The Cleopatra Crisis tw-11 Read online

  Travers hurried to meet them. The centurion in charge gavehim a salute.

  “You are the oracle?” Travers asked the hooded figure. Hecould not make out the man’s face.

  “I am.”

  “The general is expecting you. He is most anxious to hearyour prophecy.”

  As, in fact, was Travers. He hoped that he would be allowedto stay and listen. He did not really expect to hear anything surprising.Oracles and soothsayers knew what was expected of them when they were broughtinto the presence of a famous general and found themselves surrounded by anarmy. Under such circumstances, it would not be wise to read “unfavorableportents.” The man would doubtless give a reassuring reading in the mostgeneral terms, promising success and power and the favor of the gods, pockethis “offering” and hurry home. However, Travers thought it might make for aninteresting scene in his book.

  “You’ve searched him, of course?” Travers said to the centurion.

  “Of course, Praetor. The man was carrying no weapons.”

  “Good. Come with me.”

  Travers led the way to Caesar’s tent, with the vexillum,the general’s standard, a white banner inscribed with red letters giving Caesar’sname and identifying his army. placed outside it. The tent was made of leather,with two upright poles and one ridge pole. When on the march. Caesar did notavail himself of any luxuries, which endeared him to his men. He lived as theydid, ate as they ate. He was pacing back and forth, nervously, attired simplyin his tunic and sandals. He looked up eagerly as they entered.

  “Ah Septimus! You have brought the oracle?”

  “This is the man. Caesar.”

  Travers beckoned the hooded figure forward.

  “Pull back your cowl,” he said.

  The man pulled back his hood. He was completely bald, with aprominent, hooked nose and deep-set dark eyes that gave him a sepulchral look.His face was long, with a pointed chin and pronounced cheekbones.

  “What is your name’?” asked Caesar.

  “I am called Lucan, General,” the man said softly.

  “You know who I am?”

  A brief nod.

  “They tell me that you can see into the future.”

  “I have that gift.”

  “I would have you look into my future and tell me what yousee.”

  Lucan nodded. “Please. sit down.” he said.

  They sat down at the table.

  “Do you require an augury?” asked Caesar

  “No. That is not the nature of my gift. Give me your righthand,” said Lucan.

  Caesar held out his right hand, palm up. Lucan took it inhis own right hand and covered it with his left, then closed his eyes. Nothingterribly dramatic, so far. Travers thought. An oracle without much imagination.Caesar looked slightly disappointed.

  “You are a man of great ambition.” Lucan said without openinghis eyes. “You have made many enemies. Some who were once your friends.”

  A safe assumption to make about a famous general. thoughtTravers, though not the sort of flattering beginning that he had expected.

  “That is true.” said Caesar.

  “Please,” said bean. opening his eyes. “I do not wish tooffend. but I must ask you to remain silent until I have finished.”

  Caesar nodded.

  Lucan shut his eyes once more and remained silent for almostthirty seconds. He was frowning slightly.

  “I see that you are about to embark upon undertaking a greatrisk. Old friends will become your bitter enemies. There shall be greatconflict, yet you shall succeed, though not without cost.”

  Caesar smiled.

  “But this undertaking … this war … will be only thebeginning for you. I see that you aspire to greatness and you shall achieve it.as did Alexander. whom you so much admire.”

  Travers raised his eyebrows. The man must have been briefedby someone. Probably he had asked questions about Caesar from the men who hadbeen sent to fetch him. Caesar’s admiration of Alexander was hardly a secret.

  “I see great power in your future,” the oracle continued,speaking softly. “Absolute power. And your fame shall last throughout the ages.You shall have many conquests. both martial and romantic. I see that you willfall in love with a wise and ambitious foreign woman who will smite you withher beauty. A young queen who shall bear you a son.”

  Travers stared at the oracle intently. This was unusuallyspecific. And also uncannily true. He was talking about Cleopatra. No, hethought, don’t be ridiculous. How could he possibly know that? It was justflattery that happened to be coincidence. Caesar had several queens as mistressesat one time or another. It was not an unusual assumption to make about a famousRoman general and a provincial governor who had regular contact with localroyalty.

