MARTY arrived at Brutus’s house and was let in by a servant. He was escorted to a room where a woman sat sewing. Another woman, probably her handmaiden, was also there.
The sewing woman saw Marty and asked “Who are you?”
“Heston.” said Marty, “Charlton Heston.”
The woman turned to the servant who escorted Marty and said “That will be all Claudius. You may leave.” Turning to her handmaiden, she said “You too, Drusilla.” After both servants left, the woman asked Marty “Do you know why you were called here, don’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.” said Marty, “I gather you’re Brutus’s wife, aren’t you.”
“I am.” said the woman.
“Well, Mrs. Brutus…” said Marty.
“Please call me Portia.” said the woman.
“Whatever.” said Marty, “Anyway, you know where your husband has Calpurnia and the two boys don’t you?”
“I do.” said Portia, “But how about some wine first?”
“No thanks.” said Marty, “I’m not old enough to have any. Maybe another year.”
Portia gave Marty a peculiar stare. “You’re a strange one, Charlton.” she chuckled.
Damn! said Marty to himself, I forgot. This is Ancient Rome. The minimum drinking age doesn’t exist here.
“That’s alright.” said Portia, “If you don’t want any it’s fine with me.”
That’s a relief. said Marty to himself, I’ve got a plan to get those three out of there and it involves the DeLorean. Then to Portia he said “Okay let’s get down to business, then. Where are Calpurnia and the two boys?”
“Do you know where Salonae is?” asked Portia.
“Not really.” said Marty, “But if you got a map you could show me.”
Portia got up and went over to the nearest borough and open a drawer. Extracting a piece of paper, she brought it to Marty. It was a map of Italy and it’s vicinity. Putting it on a table she motioned Marty to come over and look at it.
Pointing at a part of a shore east of the Adriatic Sea, she said “This is Salonae.”
“That’s on the coast of Yugoslavia.” said Marty.
“I beg your pardon.”
Then realizing that he was in the year 44 B.C. and that Yugoslavia didn’t exist yet, Marty said “I mean it’s gonna be Yugoslavia some day but right now it’s…” he looked at the map and said “…Dalmatia.”
Portia laughed. “You are a indeed a strange one, Charlton.”
“Well not from where I come from.” said Marty.
“And that is…”
For the sake of changing the subject, Marty said “Listen, I have to go now. I’ll talk to you later. Much later.” Then to himself, he said Like in the history books. After that, he left.
++++++
Mark Antony had rounded up a select number of citizens and senators. Cicero was among them. They were escorted Caesar’s house where Octavius Caesar and Mark Antony were.
Seeing the two, Cicero demanded “What’s the meaning of this?”
“You know what this is all about.” said Antony, “Caesar’s widow has been kidnapped along with two young boys.” There was a gasp among the throng but neither he nor Octavius were buying it.
“You seemed surprised at what Antony said.” said Octavius, “But we know that there is some pretense behind those startled looks.”
“Caesar.” said Cicero, “I had no knowledge of the plot to kidnap Calpurnia, let alone that fact that I knew nothing of the plot to murder her husband.”
“I find this hard to believe.” said Antony, “Cicero, I have in on the utmost authority that on the eve of the Ides of March you were conversing with Casca, on of the conspirators involved with Caesar’s murder.”
“That does not mean I was involved with the assassination, Antony.” said Cicero, “I was carrying on a little chat with…”
“Save your oration for the executioner.” said Octavius. Turning to the rest of the citizens rounded up he said “All those brought here will be questioned. And if there’s any doubt about your denial, you will be severely punished.” He approached one of the citizens and asked “Did you have any knowledge of the plot to kidnap Calpurnia?”
“Caesar.” exclaimed the citizen.
“Answer the question.” demanded Octavius.
“No Caesar.” said the citizen, “I haven’t.”
Turning to another citizen, Octavius asked the same question and got the same answer. It went on and on until Cicero spoke up.
“Caesar.” he said, “You’re wasting you time. These people have no knowledge of the kidnapping.”
“Then perhaps you know something.” said Octavius.
“I told you I don’t, Caesar.” insisted Cicero.
“You lie.” said Octavius, “You’re hiding something.” Cicero stood there speechless. He had nothing to say. “Very well, then.” said Octavius went onto say, “You leave us no choice. Mark Antony?”
Antony turned to the guards and said “Take him to prison. Tell Maxilius to be ready. There’s going to be an execution coming up.”
The guards complied taking Cicero in tow.
Octavius turned to the other citizens and said “All those brought here will die as well. Guards, take them away.”
The remaining guards complied. Escorting the citizens out of the house.
Left alone, Antony suggested “We should call an emergency session in the Senate.”
“Very good, then.” said Octavius, “This line of questioning isn’t getting us anywhere.”
At that, the two went off to the Capitol.
++++++
Back on the barge, the three hostages were given breakfast but Calpurnia refused. However, the two boys insisted.
“Ma’am.” said Verne, “You’ve gotta keep up your strength.”
“That’s right.” said Jules, “The first order of business is survival.”
“Where did you learn that?” asked Calpurnia.
