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. Speaking of specialists and their follies! Never mind, dear. He gestured at Quartilla s ample figure. But you re going to stick with your human form? Not quite.The children will have a human shape, in every respect.They ll be living in ahuman world, after all.Human hair, even.But their skins will be Ossa.Well almost.They llhave the scales, but we ll make sure they aren t dry and raspy.Gaius says people won t mindhow the skin looks, as long as it feels good she giggled in what he calls the clutch. Ainsley raised his eyebrow. Gaius doesn t object to this? I thought you once told me Quartilla shrugged. That was a long time ago, Robert.It s his idea, actually.He saysmodern humans aren t superstitious the way he was.And he doesn t give a damn about theirother prejudices. The last sentence was spoken a bit stiffly.Ainsley, watching her closely, decided not topress the matter.By and large, the Ossa women had shared in the general hero worship withwhich humanity had greeted the Roman exiles.Most of them, in fact, had quickly found themselves deluged by romantic advances.But there had been some incidentsIt was odd, really, he mused.Years after their return from exile, the Roman legionnaires stillexhibited superstitions and notions which seemed absurd outrageous, even to modernpeople.Yet, at the same time, they shared none of the racial prejudices which so often lurkedbeneath the surface of the most urbane moderns.The ancient world of the Greeks and Romanshad its prejudices and bigotries, of course.Plenty of them.But those prejudices were not tied toskin color and facial features.The Greeks considered the Persians barbarians because theydidn t speak Greek and didn t share Greek culture.It never would have occurred to them, onthe other hand, that the Medes who dominated their world were racially inferior.The verynotion of races was a modern invention.It had often struck Ainsley, listening to the tales of the legionnaires, how easily they hadadapted to their sudden plunge into galactic society.No modern human, he thought, wouldhave managed half as well.Their very ignorance had, in a sense, protected them.The world, toancient Romans, was full of bizarre things anyway.Every Roman knew that therelived somewhere south of Egypt, maybe people with tails and heads in their bellies.Amodern human, dropped onto a battlefield against aliens, would have probably been paralyzedwith shock and horror.To the Romans, those aliens had just seemed like weird men andnowhere near as dangerous as Parthians.Ainsley, catching a glimpse of Pompilius Niger across the room, smiled.Only an ancientRoman would have so doggedly tried to make mead by following something that might be afunny-looking bee.A modern human would have understood the biological impossibility ofthe task.And, in that wisdom, died in the hands of the Guild.He looked back at Quartilla.And so it had been with her and Gaius.The ancient Roman had been frightened and repelled byher scaly reptilian skin, when he first met her.But he had never thought she was anything buta person. I am glad, he said quietly. I approve of that decision.You understand, of course, thatyour children will face some difficulties, because of it. Quartilla shrugged.It was a serene gesture. Some, yes.But not many, I think.If other children get too rough on them, Gaius says hewill put a stop to it by simply crucifying a couple of the little bastards. Ainsley started to laugh; then choked on his own humor.He stared across the room at Vibulenus.The tribune was standing in a corner of his villa shuge salon, wine glass in hand, in a cluster of veterans who were having a vigorous andfriendly exchange of war stories.With him were Clodius Afer, Julius Rusticanus and all fourof the Gha.Good Lord.That s probably not a joke.He caught Quartilla watching him closely. No, Robert, she murmured. He is a Roman.He is not joking at all. XII« ^ »An hour later, Gaius Vibulenus called the meeting to order.There were almost sixty former legionnaires sprawled everywhere in the great salon.Fortunately, Gaius owned an enormous villa.The entire estate not far from Capua, to hisdelight had been a historical museum before it was turned over to him by the Italian regionalgovernment, following the dictates of popular demand.Many more legionnaires had offered to come, but Gaius had kept the invitations reasonablysmall.Too many people would make decisions impossible.Besides, the men in the room were,almost without exception, the surviving leaders of the Roman legion.All of the centurions werethere, and almost all of the file-closers.Whatever decision they made would be accepted by therest of the legionnaires. All right, began Vibulenus, you ve all heard the Gha proposal.In its basic outline,anyway. He waved his hand airily. I have it on the best authority that the Confederationgovernment will give its backing to the scheme.Unofficially, of course. Clodius Afer sneered. Those politicians? Be serious, Gaius! They re even worse than thatsorry lot of senators we left behind. Several other legionnaires grunted their agreement with that sentiment.Ainsley, watching,was amused.With few exceptions Vibulenus, for one; and, oddly enough, JuliusRusticanus the Romans had never been able to make sense out of modern politics.Theytended to dismiss all of it as so much silly nonsense, which could be settled quick enough withjust a few crucifixions.Much as the historian admired even loved the Romans, he was glad not to have lived intheir political world.True, much of modern politics was so much silly nonsense
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Tematy
IndexHieber Leanna Renee Percy Parker 02 Walka œwiatła i mroku o Percy Parker
Lensman 02 Smith, E E 'Doc' First Lensman
Swann S. A. Wilczy miot 02 Wilczy Amulet
Benzoni Juliette Fiora 02 Fiora i zuchwały
Kaplan Andrew Skorpion 02 Zima Skorpiona
Anne Stuart Czarny lód 02 Zimny jak lód
Gauze Jan Brazylia 02 Brazylia mierzona krokami
Bidwell George Michał i Pat 02 Synowie Pat
Stuart Anne Czarny lód 02 Zimny jak lód
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