Unburning Alexandria (23 page)

"Hey," Max leaned over and kissed Sierra on her side. "Looks like a beautiful day to arrive in Athens."

Sierra put the scroll down and ran her finger on Max's face. "We made good time. Nine days. I don't like being out of touch with everything that long, though," Sierra said.

"That's the way it is back here, isn't it?" Max said. "There's a lot to like about it."

"This era is one of my favorites," Sierra said. "The Roman Empire at its apex, the Western world bursting with knowledge and enthusiasm. If only we could be here as just tourists."

"Tourists are part of ordinary life," Max said. "Time travel shatters everything ordinary." He moved up to her neck and kissed her.

Sierra tightened her grip on Max, and thought, I'm being kissed by a man I saw slaughtered on the shore of the Thames in London this very year some three years ago.

[Athens, 150 AD]

Max and Sierra proceeded on the road from the Piraeus to where they hoped the structure with the chairs was recognizably standing. They repeated to each other what they already knew, just to keep their footing in a world in which their recollection was the firmest ground available. "I know the structure continued to exist at least into the 21st century," Sierra said. "I used its chairs in 399 BC to take Socrates to our future. There was a cheap restaurant and bar around the room with the chairs in our time. But I have no idea what exists around the chairs right now."

"Let's hope there's more than one chair in whatever room we find," Max said, "so we don't have to do this single-file like we did in the Library."

The architecture visible from the road gave them something new to discuss. "The Pantheon was built since the last time I was here," Sierra said, "I wish we had time to go see it. And the aqueduct, the library, and the nymphaem."

Max smiled.

Sierra stopped. "I think the structure's in that direction." She pointed to a path that branched off to the right. "But I don't recall that sarcophagus." She pointed to a marble coffin that depicted the exploits of Achilles. She and Max crossed the road to get a closer look. "Most of these memorials are closer to Eleusis," Sierra said.

Max nodded. "This looks like Roman work. It wouldn't have been here in the time of Socrates."

Sierra agreed, took Max's hand, and proceeded with him on the path which she thought would lead to the structure with the chairs. They reached what looked like a good candidate about 30 minutes later. "It's different than it was in Socrates's time, but the size is pretty much the same." The two stopped and regarded the dwelling from a safe distance, so their scrutiny of the house was not too obvious. "Jonah was here in 150 AD," Sierra suddenly recalled. "It's too bad he never described it to me."

"How about Alcibiades?" Max asked, walking a few paces ahead of Sierra and looking at the dwelling. "Did he ever describe it to you?" He turned back to face her.

Sierra winced. "No."

Max continued looking at her.

"He never described it to me," Sierra said. "I have no knowledge of his being here now in 150 AD, though it's certainly not impossible."

"He could be in that dwelling right now," Max said.

"Yes, any time traveler could," Sierra said. "Heron, Mr. Appleton . . . ."

Max considered, then pointed to a large stone a few feet away. "Let's sit and watch the dwelling and see if anyone emerges. We still have a few hours of daylight."

"If we wait until sunset, we'll have a better idea if anyone is in the dwelling," Sierra said. "We'll be able to see any interior lights."

* * *

Sierra and Max walked quietly to the dwelling as the last rays of light left the Aegean sky. They saw no light within.

"Fortunately they don't lock their doors back here," Max said, as he gently pushed a door inward. Part of the structure was open to the clouds, and a full moon was rising, which provided enough light for Max and Sierra to see that the dwelling was empty – not only of people, but of anything of interest, including chairs that could travel through time.

"They must be in use," Sierra said of the absent chairs.

"Or perhaps they no longer exist here," Max said. Then, "no, you're right of course," he said as Sierra objected. "You and Socrates took the chairs from 399 BC to 2061 AD, so of course they existed here. . . ."

"But we have no way of knowing when they will return to this specific time, or if they ever will return here at all. So you may not be so wrong after all," Sierra said in frustration.

"Jonah and the others know we're here now," Max said.

"They would be waiting for us in the future – that was the plan," Sierra said.

"And if we didn't keep our appointment? Wouldn't they come back to where we are now, to see what happened to us?" Max asked.

"I suppose so," Sierra said. "But then where are they?"

* * *

Sierra and Max walked back out into the night, and rented a room in an inn about two miles down the road. They promptly fell sound asleep, had a light breakfast of dates and watered wine the next morning, and went back to the dwelling. The outside looked as it had the night before, but the inside was different. Against the far wall was a chair.

"Can you tell exactly what time it arrived?" Max asked.

"No," Sierra said, "not on this kind of older model."

"Well, this is at least good news, right?"

"Depends on who arrived in the chair," Sierra replied.

"Yeah, but at least we have proof that the chair is still in service in this place," Max said. "So do we wait here?"

Sierra shook her head no. "It's not safe here."

"How about the Agora?" Max asked. "You told me you met all sorts of interesting people there – it's a logical place for a time traveler to go. We can keep watch in a corner and be relatively safe – it's still in business now, right?"

"Yes," Sierra said, "good idea."

The two left the dwelling, but only got slightly beyond Achilles in stone when a hooded figure from the direction of the Agora approached them on the road.

Sierra and Max drew their weapons. The hooded figure withdrew her hood. "Sierra," the android said, and nodded at Sierra and Max. "I was able to put an update into the chair in the future, to make its arrival times more precise. I thought the two of you were due here this morning."

"The winds were in our favor," Max said. "We made good time."

The android nodded again.

"You have the ability to improve the programming in the chairs?" Sierra asked the android.

The android nodded. "I learned that from you – you're the one who made the improved chairs, the first one in the Library of Alexandria, and then updates for all the others. That would be about ten years in your future."

Sierra took it in. Then reacted to the obvious. "Where is Synesius? And Jonah and his wife?"