“From ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.’” said Jules.
“What is that?”
“A movie.” said Verne.”
“Verne.” said Jules, “She doesn’t know what a movie is?”
“What is a movie?” asked Calpurnia.
“See?” demanded Jules.
“A movie is motion picture.” explain Verne, “It’s a picture that moves.”
“I see.” said Calpurnia.
“And it doesn’t exist in your time.” said Jules to Calpurnia before turning to Verne to give him a hard stare.
Calpurnia hushed up the boys saying “Someone’s coming.”
Someone was coming. When he entered the room, a glance at Calpurnia told the boys that she knew this man.
“Cassius!” she said.
“Are you glad to see me again, Calpurnia?” asked Cassius.
“Glad?” scowled Calpurnia, “Ha! How can I be glad to see you after what you did to Julius?”
“What do you mean what we did to Julius?” exclaimed Cassius, “You should be glad. After all, he had it coming after he cheated on you with that Egyptian queen.”
“I still loved him despite his infidelities.” said Calpurnia, “But you murdered him because you thought he was about to make himself a king.”
“We murdered him because we were jealous of what he was becoming.” said Cassius, “He was becoming more powerful and we couldn’t stand it.”
“Then what was this garbage about Caesar making himself a king?” asked Calpurnia.
“You mean Brutus?” laughed Cassius, “We concocted that monstrosity to get him to join.”
“What?” exclaimed Calpurnia.
“You heard me.” said Cassius, “We knew all about his family tree. How his ancestor Junius Brutus drove the Tarquins from Rome and began the Republic. Knowing that, I told Brutus Caesar’s plan to become a king and he joined.”
Calpurnia sat back in shock. Oh the gods. she said to herself, Brutus was deceived. I’ve got to talk to him. Looking up at Cassius, she said “Cassius you beast. You have lied to a friend and talked him into killing another. How could you?”
“How could you marry a man that was faithless?” demanded Cassius.
“That is not your concern, Cassius.” said Calpurnia, “As much as it wasn’t your right to murder my husband.”
Cassius stood there in angered shock. “Consider yourself lucky that I must not kill you as we need you alive.” he said.
“Alive?” exclaimed Calpurnia, “But Brutus told us that he’s going to have me and the two boys killed.”
“Don’t worry.” said Cassius, “We’ll kill you -after we do away with Charlton Heston.”
The three hostages stared at Cassius in horror. They were going to be used as bait for Marty to lure him into their lair to be killed. And afterwards, they themselves will be disposed up.
++++++
Marty was in the barn loading Mr. Fusion when a knock was heard.
“Charlton.” said a voice. It was Lorrainia.
Lorriania, said Marty to himself. Immediately, he got into the DeLorean and activated the cloaking device. Then, he went to the door to open it. Saying “Lorrainia.”
“Charlton.” said Lorrainia, “What are you doing in here?”
“Getting ready to…sulking.” said Marty.
“About what?”
“Oh about not going.”
“Well, Mark Antony and Octavius know what they’re doing.”
“Do they?” asked Marty, “Lorrainia, if those were your kids and were asked to come if you ever wanted to see them alive again, would you do it?”
Lorrainia stood there as if she was unable to answer the question. Then, she said “Why Charlton. That’s an unfair question.”
“Well, would you?”
“Of course I would.”
“See, I rest my case. Now if you could excuse me, I would like to ‘sulk’ some more.”
“But, Charlton…”
“No buts. Hey Lorrainia, what’s going on in there?”
“Octavius and Antony have rounded up some citizens and senators and have been questioning them about my mistress’s and the two boys’ disappearance.”
“Well why don’t you go back in there and take a peek of what they’re doing and come back to tell me what’s being said?”
“I can’t do that. I’ll be in their way.”
“Just sneak a peek. I won’t tell anyone.”
Lorrainia shrugged their a minute. Then, she said “Alright.” After that, she left.
Marty went back to work readying the time machine. And when he was finished, he quietly opened the barn door and wheeled the invisible DeLorean outside and got in. With the coast clear, Marty programmed the ‘Destination Location’ indicator for Salonae, activated the hovering device and flew out of the yard.
++++++
Lorrainia returned to tell Charlton what she heard only to see the barn deserted.
“Looking for someone?”
Turning around, she saw Jandicius standing there with a sarcastic grin.
“Yes.” she said to the man, “I’m looking for Charlton Heston..”
“Well, he’s not here.” said Jandicius.
“It can’t be.” said Lorrainia, “I talked to him in here a minute ago.”
“He must’ve gone to pick up our mistress and those to kids.”
Lorrainia looked at Jandicius in horror. “He mustn’t. He’ll be in trouble.” she said.
“What are you going to do about it?”
“What else can I do?” said Lorrainia, “Talk to Antony and Octavius about it. For Charlton’s own good.”
“I don’t think so.” said Jandicius.
Lorrainia gave Jandicius a hard stare saying “What do you mean ‘you don’t think so’?”
“I mean”, said Jandicius reaching in his tunic and pulling out a dagger, “I don’t think so.”
Lorrainia looked at the weapon in shear terror. It was pointed at her heart.