by A. E. Albert
They continued to walk in this fashion as they strolled through the city and approached its center. Billy stared in wonderment at the buildings lining the streets. There were high columned structures, all shining white.
“Ahh, I never tire at admiring the marvelous creations of the ancient world.” Dickens took in a deep breath and smiled as he appreciated the edifices surrounding them.
“We’re standing in your modern day Piazza Archimedes.” He gestured to the fountain in the centre. “That is the Fountain of Diana. Closer to the water is the Fountain of Aretusa and of course, it comes with an interesting story.”
“Alpheus, the son of the god Oceanus, fell in love with the nymph Aretusa. Unfortunately for him, she was the handmaid to the goddess Artemis. Now, Aretusa was not in love with Alpheus, so Artemis turned the nymph into a water spring. However, Zeus, the king of the gods, turned Alpheus into a river, allowing him to be with his love eternally.”
“That’s so romantic!” Jeanie gushed.
“I don’t know. It seems to me that this Zeus has a sick sense of humor,” said Billy with a disgusted look upon his face.
“Maybe he just believed in love and wanted to be helpful,” countered Jeanie, narrowing her eyes at Billy.
“This is coming from a ‘modern day girl?’” Billy said with a laugh. “Would you want to be stuck forever with some guy you didn’t like? Forget that, would you want to be turned into an inanimate object just to escape some love sick psycho? I don’t see why she just didn’t take off on a camel or something to ditch him,” replied Billy with a confused look on his face, staring at the fountain.
“You have absolutely no imagination, Billy,” Jeanie grinded out.
Dickens just laughed, enjoying the two’s heated discussion. “Ancient Greeks had a real flare for the dramatic, which they invented, by the way.”
Dickens was still laughing as he wiped a tear from his eye. He then turned his attention to the other buildings. “Here’s the temple of Athena, there’s Apollo’s and there is Zeus’. See the columns; they’re Doric in design, with grooved sides, no base and plain abacuses. Renaissance Europe generally used Ionian or Corinthian styled columns, with the fancy carvings of leaves and such.” Dickens continued to ramble on about the various sites around the square as Billy began to zone out.
“…over there is great theatre of Syracuse and nearby is the Alter of King Heiron. Those structures on the raised rock would be the city’s acropolis. People seem to think that Athens has the only one. But I assure you, almost all Greek cities had one. It’s where they conducted city business.”
Billy’s catatonic state was suddenly disturbed by the sounds of someone screaming.
“Eureka, Eureka! I have found it!” All three turned their heads to the source of the yelling.
Billy could only stare open-mouthed as a grown man, as naked as the day he was born, was yelling his head off and running through the crowded streets of Syracuse.
“Tell me that’s not normal for around here,” said Billy in a deadpan voice. He turned to Jeanie, who mirrored his astonished expression.
“Well, that made our investigation much simpler,” smiled Dickens as he set off in the direction of the man in his birthday suit, followed by Patches the dog.
Billy didn’t move a muscle. “Tell me we’re not going to follow that nutball,” he said, sounding horrified at the idea.
“Of course we are,” stated Dickens in a matter of fact tone, “and that nutball is one of the greatest genius’ in history, and the man we are looking for.” Billy and Jeanie looked at each other while Dickens smiled as he said, “Archimedes.”
Chapter 8
“You have to be kidding me!”
Billy felt stunned. He allowed Jeanie to drag him through the winding streets, both attempting to catch up with Dickens. When they finally reached him, they could see a very naked man run into a whitewashed stone house with a red tiled roof at the end of the stone laid street. However, Billy was not going into that house without knowing what the plan was. Since he had no idea what to do, he just hoped and prayed that Dickens did.
“Dickens, wait. Slow down, please!” Billy stood in the middle of the street, out of breath and wondering where that old guy got his stamina from. “I need to know who this Archimedes character is and how he’s going to help us?” he said, while hunched over with his hands on his knees.
“I agree, I don’t remember him from my history books either,” added Jeanie, who sounded as winded as Billy did.
