The Cleopatra Crisis

3

The outskirts of Rome, April 30, 44 B.C.

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 antemeridiem (before the middle of the day) and the second six post meridiem

(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 supposed to engage in.”

“What do you mean by that’?” asked Lucas.

“I’m coming to that.” said Travers. “Caesar didn’t want to revivethe ancient Roman kingship, because the people equated that with tyranny. sothe title he chose for himself was dictator, like Sulla before him. This way,he could be periodically reappointed to the post. which at least gave thesemblance of senatorial control in a republican government. But recently, he’shad himself made dictator for life, with the title of Imperator. That wasalmost the same thing as naming himself king. A lot of people didn’t take itwell.

“Back when we first returned to Rome and he celebrated a triumphhonoring his victory over Pompey’s sons, it made him more than a few enemies.”continued Travers as they warmed themselves around the fire. It’s one thing tocelebrate victory over barbarians or foreign kings, but when you destroy thechildren of one of the greatest men of Rome and honor it with a triumph, you’regoing to upset a few people. He realized that and tried to make up for it byordering Pompey’s statues put back up after some of the pro-Caesar mobs, mostlycomprised of Caesar’s soldiers, tore them down. He held public feasts,distributed corn to the masses, and staged chariot races and gladiatorialcombats. His old bread and circuses routine, playing to the masses. It workedfor him before and it worked for him again. The only difference was, now hecould afford it.

“He established a number of new colonies, in Italy as wellas in Carthage and in Corinth. He settled thousands of the soldiers who’dserved with him during all those years. rewarding them with land in theirretirement, as well as many of the city’s unemployed. Which means that if heever has to raise an army quickly, all he needs to do is call on the colonies.Men who once had nothing but are now landowners, thanks to him, will remainunquestioningly loyal. He gave out consulships and praetorships left and rightand increased the Senate rolls from six hundred to nine hundred. installing hissupporters so now he virtually controls the Senate. He even pardoned some ofhis enemies. notably Brutus and Cassius. He gave them praetorships, despitetheir opposition to him in the civil war. He told me he did it so he could keepan eye on them. After all, the oracle told him to beware of them. The way hesaid it. I couldn’t tell if he was joking or if he was serious. He tendsto have mood swings and he can be hard to read sometimes. He’s also used someof the wealth he acquired from the wars to construct the Basilica Julia and theJulian Forum, as well as the Temple of Venus Genetrix. the goddess of hisfamily. And beside the statue of Venus. he’s set up a gilded bronze statue ofCleopatra. which has raised more than a few eyebrows. She’s in Rome now, withher son, Caesarian. He’s set her up in her own house, complete with slaves andall the luxuries. He visits her every day. He’s talking about divorcingCalpurnia and marrying her.”

“But I thought Caesar never married Cleopatra,” Andre said.

“No. he didn’t,” Travers replied. “But he’s mentioned it tome several times now and I think he’s serious. The people will overlook hiskeeping her as his mistress, but if he divorces a woman of a wealthy andinfluential Roman family in order to many a foreigner. they’ll turn againsthim. But Caesar doesn’t seem to care. Cleopatra exerts a powerful influence onhim. She’s the one who was behind a lot of the autocratic changes that he’smade and she caters to his ego, feeding it and his ambition. Why not surpass Alexander?Why not become a monarch, the ruler of the world? Busts of Caesar are beingdistributed all over Rome and throughout the provinces. He’s had coins struckwith his own image on them and the slogan. ‘DICT. PERPETUO’-perpetualdictator-the first time the portrait of a living Roman has ever appeared on thecoinage. And now he’s talking about raising legions once again to invadeParthia and avenge Crassus, then pressing on into the Orient. as Alexander did.”

“Only he was assassinated before he could accomplish allthat,” said Delaney.

“Yes,” Travers replied somberly, as if the thought disturbedhim. “He was. History says that he grew careless and disregarded all the signs.Some historians have even ventured the opinion that he actually wantedto die, because his health was failing and he couldn’t bear the thought ofgrowing old. But I’ve lived with him for years now and I know that man as wellas I know myself. he suffers periodic fits of epilepsy. but he’s lived withthat for years. He doesn’t want to die. He wants to be immortal. He’s fifty-sixyears old and he wants one last hurrah. The only reason he ignored the rumorsof conspiracies against his life was because his ego simply wouldn’t allow himto believe that anyone would seriously want to kill him. he had restored peaceand prosperity to Rome and introduced a stable government. Without him, he wasconvinced that it would all fall apart As he once said to Cleopatra, ‘I amRome.’ And so he didn’t take proper precautions. Only now, all that ischanging. And Cleopatra is responsible.”

