Chapter 15

While I showed Crescentius the preliminary plans, Mithridates sourly went out to find some stonecutters.

KhAvar and MehrAk were actually studying mathematics and not anatomy. I told them that they were behind and needed to catch up and they took this to heart. When Demetrius returned, he could teach them more. Greeks loved to show off their knowledge or at least the ones I met now and in my time.

The engineers came and so did some of the senators. I introduced Crescentius and said, "This young man will assist me to change the world." Nothing more was said but they could see that Crescentius was a lot more alert now.

We discussed the plans and I brought in Galerius for his input. It seems that I had missed out because the man knew a great deal about roads.

I kissed KhAvar goodbye before going out. She was a bit more confident now and was not worried about my leaving. MehrAk looked for a kiss too and I asked KhAvar, "May I?"

This seemed to please her and she said, "You better but she will get excited and then our study will suffer."

I kissed MehrAk and added the stimulosus that almost made her orgasm. I had to put her down in a chair then did the same thing to KhAvar. I could always give some incentive to them later to succeed.

Galerius came with us accompanied by some of his men but not for security but to learn and perhaps teach.

We stopped a lot of times and there was a lot more discussion. I again had to tell how I was going to remove the rock and from what areas. The time taken for men to dig the tunnel through rock was a lot longer than I had expected. I should have suspected this. My tools though could reduce the time because I would have much better steel and I would also have the ability to use explosives to assist.

We did not travel up the ravine but tried to follow where the road would eventually go. It was late in the afternoon when we got back and I insisted that the men stay for a meal.

KhAvar and MehrAk were up and around and very vivacious. The men watched them intently and I knew that the women knew this.

We drank a bit of wine until the meal was ready and drew up some additional detailed plans. We could now figure exactly where to dig the mine and had a small staging area to start with.

The other areas that had to be sculpted were similarly layed out. The upper one had to be done first because the falling rock may destroy the other mines and they would have to be redone.

One of the tributaries of the Orontes River was three kilometres away. I could dam this up for my generator and also use the water to supply Antioch. This would mean a great deal of pipe. I liked aqueducts but they were even more expensive to make. I didn't mention this possibility because there was too much on my plate now.

Some of the fallen rock would be used to construct part of the road so that it had a constant and gentle incline. The steps though would be much more direct. They would have long and wide treads. I added frequent rest stops along the way so that people could rest or just enjoy the view.

One of the senators said that he had talked to others and many tourists would be coming here to see what we planned. I immediately figured that Constantius would be one of them.

I had not gone to see him and I was sure he was at least miffed at this. I had chewed up a few of his legions and hurt a friend of his. I was surprised that he did not send a top notch legion out to invite me to visit him at my earliest convenience.

He was still having trouble with Sapor so his attention would be off me at least for a while.

Constantius' whereabouts was not usually known even to Sapor who had a way of finding out such things.

Two nights later I went to bed late and found that there were already two people in the bed. The room had a strong smell of aroused woman. I started to leave and close the door when KhAvar called out, "Don't go."

Her voice was plaintive so I came back in and closed the door. KhAvar said, "MehrAk and I have done some talking. I am not quite ready for you but I am ready to see you and MehrAk make love." She added quickly, "I mean, that I may get that way quicker if I see that she is not being hurt."

I said in a low voice, "MehrAk, what do you think of this?"

"Oh, I want it a lot, maybe more than anything else I ever wanted. You do things to me that nobody has done before."

"KhAvar, how is this going to effect us?"

"I will still share with Patricia but you can share me with MehrAk can't you?"

"I can do that."

There was a pregnant pause and she said, "We can begin now if you want."

"Ok, but let's get some lamps. I want you to see this as well as MehrAk.

The two girls got up quickly to light the oil lamps. They even used one of my matches to start the first. When six lamps were alight they looked at me and I had not moved. They looked a bit nonplussed until I said to KhAvar, "Perhaps you want to undress me the way I did this to you."

The two girls came to me and went from quick to a slow process of removing my clothing. I could not resist influencing their bodies to make them very responsive. This worked very well but the girls didn't have too much control over their own bodies and the progress slowed to a halt.

KhAvar was the first to use one hand on her pussy and one hand on me. MehrAk caught on quickly and I had to hold both women to me to keep them from falling.

I eased off on the stimulation and the girls still took a long time to recover. MehrAk was first and she hurried to get what she could off quickly. She found me erect and knelt quickly and engulfed me like a pro. KhAvar was soon beside her and she could only use her tongue. I increased the stimulation to both women once again and they had a difficult time concentrating on me. I had to cut back on both.

