Mysteries of Time

By Marius A Smith

The time travellers visit an ancient Roman compound in Hungary in the year 375 AD, where William prevents the death of Emperor Valentinian the First, setting history on an entirely different path. Captured by a Roman starship from the future, they are brought to the year 2148, where the Roman Empire spans an extensive sector of space encompassing hundreds of worlds. But even the empire of the future is unable to combat an approaching threat from outside the known universe, with whole star systems falling before it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marius A Smith
• Release date: Mar 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476011103

Marius A Smith

Marius Augustus Smith was born in 1981 in Adelaide, Australia, and is a life-long fan of science fiction. He has travelled to many places around the world, with many more he has yet to visit, although some destinations can only be travelled to in the mind (at least until the invention of warp drive!). Also having an interest in history, especially ancient cultures, and Egypt in particular, Marius has incorporated these interests into his books. His favourite authors include Alexandre Dumas, Kevin J. Anderson, Drew Karpyshyn, Anne Rice and J. K. Rowling. Some of his not-so-common experiences include shovelling coal in a 1920s locomotive, and being an extra in a police line-up. Marius currently lives in Australia with his wife.

Book preview

MYSTERIES OF TIME

The Course of Time

BOOK FIVE

Marius A. Smith

The Course of Time:

Larissa

Cerah

From Time to Time

The Time of Humanity

Time and Time Again

The Time of Sacrifice

Mysteries of Time

From the Depths of Time: Part One

From the Depths of Time: Part Two

Time’s Curse

In Times of War: Part One

In Times of War: Part Two

Copyright © 2024 Marius A. Smith

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

Published by Marius A. Smith at Smashwords

All historical individuals or places mentioned or referred to in this book are portrayed in a purely fictitious sense. All other characters are purely fictitious, and no resemblance to individuals living or dead is intended.

No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form without the prior permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

The Last Sapphire

Time is the greatest gift and the greatest resource, given to all in different measure. The way it’s used will determine the influence that any individual’s time will have upon history, not its duration.

William, Larissa, Luke and Cerah trudged back towards the Leeds cemetery in disappointment. They’d been hoping to dine at a classy restaurant owned by a gentleman named Tom, where Luke had assured them they could get a good steak with roasted vegetables and some of the best fresh bread in Leeds. As it happened, Tom’s venue was closed for the day in preparation to cater for the wedding of a nobleman that would take place later that evening at the groom’s family estate, as the head of the kitchen staff there had been taken ill, and Tom had a long-standing acquaintance with the family. Through the windows, the group of vampires had seen Tom’s waiting staff scurrying about, preparing to load the required foods, beverages, cooking pots and utensils into coaches for transport. Another place that Cerah had recommended, owned by a man named Cuthbert, was also closed due to a recent death in the family.

William’s long, double-breasted, black tweed coat blew about as a wind built up. Beneath it he wore a long-sleeved black cotton shirt to match his black trousers and boots. Larissa also wore an outfit that was entirely black, the one she’d had tailored on the planet Melhandur. Her thinner knee-length suede jacket blew about more freely than William’s. She also wore black boots to go with her outfit of a diagonally cut skirt over her narrow-cut slacks, and a tight waistcoat over her blouse. Luke and Cerah were still dressed in formal late eighteenth century attire, which they were both quite keen to be rid of.

When they reached the cemetery, with its lush green grass, well-tended garden beds, and numerous rows of headstones both old and new, the four vampires saw that an elderly local by the name of Raymond Hargraves was slumped unconscious inside the Mark VIII time capsule that stood among the graves. He was in an awkward position, since the confines of the capsule prevented him from collapsing fully, so he was propped up in a semi-standing position. Luke and Cerah had noticed Hargraves watching them closely for the whole five weeks or so that they’d been trapped in 1779. Had it not been for the fact that the aged man was so frail they might’ve considered him a potential threat.

The four vampires ran over to the capsule to check on him as the sun came out from behind a cloud, which didn’t matter to them, being uniquely immune to ultraviolet radiation.

When they got to the Mark VIII, Luke tried to open the transparent door but it was sealed shut.

He’s tripped the emergency protocol I programmed into the capsule as a safeguard. Don’t worry, he’ll live, William assured them. Seeing that his friends were expecting an explanation, he continued, The internal sensors have been set to trigger the protocol in the event of someone trying to operate its flight system who doesn’t have vampire life signs. Any of us could use it, and a normal person could work the sensors or communication system in the event of an emergency, but they couldn’t adjust the navigation system or initiate the dematerialisation system. Any attempt to do so and the door seals itself, and can only be overridden from outside the capsule. The internal oxygen level’s also reduced to a bare minimum to incapacitate the intruder.

Meaning that this local old man, native to the eighteenth century, tried to operate the capsule’s dematerialisation system? Cerah confirmed.

That’s right.

We were only away from it for five minutes, Larissa said. What are the odds of him going and touching those particular controls in that time, even out of random curiosity?

Pretty steeply against, given the number of systems, William answered, touching a control on his multi-com. With it he remotely released the door seal. But how could he possibly have any idea of what controls to go for to operate it? What was he even thinking, mucking about with a device he couldn’t possibly understand?

