Unburning Alexandria (21 page)

"That means the sea is unsafe for us," Synesius said. "There could be legionaries on the boats right now."

"I did not see any when I was there," Jonah said. "But you could be right that Heron's men are in the harbor now."

"But that does not mean we are safer here – or in the room with the chair," Max said. "Legionaries could be there right now, too."

"It seems safety eludes us in either route. It eludes us everywhere," Sierra said, sadly.

The group looked at her, waiting for a decision as to which unsafe course of action she would recommend.

"When I was a little girl, I used to wonder which incurred the lesser risk of losing money, carrying one 10-cent coin or 10 one-cent coins – one dime or ten pennies."

Jonah and the android quickly explained future coin denominations to Ruth and Synesius.

"And I could never decide which was less risky," Sierra said. "I had a greater chance of losing one of the one-cent coins - because it is harder to keep track of ten coins than it is one coin. But if I lost the 10-cent piece, I would lose it all."

"So–" Max began.

"My instinct was always and still is that the ten pennies are the safer strategy. So, as much as I hate to do this, I think we should split our party in two - if we could, I would split our party into six, with each of us taking a different path to the future. But we only have two routes to the future open to us, the chair here or the chairs in Athens. So . . . Max and I will go to the ship and Athens. The rest of you will go to the room here in the Library with the chair. It is very precise. Take it to 414 AD, and from there take a ship to Athens, where we will await you. Max and I will use the chairs in Athens to travel to 414 AD."

"That itinerary at least has the great benefit of keeping you away from Alexandria in 415, which is what I have been seeking to accomplish for the past year," Synesius said, his voice thick with emotion.

"Yes," Sierra said, and took the bishop's hand. "You have been a dear and devoted friend. As have you all," she included Jonah, Ruth, and the android in the sweep of her hand. "But you must go now, immediately, to the room with the chair. Do not stop for any reason. Do not part from one another until you are standing by the chair and the door is locked behind you."

* * *

Sierra and Max walked as quickly as they could to the harbor. "You told them to stay together not only for safety's sake, but because you think one of them is Heron's informant, and you didn't want to give him – or her – a chance to somehow pass our plans on to Heron," Max said.

Sierra nodded. "I'm 100% certain that I'm not the informant, and almost as certain that you are not, so that leaves someone in that group of four. I hope it's not the android – she has the catalog in her head. I wanted that and what you are carrying to get to the future in different ways, to increase the likelihood that at least one of them would make it through time."

The two reached the first ship that Jonah had scouted. "If Jonah is the spy, there could be legionaries waiting for us on that ship this very minute," Max said.

"There could be legionaries waiting for us on this or the other ship if Jonah is not the spy," Sierra said. "One of the other three could have sent the same information to Heron."

"Yeah," Max said. "Ok, how's this for a slightly better plan. We wait for a ship to come into the harbor, one that's at sea now. They don't have wireless or Wi-Fi or whatever the hell they might have called that in this era, so there's no way at least Heron's informant could have just contacted someone out at sea."

"True," Sierra said, "though with time traveling, there are lots of ways anyone on any ship now on the sea could have earlier received instructions from Heron about our intentions. Still . . . I think you're right that booking passage on a ship not now in the harbor is our best move at this point."

She took Max's hand and walked with him to an outcropping of rocks that gave them a good view of ships coming into the harbor of Alexandria. They sat close, keeping their eyes on the harbor, their hands together, and their thoughts on happier and unhappier times.

Chapter Twelve

[Alexandria, 150 AD]

Synesius, Jonah and Ruth, and the android walked quickly, their robes laden with scrolls, towards the room with the chair. The android reflected on the fact she that was laden with more than scrolls – her memory carried the entire catalog of the Library.

The four encountered no legionaries along the way – just Ptolemy forever pacing, tracing elliptical orbits with his feet–

"Stop!" Ptolemy said sternly. "I know what you are doing! I have eyes."

The four froze.
Is this astronomer working with Heron?
Synesius frantically thought.

