The New Era Chapter 1

IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
Hans was beginning to get discouraged. He had spent the past couple of days searching for Rodens among the Arctic Circle of the North Pole. He had not been able to locate Rodens ship, but he was positive that was because Rodens had made his ship invisible to sensors. Whenever Hans sensors located a life form, he landed his ship to talk to it. Hans realized the consequence of this action was the possibility that the valued secrecy of The Watchers would be lost, but he could think of no other option. Rodens could be anywhere in the world by now, and it would be impossible for Hans to track him down simply by his instinct.
To the best of his knowledge, Rodens was still in the arctic circle. Hans talked to several life forms that had seen his ship. Hans also learned that two more Iceler tribes had been attacked by Rodens. As far as Hans knew, Rodens had killed at least seventy Icelers.
It was a great frustration to Hans not to be able to communicate with the city. He knew that they would be able to track the exact location of Rodens, but Rodens would be able to track the source of the communication, and have the advantage of a surprise attack. Be that as it may, each day Hans became more and more tempted to take the chance.


It was two days since Jistap had seized power. Pericula remembered the events of that recent past with sadness. Jistap had his face put on every monitor in the city, and announced his plans for dictatorship. He had plenty of resistance of course, but his army clearly had the advantage. The people grabbed energy firearms, but the Executor would not allow them to work. Of course, old fashioned guns that were fueled by gunpowder worked, as did swords, spears, daggers, et cetera, but not many of the people had these weapons, and Jistap made sure they couldn't replicate any. The resistance was crushed, leaving seven hundred dead, and about a thousand exiled. Among those exiled was Pericula's own father. After Jistap had firmly positioned himself in power, the old man had calmly walked up to Jistap, and told Jistap that he would never support him. He was, like all the other exiles, thrown out of the city into the Coler Mountains. By this time the Coler's had reached a pleasant temperature, like that of a cool spring day, and was still getting hotter every day. The exiles had banded together and formed a colony.
Few supported Jistap, but any who publicly admitted their lack of enthusiasm was exiled. Once the zealots of freedom had been booted out, everyone kept their mouth shut. Jistap had wanted to introduce his reforms immediately. Bakes had suggested he give the people a couple weeks to get used to the new government, and they had compromised at a one week adjustment period.
Jistap was still on his guard. He knew that much of his opposition was yet to be taken care of. Many of the freedom zealots had been temporarily convinced not to oppose him by their friends and family, others were simply waiting for the right moment to strike. Jistap had many of his loyal followers spend several hours each day watching the monitors, looking at what people have been saying for the past few days, to see what they were saying about him in private. Anyone who's speech indicated the slightest disapproval of Jistap was exiled. Jistap also exercised his power by classifying all information on himself.
Among those who disapproved of Jistap, but had not yet acted, was Pericula's brother, Julius. Julius was nineteen, seven years younger then his sister. The night Jistap took control, Julius had set out to fight Jistap's army with the only weapon he could find, a kitchen knife. Pericula had intercepted him in time to prevent him from taking any action, and had pleaded with him not to fight Jistap. Julius had reluctantly agreed, but Pericula feared he might do something rash. She knew Julius was ashamed that his father had stood up to Jistap, but he had not. She also feared that Jistap would review the conversation on his monitor and exile Julius, but with the thousands of people in the city, the odds were in favor of the conversation not being found.


