The Four Chapter 7

IN THE THIRD YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
Remus took one last look at Kalka, as the ship sped away. Stee came up and stood beside him at the window.
Remus nodded his greeting. "Hello Stee."
Stee returned the nod. "Hello Remus. Pretty amazing isn't it?"
"You mean Kalka?"
"Of course I mean Kalka."
"Yeah, it is pretty amazing."
Stee looked at the ground. "You know, I wasn't sure about this whole thing when I signed up. Helmus had gotten me all excited, but I still wasn't sure. I didn't know what to expect. Helmus was right though. The experience was every bit as amazing as he had promised."
Remus smiled. "I'm glad to hear that."
"Could you give Romulus a message for me. Tell him thank you for getting this thing started. I know it was a lot of hard work on his part, getting things organized and stuff, but tell him I appreciate. He's a good man."
The smile faded slightly on Remus' face. "I'll tell him."


"So there you are." Romulus recognized the voice as Julius' and turned to see Julius, along with Remus and Andrew approach him.
"A group of us are going to play focrosc," Julius said. "You want to join us?"
"Sure, that sounds like fun."
"So what were you doing here anyway?" Andrew asked. "I mean, the city square isn't my idea of a happening place."
"Oh, I was just thinking." As if struck by a new thought, Romulus suddenly gestured over to the statue of Hans, erected in the place Hans had died three years ago. "Did either of you know him well?" he asked.
"I had a couple of run ins with him," Julius said. "Twice well I was in exile, and once during the invasion."
"What did you think?" Romulus asked.
Julius shrugged. "I didn't really know him well enough to say. He seemed okay I guess."
"He definitely is one of the city most controversial heros," Andrew noted. "They're still screaming about the statue being erected."
Romulus nodded, remembering well the cries. 'What's next, a statue of Jistap?' was a popular protest.
"Some heros are clear cut," Julius said. "Like Haket, their are statues of him all over the city. Does anyone complain about those?"
"And Bree," Andrew added, referring to The Watcher who had overthrown the monarchy to establish a democratic government. "The city's filled with statues of Bree. You can't turn the corner without seeing a Bree statue."
"And then there are heros like Hans," Romulus finished. "Not so clear cut."
Julius gave Romulus a pat on the back. "Hans may not have been a clear cut hero, but you are."
Romulus smiled at the compliment. "Thank you Julius."
"Someday, there will be a statue of you," Andrew said, indicating to Romulus.
Julius laughed. "One statue? They'll be hundreds of statues."
"Thousands!" Andrew added enthusiastically.
"Much more!" Julius shouted out. "They'll be statues everywhere. You'll be the greatest hero this city has ever seen."
Romulus was turning quiet red under all this praise. "All right guys stop it. You're getting ridiculous."
"Ridiculous?" Julius was still shouting. "Ridiculous? Romulus, don't you see what your doing? Can't you see the effect. You are changing this city around. Single handedly, you are changing the city forever."
"They'll erect so many statues of you, people won't be able to walk down the street," Andrew said. "You'll be greater than Hans, greater than Bree, greater than Haket."
"School children will hear your name till they get sick," Julius interjected. "You'll be revered as a god."
Julius and Andrew continued for quiet some time, each one trying to top the other until their statements got more and more far out. Romulus tried to get them to stop, but not too hard. With each compliment, his chest got slightly bigger, and his smile broadened slightly.
A few feet away stood Remus. He was green with envy.


