Chapter Ten

[Alexandria, 413 AD]

"The legionaries are moments away," the slave said, sharply, as Sierra and Synesius hugged.

"Follow me," Sierra said, as Max and Synesius exchanged quick nods. "You two know each other," she said, over her shoulder, as she led the five down the hall.

"Yes," Synesius said. "Where are we going?"

"There's a room I didn't know about," Sierra said. "It has a chair."

"Here in Alexandria?" Synesius said.

"Yes – Max discovered it."

The corridor turned. "Here," Sierra said, and opened a door.

The five quickly entered. Sierra pressed the wall and the door bolted shut. "This should keep out legionaries, at least for a few minutes."

The room was well lit. "There is nothing here," Synesius said. "Is the chair in use?"

"No," Sierra said. "It is behind that door, in a second room."

She pressed against a far wall in the small room, and another door opened. There was a single chair inside. The five entered the room.

"It does not look quite the same as the chair in Londinium," Synesius observed.

"No, it does not," Sierra said. "But it seems to work much the same, with a few differences."

Synesius nodded. "You take it," he said to Sierra. "And send it back to us."

"No–"

"Yes," Max spoke for the first time. "And we seem to have not much time to argue."

The legionaries were attacking the outside door with some sort of heavy object.

Sierra relented. "I'll take it back to 150 AD, and set it to come immediately back here. Don't change or even touch any of the controls. Just press this lever." She pointed. "The chair was set to apparently blur the memory of anyone who used it. Max arrived in 150 AD and was not sure where this room was. But I've shut that feature down."

"Clever feature," the slave observed. "Erasing the memory outright would call attention to the victim and how to account for the missing time. Just making the recollection unclear shields the location of the room and makes the person who used it an unreliable witness and guide."

Synesius didn't understand some of what she had said, but he nodded.

"You must leave the room," Sierra said.

Max led the five out of the room and closed the door. The legionary pounding was louder.

"Loud enough to wake the dead," Josephus said.

"As we soon will be, if that chair does not work," Synesius replied.

"They have penetrated part of the wall," the slave said.

A keen whoosh from the inside room managed to cut through the pounding.

"The chair has returned," Max said. "It is safe to enter." He gestured to Synesius, who started to object.

"You are likely more essential to saving some of the texts than I am," Max said. "I'll go after you."

Synesius hesitated for a second, then entered the inter room, and closed the door.

The outer room shook from the pounding. The door began to part from its hinges.

Max, Josephus, and the slave applied themselves to keeping it shut.

They heard the whoosh from the inner room again.

"Your turn," the slave said to Max. "I have ten times your strength. You won't be missed too much here," she said, with a smile.

Max nodded. "We weren't introduced," he said to Josephus in Latin. "I'm Max."

Josephus smiled. "Josephus"

Max entered the inner room and closed the door.

The legionaries were making progress on the outer door despite the slave's best efforts.

"You must go next," the slave said to Josephus. "You do not have the power to keep this door closed."

"But you are far more valuable," Josephus said. "You have already created the list of the missing texts. Synesius may need that immediately wherever he is now. He may not have time to find someone like you to generate a new one. He may lose the scroll before he finds someone like you. And you are the best one to offer defense should Synesius and his friends encounter killers in the future. Am I wrong?"

The slave started to disagree, but instead gave Josephus her blade. "This could give you a few moments of time. It is sharper, deadlier, than yours. Aim for the throat. I will try to come back and save you should you not prevail."

Josephus nodded. A pike penetrated the upper part of the outer door. A whoosh came from the inner room.

The slave quickly entered the inner room and closed its door.

The legionaries broke through the outer door.

There were only two of them.

Josephus shouted, raised the slave's blade with two hands and drove it into the first legionary's throat.

Josephus turned to face the other, but was dead from this legionary's sword in the heart before he finished turning around.

[Alexandria, 150 AD]

The four stood in an outer room exactly the same as the outer room more than 250 years in the future from which they had just departed, except the room in which they now stood suffered no clanging.

"I don't think Josephus survived," the slave said, with real regret.

"I'm going to send the chair to him anyway," Sierra said, and entered the inner room.

"Won't that make the chair available to the legionaries?" Max asked.

"Only if they know how to use it," Sierra said, and made ready to send the chair.

"But it is a safe assumption that they do," Max said.

"Do not send the chair," Synesius said, "Josephus understood the danger of his devotion to the truth – as we all do."

Sierra shook off what Synesius said.

The slave spoke. "I believe there were only two legionaries pounding the door. And it is likely that Josephus killed or wounded at least one, before he died, if he died. I can kill the other legionary if he comes here." She removed a second, smaller blade from her robe.

Sierra nodded, pulled the go lever on the chair, and exited the small room.

The four waited ten minutes in the outer room. There was no sound in the inner room.

