DESPERATE  MEASURES

PART TWENTY:

Two days passed before Maximus found the opportunity to speak with Sid alone.

Brianna was in the shelter and Sid had gone to gather mangoes.  It was late

afternoon, hot and very humid as usual when as Sid stooped to retrieve a dropped

fruit, Maximus stepped out from behind a large bush.

"Sid," he said, his voice very low.

Turning slowly, his arms cradling half a dozen mangoes, Sid looked at Maximus.

"General," he acknowledged, not wishing to use Maximus' actual name now that

it applied as well to him. "I had wondered what had become of you."

Maximus snorted slightly. "I doubt that you have lost much time in that pursuit."

"True," Sid smiled, shifting the mangoes slightly. "What is it you want, General?" 

He frowned just a bit. Why was it that when confronted with actual Maximus, he

himself felt more like Sid? He didn't like it. He wanted to be the only Maximus and

the feelings of conflict the sight of the General raised truly disturbed him. When he

was alone with Brianna, just the two of them, he felt more and more like Maximus,

responded, thought as Maximus. But here, now, he felt a sudden rush of Sid thoughts
in the presence of the General.

"I wish to speak with you."

"Speak with me?" Sid was surprised. "Why?"

"I have...questions."

One corner of Sid's mouth curved up. "I'm sure you must."

"Will you speak with me, Sid? Now?"

Sid's head turned briefly in the direction of the distant shelter.  That was where he

wanted to be, but the look in the General's eye told him that if it were not now, then

it would be shortly, and he had rather Brianna not be present. "All right," he sighed
reluctantly, letting his mangoes fall into a scattered pile just to the left of his feet.

"What is it?"

Maximus was holding his staff with his right hand, aware of his sweaty palm against

the wood.  Being here on this island had caused him to think almost fondly of the dry

air that baked Zucchabar.  He never felt...clean...here. And he'd been avoiding the

pond, not wanting a repeat scene from the other day.  Instead, to rid himself of the salt

water he had splashed himself in the shallow stream above the waterfall. He missed his

swims in the pond.

"This place, Sid, where is this place?"

"You mean the island?"  How could he explain that to a second-century man?  "It is

on the far side of the world from Rome."

Maximus' brow knitted.  "How did we get such a great distance?"

"I doubt that I can explain that to you," Sid smiled.

Maximus looked intently at him, sweat glistening on his brows. "How?" he repeated.

"A...a...transport machine. A very special transport machine. No wheels, no horses,

just...lights."

"The lights?"  He remembered flashing, whirling lights when they were taken suddenly

from the palace.

"Yes, the lights, General.  The lights form sort of a...a tunnel...that can take one great

distances very quickly."

"I was in the tunnel under the gladiator compound. The last I was in Rome. Where...

what...?"

"The lights again. Took you from there to the palace."

"The palace. WAS that a palace?"

"No, General, it was not. It was merely part of my headquarters."

Maximus frowned deeply, trying to think. "Why? Why would you take me there, make

me believe...?"

"I had my reasons."

"It was not in Rome, then? The palace was never in Rome?"

"Never," Sid nodded.  "It was further than you know."

"What do you mean? How far?"

Sid had always thought that one day he might have this conversation with the General,

just not quite like this. "Time, General, time as well as distance."

"Time?" Now Maximus was truly confused.

"The lights, they can take you through time as well as over distance."

"Why would someone want...that?"

"To get home, General. I needed to get home. Surely you, of all men, understand that."

"When? When is your...home, Sid?"

"The year 2007, General," Sid replied, truly curious to see Maximus' reaction to that

bit of news.

Maximus staggered one step backwards. "Now? That is when we are...now?"  His face

had paled considerably under his tan. The thought was entirely unbelievable, yet

somehow he found himself believing it. "The silver bird?"

"An airplane, General. Like a, um, wagon that can fly. But, no, we are not in 2007 now. 

On the island we are in 1243."  He shrugged.  "I needed a year before the explorations

began."

