Free Scaevola's Triumph (Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy Book 3) by Ian Miller

Man considered this response for a moment, then said, "Where else can air go?"
    "I don't know," Gaius shook is head.
    "Then where does hot air go?"
    Gaius just stood there, then finally offered, "Up!"
    "And what makes you say that?"
    "Thinking about it," Gaius replied, "I've never seen smoke go downwards."
    "Yes, it can go up if it's hot, and if it goes up, it sucks air in from somewhere else. And as it goes up, it gets cooler, and as it gets cooler, it often forms a fog . . ."
    "Clouds?" Gaius asked.
    "Clouds, and if enough water comes out, rain. Then unlike the oceans, there's air all over your planet, so there's nothing like land to shepherd it into big circles. The forces that drive your ground plates to move are similar; the Earth spinning, the ability of liquids to go up and down, and also heat generation. Now, that's enough for now." He paused and almost examined Gaius' face. "I don't understand," he said.
    "You don't?" Gaius frowned. "You don't understand what?"
    "Why did you cut your face?"
    "I didn't do it on purpose," Gaius laughed.
    "Then why?"
    "One of the curses of being a man," Gaius said, "is that I grow this hair, and I want to keep it down. The knife I've got slipped, and . . ."
    "I'll make you get something better to deal with that," the Tin man nodded, "once we get down to Ulse. In the meantime, if you look down below, you should be able to see large circular motion in the way some of the clouds form and flow. It's all to do with what we were talking about, including heat, and it's a bit more complicated than what we were just discussing, because air can go up or down, and like water flowing in a river, you get eddies, with enclosed circular motion. All the same, from up here you can see circular patterns in the cloud formations."
    "My!" Vipsania taunted Gaius, after the Tin Man had walked away. "Aren't we the scholarly one."
    "I think it might be important," Gaius replied.
    "Oh? Why?"
    "There's a big difference between a barbarian and someone who has not been taught."
    "Doesn't know, or doesn't want to know," Vipsania nodded. "And you think the Ulsians won't be interested in those who don't want to know?"
    "That's the message I'm picking up," Gaius said.
    "Why should they be interested in us anyway," Lucilla offered in a dull tone.
    "They may not be," Vipsania said, "but if they're not, there's not much we can do about it."
    "I think it's important when we get down there," Gaius said, "that we try to learn as much about the place as we can. There'll probably be some interest in us initially, and they'll probably offer some help, but if we ever give the impression that we aren't interested, there's a real danger we'll be left to our own devices."
    Vipsania nodded. By now she was anything but convinced that they had made the right choice in coming. On the other hand, she had to agree with Gaius that in reality they did not have a choice, and all that was being discussed was their degree of willingness. As Gaius had pointed out in private, once they had captured the enemy ship military discipline would have forced Klendor to go to Ulse. At that point they had two choices: volunteer to go to Ulse, or to be taken to Ulse.
    "If nothing else," Lucilla agreed, "we've got to find out how we get the stuff we need, like food, clothes, and . . ." She stopped. She was going to add 'how to get to places where other people were' when it suddenly came back over her that there would be no other people. "We're going to be very lonely," she added, and stifled a tear.
    "We shall have to make friends with some Ulsians," Vipsania said, and turned to give Lucilla a comforting hug. "I know you're missing Quintus, but . . ."
    "I know," Lucilla replied.
    "You mustn't think you're alone," Gaius added. "The three of us are, in a sense, alone, but we've got each other, and that's . . . well, important, anyway."
    Lucilla suddenly grasped both Gaius and Vipsania, and gasped, "I'm frightened."
    "So am I," Gaius said, as he tried to