CHAPTER 9
The backstreet surgeons who flourished during the reign of the Curia disappeared under the engineers. What forced them out of the market was neither prosecution nor social opprobrium, but competition from the State. Submitting to the engineers’ deft knifes was safer and, initially at least, more lucrative. The financial incentive was discontinued in 1359 to cut the waiting-lists: too many were giving birth before their embryos could be harvested.
from The Bernoullian Reforms by
Count Titus Tremellius Pomptinus
‘It’s three months old. Most malformations have occurred at this point. Cazzo, my subject’s all right. Anyone? Yes, Sixteen? Oh indeed, that spine is an absolute mess! Everyone be sure to have a look at Sixteen’s before you finish; we learn from Nature’s mistakes no less than from our own. Now, as you can smell, it’s started to urinate into the amniotic fluid …’
Second-years had no monitor, so Torbidda had to wait till Anatomy to see Agrippina; Varro said he still required her help – but, as Leto observed, Varro always surrounded himself with the brighter students. It made Torbidda sad to think she’d soon be gone. Most third-years were sent to the front.
‘Well, your posting must agree with you. You’re looking happy.’
‘Should do!’ said Agrippina, grinning, and proffered the thin yellow ribbon tied to her left arm.
‘Is that what I think it is?’ said Leto.
‘I’m a Candidate!’ she whooped.
‘Congratulations!’ they shouted simultaneously.
‘Cadets!’ Varro shouted over the din. ‘Pay attention. This will be on the test. Notice that the eyes have now moved laterally to the anterior and the eyelids are shut. They won’t open until the sixth month, but we don’t have to wait. Work carefully, keep the eye intact. You can see the pigment has already coloured the retina. Ah, this one has nice brown eyes. Tear ducts have already formed, and – look! They’re functioning!’
Torbidda expected Agrippina to thank him, but instead she turned to Leto. ‘Spinther, I’m about to find out what competition really means. You always know who’s out, who’s in. What would you counsel?’
Leto checked to see that Varro was busy. He advised Agrippina as he had once advised Torbidda: ‘For starters, distance yourself from him.’ He looked at the selector. For most Cadets, Guild politics was wasted mental effort, but those in line for Apprenticeship had to take an interest in the murky topic. The summit of any hierarchy attracts awe and envy in equal measure from those below and here was no different: first-years studied second-years; second-years studied third-years, and all studied the Candidates. Even though the Candidates were the best, the majority would rise no further – only the death of one of the three Apprentices would create an opening. As consolation, every Candidate became a member of the Collegio dei Consoli; they were all eligible for election to its governing board. Relations between the Collegio and the Apprentices were fractious, with envy on one side, contempt on the other.
Leto told them both that the Collegio’s advisory role had expanded under Filippo Argenti. ‘His appointment as First Apprentice is telling of the Collegio’s growing influence. Argenti’s generation of engineers is the first trained in the Guild Halls out of the Curia’s shadow. He’s got no reverence for the myths of Forty-Seven. The Girolamo Bernoulli he knew was an old man past his prime who was reverting to mediaeval thinking.’
‘The dogs on the street know that,’ Agrippina said. ‘How does he stand with the army?’
‘Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?’ Leto was less neutral when it came to the army, his criticism less guarded. ‘In comparison to Bernoulli’s lightning campaigns, Argenti’s wars are pedestrian. He inherited the best army Etruria has ever seen – and how does he use it? The legions are scattered in a great continental-wide pushing match, with Concordian machine grinding on barbarian brawn. The tribes make obeisance, then as soon as the pressure lifts, rebel again. It makes us look weak.’
‘He can’t break the deadlock?’ asked Torbidda.
‘He can’t concentrate on it. The repeated need for expensive rearguard actions in Etruria drains all momentum from the Europan campaign. This feckless policy more than anything else is behind the wistful revival of Naturalism led by the Second Apprentice.’
‘Does Argenti see Bonnacio as a threat?’ Agrippina asked.
Bonnacio’s an apolitical dreamer, content to haunt the Molè’s domes, tend the lantern flame and watch the stars while Argenti and his clique direct policy. He’s probably more concerned about Pulcher.’
‘I heard the Third Apprentice said Argenti was no fitter to wear black than he is to wear the red.’
‘That remark was widely disseminated – younger sons don’t enjoy seeing their elders fritter away their fortune. By leaning so heavily on the Collegio – Consul Corvis and that lot – Argenti’s making the red pale. If Argenti’s watching anyone, it should be Pulcher.’
The first-year whose turn it was to read valiantly struggled to make himself heard until he finally gave up. Leto’s prediction had been borne out sooner than expected: Filippo Argenti was dead and the Candidates’ table was empty. Both sides of the refectory were alive with gossip about how Pulcher had actually done the deed. Leto, of course, was intimate with the various versions, but Torbidda wasn’t interested in gossip. ‘That’s that,’ he said glumly.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Think about it!’ he snapped. ‘Argenti was getting on, but Bonnacio is in his early twenties, Pulcher’s still a teenager and the next Third Apprentice will be a third-year. That means we’ll never—’
‘—wear the red?’ Leto finished and laughed. ‘Madonna, I never thought I had a chance. Did you?’
Torbidda was looking balefully at the high table where the Candidates usually sat.
Leto followed his glance, ‘Well, it’s not all bad. Agrippina’s got as good a chance as any Candidate. We could have friends in high places next year.’