legions. Legions that canassure your future as the queen of Egypt.”
“You plan to depose my brother?”
“Only if it should prove necessary.” Caesar replied. “I haveno wish to harm him. I would be satisfied to have him rule with you to guidehim.”
“I see,” she said. “Then it is Pothinus you wish to have removed.”
“Rome needs an ally, not a scheming, unctuous eunuch wholooks only after his own interests.”
“And you think that I will not look after
Caesar smiled. “It is in your interest to consider mine.”
“Not Rome’s’?”
“I am Rome.”
“So. And once I am queen, what would Rome have me do?”
“Merely be a friend to Rome,” said Caesar, gazing at her steadily.
She gave him a knowing smile. “Then I am at Rome’s pleasure.”
3
The transition coordinates Travers had selected clocked themin on a wooded hillside a few miles outside of Rome. It was dark when theyarrived, two-thirty in the morning by local temporal reckoning. though theRomans kept time in only an approximate manner. They based it on sunrise and sunset.They divided the day into twelve hours, with the first six hours being
(after the middle of the day), but they did not dividehours into minutes, and their water clocks and sundials were never accurate inany sense of the term, so no one in Rome was ever really certain of the time.
Travers was waiting for them at the transition point, alongwith four other men. Travers. who had spent most of his adult life in MinusTime, did not know anything about what had happened to Lucas, so he naturallyshowed no surprise on seeing him. All he really knew about them was that theywere an adjustment team from Temporal Intelligence. They. on the other hand,knew a great deal about Travers, having read his file, though the man who metthem hardly resembled the photo they had studied. Travers had aged since thatphoto had been taken. The hard life he had led had taken its toll. He was asmall man, well built, with dark hair that had started thinning. He was in hislate forties, deeply tanned and his face had lines in it that age alone was notresponsible for. He had a weather- beaten look about him. His forehead was high.his features looked Mediterranean (partly a result of cosmetic surgery), andhis eyes were dark and alert. He was wearing a simple tunic and sandals, with acloak thrown over his shoulders. A short distance behind him, they saw acovered carriage drawn by two horses. which would be their transportation toRome. There were three horses tied up by carnage and a small fire was burningin the clearing.
“You’ve studied the identities that I prepared for you?”asked Travers, after they had introduced themselves.
“My cover is Marcus Septimus.” said Lucas. “I’m your youngerbrother, from Cumae. Our parents are both dead and we have no other livingrelatives. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, so now that you’vereturned from the wars. I’ve come to visit with you in Rome and I’ve brought mywife. Antonia. with me.” He nodded at Andre, then indicated Delaney. whosebeard had been shaved and whose hair had been dyed black for this mission. “Andthis is our friend. Fabius Quintullus, also from Cumae. We all grew up togetherand we’re very close.”
Travels nodded. “Good.” He introduced the four men who werewith him. “These are your slaves, whom you have brought with you from ourfamily estate. This is Capt. Castelli. C.T.O. in this sector.” Castelli. theChief Temporal Observer, stepped forward and greeted them. He was slim and veryfit, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. He looked to be in his mid-twenties,though he was actually far older. “My cover name is Demetrius,” he said. “I wasa Greek soldier, from Sparta. captured in the war.”
“And this is Lt. Corwin.” Travers said, indicating one ofthe other men. “His name here is Corac.”
“I’m a Gaul.” said Corwin. Ile was short and stocky. withfair skin and light brown hair. “One of the many prisoners captured in theGallic War and sent back to Rome to be sold on the block. You bought me from aslave merchant in Ostia.”
“Sgt. Andell.” said Travers, introducing the next man.
“Antoninus,” said Andell. giving his cover name, “also aGreek. from Athens. I’ve been your tutor since you were children.”
He was of average height and dark complected. with thick, curlyblack hair and a wiry, compact build. He looked older than the others, perhapsin his late forties, which meant that he was easily three times that age. aveteran soldier of the Temporal Corps. The fact that he was still only a sergeantsuggested that he must have been reduced in grade a number of times during hislong career. Delaney, whose own record for reductions in grade was unsurpassed.glanced at Andell with interest, he was either a maverick, a chronic screw up(which seemed unlikely, given his posting and the fact that he was stillalive), or somewhere along the line, he had pissed off the wrong person andmessed up his chances for promotion.
“And Cpl. Drummond.” Travers finished, introducing the lastMan.
“Drusus “ said Drummond, the youngest of the four. blond andslim, with a boyish face and green eyes. “I’m the son of slaves, born on yourfamily estate.”
He looked about seventeen or eighteen, which meant that hisactual age could be anywhere from late teens to early forties. The antiagathicsmade it impossible to tell with any accuracy. They were all regular T.O. Corps,which meant that unlike Travers, they had received the antiagathic treatmentsand were on short-term posting. A few years, at most, before they’d be turnedaround and transferred to another sector or another time period.
They sat down around the campfire. Lucas turned to Castelli.“What’s the strength of your T.O. unit in this sector?”
“A platoon,” Castelli said.
“That’s all’?”
“We’re spread kind of thin.” said Castelli. “but we can sendfor reinforcements if we run into trouble. It’ll be your call.”
“All right,” said Lucas. turning to Travers. “What’s thecurrent situation’?”
“Well. a great deal has happened since we left Egypt and Imade my last report.” said Travers. “The moment Caesar laid eyes on Cleopatra.he wanted her. And I certainly can’t blame him. She’s enough to take yourbreath away. After she came to visit him secretly in his apartment. they becamelovers and he kept her with him in the palace. That was too much for Pothinusand Ptolemy to bear It brought all the factions out into the open. Achillas. Ptolemy’sgeneral. raised a force against Caesar’s legions and Pothinus made plans toassassinate us. Caesar got wind of it and killed Pothinus, then set out todestroy the army of Achillas. He engaged them and wiped out the entire force.Ptolemy died in the battle and Caesar set Cleopatra on the throne. By the timewe left Egypt. she was pregnant with his son. Then Caesar marched againstPharnaces. son of Rome’s old enemy. King Mithridates, and drove him out ofPontus in only five days. His legions rolled right over them. It was theoccasion of his uttering the famous words. ‘I came. I saw. I conquered. Next,he led his legions into battle against the armies of Cato and Scipio. the lastof Pompey’s loyalists. He defeated them in North Africa and returned to Rome tocelebrate triumphs for his victories. But he wasn’t finished yet Pompey’s twoyoung sons. Cnaeus and Sextus. had raised an army in Spain. intending to avengetheir father. We immediately set off for Spain in order to engage them. We mettheir army at Munda. It was bloody. Over thirty thousand of the enemy werekilled. We lost a thousand men. I had several close calls. myself.
Pompey’s youngest son. Sextus. managed to escape. but Cnaeuswas killed and his head was brought to Caesar. That marked the end of the civilwar. It was also the last war that Caesar would engage in. At least, it was thelast war that he was
