Chapter 19
"It seems weird talking about things that happened 2000 years ago as though they happened last week. But since we are back here, from one perspective these events just happened. When I was talking to Tony he commented on how difficult it was to describe things when you had an 'uptime' and a 'downtime'. He was right, and he didn't even have the added complication of having two 'downtime' selves like me. I mean, it is 9 PM on May the second in the year 37 AD and there is the me who is with you and also the me who is," and Chloe stopped and stared blankly for a couple of seconds. "Just heading home to my estate in Egypt after dinner at the Pharaoh's palace."
"Ah, Chloe," interjected Lex. "Are you like in some weird mental contact with the other you back here?"
"What?" Chloe responded with a questioning look on her face.
"For a second there, it was like you were no longer with us. I thought maybe you were communicating with the other you, since you seem so certain what the other you is doing."
Chloe shook her head. "No, I have no recollection of running into a future version of myself, 2000 years ago. So I assume we will get through this adventure without ever bumping into the 'old' me. No, I guess if I had a momentary blank expression, it was because I was accessing my internal clock and then my stored memories of what I had been doing at this exact moment. When I pulled up the memories I realized we have been sitting here eating food like you would take on a back-packing trip, while the other me had just finished this fabulous nine course meal."
"The other you is really having dinner with the Pharaoh?" asked Lana. "That is so cool."
Chloe shook her head. "I hate to disappoint you, but it wasn't like some scene from 'The Ten Commandments' with Yul Brynner. The Pharaohs you are thinking of date from the time of the building of the pyramids, 1500-2500 years ago."
"Really," said Lana with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Afraid so," responded Chloe. It is amazing the impact of TV and the movies on people's perceptions, thought Chloe. Lana would probably be more impressed meeting the current Pharaoh of Egypt then the emperor of Rome, even though the emperor has 100 times the power. "You need to realize that Egypt is now a Roman province and the Pharaoh is just a figurehead position. The Roman governor is the real power. And the Pharaoh isn't even Egyptian. Ever since Alexander the Great conquered Egypt the Pharaohs have been Greek. The current Pharaoh, ahh, let me remember, was it Philip III or Philip IV? Ahh, yes Philip IV and he doesn't even speak Egyptian, only Greek and Latin."
"Actually, since Egypt is now only a Roman province and Caledonia is still an independent nation, you as the legal heir to the Caledonia throne outrank the Pharaoh, according to this era's equivalent of Miss Manner's Guide to Etiquette." Chloe stated with a ring of conviction in her voice.
"Ah, Chloe, you do remember you just made that whole thing up about me being a princess?" asked Lana.
"Mere unimportant details," said Chloe with a wave of her hands.
Lex whispered into Lana's ear, "Looks like you're stuck with the title for the duration, your highness." Then he lightly kissed her earlobe. "Hope you didn't mind, I have kissed a lot of models and actresses in my time, but I have never had the opportunity to nibble on the ear of royalty before." Lex kissed her earlobe one more time before lifting his head away.
"Anyway," Chloe began again to get them back on track. "I am going the relate the key things that happened to the other me over the past few years as though it had just happened to me, to keep things simple. I hope everyone follows."
The others slowly nodded their heads; hoping things would become clearer as Chloe went along.
"I arrived in Rome five and a half years ago. That would have been October of 31 AD. I had spent the previous seven years mainly at my estate in Athens. Before that I had traveled and stay at other estates, so this was my first visit to Rome in over forty years."
"The city was much changed from my previous stay, both architecturally, politically, and even the mood of the people. My previous stay had been during the height of Augustus Caesar's rule. He would boast near the end of his life that he had found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble. And it was true. Lots of construction and reconstruction had been going on forty years ago, but now it was mostly complete. New imperial palaces. A rebuilt forum. A new marble facade on the Circus Maximus. Many new temples. Several new or extensively enlarged baths. The list could go on, but you get the idea. Compared to my previous stay forty years earlier, on the surface Rome seemed all new and gleaming."
"But underneath, the first signs of rot were visible. Whereas Augustus was an outgoing, gregarious person by nature, his successor, Tiberius, was very much the opposite: reclusive, timid, and paranoid that people were out to get him. Certain of his counselors, including I suspect, the Professor, took advantage of this.