MehrAk must have been using her hands again because she went faster and faster. I could possibly hold off a bit more but figured that this was the time. I wanted to hold her head to me but I made my hands hold my hips as I shot time after time into her throat.

This time it was KhAvar that held MehrAk up until she recovered. I pulled back and picked up MehrAk and put her on the bed then got KhAvar and put here beside her other lover.

There was no sense using my fingers and lips this time. When KhAvar was aware of what was happening I had her help me get into her lover. Both women and I groaned as I slipped home.

The night was long. I did everything to MehrAk and she only wanted more. Most of the time KhAvar was riding MehrAk's tongue to keep the noise down. After the seventh orgasm by MehrAk, KhAvar wanted her turn and I did not ask if she was sure.

One girl would alternately muffle the screams of the other while I stimulate one more than the other. In just a few hours, the girls were nothing more than unresponsive jelly on the bed. By morning I could not get another orgasm from them and I tired. I slept in a very wet area because the girls could not control their bodies. Some was urine but most was just the natural lubricants that both made. The muscle contractions were so severe that this shot out instead of dribbled like it should.

I got up later than usual and I knew that I looked like shit. I did what I could and went out to get something to eat. Galerius came into the house and looked at me and just had a small knowing smile and said, "You should eat a large breakfast."

"I am still not full grown."

Agrippina brought me a simple slate that I looked at and wrote on it that the slate was good, not too big or too small and thin enough to be light but thick enough to be strong. There was only enough room on it to write, 'You did a good job'.

Agrippina was very pleased at this.

"You made me do a lot of work for this." Do you know how many people I had to talk to. I was not introduced to them and I had to go to them."

"That means you are growing inside. Finding a new challenge was good for you. Did you look in your mirror lately?"

"Why?"

"Look and see. You are going to do it anyway and this way you will not think that I am telling you polite lies."

Agrippina abruptly hurried off to find out the truth but she did look younger. Part of it may have been that she was getting over the death of her husband. Her fear of me was leaving and possibly it was my healing. I worked hard on her to do what had happed because I wanted her married off if possible. Being a good looking and lively women helped. Being associated with me did not.

The planning for the road took the next few days. Demetrius came back and told me in private that a very large mound of crystals had been collected.

"Are you going to use all of that?"

"You have hardly begun to gather crystals. I need perhaps fifty tonnes."

He did a bit of thinking and said, "We will be months gathering all that."

"It will be months to dig the holes in the rock."

"I saw how much damage a little did. That much is going to shatter the entire mountain."

"Rock is strong. We need a lot of power."

"I will believe if you say I must. What about the cleaning, drying and then the crushing?"

"That will be your job too. Mithridates is buying the oil now and saying it is to provide light in the mine. We may have enough."

"We need light too. Your mirror works but it is still not enough."

"You cannot have a flame in the cave because of the dust."

"Dust does not burn."

"Do you want to bet?"

"You? Never."

"It will not only burn but explode. Grind flour very fine and throw a little in the air above a fire. If you contain the flour and fire it will explode. The gas above the town is even worse. If it mixes with the air in a home, a little bit will destroy the home as if it were a large bomb."

"Why do you want to use it then if it is so dangerous?"

"It is a very good fuel. It is much better when I take all the other gases and liquids out of it. That liquid I talked of was not water but many substances that we can use. All of that will leak into the air if we do not burn it. It is much better to not let it escape. Even that much is not too bad but over the years it will all add up and effect our weather."

"Again, I will believe you if you say it is true. It is still dangerous."

"So is a sharp sword. You have to protect it to make sure that it is kept safe. That means only trained people will be allowed to work with it. None of this can happen until a lot of tools are sent here from Germania. Even then we cannot make too much because we have to make more machines. Something like not using some horses until they make more horses," I said the last with a smile.

"I have seen your machines. They are wondrous but I do not believe they are man and women. Would they really make children?"

I looked at Demetrius closely and I could not tell if he was pulling my leg or not. "They mate the same way you Greeks do with your sheep."

In a serious voice he said, "Will any look like me?" When the smile came out I knew it was a joke all along.

Mithridates hired some stone workers and they went up on the mountain and plied their trade. Mithridates was miffed for a day then got into what he was making. I worked with the city smiths to make good steel and then shaped it into the tools that we would need. Mithridates got his first but then I worked on sledge hammers, drills, wedges and a lot more for chipping away the rock to make the road.