He probably just kept trying every system to see if something would happen. Maybe he has dementia, Cerah considered.

He probably does, Luke said. He’s so old and withered that he probably died a few years ago and just hasn’t realised it yet.

Cerah and Larissa both shook their heads and rolled their eyes at the tactless remark.

There’s always the chance he coincidentally went for those controls first, Luke speculated. Lucky for Hargraves the restaurants were closed, otherwise he’d have been stuck in there for a while. I don’t imagine it would’ve done his back any good, being in such a position for any length of time.

William and Luke opened the capsule and caught Hargraves as he toppled out, and gently lowered him onto the grass. His breathing was shallow, but steady.

So what are we going to do with him? Cerah asked.

It’d be wrong to just leave him here, no matter what he was trying to do in the capsule, Larissa said compassionately.

I say we just hand him over to his relatives, or at least a doctor, and let them take care of him, Luke said.

Good idea. And then I think it would be best if we got away from this time and place straight away. If people are getting curious about us it could quickly get too dangerous to remain, William suggested.

They all agreed with that, so William and Luke carried Hargraves away, one either side, linking their arms under his legs and also behind his back, and positioning the unconscious man’s arms over their shoulders.

Luke soon spotted someone he knew to be associated with Hargraves, whether a relative or a friend he couldn’t recall, and when he called out to him the man quickly summoned assistance to get Hargraves to his family’s home on Arthur Street. Luke made up a quick story about how they’d found him collapsed in the cemetery, and then he and William excused themselves and returned to their wives, who were sitting on the grass against the Mark VIII side by side.

So you managed to get rid of him okay then? Cerah asked.

Such compassion, William remarked.

What? He was starting to get creepy, even if he is just a frail old geezer, Cerah said defensively.

You’re starting to sound as bad as Luke.

Thanks, she said sarcastically.

I’m touched, Luke said. Anyway, Hargraves’ family’s going to take care of him.

As long as you guys didn’t just dump him behind a bush out of sight somewhere, Cerah muttered.

You two are going to need some comfortable and less conspicuous outfits than those eighteenth century getups you’re wearing, and I know just the place, William said enthusiastically.

Larissa already knew where he was going to take them. She stepped into the capsule, and William squeezed in with her.

I’ll send the capsule back to retrieve you two in a minute, William promised, and shut the door. He awkwardly reached around Larissa and fumbled with the controls behind her. A shimmer of blue light rippled all around the capsule and it faded from sight, leaving only a round impression on the grass where it had stood. Luke and Cerah waited, and eventually it rematerialised in the same place, now empty. They stepped inside, pressed up against each other, and closed the door. Before Luke had a chance to ask Cerah if she could see if it was set for autopilot, the blue light again enshrouded it and the Mark VIII dematerialised.

All around them was a shadowy swirling vortex of every conceivable colour, constantly blending and diverging with prismatic light as they moved through the zero-space that the unique craft travelled through. Several seconds later the sight of the vortex faded to be replaced with that of a wide metal-walled room filled with racks of clothing from every era of human history, with each rack labelled accordingly.

We’re on Dynasty! Luke almost shouted, immediately recognising the time ship that he and William had commanded.

Not so loud, do you want us to get caught in here? Cerah hissed as they stepped out of the capsule. Being leftovers from the timeline that Muteki had created, they couldn’t afford to let their existence be known to Temporal Security, as they no longer had a rightful existence. If they were discovered they’d be removed from time permanently, leaving only their original selves to live on in the restored timeline.

Speaking at a normal volume, William said, It’s alright, we’re at a time when Dynasty has been completed for launch, but before it’s been commissioned. There’s no one else aboard.

Luke and Cerah sighed with relief.

After a moment, Luke said, Now that I think about it, didn’t Lieutenant Dawson pick up a residual temporal energy reading coming from in here when we launched for our first mission? That was probably our presence here now!

True, but the team that came down here to investigate it didn’t find anything conclusive, and since we had the fate of the world to worry about at the time the issue was forgotten after that. So don’t worry, we’ll be fine, William said dismissively. Then he added, Help yourselves to the clothes. And choose well, the capsule’s not big enough to take any luggage with us. He stepped back into the Mark VIII.

Before William could shut the door, Luke asked, Where do you think you’re off to?

To start finding answers to some of our unanswered questions. You know how Talamayn said that the origin of the Sapphirus Tempus was connected to me and came into existence around the fall of the West Roman Empire?

But in your watered-down version of the events that took place on Melhandur, you told me that it was made by the Zyarya when they were trapped there, along with four other sapphires, one of which was destroyed.

Exactly. Talamayn became the keeper of the one that cropped up in ancient Rome, but how did it wind up there? And what has it got to do with me?

Not to mention what became of the other three sapphires, Luke pointed out.