  “I also see violent death in your future,” Lucan said. “Therewill be portents and warnings. You must not ignore them. For if you do. I seethe image of your body bleeding, pierced with many wounds. You will not fall inbattle, but at the hands of those you think your friends. Beware the Ides ofMarch, Caesar. Beware the names of Casca. Brutus, Cassius, Cimber …” His eyesfluttered open. “I am sorry. I can see no more.”

  Caesar was frowning. Travers held his breath. He could scarcelybelieve what he had just heard. The oracle had just named Caesar’s assassins!

  “This violent death you see upon the Ides of March.” said Caesar“ It will occur soon?”

  In five years’ time.”

  Travers almost gasped. He had pinpointed the time precisely!

  “And is there nothing I can do to alter this fate’?” askedCaesar.

  “Perhaps. To a man who takes his fate into his own hands,”said Lucan. “nothing is impossible.”

  “What must I do, then, to avoid this violent death?”

  “Give me your left hand,” said the oracle.

  Caesar held it out and Lucan took it in both of his, as hehad done before. For a moment. he said nothing, concentrating. Then …

  “There is a chance that you might be able to avoid the fateyour destiny has in store for you.” Lucan said. “But you must be mindful of theomens. One in particular. above all others. I have but a dim perception of it.You will know it when that which was concealed shall stand revealed.”

  Lucan released Caesar’s hand. “I can tell you no more. Onlythat when you recognize that omen, you must hearken to its counsel.”

  “And that is all that you can tell me?” Caesar asked.

  “That is all. And now. General. I must beg leave to retire. ‘Thesight has wearied me.-

  “My men shall escort you from the camp,” said Caesar. “Ithank you, Lucan, for your prophecy.” Caesar picked up several gold coins andgave them to the oracle. “Septimus, see to it that he is safely conducted fromthe camp.”

  His mind in a turmoil. Travers went with the soldiers toescort Lucan through the gates. Outside, it was dark and the oracle looked ghostlyas he walked silently toward the gates with the hood over his head.

  “How did you know those things?” asked Travers.

  “I have the sight.”

  “But you named names, you gave an exact date!

  “It was what I saw.”

  “But you told Caesar that it was possible for him to changehis fate.” said Travers. “How? How can any man alter his own destiny?”

  “A man’s destiny is but the result of his actions in thepresent and the past,” said Lucan. “Those actions set his feet upon a path thatwill lead him to his destiny. When I look into a man’s future. my sight travelsalong the path that man has chosen by his actions. If that man were to choose adifferent path, it would lead him to a different destiny. however, it is myexperience that most men never change.”

  There is no future. Travers thought. his mind racing. Thereis only an infinite number of possible futures. What Lucan had just told himwas an almost perfect paraphrase of the Principle of Temporal Inertia.

  “Can you look into my future asked Travers.

  “No,” said Lucan.

  “Why no
t?”

  “Because the sight has wearied me. I need time to recover.”

  “Perhaps later. then’?”

  “I fear not. I am leaving upon a long journey in themorning. And your general shall take you with him upon his.”

  They had reached the gates.

  “I doubt that we shall meet again. Praetor Septimus.” said Lucan.“But perhaps that is for the best. Believe me, most men are better off notknowing what their future holds in store for them. Good fortune to you.”

  He passed through the gate.

  The oracle is right,” said the centurion.-If it is my fateto die tomorrow, or soon thereafter. I would prefer not to know of it tonight.”He clasped the hilt of his sword. “And I would sooner trust my fate to thisthan to the prophecies of oracles and soothsayers. Good night to you, PraetorSeptimus.”

  He turned and went hack toward the tents with his soldiers.

  Travers turned to the guard at the gate. “I must Speakfurther with that man. Let me through.”

  They passed him through the gates and Travers hurried afterLucan. but after running no more than a few steps. he stopped. The slope of thehill fell away from the camp, leading to a meadow. The open country was gentlyilluminated by the moonlight.

  There was no sign of the oracle. It was as if he had simplydisappeared.