The city fathers were anxious to see the power of Thor used for peaceful uses and helped clear a narrow path to where I could use a bit of the explosives. I was curious too and watched a long steel bar being driven horizontally into the rock by men with large hammers. Once the bar was seated I made a pipe with a large heavy piece of steel at one end. There were two long handles on each side. Two to six men could swing this back and forth like a battering ram while containing the captured hammer drill. It was impossible to miss and more men drove the long rod easily into the rock.

Demetrius had made the explosive with Mithridates's help but no others. This was stuffed into the holes very carefully then I showed these two plus Galerius and Crescentius. I wanted this to be kept as a secret but I also knew that Romans were far from stupid and would eventually learn. These men were important to me and I wanted them to know it.

We used fuse that I had made myself from sodium nitrate and charcoal. It may not blow up but it would burn at a predictable rate.

The city looked on from below and the walls were packed. As I promised, Crescentius lit the fuse that split and led to the primers. One of the engineers had a sand glass and was watching it as the mountain gave a little shake and a loud noise was heard. People raced to see what had happened and we saw rock falling far out. This was cause enough for a party the people of the city could be heard cheering.

Nobody ran out to see the effects of the blast because of my strict safety precautions. I didn't know if all of the explosives had been detonated. Five minutes later Crescentius and Galerius were allowed to look and came back with smiles. We had our own party by drilling more holes.

After six more explosions we were low in plastique. The sulphur had come in as well as all the rest but I did not have the large glass containers yet.

Days later Mithridates and Demetrius lead some pack horses off and I followed a few hours later. We rendezvoused in an area we found when we first fled the city. I worked alone to make the equipment and alone to make the acids. I made small batches of nitrocellulose but did it many times. I washed and neutralised it all at one time and had perhaps fifty kilos.

The glycerine was brought in secret later and I converted this to nitroglycerine. This was washed and neutralised the same way. The two products were combined to form two hundred kilos of plastique. This went in some barrels and all but one of them were hid in the earth. When the work site was cleaned up and the temporary structures taken down, it would be hard to know that I had worked here for nearly three weeks.

Everybody knew what I was doing but not the particulars. Galerius took possession of another holy relic and hurried to the construction site. He had been waiting for this for a long time.

After a good bath with the help of two pretty ladies I was assisted into bed and they climbed in with me. They turned to jelly again but it took a bit longer.

The next day I had a lot of guests but the ones at the head of the line were representatives of Constantius II, the Augustus of the entire Roman Empire.

It was a relief that they were arrogant. Many people in their position were and I used it against them. "You come to me with words from your Augustus. You command me to leave what I am doing and go with you. Constantius is not my Augustus. I am a prince of the free Frisian people. I have no assurances of my safety and for all I know I could get a knife in the ribs like so many other have over the years."

The leader of the delegation said, "We will ensure your safety."

"Why should I take your word? I do not know you or your family. I think, the Roman Quinctius, was trying to lure me into a trap. Why should I blindly walk into yours?"

"You have the word of our Augustus."

"I have words on a piece of sheep's skin. Where in the document is there words to say that I am safe from you or him?"

"He wishes to talk to you and that cannot happen if you are dead."

"And what about when he has finished talking to me? You go back and tell your Augustus that he is more than welcome to come and see me. I would appreciate some warning too so I can set a room aside and prepare for my own defence. He can bring a legion or two for his own safety. Tell him that if he wishes to talk we will talk. If he wishes to take me captive then we will fight."

The delegation got off their high horse and tried to convince me of Constantius' sincerity. I was polite to a point but I wanted to show some arrogance myself. If I provoked Constantius enough he would come and fight me. I would then be justified in killing him.

There was only a short break before I had the Legate for all of Syria here to see me. He was the governor in power and had five legions under him but he brought only a dozen men. I had the stinger in my hand now and used it like a pen at a desk while I casually ran it through my fingers.

We were much more polite to each other. He didn't want a war with me and I did not want to fight him. There was a lot of polite posturing but it broke down to somebody using Roman law to make me give back what I had 'unlawfully acquired'.

First it was the pirate ships, slaves and especially the booty. They went on and mentioned the assets of Quinctius and some I had not even known of but didn't let on.

I said, "I am a free Frisian. Roman laws may effect me while in the empire. When a Roman power goes to war, they take slaves and property. A thief went to war with me and had the misfortune to loose. I took what I could under Frisian law and did the same thing you Romans would do."

"Citizens and foreigners cannot do that."

