He sits in the dark and he plays. He no longer feels alone, but lonely instead. No longer numb, but angry. He is waiting, and he knows not for what he is waiting.
And so he plays.
The years following the Mameluke War see the Empire focused on internal affairs. Achievement of infrastructure level seven (Central Government) is balanced by a peasant revolt in the Morea and Quattara, and by the accession of Constantin I to the Imperial throne. Weak of body and mind, dissolute in his tastes and languid in his habits, the new Emperor and his ministers proved unable and unwilling to actively steer the ship of state. Poor government policies followed.
The highlight of this period was the massive reorganization of former Mameluke territory. Reorganization of tax collection, justice and centralized administration led to rapid repair and construction of roads, aqueducts, port facilities and the other elements of civilized infrastructure. Despite amicably settling a border dispute with Austria, and the unexpected appearance of a weapons manufacturer in Ruthenia, the reign of Constantin was mostly appreciated for its brevity: he died of a surfeit of herbed wine in early 1658. His successor on the throne was a cousin, Gheorge Ghica, of an Albanian branch of the Basarab family.
The new Emperor came from a merchant family of modest means, and took a keen interest in the commercial health of the City and Empire. One of his first acts was the chartering of an Imperial colony for Keren, on the Ethiopian coast of Africa. Despite the difficulties – the colony could only be reached by overland march through Mameluke territory – the settlement was duly established, trade with the interior commenced, and a thriving commerce in coffee beans developed. His second accomplishment was the chartering of an official bank, entrusted with holding Imperial funds and managed by a board of sober, senior merchants and financiers. This Imperial Bank proved successful if not popular; it was widely admired for its probity and equally castigated for the strict conditions attached to loans. Successful businessmen understood the relationship between the two and found the Bank immensely useful.
The discovery of new lands intrigued and invigorated the popular spirit. Ten new warships were delivered to the navy for purposes of exploration, and the crown invested large sums in hiring Italian soldiers of fortune to modernize the army.
The heady optimism of Imperial spring was punctuated by the metaphorical ice-storm of colonial revolt in Issus and Keren in 1573. The news, according to popular legend, carried off the Emperor from rage and melancholy. Taking barely-disguised delight in the situation, the Mamelukes refused to allow Imperial troops to march overland, nor would the Nubian kingdom have allowed them to pass. After a lengthy period of self-rule, the colonies entreated the Ethiopian Emperor and passed under his guardianship and protection.
The betrayal and defection enraged Hitchcock, and in the cold fury of his impotence he swore vengeance. New monarchs would come (Gheorge Duca of the Moldavian Basarabs) and go (Serban Cantacuzino, notable for his Romanian translation of the Bible), but one Imperial aim would remain fixed: the recovery of Keren.
In Europe, Hannover would be annexed by Saxony and Venice absorbed into France without so much as a murmur from the Empire. A great naval manufactory was constructed in the Dobru, maps were traded with the Hedjaz and a rush of colonists filled out the ranks of Imperials who were ready for a life abroad. Naval technology began to steadily improve: level thirteen in 1673 to seventeen in 1681. Another bank was chartered, purely to ease the management of future colonial affairs.
The embargo of Imperial trade from Spain and Portugal was more than balanced by Imperial trade presence in centers in India and Africa. But the Empire was maturing in its finances, and depended now on internal taxes and production of goods rather than tariffs and excise taxes on trade. Commerce with the East was lucrative, but as it ran overland through Mameluke and Persian lands the Empire was careful not to become dependent upon the income.
In 1696 the Empire was jolted from its diplomatic slumber by the Great Northern War. Poland, Sweden, Saxony and Norway made war on Denmark and Scotland, a dire circumstance made even more threatening by the King of Saxony’s inheritance to the throne of Poland. That sleeping giant, crippled by its perpetual internal war between King and nobles, still disposed of vast lands in Brandenburg, Prussia, Poland proper and Lithuania. Coupled with the advanced outlook and technology of the Saxon court, Poland could become a mortal danger to the Empire. While Imperial ministers doubted the new King would fare any better with the Polish nobles than his predecessors, the Polish border became a new area of Imperial concern.