"Okay, so we lost. It's not the first time that's happened, right?" Remus didn't respond. Andrew tried again. "Two more points, that's all we would have needed. We'll get them next time." Remus still remained silent.
Andrew and Remus were walking back through a dense forest. There was a paved path running through it, and were it not for the path, the forest might well have been impossible to pass through, the trees were so closely packed, and the underbrush ran wild. The artificial sunlight was filtered through the many leaves, and only partially reached the two. A very beautiful, if not a little eerie, place."
Andrew decided to try one more time. "You played very well," he said.
"Fuck that," Remus answered sharp and cold.
"That last run you made was-"
"Fuck it!" Remus yelled out.
Andrew suddenly stopped and looked over at Remus, his face full of concern. "Alright, what's wrong?"
Without warning, Remus cried out and slammed his fist into a nearby tree. The tree showed no signs of the encounter, but Remus' knuckles were covered in blood. Andrew thought his wrist might even be broken.
"Are you alright?" Andrew's voice fully conveyed his confusion.
Remus' looked at his hand, slowly turning it over and examining it. His anger appeared to have been all used up in that brief explosion. "I'll be fine. Deka, my hand hurts."
"I would imagine."
"I guess I deserve it though. That was pretty stupid of me."
"That was. What were you thinking?"
Remus started walking again. Andrew hurried to catch up with him. "I'm just a little frustrated, that's all."
"What's eating you?"
"Nothing's eating me," Remus said irritantly. "I'm just a little upset. It seems like I do all the work for this Kalka project, and Romulus sucks up all the glory."
Andrew shrugged. "Well it was his idea. He deserves the glory."
"He hasn't done one bit of work yet. He gives the work to me and keeps the praise for himself."
"Well, talk to him about it."
"No, that's okay. I'll live, I'm just a little frustrated, that's all."
Andrew stopped, and put out his hand to halt Remus. Remus pushed Andrew's hand aside and kept on walking. Andrew quickly caught up to Remus, a little discouraged by Remus' refusal to stop and talk. "Listen, Remus, Romulus is a great guy. He's a great guy, you know that."
"So everyone obviously thinks."
"He would never purposely do this to you. He doesn't realize what he's doing. Just talk to him, he'll give you your share of credit."
"I said I'll be alright." Remus shook his hand. "Deka, it hurts, I think I'll need to use a medicine ball on it."
"There's a replicator less than a mile away. Remus, I'm serious. If this thing is really bugging you, you need to talk to Romulus."
"I'm twenty one years old Andrew. I'm a little too old to be whining about how my teacher doesn't praise me enough. I'll be the laughing stock of the city if I go crying to Romulus about how I'm not getting enough glory. I'll be okay."


Romulus leaned back in his seat. "You have more good news for us, I hope."
Remus nodded. "Another three hundred volunteers."
Romulus clapped his hands in glee. "Great. Another thirty ships. You'll assign them all to a ship, and give the new ships a destination."
"I've already done so. Now Rom, I want to show you something." Remus unrolled a map across the table. "The darkened area is where the famine is. Each red dot represents where we are sending a ship each week to give the people food for the next seven days."
"It looks like we're doing a pretty good job," Romulus observed. "The area is almost smothered in red dots."
"Precisely. We've got about all the volunteers we can use. Anymore who apply will probably have to be placed on a waiting list. Now on top of this, the famine is beginning to decline. The bottom line is, in a year or two, there won't be any need for a Kalka project."
Romulus leaned forward. "What do you suggest?"
"Well this is your idea," Remus said, the sarcasm in his voice so slight that only Andrew noticed it. "Maybe you'd like to think of an option."
"Tell you what," Romulus answered. "Why don't we all think of an idea? When we meet tomorrow we can compare ideas, and decide where to go from there. Fair enough?" The others agreed. "Great. I'll meet you back here tomorrow."


Walking home, Romulus thought about the Kalka project. He could not let it end. He must think of a way for it to survive. The project was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
Sure it had taken a lot of guts to get up in front of the whole town and plead his case, try and convince them to do something they had never done before, but it was worth it, boy was it worth it. When he thought of the power and influence he now had, it just dizzied him with delight.
He was now an important man, perhaps the most important man in the city. Everyone wanted to be his friend. All the girls tried to win him over. He had even had a few children ask for his autograph. There was no doubt about it, things were better than they were before.
As soon as he had gained his popularity, Van had very quickly tried to put himself off as Romulus' best friend. He invited Romulus over for dinner at every opportunity, and hung around him as much as possible. He knew if he could make the public believe he and Romulus were close, he would easily win re-election.
Or would he? Perhaps, Romulus had often thought to himself, perhaps I will run for president next year. And why not? He was a shoe in already, the most popular man in the city.
As Romulus walked through the street, a little child, seven years old, ran up and asked him for his autograph. Romulus smiled enormously. With great pleasure, he signed his name on the piece of paper, and handed it back to the girl. His chest burst with pride. He hoped it would never end.