Scaevola's Triumph (Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

unconcerned, but he was only too aware that the concern he felt was showing through in his voice.
    "You will feel in danger of falling," the Tin Man said. "You will feel the ship's floor has disappeared. It won't have. It will just be out of sight."
    With that, the ship's walls, ceiling, and floor all appeared to disappear. Gaius gasped, clung to the seat, then inched forward and pushed down with a foot. The floor was still there.
    "I am still standing here," the Tin Man pointed out.
    "I couldn't resist testing," Gaius said, a little self-consciously.
    "So, what do you think?"
    "Its breath-taking," Gaius said, as he stared at a surprisingly large reddish yellow ball. Then he frowned. "I . . ."
    "Yes?"
    "I don't recognize the star patterns. Is this . . ?"
    "Remember the argument you told me you had about stars? About how one argument was that the Earth wasn't going around the sun because if it were, the pattern should change as the Earth went from one side to the other of the sun?"
    "I argued that that was because the stars had to be too far away," Gaius nodded.
    "You were correct," the Tin man said, "but we have gone an immense distance, and over that distance the stars have changed their patterns. In fact, very few of the stars you know can be seen from here. These are effectively stars so far from your planet they are too dim for you to see them."
    "Which is our sun?"
    "It's in that direction," the Tin man said. "It's too faint to be easily seen from here, but we have a means to see it. I'll show you later. Now, what do you think of that?"
    Gaius followed the arm in the direction of the huge ball. "That's a planet?" he frowned.
    "It is."
    "There're no seas, there's no . . ."
    "It's a different sort of planet," the Tin Man said. "It's what we call a gas giant. It is immensely bigger than your Earth. It's almost all gas, or air, as you might call it, except you can't breathe that."
    "So Earth is unusual?"
    "That's what we call a rocky planet," the Tin Man said. "There was an earth-like planet in this system too, where the owners of the zoo lived, and where you would have lived if you had been let off. In your solar system, further from what you call Mars you have two gas giant planets, and further out two ice and gas giants."
    "Four? I thought . . ."
    "You can probably only see two of them with the naked eye," the Tin Man said. "I know the names you give your planets. Guess which two."
    "Saturn," Gaius said after a moment's thought, then after more thought he added, "and Jupiter."
    "Why them?"
    "You said they were further out," Gaius said. "Therefore with further to go they take longer to go around the sun."
    "Correct," the Tin Man said. "They also travel more slowly. Anyway, that planet there is a little smaller than your Jupiter. And, if you look carefully, you can see two small spheres, here . . . and here." Somehow, something pointed.
    "Yes!"
    "They are moons."
    "It has two moons?"
    "It has many, but three large moons. The third is around the other side, and you can't see it yet. In fact, the way we are travelling, you won't until the ship is the same distance from the star as the planet, then you will be able to see around the back. That will not take very long, because we are accelerating well. If you would like to keep looking, I would like to see your writings."
    Suddenly, Gaius recalled the prophecy. Record your writings and show them to no person. At the time, that had seemed ridiculous, but now, that metal man could reasonably be described as "no person". He was still within the future that Athene had promised! "You're welcome," Gaius said, "provided they don't get damaged."
    "They are perfectly safe with me," the Tin Man replied. "Before I go, I need you to do something."
    "Yes?"
    "Tell your Timothy not to use that weapon on me, and let me look at the bag."
    "I'll have to go with you," Gaius shrugged.
    "Not at all. Stay seated, and turn to that wall." Gaius did, and was surprised to see Vipsania and Lucilla staring