The android put her hand on her weapon–

"Please," Ptolemy suddenly changed his tone to imploring and reached into his robe.

The android withdrew her weapon.

"Take this with you," Ptolemy continued and produced a scroll. "I want your world to know about this."

The android lowered her sword.

"Of course," Jonah said. He took Ptolemy's scroll and put it next to the others in his robe.

Ptolemy mumbled his thanks and returned to his pacing.

"We need to go," the android said.

The four proceeded to the room. No legionaries were in view. The android gently pushed the outer door open. The four entered the room, which was empty of people. The android locked the door. "This will at least keep us safe for a few heartbeats from anyone now in the Library who means us harm," she advised. The four proceeded to the inner room. A single chair stood as if at attention in the center.

"We need to decide who should go to the future first," Jonah said. "Might I propose Ruth?"

Ruth started to object–

"You mean to take her out of harm's way here," Synesius said, "but surely you know it could be far more dangerous in 414 AD – there could be legionaries in that future version of this room right now, waiting to greet anyone who appears in the chair with drawn swords."

"True," Jonah said. "But let us review our options. We know for a fact that there were legionaries in this room in 413 AD – they nearly killed you, as you told me. It is unlikely that they would wait a year in this room, or return to it in a year, unless they had knowledge that we would be arriving in 414 AD. But we – Ampharete – made that decision, instructed us to go to 414, just a few minutes ago. On the other hand, the two of you have been here in 150 AD, with Ampharete and Max, for a whole day now. Time enough for Heron to learn of our whereabouts – or whenabouts – and look for us here."

"I see your logic," Synesius said. "Still . . . "

"You will not come to a conclusion to this matter via logic," the android said. "There are good arguments on both sides. If that is what the two of you want," she directed this to Jonah and Ruth, "then you should go," she said this Ruth. "The worst choice is wasting time debating it now."

Ruth started to object again–

This time Jonah interrupted. "Please, go." He took her hand and spoke in Hebrew he hoped only she could understand. "I will join you soon, my sweet wife."

Ruth flung her arms around Jonah, squeezed him hard, then let go and sat in the chair.

The android unlocked the outer door and looked quickly outside. "We still seem to be undiscovered here," she returned to the inner room and reported. She closed and locked the outer door again. Then she walked to the chair in the inner room and set the arrival date for the same day of the month in 414 as it was now in 150 AD, as Sierra had instructed. "The chair will depart in 90 seconds," the android said. "I set it for automatic return to this precise time, so you need do nothing other than leave the chair and the room," she said to Ruth, who nodded and sat in the chair. The android and the two men left the inner room and closed the door behind them. All three drew weapons to combat any sudden legionary appearances outside or inside the room.

[Alexandria, 414 AD]

Ruth had traveled in chairs between 150 AD and the 410s AD before, but those chairs had been in Athens, and Jonah had traveled in an accompanying chair right beside her. This was the first time she had traveled alone and in Alexandria. But it felt the same – a kiss from the cosmos, on some part of her even deeper than her soul. And it transpired in an instant.

She opened her eyes. Heron smiled at her. The two legionaries in back of him did not.

"Stay in the chair," Heron told Ruth and leaned over the controls. "I'm sending you back one year to 413 AD, where you can tell me to travel a year forward to now, to greet and instruct you as I now am doing."

Ruth trembled with fear. "How could you be in this room when my chair arrived? I thought–"

"Hypatia Waters designed this chair, but I endeavored to improve it," Heron replied. "I fitted it with a shield that protects its surroundings from the effects of a chair arriving through time."

Heron smiled with satisfaction as the chair vanished with a wet popping sound. "I set it to go back to 150 AD after Ruth exits in 413 AD," he said to Titus and Lucius. "I expect Jonah will be here any moment."

[Alexandria, 150 AD]

Jonah, Synesius, and the android heard a sound inside the room. "That should be the chair," Jonah said. The three re-entered the inner room, weapons still drawn, and relaxed just a bit when they saw it was empty of legionaries.

"You should go next," Synesius said to Jonah.