"As part of all this, the role of Praetorians changed. Originally, they were set up to be an honor guard and not much more. Sort of like the guards at Buckingham Palace with their bright red jackets and tall bearskin hats. But over the course of Tiberius' reign, the Praetorians started to change. Slowly at first, but gradually they started to gain in power and influence. They had paid informants everywhere. Then opponents of Tiberius began to be arrested and disappear without a hint of a trial. Oh, the Praetorians never became as bad or infamous as the Gestapo, but they became an important force in Roman politics. And while they have a figurehead leader selected by the Roman senate, for all practical purposes, Venta controls the Praetorians.
"So it turns out two 21st century men have significant power in Rome. The Professor in his capacity of imperial soothsayer to Tiberius and Venta as the commander of the only significant military force allowed in the city, the Praetorians.
"Of course, when I arrived in the city five years ago, I had no reason to suspect that a couple of time travelers from the distant future would be effectively trying to take control of the emperor and through him the empire. No, I was in my usual mode of trying to enjoy my life and ignoring things that didn't directly affect me.
"I came to Rome at this time, because I had become bored with Athens. Most of the best artists and musicians in Athens seemed to have moved Rome, attracted by the power and wealth, like moths to a flame.
"So remembering the miserable muggy, humid heat of the Roman summer, I timed my arrival for the fall and the start of the new theatrical season. A few days after my arrival I was trying out the Baths of Augustus, which he had built and donated to the people of Rome after my last visit, when I ran into Marina, Marcus' future wife, at a poetry reading. Marina, the daughter of a senator, and I quickly became best friends.
"It was at an afternoon play, some Greek comedy that was popular at the time, about four months later, that we met Marcus Petronius Martialis and his older brother, Julian Constantius Martialis, for the first time. I won't say it was love at first sight, but the brothers' were handsome, smart, witty, fun to talk to, and, well Marina and I were soon smitten." Chloe paused with a slight blush that was mostly lost in the dark coach interior. "Did I just say smitten? Now I am starting to talk like some Harlequin Romance novel."
Chloe felt Clark grin at this hint of levity. Trying the skim over the next part, she continued. "Three months later Marina married Marcus and I married Julian at this beautiful double ceremony at the Martialis' country estate about 50 miles northeast of Rome."
"Can you tell us a little about a Roman wedding?" asked Lana.
Chloe wanted to get past the whole marriage topic as quickly as possible. So she asked the question. "Who present has ever looked at the wedding magazines at the public library? Lex?"
"Ah, is no an acceptable answer?" Lex responded, not certain why Chloe was asking. Was this one of those questions from Cosmo magazine? Was there a 'correct' answer?
"Clark?" asked Chloe.
"No"
"Lana? And I expect the truth."
"Okay, maybe once or twice." answered Lana.
"Those were the answers I was expecting. Lana, how about we talk about Roman weddings sometime when we are alone at the baths. I would love to talk about it, but it is definitely a chick thing."
"Okay," said Lana, understanding Chloe's logic.
Getting back to her narrative, Chloe continued. "The Martialis family was another one of the ruling families of Rome. Not as old as my family, the Flavians, but still one of the richest and most politically powerful. The sons were expected to serve with the military before going into politics or the family business. A month after the wedding, Julian and Marcus had to leave for two years service with the army of the Rhine."
"The Rhine was considered a hazardous duty area, so the wives of the leaders generally remained in Italy. Therefore, other than for Marina and I 'officially' residing at the Martialis' mansion instead of at our own families' mansions, our lives went back to the way they had been before we met the brothers.
"Unfortunately, 18 months into their tour of duty, there was a major battle with the Germans and Julian was seriously hurt. He made it back to Rome, but by then it was too late. I had acquired more medical knowledge over my life than anyone else at the time, but Julian's wound had become infected to the point where none of my remedies did any good. He lingered for about a week and then he was gone." This last was said with the sense of loss that is felt after a short couple of years and not of a memory from so long ago. Clark hugged her tight for a moment and then kissed the top of her head.
"That is so sad," said Lana quietly, as she squeezed Lex's hand a little tighter. "It must be tough to lose someone you love so soon after you found them."
"Yeah," answered Chloe. "but it's always hard whether you were with them for a month or fifty years."
