Wednesday, March 18, 44 B.C.
5:15 p.m.
Over the Adriatic Sea
WHEN the light dissipated, the time travelers found themselves flying into a battle. In the sea, there were some barges already sunk and burning.
“Calpurnia.” said Clara, “Go into the glove compartment and get out some binoculars.” Calpurnia did. Then Clara said “Now use them to look around to find Mark Antony and Octavius Caesar.” Calpurnia did.
Jennifer was sitting in the back seat watching Calpurnia and remembering the story Marty told her about how he had trouble teaching Calpurnia how to use the binoculars when those two and Doc were in 1955 trying to retrieve the will of Julius Caesar. But here she had no problem using them.
“I see them.” said Calpurnia.
“Alright you two.” said Clara, “Grab a hold of something.” They did. The car dove right down towards the general direction of the water before Clara could pull up and glided towards the shore. Turning back to Calpurnia, she said “Let know if I get any warmer.”
“Right.” said Calpurnia as she had the binoculars trained on the shore. Then, she said “This is close enough.”
“Okay, Calpurnia.” said Clara, “I’m going do descend at little closer so you could just drop into the water. Now don’t forget to put on that respirator mask.”
“Right here.” said Calpurnia as she put the binoculars back in the glove compartment. Then, she showed something that looked like a transparent gas mask but a little bit lighter to Clara before putting it on.
“Okay.” said Clara, “This is close enough. Now unbuckle your seat belt.”
“Alright.” said Calpurnia, “I hope that the water isn’t too shallow.”
“Don’t worry.” said Clara, “It’s deep enough for a soft landing.”
“But we’re still far from the shore.” said Jennifer.
“Jennifer.” assured Calpurnia, “In my youth I was a champion swimmer. Wait I take to my place and show you all the ribbons and medals I won.”
“I can’t wait.” said Jennifer.
“Aright.” said Clara, “Here we go. Jennifer hold on to something.”
Jennifer did. The car turned on it’s side and Calpurnia fell out and landed in the water. Seconds passed-each one like an eternity. And then, Calpurnia’s head popped out of the water.
Clara righted the car and reached out to close the door. Then, floating near the swimmer she said “Alright, we’re going to fly over to shore. Once you arrive, you’ve go to point out Mark Antony and Octavius for us.”
“Good idea.” said Calpurnia.
Immediately, Clara steered the car towards the shore and landed it. The two remaining time travelers got out with Clara holding a bundle of rope in her arms.
“Remember where we parked.” she said.
Jennifer nodded affirmatively as the approached the shore with the rope. Clara unfurled the rope and threw a line out to Calpurnia.
“Alright, Calpurnia.” she said, “Grab a hold of this.”
Calpurnia did. With help from Jennifer, she pulled the swimmer ashore. Then, she removed the life jacket from Calpurnia and relieved her of her respirator mask.
Then, all three of them hid behind a rock and watched some soldiers approach.
“I see him.” said Calpurnia.
“Who?” asked Clara.
“Mark Antony.” said Calpurnia.
“Alright, Calpurnia.” she said, “You know what’s next.”
“Yes I do.” said Calpurnia.
“What’s next?” asked Jennifer.
Clara didn’t answer. She just whipped out the sleep inducer and used it on Calpurnia who then slumped into deep sleep.
“Stay with her, Jennifer.” said Clara, “Pretend you’re reviving her. I’m going to get help.” Immediately, she went onto a road where the Roman soldiers were approaching.
“Help us!” she said, “There’s a woman washed ashore and I don’t know whether she’s dead or alive.”
Immediately, a soldier followed her back to Calpurnia and Jennifer. There she was being given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by Jennifer.
Clara was speechless. But the soldier asked “What are you doing?”
Jennifer looked up and said “I’m giving her First…”
“Calpurnia!” interrupted the soldier, “Stay with her both of you. I’ll go get Mark Antony.” Immediately, he left.
Clara turned to Jennifer and asked “Jennifer. What were you doing?”
“Giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.” said Jennifer.
“Jennifer.”
“Well, you said pretend I’m reviving her and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
“With a method that doesn’t exist yet?”
“Well, what was I supposed to do?” asked Jennifer, “I got a merit badge for this while I was in the Girl Scouts.”
Then, a voice was heard.
“Calpurnia.”
Both Clara and Jennifer turned around to see who it was. It was a man who looked like he had great authority.
“Excuse me, sir?” asked Clara.
Meanwhile, Calpurnia came too and looked around. She saw Clara talking to someone she recognized.
“Mark Antony.” she said.
Clara looked at Calpurnia. Then, she looked at the man she was talking too and said “You’re Mark Antony.”
Antony ignored and went to see Calpurnia who was still in Jennifer’s arms.
“You live.” he said “Thank the gods. What about Charlton Heston and those two boys?”
“They didn’t escape.” said Calpurnia, “They gave their lives so I could be free. Such brave souls.”
“They were so young.” said Antony.
Meanwhile, some more men arrived. One of them also looked like he had great authority.
This man exclaimed “Calpurnia. Antony, is she alive?
“She is, Octavius.” said Antony, “But Charlton Heston and the two boys are dead. They died ensuring Calpurnia’s escape. These women fished her out of the water.”
Octavius looked at Clara and Jennifer asking “You look like shepherdesses.”
