"2570-14" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 8 - The Queen Of Time)THE QUEEN OF TIME 2570 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Fourteen "How much do you `know' of this time?" Hope asked me as we left the doctor's, my supply of money even more depleted here. On the other hand once I made contact with the Priestesses of Lys I hoped that Tais would be able to trace us down, and teleport us back to the proper era, once she learned where we'd gone here... "This is the last year of the `reign' of Queen Amethysta, who is seen by those of my time as being the `George Washington' of Trelandar," I answered, looking at the passing carriages and wagons, Trella reminding me in a way of some long ago society... "What happened to her?" Hope asked, looking about like some tourist from my own time. The new attire I'd gotten her at least making her "decent" instead of looking like some dockside whore! I'd once without thinking too much tried wearing "outfits" like that myself, quickly finding that I got the sort of "attention" I didn't "want" to have, the blacksmith's son there on the estate having fallen in "love" with me, or rather with his "idea" of me! "No one really knows...," I answered, recalling what I knew of Queen Amethysta Broadica, a woman who like Queen Denise of Du- larn was revered in the 26th Century as being the "founder" of her country. Denise, however, having lived a bit earlier here... "What did she look like?" Hope asked, standing there, squinting against the glare of the sun in the now cloudless sky. The "morning" having been quite a bit cloudy, but the afternoon promised to be a real "scorcher", like what we'd found yesterday when we'd crossed the ruins, something I knew none would believe! "Big blonde `Viking' of a woman, about six feet tall," I said. What Bob Simmons would have called a "Lana Clarkson" type! "What happened after her death?" Hope asked as we now walked along, looking at the sights, sights sometimes as "new" to me as they were to her, this Trella being a different city than "mine". "Country `fell apart', the various `warlords' of this time then carving out their own little `states'," I answered her back. "It's likely that both Sarn and Dularn had a `hand' in things..." Trelandar had never really "recovered" completely, the country having remained muchly "divided" until Darlanis in 2553 added it to her Empire of California, I explained to my lovely companion. The "nobility" of Trelandar having seen to it that the central government had lacked the power to ever be a "threat" to their own "interests", which had made a "power vacuum" that in 2553 the Queen of Sarn, Darlanis Marden, had decided to "exploit" here... "Didn't ever expect to `end up' here, did you?" Hope teased. "Haven't led the sort of life I'd expected," I smiled back. "I can't think of anyone `else' who could have gotten us across those ruins," she answered, the ruins being of course quite visible from Trella if you can see over the buildings here. "Ranks with my trying to fly through a thunderstorm," I said, recalling how I'd almost gotten Sharon and myself killed... I tend at times to be somewhat of a "know it all", especially in matters where my superior knowledge of the technology of the 20th Century allows me to awe those who know less of such matters than I do. I had always discounted the "tales" told about the ruins as being just "myths" held by a superstitious uneducated people! As being in the same category as the belief once commonly held that the Earth was "flat" like a pancake and that if you sailed too far out to sea, you'd sail right off the "edge" of the world! "I never realized it before now, but these sort of places do stink," Hope announced, the heat of the sun and the flies leaving no doubt that public sanitation left much to be desired here too! People often adding their own "wastes" to the organic stink here. "One `problem' I was never able to solve," I grinned back. No doubt they had the same "problem" back in the Middle Ages too. A horse or unicorn makes twenty pounds of droppings a day, and someone has to clean up after them at "taxpayer expense". Even if you have companies that will collect these droppings using slave labor, as has been done for centuries here, you still have a problem in that many "organic wastes" are not of the sort that Peasants can use on their fields, nor do they have the necessary income to pay to have such "wastes" hauled out of a city to their fields. The result is that a city here in this "post-War" socie- ty is no "cleaner" than what the "taxpayers" are willing to pay! And in this era, given the low incomes that most people have, my own calculations giving a "standard of living" like that of late Eighteen Century America, not many "taxpayers" are willing to PAY to "fix" a problem that to them is just something "natural" and "normal", "something" that you just "learn to live with" here. I do note that Arsana in Dularn has a "sewer system", but the city was designed later than Trella and Sarn, and Queen Denise was one woman who at least understood the need for public sanitation too! On the other hand Arsana still has a "stink", an odor to it that leaves no doubt that "animal power" is still the "prime mover"... "What sort of `crime rate' does a place like this have?" she asked, just full of questions as she looked about at the sights. Looking at the "wares" that a earring maker had set out here now. The woman giving