After a minute of silence where they all thought of the friends and loved ones they had lost, Chloe finally shook her head and continued filling the others in on her life during the past few years in Rome. "I observed the customary six months of mourning and then tried to get on with my life."
"The period of mourning brings us to a time a little over two years ago. I started going back out into public, attending parties and accepting dinner invitations. At one of these parties I met Patricus Gasparus Venta for the first time. Venta is six foot six, has blond hair and blue eyes, and looks like some Greek statue. He knows how to turn on the charm when he chooses and for some reason he decided to turn that charm on me. Perhaps it was because of my strong ties to both the Flavian and Martialis families while he had no connections to any of the old ruling Roman families. Actually, it was something of a mystery how he came out of nowhere to end up in such a high position with the Praetorians.
"I never knew what it was about him, but something always rubbed me the wrong way. I thought it was just his womanizing ways at the time. Whatever it was I was sensing, I ended up rebuffing all of his overtures. This didn't sit well with him, but I was too important for him to take direct action against me. However after about six months, strange things started to happen to friends and acquaintances. Accusations of treason. People rounded up in the middle of the night to never be see again.
"Finally, about six months ago, Venta came and told me that if I didn't marry him, he would no longer be able to protect me from the rumors of treason going around. I told him to give me a day to get some things in order and then I would join him for a public announcement of our betrothal. That very night I set off for my estate in Egypt. This was one of my emergency fallback places with no connection to my Flavian family in Rome. My plan was to just quietly disappear from the family for thirty or forty years until Venta was old or dead. The only ones I told about Egypt were Marcus and Marina since they were about to leave for Gaul in a matter of days. By the time they returned to Rome in a few years, Venta's attention would long since have moved on to other matters."
With a deep sigh, Chloe concluded. "That's the short version of why things suddenly seem more complicated. I originally thought we could get in and out of Rome without my getting entangled with Venta again. But now that I find out he is also from the 21st century and will doubtlessly be working with the Professor to take out Lex, developing a plan that accounts for him will definitely be necessary."
"Hmm, did you ever see Carius and Venta together?" asked Lex. "Did you ever hear anything between them that might help us?"
"As I said yesterday at the baths, I only met Carius a couple of times at parties for the emperor. Mostly he and I traveled in different circles. Let me check my memories."
Once again Chloe got this blank expression on her face. Only this time it lasted much longer. After several minutes the others were starting to get a little concerned. She sat there just staring straight ahead. At regular intervals her eyes would blink, but even the blinking gave the impression of a body on autopilot. Finally, after almost five minutes her body gave a sudden jerk and she took a sudden sharp breath.
After letting the breath slowly out, she said, "That was very unusual."
"What just happened?" asked Lex.
"I was just reliving an incident that happened at the emperor's birthday party nine months ago. It is not often I access an old memory where I didn't understand the language when the events happened, but when I relive the moment thousands of years later I do understand the language. At this party, I had been chatting with Marina when she saw some old friends across the hall. She went to talk to them and I was going to swing by the food table, before looking for some other friends. As I was coming out of the small alcove we had been in, Carius and Venta where standing right around the corner talking. I didn't understand what they were saying at the time, but recognizing Venta's voice, I hung back waiting for them to leave because I didn't want to deal with him just then."
"Of course, what is weird now is that they were speaking in English. Since English as we understand it wouldn't be developed for at least 1200 years, it wasn't surprising that I didn't understand it. I am fluent in lots of languages, but still from time to time I do come across new ones. So at the time it didn't strike me as strange that they were using a language I didn't know."
"How many languages do you know?" asked Clark.
"That are still in use today? Maybe 35. Including all of the ones no longer in use? About 175." responded Chloe automatically, while her mind was still focused on the conversation she had overheard.
"If we can get past Chloe's linguistic skills for the moment," interjected Lex. "Is the conversation of any help in our situation?"
"I don't think so," said Chloe. "They were just talking about when Carius was planning to return to Tolosa to travel back 'uptime'. The date they were discussing was about two weeks after that party. So everything they discussed happened many months ago."
"Well, it was worth a shot," said Lex.
"What were you expecting?" asked Lana.
