"Look around you," said Troy. "An impoverished desert land, tribes of men who are incredibly primitive even by your somewhat lax standard, a worldwide population smaller than Los Angeles of 1980."
"I still don't understand," said Jamie.
"We're dealing with a power-mad lunatic, Jamie," explained Troy. "This won't do for him. Not enough luxuries, not enough servants, not even enough enemies."
"I see your point," agreed Dillon. "Why leave the present at all unless he could find something bigger and better, or at least easier and better, back here?"
"By the same token, I think we can skip the Crucifixion," said Jamie.
"That was when Jesus was killed?" asked Dillon.
"Right."
"But why?" asked Troy. "Our readings of your transmissions tell us that there are more than a billion Christians in the world today. That's a pretty big chunk of people to have worship you."
"You don't understand," said Jamie. "Jesus died for our sins."
"How can a God die?" asked Dillon.
"That's too metaphysical a question for me to answer on the spot," said Jamie. "But you'll have to believe me: the theology of Christianity is based on the fact that Jesus, like a sacrificial lamb, was predestined to die on the cross, carrying the sins of mankind on his back. This was how the race of man was redeemed from its sins."
"Strange," said Troy. "Sounds like death-worship."
"You're wrong," she said. "But do you want a lecture or an opinion?"
"An opinion, by all means," said Dillon.
"All right," she said. "When Jesus died he had twelve disciples, and at the most another couple of hundred believed in his divinity. If Xaviar were to either take Jesus's place or save the real Jesus from crucifixion, there would be no basis for Christianity. The religion wouldn't develop as it did. And Jesus was a pauper who urged all of his followers to disperse their worldly goods to the poor. No life of luxury there."
"Are there any other major figures in the Bible that might appeal to Xaviar?" asked Troy.
"Not really," said Jamie. "Not based on what you think he wants. The Bible ends with the first century of Christianity, or the first few centuries anyway. Everything that came before Jesus is in the Old Testament, the first half of the Bible, and though there were remarkable rulers such as David and Solomon, I think Xaviar will consider their kingdoms too puny for him—if you're right about Xaviar, that is."
"What about the other books?"
"Well, the Peloponnesian Wars came about seven centuries after Moses and five centuries before Jesus, but ancient Greece was the cradle of civilization in those days, in many ways more modern than most parts of Earth today. It gave birth to Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and a number of playwrights whose work is still being performed."
"Who was the major figure of the time?" asked Troy.
"A man named Pericles."
"And his greatest moment?"
"No way," said Jamie. "He was a statesman, a philosopher, an orator, and a general. He had about two hundred greatest moments. In fact, it can be said that the Golden Age of Greece was entirely his creation."
"Then that's it," said Troy. "When did this so-called Golden Age begin?"
"Thucydides puts it at 457 B.C."
"Then that's our next stop," said Troy.
"Why?"
"Because if Xaviar shows up there, it'll be to replace Pericles before his greatness is known."
And, on the outskirts of Athens, they found Xaviar's Viper.
"Well, he's here," said Dillon. "But how long has he been here?"
"Easy way to find out," said Troy. "Let's go back another six months."
And, six months further back, the Viper was gone.
By a process of trial and error, they ascertained to within 24 hours when Xaviar would land. Then they stopped Time-jumping and waited for him.
He arrived on schedule, but his Viper's sensing devices warned him that they were there and he was gone again before they could fire on him.
"Well, we blew that one," said Dillon grimly.
"Next time we'll have to leave the Vipers a goodly distance away and accost him after he gets out of his own ship," agreed Troy. "Well, Jamie, what's next on our schedule?"
"The Roman Empire," she said, "but it's like hunting for a needle in a haystack."
"In what way?" asked Troy.
"Well, in one form or another, the Empire lasted for almost a thousand years, first as a Republic, then as a full-fledged Empire the scope of which has never since been equalled, and finally as increasingly smaller states calling themselves the Empire and trying to hold off the Dark Ages."
