Another old piece that I don't see myself going back to
An actual time machine. Clara thought, I will be going back in time.
Exactly eighteen months ago, Clara was approached by the Dean of the Sciences. As a Classical Studies major, she was weary of what that meant. She was, however, sought out for her skill in Latin.
“We’re working on a secret project,” the dean told her, “and need someone who can translate.”
Since then she’d been studyinging and practicing the language, hoping it was enough to make her way through the Roman City.
“Timonaut Clara Quae, do you copy?” She hears Sara, the operator in charge of making sure the systems run smoothly, say. Of all the things we could have called ourselves, a debauched version of astronaut?.
“I’m here,” Clara replies.
“Alright, we’ll be here communicating signals we receive from the time machine.” Let us know if there is anything on your end we need to know about.”
“Copy that commander,” Clara chimes, “I’m still voting to name the time machine after myself.”
“Maybe we’ll do that after you get back, love.” Sara Chuckled. “Remember, if the signal cuts off, you have food, clothes, and other necessities to blend in. Remember, don’t speak English. Blend in with the crowd and never, try not to change anything in the past. We will try to get back to you, but we cannot guarantee how soon….”
The counting started as Clara hung to the glazed white chair she was sitting in. She felt her mouth stretched wide, she couldn’t help it, she was ecstatic.
Then the contraption started to shake. Clara screamed at the top of her lungs as she felt the pressure in the space disappear and the lights went out. Then it all stopped and Clara collapsed in the chair motionless.
She was woken by a voice shouting at her through the ear piece. “Clara? Clara?” it said in desperation, “Clara do you copy?”
Clara blinked, not knowing what was going on. Her eyes cleared and she found herself in a room with fluorescent green light.
No.
She was in a time machine with fluorescent green light, 2064 years away from home. She stumbled up and pressed the button on her microphone to speak, “Uh... yea hi.” She managed to stutter. Gasps and cheers went up in the control room.
“Welcome back Clara, you are now the first person to time travel outside of 20th century England,” Sarah from mission control sighed.
Clara yawned, “how long have I been out?”
“Around seven hours. We didn’t know what happened.”
Clara strained herself. Seven hours? SEVEN HOURS! What was she doing! She was wasting precious time.
She unbuckled the five belt straps and head set, despite the mission control ordering her not to, and opened the door of the box, revealing the huge ancient city in the Roman empire. For purposes of future alteration, the team choose to travel to a considerably unimportant location in the Roman Empire, Irisia. She stood, her mouth wide open, as she stared at the sight of Ancient Rome. The people bustling in the streets, litter-bearers carrying the wealthy in litters, and a whole population speaking Latin!
Suddenly, she heard the alarm go off inside the time machine and a red light flashed.
“Clara, you need to get back to the box, We are losing connection.” Sarah from mission control yelled urgently.
Clara hurried back to the time machine resetting everything and readying it for taking off. Something behind her tumbled, she dismissed it as she was rushing to set up the time machine.
In 10 the timer went off. She felt herself being carried back to the future.
~~~~~~~
Lycus was huddled in the corner of a villa, trying to hide from the soldiers who were looking for him. But suddenly, the whole house shook. For a second, he couldn’t breath, and he felt himself being spun around.
Mars forgive me, I shall never run from a battle again.
He begged the gods to reunite him with his wife and children, praying to Zeus, Juno, Mars, even Menerva. The Greeks thought she was worthy of being a warrior goddess, maybe she would listen.
No god took mercy on him, the metal of his armor crushing him to the walls of this strange house as he screamed. The blood drained out of his face as he clung to something on the wall.
Finally, the house stopped spinning and Lycus cowered in the corner, sobbing in fear and despair.
~~~~~~~~
Sara waited, fiddling with her dark straight hair as she waited for Clara to step outside. The Box was still for moments, everyone held her breath. Then suddenly there was a hissing noise and the door opened. The room erupted in cheers when Clara stepped out, and Sara closed her eyes in relief. She wasn’t sure what she would do if anything happened to her.
“Well you look like you’ve seen the devil,” Clara laughed as she hugged Sara.
“I’m just glad you are safe, I was afraid I wouldn’t see you again…”
“Oh, you won’t get rid of me, especially when you’re in charge of the mission. But you have no idea how awesome it was!” Clara squealed. “ I was actually in the past!”
“I know! You have to tell me all about it! ”
Clara eagerly nodded, “Dinner’s on me, you free tonight?”
But before Sara could respond, the time machine’s door opened and a man in armor and battle scars stared at them bewildered.
~~~~~~~
Lycus looked out at the people dressed in strange clothing. He had never seen anyone like these before. They were talking in some sort of gibberish that made no sense. They were definitely not Roman. Were they the Gods that were here to punish him for abandoning the army? Or were they some kind of demons? Were they talking in some almighty language while deciding how to punish him?
Without another thought, he slammed the door to what he thought was a small Villa and huddled in a corner.
A few minutes later, they opened the door and slowly, one by one, walked in. Lycus squished closer to the wall as he prayed that this was all just a bad dream.
Then suddenly, a puella started speaking. He couldn’t make out the words very well, but she said something like “hic non-periculo” in a very strange accent. It made no sense. He did know, though, that “periculous” means danger. What danger would he be in, did it include his family? Would he be allowed to live?
He hurriedly scrambled away from the strangers, but she continued to advance.
The puella continued to talk, yet he barely understood the words. Once in a while, he caught words like “sum” or “baculo.” This was going to be the end of his life. They would beat him to death with a stick.
Finally, a vir placed a hand on the puella's shoulder and everyone left.
Lycus wondered what was to come next.
~~~~~~~
Clara sat on her bed, both disappointed and ashamed. She was so sure she could speak Latin, but that encounter with the Roman man….
She tried to comfort him, to tell him he was in no danger, but it only made the man more fearful. And after about five minutes of trying, she was led away by her classics professor.
How did he get there anyway? She didn’t even leave the Time box during the trip back in time. How could he have gotten inside without Clara knowing?
But that didn’t matter. Clara better find a way to communicate with this Roman Soldier, or she will lose both her reputation and her respect, and she couldn’t lose those things.
After hours of moping in self-pity, Clara realized something. She had been focusing on mainly reading and writing the language in class, rather than trying to speak it. Maybe if she could communicate by writings… Yes, that might just work!
Clara quickly rushed out of her dormitory to test her prediction.
____________________________________________________
Professor Vincent Kent adjusted his glasses, trying to keep awake. These past few days have been a mess. The time travel mission itself was tiring, but no one expected something like this to happen. His prodigy student, Clara, had come up with a way to effectively communicate with the Roman. They learned that his name was Lycus, he was a Roman soldier, and he wanted to see his family. The question was, what did they do next.
“Well, we'll send him back, obviously! Reunite him with his family.” the publicist of the project said as if it were obvious. A mutter rose in the crowd as a response.
“Well, we can’t do that, the man knows too much. He could change the course of the past and alter the future.” The Professor of engineering from Cambridge exclaimed.
The crowd erupted into an argument over the morality of sending Lycus back or keeping him in the present day.
Finally, Professor Kent quieted them. “While I do believe it is unethical to keep him here,” he said, looking down, “ I think we must. We can’t let him change the course of history.”
“But sir,” declared the publicist with a thick Scottish accent, “We can’t just keep him here, he has a family that is counting on him.”
“That might be so Erin,” The professor replied gravely, “but I mean, this man had his first hot dog, and someone got him to wear jeans. So we really can’t--”
Before Professor Kent could finish, there was a knock on the door. Sara walked in, looking scared and stunned. “We have a problem,” she said, “the Roman is missing.”
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