"Nothing really. Just thought by some dumb luck the Professor chose this particular date for his return here when he escaped through the portal with Lana in tow, because it had some significance. Like he was planning to meet Venta in Arelate the day after tomorrow and we could avoid the whole trip to Rome." answered Lex.
"I am afraid we didn't get that lucky." started Chloe, when she suddenly changed it to an "Oh, shit."
"What?" exclaimed Lex, Lana, and Clark at virtually the same time.
"I was searching my memories of those years for any other occasions where I overheard English being spoken." answered Chloe.
"Oh, shit, sounds more significant than just another instance of English," said Lex.
"Yeah," said Chloe. "This conversation wasn't between Carius and Venta. This conversation was between Venta and General Domicius, who leads the army of the Rhine."
"Another person from the 21st century?" asked Lex with a concerned tone. "But I thought you said this Venta guy was the only one besides the Professor in Rome."
"That's what Tony said," responded Chloe sounding a little pissed off. "Before I realized he spoke English I had already mentioned our goal of arranging a meeting between Lex and the Professor in Rome. He must have decided giving up one name would be enough to satisfy us. Damn, it has been too long since I have been involved with intrigue like this. I should have questioned him harder."
"He looked pretty intimidated at the time, Chloe," said Clark. "Maybe Tony doesn't know about this General Domicius."
"Anyway," cut in Lana in an attempt to calm everyone down. "what difference does one more person back here really make? It still comes down to getting the meteor rocks from the Professor and being on our way home."
Chloe started shaking her head and then realized Lex and Lana couldn't see her in the darkened coach. "No, unfortunately it matters a lot. Venta and General Domicius were talking about their plan for the General to march his army south in the spring and together they were going to overthrow the government of Rome."
"This spring?" asked Clark.
"Yes. Typically the passes through the Alps open in early to mid May and they could reach Rome by early to mid June."
"Chloe, do you remember any army marching on Rome this year?" asked Lex.
"No, so either they didn't follow through or something stopped them," answered Chloe.
"Like what?" asked Lana.
"Like us," answered Clark in the tone he got when someone needed saving. And this time it might be the whole future of the world as they knew it, which needed their help.
End of Chapter 19
"It seems weird talking about things that happened 2000 years ago as though they happened last week. But since we are back here, from one perspective these events just happened. When I was talking to Tony he commented on how difficult it was to describe things when you had an 'uptime' and a 'downtime'. He was right, and he didn't even have the added complication of having two 'downtime' selves like me. I mean, it is 9 PM on May the second in the year 37 AD and there is the me who is with you and also the me who is," and Chloe stopped and stared blankly for a couple of seconds. "Just heading home to my estate in Egypt after dinner at the Pharaoh's palace."
"Ah, Chloe," interjected Lex. "Are you like in some weird mental contact with the other you back here?"
"What?" Chloe responded with a questioning look on her face.
"For a second there, it was like you were no longer with us. I thought maybe you were communicating with the other you, since you seem so certain what the other you is doing."
Chloe shook her head. "No, I have no recollection of running into a future version of myself, 2000 years ago. So I assume we will get through this adventure without ever bumping into the 'old' me. No, I guess if I had a momentary blank expression, it was because I was accessing my internal clock and then my stored memories of what I had been doing at this exact moment. When I pulled up the memories I realized we have been sitting here eating food like you would take on a back-packing trip, while the other me had just finished this fabulous nine course meal."
"The other you is really having dinner with the Pharaoh?" asked Lana. "That is so cool."
Chloe shook her head. "I hate to disappoint you, but it wasn't like some scene from 'The Ten Commandments' with Yul Brynner. The Pharaohs you are thinking of date from the time of the building of the pyramids, 1500-2500 years ago."
"Really," said Lana with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Afraid so," responded Chloe. It is amazing the impact of TV and the movies on people's perceptions, thought Chloe. Lana would probably be more impressed meeting the current Pharaoh of Egypt then the emperor of Rome, even though the emperor has 100 times the power. "You need to realize that Egypt is now a Roman province and the Pharaoh is just a figurehead position. The Roman governor is the real power. And the Pharaoh isn't even Egyptian. Ever since Alexander the Great conquered Egypt the Pharaohs have been Greek. The current Pharaoh, ahh, let me remember, was it Philip III or Philip IV? Ahh, yes Philip IV and he doesn't even speak Egyptian, only Greek and Latin."