"Whatever they may be," said Dillon.
"Who were the major figures?" asked Troy, trying to narrow down his options.
"There were so many," said Jamie. "There was Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar and Trajan and Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius and . . ."
"I get the picture," said Troy.
"However, the first two aren't really in Gibbon's book," said Jamie. "On the other hand, enough mention is made of them so he'll be aware of what they did."
"Too big," said Troy at last. "We'll proceed to the next era and if anything seems out of kilter we'll backtrack."
"That would be the Crusades," said Jamie.
"And what are Crusades?"
"Holy Wars, on the surface of things," said Jamie. "Every few decades during the Middle Ages a Pope or a King would organize a Crusade to the Holy Land, which is now Israel. Ostensibly the Crusaders went to Christianize the heathen and hunt for objects such as the Holy Grail, but actually they were out for profit and especially for additional farmland."
"How many Crusades were there?"
"Three," she replied. "A fourth was proposed by one of the Popes, and the history books show an additional four, but only the first three amounted to anything. And at least I think there's an obvious target here."
"Who?"
"Coeur de Lion."
"Who's that?"
"Richard the Lion-Hearted," she said. "Coeur de Lion means Heart of the Lion in French. He was King of England, the son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine."
"Why did he bear a French name if he was King of England?" asked Dillon.
"He reigned for ten years, but spent less than a year of it in England," said Jamie. "He wasn't a bad general, but he was a pretty lousy king. He certainly spent more time in France than in England."
"And why do you think Richard is the key?"
"Because Henry had consolidated the various English baronies to form a single nation, and Richard inherited it. Then, in 1199 A.D., at the age of 42, Richard was killed, dying from an arrow wound in the neck or shoulder."
"I fail to see what makes him so important," said Troy.
"He left no heir, and his brother John became king. John was so weak that in 1213 he was forced to sign the Magna Carta, a document that returned most of England's powers to the barons."
"Then if Xaviar were to save Richard . . ." mused Dillon.
"Richard could well live another thirty years or so, and would probably be uncommonly grateful," said Troy, continuing the thought. "It wouldn't take Xaviar long to get rid of Richard and back up his claim to a still-united England with a bit of Galactican technology. Jamie, I think you've got it!"
"Then our next stop is the Castle of Chalus, on April 2 of 1199," said Jamie.
They were airbound and time-bound a moment later.
Troy, Dillon and Jamie hid behind some bushes 300 yards from the castle.
"Everyone's where they're supposed to be," said Jamie. "I guess that means he skipped the Roman Empire."
"Figures," said Troy. "He didn't know where to go any more than we knew where to look for him. Would Richard be that tall fellow standing by the gates?"
"Too big," said Jamie. "Richard's probably the little brawny one by the horses. Yes, he has to be! See, he's got a crown on! In fact, the fellow by the gate might be Robin of Locksley."
"Who's that?"
>
"He was the basis for a famous legend about a romantic bandit named Robin Hood, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor," said Jamie.
"I don't know," mused Dillon. "They all look pretty poor to me."
"These are the Middle Ages," said Jamie. "These are the nobles and the knights. You ought to see how the common folks live."
"Troy!" said Dillon urgently. "Look at that man standing about fifteen feet away from Richard, looking at the top of the castle walls. It's him!"
"You're right," said Troy. "I wonder how long he's been here."
"Long enough to ingratiate himself into Richard's service," said Dillon.
"That wouldn't have taken long," said Jamie. "Richard started this Crusade with more than 100,000 men. Between a few stupid military encounters and mass desertions, he's down to about 3,000 men now. His whole army is on the plain around the castle."
"That would be perfect for Xaviar," said Troy. "A nucleus to build on."
"Keep your eye on the wall," said Dillon. "I'll watch Xaviar."
They remained in hiding, motionless for almost two hours. Then a lone bowman stood at the top of the wall and fitted an arrow to his weapon. Xaviar drew a laser gun at the same time and took aim—and as he did so, Dillon drew and fired his own weapon in a single motion.