Talamayn originally said that the Sapphirus Tempus was the last remaining artefact from an alternative timeline that no longer exists. His story doesn’t seem to match up with what we know about the Zyarya creating the sapphires to get off of Melhandur within our own timeline, so I thought I’d go and get some coordinates so that we could all check out that inconsistency together. I figured you’d all want to be in on the adventure, right? William asked, looking to Larissa and Cerah as well.

Do you even need to ask? You’re not keeping all the fun to yourself, Cerah said.

And I know you’re curious too, William said, returning his attention back to Luke.

Oh definitely, Luke agreed. All I did was ask where you were going.

Well, I shan’t be long. I’ll come back to a minute from now when I’ve found out what I need to know.

Dare I ask where you’re going to obtain this information? Larissa asked.

William paused. It’s probably best if you don’t.

Because it’ll worry me?

Something like that. And there’s no guarantee that this little jaunt will even be successful.

Just make it quick, Larissa said resignedly.

That I will. William shut the door and a moment later the capsule dematerialised.

William set his course for Herqyetrakemrik, the frozen home world of the Zyarya. For his landing site he selected the bottom of the chasm where the entrance to the Zyarya’s main base was. Since an encounter with the Gultorians, the Zyarya had set up a barrier around their main base that extended out around it in a twelve kilometre radius. Such was their level of technology that even the Mark VIII hadn’t been able to penetrate it when William had come on an earlier occasion, and he’d been forced to trudge across the barren arctic landscape to find them, since the barrier was designed to only be penetrable on foot and unarmed. Anything that had a weapon or an engine couldn’t pass through. Since then the Zyarya had made an exception in the barrier’s analytical mainframe for the Mark VIII capsule.

When he landed, the temporal readout showed that he was in the year 2511, the time that he and his vampire friends considered their own after all they’d been through since Muteki’s plot had begun to unfold. William had a look at the external readings on the capsule’s sensor display. It showed that the temperature outside was minus forty one degrees Celsius, which was practically summer on the icy world. Through the glass door, which was actually multi-filtered, molecularly re-engineered, intensified diamond, he could see that it was extremely windy outside, as the snow was falling and blowing about almost horizontally along the chasm. It was dark, without any sunlight to warm him in the least. Bracing himself, he took a handheld omniscanner from a small compartment and then unsealed the door and stepped out. He started shivering immediately as a gust of icy wind blew right through his clothes. Not wanting to linger in such conditions, he sealed the capsule and jogged over to the entrance to the Zyarya’s underground base, pulling his coat tightly closed and turning the collar up. Either side of him the walls of the chasm loomed high above, though the snowfall and a dense mist prevented him from being able to see the top. It seemed that the chasm was channelling all of the wind down through its length at him.

He reached the entrance; a large double door at the end of the chasm that led deeper into the rock face, framed by black marble pillars that widened at the top with a matching lintel over the doors that bore an alien inscription. Where the doors met they each had a semicircular metal plate, together forming a complete circle. William reached out and touched the circle and the doors opened inwards. He quickly went into the dark passage beyond and the doors swung closed behind him, leaving the air suddenly still and silent. The downward curving passage was lined with more pillars, and was only slightly illuminated by an unseen source, giving barely enough light to see his hand in front of his face. All of the surfaces were black, and it was almost as cold as outside, since the Zyarya needed freezing temperatures to survive.

The passage led to a wide, spacious, circular chamber that had an equally high ceiling, in the centre of which was a blue luminous disc, the only visible light source. It provided the chamber with a dim level of lighting that wasn’t much brighter than the passage. Three thicker pillars were positioned in a triangular formation close to the centre of the room where one of the Zyarya stood waiting to greet him. William recognised her as Banteuma. Although the slender Zyarya all looked essentially identical, with their glassy, obsidian-black skin, long luminescent blue hair, glowing white eyes, and the numerous fine black veils that made up their attire, they were a telepathic species, and William had come to recognise the sense of Banteuma’s mind.

‘Welcome, William. We are honoured by your visit,’ Banteuma said in her soft and delicate mental voice as she spoke to him mind-to-mind without moving her shiny black lips.

Thank you, William said, speaking aloud as that was more natural for him.

‘As I told you during your last visit, you are welcome to land your craft inside this chamber. Your species is sensitive to such low temperatures as those outside.’

I thought it would seem intrusive. I’ve come to request the use of the Sapphirus Tempus.

‘May I enquire as to your purpose for using it?’

I wish to go to the time station Epoch discreetly to learn about the sapphire’s apparent origin in our timeline.

‘This you can do in your capsule.’

True, though there’s a chance it’d be detected by the station’s internal sensors, despite any precautions.

‘I sense that you have another reason for wanting to use the sapphire,’ Banteuma prompted.

William realised that it was futile to even think he could keep a hidden agenda from a telepath. I also want to attempt to travel back to an alternate timeline to speak with the version of Talamayn that I knew aboard Dynasty shortly before he died.

‘I still remember the timeline you speak of, where we first met. You seek answers that can only be given by Talamayn from that timeline, as the one from this timeline would lack some knowledge and memories since time was restored.’

Yes. Since the sapphire can be used to see into alternative possibilities through time, and also to transport oneself to other times and places, I’m guessing that the two can be combined to travel into alternate timelines after they’re gone.