“How?” asked Lucas.

“In about two weeks, it will be the Ides of March and Caesaris supposed to be assassinated,” Travers said. “According to history, asoothsayer was supposed to have warned him to ‘Beware the Ides of March,’ butCaesar never took him seriously. But now, all he talks about is Lucan’sprophecy. He’s well aware that the fateful day is drawing near. He toldCleopatra about what Lucan said to him. ‘That which was concealed shall standrevealed.’ He believes that statement referred to Cleopatra. She was concealedin a roll of carpet that they use for bedding when she was smuggled into hisapartment at the palace. and when her slave Apollodorus unrolled it, she stoodrevealed. Caesar told her that he knew she was his ‘guiding omen’ the moment hesaw her, and she’s done nothing to disabuse him of that notion. Not only hasshe been encouraging him in his plans for new conquests and greater glory, she’sprevailed upon him to employ a bodyguard, as well. An Egyptian bodyguard, madeup of soldiers she’s brought with her. because the oracle had told him that hewould die at the hands of those he thought his friends. Caesar had once employeda personal guard of Spaniards. but he dismissed them because he thought it wasn’tgood for appearances to have a bodyguard, much less one made up of foreigners.Now he’s got an Egyptian one. That’s an anomaly. They don’t belong in thisscenario. And there’s something very strange about those Egyptians.”

You think they might be agents from the parallel universe’?”asked Delaney.

Travers shook his head. ‘1 don’t know. Either they are, orshe is.”

“Cleopatra?” said Lucas.

“I think it’s possible.” said Travers, gazing at themseriously. “She has a tremendous amount of influence over Caesar. I’ve beengiving it a lot of thought. What if she’s my counterpart from the paralleluniverse? A sort of L.T.O., a mole infiltrated into this timeline with thespecific purpose of creating a temporal disruption. Her mission could have beento seduce Caesar and bear his son. Maybe Caesarian isn’t even his son. Shemight have been already impregnated with a male fetus when she met Caesar. Possiblyone that’s been genetically tailored. What would happen if Caesar didn’t die?What would happen if he added to Rome’s conquests and dramatically increasedits territories? What would happen if Cleopatra prevailed on him to nameCaesarian instead of Octavian as his heir? And Caesarian was someone the S.O.G.could control? It would completely change the course of history. Octavian wouldnever become Caesar Augustus. Tiberius would never become Emperor, nor wouldCaligula or Claudius or Nero. It could change the entire course of civilization!”

“o you have anything solid to base your suspicions on or isthis just a hunch?” asked Delaney.

Travers shook his head. “I tell you. I don’t know, but somethingis very definitely wrong. Those Egyptians simply don’t belong here. And theirpresence has not been taken well. Caesar even brings them into the Senate withhim. It’s increased the animosity toward him, which on one hand is all to thegood, I suppose, but on the other hand, he’s become more cautious, more aloof,and more determined than ever to do things his way, come hell or high water. “

“You’re concerned about him, aren’t you?” Andre said.

Travers glanced at her and grimaced. “Yes. I suppose I am.Funny, isn’t it?”

“You got too close,” said Delaney. “You allowed yourself toget involved.”

“Listen, you study a man for half your life and then livewith him, go through several wars with him. especially a charismatic man likeCaesar. and you try not to get involved,” said Travers. “The man’s become myfriend. You understand that? I’ve made him the subject of my life’s work and I’vegotten to know him as well as anybody knows him. It’s hard not to like a manlike Caesar Yes, he’s ambitious and he’s arrogant. but great men always are. He’salso capable of kindness, and loyalty, and devotion. It’s not for nothing thathis legions idolize him. He’s larger than life. Intelligent. incrediblycourageous, inspirational. One of the greatest men who ever lived-And I have tomake sure that he gets murdered.”

Travers took out his Roman dagger and stared at thefoot-long, lethal blade. “Can you imagine what it’s like to be stabbed withsomething like this? Twenty-three times. Twenty-three times, they’re going toplunge daggers like this into his body. And not only am I helpless to doanything about it. I’ve got to make certain it gets done.”

“No. Travers.” Lucas said. “We’ve got to make certainit gets done.”

“Evening. John.”

John Marshall froze as he entered the dark bedroom of hishouse near the east bank of the Tiber. The voice had spoken in English and itsounded vaguely familiar. He lifted the oil lamp he carried in his hand. He wasable to make out a dark figure sitting on his bed.

