said.
“The date,” Eagle prompted.
“15 March.”
Eagle looked at Moms. “Rome. 44 B.C.. When’s he going?” he pointed at Roland.
“A bit later than that,” Dane said. “One at a time and we’ll start with the most obvious.” He wrote on the board: 15 March 44 B.C.—ROME
“As we all know,” Dane began, “on that date—”
“Don’t assume Roland knows,” Mac said.
“Enough!” Dane said.
“Sucks to get poked, don’t it?” Mac asked. “You poked us with the ring tones.”
“I apologized,” Dane said.
“Not exactly,” Eagle said. “You said it was wrong. You didn’t say you were sorry for doing it.”
Moms walked up to Dane, inside his personal space, which made him even more uncomfortable the way she was dressed, or rather not dressed. “We have to trust you, Dane. You’re sending us on these missions. Giving us this briefing. We’ve got to trust you have our backs. Someone who jerks our chain like you did with the ring tones; that gives us a moment of doubt. You were MACV-SOG in Vietnam. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. So. Can we trust you?”
Dane took a deep breath, let it out. “Yes. I understand. Yes. I apologize.”
Moms went back to the table and sat down. “All right. Let’s move on. 44 B.C.. What am I? Some sort of courtesan?”
“The furthest thing from that,” Dane said.
“A Vestal Virgin,” Eagle said, earning a snort of surprise from Mac.
“Not exactly,” Dane corrected. “An Amata. In training to be one.”
Mac couldn’t hold back. “How do you train to be a virgin?”
“Shut up, Mac,” Scout said, and that startled everyone in the room. Moms looked at her, then over at Eagle. He shrugged and gave a slight shake of his head.
“44 B.C.,” Dane said, tapping the piece of chalk on the board. “The day everyone remembers as the Ides of March. Caesar is assassinated. A critical juncture in history, to say the least. It led to civil war, then Antony and Cleopatra, and eventually Octavian becoming Emperor Augustus.”
“And you have no idea what I’m supposed to do,” Moms said, not a question.
“That’s the way it is,” Dane said. “You’ll get all the possible information about that day and that event in your download.”
Moms held up a hand. “Let’s back up a little. On Black Tuesday, a Time Patrol agent from the era met four of us. Pablo Correa was there, waiting for me to show up. I assume he sent the report forward in time, somehow, here, so that you knew where to send me.”
“They weren’t all Time Patrol agents,” Scout corrected. “The guy who I met worked for the Shadow. As did the second guy. And I think there was a third Shadow agent. I figure they killed the real Agent I was supposed to meet.” She pointed at Roland. “And Ragnarok, the Viking on whose ship Roland came to, also worked for the Shadow. He didn’t meet his Time Agent until later on. The Berserker.”
“Halved One-Eye,” Roland said admiringly. “He was pretty bad ass.”
“You thought Ragnarok was a bad ass when you met him,” Mac pointed out.
“I’m sure they both were,” Moms said, “but that’s exactly the point. It was pretty hit or miss. Out of six of us, two met Time Patrol Agents who helped, two met Shadow Agents who betrayed us, and two of us didn’t meet anyone from the Time Patrol or the Shadow. So what’s the deal?”
Dane sighed and looked off into the nonexistent distance in the room, framing what he was going to say. “I’ve admitted that what we don’t know about all this is a lot more than we know. We’re working a lot with inherited technology from Atlantis. Ancient, but more advanced than the world outside of here has. This is all on a level we don’t quite comprehend. We can break down the physics to a certain point, but then it falls apart.”
“Quantum and general relativity,” Doc said. “Physicists have been searching for a unified—
“Both are missing a piece,” Scout
“The date,” Eagle prompted.
“15 March.”
Eagle looked at Moms. “Rome. 44 B.C.. When’s he going?” he pointed at Roland.
“A bit later than that,” Dane said. “One at a time and we’ll start with the most obvious.” He wrote on the board: 15 March 44 B.C.—ROME
“As we all know,” Dane began, “on that date—”
“Don’t assume Roland knows,” Mac said.
“Enough!” Dane said.
“Sucks to get poked, don’t it?” Mac asked. “You poked us with the ring tones.”
“I apologized,” Dane said.
“Not exactly,” Eagle said. “You said it was wrong. You didn’t say you were sorry for doing it.”
Moms walked up to Dane, inside his personal space, which made him even more uncomfortable the way she was dressed, or rather not dressed. “We have to trust you, Dane. You’re sending us on these missions. Giving us this briefing. We’ve got to trust you have our backs. Someone who jerks our chain like you did with the ring tones; that gives us a moment of doubt. You were MACV-SOG in Vietnam. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. So. Can we trust you?”
Dane took a deep breath, let it out. “Yes. I understand. Yes. I apologize.”
Moms went back to the table and sat down. “All right. Let’s move on. 44 B.C.. What am I? Some sort of courtesan?”
“The furthest thing from that,” Dane said.
“A Vestal Virgin,” Eagle said, earning a snort of surprise from Mac.
“Not exactly,” Dane corrected. “An Amata. In training to be one.”
Mac couldn’t hold back. “How do you train to be a virgin?”
“Shut up, Mac,” Scout said, and that startled everyone in the room. Moms looked at her, then over at Eagle. He shrugged and gave a slight shake of his head.
“44 B.C.,” Dane said, tapping the piece of chalk on the board. “The day everyone remembers as the Ides of March. Caesar is assassinated. A critical juncture in history, to say the least. It led to civil war, then Antony and Cleopatra, and eventually Octavian becoming Emperor Augustus.”
“And you have no idea what I’m supposed to do,” Moms said, not a question.
“That’s the way it is,” Dane said. “You’ll get all the possible information about that day and that event in your download.”
Moms held up a hand. “Let’s back up a little. On Black Tuesday, a Time Patrol agent from the era met four of us. Pablo Correa was there, waiting for me to show up. I assume he sent the report forward in time, somehow, here, so that you knew where to send me.”
“They weren’t all Time Patrol agents,” Scout corrected. “The guy who I met worked for the Shadow. As did the second guy. And I think there was a third Shadow agent. I figure they killed the real Agent I was supposed to meet.” She pointed at Roland. “And Ragnarok, the Viking on whose ship Roland came to, also worked for the Shadow. He didn’t meet his Time Agent until later on. The Berserker.”
“Halved One-Eye,” Roland said admiringly. “He was pretty bad ass.”
“You thought Ragnarok was a bad ass when you met him,” Mac pointed out.
“I’m sure they both were,” Moms said, “but that’s exactly the point. It was pretty hit or miss. Out of six of us, two met Time Patrol Agents who helped, two met Shadow Agents who betrayed us, and two of us didn’t meet anyone from the Time Patrol or the Shadow. So what’s the deal?”
Dane sighed and looked off into the nonexistent distance in the room, framing what he was going to say. “I’ve admitted that what we don’t know about all this is a lot more than we know. We’re working a lot with inherited technology from Atlantis. Ancient, but more advanced than the world outside of here has. This is all on a level we don’t quite comprehend. We can break down the physics to a certain point, but then it falls apart.”
“Quantum and general relativity,” Doc said. “Physicists have been searching for a unified—
“Both are missing a piece,” Scout
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