‘Such an endeavour is theoretically possible, though even we have not attempted it. Are you confident that it can be done?’

I believe that if I use the sapphire to retrace my own timeline far enough it’ll lead me to when I was in the alternate course of events.

‘Your reasoning is sound. Do you require my assistance to accomplish this?’

It’d be foolish of me to say no. And I imagine Talamayn can help me to get back here afterwards by using the same method in the opposite direction.

‘Very well. I shall return momentarily.’ Banteuma turned and glided away, her feet not visible since the long, loose veils of her robes reached to the floor.

William still didn’t know if the Zyarya actually levitated a few inches above the floor, or just walked so smoothly as to give the appearance of floating.

Thirty seconds later Banteuma returned holding the rounded circular blue stone in her hands. It was six inches across and two inches thick, and glowed at the points where her thin black fingers touched it. She held it out to William.

Can I ask, what became of the other three sapphires? William asked.

Banteuma tilted her head slightly in confusion. ‘There is but one sapphire, and although it has been used to travel to more ancient times than the event of its origin, its youngest moment in our timeline is near the fall of what you know as the Roman Empire. Its true origin is unknown.’

Now William was confused. I recently went to a planet where five identical sapphires were constructed by a stranded group of Zyarya. One sapphire was destroyed, but most of the Zyarya made it away from that world using the other four. I assumed they’d come straight here. He wished that he could properly link minds with Banteuma so that he could show her what he’d learned on Melhandur, but the necessary physical contact of his comparatively hot skin would quickly scald hers, and probably give him frostbite. There was only so much detail that could be communicated telepathically without such a link.

‘This sapphire was entrusted to our care by Talamayn shortly before he died. Everything this sapphire has ever done in our timeline has occurred since its appearance near the end of the Roman Empire.’

But the creation of the sapphires took place within the realm of this timeline, William insisted. May I show you through the sapphire? Sensing an affirmative response from Banteuma, William also took hold of the sapphire on the opposite side to the Zyarya, making sure that their fingers didn’t touch. He found it strange that the sapphire wasn’t as cold as he expected it to be, having been kept on this planet for so long, though it wasn’t too hot for Banteuma to hold either. It wouldn’t be as easy to show her through the sapphire as it would if they could link minds directly, but it would be more effective than trying to explain everything.

Closing his eyes and concentrating, William looked through the sapphire to the time that he and Larissa had spent on Melhandur. He had to keep his mind calm to remain focussed on individual events that had transpired there, since searching through centuries of history in a matter of seconds made everything flash by extremely fast. With careful precision, he was able to isolate the actual events that the stranded Zyarya went through, rather than just the part where William had learned of what had happened generations later.

He and Banteuma watched in flashes of imagery as a Zyarya ship, with a spherical body and a long nose section and streamlined double wings, followed the course of a transdimensional black hole as it passed right through the planet Melhandur. The black hole existed in the universe of a different dimension, but such was the effect of its intense gravity that it distorted the barrier between the space-time of this universe and its own. Some of its effects manifested themselves in this universe in the locality that it passed through on its course, such as temporary transdimensional rifts forming between nearby points on Melhandur and worlds that were relatively near the black hole in its own universe, as well as permanent space-time rifts to other planets in this universe that the black hole had passed through or very near to at some point in time. It also created an intense storm and a wide sinkhole-like depression in the surface of Melhandur where the unseen black hole passed through the planet, pulling that section of land down by the localised force of its gravity where the two universes were briefly pressed against each other. The Zyarya ship’s power system was neutralised by alien satellites orbiting the planet, and it made a crash landing in a range of high snow-covered mountains, which the Zyarya had steered the ship towards with the last of the residual power in the engines before it faded.

The black hole had altered the properties of some of the minerals in the area that it had passed through, and the fifteen surviving Zyarya were able to use certain stones to control the nano-spiders on their ship, which hadn’t been affected by the satellites because of their infinitesimal size. With their nano-spiders they created five identical spatial/temporal transference devices using the most powerful of the stones, the sapphires, which wouldn’t be disabled by the satellites since they weren’t electrical devices in any sense that the satellites recognised. But when the sapphires were completed, a group of human warriors came to the cave in the mountains where the Zyarya were residing to steal the stones. Most of the Zyarya, all but three, managed to escape using four of the sapphires, knowing that such powerful devices could not be allowed to fall into the hands of the primitive-minded warriors who lacked the wisdom to use them responsibly. The remaining three were killed by the warriors, but they shattered the last sapphire before they died, rendering it pretty much useless.

The next part of what they witnessed was as new to William as it was to Banteuma. The twelve Zyarya that escaped didn’t make it to Herqyetrakemrik as intended. Because the transdimensional black hole was still relatively close in astronomical terms, the sapphires the Zyarya were using were drawn by its strong spatial-temporal pull through rifts that had formed on another planet further out in the system, which the black hole was passing near at that time. The Zyarya ended up on a world in the other universe, and then the rifts closed. That was the last that William and Banteuma were able to see of them through the Sapphirus Tempus.