  1

  TAC-HO. Pendleton Base, California, June 13, A.D. 2627

  The penthouse of the headquarters building of the TemporalArmy Command had originally been the personal quarters of the Pendleton Basecommander, but since General Moses Forrester had assumed that post, as well asthe directorship of the Temporal Intelligence Agency, it was hardly ever usedForrester. a bull of a man, completely bald with a face like a pugnaciousbulldog and a powerful, bodybuilder’s physique that belied his advanced age,lived on the floor immediately beneath it. where his offices were located. Theywere the same quarters he had resided in when he was the commander of the eliteFirst Division, better known as the Time Commandos.

  Forrester had spent his entire life in the service, whichhad entailed, as life in the service always had, a great deal of moving around.Now that he had reached a point in his career where he didn’t have to move, hebloody well wasn’t going to. not even if it was just upstairs. He had grownaccustomed to his quarters. and even if they were not as spacious and luxuriousas the penthouse. they suited his needs. He merely had to step outside his doorto reach his suite of offices, the heart of TAC-HQ), and he had his secret roomthere, concealed behind a wall, a small private sanctum that only a few peopleknew about where he kept his prized and highly unauthorized mementos of thepast. Occasionally. he had used the penthouse to hold parties or house visitingdignitaries, but it was now a highly restricted area.

  Aside from Forrester himself, only three people were authorizedaccess to it. Those three were Capt. Finn Delaney, Lt Andre Cross. and Col.Creed Steiger of the Temporal Intelligence Agency. And one other man, who hadno official authorization, because he did not need one. Dr. Robert Darkness,the man who was faster than light.

  The sole tenant of the penthouse was the reason for the maximumsecurity. He was Col. Lucas Priest, whose name was listed on the Wall of Honorin the lobby of the building. along with the names of all the other members ofthe First Division. now merged with Temporal Intelligence, who had been killedin action in Minus Time. Lucas Priest was, with the possible exceptions of Lazarusand Christ. the only man in history to have come back from the dead.

  He had died saving the life of Winston Churchill: but theenigmatic Dr. Darkness had interceded with his fate. The story was as complexas it was baffling. It pivoted around the mysterious, brilliant, and eccentricscientist and the nature of what he had become.

  Darkness had once been an obscure research scientist workingin the field of temporal physics. In the course of his work, which was centeredon temporal translocation, he had invented the most devastating weapon everdevised by man-the warp grenade, a combination nuclear device and time machine.It was small enough to be carried in one hand and its built-in chronocircuitryallowed for pinpoint adjustment of its nuclear explosion. It could be “fine-tuned”to use all or any part of the tremendous energy that was released. The surplusenergy was then clocked through an Einstein-Rosen Bridge. a-wormhole in thefabric of space and time, to explode harmlessly in the farthest reaches of thecosmos. Or so it was believed.

  No one knew exactly what had happened. The prevailing theorywas that such incredible amounts of energy clocked through Einstein-RosenBridges, perhaps combined with the strain already placed upon the timestream bythe actions of the Time Wars. had somehow shifted the chronophysical alignmentof the universe. The result was that a parallel timeline, a mirror-imageuniverse, had been brought into congruence with our own. Each time a warpgrenade was detonated, the parallel universe was nuked. Space colonies thatthey had established were utterly destroyed, with catastrophic loss of life.And now the two parallel timelines were at war.

  It was a “limited-war, but it was still the most dangerouswar humanity had ever fought. Both sides refrained from the use of strategicweapons. because each of their time streams had become perilously unstable.Both timelines were “rippling, — intertwining like a double helix. The result wasthe “confluence phenomenon.” At various points in space and time, the twotimelines intersected and the parallel universes met. At those points, it waspossible to cross over from one universe into the other. The resultingpotential for the disruption of either timestream was staggering.