"Actually, since Egypt is now only a Roman province and Caledonia is still an independent nation, you as the legal heir to the Caledonia throne outrank the Pharaoh, according to this era's equivalent of Miss Manner's Guide to Etiquette." Chloe stated with a ring of conviction in her voice.
"Ah, Chloe, you do remember you just made that whole thing up about me being a princess?" asked Lana.
"Mere unimportant details," said Chloe with a wave of her hands.
Lex whispered into Lana's ear, "Looks like you're stuck with the title for the duration, your highness." Then he lightly kissed her earlobe. "Hope you didn't mind, I have kissed a lot of models and actresses in my time, but I have never had the opportunity to nibble on the ear of royalty before." Lex kissed her earlobe one more time before lifting his head away.
"Anyway," Chloe began again to get them back on track. "I am going the relate the key things that happened to the other me over the past few years as though it had just happened to me, to keep things simple. I hope everyone follows."
The others slowly nodded their heads; hoping things would become clearer as Chloe went along.
"I arrived in Rome five and a half years ago. That would have been October of 31 AD. I had spent the previous seven years mainly at my estate in Athens. Before that I had traveled and stay at other estates, so this was my first visit to Rome in over forty years."
"The city was much changed from my previous stay, both architecturally, politically, and even the mood of the people. My previous stay had been during the height of Augustus Caesar's rule. He would boast near the end of his life that he had found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble. And it was true. Lots of construction and reconstruction had been going on forty years ago, but now it was mostly complete. New imperial palaces. A rebuilt forum. A new marble facade on the Circus Maximus. Many new temples. Several new or extensively enlarged baths. The list could go on, but you get the idea. Compared to my previous stay forty years earlier, on the surface Rome seemed all new and gleaming."
"But underneath, the first signs of rot were visible. Whereas Augustus was an outgoing, gregarious person by nature, his successor, Tiberius, was very much the opposite: reclusive, timid, and paranoid that people were out to get him. Certain of his counselors, including I suspect, the Professor, took advantage of this.
"As part of all this, the role of Praetorians changed. Originally, they were set up to be an honor guard and not much more. Sort of like the guards at Buckingham Palace with their bright red jackets and tall bearskin hats. But over the course of Tiberius' reign, the Praetorians started to change. Slowly at first, but gradually they started to gain in power and influence. They had paid informants everywhere. Then opponents of Tiberius began to be arrested and disappear without a hint of a trial. Oh, the Praetorians never became as bad or infamous as the Gestapo, but they became an important force in Roman politics. And while they have a figurehead leader selected by the Roman senate, for all practical purposes, Venta controls the Praetorians.
"So it turns out two 21st century men have significant power in Rome. The Professor in his capacity of imperial soothsayer to Tiberius and Venta as the commander of the only significant military force allowed in the city, the Praetorians.
"Of course, when I arrived in the city five years ago, I had no reason to suspect that a couple of time travelers from the distant future would be effectively trying to take control of the emperor and through him the empire. No, I was in my usual mode of trying to enjoy my life and ignoring things that didn't directly affect me.
"I came to Rome at this time, because I had become bored with Athens. Most of the best artists and musicians in Athens seemed to have moved Rome, attracted by the power and wealth, like moths to a flame.
"So remembering the miserable muggy, humid heat of the Roman summer, I timed my arrival for the fall and the start of the new theatrical season. A few days after my arrival I was trying out the Baths of Augustus, which he had built and donated to the people of Rome after my last visit, when I ran into Marina, Marcus' future wife, at a poetry reading. Marina, the daughter of a senator, and I quickly became best friends.
"It was at an afternoon play, some Greek comedy that was popular at the time, about four months later, that we met Marcus Petronius Martialis and his older brother, Julian Constantius Martialis, for the first time. I won't say it was love at first sight, but the brothers' were handsome, smart, witty, fun to talk to, and, well Marina and I were soon smitten." Chloe paused with a slight blush that was mostly lost in the dark coach interior. "Did I just say smitten? Now I am starting to talk like some Harlequin Romance novel."