‘So the sapphires were created by Zyarya, using stones imbued with unique properties,’ Banteuma said.

I suppose the black hole would’ve disrupted any further attempt they might’ve made to come back to this universe, yet one must’ve gotten through to ancient Rome somehow, William surmised. But the next time the black hole passed through a region of space in this universe that was near a planet, more portals between the universes would’ve been created on worlds on both sides as space-time was weakened in that vicinity. Why didn’t the Zyarya just walk through one of them, wait until the black hole had moved a safe distance away, and then use the sapphires to return here?

‘Perhaps the portals didn’t open to any worlds cold enough for them, or they didn’t survive on the world they ended up on in the other universe for some other reason,’ Banteuma speculated sombrely.

Perhaps. We may never know unless we find some sign of the one who brought the Sapphirus Tempus into our universe. Talamayn said that I have a connection to the sapphire and the Roman Empire, so by finding the answer to one of our questions I may find the answer to both.

‘Then it is time for you to begin this endeavour by finding the information you seek from Talamayn, and also on Epoch.’

William nodded. He closed his eyes and emptied his mind of all but his destination in order to focus through the sapphire the way Talamayn had taught him so many years ago. When he’d achieved a meditative state he told Banteuma that he was ready. He could sense her mind’s energy also being focussed through the sapphire, and their combined energy was building up inside it. With his destination firmly in mind, as well as the method he intended to use to get there, William engaged the energy to transport only himself through time and space. Banteuma stayed behind after giving him a guided push in the right direction. He and the sapphire were enveloped in a hazy violet light, and he left Herqyetrakemrik.

After an initial sensation of weightless disorientation, William traced his own personal timeline backwards, the events of his life unfolding before him in reverse so quickly that the events of any one time and place passed by in a mere moment. He caught a fleeting glimpse of the liberation of Melhandur, of changing the way the battle at Kirkstall Abbey had turned out with the assistance of Queen Hatshepsut, freezing Muteki’s massive ship outside of time at every instance of temporal transit, and establishing a colony on the desert world Copernicus for the last remnants of humanity that had survived Earth’s destruction. With a great deal of concentration, William slowed the rate at which he moved back through time. He’d succeeded in entering the old timeline, and was close to the point he wanted to go to. He went back to before they reached Copernicus, back to shortly before Talamayn’s death, to a point half an hour before Muteki boarded Dynasty and Talamayn confronted him. This was where he wanted to go, so he halted his movement and let the sapphire bring him to Talamayn’s quarters on deck two while the white-haired ancient vampire was sitting on his bed, meditating alone by the light of a few candles.

Talamayn looked up at William in surprise. Well, my boy, I suspect that you’ve come for answers?

That’s right, old friend, William said with a smile. He placed the sapphire on a table by the door.

Tell me, when are you from?

We’ve succeeded in undoing Earth’s destruction and removing Tatakau from time, and I’m a remnant of this timeline who survived into the restored version. I killed a younger version of myself, which I’d manipulated events for Muteki’s spirit to possess, and survived by being inside a time field at the moment of death. It was the only way I could ensure Muteki’s end without endangering anyone else, as it had to be a natural process of dying to make it certain.

Without doubt that was a troubling course of events to endure. And in order to come to me now, I see you’ve managed to cross between timelines through the sapphire, Talamayn said with evident admiration for William’s mastery of the artefact.

I had a little help from Banteuma.

You also received a little help from another ancient acquaintance back at Kirkstall Abbey in 1779, didn’t you? Talamayn said with a knowing smile.

William smiled back. You still manage to surprise me with how much you know.

I take it my time is near, for you to visit me at this particular moment?

William nodded solemnly. Yes.

I’ve had a long run. I hope my last hours will be magnificent? Talamayn asked with a questioning raise of his eyebrows.

Indeed. And remember what I told you in 1573. I’ll need some of your blood before... you know. And an extra portion.

Don’t worry, I’ll remember. And to think that right now your past self, from your point of view, is wandering this ship blissfully unaware of who I really am, Billy, Talamayn chuckled.

William couldn’t help but laugh as well in reminiscence. You managed to fool us exceptionally well.

It was just the vampire gift of psychological illusion that I exercised over everyone around me to hide the very fact that I was a vampire, so that even other vampires wouldn’t recognise me as one of their own kind. It might pay for you to work on that one yourself. You’ll figure out how on your own in due time if you put your mind to it.

I’ll be sure to do that.

And there are still more gifts that you’ve probably never even heard of.

Good to know I’ve still got a lot to look forward to. I’m about to look into the events that you once hinted at surrounding me, the sapphire, and the fall of the West Empire of ancient Rome.

Talamayn nodded gravely. This is going to be an extremely difficult time for you, and your loved ones.

Any pointers? William asked hopefully.

I’m afraid I cannot help you on this one. I must let time complete its course. No doubt it’s occurred to you that throughout the centuries that I was in possession of the sapphire I could’ve played a more active hand in the outcome of events. But I could see where to intervene and where not to, so that things would happen as they were supposed to. Everything happens for a reason, though we may not know what that reason is. Some things are just meant to be, whether for better or for worse, and like the death of Akhenaten, it can be unbearable to watch sometimes.