  People simply disappeared. A man could be walking down thestreet. turn a corner, and suddenly find himself in another universe. And theseconfluence points did not necessarily correspond in space and time. That sameman might turn a corner and suddenly find himself not only in another universe,but in another country, in a different time period. If he kept his head abouthim and was able to retrace his steps exactly. there was a chance he could getback to his own time and universe, assuming he was lucky. Confluence pointswere invisible. Their focal points varied in size and they were incrediblyunstable. There was no telling how long they would last. The time streams wouldripple and a confluence point would come into existence, a ‘window” intoanother time and another universe. The ripple effect would move on and theconfluence point would disappear. It could last for hours. days. weeks, or onlyseconds. It could lead to a point in the middle of an ocean or a desert in theother universe, or even to deep space. in which case death was instantaneousand horrible.

  In the face of such a threat, international conflicts hadbecome utterly meaningless. The Time Wars as they had once been fought hadceased, escalating into a far more frightening conflict. Each universe was nowthreatened by the very existence of the other. Each was now faced with threeprime necessities.

  The first was to map as many confluence points as possible.If a confluence point could be located, it could be used to cross over from oneuniverse into another, to stage temporal disruptions in the opposite timeline.Ranger Pathfinder units whose job was to map confluences and the territory onthe other side had the most hazardous duty in the entire Temporal Corps. Theyhad no idea what they might find on the other end of the confluence and theycould never be sure that they would be able to get back. If the scouts did comeback, with detailed accounts of what they had encountered in the paralleluniverse. further action could be contemplated. If they did not return, theworst was assumed and no one else was sent through that confluence point. Ineither case, the confluence was secured for its duration, to make sure no oneblundered into it and that no one or nothing came through from the other side.In some cases, it was to no avail. Occasionally, something could come throughthat nobody could stop, as had happened at Tanguska. in Siberia. where a meteorcame through a confluence point and caused incredible destruction.

  The second imperative both universes were confronted withwas the Time War that they waged between themselves. Each attempted to locatesafe confluence points that the other had not yet managed to discover, so they couldsend agents through to disrupt
the continuity of the opposing timeline.

  Apparently, temporal physicists in the parallel universe believedthat a temporal disruption of a magnitude sufficient to bring about atimestream split in the opposing universe would work to overwhelm theconfluence effect and separate the two timelines once and for all.Consequently, they were sending across agents and temporal strike teams fromtheir Special Operations Group to gather intelligence and stage temporaldisruptions in an attempt to split the timestream. There was a chance thattheir thinking was scientifically sound, however, temporal physics-or Zenphysics, as it was often called-was a nebulous and elusive area of science. Itwas where scientific logic merged with metaphysics. Temporal relativity wasnever absolute. There was also a chance that a timestream split in eitheruniverse, aside from the potentially devastating consequences in the universein which it would occur, could result in the creation of yet another timelinethat would compound the confluence effect and make it even worse, with threetimelines intersecting. Or, worse still, it could set off a chain reaction,with the creation of another timeline disrupting the temporal continuity of theother two, creating further timestream splits and the creation of still moretimelines. with no end in sight. It could end in ultimate entropy. No one knewfor sure. Yet both universes continued to wage their Time Wars, on theprinciple that the more the opposing universe was occupied in trying tocompensate for disruptions in its own timestream, the less time, energy, andmanpower it could expend in trying to disrupt the timestream of the other.

  The third problem faced by each universe was safeguardingthe temporal continuity of their respective timelines. The confluencephenomenon dramatically increased the chances of temporal disruption. It wasnecessary to clock as many Observers as possible into the past. so that historycould be preserved. In order to facilitate this seemingly impossible task. themajority of the temporal forces of all nations had been converted to TemporalObserver status, with the best and brightest assigned as L.T.O.’s, to keepwatch on figures of historical significance. C.T.O.’s. or Chief TemporalObservers, functioned as field commanders. supervising the T.O. units in theirrespective sectors. Any sign of a disruption was immediately reported toTAC-HQ. so that a team of temporal Intelligence agents could be dispatched toMinus Time to deal with it. Yet, this task was akin to bailing a rapidlysinking rowboat with a thimble. No matter how many Observers were dispatchedinto the past-and thousands upon thousands were-they could not possibly coverall of human history. And the increased presence of people from the future inthe past served by itself to increase the odds of temporal disruption.