In 1698, Denmark was dismembered by the victorious coalition. Sated, the northern powers rested for almost a decade before leading a new assault on Austria (also Saxony’s vassal) in 1706. This war was repudiated by the Polish nobles, who saw it as nothing more than an opportunity for the Saxon King to expand his power at their expense. France, taking advantage of peace and stability at home, annexed Savoy. Improbably, Sweden had become the dominant power in Italy, collecting Mantua, Romagna, Firenze and Siena.
Imperial naval prowess continued to improve, passing level twenty-four in 1703 and twenty-seven in 1710. As evidence of Imperial commitment and impatience, 1709 brought a surge of colonial dynamism under the charismatic leadership of the Cretan ‘conquistador’ Gheorge Alessandros. Finally, in 1712, cities were founded on the Horn of Africa at Massawa and Somalia, a colony was established on the west coast of Africa at Louga, and the exploration of the African coast began in earnest.
Driven – obsessed – by rebellion and treason, Hitchcock focused every thought on Africa. Revolts in Moldavia were contained, the embargo of Imperial traders from England was ignored. A new Emperor, Nicolae II Mavrocordat, caught his attention only because the new man had markedly better abilities than his predecessors.
At last, the Imperial legions were loaded onto transports and the long journey around the Cape of Good Hope commenced. Once they arrived in Somalia the army’s funding was brought up to full strength, and with an improvement to land tech sixteen the final piece was in place.
An Imperial messenger delivered the ultimatum on May 16th of 1614, forty-one years after the initial revolt and decades since any African had wondered if the Empire still remembered the event. In a single year the war was over. Attacking with an advantage of numbers of four to one or greater, the Ethiopians were unprepared for the offensive power of firearms and the defensive strength of masses pikes. Imperial cavalry proved another shock for an enemy whose entire army marched on foot. Despite this supremacy in battle, the travails of the Imperial campaign were very real. Difficulties with supplies, a shortage of water, unfamiliar terrain, extreme heat and an array of exotic diseases killed more legionaires than enemy action. The Ethiopians fought hard and died in battle; the legionaires fought hard and died, largely, in camp.
Despite savage resistance, the Empire of Romania conquered in Africa. Despite an enemy determined to fight to the last, Imperial armies proved so invincible and Imperial diplomats so reasonable and persuasive, that at last an uneasy peace was forged in 1716. Ethiopia lost its seacoast, Issus and Keren were returned to the Empire, and a new Imperial age of African exploration and trade opened.
Hitchcock rose from his chair, stiff and sore from joints locked too long in one position. He stretched, visited the facilities and then puttered in the kitchen making a cup of cocoa. His anger had cooled when vengeance was taken; he looked at the sprawling map and felt, for the first time, that the game held nothing for him. Perhaps a war in Poland… or a naval assault on Venice… no. He felt the moment stretch out, and realized that – for him – the game was over.
He set the cocoa down untasted and walked around the map. The room was dark and cold, silent save for his footsteps and the faint hum of a fan. Still, for the first time he felt the possiblility that he might not be alone. He whirled, but nothing and no-one was there. Whatever he had expected – a Napoleon ‘bot, perhaps? – there was nothing.
“I can’t stand it,” he said aloud. “I just can’t stand the ingratitude of it. What we did, what we did for
you. So I’m telling you – if you’re there – that this is it, for me. I’m out of here, and I’ll never be back. I counted you as a
friend, dammit! I thought there could be that third way, between humanity enslaved and peasants with torches! So if you really are dead, there’s nothing for me here… and if you aren’t, if you’re just hiding and watching me suffer through this… then
God Damn You. I’m done.”
He turned, in the chill and silent room and walked away. Behind him, he knew, the Empire would wait, perfect beneath its holographic clouds, waiting patiently until… until what? He would not turn back, would never be back, could not wait to be out of this place and rid of every memory –
A change in the light caught his eye just at the door. Stricken, terrified, he turned. And there, over the City, rising over the perfect clouds in the sunshine of a golden day, flew a dragon. Golden, gleaming, iridescent, opalescent, dancing in sunlight in an ecstasy of gold…
… and gone.
He leaned against the wall by the door, heart pounding and breath bottled in his lungs. He could not have spoken at that moment, not for anything. The moment passed. He reached for the door.
There was a lot to do, now. He’d go home and get a shower, and some sleep. There would be time in the morning to call Thompkins and find out if the job offer was still open.
The door opened on a hallway both familiar and strange, on windows of alien and well-known scenes. He stepped through, and out, and onward.
It would be good to be needed.
