s the most likely location.”
“Can’t we save her before they enter the city?” I asked.
“She will still be under heavy guard,” Julian said. “The Slave Road is probably the most protected part of the Empire. A citizen can walk alone and unarmed from Jalisco Province to Oaxaca Province without fearing for his or her life. What’s more, slaves travel with caravans, under heavy guard.” Julian shook his head. “Attacking it head on would be a bad idea.”
“We can’t just use the ship, either,” Makara said. “We risk hurting Anna, not to mention the other slaves.”
“So, what can we do?” Ashton asked. “All I know is, we have to come up with something, quick. They’ll be in the city by tomorrow.”
“There’s another problem,” I said. “By the time we get inside the city, news of Gilgamesh might reach Augustus. Many might think it’s just a story, but the Emperor will know better. Once he knows about it, he will know it’s somebody from the United States is in his Empire.” I looked at Ashton. “He might even guess that it’s you.”
“That sort of news could be in Nova Roma as early as tomorrow, if Itcala sends a messenger immediately,” Ashton said. “Of course, that’s something we have no control over. We can only hope for the best. In fact, that may even help us. It will add legitimacy to what we have to tell him. If he knows we’re from the U.S., he will know we have access to resources that have given us knowledge about the xenovirus.”
Julian looked at all of us, confused. “I have no idea what you guys are talking about.”
“I know all this must be very strange for you,” Ashton said. “Like I said, we’ll catch you up when we can.
“How do you guys have a spaceship?” Julian asked. “Are you United States government? What are you doing in the Empire? Everyone I know believes the United States is gone. Is there still a government, somewhere?”
“It’s a long story, friend,” Ashton said.
Julian sighed, obviously frustrated. “I’ll wait for answers, then. But I want to know everything as soon as you get a chance.”
Ashton nodded his assent.
“So, back to Anna,” I said. “What do we do to find her?”
“Finding her will be the easy part,” Ashton said. “Gilgamesh has high resolution cameras that can point down and take photographs. We can easily spot a slave train moving southeast toward Nova Roma, and get a head count of what we would be up against.”
“Typically, the trains have anywhere from 25-50 slaves,” Julian said. “Sometimes more. There is usually about one guard for every two slaves, along with the slaves’ owner and anyone else who might be helping the owners. They take them to bidding blocks, set up in Central Square.” Julian sighed. “To me, any sort of rescue sounds impossible, as she will be under constant guard at all times.”
“And we still have our mission to accomplish,” Samuel said. “If we make a huge ruckus, then we will get off on the wrong foot with Augustus.”
“We can’t just leave Anna to die,” I said. “We’ve already gotten so far.” I turned to Julian. “How many people live in Nova Roma?”
“Thousands upon thousands,” he said. “It used to be an old city, but it grew from there. There are many foreigners living in Nova Roma, from the south, from the north…people will not notice you because of your foreign appearance. Although, the Imperial Garrison might ask questions. Getting in is the tricky part. Anyone who looks like a foreigner has to present papers they received at the Empire’s border/”
“Dropping in like we did at Itcala might not work as well,” Makara said. “Nova Roma has more people, and we are more likely to be spotted.”
“No foreigner can be in the Empire without authorization from the Foreign Ministry,” Julian said. “Anyone without transit papers is in defiance with Imperial Law.”
“What happens then?” I asked.
Julian shrugged. “Whatever happens to anyone who is in the Empire without reason. You have no rights. You can be killed, enslaved…anything.”
“With the war going on, papers might be hard to get for a Wastelander,” Ashton said. “I’m sure by this point, all trade has been cut off.”
“War?” Julian asked.
“That, too, is something we have to catch you up on,” Ashton said.
“We need more information,” Samuel said. “I don’t see how that’s going to happen up here. We can find the slave train and see what we’re up against. After, we have to find some way to infiltrate the city, never losing sight of Anna. If we watch closely, we might find an opportunity to rescue her.”
It wasn’t much of a plan, but at least it was something. Maybe an opportunity would present itself. But first, we had to find our way inside the city itself, and get to Central Square before Anna did.
“It would be a good idea to get what rest you can,” Ashton said. “It’s near three in the morning, and you all will have to get an early start tomorrow.”
Samuel turned to Julian. “I’ll show you to your bunk. Tomorrow morning I will catch you up on everything.”
We caught what little sleep we could. By the time we awoke, it was morning. After eating a small meal, we gathered once more on the bridge.
By midmorning, we were following the Slave Road at a slow hover above the clouds. We poked below now and again to get a glimpse of the road, trying to spy the caravan Anna was a part of.
The first few times we did this, we caught nothing. By the fourth time, however, the camera panned on exactly what we were looking for.
Julian was in awe of the equipment. Everything was different from what he was used to — the spaceship, the food, the way we treated him. He was remarkably resilient, and had taken to his new surroundings quickly. I wanted to learn more about him, but that would have to wait for another time.
“That is it,” Julian said.
The LCD showed the curving line of road, along with the small shapes of pack animals and rectangular cages. On the sides of the caravan, guards walked slowly.
In the distance, below the clouds, I caught my first sight of Nova Roma on the horizon. It was situated in a large valley, and thousands of buildings rose from crisscrossing urban streets. A large stone wall surrounded its entire perimeter, and small, wooden buildings spilled outside the walls themselves, as if they were leeching onto the city. Many large, stone buildings stood within the city itself. In the middle was a tall, circular arena: the Coleseo.
Green mountains hugged the city’s border to the north, and some low hills to the south and east. The main access point was from the west — the direction from which we were flying.
“We can’t attack that caravan,” Ashton said. “Not without killing Anna in the process.”