Vincent continued walking around the camp, thinking deeply before answering my question. “Yes.”
I snorted out a laugh. Of course he did. There were too many plot holes in this story for him not to have.
“So, are you going to tell me, or am I going to end up dead tomorrow before I can tell anyone?”
“I’m not going to kill you, Jacob. You have a right to know.” He sighed, and I felt frustration flowing off of him. “It wasn’t supposed to happen the way it did. We had no idea things would turn out like this.”
“Maybe you should start at the beginning.”
He took a deep breath before continuing. “Six years ago, in 2015, papal historians were conducting routine research in the Vatican archives when they came across a document which spoke of a means to change the past. From what I was told, and from what I’ve learned here, I assume that document was the very same one you and Varus had discussed, or at least a copy. I assume so because the historians indicated it was written in a very old language, Etruscan they guessed, which proved nearly impossible to translate. However, it had numerous notes, scribbling, and translation attempts scrawled all over it, as well as on attached notes. I assume the document you saw had no such writing?”
“No, sir. It didn’t.”
“You see? I’ve been learning from your little lectures. The notes must have been written sometime between now and when we found the sphere, as more and more people attempted to unlock its secrets, before it somehow wound up in our archives, lost and forgotten. Anyway, the few discernible facts historians pulled from the notes were about a blue sphere. At first, we thought nothing of it, until a news report surfaced in 2016 concerning the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities break in. The one in Cairo.”
“I remember reading about that,” I replied, vaguely recalling the morning I read about it on my news feed. “Apparently nothing of value was stolen, except for two items, neither related in any way to the other. They never released what those artifacts were.”
“That’s probably because they thought their importance wasn’t significant. However, we quickly learned that one of those artifacts was actually in fact our lost blue sphere.”
“Really?” I asked. “The plot thickens.”
Vincent ignored my sarcasm. “We knew the robbery was committed by known terrorists from the security footage. Most were unrecognizable nobodies, but there was one the CIA identified for us. Abdullah.”
Now things were getting interesting. “So, let me get this straight,” I said, hoping I hadn’t missed anything. “Your researchers recovered evidence of an ancient time machine, which just happened to be residing, inconspicuously, in an Egyptian museum, only to have said museum broken into by Islamic extremists and the sphere stolen? Then, in your infinite wisdom, you sent out a team to recover the sphere, hoping to utilize its abilities for yourself, and somehow magically make the world a better place?”
“You make it sound almost… wrong, but to answer your question, no, that was not actually the plan. Did you or Varus understand the part about how the sphere affects those who spend too much time around it?”
I thought about it. “Actually… no, that didn’t come up.”
Vincent huffed. “Well, our historians learned that there were some who, when in direct and constant contact with the sphere, developed interesting symptoms revolving around intense paranoia, Tourette Syndrome, dementia. These people were borderline insane, and prone to random acts of physical violence. Others who came into contact with it showed no affects at all. Sound familiar?”
I didn’t flinch at his paternal tone. “No.”
“I thought so. That information was in the notes. Now, think here for a second. Intelligence agencies reported Abdullah as a rational man prior to the attack on the Vatican, a man low on their priority list, because he was never pegged as one who would actually do anything crazy. But what does he do a year later after the museum robbery? He causes one of the most atrocious acts of terrorism the world has ever seen. And remember the condition we found him in? He was crazy. By the way, I want to add something to your ever-expanding theory on time travel.”
I nodded, feeling excited, rather than annoyed.
“In our history, when nothing happened, you said the ball was packed up and lost to history, right?”
“It’s a possibility, yes,” I answered.
“‘A possibility’?” He repeated with a smirk. “Well, here’s my theory: what if it sat on Caligula’s nightstand for months, or even years, before it was lost?”
I stopped dead in my tracks. I couldn’t believe what he was saying, because it made perfect sense. The sphere is a part of our history, and may have indeed become a trinket of Caligula’s when it seemed to serve no purpose. If its negative side effects were true, it would definitely explain how Caligula really slipped towards madness, as well as how it became worse and worse over his short reign.
“I must say, sir, your theory is compelling. If you’re right, then I think it’s especially important to find out where the sphere is now. Actually,” I corrected, “we need to find out where both of them are.”
“I know. I’ve been thinking about that as well, but I have no idea where they could be. Hopefully, they’re locked away in a vault somewhere back in Rome.”
I considered that for a moment. I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. When we found them, we needed to destroy them. Even if we could find a way for them to return us to our original place on the timeline, home might not be how we remembered it anymore. We’d need to fix that first, too.
“You still haven’t answered my question as to your motives behind us arriving here,” I reminded him, not letting him off that easy.
Vincent stopped, and sat down on a large stone near the porta decumana, while I continued to stand near him. I looked up at the rampart and saw Helena standing on the platform, performing her guard duties. She noticed us beneath her and raised a questioning hand. I waved her off and turned back to Vincent who, meanwhile, had picked up a stick and started drawing lines in the dirt like an eight year old.
He took another long breath before continuing. “We weren’t supposed to end up in ancient Rome,” he said shaking his head distractedly as he admired his sand drawings. “We had no idea as to the context of what the document meant. The Pope hoped to bring the sphere back and study it, and maybe utilize it to help, but only if it could have been done safely, in a controlled way. The Pope’s first team was really commissioned to look for the sphere. It had been unsuccessful so far, which is why our second team was created, to help in that search, while simultaneously eliminating terrorist threats.”
I frowned. “Was McDougal in on it?”
“Of course. He was the one who came up with the plan to provide additional supplies for teams who had a direct lead on the sphere. He knew that when dealing with something unknown that anything can happen and he wanted us ready for anything. That’s why we were given the supply cache. Just in case.”
I looked at him suspiciously. “What about me?”
Vincent must have known I’d ask about that because he didn’t hesitate. “We had no idea you would be the key to getting us here. Honestly, we didn’t, but you were chosen for reasons other than the ones you were told. We knew the document was written in Etruscan, so chances were it had something to do with antiquity. We knew you were studying the classics before enlisting in the military, and thought it would be a good idea to recruit you. You’d be surprised to learn there aren’t very many military men with the eclectic educational background that you have. I guess we got lucky, but I was just as surprised as you were when we ended up beneath that temple.” He paused for a second. “There’s… more.”
I waited expectantly, folding my arms across my chest.
Vincent continued. “We’re under orders to do all that we can to aid the regime in power, to help maintain peace and stability in whatever region we find ourselves in, for as long as possible.” He paused again. “I was ordered to get involved. To… tweak things. Make them better. When we arrived here, I thought our luck couldn’t have been better. Caligula showed such promise.”