"This is not be best place to talk, in the open like this," the android responded. "There is a taverna down the road."

* * *

Sierra was struck hard by the death of Synesius.

"With his sons and his wife gone, he was devoted to his work," the android said.

"He was devoted to
you
," Max said to Sierra, trying to be supportive.

"He knew he was to die in less than an year, whatever else was happening," the android continued, "and, actually, his death in original history may even have been in 413 AD. The only thing historians are sure of is that Synesius died before the death of Hypatia, because given how close he was to her – to you – he certainly would have written something about that, and his writings from this period have all survived as far as we know."

"I'm sick of this face!" Sierra said loudly, tears in her ears, hand grasping the bottom of her chin. Several patrons of the taverna looked at her. "I'm not Hypatia. I'm going to get back my original face as soon as I. . . ." She thought the better of completing her thought.

"As soon as you go back as Hypatia one last time to Alexandria?" Max completed the thought. "That's not going to happen."

"Why would you do that?" the android asked Sierra. "Saving Synesius now makes no sense, whatever you felt about him. Changing events publicly marked in history is dangerous, you know that. It's one thing saving someone who was not supposed to die" – she gestured to Max–

"I didn't quite die in the first place," Max said, "as far as I know."

"I know," the android said. "I was just using you as a hypothetical example. Going back in time to save you, if you had been killed before your time, which you nearly were, would be completely different than trying to alter history by preventing Synesius from dying at the time in which he was already recorded as dying."

"He might well have lived a little longer," Sierra said quietly.

"Saving Synesius is not the main reason she wants to go back to Alexandria," Max said even more quietly.

He knew the reason was that Sierra was hoping Alcibiades would yet come out of the woodwork of history to save her as Hypatia from the Nitrian fanatics. She wanted to see him at least one more time – wanted that so much that she would flagrantly risk her life for the chance. "What Synesius wanted above all else was to keep you from Alexandria in 415 AD or any time close to it and those Nitrian maniacs," Max confined himself to saying.

* * *

The three headed back to the dwelling with the chair.

"I still think there's an argument for waiting for Jonah and Ruth," Max said. The android had told them that she had no idea where the couple was or what had happened to them. He still did not trust her completely.

"It's the dime versus ten pennies choice again," Sierra said. "If we can get at least one of the scrolls safely to the future, that's better than waiting until we have in hand all that we took from the library." She did not specifically mention the
Chronica
, but hoped Max got the point.

Max nodded. "Who should go first if there's only one chair? I pick not me."

"I would say just the opposite, either one of you but not me," Sierra said.

"We are a self-effacing trio, aren't we," the android said with a sour smile. "I was just about to say either one of you, but not me. I am not human, as you know."

"You do not fear death?" Max asked the android.

The android considered. "I suppose I do. I enjoy my existence and want to continue my work."

"Well, then, you're human enough," Max said.

"Not to mention that you carry the catalog in your head, and you can defend yourself better than either one of us, if you encounter immediate hostility in the future," Sierra said.

"The same could be said if I stay here in the past," the android said.

"True, but there will be two of us here in the past and one only us in the future, until the chair is returned," Sierra said.

"With any luck, that should be instantly, right?" Max asked.

"Yes," the android said, "but whichever way we do this, one of us will be alone in the future for a brief time at the start of our journey and one of us will be alone in the past for a brief time at the end of it. The real question is where we think we're most likely to encounter Heron – here or in the future? I should be in the more dangerous place."

"Heron uses legionaries in the future?" Max asked.

"They're not dressed as legionaries, of course, but they're his legionaries," Sierra replied.

The dwelling was now in sight down the path.

"It's more dangerous in the future," Max said, "because we'll have no idea what's awaiting us there until we're there. Here, at least, we can see what's coming."

* * *

The chair was exactly where it had been a few hours earlier. The android sat and adjusted the controls to 2061 AD. They had decided on that year as a first stop because Sierra had indicated she had some firsthand knowledge of that time. "I also installed an effect-damper, so you don't need to leave the room," the android said this to Sierra. "Again, as per your improvements in the future."

The chair vanished with the android and reappeared a second later.

"So she didn't run into any trouble in the future," Sierra said.

"Unless she didn't run into any trouble for her but happily encountered trouble for us. Meaning – she's working for Heron," Max said.

"I know what you mean," Sierra said. "Look, I don't trust her completely either – that's why I didn't buttress my argument for you taking the first trip in the chair by pointing out that you have the
Chronica
."

"I got that," Max said. "So great, we both understand each other. And I suppose the next thing you're going to say is I should now get in the chair, because I carry the
Chronica
." He pulled it out of his robe. "Here, you take it. Now you're the one we most need to go to the future."

Sierra refused it. "If something goes wrong with the chair, if for some reason it doesn't come back here, I know much more about this past than you do. I am much more likely to find another chair – either here, or in Londinium, or wherever."

Max shook his head no, then suddenly pulled Sierra close. "I don't want to lose you again," he said, in a thick, ragged voice,

"I don't want to lose you either." Sierra pressed her face against Max.

"Do you promise," Max said, "if I leave you here, that you'll go to 2061 as soon as the chair returns, and not take it someplace else – like 415 AD – and then back to Alexandria?"

Sierra kissed Max deeply.

"That's good," he said, catching his breath, "but that's no answer."

"I promise," Sierra said, softly.

* * *

The chair vanished with Max. It reappeared a few minutes later. The minutes felt like hours or more to Sierra, and she had no idea why the chair was longer in returning this time.

She sat in the chair and confirmed that the destination had been correctly set. She breathed in deeply and pressed the go button. The cosmos kissed her.

She opened her eyes and breathed in the air of the future. She knew it had more irritants and pollutants than the 150 AD air she had just been breathing, but it still smelled good and familiar and like home.