"I am claiming to be a representative of a sovereign state. If it was Rome that attacked me then we are at war. If it was a thief then we fight and Rome is not involved. The Frisian people can protect themselves and they can probably come to my assistance. Is the Roman Empire declaring war on Frisia or Germania?"

"This has nothing to do with war but innocent people getting their property back."

"You may have some truth in that argument but I think that most of the innocents are far from being virtuous. I am still looking for the men behind the pirates." I moved closer and looked piercingly at the Legate.

He flinched and I went for the weakness. "Tell me the names of the innocents you were referring to."

"I do not have the list."

"Who asked you to attempt this legal manouevre?"

"I saw and injustice and pursued it."

"Were you and Quinctius partners in this?"

The man jumped up and so did his men. "I resent that accusation. We came here to get to the bottom of this and you accuse me of the foolish idea of a Roman citizen financing the pirates."

I stayed where I was and just moved the stinger around and even looked at it instead of the men around me. "I talked to some of the pirates before they died. You would be surprised at the names I heard and what they had been up to. It is you that is foolish if you think that I will believe that Romans are all virtuous and kind."

"What names?"

"Like you, I do not have the list handy."

"You have to tell me."

"I will tell you again, I am the representative of a sovereign state. Do you wish to have a small war or a large one?"

"We can remove you from our lands."

"You are free to try. I have not finished my investigation of the crimes committed against me. I do not have a list but when I first started, twelve children and I decimated a legion. We went on and killed, what I have been told was eleven thousand of your auxiliaries. I am without the children here so I may not fare quite as well." I punctuated every few words by waving the stinger at the man.

We talked more politely after and the mention of litigation was dropped. KhAvar and MehrAk helped Agrippina with a nice meal and all of us relaxed a bit more.

The stinger was put away and when we sipped some wine, I was asked by the Legate, "Was that one of the weapons you used to destroy the arena?"

"It had a little help but basically that is true."

"Why were you waving it around?"

"For the same reason you brought twelve men into the room with you. The law of any nation is flexible. A lawyer can present his case and it will be accepted while another lawyer doing the same thing will fail. It is in how the message is delivered."

"There have been some reports of a weapon that does not kill. Why did you use it?"

"I am not a heartless man. When children come at me with sticks I can either catch a few and spank them or stay out of their reach. I chose to let the children learn a lesson instead of hurting them."

"What more weapons do you have?"

"I am afraid the list is quite long. In a few years I want to make a very small cannon that will propel a small sphere for a few miles. One man can hold it and put it to his shoulder. With a lot of skill and a bit of luck a man over a mile away will suddenly die."

"You can really make that?"

"With a lot of effort the answer is yes. Before you get worried needlessly I plan on gathering men of all races and training them to fight. I do not see the need for more than a thousand. When Rome is harassed then these men will fight for Rome. When Persia is threatened by the Huns then these men well fight for Persia. They will not be my army but an army ruled by the heads of many countries. India and China will join too at some future date. Wars will never end but small misunderstandings can be talked about before any blows are struck. This army I mentioned will follow the majority and do what is needed."

"Rome could fight the Persians with it?"

"If Rome can get the votes of the rest of the nations. I think it will be much like the old Republic."

More people came as the hours went on and Galerius defended me with words. The Legate picked up a lot of information but I think he had most of it before he ever arrived.

Most people were more interested in the day to day things done in the future that would never come now. An average family flying to a vacation thousands of miles away was beyond their comprehension of wealth. I downgraded the effect of the automobile and stressed public transit. Trains were listed for short distances as well as long. If cargo carriers, they would be slow and efficient and if passengers they would be fast and luxurious. Ships were done the same way. I also had to compare cramped charter flights with those going first class. I had to add executive jets and military vehicles designed for troops.

Parachuting was not believed and then I had to spend ten minutes explaining how the military used it then how it was used for sport. Galerius said, "Why would somebody jump from miles in the air?"

I said, "Galerius, why would a sane man want to be a military officer?"

There was a short pause and he said, "I can see what you mean."

The people wishing to see me increased and I put KhAvar in charge. Even if she did a poor job, it would be better than nothing. She surprised me though and did a good job. People wanted to sell me things and even one fool thought I would buy a way of turning lead into gold.

The Legate stayed as did the rest of the officials. The local senate had given an approximate time for the removal of the major portion of rock from the mountain. I guess we could have sold tickets but it was good publicity.

I surprised Agrippina by asking her to ride to the site and light the fuse. She was very worried for a moment then smiled and said, "I will do it. I want my teachers there with me though."