"I set the chair to automatically return here in an hour. I guess there's no point in waiting," Sierra said, sadly.

Synesius nodded, and said a prayer for Josephus. "Amen," everyone except the slave intoned.

"I can set the chair to go back a few minutes before I left in 413 AD and save Josephus," the slave said.

"How?" Synesius asked. "If you had been sure you could stop the two legionaries, you would have done that in the first place."

The slave considered.

"Synesius is right," Max said. "We need you here with us now."

Sierra grudgingly agreed. "Let's get out of here now," she said to the slave. "If we survive, you can go back for Josephus later."

* * *

The four walked out of the outer room, and listened in the corridor. Hearing no footsteps or any other sounds, the group proceeded slowly in the tunnel, back towards the stairs to the ground floor.

"The room with the chair should make our rescue of the texts a little easier," Synesius half said and half asked.

"Only a little easier," Sierra replied. "It is unlikely that the room and this tunnel survived Omar's destruction of the Library in 642 AD. There is no mention of any activity at the Library at all after that date."

"But we could start bringing some texts forward in time in that room," Max said, "and then figure out how to get them to Athens for ultimate transport to our 21st century world."

Sierra nodded. The sounds of the Library, scholars walking and talking, began to permeate the corridor. The four proceeded into a central reading area – a large hall with scrolls poking out of cubbyholes along the walls, and readers colorfully attired running their fingers over unfurled texts. Synesius stopped and surveyed the scene. Tears of awe and regret filled his eyes. "This is your Library at its height, is it not," he said to Sierra. "It already had fallen far when you and I first met. How did we let that happen?"

Sierra took his hand. "There were many causes," she said softly.

"This is the Library at its height in Christian times," Max said. "It had a majesty all its own when Cleopatra was here."

"It is not safe to stay here" was the slave's contribution to the historical appreciation.

"She's right," Sierra said. "Let's find someplace away from the Library where we can sit and consider our options."

* * *

The four made their way quickly but carefully along a bustling, broad street of Alexandria. The slave looked back and forth, in all directions. Synesius was as impressed with the 150 AD thoroughfare as he had been with the Library. Sierra recalled the first time she had walked such a street, with Heron and Jonah, when she had first come to Alexandria, as Ampharete. Not only a different name, a different lifetime, which seemed long, long ago.

"How about there?" Max pointed to a small restaurant. It looked much like the place Sierra and Jonah and Heron had first dined, where the Nubian had tried to kill her and Jonah had saved her, though that place was in an opposite direction from the Library.

"Sure," Sierra said. Synesius and the slave agreed.

They found a table inside with an unobstructed view of the street. The slave walked to the back and returned to their table. "There is an exit in the rear, in case we should need it."

They ordered date wine and bread. "We need to see how many lost texts we can locate back here," Synesius said, after their food arrived.

"We already have one," the slave said, "the Pinakes." She bit into a piece of dark bread. "Delicious."

Synesius touched the scroll in his robe, and explained the calculations the slave had made to identify the lost texts.

"That is wonderful," Sierra said. "We should get that to the future – to an age in which it can be effortlessly copied – as soon as possible."

"We have automatic copying machines that you can hold in your hand in the future," Max explained to Synesius, "but the copies they would produce if we were to employ those little machines back here would not survive time travel to the future." He laughed. "Sorry, I am explaining that a device does not work that you do not even know about, so why am I explaining. . . . "

"No, I understand," Synesius said. "What you are saying is that we will have to transport either the scroll itself, or a copy we write by hand, if we wish to save it."

"Exactly," Max said.

"But then . . . ." Synesius looked at the slave. "Will the list of lost texts that you carry in your brain endure your passage to the future?"

"Unknown," the slave replied. "It accompanied me with no loss in this trip to the past."

"Could you read a scroll and remember every word of it?" Sierra asked.

"No," the slave said. "What I have in my head now is the result of calculation – a different cognitive function than committing texts to memory."

"How long would it take you write out the list of lost texts that you now have in your memory?" Max asked.

"I can write by hand, but not easily," the slave replied. "The task would take at least a day and a night."

"Then that is what I suggest should be our first order of business now," Max said. "And we can bring forward to future both the Pinakes and your list of texts on that index that did not survive."

"Where shall we do this?" Synesius asked. "If the Library is not safe, then–"

"I believe I know someone we can trust, who can give us lodging," Sierra said.

"Jonah?" Max asked.

"Yes," Sierra said.

"I know him," Synesius said.

* * *

Jonah's premises were about 30 minutes by foot from the eating establishment, in the northern, Jewish quarter of Alexandria. The slave walked well ahead of the other three.

"Do you think we can trust her?" Max asked Sierra and Synesius about the slave.

"Her hearing is acute," Synesius replied. "But the noise of this street should protect our conversation."