“We are.” said Clara, “We were finished tending our sheep for the day when we saw the smoke coming from the sea. We came out here to the shore and saw this lady floating on a log and we had to fish her out. She was barley breathing when we brought her to shore.”
Immediately, Octavius called to one of the soldiers saying “Get a litter so we could put her on it.”
The soldier saluted and went to fetch a stretcher.
Meanwhile, Mark Antony turned to Clara and Jennifer saying “You two should be congratulated. What would you want?”
“Antony.” said Calpurnia, “Bring them along. I’ll have them stay at my house for the week.”
“Very well.” said Antony, “You two ladies can accompany us as we take Calpurnia home.”
When, the men arrived with a stretcher, Octavius ordered “Put on it, and take her to my barge.”
“Octavius.” said Antony, “We’re going to have a couple of guests accompany us.”
He was indicating to Clara and Jennifer.
“And you are…” asked Octavius.
“A couple of shepherdesses who were on our way home after going into town to sell the sheep we tended too.” said Clara, “We went to the shore to bath ourselves and saw huge plumes of smoke and this woman washed ashore barely conscious.”
“Is there someone at home waiting for you?”
“No. We live by ourselves.” said Clara, “Me and my daughter.”
Octavius looked at both Clara and Jennifer saying “I see no family resemblance here.”
“But Octavius, did not Calpurnia say that they could come along with us?” insisted Antony, “The girl is pretty enough for any eligible bachelor in Rome.”
“Very well, then.” said Octavius, “They can come along.”
At the signal of Antony, the soldiers invited Clara and Jennifer to come along to the barge.
++++++
Before boarding, Jennifer was given the responsibility of bringing the DeLorean along via the remote. Of course, the DeLorean was to stay cloaked. Once they were on board, Jennifer was given special infra-red goggles to wear to view the progress of the time machine. She went to the railing and trained the remote at the car which immediately lifted off the ground and was hovered near the boat as it left port.
“Is there something over there?”
Jennifer removed her goggles and turned to look to see who it was. It was Octavius.
“Oh, it’s you.” said Jennifer, “So how is it like being an heir to a great man?”
“You mean, Caesar?” asked Octavius, “Wait until I get full hold of what my great uncle Julius has left me and you’ll see. By the way, what is over there?”
“Oh that.” said Jennifer, “I was pretending to say bon voyage to all my friends…”
“Bon Voyage?” asked Octaviius, “What does that mean?”
“Oh, that’s French for…”
“What is French?”
“Never mind.” said Jennifer, “Anyway I was pretending to wave goodbye to all my friends like passengers do when sailing on the Princess Cruises.”
“Princess Cruises?” asked Octavius.
“You know,” said Jennifer, “like on The Love Boat which you haven’t heard of yet.”
++++++
Meanwhile Clara was given a tour of the ship by Mark Antony. “Up here you could watch and keep an eye on the ship hands making sure that they do their work on deck.” he said.
“It’s such a view.” said Clara.
“And now, it’s about time I take you below and show you the inner workings of the vessel.”
“I would be glad too.”
Clara was escorted to the doorway leading down below decks. Once there, she saw men pulling oars back and forth and facing a man pounding a drum. There was another man with a whip and he was using it.
“Stroke.” he said, “Stroke, stroke, stroke.”
Clara was watching the cruelty of the era but there was nothing she could do about it. This was Calpurnia’s century not hers and there was that code of conduct of not interfering with what happened a long time ago for fear of altering future events.
“These aren’t really slaves.” said Antony, “They’re actually prisoners who one time fought for Pompey, Caesar’s rival.”
Pompey. Clara heard the story about the time that he and Julius Caesar were friends. But that friendship was strained and they became bitter rivals. A civil war erupted and Pompey was killed. A statue was erected in the Senate in his honor and it was at the base of this statue that Caesar died at the hand of the conspirators.
“They were captured during the battle in Spain.” Antony went onto say, “And upon Caesar’s triumphant return to Rome, they were marched through the streets of the city.” Turning to Clara, he said “That was the last war Caesar waged on anybody for that took place a couple of months ago.”
++++++
Calpurnia was about to get out of bed but was prevented by the attending physician.
“Mistress.” he said, “Please remain in bed until we reach port. Doctor’s orders.”
“You’ve examined me, Greek.” said Calpurnia, “Doesn’t your prognosis say that I’m healthy.”
“To my surprise, yes.” said the doctor, “But you still going to need some rest. Now stay in bed.”
Calpurnia lay there perturbed. If only I could tell you that I had more relaxing time already. she said to herself, But it’s pretty tough to talk around the fact that I was traveling through time.
++++++
The doctor emerged from his sickbay asking Mark Antony who was passing by with Clara “How soon before we arrive at port?”
“Is something wrong with Calpurnia, Doctor?”
“Only that my patient is getting very ancy.”
“I’ll see if I can’t get the oarsmen to speed it up.”
Immediately, he and Clara went to talk to the captain or the man in charge of the oarsmen.
++++++
Meanwhile on deck, Octavius left Jennifer for a while. Jennifer, on the other hand, still had the responsibility of maintaining the flight of the DeLorean while the ship was heading to Actuum.
And then a sound of someone throwing up was heard. Jennifer turned to see who it was. She was shocked at what she saw.
“Marty?” she said.
The man who threw up on the deck looked a lot like him.