Chloe felt Clark grin at this hint of levity. Trying the skim over the next part, she continued. "Three months later Marina married Marcus and I married Julian at this beautiful double ceremony at the Martialis' country estate about 50 miles northeast of Rome."
"Can you tell us a little about a Roman wedding?" asked Lana.
Chloe wanted to get past the whole marriage topic as quickly as possible. So she asked the question. "Who present has ever looked at the wedding magazines at the public library? Lex?"
"Ah, is no an acceptable answer?" Lex responded, not certain why Chloe was asking. Was this one of those questions from Cosmo magazine? Was there a 'correct' answer?
"Clark?" asked Chloe.
"No"
"Lana? And I expect the truth."
"Okay, maybe once or twice." answered Lana.
"Those were the answers I was expecting. Lana, how about we talk about Roman weddings sometime when we are alone at the baths. I would love to talk about it, but it is definitely a chick thing."
"Okay," said Lana, understanding Chloe's logic.
Getting back to her narrative, Chloe continued. "The Martialis family was another one of the ruling families of Rome. Not as old as my family, the Flavians, but still one of the richest and most politically powerful. The sons were expected to serve with the military before going into politics or the family business. A month after the wedding, Julian and Marcus had to leave for two years service with the army of the Rhine."
"The Rhine was considered a hazardous duty area, so the wives of the leaders generally remained in Italy. Therefore, other than for Marina and I 'officially' residing at the Martialis' mansion instead of at our own families' mansions, our lives went back to the way they had been before we met the brothers.
"Unfortunately, 18 months into their tour of duty, there was a major battle with the Germans and Julian was seriously hurt. He made it back to Rome, but by then it was too late. I had acquired more medical knowledge over my life than anyone else at the time, but Julian's wound had become infected to the point where none of my remedies did any good. He lingered for about a week and then he was gone." This last was said with the sense of loss that is felt after a short couple of years and not of a memory from so long ago. Clark hugged her tight for a moment and then kissed the top of her head.
"That is so sad," said Lana quietly, as she squeezed Lex's hand a little tighter. "It must be tough to lose someone you love so soon after you found them."
"Yeah," answered Chloe. "but it's always hard whether you were with them for a month or fifty years."
After a minute of silence where they all thought of the friends and loved ones they had lost, Chloe finally shook her head and continued filling the others in on her life during the past few years in Rome. "I observed the customary six months of mourning and then tried to get on with my life."
"The period of mourning brings us to a time a little over two years ago. I started going back out into public, attending parties and accepting dinner invitations. At one of these parties I met Patricus Gasparus Venta for the first time. Venta is six foot six, has blond hair and blue eyes, and looks like some Greek statue. He knows how to turn on the charm when he chooses and for some reason he decided to turn that charm on me. Perhaps it was because of my strong ties to both the Flavian and Martialis families while he had no connections to any of the old ruling Roman families. Actually, it was something of a mystery how he came out of nowhere to end up in such a high position with the Praetorians.
"I never knew what it was about him, but something always rubbed me the wrong way. I thought it was just his womanizing ways at the time. Whatever it was I was sensing, I ended up rebuffing all of his overtures. This didn't sit well with him, but I was too important for him to take direct action against me. However after about six months, strange things started to happen to friends and acquaintances. Accusations of treason. People rounded up in the middle of the night to never be see again.
"Finally, about six months ago, Venta came and told me that if I didn't marry him, he would no longer be able to protect me from the rumors of treason going around. I told him to give me a day to get some things in order and then I would join him for a public announcement of our betrothal. That very night I set off for my estate in Egypt. This was one of my emergency fallback places with no connection to my Flavian family in Rome. My plan was to just quietly disappear from the family for thirty or forty years until Venta was old or dead. The only ones I told about Egypt were Marcus and Marina since they were about to leave for Gaul in a matter of days. By the time they returned to Rome in a few years, Venta's attention would long since have moved on to other matters."
With a deep sigh, Chloe concluded. "That's the short version of why things suddenly seem more complicated. I originally thought we could get in and out of Rome without my getting entangled with Venta again. But now that I find out he is also from the 21st century and will doubtlessly be working with the Professor to take out Lex, developing a plan that accounts for him will definitely be necessary."
"Hmm, did you ever see Carius and Venta together?" asked Lex. "Did you ever hear anything between them that might help us?"
