Tuesday , March 17, 44 B.C.
6:30 a.m.
The Port of Salonae on the Adriatic Sea
THE barges of Brutus and Cassius were docked at Salonae for the night. When morning came, Brutus was aroused from his sleep when his servant Lucius entered with a note.
“It was carried by a homing pigeon.” he explained.
“Let me read it.” said Brutus taking the note from him. Looking at it and reading it he exclaimed “Why by all the gods of Olympus.”
“What is it?” asked Lucius.
“Caesar and Calpurnia.” said Brutus, “They had a couple of sons and I didn’t know about it.” Turning to Lucius, he said “Get the others and have some of them fetch Cassius and his companions. Tell them it’s an emergency.”
“Yes, my lord.” said Lucius. He bowed and left.
Looking at the note again, Brutus said “Caesar has a couple of sons and I never knew.” He continued to read it over and over again.
++++++
The moment he received the summons, Cassius got his men together and went over to Brutus’s barge. Once there, there was a session like a council of war.
“Brutus.” asked Cassius, “Even if it was true, why didn’t Caesar divulge it to the world?”
“Cassius,” said Brutus, “if you would make yourself a king and you had sons, would you tell anyone about them?”
Cassius pondered this. Then said “I probably wouldn’t.”
“There you have it.”
Cassius studied the note saying “It reads that for some time they were in Charlton Heston’s care.”
“Ain’t that something.” said Brutus, “It seems that Caesar and Heston had a working relationship that nobody knew about.” Looking at Cassius, he went onto say “Wouldn’t it be something if I got even with that son of a bitch.”
“What does this have to do with those boys?”
“Don’t you see,” said Brutus, “those boys could be Heston’s responsibility. If we kidnap them and their mother, Heston has to come to the rescue. And I’ll be ready for them.”
“I don’t know.” said Cassius, “Why don’t you just go to Rome and just confront him there?”
“Are you crazy?” exclaimed Brutus, “You and I are marked men there now. But if we send a some of our men there and kidnap the three for us, we could make it work.” Turning to the rest, he said “Tonight’s a moonless night. Lucilius, select a few men and proceed at once to Rome.” Turning to Cassius, he said “By the time they arrive there, it’ll nightfall. That way, the quarry won’t be seen sneaking into the city.”
“Very good.” said Cassius.
“And with mother and sons held hostage,” said Brutus, “I’ll send a message demanding that Charlton Heston come alone to retrieve them. Once he does, I’ve got him.”
“Sounds good.” said Cassius as the two laughed.
++++++
Back in Rome, Marty and Calpurnia were walking down a hallway when a noise was heard.
It was the sound of a window breaking.
The two went to investigate the source of the noise and found that one of the room’s window was broken. In the room itself there was a ball.
“What the hell?” asked Marty as he picked it up.
The two looked out of the broken window and looked at the grassy area that it overlooked and saw Jules and Verne out there with the servants and some of the citizens. It looked like they were playing some sort of a game.
Calpurnia went out to them followed by Marty. Taking the ball from him she asked McFlius “What is this and what is everyone doing out here?”
“Please mistress.” pleaded McFlius, “We were just playing a game.”
“A game?” exclaimed Calpurnia.
“And besides,” said one of the citizens, “Mark Antony told us that Caesar willed this…”
Calpurnia hushed up the man saying “I know it but what I want to know is what game is it?”
There was a momentary pause before McFlius said “It was a game called something ball.”
“Baseball.” said Jules.
“Baseball?” exclaimed Marty.
“Never heard of it.” said Calpurnia.
Marty whispered to her saying “That’s because it hasn’t been invented yet.”
Calpurnia gave him a peculiar stare before saying “Oh.”
“So if I were you,” said Marty, “I’d tell the servants to go back to work and have everyone else go home before the playing of this sport start having a profound effect on history.”
“But Marty,” said Calpurnia, “my husband has left this part of the property to the public according to his will. I just can’t tell people to leave.”
“And I can’t go back to a future where baseball wasn’t invented by Abner Doubleday.” said Marty.
“Abner Doubleday?” asked Calpurnia.
Marty paused for one minute. Then, he said “Eh, well you see…, find out in about two thousand years.”
Calpurnia gave Marty a peculiar stare. Then realizing that she was the only human being in Rome who knew about time travel she said “I see. I understand.” Turning to McFlius, she said “McFlius, please tell everyone to stop playing this game. “
“But mistress…” protested McFlius.