"Good," Max said, barely above a whisper. "But as to my question–"

"She fought bravely against the legionaries," Sierra said, "though–"

"Right," Max said. "All we have is her word for that."

"She saved my life in Londinium in the future," Synesius finally said. "Why would she do that if she was working for Heron – presumably the man who was trying to kill me."

"The slave in front of us, or her twin?" Max asked. "You said the two were indistinguishable."

"The two were wearing different clothing," Synesius replied, "though I suppose that, given the magic I have seen, clothing which automatically changed shape and color would not be such a miracle."

"I know of nothing like that in our future," Sierra said.

"The slave says she comes from a future further down the line than ours," Max said.

"That does not matter, in any case," Synesius said. "The two of them came to my aid in Carthage - the one I had spent the night with, and the other who joined us."

"Are you sure of that?" Max pressed the point. "That you died - twice - and first one slave and then the other saved your life?"

Synesius started to answer then stopped.

Max looked at him.

"I am sure of nothing when it comes to time travel," Synesius finally said.

"Well, that at least is something I can agree with wholeheartedly," Max said.

"She could want you alive to lead us to whatever Max and I know," Sierra said to Synesius, "or whatever else you might have found in the Library – so she could relay that to Heron."

Synesius sighed. "I would wager she already knows everything I know."

The three walked on in silence. But Max touched his robe and looked at Sierra, to signal that there was one thing he and Sierra knew, of which neither Synesius or the slave was aware.

* * *

The three caught up to the slave a few feet in front of Jonah's home, a modest dwelling, suggesting comfort but not riches.

"I want to alert you about something regarding Jonah," Sierra said.

She had everyone's rapt attention.

"I first met him here in Alexandria, in this very year, 150 AD, when he was Heron's devoted student. Our meeting set in motion a series of events which led Jonah to part with his mentor, and oppose his goals and means."

"You mean like sending vicious legionaries to slaughter you in cold blood because in some way you interfered with the master plan?" Max asked, with no smile.

Sierra nodded. "The chairs in Athens, London, and New York are notoriously imprecise in their arrival times. Possibly this different kind of chair here in Alexandria is more punctual. In any event, from what I can tell, we are now about 8 months after the time Jonah, Heron, and I first met here. The pollen, the humidity, lead me to that conclusion."

Synesius nodded.

"And if that is so, then Jonah will have returned from the land across the big sea and his trips in time, and his loyalty to Heron will have all but disappeared."

"How do you know that?" Max asked.

"He warned Alcibiades about Heron when Jonah and Alcibiades met in Athens. From what Alcibiades told me about that meeting, Jonah was not much older than when he and I first met."

"What do you think turned Jonah against Heron?" Max asked.

"Possibly what you will tell him when you meet him now?" Synesius answered and asked.

"You are a quick study in the intricacies of time travel," Sierra told him.

"But you do think it unlikely that the Jonah we may now be meeting," the slave said and pointed to the house, "will be loyal to Heron."

"Yes," Sierra said.

"And if you're wrong?" Max asked.

"It is unsafe for us to spend time in any public room," the slave replied. "Heron's former student seems our best choice."

The group agreed and approached Jonah's house.

* * *

Apparently no one was home – several calls of Jonah's name at the front door produced no results – but neither was the front door locked. A less paranoid age, Sierra thought, though if the people of Alexandria 150 AD had any idea what she and her compatriots were doing they would have reason indeed to be suspicious of everyone.

"Should we enter?" the slave asked.

Sierra was about to say yes, when a young woman – about 18 years of age, Sierra guessed – approached the house. The slave and the men tensed and touched their weapons. Sierra smiled brightly at the young woman. "Do you know if Jonah is home?"

"He should be back in a few hours," the woman replied and smiled engagingly herself.

"We are his friends," Sierra said. "He does not know we are here, but I am certain he will be happy to see us."

"I agree," the woman said. "Jonah thinks very highly of you. I do, as well. Please come in, Hypatia."

Sierra's smile vanished. The two men and the slave withdrew their weapons.

"How do you know who I am?" Sierra asked sharply. "I come from a time in your future–"

"I am Ruth," the woman replied, "Jonah's wife."

Sierra's mouth hung open.

"I come from the future, too," Ruth said.

Sierra's head spun with all kinds of thoughts. How could she know whether Ruth was really Jonah's wife or another Heron agent? Benjamin, Jonah's son, had told her that his mother had died in his childbirth – if this woman was Benjamin's mother, should Sierra warn her? But that could erase Benjamin from existence and change history–

"I see you do not believe me," Ruth said, softy, without anger. "Suppose I were to tell you that I know Jonah loves you – in some sort of way, different from the way he loves me, but nonetheless profound – and that he first came to love you when the two of you were on the Lux, blown off course from its route to Athens. Would that convince you?"