“Who are you?” he asked tensely, coming closer. Hedid not recognize the man.

“Someone who once saved your ass from the Spanish Inquisition.”

“My God. Steiger?”

“Long time no see, John. Sorry if I ruined your evening. Isent the girl away. Told her I was an old friend of yours and wanted tosurprise you. Little young for you, wasn’t she?”

“Jesus. What the hell are you doing here? I never would’verecognized you. You changed your face.”

Steiger’s hair was dark now and cosmetic surgery had dramaticallyaltered his appearance. Not even his own mother would have recognized him. “Yes.I got tired of the old one. Actually, the situation called for a differentlook.

“You’re on the lam? I don’t believe it. You tied up with theNetwork?”

“You know about the Network?”

“Of course I know about the Network. But I never thought you’dget yourself involved with them.”

“I didn’t. I’m still with the agency.”

“You’re on assignment? But I thought the covert fieldsection was disbanded.”

“For someone who’s several thousand years out-of-date, youmanage to keep up pretty well.”

“Come on. We’ve got our channels, you know that.”

“Yes. I know. That’s how I found you. You’ve done prettywell for yourself since I last saw you. Nice place you’ve got here.”

“What do you want. Steiger’? You here to bust me, is thatIt?”

“Now is that any way to talk after all the years we’ve knowneach other?”

“Yeah. but like you said, it’s been a long time and thingschange. Stop rattling my chain, Creed. What do you want?”

“I need your help, John. Just like old times. remember?”

“I’m out of it now, Creed. I turned my back on all that.

“You can never turn your back on it. John. You know that.

“Damn you. I’m just trying to live a quiet. peaceful life.”

“Peaceful? Staging gladiator fights, beast baiting, andchariot races in the arena? But I guess that doesn’t count. huh? What the hell,it’s only show business, right? I gather it pays well. Lets the noble Marcianbuy young teenage girls like the one I just sent out of here.”

“Where the hell do you get oil, judging me? Especially aftersome of the shit you’ve pulled.”

Steiger held up his hands. “Okay. Forget it. So my handsaren’t exactly clean, either. I guess I’m still sore about you going over tothe Underground. You were a damn good agent, John. We can’t afford to losepeople like you.”

“Yeah, and I can’t afford to die. either,” Marshall said,setting down the lamp on a small table and sitting down in a chair next to it. “Iwas getting pressure from the Network. Either you’re with us or against us. Andyou know what happened to people who tried to buck the Network.”

“I bucked ’em and I’m still around.”

“Yeah, well, you always were a cowboy. You and Carnehan. Thesuper spooks. Me. I got old and tired. I got slow. So I took early retirement.”

He pressed something on the table and a hidden drawer poppedout. Steiger instantly had a laser pistol in his hand.

“Hold it, John.”

“Take it easy, for God’s sake!”

“Whatever’s in there, take it out slowly.”

Marshall produced a pack of cigarettes. “Satisfied’?”

Steiger grinned and lowered the pistol.

“You want one?”

“Don’t mind if I do. What happens if one of your slavescomes in and catches us smoking?”

Marshall lit one up and tossed the pack to Creed. “My slavesknow what’s expected of them. They don’t come up here unless they’re told to. I’mstill a careful man. Creed.”

“Yeah, but you’re slipping. I got in here with no sweat.”

“How the hell did you get in’?”

“Came down from the roof.”

“You see? I told you I’m getting slow.”

He held out the lamp for Creed to light his cigarette.

“So. You going to tell me what you’re doing here?”

“I’m on a covert mission. We may have a potential temporaldisruption on our hands.”

“You part of an adjustment team?”

“No, but there’s been one clocked back here. Delaney.Priest, and Cross. You know them?”

“I’ve heard of them. I also heard that Priest bought it inAfghanistan.”

Not exactly,” Steiger said. “But that’s a long story.”

“So they sent in the first string, huh? Must be pretty big.Where do you fit in?”

“Sort of unofficial backup. Undercover.”

“Meaning they don’t know you’re here.” Marshall grinned. “Youhaven’t changed. Still the same old cowboy. What’s going down?”

“I’m not exactly sure. but it has to do with Caesar.”

Marshall exhaled heavily. That is big. What’ve you got?”

Steiger briefly told him what he knew. Marshall listenedsilently. not saying anything till he was finished.

“And this L.T.0.. Travis?”

“Travers.”

“Right. He thinks it’s going to center around Caesar’sassassination?”

“That’s my guess.”