An instant later an arrow thudded home into Richard's shoulder and Xaviar screamed in pain, dropped his gun, and held his hand. He looked in the direction the blast of energy had come from, saw Troy and Dillon racing across the plain toward him, and jumped on the nearest horse and spurred it off across the plain.
Dillon took another shot, missed, and suddenly Xaviar was out of sight, he and his mount obscured by trees.
"We'd better get back to the ship," said Troy disgustedly. "We can't catch him on foot. Maybe we can pick up an electron trail in the Vipers."
They set off for the Vipers at a trot, reached them within twenty minutes, and immediately turned on their sensing instruments.
"Got him!" said Troy, taking off before Jamie had settled herself into her seat.
"Me too!" said Dillon's voice on the radio.
"He's going forward," said Troy. "Damn it! Lost him!"
"These Vipers don't have the tracking power of the Galactica," said Dillon, slowing his ship as Troy did likewise. "But he's got to be going to Appomattox, right, Jamie?"
"I don't think so," she said.
"But that was the last book!" protested Dillon.
"It's just a title," said Jamie. "Appomattox was the courthouse where General Lee surrendered to General Grant to end the Civil War. But the decisive battle was known as the Battle of Gettysburg. General George Pickett led ten thousand men straight up a barren steep hill to try to storm the Union position. It became known as Pickett's Charge."
"Did it succeed?" asked Dillon.
"No," she said. "It was a bloodbath. He lost six thousand men on what came to be known as Cemetery Hill, and the South went straight downhill from there."
"So if they had won," said Troy, "the man responsible for it would have been in a position of total power?"
"He could have replaced Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederacy if he had wanted to," she said.
"And the date?" asked Troy.
"July 3, 1863."
Neither the history books nor the paintings had done it justice.
It was, simply, the noblest and most ill-advised military action ever taken. The Rebels raced up the treeless hill only to be mowed down by the Union artillery. For every Confederate soldier who fell three more raced up to take his place—until, at long and bloody last, there were no Confederate soldiers left, and the hill was covered with gray-clad bodies.
Troy, Dillon and Jamie looked sadly upon the scene from a distant hill as the South's best and finest young men threw away their lives.
"Could you have been wrong?" asked Dillon when the last gun had been fired, the last soldier killed.
"No," said Jamie. "This was it. If Xaviar had carried the day for the South, it would have been a whole new ball game. But look at those poor boys lying there; what army could come back after a slaughter like this?"
"Then where is he?" asked Dillon. "Could we have been wrong? Is he back among the Romans?"
"No chance," said Jamie. "This war couldn't have been fought this way, date for date and detail for detail, if he had gone to Rome. England was a Roman colony, and America was an English colony. Something would have to be different."
"Troy," said Dillon, "you haven't said anything. What's your opinion?"
"That we've just watched all this butchery for nothing," said Troy slowly. "You see, I've just figured it all out. I know where Xaviar is, and I know When he is!"
37
TRANSCRIPT OF MEETING HELD
IN ADAMA'S PRIVATE CHAMBERS:
ADAMA: What makes you so sure you know where he is?
TROY: Because I know where he isn't.
ADAMA: I'm afraid I don't understand.
TROY: Look at it this way, sir. He took five books with him. The ancient lands and times of the Bible didn't appeal to him, as I guessed they wouldn't. The Greece of Pericles is closed to him now.
ADAMA: Why?
TROY: Because he did nothing to change the future, and therefore our past is the only valid one.
ADAMA: What does that mean?
TROY: That any time he goes back to Periclean Greece to try to change history, he'll find Dillon, Jamie and myself waiting for him—because in this timestream we are waiting for him, and he can't change that without going back even further, which he seems uninterested in doing.
ADAMA: It's kind of muddled, all this business with paradoxes. What happens if you go back to 457 B.C.?