"Yes," the android agreed and leaned over the chair to re-set it. "No," she said suddenly, and pulled back.

"What is wrong?" Synesius said.

"There is something not right with the settings," the android said.

"Is Ruth–" Jonah began.

"I have no reason to think any harm has come to her," the android. "It is just . . . I cannot be sure, because this is a slightly different kind of chair, as you know. But from what I can see in its log, the chair made two jumps through time to get back here."

"I do not understand what you are saying," Synesius said.

"I am saying the chair traveled first from 414 AD to some time between then and now, and then proceeded in a second jump to arrive back here," the android said. "But I cannot be sure."

"Why would the chair do that?" Jonah pressed. "Are you saying it is not working properly?"

"Perhaps," the android said. "Or perhaps it was deliberately set to do that."

"But why?" Jonah asked.

The android held up her hands in the very human gesture of communicating I don't know.

"Can you see in what intermediate year the chair first arrived?" Synesius asked.

The android shook her head no. "I can barely see that the chair made a two-part rather than a direct trip."

Jonah sighed, walked over to the chair, and put his hand tenderly upon it. "Could you set it as we planned to bring me to 414 AD?" he asked the android.

"Yes, but it's too dangerous," the android replied. "If the chair is malfunctioning–"

"I understand why he wants to go," Synesius said. "I would want to do the same if it was Hypatia who had just traveled to the future."

The android hesitated.

"Please," Jonah said. "Our reasons for not wanting to stay here in 150 AD with the precious scrolls we carry remain the same. We incur a greater risk by going back out in the Library and the city of Alexandria now."

Synesius nodded his agreement.

The android agreed unhappily and re-set the chair.

"Thank you," Jonah said and sat.

Synesius and the android left the room.

[Alexandria, 414 AD]

"What happened to us?" Heron asked Jonah, as Titus and Lucius kept him pinned to the chair after his arrival.

"What
happened
to us?" Jonah repeated, furiously. He struggled to break free. "I saw your true nature." Titus and Lucius increased their pressure.

"You saw what that witch Sierra painted for you," Heron said.

"Send me back to Ruth," Jonah said. "There is no point in our talking. I have nothing to tell you, and would not tell it if I did."

"I know," Heron said, and leaned over the controls.

Jonah involuntarily clutched the scrolls in his robe.

"You need not worry about those," Heron said, faux soothingly. "I'll be taking them off your hands when I see you in a moment, last year."

Heron stepped back, motioned the legionaries to release Jonah, and watched in satisfaction as the chair disappeared with a pop.

[Alexandria, 413 AD]

Ruth flung her arms around Jonah and kissed him on the lips. Jonah felt her tears on his face. "I am sorry," she said.

"She has nothing to be sorry about," Heron said.

Jonah gently stroked Ruth's face and rose from the chair. Heron, the two legionaries he had just seen in 414 AD, and two other legionaries were in the room. "You look exactly the same," Jonah blurted out to Heron.

Heron smiled. "A man doesn't change much in an hour."

"I am sorry," Ruth said again, her head against Jonah's face. "I did it because I love you."

It finally got through to Jonah that Ruth was more than Heron's prisoner here. "What do you mean?"

"She means that has been my source of information for a long time now," Heron answered for Ruth.

"I love you," Ruth said again to Jonah and touched his face. Jonah removed her hand. "I did not want you killed," Ruth continued. "But even if I had no connection to you, I would agree with your former mentor on this matter – it is wrong to tamper with time. It is dangerous, immoral."

"You agree with Heron about that?" Jonah asked in disbelief. "Heron has done more to tamper with time than any human ever alive."

"That is an ambitious statement," Heron said. "But if I have, I am now trying to stop a meddling in time that could have far worse consequences than anything I ever did."

"Bringing all of that knowledge forward to the future will have unforeseen consequences," Ruth said to Jonah. "You have said so to me many times."

"Yes," Jonah said, "but I also said some of those consequences could be wonderful – could make the future a much better world, one which benefits from knowledge otherwise lost in the past."