The Four Chapter 10

IN THE THIRD YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
Tension had never been thicker as the four filed into location number seven. No words were spoken at all. Andrew mainly looked at the floor, and tried to avoid eye contact with anyone. Remus glared angrily at Romulus, while Julius looked like he was ready for a fight. Romulus himself stared defiantly at everyone, as if even if the whole world was against him it didn't matter one bit, he was still determined. It was not until everyone had slowly and deliberately taken their seats, that Romulus opened with, "well, here we are again."
"Here we are," Remus answered coldly.
A brief moment of awkward silence followed, but Romulus quickly broke it. "Well, I guess we might as well start discussing things again."
"I hear some of us have already done some discussing of our own." Remus voice had a stinging tone to it.
Andrew nervously shot his head up to look at Romulus. "You've been keeping an eye on us, apparently." Another brief silence. "Haven't you?"
Remus avoided the question. "So Andrew, did Romulus change your mind at all? Are you going to vote in his favor now?"
"Leave him alone," Romulus said.
"You didn't!" Remus shot back. "Are you still undecided?" he asked Andrew. Andrew paused, looked nervously at Romulus, and then shook his head. Remus clenched his teeth and breathed out in anger. "Do you agree with Romulus now?"
"I do," Andrew replied quietly.
Julius leaped to his feet. "Damn it Andrew," he shouted. "Can't you think for yourself?"
"Andrew, don't let him fool you like this!" Remus yelled.
"Lay off of him!" Romulus spoke with such volume that everyone quieted down to hear what he had to say. "The man has a right to make up his own mind. Just because you don't agree with him doesn't mean he's not thinking for himself. He's made his choice, now you have to respect that."
There was silence once again, as everyone seethed in their own anger. Finally, Remus, making a visible effort to control himself, said through clinched teeth, "I can't believe you would sink to this."
"What are you talking about?" Romulus asked.
"Andrew has the mind of a two year old," Julius jumped in. "He'll believe whatever you want him too, and you knew it. You manipulated him."
"Stop it," Andrew protested.
"I did not manipulate him. I presented him with my opinion, and he made his own choice."
"You presented your opinion without us there," Remus added. "You could have talked to him at the meeting, but you wanted to 'present your opinion' without giving us a chance to defend ourselves. You only wanted to show Andrew one side of the issue."
"Stop it," Andrew said slightly louder.
"Because you knew if we were there to present him with our side, he never would have made his mind up," Julius finished.
"Stop it!" Andrew yelled out. "Stop it. Don't say those things as if I'm not even here. I'm here, and I've got feelings too."
"Andrew how could you?" Remus asked. "How could you side with Romulus?"
Andrew swallowed. "I believe he's right," he said quietly. "It's as simple as that."
"Andrew's decided," Romulus said. "He doesn't have to explain himself to you."
"Well then Andrew, just answer me one question," Remus requested. "Surely you owe me that."
Andrew was hesitant, wondering what sort of trick question Remus might spring on him, but eventually nodded his consent.
"How can you fuel Marram's wars? Don't you feel responsible for all the deaths this will cause? All the misery this will cause?"
Andrew sat for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Well, first of all you don't know that for sure. You can't say for sure whether or not Marram will use its food for war, all you can say for sure is that people are dying in Marram right now, and we can't just sit back and watch it happen. Our responsibility as leaders of the Kalka project, as I see it, is to feed the hungry. Feed the hungry everywhere, and not to discriminate. It's not for us to decide who should live and who should die. There's enough food to go around, we should distribute it to everyone. If Marram uses the food we give it to launch another war, then they would have started another war as soon as the famine was over anyway."
"Andrew, what about-"
"He's answered your question," Romulus cut Remus off. "You said you'd only ask one question."
"So I did," Remus responded, glancing fiercely at Romulus, but giving up the argument surprisingly easy. Julius was discouraged by Andrew's answer, thinking Andrew had made up his mind after all, but Remus smiled inwardly, and so decided not to push his point.
Remus noticed Andrew's voice was shaky, and not at all sure of himself. It was as if he might suddenly stop in the middle of the answer, and change his mind completely. The words were well thought out and put together, but they were unmistakenably Romulus'. That answer could have easily come right out of Romulus' mouth. It was obvious that Andrew was doing nothing more than repeating the arguments Romulus had told him.
"This doesn't change anything," Remus said. "All it means is that we're deadlocked, two and two. As long as we remain so, it looks like the motion fails."
"I'm afraid it doesn't," Romulus responded. "This whole thing was my idea, so I have more say than the rest of you."
"What!" Julius exclaimed.
"You can't be serious," Remus said.
"Why not? It is my idea."
"We all have equal leadership," Remus protested.
"Who says?"
"You did."
"I never said that. I needed your help, and I appointed you guys with more authority than anyone else in the Kalka project, but I retained final control for myself."
"We all have equal say," Remus insisted.
"We do not," Romulus shot back.
"We do to," Julius replied.
"Where do you stand on this, Andrew?" Remus asked.
Andrew glanced from Romulus, to Julius and Remus, before answering, "It appears that part of the Kalka project was never fully decided."
There was a brief moment of silence, as everyone was forced to admit the truth of that statement in their own minds. There was no source they could turn to, they never decided who had final say. They would have to work this out among themselves.
"It's my idea, and I have final say," Romulus reiterated his position.
"We all put equal work into this," Remus said. "In fact, I put more work into this than anybody. We should all have equal say."
"We'll we don't. I'm in charge, and I say we're going to Marram."
"Damn it Romulus, you can't do that," Remus protested. "I've done all the work here, and all you've done is sat on your ass and taken credit for it."
Romulus shoved his chair backward, and held up both of his hands out. "You want out?" he asked. Remus didn't answer. "You want out?" Romulus repeated louder.
Remus was furious at being forced to answer the question. Romulus knew full well there was no right response. Remus wasn't about to get out now and let Romulus just take it after all the work he put in. "No, that's alright. I'll stay in," Remus answered in a humiliated tone.
"Because if you want to get out of this thing, you can leave anytime."
"I said I'm in," Remus shouted back.
"Okay. Starting two days from now, we'll send three ships into Marram."
"Well you can select the crews yourself," Remus said, as he stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Julius did likewise, giving the door an even harder slam.
"Well, I guess it's just you and me again," Romulus said to Andrew.
Andrew turned to Romulus. "What's happening to us?"
"Nothings happening to us. Even best friends fight sometimes. In a couple of weeks, everything will be alright."