The ancient vampire’s words sent a chill of foreboding down William’s spine. Moving on to the other subject he wished to speak to Talamayn about, he said, As for the ancient acquaintance whose help I enlisted in 1779, Queen Hatshepsut, I saw her using the Sapphirus Tempus in Shanghai in 786 AD. I can’t imagine that she got hold of it without your knowledge.

Talamayn nodded in thoughtful consideration. "I suppose this will be my last opportunity to tell you everything, since your other self on this ship doesn’t yet know of Hatshepsut’s significance to Larissa and yourself. In the first few decades after I became a vampire and the sapphire came into my possession, I felt drawn to a place in Egypt that I could see in my mind with perfect clarity, though I’d never before set foot in Egypt. It was a temple built at the base of a cliff, close to another older temple of a more or less similar design. But I knew which of the two I was being called to visit.

"It was a couple of centuries before I acted upon the impression, somewhere around 900 AD, I don’t recall the exact date, but the impression came again from time to time. And like so many others who visit Egypt, when I did go I was captivated by the ancient mystery and wonder of the place. Naturally I used the sapphire to get there, which was by far the safest way for a vampire to travel any great distance. Upon my arrival I felt strongly guided by a powerful mind and a sense of destiny, more so than before. It led me up to the shrine of the temple where I found a statue of Queen Hatshepsut seated on a throne, though at the time I had no idea who she was. You can imagine my shock when I sensed that the statue was alive, that the ancient queen had been immortalised in stone. In the presence of such timeless royalty I felt that I ought to offer her some of my blood as a tribute, which I did, since making offerings is an ancient custom in most cultures, and my blood was the only thing of value I had with me at the time. I felt very strongly that it was the right thing to do. Before my eyes she transformed from stone into a living and remarkably beautiful being. We must’ve stayed in that shrine for several days straight in discussion, only excusing myself on a couple of occasions to obtain some food, et cetera. A bond was formed between us, and together we looked through the sapphire. She showed me the time that she had originally come from, 2447 AD, and also the time of her reign in Egypt.

"After our first meeting I went back to visit her many times over the centuries, each time reviving her with a substantial portion of my blood, and our bond became stronger, being two of the very few essentially immortal beings who walked the Earth. In later centuries her statue was taken to several museums for display, where she spent the most part of the twenty first century in particular. I saw it as incredibly disrespectful, more so than displaying the mummies of the ancient dead, but she urged me not to interfere, as that might draw attention to her true nature, so I honoured her wish. Our visits became more difficult, so when I went to her we used the sapphire to go to other places to spend our time together, even other planets on occasion.

My final visit was twenty eight years ago, well after the time she had assisted you at Kirkstall Abbey. She wanted to know what would eventually become of her daughter, and you also, since you’re now her son by marriage. She saw untimely death in store for both of you on Melhandur, so she lured your friends Luke and Cerah from the restored timeline to Shanghai where an Excalden ship would capture them and take them to that planet so that they’d be there to help you. I see from your presence here that they succeeded, just by being there and unwittingly affecting events in subtle ways. Beyond that intervention, we both knew that all that would transpire after those events was meant to be, for you and Larissa. Our hand in your affairs had to end there so that time could run its course.

William quietly took it all in. Talamayn’s story did answer his questions about Hatshepsut. He’d never have guessed that she and Talamayn had been so close, probably even closer than Talamayn had depicted in his tale. Most insightful, William said at last.

A somewhat understated expression of your inner thoughts, Talamayn said with a smile.

So I’m guessing it was Hatshepsut who was with you that time you visited me when I was buried alive in that Egyptian tomb?

Indeed. It was difficult for us to leave you there, but we had to limit our interference to simply ensuring your survival. Anyway, I’m sure my final confrontation with Muteki is nearly at hand, and you have more answers to seek. Be careful, my friend.

I will. I suppose it’s pointless to ask if Larissa will be in danger if I proceed with this little quest?

I can’t say anything on the matter without affecting your decisions and actions, though I dearly wish I could, Talamayn said with genuine regret in his voice.

I know. Sometimes I think we should just go and live in a cave and let history pass us by. William was about to say goodbye, but he had one last question that he hoped Talamayn would answer. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me anything about Zahlmann, and what his connection was to the vicar in the village of Hanbury in 1934?

That is another man’s private affair, so I’m afraid it would be inappropriate for me to disclose the details of that matter.

I thought you might say something like that, but it was worth a try. Well, I guess this is our final farewell, from both of our points of view.

Talamayn shrugged. That depends on how you look at it. Seeing that William was immediately curious, he added, From my point of view I’m about to go and see you again, your younger self that is.

I guess it is all a matter of perspective.

For now I shall simply say that it’s been an honour to see your life and be a part of it, Talamayn said, standing.

The honour has been mine.

The two vampires clasped hands and pulled each other into an embrace. A few seconds later they released and stared at one another, appreciating their last moments together.

