“You don’t leave me much choice,” Samuel said.
“That is part of my charm.” Augustus gave a rueful smile.
“Raider Bluff, the L.A. gangs, Oasis, and the others…they won’t much like this.”
“I’m not asking what they will like,” Augustus said. “I’m telling you how it must be. Two weeks ago, I received word that my emissary, Rex, was brutally murdered by Alpha Char in Raider Bluff.”
“He was going to make us slaves,” Anna said, face red.
“He was under orders to offer fair terms,” Augustus said. “However, your people are faced with a choice. Safety and joining with me. Or…freedom and death.”
None of us said anything. Augustus held all the cards. He had the soldiers, he had the power. It would take a while for his army to reach the Wasteland. But once it did, who could resist him?
“Why do you want to own the Wasteland, anyway?” I asked. “The cost of gaining it might outweigh the benefits of owning it. It is desolate and poor.”
“I will tell you this much, Alex,” Augustus said. “I believe I was preserved for a reason, even when I believed myself dead following the fall of Ragnarok. Your Dr. Ashton barred my entry into Bunker One, but I made the best of it. I funded the Bunker Program greatly, but I still was not allowed in. My blood wasn’t good enough. My money wasn’t good enough.”
“You were a drug lord,” Anna said. “You really think they would have let you in?”
Augustus’s face reddened. “This is not about revenge. This is about destiny. My destiny. The world is a harsh place — but the Nova Roman Empire offers the best chance for everyone’s survival. By the time I’m dead, I hope to unite all of the former Americas into one whole — to rebuild a society greater than anything that ever existed before Ragnarok. Obviously, this will take decades — perhaps centuries. The xenovirus stands in the way. And we will deal with that when the time comes. But I want you to think about this.” Augustus leaned forward. “The Xenos are coming, Samuel. You know this. In defeating the Voice, you are only thinking short term. When the Xenos come, humanity must be united under one banner. The banner of the Empire. As you have already told me, that could be decades from now. Centuries. Or it could be tomorrow. But once we defeat this Voice — with my help, under my orders — then we must continue our work building the Nova Roman Empire. It offers the best chance of fighting back against the Xenos. If the Xenos come and find nothing but squabbling leaders — the way the world is now, as it stands — we will crumble like a clump of dried earth in a fist.”
Samuel frowned, thinking. I didn’t blame him. Augustus had given him a lot to think about, and a lot of what he said actually made sense.
“I don’t know what Ashton told you about me, but it wasn’t the entire picture,” Augustus said. “Always remember, there are at least two sides to every story, and most times more. Always be skeptical of what people tell you, especially your friends. You are more liable to believe them.”
“Our loyalty is to Ashton,” Samuel said. “First and foremost. I do not have the authority to give you what you ask. Only Ashton does.”
Augustus smiled again. There was something…insistent about it. “Believe me, Samuel. At the head of my army, we can be very persuasive. And Ashton…if he cared so much about the fate of the world, then why was he too cowardly to come and meet me himself? I would have let him right in.”
“Because you still have a score to settle,” Anna said.
“That is all in the past,” Augustus said. “I am looking to the future. If I hadn’t been looking to the future, could I have built all this?”
He gestured around the room, and in so doing we knew he was talking about Nova Roma.
The light of the day had almost been extinguished, and the sitting room was darkening. Despite the warmth of the breeze, I felt a chill pass over me.
“Your Wasteland is nothing more than a series of fractured city-states, gangs, and competing agendas. You will accomplish nothing there without my help, Samuel. Surely, you know of the man, Carin Black?”
Carin Black. He was the leader of the Black Reapers, the gang that had supplanted the Lost Angels in L.A.. Had Augustus been corresponding with him?
“Of course we know of him,” Samuel said. “He is our enemy. He destroyed the Lost Angels several years ago.”
Augustus nodded. “It would be wise to not consider him an enemy, Samuel. He is a powerful man — the most powerful man in the Wasteland at present. And he will not give up his power easily. Trying to convince him otherwise, as you plan to do, might be even more suicidal than walking into my Empire.” Augustus smiled in the darkness. “We all know how that almost turned out.”
“Nonetheless,” Samuel said, “He is an evil man. He has committed unspeakable crimes, against the Lost Angels, against my sister, and against me. Carin forced my sister into a life that I will never forgive him for. And the way he treats his slaves makes your Empire look like paradise in comparison.”
“My Empire is paradise.”
“A paradise for the few.”
“Don’t be naive, Samuel. It has always been that way, even before Ragnarok. The world is a harsh place. All I can hope to do is dim that harshness. It will take time, yes. But as they say, time heals all wounds.”
Samuel said nothing in response.
“If you agree,” Augustus continued, “then you will find a ready ally in Carin Black and the Reapers. Give me the locations of the other Bunkers, and we will have all the weaponry we will ever need to take on the Blights. It is the simplest solution, and you know it.”
“The freedom of the Wasteland is not something to be bandied about,” Samuel said.
“If we give you the locations to the Bunkers,” I said, “those weapons will make it easier for you to conquer the Wasteland. Why would we do that for you?”
Augustus smiled. “Because you have no other choice. I will not hide my intents. I am laying it all out on the table, as any man should. You, however, Samuel…I can tell you are made uncomfortable by this. I tell you now, in my time as Emperor, I have learned that safety always comes with a price. You must decide for yourself if you are willing to pay it.”
Samuel sighed. “And should I disagree?”
Augustus shrugged. “You have no reason to disagree. But if you disagree, nothing changes. I march on the Wasteland. I meet with Black. And there will be war. I will have more trouble finding the Bunkers without the coordinates, but they will be found. I will overwhelm the other Wasteland leaders with sheer numbers, leaders who will undoubtedly cobble together a poor, fractured defense. And then, I will march on the Great Blight, and using the knowledge you have given me, attack the Voice, and destroy it. You will have no choice but to help me at that point, because I will be the only one with the power to stop the Voice.”
Samuel glared at Augustus. “I will not sell you the Wasteland. This mission will be under the direct control of both Dr. Ashton and myself. We are the only ones who know what must be done in order for it to succeed.”
“I grant you that,” Augustus said. “But without me, you cannot succeed.”
“I can say the same for you. So the best we can do is compromise — so that you can get what you want, and I can get what I want.”
“Clearly,” Augustus said, smiling. “I am glad we have come to this consensus. But I will have you remember — the Empire was the only nation that survived the horrors of Ragnarok. I saved thousands of your Americans when your own country could not even do that. True, most of them are slaves now. But they are not dead, and they are treated well in accordance with Imperial law.”