CHAPTER 12
Workers from the underground settlement had directed the construction of a saw mill. We had used the first planks they cut to construct a building over the underground entrance to the settlement. This allowed concealment for entrance/exit from prying eyes. The planks were also being used to build containment sheds for the limestone and gravel that was being gathered.
After two more months a squat concrete structure had replaced the original plank structure over the entrance/exit of the underground settlement and a village of about 30 smaller residences had been constructed. The outer building walls were linked by a ruble and concrete wall to form a perimeter wall. As groups of buildings were added, the linking walls were added or removed to maintain an outer perimeter wall. The settlement was unlike any that I knew of. The streets were paved and living quarters had water available at a pipe in the cooking area. There were public toilets available on every block (public defecation or urination was punishable by scourge and or exile.
After six more months, the new settlement had the ability to house approximately three times the existing population. The slaves had incrementally been released from service, based on their skill level.
The most skilled were made freemen first. By the end of the first year, most of the skilled slaves were released and made freemen. They were allowed to stay if there was work for them or leave as they desired. Fortunately, the majority decided to stay on at the settlement as freemen. At least eighty of the one hundred or so slaves stayed as freemen.
The main compound was made up of the shops, factories, guild houses, as well as housing for the inhabitants. This compound was governed by me and policed by a special guard contingent.
Jace had chosen to become my guard captain. Disputes were resolved quickly. Violence and theft were dealt with by sentences ranging from time on a work gang to public flogging. Repeated offences would usually earn the perpetrator expulsion from the settlement. Capital crimes, i.e., murder, the sentence was death. Our sentencing and treatment of offenders was geared at preventing crime and discourage recidivism rather than rehabilitation.
A separate compound with a guild house was built for the warriors. Cain governed the warriors and the warriors policed their own compound. By the end of the first year Saam was awarded status of warrior and had been given the title Captain of the warriors for Cain. Cain insisted that warriors were awarded the lion's share of any payment received for an assigned job.
Cain did allow for the collection of a fund for a retirement stipend or if injured while on a job. The percentage held back by the guild for guild operations was set to five percent. The payment Cain's guild offered was so attractive that Cain and Saam had warriors from as far north as the Marble Mountains and as far east as the high desert applying for membership in his guild. Warriors from the area surrounding the Ancient city to the south were placed on a conditional basis only and could only be assigned jobs led by other warrior's never solo jobs.
Sari had established a healer training center and had plans to send skilled healers into the wilds to work at other settlements. Advanced education was still only available to select members of our compound when the committee gave approval.
Sari, with the help of her mother and sister Mira, had advanced the healers from shaman or medicine men to frontier doctors. They were welcomed at most compounds or settlements that had heard of our settlement. Sari’s healer training included basic chemistry, teaching why many of the traditional poultices and herb treatments worked. The importance of sterilizing tools and wounds was taught.
They learned to make a crude alcohol and anesthetics. All new healers were given basic surgery training. Herbs and herb treatments were integrated into the more advanced methods. Selected students were also given advanced training in chemistry or advanced surgery training. These selected students worked at an advanced training center underground rather than as healers. Advanced surgery was occasionally required and was usually performed or supervised by the trained medical personnel from the compounds training center.
Due to the success Sari had achieved with the healer training she approached the committee with the request to expand the enrollment to include select applicants from outlying villages. After a closed door session the Committee denied her request. Sari complained to Byron and he was sympathetic but told her it was out of his control.
Byron’s people had built equipment for drilling wells for irrigation which enabled the compound to grow food in excess of our needs. The excess food allowed us to trade for the materials the underground settlement required or wanted without having to mine or harvest them ourselves. The plentiful food and growing wealth of the settlement also worked as a great recruitment tool for merchants, skilled workers, and the farms. After the first year the settlement had required the doubling of settlement size. The constant building of private residents and of shops and public works drew workers and craftsmen from throughout the interior valley.
By the third year, our settlement which the committee had suggested we call Sacramento had annex north to the Three Rivers district and the farm settlements lying between our settlement and the Three Rivers district. The reputation of the Sacramento settlements treatment of subjugated settlements was sufficient that only rarely was a warrior force required to conquer prior to annexing a settlement.
The committee summoned Cain and me and said that their engineers had decided to send five of their people about 60 miles north to an area they called the Delano gas fields. The committee had determined that this was the most promising location for a steel mill. They felt the heat from easily obtainable natural gas there would make the effort worth while.
Both Cain and I agreed that Saam could be sent as the warrior captain with a contingent of 10 warriors for the security of the underground settlement team. The chairman said they wanted at least 50 warriors to be sent with them. Cain said that sending 50 warriors to guard a trading party would needlessly draw unwanted attention to the party. After a brief discussion amongst themselves the committee finally accepted Cain's suggestion.
The committee chairman looked at us and said that we would be held personably accountable for the party's safety and would answer to the committee for any problems. Cain locked eyes with the chairman, but before he could say anything, I grasped his arm and whispered, "Later, when we get top side."
I looked at the chairman and told him we understood and would guarantee their safety.
As we walked out of the government residence and toward the food stalls in the merchant’s quarter, I shook my head and said to Cain, "Remember when we met for food and drink and we decided to go for a wander? We ended up rescuing Sari, Saam, and Byron and started this whole empire thing."
"I really think that people are better off living under the rule of Sacramento than in the old rule by guild days. Don’t you?" I asked.
"Well, the living is easier, for the average citizen. I just don’t like the freedom you and I gave up to make it possible. And had you not stopped me, I think the Committee would be in need of a new chairman now. That was the most transparent and poorly veiled threat I have tolerated in a long time. And the last time the committee will threaten me and continue to breath." Cain said.
"Yes, I think the time is approaching for things to change or we will have to leave the settlement." I told Cain.
"Building an empire is a difficult thing. The old ways of solving disputes was simpler. Kill all the warriors and enslave the non-warriors. Victors, prisoners, or dead, these days there are truces, treaties, exiles, banishment and things I’m sure I haven’t heard of. The underground committee treats us as if we were children. They bestow gifts upon us as rewards but could we advance or even maintain the things they have given us without them? All the designing and developmental work is done by the underground teams, our people are used as mere work crews, they aren’t taught how or why these things work." said Cain.
"Sari and I have discussed this many times. Sari would like the rules
for training people to be loosened. But the committee is adamant about controlling who and how much training is given. Although some topsiders are taken down to learn specialty medical or engineering skills they never return to the top side and teach others. They are required to stay underground at all times. The committee says that is so they can’t leak the knowledge that the underground exists.
We should require the work be done above ground and our people should be taught the how and why of things, not just perform the labor. I would like to end our subjugation to the underground. Either they treat us as equals or withdraw from our lives. But if they refuse, will they send a group of guards armed with Uzis up and kill and replace us?" I asked Cain.
"I would welcome any attempt at reprisal. I will end their rule once and for all if they attack us. But I don't think they have the guts to try anything like that. I think they prefer lying, sneaking, and double dealing to overt conflict. I still have some of the dynamite that Byron gave us to mine the rock in the mountains. I will be prepared for any armed retaliation they try." said Cain.
That night Cain and several of his trusted warriors placed the dynamite around the exit to the underground. I met with Byron and told him we wished to meet with the committee to discuss the settlements future with them. I explained our concerns and what we wanted. I guaranteed the safe conduct for the committee and insisted no guards be brought up. I stressed that the presence of guards would be seen as aggression on the committees part. Byron entered the underground and the steel doors closed behind him.