Hope a grin, several of her front teeth missing. "In my Trella we have `Huntresses' and `Hunters' who prowl the streets at night seeking footpads and such to kill," I said. Hope giving me the sort of a "look" that she might have given me had I stated that I made it a regular policy to have public hang- ings for minor criminals, as they once used to do in Old England. "The `criminal element' in these societies is little different from that of your own era or the era from which I first came," I explained. Hope still giving me a "look" that left no doubts as to her thoughts here. Something that surprised me a bit knowing that neither Bob or Carol would have seen anything wrong in this! "Is it `effective'?" she asked, standing there watching the people walk by. I'd purchased us different attire, attire more "fitting" this era, Hope now being dressed as a young Warrioress. "It tends to `deter' many from a life of crime," I smiled. "In my time they castrated criminals," she pointed out. "We do that too, as well as enslaving them," I said. "But yet there is still crime," she observed in reply. "There are always those who prefer it to honest work," I said. This has been a problem probably ever since the Stone Age. It is always "easier" to be a criminal than be an honest person. Man over the ages has attempted "religious education", various sorts of "punishments", but still yet there are still criminals. I suppose that the Priestesses could "mind program" the entire human race to "solve" the problem, but Tais says that it wouldn't work, that it would cause more problems than it would solve here. Saying that it would take the "vitality" out of Mankind, and make us into a social order perhaps more something like the Lorr here! It is also worth noting that "weapons laws" tend to make a "crime problem" even worse than it was before by "disarming" the victim. Trelandar's "weapons laws" under Darlanis prohibited the "people" of Trelandar from having bows or crossbows, with the major result that outlaws became a major problem when they started preying on the Peasants, who had been rendered defenseless by her own laws!! While these laws were not really all that "effective" (enforce- ment was a "local matter"), they did make things easier for the criminal element of the country, which certainly was NOT what the Empress had intended, although with Darlanis it is sometimes hard to know just what she is really up to in some of these matters... "At least there are no `guns' in this society," she noted. "They have been `made' from time to time," I answered back. The formula for gunpowder is known to many of the Scribes, and it is possible to make muzzleloading firearms with just a "black- smith" sort of technology if you aren't too fussy about it here. Most of these sort of "guns" tend to have an accurate range meas- ured in feet, but I do know of two shootings in Trella during the time I've been Queen of the country. Princess Tara's old "gang" still being in operation even if the Princess herself isn't now. There are also "spring guns", which work by compressing a stiff spring, which in turn shoots a short sharpened steel missile like a crossbow bolt. The "range" is of course "short", but within a short distance they can be lethal if the missile hits you right!! "Like back in my time, the `crooks' had all the guns," Hope grinned as we strolled down the street, discussing a "topic" that would have no doubt amazed the good citizens of the capital here! Janet Rogers own "gun laws" having been quite ineffective against criminals despite the draconian penalties she eventually used...* * This would doubtlessly be "true" today should we try it! (JBB) "Which is `what' you'd have now if the technology permitted it," I pointed out. It was lack of the "technology", not lack of knowledge that prevented firearms from being manufactured here in the 24th Century. On the other hand I suspected that with a good deal of effort and experimentation, one might build some sort of a "hand gun" in even this society, although it would be of little effectiveness as compared to a bow or more likely a crossbow now. The fact that such a weapon would violate the Lorr's EDICT would be of little deterrence to the sort who would make such weapons. "How does this city compare to yours?" she asked, changing the subject as we paused by an open air fruit stand, such things being a part of the life I'd grown accustomed to here, although I was usually careful about what I ate and drank due to the lack of effective public sanitation, having suffered more than once from the "malady" referred to as the "Trelandarian Trots". For this reason I drink a great deal of beer and wine, the alcohol being a good "sterilizer", drinking water in Trella not always being safe I've found, although this is more a "problem" I suffer from than do those who have lived all their lives here in this society. It being my belief that those who live here have developed over the generations a certain "immunity" to such things that I lack here. "Smaller," I answered, selecting an apple, paying for it. The woman making change, counting it out into my open palm then. "Oh, Oh!" Hope breathed, standing there beside me, her words making me turn, look, the woman Physician we'd met there on the road with Karen on a slave leash, talking to three guardsmen now! There being no doubt either we were the topic of their interest! Karen obviously having not hesitated in spilling