“What do you mean, it’s your guess?”

“I mean I haven’t spoken to the man. All I’ve got is thefirst report he made of a possible anomaly involving Caesar.”

“You mean the oracle.

“That’s right. Travers sent up the balloon and the team wentout. but I’ve had no contact with him, so I don’t really know what the latestintelligence is. Caesar’s supposed to die in about two weeks. That’s got to bethe focus of the disruption.”

“You think the S.O.G. is going to try to prevent theassassination.”

“It would make for a hell of a disruption.” Steiger said. “Itwould probably bring about a timestream split. I think this is going to be arough one. The old man didn’t approve of contacts between the agency and theUnderground, but I’ve been trying to convince him he was wrong about that. We’regoing to need all the help we can get from now on.”

“What made Forrester change his mind?”

“He hasn’t. At least, not yet “

“So what are you telling me? Ile doesn’t know about what you’redoing here’?”

“Not officially. I’m supposed to be on R amp; R. He knows whatI’m doing, but no one else does.”

“I get it. You fall down on this one, your ass is wide openand his is covered.”

“Something like that.

“And you wonder why I decided to get out.”

What can you tell me about Caesar?”

“That you don’t already know? Probably nothing.”

“What do you mean, probably nothing?”

“Just what I said. What do you think. I’m on his dinnerinvitation list?”

“But you’re the local impresario around here,” Steiger said.“Hasn’t he been staging chariot races and fights?”

“Well, yeah, but you don’t think I deal with the mandirectly. do you? he’s the Emperor. for Christ’s sake.”

“Who do you deal with?”

“Lately, it’s been mostly Antony.”

“Marc Antony?”

“That’s right.” said Marshall. “It’s not always him inperson, though. Most of the time. I work through intermediaries. He’s animportant man.”

“Can you get me an introduction’?”

Marshall sighed. “I guess I could try. Damn it. I thought Iwas through with all of that. Why the hell couldn’t you leave me alone? You’regoing to get me killed, you know that?”

“I’ll try to keep you out of it as much as possible.” saidSteiger. “All I need is a connection. And a base of operations.”

“Here?”

“Partly. but I’d also like to arrange a safe house. Whatwould you recommend?”

“I own some apartments in a tenement block in the Argiletum.a shopping district near the Subura district. Not exactly your luxuryaccommodations, but I could set you up in one of those.”

“Oh. so you’re a slumlord, too?”

“Give me a break. Steiger. I’m trying to cooperate because Iowe you.”

“What, not for old tunes’ sake?”

“Well. maybe that. too And I’ve also got a life-style toprotect here. I don’t want a temporal disruption any more than you do.”

“Okay. An apartment will do fine.”

“You’ll need money, I suppose.”

“I’ve got some, but a little more can’t hurt.”

Marshall nodded. “All right. Anything you need, just say theword But there’s one condition. This is strictly between you and me. I don’twant that adjustment team involved. I don’t want them knowing about me.Otherwise, all bets are off.”

“That goes without saying. John.”

“Okay. I just wanted to make sure we understand each other.What about your cover?”

“What would make me interesting to Antony?”

“He likes chariot racing.”

“A betting man?”

“Obsessive.”

“Good. Why not say I’m a breeder of racing horses? And I’vetrained charioteers. You’ve bought strings from me in the past. Where should Ibe from’?”

Marshall thought a moment. “Ilerda. in Nearer Spain. Thatwould make you a provincial and no one would be likely to ask you any detailedquestions about where you’re from. You could always say you’ve never venturedvery far from your farm out in the country, by the Ebro.”

“So what brings me to Rome? A business deal?”

“Let’s say I’m contemplating purchasing your entireoperation, leaving you run it. of course. and I’ve invited you here in order todiscuss it.”

“That would work.” Steiger grinned. “Almost like old times,isn’t it?”

“Too much like old times, if you ask me.” Marshall repliedsourly.

“When’s the next race coming up’?”

“As a matter of fact. I’ve got several teams entered in onetomorrow.-

“Will Antony be there?”

“He never misses a race if he can help it.”

“Good. What are the chances of putting in a fix?”

“You want me to fix a chariot race?” said Marshall with disbelief.You realize I could get the death penalty for that’?”

“Only if you got caught,” said Steiger.

Marshall sighed. “Hell. I suppose it could be arranged.”

Steiger smiled. “You haven’t changed much, either, have you?”

“A man does what he can. You’re planning to take Antony?”

“For a bundle.” Steiger said. “What better way to get toknow a man than to have him owe you money?”