"As I said yesterday at the baths, I only met Carius a couple of times at parties for the emperor. Mostly he and I traveled in different circles. Let me check my memories."
Once again Chloe got this blank expression on her face. Only this time it lasted much longer. After several minutes the others were starting to get a little concerned. She sat there just staring straight ahead. At regular intervals her eyes would blink, but even the blinking gave the impression of a body on autopilot. Finally, after almost five minutes her body gave a sudden jerk and she took a sudden sharp breath.
After letting the breath slowly out, she said, "That was very unusual."
"What just happened?" asked Lex.
"I was just reliving an incident that happened at the emperor's birthday party nine months ago. It is not often I access an old memory where I didn't understand the language when the events happened, but when I relive the moment thousands of years later I do understand the language. At this party, I had been chatting with Marina when she saw some old friends across the hall. She went to talk to them and I was going to swing by the food table, before looking for some other friends. As I was coming out of the small alcove we had been in, Carius and Venta where standing right around the corner talking. I didn't understand what they were saying at the time, but recognizing Venta's voice, I hung back waiting for them to leave because I didn't want to deal with him just then."
"Of course, what is weird now is that they were speaking in English. Since English as we understand it wouldn't be developed for at least 1200 years, it wasn't surprising that I didn't understand it. I am fluent in lots of languages, but still from time to time I do come across new ones. So at the time it didn't strike me as strange that they were using a language I didn't know."
"How many languages do you know?" asked Clark.
"That are still in use today? Maybe 35. Including all of the ones no longer in use? About 175." responded Chloe automatically, while her mind was still focused on the conversation she had overheard.
"If we can get past Chloe's linguistic skills for the moment," interjected Lex. "Is the conversation of any help in our situation?"
"I don't think so," said Chloe. "They were just talking about when Carius was planning to return to Tolosa to travel back 'uptime'. The date they were discussing was about two weeks after that party. So everything they discussed happened many months ago."
"Well, it was worth a shot," said Lex.
"What were you expecting?" asked Lana.
"Nothing really. Just thought by some dumb luck the Professor chose this particular date for his return here when he escaped through the portal with Lana in tow, because it had some significance. Like he was planning to meet Venta in Arelate the day after tomorrow and we could avoid the whole trip to Rome." answered Lex.
"I am afraid we didn't get that lucky." started Chloe, when she suddenly changed it to an "Oh, shit."
"What?" exclaimed Lex, Lana, and Clark at virtually the same time.
"I was searching my memories of those years for any other occasions where I overheard English being spoken." answered Chloe.
"Oh, shit, sounds more significant than just another instance of English," said Lex.
"Yeah," said Chloe. "This conversation wasn't between Carius and Venta. This conversation was between Venta and General Domicius, who leads the army of the Rhine."
"Another person from the 21st century?" asked Lex with a concerned tone. "But I thought you said this Venta guy was the only one besides the Professor in Rome."
"That's what Tony said," responded Chloe sounding a little pissed off. "Before I realized he spoke English I had already mentioned our goal of arranging a meeting between Lex and the Professor in Rome. He must have decided giving up one name would be enough to satisfy us. Damn, it has been too long since I have been involved with intrigue like this. I should have questioned him harder."
"He looked pretty intimidated at the time, Chloe," said Clark. "Maybe Tony doesn't know about this General Domicius."
"Anyway," cut in Lana in an attempt to calm everyone down. "what difference does one more person back here really make? It still comes down to getting the meteor rocks from the Professor and being on our way home."
Chloe started shaking her head and then realized Lex and Lana couldn't see her in the darkened coach. "No, unfortunately it matters a lot. Venta and General Domicius were talking about their plan for the General to march his army south in the spring and together they were going to overthrow the government of Rome."
"This spring?" asked Clark.
"Yes. Typically the passes through the Alps open in early to mid May and they could reach Rome by early to mid June."
"Chloe, do you remember any army marching on Rome this year?" asked Lex.
"No, so either they didn't follow through or something stopped them," answered Chloe.
"Like what?" asked Lana.
"Like us," answered Clark in the tone he got when someone needed saving. And this time it might be the whole future of the world as they knew it, which needed their help.
End of Chapter 19