The Lotus Eaters

'Like a hide, I suppose. Let me rephrase. Why are we hiding equipment here.'

The centurion his head. 'Because one never knows when a tercio's worth of armor no one knows about may come in handy.'

'Who knows about this?'

'Me, the First Legion Commander, the Penonome Military Academy Commander, Duque Carrera and a few of the staff, and . . . now . . . you.'

'I don't think I want to know anything about any of this, Centurion.'

'Too late, son. I needed help moving all this shit. Fernandez's group came up with your name as the most closed mouthed man in the First Legion. So here you are. We'll be filling up the rest of the non-ammunition bunkers a vehicle or two at a time for the next couple of years. We also have to come in from time to time to check the vehicles out. Then, too, we have a list of supplies that need storing here. I suppose it goes almost without saying that this has to be our little secret, right?'

'How do I get into these things?'

'Just lucky, son,' the centurion answered, 'just lucky.

'Look, don't sweat it,' the centurion added. 'It's all really simple. Every month or so, just before a time when the weather and light conditions are going to be just right, and we know there are no recon satellites or UEPF ships overhead, a new track or two, sometimes maybe three or four, will be delivered to the First Legion. They'll duly issue it and pull in an older track to go in to the depot for rebuild. Except that about fifty percent of the time the 'old' track will have just come out of rebuild, in which case it comes here. And then we prep it for long term storage. Speaking of which, go over to that cabinet and pull out the plastic wrap inside. Then get us a tank of nitrogen from the cabinet next to the first one.'

'Nitrogen? Why nitrogen?' The soldier sounded nervous.

'Didn't you ever have any chemistry in school? I said nitrogen, not nitroglycerin. It's not dangerous. We just use it to replace the air around the tracks—after we seal them in the plastic—so they don't rust away.'

'Where did you learn to do this, Centurion?'

'Out of a book, boy. Well . . . that and a course run out on the Isla Real.'

Executive Complex, Ciudad Balboa, Balboa, Terra Nova

Despite the high wall surrounded the complex, the sounds of traffic could be heard even within the President's office. Parilla was pretty much deaf to those; what attention he had to spare was focused on listening for the sound of a Cricket, bringing Carrera in for a meeting.

The subject of which is not going to please friend Patricio, Parilla thought. But when he gave up control of most of the money to the Senate he also assigned responsibility to the Senate. And they're taking their responsibilities seriously, seriously enough to say, 'Halt, we're going broke! '

The rest of his attention span Parilla gave over to reading a book, his reading glasses perched between the bridge and the end of his nose, while he waited for Carrera to show at his office. The government comptroller, Senor Dorado, was already seated.

* * *

One side effect of the Federated States' mandated repartition of the country was that the old executive offices had fallen inside the border of the enclave granted to the old government. Thus, while Parilla's government had physical control of the Legislative Assembly complex, there had actually been no place for the president to sit.

For a short while, during the time Carrera had first convalesced on the Isla Real, Parilla had made do with the Casa Linda and its outbuildings. That was, however, pretty damned suboptimal what with most of the population of the country being on the other side of the Tauran Union-controlled Transitway.

For another half a year, near enough, the president, cabinet and executive department had sat in various rented office spaces. This, too, had been something less than ideal, as getting the cabinet together for face to face communication was, given Ciudad Balboa's appalling traffic, always a time consuming and problematic activity.

Thus, in the time since Parilla had taken office, much effort and no little amount of cash had gone into creating a new executive complex, containing mansions for Parilla and his two vice presidents, plus the cabinet officials, along with executive office buildings for all the major agencies, and barracks space for a cohort of guards. There was even a set of quarters for Carrera, as de facto chief of defense, though he and Lourdes had never moved in and had no intention of ever moving in.

* * *

When Carrera arrived at the receptionist area fronting Parilla's office he was greeted by a statuesque, slightly olive skinned, and intensely attractive brunette in her late-twenties—Parilla's secretary and, so it was rumored, one of the old dictator, Pina's, many former mistresses. That the woman would have been a mere girl in her early teens at that time only made the rumor the more credible. The receptionist, Lucilla, stood and announced Carrera's arrival into an intercom, then walked—or, rather, swayed while moving forward—to open the door to Parilla's office. Turning the knob, she bent down just enough for Carrera to get an eyeful of most enchanting cleavage. She smiled at him as she straightened back up. It was a smile of interest and a statement of availability.

'I'm starting to get on in years, Luci,' Carrera said. 'Someday you are going to give me a heart attack doing that.'

The woman answered, one eyebrow lifting for emphasis 'From that or from something else, Duque.' Her smile grew into an invitation.

Carrera just shook his head, a regretful grin on his face. Thinking of Lourdes, now seven Old Earth months pregnant, he said 'I don't mind dying, dear, but I do have my preferences as to how. A knife in the back while I sleep is very low on that list.'

Inclining her head and shrugging her shoulders, and incidentally jiggling her breasts, the woman just gave