The Four Chapter 5

IN THE THIRD YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
As the ship left the city, Romulus briefly looked over the passengers it was carrying. This was his ship, the one he was leading to Kalka. As he was looking over the crew, one came up to meet him.
The man extended his hand. "You must be Romulus. I'm pleased to meet you."
Romulus was slightly embarrassed. He had not met the man before, but the face did ring a bell. The man was well known in the city, but for what Romulus could not remember. "I am Romulus. You are?"
"Kile," the man answered, as Romulus shook his hand.
"Oh, of course, the Caletian. Pleased to have you aboard. Are you eager to see the real world again."
"You bet, that's about one tenth of the reason I signed up."
Romulus raised his eyebrows slightly. "One tenth? I thought it would be at least half."
Kile shook his head, completely dismissing the idea. "Oh no, no not at all." Kile paused slightly, to collect his ideas before continuing. "Actually, you don't know how glad I am you came up with this idea."
"Really?"
"I needed something to do. You Watchers, you don't do anything."
Romulus found that statement difficult to believe. "We don't do anything? Everybody I know is involved in tons of stuff. You can join a drama club, or a sports league, or go into politics, and there are tons of volunteer organizations."
Kile laughed. "You keep busy alright but you don't do anything." He lowered his voice slightly, unsure if he wanted to say what he was about to. Romulus leaned in to hear him. "Back in Calet, my life was in danger all the time. I never knew which battle would be my last. The whole nation depended on me. My responsibilities were essential to national security. Once the civil war began, things were ten times as much so. I didn't know who I could trust."
"Your not saying you miss that?"
"I do. When I first entered the city, I thought it would be paradise. I could eat whenever I wanted, luxury was at my fingertips, responsibility was obsolete. Now, I miss the old way."
"You miss it? You were living in danger all the time. Your best friend could be your enemy."
"Yes, but I was living. I was really living. Now I just exist." Kile paused, thinking about what he had just said. His own words began to sink in. "Actually, it's not all that bad for me," he said. "But poor Drusus, he can't live like this. He's a man of action. If his life isn't in danger, he's not happy."
Romulus shook his head. "I can't identify with that."
"I don't think any of you Watchers can. Your not used to it. But Drusus, he lives and breathes it. That's why I'm so happy you started this. It will give Drusus a chance to see some action again."
Kile had chosen his words poorly, and it was just enough to set Romulus off. Romulus jerked his head up, and looked Kile in the eye with his own fiery eyes. "This is a mission of peace. You make sure Drusus knows that. I will tolerate nothing else."
Kile nodded. His eyes apologized for his words.
"Nothing but peace," Romulus repeated.


Romulus stumbled forward along with everyone else as the ship hit the ground. Roc apologized from the pilot cockpit. "I've never flown one of these things before," he said.
Romulus was not impressed by the excuse. "Practice on the simulations. See that next time things go smoother."
Romulus ordered the doors of the ship to be opened. He helped open them then stepped out into the ground. He was in Kalka.
The sight left him in awe at first. The sky was different then the artificial one in the city. He couldn't quite place his finger on the difference, but he could feel it. Looking up at it was not the same.
The air in Kalka had a different feel too. The most obvious difference was the temperature. On a summer day, the temperature of the city could rise pretty high, but it was seldom allowed to rise much past one hundred Fahrenheit. Kalka's temperature was at least one hundred and ten. But the difference didn't stop there. There was something else about the air, like the sky. An element of difference, but hardly observable on an empirical level. More of an instinctive feeling of difference.
The moment was over quickly. Romulus forced himself out of his brief trance, and quickly got to work. Remus had done his job well. The area they landed in was well populated. In fact they landed just outside of a city. The ground was parched and cracked everywhere. Things looked just like Romulus had imagined them, a classic picture of hunger and famine. The natives were cautiously approaching the ship. Romulus had expected these people to run at the sight of the ship, but now he realized they had no fear of death, they faced it everyday. To them, death was as familiar as life was.
The people were obviously hungry. Their skin clung tightly to them, their bony arms and legs moved slowly. To Romulus, it seemed a wonder they could move at all.
