Free Ragnarok: The Fate of Gods by Jake La Jeunesse

light.”
                  “Sorry dear,” he said meekly.  He dropped the curtain.  The room became black again.  “I’ll take it in another room.” 
                  He turned to go, but she stopped him.  Sitting up, she groaned, “It’s that matter with the ex-soldier, isn’t it?”  She sounded like she was complaining.  Like she felt obligated to speak to him. 
                  Dumah didn’t care.  His wife, Lilith, was the daughter of a renowned politician, an upper-city governor during the days of the Theocracy.  One of the few theocrats who was permitted to keep his post after the war. 
                  Most were executed for their part in the inquisitions. 
                  Lilith knew more about the political world than Dumah.  The Supervisor felt grateful she had been close to her father. 
                  “I’ll never understand this job,” he told her.  He accepted the position of Supervisor because the war was over.  That’s what old soldiers did—they became politicians.  It was an ancient tradition, leading back to the warrior kings of the earliest civilizations.  But he couldn’t figure out why.  How the two jobs were related was a concept beyond his imagination.
                  “You did the right thing,” she consoled, already knowing what was on his mind.  “It’s what the Karellan wanted.”
                  “Still, I can’t help but think I’ve just sent four men to their deaths.”
                  In the light leaking under the curtain, he could vaguely detect a snarl form on her face.  She obviously didn’t feel like being supportive tonight.
                  “It could be worse.  Didn’t you say the Karellan wanted to run the test in the city?  You talked him out of that.  Shouldn’t that count for something?”
                  “I think you’re missing the point.”  He tried to be tactful, trying not to upset his wife.  “From every soldier right down to the last infant, every person in the lower city is my ward.  It’s my job to protect them, not to send them to their deaths just for the sake of following orders.” 
                  He thought again of the warrior-kings and ancient times.  Back then, there were those who fought, and those who worked.  The fighters defended the workers and the workers fed the fighters.  Government was much simpler than 26th century society.  Lilith, however, felt right at home around contemporary politics.  She didn’t care for the tradition of the noble-warrior kings, instead favoring ideas that were less-than-noble.
                  The kind that, unfortunately, yielded better results.
                  “Adam, it’s very commendable that you care so much, but don’t neglect your orders.  You’re the Supervisor, not the Karellan himself.  Respect the chain of command.  You overstepped your authority enough already by demanding he change his plans.”
                  “Do you know how many innocent people would have died under his plans?”  Immediately, he wished he hadn’t been so blunt.
                  Lilith smiled mockingly in the darkness, under-lit by the leaking fluorescent light.  “You think you, of all people, are fit to worry about innocent deaths?  You know what he’s doing up there.  Most of these people hate him for simply being a scary overlord.  You have every right to hate him, yet you say nothing.”
                  “Don’t you think that doesn’t bother me every waking minute?” he replied to his wife.  His position required him to maintain silence about the Karellan’s experiments.  If he exposed what he knew, he’d be fired, banished or killed for treason.  Either way, he’d be taken out of power.  Then he’d be in no position to help