"Explorations?"  Maximus had no idea what Sid was talking about. He had thought

he'd been uprooted, known he'd been taken from the place he knew, but...this?

Suddenly he felt as though the world had tipped and he was falling off. He closed his

eyes, holding onto his staff with both hands gripped tight.

Sid studied him.  The man looked positively...ill. Cort was supposed to have been there

at this point in the revelations, been there to relate to a man out of his time, to provide

a point of connection. But Mikol had Cort and, as far as Sid knew, Cort could well be

dead.  Sid knew Mikol's proclivity for adding to his collection at the base of the parapet.
No way would the little, inefficient broom-pusher be able to get the priest out of Mikol's

clutches all alone.  He took a step forward, reaching out to touch Maximus' arm.

"Perhaps you should...sit?"

Maximus' eyes flew open. "No," he gasped, actually more of a strangled, small roar.

"I need to understand. I MUST understand."

Sid suppressed a smile. Understand right now that you are a character in a movie? I think

not.  No, he didn't believe the General could hack that bit of information at the moment.

"Brianna.  Why was Brianna in the palace?"

"For you. To make you feel more...comfortable. You seemed to have developed some

small attachment to her in Rome and you needed...someone...you thought was also a

victim."

"She...she knew...all along, then? She knew we were not in Rome?"

"She did."

"Why the snow in the woods, the temple in the fog, all of that? What purpose did that

serve?"

"To, um, collect your responses, your thoughts, General."

"I do not understand."

"I know," Sid smiled, "and I doubt I can explain it so that you would. In 2007 we have...

ways...of doing things, machines with great capabilities for storing knowledge, for sending

it other places, even to other people."

"Someone needed my...thoughts?"

"Yes, General. Someone did."

Maximus wiped his left palm across his face.  He had wanted information from Sid. But

this, this was totally unexpected, was much worse than he could have ever thought. "And

this island? Why am I on this island?"

"I was angry. The island was not part of the plan, just an...impulse. I needed to send you

away."

"Then why are you here?"

Sid smiled. "Because of Brianna.  I am here because of her."

"She is your woman, then?"  He already knew the answer.

"She is, yes." 

"You will stay here?"

"For a while longer. I don't really know how long."

"And me? Would you use the lights and send me to some other place?"

"You do not wish to remain here, General?"

"I do not."

Sid no longer wanted the General around, either. But what to do with him? "Let me

think about it.  I will see what I can do."

Maximus was eyeing Sid.  He seemed very different from when Maximus had first seen

him, his appearance, his manner, much was greatly changed. More than Cort, more

than that centurion, the man standing in front of him looked like...him. "You...," he

began, then stopped. Perhaps that would be a conversation for another day. Now he

just wanted to get back to his sea cave and think.  "I must go," he said abruptly, turning

on his heel and disappearing into the undergrowth.

Sid watched his back a moment. He knew, he knew fairly completely what the General

was feeling. Sighing, he gathered the mangoes and walked toward the shelter.

Brianna was squatting by some of the unpacked crates just behind the hut as he arrived. 

She'd pried open a couple of them and was poised over one, crowbar still in hand. "A

television? You brought along a TV set?"

He laughed. "One never knows when one might suddenly need to watch some old episode

of 'I Love Lucy'."

"Not you!" she replied, looking up at him, joining in his laughter.

 "Probably not," he agreed. "Look, I've brought mangoes."

"Ah, good. I'll dice them and we can put them on crepes tonight."  Standing, she began

to take them from his arms, noticing his eyes seemed somewhat distracted. "Is everything

all right, Love?"

"Fine," he replied. "Here, let me bring the TV inside. Now that its crate is open, we

can't leave it out here." He did not want to mention to her his encounter with Maximus.

"I've got a DVD player here somewhere, too." 

As she peeled mangoes, he hooked up the electronics to the powerful solar battery pack

he'd brought. "Perhaps we could watch 'Gone With the Wind' tonight...if you like?"

"Or we could do...other things," she grinned back at him.  

He stood, sliding his palm along the curve of her hip. "And just what did you have in

mind, ma'am?"

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