Sierra supposed that Jonah might have told that truth to Heron, but it did not seem likely. "Yes, it does convince me. Please accept our apologies for showing up here at your home, brandishing weapons at you, and obliging you to explain who you are." Sierra looked at her companions, who returned their weapons to their sheaves, but kept their hands on the hilts.

"No need to apologize," Ruth said.

What a beautiful smile, Sierra thought.

"Please," Ruth said, "come in."

* * *

The aroma of slowing cooking chicken and olives made Sierra's mouth water. "It will be ready soon," Ruth said and walked over to the stone oven. The big clay pot was softly steaming. "Yes, it is almost ready now. Please, sit." Ruth gestured to a table. "Jonah will be home soon."

Sierra looked at Max, Synesius, and the slave. "I'm starving!" Max said.

The four sat at the table. Ruth brought honeyed wine and bread.

Synesius looked at Sierra. The chicken smelled so good, the wine beckoned, but could they be sure of Ruth? Sierra realized this was an impossible situation – it would be easy as pie, or in this case, sweet wine, for Ruth to introduce some odorless poison.

Sierra looked at her companions. They were clearly thinking the same thing. She sighed and cleared her throat. "I am very sorry, but–"

There was a noise at the door. The four rose and once again gripped their weapons.

"We have guests, your friends," Ruth said to the man who entered.

"Ampharete!" Jonah said to Sierra, and walked forward to greet her.

* * *

Everyone got to their feet. Sierra and Jonah hugged. The key with Jonah, Sierra knew, was determining where he was in his knowledge of her and what she was planning to do.

The two parted. Jonah looked around the room. "The last time I saw the two of you was in a certain gentlemen's club, as they called it, in a very distant future," he said to Max and Synesius.

Max and Synesius nodded.

"And I do not believe we have ever met," Jonah said to slave, with a courteous nod and a smile.

"I am with Synesius," the slave replied. "I come from the future."

"I see," Jonah said. "Welcome to our home," he said to everyone, and motioned to the table. "Please, make yourself comfortable."

So this Jonah is likely older than the Jonah who had gone to meet Alcibiades in Athens, Sierra thought. Max had told her that the Jonah he and Synesius had met in London had been very knowledgeable in the ways of time travel. Good.

"Supper is ready," Ruth said from across the room, examining the hot pot with satisfaction.

"Be prepared for something truly delicious," Jonah said to the others, and sat with them at the table.

The six were soon dining on savory, succulent chicken.

"Melts in your mouth," Max said, and beamed at Ruth.

"Thank you," she said. "More wine?"

Everyone at the table said yes.

"I am glad you came here, and met Ruth," Jonah said to Sierra.

"I am glad, too," Sierra said. Jonah indeed looked a good deal older than she remembered, which didn't make sense, if this was when he and Ruth had first gotten married. Sierra looked at Ruth and smiled, and hoped the bit of turmoil she was feeling inside about Ruth dying in childbirth didn't show. It didn't seem right for Sierra to just sit and talk to Ruth, knowing what her fate would likely soon be–

"You have now met the two most important people in my life," Jonah said, "Ruth and my son Benjamin." Jonah caught the brief look of confusion on Sierra's face. "Oh, you thought – no, Esther was Benjamin's mother, may she rest in peace. It has been a long time since I lost Esther – Ruth is my second wife."

"I – I am so sorry," Sierra said, "both for my stupidity and the loss of Esther."

"No need to apologize," Ruth said, and took Sierra's hand. "Life is strange even without this travel through time."

"We saw Benjamin in 413 just yesterday," Jonah said. "We have a home there, as well," he said and touched Ruth's hand. "We are bi-temporal."

"That is my home time," Ruth said, with some sadness. "But it is daily becoming too dangerous for people such as us."

"She means Jews," Jonah said.

"Our time has become dangerous for any decent person," Synesius said.

Jonah nodded in agreement.

"You were in 413 just yesterday?" Sierra asked Jonah and Ruth. "But how did you get here so fast? The trip to Athens–"

"There was no need to go to Athens," Jonah said. "There is a room with a chair in the Library."

"But – Heron told you about it?" Sierra asked.

"No," Jonah replied. "I am not even sure that Heron knows about it."

"Then who built it?" Sierra asked.

"Possibly someone at this very table," Jonah said. "Most likely you, in your future."

* * *

Sierra settled into sleep, in a corner, with no man beside her. Max understood. No point in flaunting to Synesius that Sierra wanted to be with someone else, even though Synesius seemed happy enough to sleep next to the android. For that matter, no point in Sierra advertising her affection for Max to Jonah, either, who she felt still cared for her in some way more than a friend even though he was married. Sierra pulled the blanket around her. The only man missing in this potential ménage à whatever was Alcibiades. She fell asleep holding herself and thinking of him.