the beans here!! THE QUEEN OF TIME 2570 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Fourteen "How much do you `know' of this time?" Hope asked me as we left the doctor's, my supply of money even more depleted here. On the other hand once I made contact with the Priestesses of Lys I hoped that Tais would be able to trace us down, and teleport us back to the proper era, once she learned where we'd gone here... "This is the last year of the `reign' of Queen Amethysta, who is seen by those of my time as being the `George Washington' of Trelandar," I answered, looking at the passing carriages and wagons, Trella reminding me in a way of some long ago society... "What happened to her?" Hope asked, looking about like some tourist from my own time. The new attire I'd gotten her at least making her "decent" instead of looking like some dockside whore! I'd once without thinking too much tried wearing "outfits" like that myself, quickly finding that I got the sort of "attention" I didn't "want" to have, the blacksmith's son there on the estate having fallen in "love" with me, or rather with his "idea" of me! "No one really knows...," I answered, recalling what I knew of Queen Amethysta Broadica, a woman who like Queen Denise of Du- larn was revered in the 26th Century as being the "founder" of her country. Denise, however, having lived a bit earlier here... "What did she look like?" Hope asked, standing there, squinting against the glare of the sun in the now cloudless sky. The "morning" having been quite a bit cloudy, but the afternoon promised to be a real "scorcher", like what we'd found yesterday when we'd crossed the ruins, something I knew none would believe! "Big blonde `Viking' of a woman, about six feet tall," I said. What Bob Simmons would have called a "Lana Clarkson" type! "What happened after her death?" Hope asked as we now walked along, looking at the sights, sights sometimes as "new" to me as they were to her, this Trella being a different city than "mine". "Country `fell apart', the various `warlords' of this time then carving out their own little `states'," I answered her back. "It's likely that both Sarn and Dularn had a `hand' in things..." Trelandar had never really "recovered" completely, the country having remained muchly "divided" until Darlanis in 2553 added it to her Empire of California, I explained to my lovely companion. The "nobility" of Trelandar having seen to it that the central government had lacked the power to ever be a "threat" to their own "interests", which had made a "power vacuum" that in 2553 the Queen of Sarn, Darlanis Marden, had decided to "exploit" here... "Didn't ever expect to `end up' here, did you?" Hope teased. "Haven't led the sort of life I'd expected," I smiled back. "I can't think of anyone `else' who could have gotten us across those ruins," she answered, the ruins being of course quite visible from Trella if you can see over the buildings here. "Ranks with my trying to fly through a thunderstorm," I said, recalling how I'd almost gotten Sharon and myself killed... I tend at times to be somewhat of a "know it all", especially in matters where my superior knowledge of the technology of the 20th Century allows me to awe those who know less of such matters than I do. I had always discounted the "tales" told about the ruins as being just "myths" held by a superstitious uneducated people! As being in the same category as the belief once commonly held that the Earth was "flat" like a pancake and that if you sailed too far out to sea, you'd sail right off the "edge" of the world! "I never realized it before now, but these sort of places do stink," Hope announced, the heat of the sun and the flies leaving no doubt that public sanitation left much to be desired here too! People often adding their own "wastes" to the organic stink here. "One `problem' I was never able to solve," I grinned back. No doubt they had the same "problem" back in the Middle Ages too. A horse or unicorn makes twenty pounds of droppings a day, and someone has to clean up after them at "taxpayer expense". Even if you have companies that will collect these droppings using slave labor, as has been done for centuries here, you still have a problem in that many "organic wastes" are not of the sort that Peasants can use on their fields, nor do they have the necessary income to pay to have such "wastes" hauled out of a city to their fields. The result is that a city here in this "post-War" socie- ty is no "cleaner" than what the "taxpayers" are willing to pay! And in this era, given the low incomes that most people have, my own calculations giving a "standard of living" like that of late Eighteen Century America, not many "taxpayers" are willing to PAY to "fix" a problem that to them is just something "natural" and "normal", "something" that you just "learn to live with" here. I do note that Arsana in Dularn has a "sewer system", but the city was designed later than Trella and Sarn, and Queen Denise was one woman who at least understood the need for public sanitation too! On the other hand Arsana still has a "stink", an odor to it that leaves no doubt that "animal power" is still the "prime mover"... "What sort of `crime rate' does a place like this have?" she asked, just full of questions as she looked about at the sights. Looking at the "wares" that a earring maker had set out here now. The woman giving Hope a grin, several of her front teeth missing. "In my Trella we