sphere stolen? Then, in your infinite wisdom, you sent out a team to recover the sphere, hoping to utilize its abilities for yourself, and somehow magically make the world a better place?”
“You make it sound almost… wrong, but to answer your question, no, that was not actually the plan. Did you or Varus understand the part about how the sphere affects those who spend too much time around it?”
I thought about it. “Actually… no, that didn’t come up.”
Vincent huffed. “Well, our historians learned that there were some who, when in direct and constant contact with the sphere, developed interesting symptoms revolving around intense paranoia, Tourette Syndrome, dementia. These people were borderline insane, and prone to random acts of physical violence. Others who came into contact with it showed no affects at all. Sound familiar?”
I didn’t flinch at his paternal tone. “No.”
“I thought so. That information was in the notes. Now, think here for a second. Intelligence agencies reported Abdullah as a rational man prior to the attack on the Vatican, a man low on their priority list, because he was never pegged as one who would actually do anything crazy. But what does he do a year later after the museum robbery? He causes one of the most atrocious acts of terrorism the world has ever seen. And remember the condition we found him in? He was crazy. By the way, I want to add something to your ever-expanding theory on time travel.”
I nodded, feeling excited, rather than annoyed.
“In our history, when nothing happened, you said the ball was packed up and lost to history, right?”
“It’s a possibility, yes,” I answered.
“‘A possibility’?” He repeated with a smirk. “Well, here’s my theory: what if it sat on Caligula’s nightstand for months, or even years, before it was lost?”
I stopped dead in my tracks. I couldn’t believe what he was saying, because it made perfect sense. The sphere is a part of our history, and may have indeed become a trinket of Caligula’s when it seemed to serve no purpose. If its negative side effects were true, it would definitely explain how Caligula really slipped towards madness, as well as how it became worse and worse over his short reign.
“I must say, sir, your theory is compelling. If you’re right, then I think it’s especially important to find out where the sphere is now. Actually,” I corrected, “we need to find out where both of them are.”
“I know. I’ve been thinking about that as well, but I have no idea where they could be. Hopefully, they’re locked away in a vault somewhere back in Rome.”
I considered that for a moment. I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. When we found them, we needed to destroy them. Even if we could find a way for them to return us to our original place on the timeline, home might not be how we remembered it anymore. We’d need to fix that first, too.
“You still haven’t answered my question as to your motives behind us arriving here,” I reminded him, not letting him off that easy.
Vincent stopped, and sat down on a large stone near the porta decumana, while I continued to stand near him. I looked up at the rampart and saw Helena standing on the platform, performing her guard duties. She noticed us beneath her and raised a questioning hand. I waved her off and turned back to Vincent who, meanwhile, had picked up a stick and started drawing lines in the dirt like an eight year old.
He took another long breath before continuing. “We weren’t supposed to end up in ancient Rome,” he said shaking his head distractedly as he admired his sand drawings. “We had no idea as to the context of what the document meant. The Pope hoped to bring the sphere back and study it, and maybe utilize it to help, but only if it could have been done safely, in a controlled way. The Pope’s first team was really commissioned to look for the sphere. It had been unsuccessful so far, which is why our second team was created, to help in that search, while simultaneously eliminating terrorist threats.”
I frowned. “Was McDougal in on it?”
“Of course. He was the one who came up with the plan to provide additional supplies for teams who had a direct lead on the sphere. He knew that when dealing with something unknown that anything can happen and he wanted us ready for anything. That’s why we were given the supply cache. Just in case.”
I looked at him suspiciously. “What about me?”
Vincent must have known I’d ask about that because he didn’t hesitate. “We had no idea you would be the key to getting us here. Honestly, we didn’t, but you were chosen for reasons other than the ones you were told. We knew the document was written in Etruscan, so chances were it had something to do with antiquity. We knew you were studying the classics before enlisting in the military, and thought it would be a good idea to recruit you. You’d be surprised to learn there aren’t very many military men with the eclectic educational background that you have. I guess we got lucky, but I was just as surprised as you were when we ended up beneath that temple.” He paused for a second. “There’s… more.”
I waited expectantly, folding my arms across my chest.
Vincent continued. “We’re under orders to do all that we can to aid the regime in power, to help maintain peace and stability in whatever region we find ourselves in, for as long as possible.” He paused again. “I was ordered to get involved. To… tweak things. Make them better. When we arrived here, I thought our luck couldn’t have been better. Caligula showed such promise.”
I threw my hands in the air, anger brewing deep inside my chest, and started walking in a small circle. “You can’t be fucking serious! What about the church? Christianity? The Pope, for God’s sakes?! What about our Goddamned timeline?! Didn’t you think about Charlemagne, Muhammad, Genghis Khan, King Henry VIII, Admiral Yamamoto… I dunno… Marilyn Fucking Monroe!?! Didn’t you for one second think you might change all that?”
“Think about it, Jacob,” he replied calmly, glancing around at the suspicious looks legionnaires had turned after my outburst. “Jesus has already died and risen. Most of our institution’s background is just starting to establish itself as we speak, but in the East. No matter what we do here, things won’t slow down over there. And think about Caligula. Does he seem like the kind of man who would persecute and destroy a population based on their faith like Nero?”
I thought about that. Caligula seemed far from that kind of man. He had the confidence and arrogance of any Caesar, but he was compassionate, caring, intelligent, and furthermore, a leader. He would have no problem with Christians.
I still couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How could one so willingly try to change the past? The ramifications were unfathomable. Just because we thought we were doing the right thing didn’t mean things would turn out for the better. Things could turn out worse. We had no idea which.
I turned my back on Vincent, put my hands on my hips, and looked at the ground. This was stupid. We were messing with shit no man had the right to mess with. We had no right to screw with the lives of all those who lived between 37 and 2021 A.D. I looked up at the rampart to see Helena leaning over the rail, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.
I turned back to Vincent. “I can’t believe this. I really can’t. So what do you suggest we do now?”
“Now? We continue what we’re doing. We help Caligula retain his throne, and protect him as long as we can. Maybe help push him in the right direction. I understand Claudius was a far better emperor than Caligula had been in our original time, but it’s obvious something has gone wrong with him, so we need to preserve Caligula. Here’s another question I want you to think about. What else did Praetorians do besides protect their emperor, at least after Augustus?”
What else did they do? Was that a trick question? The only other thing I could think of was that they actually assassinated their emperors when they weren’t protecting them. What did that have to do with -
Ah.
“They had a very influential say in who became the next emperor,” I answered.
“Right. Damage to their loyalty has already been done during Tiberius’ reign, but we know that the Praetorians were completely loyal to Augustus. What if they became the stalwart protectors they were designed to be once again? We may be dealing with a Praetorian rebellion here, but if Caligula is able to reestablish control, I have to assume there will be a cleansing of the guard.”
“So, your plan is to stop the precedent of Praetorians controlling the ascendancy of the emperors? Make them into a dedicated bodyguard unit who merely complied, did their duty, and followed orders?”
“I think that would have an interesting effect on history. We’re already seeing evidence that it could be possible with Caligula’s Sacred Band. Three hundred loyal men can go a long way for an emperor.”
That they could. The historian inside me was screaming right now. One side told me to preserve our history,