Romulus turned to see his crew doing nothing, awestruck by their surroundings, like he himself had been only seconds before. Romulus clapped his hands. "Let's go, lets go," he yelled, but his voice remained somewhat patient. The crew began to move, replicating food from the ship and bringing it out to the people. Once satisfied that things were underway, Romulus plunged into the work himself.
The ecstasy of the Kalkan's was unmeasurable. News traveled fast, and soon the whole city was coming out to receive food. The crew moved quickly, rushing food from the ship into the crowd, but never fast enough for Romulus, who was always urging them to go faster.
They had been working for about an hour when Romulus heard a crashing sound. He looked behind him. Paper had dropped the food he was carrying onto the ground. The plates had shattered, and the food was covered with dirt. The water had fallen out of the glasses and was soaking onto the ground. Immediately, some of the starving people leaped for the spill, lapping up the water and devouring the dust covered food. Romulus ran over, trying to explain to the people there was no need to eat off the ground, plenty of food would be on the way. They disregarded him and he soon gave up.
Turning to Paper, Romulus said, "don't worry about it, just grab some more food and keep working."
Paper took a minute to perfect his posture, standing straight up. He looked Romulus in the eye and answered, "I didn't drop those plates, I threw them down."
Romulus wasn't quite sure he was hearing right. "What?"
"You heard me. I'm through working. I didn't come here to work, I came hear to see Kalka."
Romulus laughed. Whether it was a forced laugh or genuine, Paper couldn't tell, Romulus had gotten so good at laughing on command. He patted Paper gently on the back as he said, "come on Paper, you signed up to volunteer. Take some food and get back to work or you'll be walking home."
Paper refused to let Romulus calm him down. He grabbed the arm that was patting him and jerked himself out of Romulus' reach. "You know as well as I do that if you leave me hear, even for a while, you'll be in very hot water back at the city. It would be the end of the Kalka project."
Romulus took a deep breath. It was evident he was going to have to try another tactic. "You've been working pretty hard Paper, why don't you take a break. You can walk around the town, grab some food, whatever. Just relax if you want. I'll give you an hour off, two if you want it, but after that I'd like you to come back to work. We do need your help, and we gave up a seat on the ship for you, a seat someone else could have filled."
"Don't you get it?" Paper asked angrily. "I told you I don't want to work anymore."
Paper started to walk away. Romulus grabbed him by the shoulder. "Hold on one second-"
Without warning Paper spun around and shoved Romulus. Romulus fell to the ground, a cloud of dust momentarily surrounded him. Kile saw what happened, and took a few steps towards the two, ready to intervene on Romulus' behalf if he need be.
Sitting on the ground, Romulus looked at Paper. Paper tried to look defiantly back, but Romulus' eyes unnerved him. In Romulus' eyes there was a look of fire, a look of determination, a look of anger, but foremost of all a look of strength. Romulus leaped onto his feet. He grabbed Paper's head and slammed it against the wall of the ship. His powerful right arm was bent back, ready to smash into Paper's head.
To Kile, the whole thing seemed like a blur. One moment Romulus was on the ground, the next he was ready to strike Paper. Trembling, Paper looked at the poised fist, then into Romulus' eyes. Papers expression showed nothing but submission. Romulus' eyes conveyed the same feeling they had a minute ago. Looking at the cowering Paper, Romulus gradually lowered his fist. He backed away from the ship. His eyes were still full of fire, but they had returned to their normal look, if not perhaps a little bit softer than they usually were.
"If you don't want to work, I can't make you," Romulus said. "You're free to do what ever you want."
Still trembling, Paper picked up another plate of food and starting walking toward the Kalkans with it. "That's okay, I can work."
The rest of the crew, who had momentarily stopped to watch the engagement, also returned to work. There seemed to be a slight stir, as if some of them wanted to congratulate Romulus but knew better. To Kile, however, the scene was greatly disturbing. He could not forget the look in Romulus' eyes, and he wondered what would have happened if Paper had not yielded. Most of all, Kile seriously questioned if Romulus was the man to lead this mission of peace.