Dickens stared at the children for a moment and then replied, “Very well, let’s get something to eat.”
Although this was a very abrupt change in the topic of conversation, Billy thought it was the best idea he had heard yet. He and Jeanie followed Dickens into a small eatery on a nearby side street. Billy wanted to laugh at Jeanie’s dour expression. This place would definitely have been shut down in their time by the health board. There was food all over the floor, and he saw a rat lingering by the back wall, only to be chased away by Patches.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover. You are about to eat the freshest and most scrumptious food you have ever had in your short lives,” laughed Dickens at seeing the disgusted look on Jeanie’s face.
“Can’t we eat somewhere else?” Jeanie pleaded.
“I dare say, this establishment is perfect. We won’t attract too much attention in a place like this.”
They sat down at a nearby table, gaining only a few looks by the other patrons. The waitress brought plates of a brown greasy meat, served with hunks of cheese and bread. Billy eyed the food warily, but his hunger won out and he eagerly dug in. It didn’t take long, to Billy’s surprise, to realize that the simple fare was delicious.
“What kind of meat is this?” asked Jeanie, who also seemed to revise her opinion concerning the meal, judging by the way she avidly licked her fingers.
“Lamb. Have you never eaten it? No matter. Food in your time is nothing like it used to be, quite full of preservatives, I dare say. Here, it is picked, butchered and served the same day,” Dickens laughed, as he appreciatively returned to his feast.
Each member of the small party continued to enjoy their meal in silence, and no one spoke or stirred till last bread crumb was eaten. After they finished their meal, Billy and Jeanie silently waited for Dickens to fill them in.
After the server collected their plates, Dickens began. “All right then, since we’re all quite satisfied, let us resume our discussion.” Dickens folded his arms, leaned forward, and spoke in a low whisper. “Archimedes was a mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor and astronomer. He created great war machines which protected Syracuse in times of war and helped lay the foundation for calculus for future mathematicians like Isaac Newton. His screw pump, used for water removal, is still used all over the world today. He calculated Pi almost to perfection, and modern day scientists still can’t figure out how he did it. Anyway, he did extensive work with circles, volume, the infinite geometric series…He even tried to calculate all of the grains of sand in the universe. Crazy? Well, in the process he developed preliminary work with exponents, you know, how scientists document and calculate astronomical numbers-”
“Wait a minute! If we’re back in time thousands of years, how can this guy even know about the universe and how big it is to do that?” Jeanie asked skeptically.
“Jeanie, people of the ancient world knew the Earth was round and all about the planets roaming the universe. There was even one intelligent chap who calculated the circumference of the Earth using only a stick and the Sun’s shadow.”
Billy didn’t really understand what Dickens was talking about and wanted to stick to the subject. “Ok, if this Archimedes guy is so smart, then why doesn’t he know how to get dressed in the morning?” Billy interrupted while Jeanie laughed.
Dickens gave Billy a stern look. “Actually, you just witnessed a great moment in history, the creation of the Archimedes Principle.”
Dickens sto
pped at the children’s clueless gazes and explained further. “‘The Archimedes Principle’ is based on determining the volume of an object with an irregular shape. King Heiron had asked his goldsmith to craft him a gold crown. When it was ready, the king noticed that the color was wrong, but it seemed to weigh the same as his other gold crowns. He had Archimedes brought to him and commanded him to discover how much of the gold was stolen by the goldsmith. Now, Archimedes had no way of knowing the solution at this time, but he was a reputed genius; so the king gave him the task of figuring the mystery out. He pondered this dilemma for a while. Then one day he decided to do so while taking a bath. While taking his bath, Archimedes realized that quite a lot of water spilled over the sides as he got in. He then ran out of his house naked, shouting, ‘Eureka’, as we witnessed, because he had figured out how to solve the king’s problem.”
“Taking a bath inspired him to run outside in the buff?” Billy asked, still not feeling convinced of this guy’s sanity and not taking him seriously at all.
