Critical Path (The Critical Series Book2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Augustus’ plans. He knew how to run a real empire, not just a collective of savages, cutthroats and thieves like she had presided over. His would be a place way above the level of a lying harem concubine like her.
    Augustus’ hands shook with barely controlled anger as he recalled the lies he’d read in the history books. He clenched his fists. The left corner of his mouth twitched as he tried to smile. “They say I marked the beginning of the Roman Empire’s collapse. How can one man be responsible for that? How? You tell me.”
    Aimee raised her goblet. “How does one go from pirate slave to queen? Let us toast to forgotten history and our future making of it.”
    “Indeed.” Augustus raised his goblet. He’d asked himself the same question when gazing at her stasis pod back up on the mother ship with the others. She clearly had some talent, otherwise the town wouldn’t exist, and the croatoans only chose a dozen figures from history, including those they had experimented on at Roanoke, so there was something about her they valued.
    The overall terraforming plan earmarked the upper areas of North America as nonessential due to terrain and climate. He’d cut off the northern attachment’s communications and left them to survive or die, and only visited out of curiosity four years later. And there Aimee was, forming a town with everyone in the area, human and croatoan. She could not be underestimated. Or tolerated.
    “So tell me. Why were you so eager to keep your little wasp Charlie Jackson alive?” Aimee said.
    Augustus chewed on a tough trotter and swallowed with a grimace. “He’s not important, but we do have some unfinished business. He’ll be facing off against your champion tomorrow.”
    Jackson would pay for what he had done to the croatoan ships, and ultimately Augustus’ plans, but Augustus wanted to see him suffer rather than a quick easy kill.
    Aimee leaned back, touched the croatoan’s muscly left arm, and pompously snorted. “You’re lining up that old man against Halkstan? We want to put on a show, not a slaughter.”
    “He’s surprisingly capable. But not enough to avoid what he deserves.” Augustus dabbed the corner of his mouth with a napkin and lowered it over the platter. He raised his hand and clicked his fingers.
    The young servant girl didn’t move. She looked at Aimee, who returned a nod.
    The girl scurried over, took the platter, and reached for Augustus’ goblet. He held his hand flat over the top of it. “Bring me some root wine.”
    Augustus yawned. He needed a fix—another reason why he had to take control of Unity. With the destruction and revolt of the farms and the harvesters, the town provided the only protected source of root he knew of.
    Aimee stood. “Join me by the fire. We still have things to discuss.”
    She sauntered over to a pair of wooden chairs positioned in front of a stone hearth that was already crackling with flames. Augustus followed and sat down. The croatoan picked up a section of sawn log and clumsily tossed it onto the fire. Red embers shot across the floor around Augustus’ sandals.
    “Careful, you stupid…” he trailed off.
    The alien let out four raspy clicks. Aimee rubbed its arm again. “You can leave us to it. I’ll join you shortly.”
    The thought of her having sex with the creature turned Augustus’ stomach—if that’s what was happening, the rumors were that she had yet to have intercourse with anyone or anything, but she seemed overly fond of this one. Integration had its limits, and fornication crossed his personal line. Besides that, the croatoans were relegated to a minority in his mind, susceptible to a coordinated human attack if the remaining population managed to organize themselves. She was nailing her colors to the wrong mast. Augustus shook his head.
    “Is there something wrong?” Aimee said.
    “No. I was just thinking about how I could be of best use to your town. I have impeccable administrational and