Again Calpurnia showed him the ball saying “This ‘baseball’ broke a window.”
Noticing the broken window, McFlius said “You’re right.” Turning to the other servants and citizens, he said “Alright. That’s it. Caesar’s widow says no more of this sport.”
“No wait a minute.” protested one of the citizens, “Caesar’s will said that this part of the property is left to us and our children forever for recreational purposes.”
Turning to Calpurnia, McFlius asked “Should I get Mark Antony?”
Calpurnia put out her handing saying “No. Let me handle this.” Turning to the others she said “Did my husband’s will ever state that windows should be broken.”
Both citizens and servants alike looked at each other until one of them said “Uh, no.” The rest could not disagree.
“Well then…”
“Ma’am.” said Jules.
“What is it?”
“What if we use a whiffle ball?”
“A what?”
At that moment, Marty stepped in saying “Jules, Verne. I need to talk to the both of you.”
The two boys looked at each other. Then, Jules said “Alright.”
Meanwhile the crowd dispersed and as they did, Marty noticed something else. There was a football on the ground. He went over to pick it up. It had the autographs of Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Dwight Clark written on it.
Turning to the two boys he asked “Were you two going to play football with the citizens too?”
Both nodded affirmatively.
“Geez.” said Marty, “It looks like this one’s gonna be a ‘sit down and talk’ conversation.” Turning to Calpurnia, he said “Can you excuse us for a minute?”
“Of course.” said Calpurnia.
After collecting all that was used for baseball and picking up the football, Marty took the boys to a quiet part of the house and sat them down.
“Now listen up, guys.” he said, “Whenever I was sent through time by your father he always gave me this advice and I think I should give it to you.”
“And that it…” said Jules.
“Don’t talk to anybody. Don’t interact with them. And don’t touch anything.” said Marty, “And don’t go introducing a sport to some people who haven’t heard of because it hasn’t been invented yet. Anything you might do could have a profound effect on history.”
“But Marty…” said Verne.
“No buts.” said Marty, “The only one who knows about time travel in this era is Calpurnia and she promised not to tell anyone else about it, not even to Octavius Caesar or Mark Antony. If it ever gets out in this era, God only knows what might happen.” The two boys looked at Marty with such disappointment. “So don’t go teaching these people anymore sports before they’re invented.” he went onto say, “Your only involvement with the servants is when you want to take a further look at the sites and need escorts but that’s it. Anything else and I’ll cut this stay short, jump ahead to the day the bracelet arrives and then go back to the future. Do you two understand?”
“Yes sir.” said Jules.
“How about you Verne?” asked Marty.
“Oh alright.” said Verne, “I understand.”
“Good.” said Marty, “And now…”
He was interrupted with a knock on the door. Marty hushed up the boys a bit until a voice on the other side said “Marty?”
“Good.” said Marty, “It’s Calpurnia.” He opened the door to let her in.
“Is everything alright?” she asked.
“Yeah.” said Marty, “Everything’s alright. Everything’s fine.”
“Good.” said Calpurnia, “It’s almost suppertime.”
“Great.” said Marty, “That’s good, great. Come on guys. Let’s wash up.”
And they did.
++++++
It was bedtime. Calpurnia had the boys tucked in. She came in wanting to read a story but the boys didn’t feel like hearing one.
“Is something wrong.” she asked
“Not really.” said Jules. Then, he said “Oh, okay. Marty told us not to play games with the citizens or the servants or do any interacting with them.”
“And why not?”
“Because it would have a profound effect on history.” said Jules.
“Oh, I see.” said Calpurnia, “But you’re interacting with me.”
“You’re different.” said Jules, “You know about time travel and all that and you promised never to tell anyone about it.”
“So?”
“The point is nobody else knows about it here.”
“Well I wasn’t supposed to know about it either but I did. And it was by accident.”
“I know. Dad and Marty told us the whole story about how you went to get your husband’s will and saw the time machine and got in…”
“Right. Is there anything else he said.”
“Yeah. He warned us that if we do any more interacting, he’ll cut our stay
short, jump ahead to the day the bracelet arrives and head back to the future.”
Calpurnia paused for a minute. Then she said “I’ll have to talk to him about it. But right now, it’s time for sleep. I’ll see you two in the morning.”
“Alright.” said the boys, “Good night.”
“Goodnight.” said Calpurnia as she doused a candle and closed the door.
++++++
Meanwhile on the grounds, Titinius and his men waited for the light in Calpurnia’s room to go out. And when it did, they began to make their move.