“Billy, he was about to do the king and humanity a great service,” countered Dickens, not able to hide the exasperation in his voice.
“But how is he going to help us?” asked Jeanie, who sounded as wary as Billy.
“He has extensive knowledge of the workings of the circle. He understands the concept of infinite numbers,” Dickens let out a long breath, “and quite frankly; he’s the best we’ve got. We could leave this time stream, but I don’t know where we would end up.” Dickens steadily looked at both children. “I vote we at least try.”
It wasn’t in Billy’s nature to trust anybody, much less someone he had never met. However, at this point, there didn’t seem to be any other alternative. He looked to the right of him at Jeanie, who nodded her head and then back at Dickens. “All right, let’s go see this guy.”
The other two followed Billy outside of the eatery and proceeded to the house at the end of the lane. They approached the small house and Dickens knocked on the door. They waited for what seemed forever for someone to answer, when the door was abruptly opened to reveal the face of an old man.
“Sorry, busy, and don’t’ come back,” he stated rather rudely and the door was promptly slammed in their faces. Billy and Jeanie looked at each other with a startled expression.
“Well, I guess he won’t see us,” said Billy, who turned to leave.
“Not just yet, young man,” Dickens replied, who once again knocked on the door with a steely look of determination on his face.
“There has to be someone else. My history teacher says that ancient times were full of smart guys!” Billy exclaimed, waiting for the door to be answered and probably shut in their faces again.
Dickens shook his head. “Well, that’s true, but spread over how far? This time period doesn’t have the advanced transportation yours does. It would take us days to travel only a few miles. No, we have come too far, and we don’t have much time.” With that Dickens once again raised his fist to the wooden door and rapped loudly.
This time the door swung open all of the way. Standing before them was an elderly man dressed in a long white robe which grazed his feet. It appeared it hadn’t been washed in a long time, judging by what seemed to be last night’s dinner smeared down the front. His eyes were widened in a startled expression, and his white hair seemed to stand on end. As Billy looked closer, it was full of a gunky material, and it spiked up in the air. Only his white beard appeared to be free of the filth. Yep, Billy thought, he was defiantly the crazy man that he had thought him to be.
“I said I was not to be disturbed! I am very busy working on important discoveries and have no desire to be interrupted; especially by barbarians thank you very much! I will have you know that I am on a deadline. One given to me from the king, in fact!” ranted the disheveled Greek man, while shaking his fist in the air at the three newcomers.
Dickens stepped forward and gave the irate man a slight bow. “My good sir, we have come a long way to see the famous and brilliant Archimedes of Syracuse.”
Archimedes waved his hand in the air. “They all come to see me and quite frankly, I’m sick of it! I have important work to do!”
Archimedes was about to slam the door in their faces when Jeanie, pulling back her hood, spoke up. “Please, sir, we’ve travelled so far to see you. Just spare us a few minutes of your time,” she pleaded with her midnight blue eyes and a soft smile.
“Good gracious, girl, if you don’t have the reddest hair I have ever seen! Well, unless you count those atrocious wigs you girls are wearing nowadays. Where are you from, anyway, Gaul or Germania?” Archimedes eyed Jeanie suspiciously. “They say you northern barbarians are a virtueless lot. Mind you, I wouldn’t know, seeing as I don’t venture about very often. Important work for the king, you know,” he said, with a puffed chest and a raised chin.
Jeanie again spoke up, determined to get through the door. “Well, where I come from, we have so many great inventors and teachers in mathematics and astronomy. I just wanted to see for myself if you were as smart as they say you are, but I wasn’t sure you could be.” Jeanie shook her head. “I don’t know if anything could be as impressive as their achievements,” she said, lowering her voice.
Archimedes began to sputter in outrage, “How dare you compare a barbarian to a Greek! The Greeks have been achieving greatness before your meager civilization began using the wheel!” the man yelled as he stomped his foot. He peered down at Jeanie, pursing his lips and narrowing his eyes. He stood there shaking his head and appeared to be having some sort of internal struggle with himself. Finally, he growled, stomped away into his workshop and yelled, “Get in here! I shall prove to you how vast and significant the works of the Greeks are!”
