Praetorian Series [3] A Hunter and His Legion (59 page)

But operational security was the last thing on my mind as we walked
toward a large tent near the center of the haphazardly constructed camp.  It was four times as large as any other dwelling, appearing much like a miniature circus tent, complete with an opening at its apex, and smoke billowing from it much like a chimney.

I gazed at the smoke for only a moment before dropping my head and quickening my pace.  Merlin seemed unconcerned by my impatience and determination, and said nothing as he matched me step for step until we reached the entrance.  I paused, wondering for a moment if I really wanted to see what Merlin brought me here to see, but immediatel
y decided that I did.

We entered quietly, a precaution that seemed hardly necessary upon witnes
sing the scene before us.  The other Merlin or Faustulus or Mars or Whoever The Fuck He Was, stood between Romulus and Remus near the fire at the center of the tent.  Arranged around them were cushions and rugs scattered throughout, with spoils of war piled everywhere – everything from coinage to weaponry.  It looked much like an Arab Sheik’s tent might in the late nineteenth century, but everything was far less opulent and splendid.

Of all the spoils however, two stood out easily.  The
other Merlin again held the pair of orbs in his hands, holding the blue one near Remus and the red one near Romulus.  The twins stared at their respective orbs intently, eagerly, while the other Merlin glanced between them casually.  None seemed poised to speak in that moment, but then the other Merlin opened his mouth wide, as though preparing to bellow a great oration.

But then he stopped mid motion.

Or, more accurately, time stopped around him.

“I apologize, Jacob, but I have to interject here,” Merlin said beside me.

“Why?”  I asked.

“Because I have to explain what the orbs do.”

I was too excited by his proclamation to ask why the other Merlin couldn’t just do the same, as I assumed he was about to do, so I simply nodded vigorously and enticed him to explain.  He sighed, and I couldn’t help but feel like he was still in contention with himself over everything he was showing me.  I continued to wonder why, but wasn’t about to interrupt him now.

“The blue orb you understand…” Merlin said finally, “… to some extent at least.  With it, a user can travel th
rough time.  It is quite simply – perhaps
too
simply – a time machine.”

He paused, so I felt it was okay to ask a question.

“But why a ball?”  I asked, but then thought of a better question.  “I mean,
how
a ball?  It’s a ball!”

“Would you prefer this, perhaps?”  Merlin asked as he gestured off to my right.  I looked, and saw what looked exactly like a perfectly functional DeLorean, but not just any DeLorean, but the exact one from
Back to the Future II
, complete with Mr. Fusion and everything.

I turned back to Merlin, my mouth
open wide.  “Can I actually use that?”

“Unfortunately, no.  In this case, the DeLorean there really is nothing more than a figment of your imagination.”

“Shoot.”

“Indeed,” Merlin said as he gestured behind me.  “Perhaps
you’ll enjoy this as well?”

I turned quickly, but saw nothing more than an empty phone booth.

“A phone booth?”

“
Bill and Ted?”  Merlin asked, leading me on.

“Oh right!”  I exclaimed.  “A little before my time, but I remember.”

“Perhaps this then?”  He said with a flick of his hand to my right.

I looked and saw a large, blue box that said POLICE BOX near the top on all four corners.

I tried to think as I gazed at it.  “That’s the thing from
Dr. Who
, right?”

“Correct.”

I shook my head.  “Never could get into it.”

“A pity.
I myself enjoyed the reboot pilot.”

He waved
his hand and all three objects disappeared, and I felt the little kid in me vanish along with them.  I turned back to Merlin, looking dejected, but determined to understand.

Merlin started to pace.
“You recognize each of those things as time machines because you come from an era when the idea of time travel has become enriched in modern pop culture.  The fictional understanding of it has become quite commonplace in your world, and I place considerable emphasis on the word
fictional
, but in this age, the idea of time travel is nearly non-existent.  Imagination, quite bluntly, is rather limited.”

“So you created as simple a time machine as possible,” I deduced.

Merlin shook his head.  “I already told you that I did not create the device itself, but I crafted the orb as a physical analog for it so that the people of this time could understand it.  Simplicity, as you stated, was key.”

“An
analog
…” I said as I thought.  “… so the orb is just a physical representation of something else?  Just a façade?  So you’re saying your time machine really could be anything?”

“
Not
mine,” Merlin uttered, sounding frustrated.

“But how?
  Where’s the actual time machine?”

“The mechanics are quite beyond you, Jacob
,” Merlin said, recovering.  “You are neither an engineer nor a scientist, just an amateur who watches way too much TV – not that a scientist or engineer from your world would make much sense of it anyway.  Besides, knowing would do you no good, and we are running short on time.  I must return you to your friends soon or else too much time will have passed.”

I glanced at my watch, wondering if such an action actually meant anything in this odd place.  When I caught the time, I was surprised to learn that I’d only been in Merlin’s company for the better part of an hour, although it already felt like a lifetime.

I shrugged.  “I’ve only been here an hour.  Trust me, my friends won’t miss me.  I’m kind of on their shit list lately.”

Merlin didn’t answer, and only gazed at me with a hint of sadness in his eye.
  He let the silence continue, so I kept up with the questions.

“So the blue orb is a time machine,” I
explained to myself.  “It itself isn’t exactly a time machine, but that’s what it does because of some vague explanation about analogs.  Fine, I get it.  Let’s move on.  Then what does the red orb do?”