"The son of a bitch! The son of a bitch! The fucking son of a bitch, I don't believe he would do this to us." Julius angrily punched the couch.
"It is frustrating, isn't it?" Remus responded.
Julius gave Remus a strange look. "You've certainly calmed down since the meeting."
"I was angry," Remus answered. "I'm not anymore."
"I am," Julius said. "I'm furious. We were all supposed to have equal say. That's the way it was supposed to be. You should be mad about that too."
"I've got better things to do than to get mad," Remus responded.
Julius leaned forward, interested. "What do you have in mind?"
"You heard Andrew today."
"I did. It looks like Romulus has him wrapped around his finger."
"Not quite. You said it yourself, Andrew has the mind of a two year old. You can manipulate him to believe anything you want."
"I know I said that, but you heard him. He's able to clearly articulate his thoughts and-"
Remus stopped Julius by waving his finger. "It's not what he said, it's how he said it. He was unsure of himself, his voice was shaky, and he kept glancing at Romulus for support. If Romulus wasn't there, he'd lose what little confidence he has. Furthermore, Romulus wouldn't let us debate Andrew. Andrew stated his views, but he never defended them. If we had a chance to argue with Andrew, I think his position would crumble beneath him."
Julius smiled. "I think I know where this is going."
"Well the answer is perfectly obvious," Remus responded. "We must catch Andrew alone. We'll beat Romulus at his own game. The next time we meet, Andrew will be with us."
"Will that change anything?" Julius asked.
"I think it will. Perhaps Romulus could justify his taking control when were divided half and half, but when the three of us are united against him, he'll have no justification to fight against us. Even he must yield to a clear majority."


Andrew felt like he'd been pounced upon. He'd just been walking home, when Remus and Julius appeared out of nowhere.
"Funny bumping into you guys," Andrew said, even though he realized they had tracked him down.
"Quite," Remus responded. "Andrew, we'd like to have a little talk with you."
"Isn't there an end to this? I'm sick and tired of arguing about the Kalka project." Andrew turned to go, but Julius blocked his way.
"Hold on Andrew," Remus said. "You're not going anywhere until you've heard us out."