have `Huntresses' and `Hunters' who prowl the streets at night seeking footpads and such to kill," I said. Hope giving me the sort of a "look" that she might have given me had I stated that I made it a regular policy to have public hang- ings for minor criminals, as they once used to do in Old England. "The `criminal element' in these societies is little different from that of your own era or the era from which I first came," I explained. Hope still giving me a "look" that left no doubts as to her thoughts here. Something that surprised me a bit knowing that neither Bob or Carol would have seen anything wrong in this! "Is it `effective'?" she asked, standing there watching the people walk by. I'd purchased us different attire, attire more "fitting" this era, Hope now being dressed as a young Warrioress. "It tends to `deter' many from a life of crime," I smiled. "In my time they castrated criminals," she pointed out. "We do that too, as well as enslaving them," I said. "But yet there is still crime," she observed in reply. "There are always those who prefer it to honest work," I said. This has been a problem probably ever since the Stone Age. It is always "easier" to be a criminal than be an honest person. Man over the ages has attempted "religious education", various sorts of "punishments", but still yet there are still criminals. I suppose that the Priestesses could "mind program" the entire human race to "solve" the problem, but Tais says that it wouldn't work, that it would cause more problems than it would solve here. Saying that it would take the "vitality" out of Mankind, and make us into a social order perhaps more something like the Lorr here! It is also worth noting that "weapons laws" tend to make a "crime problem" even worse than it was before by "disarming" the victim. Trelandar's "weapons laws" under Darlanis prohibited the "people" of Trelandar from having bows or crossbows, with the major result that outlaws became a major problem when they started preying on the Peasants, who had been rendered defenseless by her own laws!! While these laws were not really all that "effective" (enforce- ment was a "local matter"), they did make things easier for the criminal element of the country, which certainly was NOT what the Empress had intended, although with Darlanis it is sometimes hard to know just what she is really up to in some of these matters... "At least there are no `guns' in this society," she noted. "They have been `made' from time to time," I answered back. The formula for gunpowder is known to many of the Scribes, and it is possible to make muzzleloading firearms with just a "black- smith" sort of technology if you aren't too fussy about it here. Most of these sort of "guns" tend to have an accurate range meas- ured in feet, but I do know of two shootings in Trella during the time I've been Queen of the country. Princess Tara's old "gang" still being in operation even if the Princess herself isn't now. There are also "spring guns", which work by compressing a stiff spring, which in turn shoots a short sharpened steel missile like a crossbow bolt. The "range" is of course "short", but within a short distance they can be lethal if the missile hits you right!! "Like back in my time, the `crooks' had all the guns," Hope grinned as we strolled down the street, discussing a "topic" that would have no doubt amazed the good citizens of the capital here! Janet Rogers own "gun laws" having been quite ineffective against criminals despite the draconian penalties she eventually used...* * This would doubtlessly be "true" today should we try it! (JBB) "Which is `what' you'd have now if the technology permitted it," I pointed out. It was lack of the "technology", not lack of knowledge that prevented firearms from being manufactured here in the 24th Century. On the other hand I suspected that with a good deal of effort and experimentation, one might build some sort of a "hand gun" in even this society, although it would be of little effectiveness as compared to a bow or more likely a crossbow now. The fact that such a weapon would violate the Lorr's EDICT would be of little deterrence to the sort who would make such weapons. "How does this city compare to yours?" she asked, changing the subject as we paused by an open air fruit stand, such things being a part of the life I'd grown accustomed to here, although I was usually careful about what I ate and drank due to the lack of effective public sanitation, having suffered more than once from the "malady" referred to as the "Trelandarian Trots". For this reason I drink a great deal of beer and wine, the alcohol being a good "sterilizer", drinking water in Trella not always being safe I've found, although this is more a "problem" I suffer from than do those who have lived all their lives here in this society. It being my belief that those who live here have developed over the generations a certain "immunity" to such things that I lack here. "Smaller," I answered, selecting an apple, paying for it. The woman making change, counting it out into my open palm then. "Oh, Oh!" Hope breathed, standing there beside me, her words making me turn, look, the woman Physician we'd met there on the road with Karen on a slave leash, talking to three guardsmen now! There being no doubt either we were the topic of their interest! Karen obviously having not hesitated in spilling the beans here!! |
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