Merlin remained silent, his expression suggesting he was
still deeply lost in thought.

“Merlin?”

Finally, he turned to me, looking like he’d never seen me before.

“The red orb?”  I prompted.

Without hesitation, but without any excitement, he said, “It allows you to travel into other dimensions.”

I
processed this new information very slowly.  I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right.  “Say again?”

“The red orb allows a user to travel to parallel worlds
, Jacob.”

“I’m
…” I started, still processing, “…I’m not sure I understand.”

“You do understand, Jacob. 
This is a popular concept in your culture as well.  The red orb allows its user to tap into the Multiverse, as some might call it.”

“I…
but…” I uttered, my mind whirling at the implications.  I looked down at my left hand and raised it to shoulder height. “The blue orb controls time.”  I looked at my right hand and watched as it rose to shoulder height all on its own.  “The red orb controls… space?”

“Quite right,” Merlin said.  “
Since time immemorial, every decision made at every nanosecond, in every place within the universe simultaneously has created an alternate timeline in which life takes different paths.  Uncountable, infinite, beyond even the scope of my imagination, these timelines, dimensions, parallel worlds, whatever you choose to call them,
exist
, and are quite accessible with the red orb.”

I looked back at my left hand, and jerked it
up.  “Time.”

I turned to my right hand, and jerked it as well.  “Space.
  Dimensions.”  Finally, I returned my eyes to Merlin.  “Whoever controls both would be unstoppable!”

Merlin nodded,
very much in agreement.  “Alone, each is quite formidable.  Blue is time.  Red reality.  But together… well, together a person could go anywhere and do anything.”

“
With that kind of untapped potential,” I pondered out loud, “a tyrant could alter the past, control alternate civilizations, steal technology from the future, and strip mine parallel Earths to the bone, leaving them empty husks, all the while keeping his Earth pristine.”

The words streame
d from my mouth without thought, years of thinking and contemplation on the effects and abilities associated with time travel had finally coming to fruition.  With the addition of multi-dimensional travel thrown into the mix, everything was beginning to become crystal clear.

With my arms at my sides, it was an easy task to lash out and grab Merlin by the shoulders.
  “You’d better hope somebody like OPEC doesn’t get ahold of the red orb one day!”

“
I do not think that will be a problem,” Merlin said, but before I could seek clarification, he continued. “But while you immediately assume the worst in man, I saw the orbs as an opportunity.”

I
dropped my arms and backed away.  “An opportunity for what?”

Merlin looked
to the twins and his double, as though embarrassed, and it seemed to take a great strain of will for him to gather his thoughts and speak again.  He’d seemed so flakey throughout this latest experience, and it was also becoming very clear that Merlin regretted much and was still struggling with implications that were beyond me.

“
In the right hands,” he explained, “the orbs could allow great leaders to do great things.  Rewrite wrongs, ensure prosperity, and build empires that would throw off the negative connotation of the word ‘empire.’  In the right hands, users of the orbs could be true paragons of virtue and empathy.  Benevolent masters of the universe that would right all the wrongs of the past and… ensure
certain
futures never came about.  They could do great things.”

I took
a step toward the fire and threw a hand out toward Romulus and Remus, still suspended in time like a paused movie.  “Who, these knuckleheads??”

Merlin shook his head
and closed his eyes. He seemed frustrated. “You do not understand…”

“Then help me understand!”

He looked to the twins, held his eyes on them for a few moments, then turned back to me. “I’ve shown you too much as it is.”

“Quit it with that shit!”  I yelled.  “Don’t
cop out on me, Merlin.  Don’t think you can bring me this far and then just leave me with shit like, ‘I’ve shown you too much as it is.  Telling you more could potentially destroy the space/time continuum.  Blah blah blah.’  That isn’t fair!  I’m going to have to explain all this to my friends sooner or later and I don’t think they’re going to settle for just that.”

“No,”
Merlin said firmly with a single shake of his head.  “No.  It is too much. Even for you.”

“Just give me something then,” I pleaded, craving every iota of information
I could get.  “Anything.”

Merlin closed his eyes, his strain
still evident.  “The world was different in their time… very different, in ways you would both understand and be completely incapable of understanding.”

“Try me.”

“I will not.  As I have already said, it is too much and too irrelevant to your situation.  I have done enough harm and I will not do more by attempting to satiate your insatiable curiosity.”

I almo
st smiled.  “People always tell me I’m too curious for my own good.”

“An admirable character
trait in many instances; it’s just one that will do you no good today.”

I sighed. 
“Fine, but can’t you give me something?  At least tell me how the twins are so big and why they’re so charismatic.”

“
You have a vivid imagination, Jacob.  I believe, in time, you will come to understand on your own.  Just remember that sometimes the simplest answers are the right ones.”

I really hope
d that didn’t mean what I thought it did; that my initial random thought – the same one shared by mythologists the world over – was actually correct.  The one that stated that the twins were in fact descended from gods.  Mars in particular.  Mars of the Gray Eyes, like his sister Athena, eyes like mine, and…

I looked at the twins.

They had gray eyes as well

I glanced quickly at Merlin, hoping to catch some kind of affirmation in his expression, knowing he could read my mind quite easily, but his face was neutral.  I suppose he was too g
ood at all this to just give up that piece of information so easily.