old man shook his head, frustrated with his foggy recall. ‘He used words that made little sense to us all. Words… I am trying to remember, but…’ Paulus looked down at the hands in his lap. ‘Strange words… like…’ He looked up at Maddy. ‘That word you spoke a minute ago?’
‘Which word?’
‘The name of the place you said you came from.’
‘ America? ’
Paulus played with the word on his lips. Whispered it slowly to himself several times then finally nodded. ‘That is the word, I believe. The voice… he told us they had come to show us the Ameri-can-way.’
Sal, listening without the benefit of buds, picked that phrase out of the exchange in Latin. ‘Did he just say the “American way”?’
Maddy looked at Liam and Sal. ‘Some Americans came here? My God!’
‘Americans?’ Sal’s mouth hung open. ‘Shadd-yah! Remember that man? Cartwright?’
Cartwright. Maddy remembered him all too well; the classic X-Files type: dark suit and a bad smoking habit. He’d turned up out of the blue, knocking on their roller-shutter door. He and his top-secret agency, an agency apparently so secret even presidents had no knowledge of it. An agency spawned into existence by the discovery of a mere fragment of flint. She shook her head. A mere ‘breadcrumb’ left in time by Liam… and it had brought men in suits and dark glasses to their door, filled the sky above them with circling helicopters.
‘It’s possible, Sal. Thing is, we’ve got no idea who else in the future has got their hands on a time machine. It’s — ’
‘What are you two saying?’ asked Crassus.
Maddy listened to the Latin in her ear. ‘I’m sorry. We were discussing what your friend just said. The Visitor’s message.’
She turned to Paulus. ‘So, what happened next?’
‘Caligula descended into the arena. He approached them. We were all in fear of our lives. There was panic. But Caligula, I remember this so well… he was calm, almost as if he’d always expected something like this would happen. He spoke to them. Then he stepped aboard their giant chariot. The chariot ascended into the sky — ’
Crassus huffed. ‘There are so many different accounts. That a host of white horses suddenly appeared from beneath the chariot and carried it up. That the ghosts of all those who’d ever died in the arena emerged from the dirt and — ’
‘I heard it was a flood of water sprites that carried it up,’ said Fronto. ‘Beautiful sea-maidens with long silver hair and the most perfect — ’
Cato rolled his eyes at the soldier’s vulgar fancy. ‘Quiet.’
‘Anti-grav thrusters,’ rumbled Bob quietly.
Maddy nodded. Clouds of dust and debris kicked up by some craft taking off. She smiled encouragingly at the old senator. ‘Please… carry on.’
‘The emperor was carried back to his palace on the Palatine,’ continued Paulus. ‘And the next day he announced in the forum that he was to become God. That the Visitors had come to tell him this and that he must now spend every moment of his time in preparation for that role. That one day he was going to ascend to Heaven and rule Rome
… and the whole world from there.’
‘Caligula’s madness became worse. It had a purpose,’ said Cicero. ‘The purges. The mass crucifixions. His twisted new religion. From that day it all began.’
‘What about them Visitors, those chariots?’ asked Liam. ‘What happened to that lot?’
‘There are stories from some who say they saw them a few times after that,’ said Crassus. ‘The Visitors, that is. Caligula showing them some of the city.’
‘The chariots?’
Crassus shrugged.
‘They were never seen again,’ said Paulus. ‘I have sometimes wondered whether I actually saw some sort of trick arranged by Caligula. A chariot lowered into the arena by some concealed device.’
There was silence for a moment. The atrium of Crassus’s home echoed with the sound of his household slaves preparing food out in his courtyard.
‘But the Stone Men are very real,’ said Cato. ‘And dangerous. Caligula has made sure to demonstrate that very publicly. The question we have to ask is do you think your Stone Man could best Caligula’s guards?’
Maddy shrugged. ‘Possibly.’
‘Even to distract them for a moment,’ said Cato. ‘That’s all. A moment when I am close enough to him. Enough time to strike him down. That’s all I need.’
‘That’s possible,’ she replied. ‘But in exchange we need some help.’
Crassus leaned forward. ‘Go on.’
‘Those chariots… we need to find them. Are they somewhere in Rome still?’
Crassus shook his head. ‘Nothing from that day apart from the Stone Men has ever been seen again.’
‘But,’ cut in Cato, ‘there are places in the palace that Caligula will allow absolutely no one to go.’ The others looked at him. Maddy suspected that was information new to them. ‘He’s given very specific instructions to me on the deployment of the Palace Guard. There are places only he can go.’
‘Big enough to hide these chariots?’
‘The imperial compound is vast. But in the palace itself… yes. I’ve seen a reinforced doorway guarded by Stone Men. Perhaps in there you might find something.’
Maddy stroked her chin thoughtfully for a moment. ‘All right, then. Perhaps we can help each other out.’
Cato turned to look at Crassus and the others. Silent nods from them all.
Sal tapped her arm gently. ‘Any chance you’re going to tell me what we’ve just agreed to?’
CHAPTER 45
AD 54, Rome
The two senators left for their townhouses in the Greek district. Atellus returned to his legion stationed outside the city.
Maddy and Liam sat with Cato in the shade of a portico watching Macro and Fronto sparring with Bob in the courtyard with wooden training swords. Crassus chortled and Sal hooted with delight at the centurion and ex- centurion’s failed attempts to score a touch on Bob’s torso.
‘Your Stone Man is so fast,’ said Cato.
‘Very,’ said Maddy.
‘He’s saved my life many times over,’ added Liam. ‘One-man army, he is.’
‘Tell me.’ Cato sat forward. ‘What language is that you use, when you speak quietly?’
‘You mean when we whisper to ourselves?’
‘Yes.’
She laughed. ‘You must think we’re totally mad, talking to ourselves.’
Cato splayed his hands apologetically. ‘It’s a very odd thing you do.’
Liam reached up to his ear. ‘Shall we show him?’
Maddy nodded. ‘Might as well.’
He pulled out his babel-bud and handed it to Cato. ‘You’d better explain how it works,’ he said to her.
‘This little device translates our language, which is called English, into Latin.’
Cato turned the small flesh-coloured bud over in his fingers. ‘It actually speaks words to you?’
‘Yes. In our ear. It hears what we say quietly in English and gives us the correct Latin phrase to say.’
He frowned as he looked at it. ‘Do you mean to say it is… this device can understand the meaning of what is said to it?’
‘Yes. There’s a thing called a computer in there. A bit like a mind, I suppose. An artificial one. It’s an engineered thing.’
Cato’s eyes widened. ‘This province of yours with such advanced devices… how is it possible that no one has
