Simon Hawke - The Cleopatra Crisis

“Perhaps not,” said Brutus. “Yet it has the flavor of one.”

“Come now, Brutus,” Cassius said, putting his arm aroundhim, “you are among friends. Set aside your worries. There are many flavorshere to tempt you. Such as this excellent Greek wine, for instance.”

Cassius gestured for a slave to pour Brutus another cup. “Letus have no more talk about conspiracies.” He winked. “At least, not fortonight.”

Brutus drained the cup and held it out to be refilled. Thewine was filling him with pleasant warmth. A warmth that seemed to banish thechill of an uncertain future. Yes, indeed, he thought, it was a good night toget drunk.

Capt. Jonathan Travers of the United States Temporal ArmyObserver Corps, alias “Lucius Septimus,” personal secretary and aide to thecommander of the legions, stood outside his tent and gazed out at the troopscamped all around him. The legionaries were relaxing around their cook fires,but there was a tension of anticipation in the air. Each of them knew that inthe morning, they would take part in a historic event that had no precedent.The camp had been situated on the slope of a hill. The entrance gates were onthe downslope and the rear gates were at the crest. The legions had camped outin the open, away from wooded areas that could provide an enemy with an opportunityto make a sudden attack from concealment. The earthworks had been thrown uparound the camp, the soil taken from a twelve-foot-wide ditch dug around themto a depth of nine feet. The earthen wall itself was ten feet high and six feetwide, enough room for defenders to stand on top and hurl their javelins in theevent of an assault. Timber and brush had been used to reinforce the earthworksand the ramparts. When occasion demanded it, wooden towers could be placed atopthe wall, but this was only a temporary camp and there was no need for them.

The camp was laid out in a large rectangle, divided intothree roughly equal parts. These divisions were marked off by two broad “streets”that ran the width of the entire camp. The praetorium was theheadquarters section. where Travers had his tent. It occupied a wide space inthe exact center. Directly behind the praetorium and separated from itby the second of the two main streets, the via quintana , was the quaestorium .It was a similar space situated at the middle of the camp, where hostages,prisoners, booty, forage, and supplies were kept. The praetentura wasthe front section of the camp, separated from headquarters section by the firstof the two main streets, the via principalis. One fourth of the cohortswere encamped there, in tents facing the wall, on either side of the viapraetoria , which was the street leading from the center of the camp tothe front gates. Half the cavalry was camped there too, as well as the archersand the slingers, situated so that they could quickly move out the front gateto form an advance guard in the event of an attack.

The remainder of the cohorts and the cavalry were disposedon either side of the praetorium and in the rear of the camp. Runningaround the entire perimeter, just inside the wall, was a broad street onehundred and twenty feet wide, meant to allow movement for the troops defendingthe walls and to prevent hostile missiles coming over the wall from reachingthe tents. There were smaller streets running lengthwise and widthwisethroughout the camp, separating each cohort from the one beside it. Everythingwas laid out with practiced, logical precision. There was a specific allotmentof space for the tents, the pack animals. the servants, and the stacking ofweapons. The plan never varied from this basic layout. The soldiers were sowell drilled at setting up the camp that they had begun digging thefortifications at noon and the entire task had been completed shortly beforesunset. Each man had worked for one hour before he was relieved, while othertroops formed a protective front to cover the work while details of cavalryscouted the area to provide security. Everything was done with an efficiencyand a precision that an elite 27th-century military unit would have envied, butthen again, these were no ordinary troops. The Romans had fielded some of thefinest armies in all of history and these were the finest troops ever fieldedby Rome, led by the greatest general the republic had ever seen-Gaius JuliusCaesar.

As a career officer in the Observer Crops, Travers wouldspend most of his adult life stationed in this time period, in the 1st centurybefore the birth of Christ. Volunteers for Long Term Observer posts did notreceive antiagathic treatments to retard the aging process. (Had Travers comefrom a family that could have afforded buying those treatments for him at anearly age, he would not have qualified for L.T.O. posting. otherwise how couldhe explain remaining youthful while everyone around him aged normally?) Thehazardous nature of his assignment meant that he could easily lose his life atany time. Few people would have volunteered for such a post. but Travers wasone of a unique group of scholar adventurers who eagerly accepted such risksand hardships in return for the opportunity to spend their lives in intensive,close-up study of important historical figures-observing history as it wasbeing made and safeguarding it. as well.

Though he would be an old man when Travers returned to the27th century, he would not have traded this opportunity for anything. When heclocked back to Plus Time, assuming he survived to complete his tour of duty.Travers would receive his antiagathic treatments. (Though they would not thenbe as effective as they would have been had he received them as a younger man.)They would not return his lost youth, but they would nevertheless extend hislife beyond the normal span. He would be able to retire on a governmentpension, with all of its attendant perks, to either teach or write about hisexperiences. Travers hoped to produce the definitive life of Julius Caesar aswritten by a man who had witnessed most of it firsthand.

The preparations for his assignment had been exhaustive. Qualificationas an L.T.O. placed him among the elite of the Temporal Corps, second only tothe agents of Temporal Intelligence. Only those with the very best educationalbackgrounds were selected and they had to be in peak physical condition, aswell. (Once they graduated from the grueling training course, they were given implantconditioning, programmed through a biochip surgically implanted in the cerebralcortex with the knowledge and the behavior modification patterns that wouldenable them to blend in with the time period and the society within which theywould have to function.) Cosmetic surgery was performed when necessary. Theyhad to look the parts they were to play.

Travers had an outstanding classical education and a giftfor languages. He was fluent in Greek and Latin. but that was not enough. Hehad to be conditioned not only to speak, but to think in Latin and behave as aRoman would. Being well versed in history could also be a liability. It wouldhardly do for him to quote Cicero in casual conversation before Cicero had actuallysaid what he was quoting! The Time Wars had rendered the continuity of historyfragile enough without endangering it further, especially now that insurgentsfrom the parallel universe were seeking to disrupt the timestream. Not only didTravers have to pass as a Roman and survive long enough to complete hisdangerous assignment, he had to be on the alert for temporal anomalies. He alsohad to watch his step, to make sure he did not cause any himself.

It had been necessary for him to have become an expert onthe life and times of Julius Caesar. but even that was not enough. There was noescaping the Principle of Temporal Uncertainty. It was impossible to determine absolutelyany degree of deviation from the original historical scenario because of thelack of total historical documentation. “there was always room for error. Noone could possibly document any historical period down to the most minutedetail. In any given period of time, things had occurred that history had noknowledge of. It was also possible that the mere fact of Travers’ presencecould affect events in some way. Every moment Travers spent in Minus Time wasdangerous. Yet that was part of the intoxicating thrill. To Travers, the riskwas worth it. He already knew more about Julius Caesar than anyone living inhis own time period. With each moment he spent in Minus Time, he was learningmore.