Orson Card: Empire

She laughed and ushered him into the kitchen. Mark and Nick were still up and they remembered Cole and practically tackled him and dragged him to the floor. Well, Mark did. Nick just watched him, but Cecily saw how his eyes glowed. Cole had made an impression on her sons.

They didn’t talk about Reuben. They didn’t talk about world afairs. Instead Cole asked the boys about things they were doing. They ate ice cream. Cole demonstrated how cupcakes don’t actually have to be bitten into, you can jam a whole one in your mouth at once. Then he made a show of choking before he swallowed it all. “The bad thing,” he said, “is when you cough icing out of your nose.”

At ten o’clock Cecily sent the boys to bed.

“I’ll go now,” said Cole. “It’s late for you, too.”

“No,” she said. “Stay. I do want to talk to you.”

He answered softly, so the boys wouldn’t hear. “It’s about Torent, right? I’m not married to him. I’m assigned to him.”

“His request?”

“He’s vetting the White House staff and the Pentagon. Working with the FBI to isolate the ones who should be under suspicion so the rest can breathe easy again.”

“That sounds like an awfully controversial job for somebody who claims to be against divisiveness,” said Cecily.

“That’s just the point. He’s the one that everybody will accept as being impartial and not politically motivated. He doesn’t have a history with anyone.”

“Actually,” said Cecily, “he does.”

They went down into the basement. Into the office. There she laid out the translations of Reuben’s class notes. “First things first,” she said. She handed him a paper with one paragraph circled.

“Augustus Caesar,” he said. “So?”

She handed him another.

“Augustus again.”

And another.

“He’s a history professor,” said Cole. “Augustus is history.”

“Three different classes, Cole,” said Cecily. “Only one of them even vaguely dealt with Rome.”

“You’re building a case, I see,” said Cole. “So… build it.”

“Read what Reuben said right after that paragraph.”

Cole read it aloud. “’Roman Empire an obsession? Especially Augustus and Trajan’—you didn’t show me any Trajan notes.”

“Keep reading.”

“’Heroes of his. Guy watches two sides fight it out in civil wars. Then steps in, puts a stop to it, Rome hails him as hero who brings peace and unity. Shows great respect to Senate, republican form of government. Modesty. But rules with iron hand. Torrent suffers from empire envy? Always says American empire can’t fall because we’re still in republic phase, not an empire yet. Wishing he could play Augustus and start one?’ ”

Cole set down the paper and leaned back in the chair. “So you think Torrent—what, set up a civil war just so he could come in and be the great conciliator?”

“I’ve read a lot about Augustus and Trajan, since getting these notes translated,” said Cecily. “They were great emperors. Not cruel. They really did seem to want to maintain stability within the empire. Bring Rome to its true destiny. Improve life for everybody.”

“So they were decent guys.”

“But they were dictators, Cole. They played up to the people. To the army. To the Senate. They kept themselves popular. They also had their opponents murdered. They stayed in office till they died. And once you’ve got an emperor, even a good one, you can’t be sure the next one will be an Augustus or a Marcus Aurelius, or a Trajan or a Hadrian.”

“Could be Nero,” said Cole. “Caligula.”

“Then I keep thinking—am I being Brutus? He and his friends were worried about Julius Caesar becoming dictator, and so they conspired to murder him to save the republic. But his death just launched the civil wars that brought Octavian to power, that renamed him Augustus and put an end to democracy.”

“Such as it was, in Rome.”

“It was a lot, for those days,” said Cecily. “And it’s a lot for us, too. They’re going to nominate him, Cole. You know they are. Both parties. He’s going to run unopposed.”

“The two-party system isn’t going to die in one election.”

“If we have another.”

“Come on.”

“Oh, he’ll allow another election, and another, and another. Augustus kept all the forms of the republic. He just made sure that nobody was nominated that he didn’t approve of. He kept control of the army.”

“Torrent doesn’t have that, I can assure you.”

“I know. I’m just worried about nothing. Except.”

“Except what?”

“What if Torrent’s benign image is just that? Just an image?”

“You said he had a history. What?”

“He’s been teaching a long time. And he’s a noted teacher. His books are very popular. So all of this might be coincidence.”

“All of what?”

Cecily handed him a list of names.

The first name on the list was Aldo Verus. He had attended two seminars of Torrent’s, years ago—seminars called “History for Future-minded CEOs.” Cole hadn’t heard of most of the rest of the people, but Cecily provided a description of their activities along with their link to Torrent. They were all prominent in the Progressive organizations that were tied to Verus.

“He had a lot of students,” said Cole.

“I know. I said so, didn’t I? But the thing is, he did have these students.” She handed him another sheet. It contained only two names.

Reuben Malich and Steven Phillips. “I’ve talked to Phillips.”

“He’s not in jail?” asked Cole.

“Nobody can prove that he knew any more than Reuben did what was being shipped and to whom and from whom. I’m not inclined to press it with him, because then people might press it with Reuben, and I know he didn’t know.”

“Me, too,” said Cole.

“Phillips says that Torrent asked him if he’d be interested in being approached for some extra assignments. Just like Reuben.”

“But Torrent didn’t actually give him any assignments.”

“He just asked if he’d be interested. He said the people would use his name. But when the approach came, they didn’t mention Torrent. Same with Reuben. So Phillips—and Reuben—were never sure if these people had been sent by Torrent or not.”

“But they took the assignments.”

“Because they thought the assignment was from the President. And because… because it was secret and exciting and… these are men, Cole. And in the back of their mind, they thought it probably was from Torrent, and they knew he was such a brilliant guy, everything must be on the square.”

“As if brilliant equals good.”

“Exactly,” said Cecily. “But we still don’t know if he had anything to do with it. And we don’t know who the people who approached Reuben and Phillips even were. Phillips doesn’t know, anyway, and Reuben never said and never wrote down anything.”

“So Torrent may or may not be involved with Verus.”

“No, that’s not the point,” said Cecily. “I’m almost sure he’s not part of Verus’s operation. Verus was in control of everything about his operation. People reported to him, and he reported to God. Or history. Whatever he believed in. Not to Torrent. And can you imagine Torrent reporting to him ?”

“Maybe. It’s possible.”

“I don’t think so,” said Cecily. “You met Verus.”

“I didn’t see him at his best.”

“But can you imagine that if Torrent worked for him, Verus would sit still for Torrent being nominated by both parties? Essentially handed the presidency?”