"It's really not that bad here. The weather is pleasant, and the ground is soft. I could get used to this place."
"Shut up, Quintus. This place sucks. Quit trying to cheer us up."
"No seriously, it's really not that bad. If I have to spend the rest of my life in exile, this is as good as place as any. I mean, there's no robbers, no war. Except for us, the Coler mountains are uninhabited."
Antonius shifted restlessly. "There's also no food," he pointed out. "Remember, until a few days ago this whole mountain was covered with snow. There's been no time for vegetation to grow. We have to send a group down to the base of the mountain each day to gather food for the rest of us. Besides, as sound as Gowron or Grarap find out the Coler mountains are now habitable, we'll probably be conquered."
Crassus, who had been silent until this point, suddenly became curious. "How hot do you think the Colers are going to get?" he asked. "I mean, I guess everyone assumed it's going to get so hot, and then stop. Maybe it will reach 90 degrees or so, and then that's how hot it will stay. But how do we know the temperature won't reach a hundred degrees? Perhaps it will get so hot that the very rocks on these mountains will melt."
Antonius scoffed. "Oh you don't believe that, do you? Surely the satellite can't be transmitting that much heat."
Crassus shrugged. "Do you know how much heat it is transmitting?"
"Well, no not exactly. Bakes never told us exactly how much heat is being transmitted, but I'm sure it can't be near that much, or he would have mentioned something. Besides, if that much heat was being sent, don't you think the Coler's temperature would have risen faster?"
Mucius walked up to the three. "Mind if I join you?" he asked.
Antonius shook his head. "Have a seat. We were just discussing the value of remaining on Coler."
Mucius looked surprised. After he sat down he asked, "Well your not discussing moving, are you?"
"I see no point in remaining here," Antonius said. "We have to go so far to get food."
Mucius threw up his hands. "You haven't given up already, have you?"
Antonius exchanged confused glances with his comrades. "What are you talking about?"
"Well we have to get back into the city and undo the damage Jistap did," Mucius stated matter-a-factly.
"And how, do tell, are we going to do that?" Antonius' cynicism was not disguised.
Mucius laughed confidently. "Antonius, you have been sleeping during the lessons of history. Men like Jistap do not live long. We should be back in the city in a year at the longest. Until then we should stand ready."
That statement was too much for Crassus. "Be careful what you say, Mucius. Jistap may be watching us even here."
Quintus snickered. "What can he do to us now? We're already exiled."
Crassus paused briefly before saying, "Well, he could kill us."
To the surprise of his comrades, Quintus seemed shocked by this statement. "Don't be ridiculous. Jistap wouldn't kill a fellow Watcher."
"He already has you idiot," Antonius shouted.
"What?!"
"His army killed at least seven hundred. How could you possibly not know that?"
Quintus shook his head gently. He turned looked away to hide the tears in his eyes. "I was one of the first ones exiled. No one told me he killed that many. I just thought-" His voice was suddenly cut off as he restrained a sob. The mood of the meeting suddenly turned somber. "Deka help us, seven hundred dead."
Antonius softened his voice. "Well, its not like this is the first time a Watcher has killed another. It happens from time to time. Why just last week someone got jailed for life for killing two people."
"Yeah, I know but," Quintus paused, "I just never expected one of our politicians to do it. Especially not that many."
"No one expected," Mucius said. "And no one should have. Jistap is insane." Crassus opened his mouth to warn Mucius again, but thought better of it. "He's insane, and he's going to get himself killed soon. When that happens, I'll be one of the first to dance on his grave."
"Who's going to kill him? He's exiled or killed all how dare to oppose. The only one's left in the city are spineless cowards. All the men of valor left alive are right here in this colony."
Mucius stretched his arms before standing up. As he left he called out, "don't be to sure Antonius. Yet in the city are heros waiting for a chance to restore liberty."


Jistap fumed with anger as he watched Mucius walk away on the monitor. "That self serving toad! I should have had him killed. He's practically giving a graven invitation to anyone who wants to assassinate me." Jistap scowled for a few seconds, before calling out, "Bakes! Bakes, get over here!"
Bakes came running from the adjoining room. "Yes sir, can I help you?"
"I've been watching a conversation on the monitor. One of the exiles named Mucius gave a treasonous speech. You'd better classify it. If the wrong person watches it, it could incite them to do something rash."
Bakes paused, confused. "Sir, you don't need my help to classify it anymore. All you have to do is tell the Executor to classify it, and it will obey you without question."
"Oh, that's right. I had quite forgotten about that. Old habits die hard, you know."
"Understandable sir, quite understandable." Bakes bowed and headed out of the room.
"Well I better hurry up and classify this," Jistap added, mostly to himself, "before someone else sees it."


Jistap would not have been happy had he known that even as he classified the conversation, it was too late. Julius, like Jistap, had been watching the conversation as it happened and was deeply affected by it. The words of Antonius, calling all who had not yet stood up to Jistap spinless cowards, cut him deep. Although he did not even know Mucius, he felt that Mucius was referring to him personally when he spoke of heros awaiting their chance. He slammed his fist down onto the table. He must act now!
Julius calmed himself down. Don't go about this thing half cocked, he told himself. Jistap had killed seven hundred and exiled a thousand. He was a force to be reckoned with. Julius knew he had to develop a plan. If he was going to kill Jistap, he must first have a weapon. Julius had none, and he couldn't replicate any. However, there were several weapons in the city before the replicator had refused to make weapons. Many of his friends had a laser gun, or some similar weapon, but they were all useless now. Few people he knew had other weapons, but there were some.
Julius knew one family that owned a small gun. They used it for target practice. It was small enough that he could easily conceal it under his clothes, but Julius knew the family would never loan it to him. They were cautious people, who had no desire to get in trouble with Jistap. Julius briefly considered stealing it from them, but that was no good either. As soon as they noticed the gun was gone, they could ask the teacher who took it. When they find out it was Julius, they might deduce his purpose, and warn Jistap. Unless, Julius' mind raced on, unless they didn't notice the gun was gone until it was too late.