His pride seemed to supersede his suspicions and the little trio and Patches swiftly followed him through the door. Both Billy and Dickens flashed Jeanie a quick grin.
Billy turned to Dickens. “What did he mean by barbarian?” he whispered.
“All non-Greeks are barbarians to a Greek,” he replied. “Ancient Greeks believed only they had achieved true civilization.”
Billy shook his head as he looked around the large room Archimedes apparently used for his workshop. The walls were made of stones, all different in their size and shape, fitting perfectly together. Nothing adorned the walls accept for large pieces of parchment with designs drawn on them, which were plastered everywhere. The few pieces of furniture in the room were tables, riddled with models and more blueprints. Billy could see only one solitary chair and a few scattered stools lying about. It was almost hidden behind a mountain of the same debris strewn about the room on top of what seemed to be Archimedes desk. This guy wasn’t much of a housekeeper, Billy thought. There were plates of food scattered throughout the workshop that appeared to be days old, which Patches began sniffing around.
Billy turned his attention to the man himself. As previously noted, his clothes were dirty and his hair looked to be thick with a sticky substance. However, his skin appeared clean. Billy stopped in mid-reflection. Ahhh, the infamous bath he thought, as he chuckled to himself. If I ever feel down in the dumps again, I’ll just think of this old guy busting through the streets without a stitch on!
Billy’s thoughts sobered fast. They were in real trouble here if this is the guy that is supposed to save them! Albert Einstein or Stephan Hawking, maybe, not some crazy guy who looked like he found his lunch in a dumpster! Billy’s thoughts were then interrupted by the ear splitting boastings of their host.
“Look here, girl! Now this should impress your inquisitive senses! This amazing invention removes the water from low-lying ground and transfers it into canals.” Archimedes just stared at Jeanie, awaiting the expected praise.
Since he wasn’t getting the response he wanted, his impatient tone returned and he rolled his eyes. “Uhhhh, I was asked by the king to design the largest ship of its time, The Syracusia,” he emphasized. “It holds 600 people, has a gymnasium and a temple dedicated
to Aphrodite. Well, anyway, a ship that large will undoubtedly leak a lot of water, and so my screw device removes it.” As Archimedes finished his description, he stood before his audience with a very smug and self important look upon his face.
Jeanie looked at Billy and Dickens, and then quickly turned back to Archimedes. “Oh, sir, I have never been so amazed in all of my life. Please show me more of your incredible inventions,” gushed Jeanie. She gazed at Archimedes with a look of complete adoration. Billy began to wonder if it wasn’t for show anymore.
“Oh, well, of course my dear, of course,” sputtered the strange old man. “If you will take my arm, I shall be glad to introduce you to the other wonders of my workshop.” Archimedes began to lead Jeanie around the room, completely ignoring Billy and Dickens.
As soon as Archimedes’ back was turned, Billy spun toward Dickens. “All right, what do we do now?”
“Well, Jeanie is doing an excellent job relieving the old coot of any suspicions. Then we get him to talk about the infinite series and the circle.”
“I still don’t see how circles are going to help us,” grumbled Billy, still not convinced and in no way trusted Archimedes.
“We shall see,” Dickens said with an air of mystery in his voice. “Now pay attention, you might learn something.” With that Dickens turned his back on Billy and began to listen to Archimedes’ little tour. Billy folded his arms and grudgingly stayed silent.
“…here is a lovely model of The Claw, an ingenious little device I made for my king. Ahhh, the Romans never saw this coming,” Archimedes chuckled to himself.
“What does it do?” asked Jeanie, her eyes rounded to convey her curiosity.
Archimedes lowered his voice as if to tell a deep dark secret. “Well, young lady, it is actually a huge claw of devastating proportions that swooped into the sea and scooped up our enemies’ warships into its clutches. It then plunged them into the sea, killing all on board.”