TROY: We're already there.
ADAMA: I know. I mean, what if you go again?
TROY: I don't know. I've asked Doctor Zee, and even he can't come up with an answer. But it would be a paradox Time couldn't correct, and Doctor Zee says that while he doesn't know the precise outcome, it would almost surely be cataclysmic. But to get back to the subject, we can rule out Greece and the Bible for the reasons I've mentioned, and the Roman Empire was so huge and so long-lived that even Xaviar can't figure out exactly where to plunge into the timestream. He tried to make an impact in the Crusades and we stopped him. And then he didn't show up during the Civil War. That's when it dawned on me where he was.
ADAMA: And where is that?
TROY: He's on Earth right now. This minute. In the Present.
ADAMA: And what makes you so sure?
TROY: Well, he's run out of reference works, but of course that doesn't mean anything. He could pick up some history books just as easily in 1940 as 1980. The real reason is because of what happened in Greece and the Crusades.
ADAMA: You think he's quit Time-hopping just because you stopped him a couple of times?
TROY: No. I think he's quit because we were waiting for him.
ADAMA: Elucidate, please.
TROY: We don't know what order he visited the past in. It could have been Greece first, or the Crusades. The point is that it doesn't make any difference. Once we pinpoint where he'll be, it's no great problem to get there ahead of him. You see, the nature of Time seems to be such that the past of the Earth we see down there is immutable as long as we have the capacity to travel in Time. In other words, her entire history is being codified by Doctor Zee's library computers. Any time that history suddenly changes, all we have to do is keep going further and further back in the past until we find the cause of it. Even if you and I were to die of old age, others from the Galactica could keep going back. It might take a day or a year or a century of our time to hunt Xaviar down, and yet only a few minutes would have elapsed on his time scale. He can't win and he knows it. If he appears in, say, 500 A.D., it might take us half the time from now to Eternity to find him, but once we did we'd stop him—and in his subjective Time he would be stopped in the first five minutes. Do you follow me?
ADAMA: Yes! And of
course you're right! He's got to be here in the Present. That's the only way we'll be unaware of his actions . . . or at least of their ultimate results.
DOCTOR ZEE: Excuse me for interrupting, but I have been monitoring your conversation, and have concluded that Captain Troy is absolutely correct. The only course remaining to Xaviar is to infiltrate present Earth society in his way, just as we must do so in our way. But, thanks to Captain Troy, we now have the advantage of knowing that he is back in the present, and we are able to start monitoring events to smoke him out.
TROY: Thank you, Doctor Zee. Have you any instruments that can be of aid to us?
DOCTOR ZEE: Not yet, but you may rest assured that the creation of such devices will occupy my full attention in the coming days. And now, perhaps you'd best complete the first part of your mission by seeing Doctor Mortinson one more time and assuage any fears he may have about the state of your health. After all, for all he knows Xaviar has killed you and his entire world will momentarily flicker out of existence.
38
RECONSTRUCTED FROM
TROY'S DEBRIEFING SESSION:
"It's really you!" exclaimed Mortinson. "I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you again!"
He ushered Troy and Dillon into his living room.
"I've been very apprehensive, as you may well imagine."
"I can appreciate, that, Doctor," said Troy. He told Mortinson what had transpired.
"Then he's still at large?" said Mortinson.
"I'm afraid so," said Dillon. "But at least we know he'll be staying in the Here and Now. We should have a fix on his Viper before too much longer, and that should effectively nail him to this Time-frame."
"But that's only half the battle," added Troy. "He's still a very dangerous man, and we're very possibly going to need the help of the handful of Earth people we can trust. We consider you to be such a man."
"I'm deeply honored," said Mortinson. "I don't know what I can do personally, but I'll certainly pass the word among my colleagues on both sides of the Iron Curtain. I imagine that sooner or later he'll have to make contact with someone in the scientific community."
Battlestar Galactica 5 - Galactica Discovers Earth Page 15