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

comfort her with a hug.
    "What's going to happen to us?" Lucilla asked, almost begging for a comforting answer.
    "I don't know," Gaius said slowly, "but I do know one thing. We're going to have to do a lot of things for ourselves. And there's another reason why we're going to have to learn as much as we can, as quickly as we can."
    "Which is?"
    "Gives us something to do," Gaius said. "The most depressing thing that'll happen is when we realize time has passed and we're no further ahead. Look at it this way. The more you learn about Ulse, the more likely it is we'll find a way to get home."
    "Somehow," Lucilla countered in a depressed tone, "I don't think it'll make much difference."
    "Maybe you're correct, but you can be absolutely certain of one thing," Gaius said evenly. "If we sit around and do nothing down there, ten years later we shall still be sitting around in the same place doing nothing. That will be hell."
    "You're right on that at least," Vipsania nodded. "We have to do something."
    "It might even be interesting too," Gaius added.
    Lucilla stared at him, and finally gave a weak smile. In one way, Gaius was right. Here was a world where people with the power of Gods lived. That had to be of some interest.
    * * *
    They eventually found that Ulse could produce something that was quite familiar to them: bureaucratic inertia. They had been orbiting the planet for some time without any sign of progress, and eventually Gaius confronted the Tin Man and requested an explanation. The excuse was given in the usual flat tone, and as Vipsania noted later, having a Tin Man was just the thing for delivering unpleasant news.
    Their arrival had, it appeared, initiated a record number of committee meetings, and there was no consensus amongst them, in fact it was very difficult to find any such meeting that had produced any conclusion at all.
    The problems were clear for all to see. They were representatives of a civilization considered too primitive for them to be permitted on Ulse, therefore they must be returned to their home planet. They were representatives of a civilization that had not reached appropriate space technology, therefore it was forbidden to return them to their planet. They had been given assurances that they would be well received on Ulse; a military officer empowered to give the assurance had given the assurances; therefore Ulse was bound to accept them. However, the 'anti-espionage' regulation passed while that officer was away from Ulse overturned all laws permitting aliens to land on Ulse. The war was going so badly that no ships were available to send them to some different planet, so they had to stay on Ulse. They had captured an alien ship intact, the Ulsian military wished to study this, and accordingly they had carried out a service that, under ancient Ulsian military law, made them Ulsian citizens by right, hence they could not be refused landing rights. That law had been overturned through the millions of years of peace. No, that was incorrect; it had become redundant because the capture of an enemy warship/town/transporter of class 4 or above was impossible under peace, but the re-emergence of war meant that military law took precedence again. Gaius stared at the Tin Man as the recital went on and on, citing case after case to exemplify points, and wished he had not asked.
    "Can't they come to a decision?" Gaius asked.
    "In this case," the Tin Man said, "they are taking time, but not an unexpected amount of time."
    "But suppose this was a more important issue?"
    "Oh! It would take much much longer," the Tin Man said.
    "I'm afraid you've struck one of the aspects of Ulsian civilization that you will find rather frustrating," Klendor offered. "Ulse requires all its citizens to agree."
    "And if they can't?"
    "They sit in their committees until they can."
    "Even when at war?" Gaius asked incredulously.
    "I am afraid that war does tend to stretch the system," Klendor said, "although when all information