I could do with a bit of a boost to get back to my own timeline, William said.

It’s the least I can do, and then I’m going to get a few minutes of rest for what lies ahead, Talamayn said.

William picked up the sapphire and held it ready, and Talamayn placed his fingers lightly on the top. A faint glow started to build up within the blue stone. William emptied his mind and focussed on his destination: the time station Epoch in the timeline that he’d departed from. After holding Talamayn’s gaze for a moment he closed his eyes. Concentrating, he set off, and sensed Talamayn’s quarters vanish from around him as the sapphire pulled him away. He was on his own.

He followed his own life forwards again, past the day of his and Larissa’s wedding, past the terraforming of Copernicus, the battle against the Gultorians who’d tried to invade the colony there, and the return of the Centaurs who’d originally inhabited that world, and then past the restoration of the timeline that’d prevented Earth’s destruction. When he came to the point that he’d departed from, he altered his course towards Epoch, focusing on a service passage that had an access terminal. The time he wanted to arrive in was at a point when his other self, the restored one that belonged on Epoch, was off of the station. He chose the day in 2509 when his name had been cleared while he’d been in exile and his access codes had been reinstated, but before the Marseille had rescued him from a Gultorian attack and brought him aboard the station. He had to get it right as the station’s internal sensors might be alerted to his duplicate life signs if they were both present at once, or were both using his access codes at once. Seeing the span of time between the two events, he directed his thoughts to a point half an hour before the time ship Marseille docked with the station to bring him aboard.

When he felt the metal floor beneath his feet he opened his eyes. He’d reached a service passage as intended, and he was standing directly before a terminal built into the wall. Acting quickly, he used his old security clearance details to gain access to the temporal sensor telemetry. He also confirmed that the Marseille was on its way to meet his past self’s shuttle since Gultorian ships had been detected conducting a reconnaissance of the region.

He set up a scan for any instances of temporal activity around the period of the Roman Empire’s decline, as such an event would most likely be the arrival of the Sapphirus Tempus in this universe. He activated his omniscanner to record the readings. He detected a temporal variance in the year 375 AD in the ancient Roman province of Pannonia, but it was in a state of flux that was somehow stable, and wasn’t registering as a temporal alteration, more like an anomalous shadow of temporal energy, and as such it wasn’t listed as a priority for investigation. With a little fine tuning he localised the date to the 17th of November of that year. The temporal distortion in question occurred at 1537 hours, local time. The location was Brigetio, where there was a permanent Roman garrison. The modern name for the place was Szőny, in Hungary, in the northern part of the country, near the city of Komárom on the River Danube. The river marked the border between Hungary and Slovakia. With the readings saved on his omniscanner, he closed the time scan and erased all details of the search parameters before logging out, as well as removing the presence of his life sign from the station’s internal sensor log.

Holding the sapphire, he closed his eyes and focussed on the chamber on Herqyetrakemrik at the time he’d left, where Banteuma would be waiting for him. He could manage travelling within one timeline on his own well enough, so he didn’t have to be concerned about ending up in the wrong place for this final trip. He knew when he’d arrived from the biting chill in the air.

‘Were you successful in what you wished to accomplish?’ Banteuma asked when William opened his eyes and handed her the sapphire.

For the most part. Talamayn insisted that he couldn’t tell me anything about what lay ahead of me now, but I’ve located some sort of temporal disturbance in the year 375 AD. Come to think of it, I wonder why it hasn’t shown up as an alert on Temporal Security’s time scans. If it had it would’ve been investigated long before now. I’d have heard about it, being one of the pivotal eras in human history. Even if it involved a top secret mission, my rank of captain in the other timeline would’ve granted me access.

‘Perhaps history was not changed. That is after all the purpose of your people’s time scans,’ Banteuma considered.

True. A simple arrival without causing an alteration to the course of historical events wouldn’t have triggered an alert on Epoch or Jidai, otherwise alarms would be going off every time a research ship made a stop in the past, William reasoned. He noticed that he was shivering again and his breath was coming out as a mist. Well, I must be off. Thank you so much for your assistance with the sapphire.

‘It was my pleasure, as your people say.’

I’ll be sure to let you know if I learn anything of the Zyarya that ended up in that other universe, William promised. With a farewell wave, he started back up the curved entrance passage, and Banteuma silently watched him leave.

When he was back inside the Mark VIII he immediately started to warm up. Being such a confined space, the capsule’s temperature quickly readjusted back to normal. He returned to Dynasty exactly one minute after he’d left, as far as his friends were concerned. Larissa was visibly relieved to see him back safe. She knew perfectly well that her husband could get himself into all sorts of trouble even on the simplest and safest of trips.

So who wants to go and see the Roman Empire? William asked eagerly.

Luke cheered with enthusiasm, but Larissa and Cerah were more reserved, even a little apprehensive.

Mind telling us why we’re going there and not some tropical planet for a nice well-deserved holiday? Cerah asked.

William gave them a brief description of his visit with Talamayn and the details of when and where the instance of temporal variance took place.

You took a bit of a chance going to Epoch, Larissa commented with disapproval.

