‘Ready?’
I nodded. We both tapped in the recall code, and then she was gone. Five seconds later, so was I.
#2 Julius- Beta Earth
Julius Strathclyde glanced up from his desk as someone loudly proclaimed their arrival at the far end of the Fitzwilliam Museum’s acquisitions department. Julius could only think of one person so lacking in the social conventions of the workplace: Charles Bradshaw. If Julius hadn't gone to school with him they’d probably never have been friends, they were so chalk and cheese. He smiled inwardly, thanking fate. Charlie might be colossally annoying at times, but he was still his best friend. It was just that, as always, his timing was appalling.
He sighed as he checked his watch. There were three more box files to catalogue, and he was looking forward to a particularly knotty issue of provenance in the second box. There was no way Charlie was just going to sit quietly and wait whilst he did that. Hopefully he was simply popping by to say hello.
‘Julie, my boy!’ Charlie slapped his hands on the desk, causing other researchers to glare in annoyance. ‘Come on, I'm here to spring you from your dungeon.’
Julius rolled his eyes. Charlie was a bright guy, so why couldn’t he remember how much he detested that nickname? However, Julius was due to go for drinks with Rebecca later on. If he got stuck into the catalogues now, he might lose track of time, and Rebecca didn't approve of tardiness. Losing track of time showed a lack of foresight. If you knew something was going to be interesting, she believed, then you should allot more time to it. Julius' problem was that he never knew what was going to be interesting until he opened the box. If he went for a drink with Charlie now, he wouldn’t get lost in his research and let Rebecca down. After telling Charlie to pipe down, he filled in the chits saying the boxes remained uncatalogued, then sent them back to the stacks.
Julius had come to Cambridge to get his degree, and stayed for his fellowship and doctorate. Primarily, he was a research professor at Emmanuel College; his field of study was theology and philosophy of religions, with a specialism in folklore. It paid well enough for his needs, but he supplemented his wage by working part time in the Fitzwilliam as an archivist in the acquisitions department. The money was okay, but he would have been just as happy to do the work for free. There was no better way to spend his time than sat at a desk tracking down a footnote or establishing a provenance. He secretly thought of himself as an Indiana Jones of the library stacks.
He laughed, thinking about his school friend, who was more an Indiana Jones figure in real life. Charlie was a freelancer working for a variety of prestigious museums. He would go out into the field, purchasing various items or travelling with certain collections. His portfolio was loose enough that he never got bored. There was one principal difference between the two men; Charlie went out and acquired the stuff from the darkest corners of the globe, while Julius waited until someone placed it in front of him.
As the two men stepped out onto the street, they were almost immediately run down by a pod of cyclists. In the narrow mediaeval streets of Cambridge, a bicycle was easily the quickest way to get around, and indeed most of the buses and lorries had been banned from the centre of town.
Walking along the street, they attracted the usual second glances from giggling students and tourists alike. Normally, Charlie would preen, knowing the world was his oyster. A tall, blond former rower, he regularly turned heads with his good looks and a cheerful smile. Standing next to Julius though, he couldn't guarantee the looks were meant for him. There was no getting away from the fact that Julius was a particularly handsome man.
When he had first joined school, his blue eyes had peeked out from below a dark floppy fringe. Yet the soft winsome features of a boy sharpened as he became a teenager, and his bone structure solidified into something you could chisel. In Charlie's eyes, Julius’s only redeeming features were that he was rubbish at sport, and had absolutely no comprehension of his own appearance.
Julius believed what he looked like was completely irrelevant. If anything, at times it could be a misleading hindrance. He’d noticed early on in his studies that people didn't take him quite as seriously as some of the other scholars. He remembered hearing a female model once complaining that no one listened to her because of her looks. He had promptly bought her a drink, and the two of them had got into a lengthy debate on string theory. His friends had hoped that may have been the start of something beautiful, but there had been no chemistry, just academic attraction. Indeed, they still kept in touch, but only to discuss latest theories or discoveries.
Julius had begun to walk towards the King's Arms, a rowdy sports pub that Charlie favoured, when Charlie suggested the Old Fox instead. They made their way to a quiet corner of the pub, then Julius ordered two pints of beer and some pork scratchings before the pair of them settled down into the booth.
‘So Julie, how's it hanging? It's been months since I saw you.’
Julius mumbled non-committedly. No matter how interested Charlie was, he had something he wanted to tell Julius about. Julius loved to hear his friend’s adventures come to life. As he had chosen the Old Fox, he obviously had a good tale to tell, so Julius settled down to be entertained. Sure enough, having mentioned his plans for the weekend with Rebecca, Charlie nodded, then with great enthusiasm he promptly started to talk about himself.
‘The new exhibition? It's fascinating. I helped curate that when it opened in Rome. Well worth a visit. Check out the priest's head-piece.
