With Leonardo's discovery of the quantum field, my sort were the foolhardy idiots who threw themselves off into adventures unknown. Lack of warfare, famine or short life expectancies meant that scientific endeavours occurred quicker and worked better.
Don't get me wrong, Beta Earth is not without random moments of scientific brilliance, but without the proper infrastructure they tended to explode and fizzle out. We’d had supersonic flight since the early 1800s. Beta Earth had it briefly and then it collapsed. Same with Portable Electricity Storage. They still haven’t progressed past a battery that can power a child's toy.
Which is a roundabout way of me saying that we don't tend to value weapons of war, items that promised the resurrection of a nation's Golden Age or, worst of all, a religious artefact? Along with nation building, religion had been given a stern talking to. If people wanted to believe in gods, then all well and good, but if it couldn't be proved then it wasn't to leave the front door.
As a culture no one complained about the lack of executions, tortures, persecutions or deprivations.
Dismissed, the pair of us headed out, leaving Sam to ponder on why we were recovering swords. Clio punched me on the arm.
‘Wally, you could’ve ended up on desk duty for the entire weekend.’
‘Yeah, well, I didn't, and beside which, now you owe me. First round's on you!’
#4 Julius – Beta Earth
Julius dashed out of the pub, promising Charlie he would be back in touch tomorrow to see what his initial investigations had unearthed. He ran along the pavement, and as he pulled on the door to the wine bar, a group of women spilled out. There was some laughter and gentle mocking, until Julius realised he knew them. These were some of Rebecca's friends and indeed, the last girl out of the door was Rebecca herself, who looked a lot less pleased to see him than her friends had.
‘Nice of you to turn up.’ She frowned as he leant forward to give her a peck on the cheek, then sniffed. ‘Have you been drinking?’
‘Just a quick beer with an old school friend.’ He was going to suggest introducing her but paused. Rebecca was not likely to approve of Charlie.
‘Have you been waiting long? I’m so sorry. Text me next time?’
‘Check your phone!’
Julius checked his phone and saw various missed calls and texts, all from Rebecca, and found his phone in silent mode.
‘Oops, sorry, my phone was switched to silent.’
‘Well, of course it was. I didn't think you were ignoring me.’
Rebecca enjoyed the prestige of having such a good-looking companion, but honestly, she wasn't sure if he was worth the effort. He could be interminably boring and never once paid her a compliment. On an early date, she had pressed him to say something nice about her. He told her that her hair was clean. She stopped fishing for compliments after that. They had been dating for about two months but just didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. Having a boyfriend worth showing off only went so far.
‘Shall we go in?’ Julius asked.
Rebecca's friends had stepped to one side and were waiting a few yards off, but Julius and Rebecca were still standing in front of the door.
‘Go in?’ Rebecca looked confused, and Julius gestured towards the pub.
‘Oh no. Not now. I bumped into some of the girls whilst I was waiting for you and they're off to the cinema. I said I'd go with them.’
‘Oh. Right. What's the film?’
‘“Waiting to Love You”.’
‘Isn't that the one we saw last weekend?’
‘Yes. And now I'm going to see it again.’
It seemed odd to Julius to go and watch a boring film twice, but he never quite understood Rebecca. She always seemed to be unhappy, or annoyed, or out and out cross, in his company. He wasn't even sure why they were going out, but he didn't want to be rude and ask. Anyway, now he was free to get back to the library and carry on with the Romanovs. Already distracted by the paper chase, he gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head, told her he hoped she’d have a fun time, then strode off back to the library.
Rebecca stood in front of the door, looking vexed. In her scenario, he was going to lavishly apologise and plead with her to let him make it up to her. She'd turn to her friends with a what can you do? smile, and be the envy of them all. Now, as she turned to them, she was convinced Helen was smirking. Clare was downright concerned, chiding her for being mad. She knew the girls thought she should work harder to keep him interested, but honestly, they had no idea how tiresome the absent-minded genius routine became after a few days. She didn't approve at all.
Julius pushed back from his terminal. It was 3am and he needed to sleep. Priming the small library’s alarm system, he locked up and walked home. The streets were mostly empty, bar a few stragglers from the pubs and nightclubs. The only other signs of life were the huddled forms sleeping in doorways or alleyways. Occasionally a taxi drove past, but Julius wanted the fresh air to process his thoughts.
As a professor and a long-time bona fide researcher at the museum, Julius had access to an enormous range of academic and government sources. Most were fairly pedestrian, but a while ago he had earned himself a higher security clearance level, and he could now view classified files, including an info dump of KGB and politburo figures.
A few years ago, Julius had been looking at details of a Russian train timetable. It wasn’t a classified document, just tedious, and Julius had offered to help out a colleague who was writing a paper on Soviet coal production. There was a note in the margin explaining the five-minute delay in departure. The delay was apparently due to