It’s okay, I’m pretty sure I erased all trace that I was ever there. William went over to the Mark VIII and went through its concise historical database. I’m just checking what significant historical events went on around 375 AD.

Luke looked over his shoulder. No time ship should be without a historical database.

That’s for certain. Oh dear, that can’t be good. William double checked his findings.

What is it? Cerah asked.

Just Will about to land himself right in the thick of it again, Luke said, reading what was on the display.

For the benefit of their wives, William explained, The exact time and place I was going to take us just happens to be the exact when and where of the death of a Roman emperor.

That can’t be a coincidence, Larissa said.

I think you’re right, William said.

Which emperor? Cerah asked.

Valentinian the First, the Emperor of the West Empire. His brother Valens ruled the East at that time. According to history, after Valentinian’s death, and then Valens’ a few years later, the empire was invaded by Visigoths, and in 410 AD Rome was sacked by the Visigoth king Alaric the First. That’s about when things really went downhill for the West Empire, and the East Empire eventually evolved and became the Byzantine Empire. It says here that Valentinian was considered one of the greatest Roman emperors, a Christian himself, though he was religiously liberal, and also mindful of the poor. But on the other hand he was also known to have a foul temper.

How did he die? Cerah asked.

William continued to scan through the information, taking it all in as he did so, with Luke still reading over his shoulder. Here we go. According to this, he’d just been victorious over an uprising of the Quadi, a Germanic tribe, over the placement of Roman forts in their lands. He was addressing a Quadi embassy when he was struck by lightning while indoors. Many of the Roman soldiers present believed an unknown man in the gathering to be a messenger sent from the ancient gods who’d either summoned the lightning or who had personally struck the emperor down with it. Rumours spread throughout the empire that their traditional gods were angry at the emperor’s neglect of them in favour of the Christian god. The scientific explanation for what transpired has yet to be investigated, but it is assumed to be a case of freak lightning, and that the natural phenomenon was mistaken for divine intervention by those who witnessed the event.

You’d think Temporal Security would’ve gotten around to it by now, Luke said.

Time travel hasn’t been around for that long, you know, only six and half decades. There’s a lot of history for them to cover. That’s why they send out regular update transmissions to all time ships when new historical data is available from their research teams. I read once that it was estimated that it would take another fifty years of research just to complete an accurate historical overview of the human race, without even getting into the finer details, William said. There’s also the fact that it’d be harder to discreetly investigate an event like this which took place in front of so many people.

If they could pass for Roman or Germanic they should be able to blend in with the crowd, Cerah speculated.

Still, even though freak lightning striking someone indoors certainly isn’t common, it’s not unheard of, Luke said thoughtfully.

Could it have been an alien attacker that killed him? Larissa wondered. In that era, a being like that could easily be mistaken for a supernatural being.

Or it could just be that the story was exaggerated over time, Cerah said. The soldiers who witnessed it probably stopped by at a local tavern that evening, and by the end of the night everyone’s gone home with stories about supernatural beings trying to take over the empire.

Why would an alien risk its life just to kill an ancient human, even one as prominent as Valentinian? Luke asked.

Well, there’s only one way to find out, William encouraged. What do you say?

Sounds risky. If somehow there was an alien running around there with an energy weapon, they’d no doubt be able to detect our vampire life signs in a crowd, Cerah said, sceptical about the wisdom of the idea.

We’ll keep well out of sight, William assured her, as though it was going to ease her concerns. We’ll keep our distance and see what we’re dealing with before we decide if it’s safe to make contact with them or investigate the matter more closely. I also want to make sure that someone doesn’t have the Sapphirus Tempus when they shouldn’t, since that’s when it’s meant to have turned up in our timeline.

We can’t even be certain that the temporal disturbance you detected was caused by the sapphire. It could be something entirely different, Larissa pointed out.

If it helps, I’ll keep an eye on Will, Luke offered.

Larissa’s expression showed that she wasn’t all that reassured.

Well I guess we have to go somewhere. We can’t stay here for too long, Cerah conceded. Come on, let’s get dressed.

She and Luke went away to search the clothing racks, and came back a few minutes later to see how they looked in the full-length dress mirrors. Luke had chosen a casual style of jeans that were a medium faded blue, a pale greyish-green shirt, a hip-length brown jacket, and black casual shoes. Cerah was also wearing jeans, but hers were darker and tighter fitting, with dark brown boots, and a short black jacket zipped most of the way up over a plain black shirt. Both satisfied with their outfits, they announced that they were ready to go.

I think we’re going to stand out wandering about the Roman Empire dressed as we are, Larissa said.

Well we need to have something comfortable to get around in. I’m sure we’ll be going to other places afterwards. This’ll just be a quick investigation, out of sight in the background, and then we’ll move on, William said. Besides, by that era so many cultures have been incorporated into the empire that varied styles of dress will do nothing more than earn us a few curious glances. And while I’m thinking of it, I’ve still got two Excalden pistols. He reached into his coat and took one out, and handed it to Luke. Just in case.

Luke took the weapon and found himself a shoulder holster to