He doesn’t seem to care about anything.
If only he hadn’t been like this before, I wouldn’t worry about him. At the very onset of our arrival here in ancient Rome, Jacob had placed all responsibility for bringing us here on himself, refusing to admit otherwise and pulled away from the only people he could trust. I was already in the process of loving him by then, but I couldn’t bring myself to act on it until I knew for certain he wasn’t a self-obsessed megalomaniac. I hadn’t known him for more than a few months then, knowing that even the most gentle of people can have a dark side.
But I was lucky. Jacob changed and committed himself to working through his issues, but now he’s doing it again. I feel like I’m losing him to inner demons that have always persisted in his mind and always will… but even though I know I have to be there for him… I’m not sure I can.
As for Galba, well, he hasn’t taken the news we came here to tell him very well. Not well at all. When Jacob first began his story, Galba seemed fine, pacing around the room distractedly stopping only occasionally to glare at me as if all this is my fault…
Which irritated me.
Men have always underestimated me, beginning with my father, and I’ve never understood why. Why is it that I always had to prove myself just to gain an inkling of respect? Even Caligula and Galba, and every other legionnaire I’d met, all shorter than me, had underestimated me. They thought I was weak but they learned. I broke a man’s nose and almost killed another, all to prove I was just as special as they were.
Like I said, they learned.
During the Battle for Rome, I was just another one of the guys. They even made me a set of legionary armor for me that actually fit. It was sweet. Galba spoke to me directly once, and after my near death experience, Caligula himself even came to sit with me. It was cute, and I really appreciated it. His acceptance was honestly the first time I’ve ever felt truly appreciated.
Galba just slumped across his desk.
Jacob hadn’t been kidding when he said he was going to tell Galba everything.
He started with Galba’s backstory. It was the only thing he knew he could say that would prove he knew more than he should, or could. Then he told Galba how everything should have played out, with Caligula going crazy and Claudius taking over. Jacob continued with Nero and the atrocities he would let happen — how he would let Rome burn, blame it on the Christians and build a giant palace on the spot where homes were destroyed. Then, he told him about his own attempt to take control upon Nero’s death and how he had failed and died, the first of three, before Vespasian took control. Jacob finished by telling the tale of Rome’s fall, followed by as much European, Muslim, Asian, and American history as he could in the last hour. He mentioned the Dark Ages, the medieval period, the Renaissance, the discovery of America, the unification of European territories into their own sovereign nations, and more history than I ever knew existed.
I had to give him credit. He was a good teacher. He was as patient with Galba as I could see him being with his young students trying to grasp a new concept. It was adorable actually.
I’m trying to catch up here, but I think I heard him mention the third world war that was going on in 2021. He made sure to mention the technical advancements and the terror they brought. Chemical, biological, nuclear warfare. He mentioned Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the utter destruction that was unleashed on God knows how many Japanese…
It just occurred to me that if Jacob is right, you may have no idea what I’m talking about.
Sorry.
I made sure to watch Galba’s posture during the presentation. As I said, he paced at first, but by the time Jacob got to the fall of Rome, he’d stopped to stand near his desk. With William the Conqueror, he was still standing, but had his fists on his desk as he leaned heavily on them. When Jacob got to steam power, airplanes, electricity, the moon landing, and the internet, Galba was seated at his chair, his hands clutching his ears as he hung his head, trying to wrap his mind around everything Jacob had just unleashed upon him.
Now he was slumped on his desk.
The poor man.
He’s had his whole world upended. He’s just been told how everything he’s worked for was all for nothing, and that in the end, his entry in the Oxford Classical Dictionary was only a few lines long, at least that’s what Jacob once told me about the man. Very few even remembered his name anymore. I know I hadn’t heard of him. And he’s just been asked to help Vespasian and try to forget the fact that history will remember him as little more than a footnote.
Okay, I’d better wrap this up.
Galba mentioned Agrippina and Nero were on their way to oversee the preparations for the invasion, and I know Jacob will want to take Nero as soon as possible, but mark my words, if I get within arm’s reach of Agrippina, I will dig her throat out with my bare hands. Despite everything, I’ll never forgive her for what she did to Jacob. I owe him that much.
Caligula as well.
They deserve their vengeance.
I glanced over at Helena, who had been feverously scribbling in my journal while I told Galba the longest story I’ve ever had to tell. She was shaking her hand after dotting her last period with an odd vigor, an angry expression on her face. She returned my look, and even though she quickly averted her eyes back to the journal, she slowly looked back at me, her expression softening. I gave her an earnest smile, which I was surprised to see returned. Seeing it, my own smile widened and I wanted nothing more than to embrace her, tell her how much of an asshole I’d been and that it was time to work through our problems.
Every muscle in my body urged me to do it, but I was distracted by the shape of Galba slowly rising from his chair. He got up and moved towards the tent’s entrance and opened the flap to peer out into the morning darkness. Dawn was just around the corner, and I knew we’d overstayed our welcome. I had just summarized an entire world history course in a little more than an hour, but the story needed telling. Maybe Galba would let us hang out here until nightfall again if he decided not to kill us.
His head sagged forward as he closed the flap, making his way back to his desk.
“What you’ve told me,” he paused, sitting slowly, “is very hard to accept.”
That was probably an understatement.
“To think that all of what Rome has built will one day fall, only to be replaced by a religious cult that worships a single deity is difficult to imagine.” He smiled just slightly. “But, if it is as you say and this… Pope, as you call him, is so powerful; it is not hard to believe that he would of course be ruling from Rome.”
He paused again to take in a deep breath. “I have seen what you can do. Your ability to channel the sun’s power to create your own light. Your weapons. The manner of your clothing. Your night seeing devices. All of it is logical were I to only accept your story.” He looked me squarely before continuing. “I knew you were not from some far away land or mythical island, or even descendant from gods. This… makes sense. I know of Archimedes, and some of what you describe seems based on his principles. It would only be a matter of time.”
“You’re right, Galba,” I heard Helena speak up. “You Romans were the foundations from which our society grew. It’s something to be proud of, not mourned.”