There I was. Sitting in an immense room far underground, talking with some joker who kept dancing around something he was obviously very unwilling to talk about. Thus far I’d been able to worm some valuable details outta’ him, but I was getting the very nasty sensation that I was only cracking the surface, so to speak. Forcing my attention back to the conversation, I listened on as Merlyn continued.
“Faded out there for a second, did you. Understandable. You’re getting an awful lot dumped into your lap at one time. Where was I? Oh yes! After Abraxas left home for parts unknown; to where we didn’t know until it was far too late to do anything about it; he began to gather about him an ever growing army of the disaffected, ambitious, and; to tell the truth; downright insane.
To this, his scientists added to their growing ranks a very terrible weapon indeed. The Nephilim. Crystal creatures like the Seraphim, they were cast in a mold suited to their master’s twisted sense of purpose. You’ve met them, so there’s no need to elaborate. Suffice it to say, Abraxas was preparing for no less than the conquest of the entire world, as well as the complete annihilation of my entire race. He felt he could control the, to him, inferior Terrans. We, however, were another matter entirely. Against us, despite all of his preparations, Abraxas was still heavily outgunned, and he knew it. What to do? The answer was fairly simple. Sow the seeds of unrest and discontent among the ranks of the Great and High Lords of Terra. If he could bring some of them over to his side, his chances of success would greatly improve.”
Okay. As I’ve said many times before (trying to convince myself I guess) I’m a pretty bright guy, as Romans go. However, the current topic of conversation was slowly frying what was left of my mind. Too much esoteric info ‘way too fast. How in Hades was I going to be able to sort all this out with no frame of reference?! Merlyn sensed my confusion and (I was extremely impressed with his awareness of my problem. Turns out he was expecting it.) came up with a unique solution.
“Your eyes are glazing over again. Hmmm . . . I’ve got an idea if you’re up for it. It’s obvious it isn’t your intellect that’s lacking. From what I’ve observed, you’re smart and you think VERY fast on your feet, unlike most soldiers who just have incredibly fast reflexes. The problem here is lack of perspective. Until your mind is updated to our level, you’re going to stay hopelessly lost. Therefore I’d like to try something, if you’re game.”
Didn’t like the sound of that. Update my thinking processes? I kinda’ liked my processes just as they were, thank you very much! Still, Merlyn was right. Although I generally knew what he was babbling on about, he kept throwing in things that threw me off balance. Fact was, I couldn’t afford to be half in the dark all the time. Bad military thinking. Merlyn continued.
“What I have in mind is painless and doesn’t alter your thinking processes at all. You gain a lot more information and I don’t have to constantly keep stopping to explain things. Also, you’re going to need what we have to give you if you ever hope to get home again.”
That sounded vaguely like a threat. Still, he was right. Also, this wasn’t about just me. I had two hundred Titans counting on me to get them back home. I decided to go for it.
“Whatever you got in mind, I guess I don’t have too many choices here. So . . . how does your idea work?”
“Simple. You just go to sleep. While you’re snoozing away, we painlessly put this in your head and, when you wake up, you’ll have access to all we know.”
Merlyn stuck a glass disc under my nose and told me to look through it. What I saw was a tiny crystal held in place by metal clamps suspended from the rim of the disc. That crystal looked awfully big to me. How was he going to shove that thing into my head without screwing me up. Didn’t look painless to me. Before I could say a word, Merlyn stopped me cold.
“I can guess all of your concerns. What you see is not the crystal’s actual size. The lens you’re looking through magnifies the size of objects approximately one thousand times. In reality, that crystal would be invisible to your naked eye. As I said, when you awake, you won’t even know it’s there. And the procedure WILL be painless. I guarantee it. All you have to do is go to sleep. Shall we get on with it then? The sooner this is done, the faster things will clear up for you.”
Merlyn lent me his bed for the process. The person he brought in to do the implant thingy was about five foot six, red haired, with a large chest partially hidden under her robes. Nice side benefit. Shoulda’ known, however, that Merlyn had planned it that way to distract me. Something hit me in the arm and I was out cold. Still, my last conscious memory was of me staring at that lovely chest.
I dreamed. I was told later that what I dreamed was the crystal downloading data from the Central Memory Archives or Brain Central as everyone called it. To this day it still feels strange talking about such things so easily. Anyway, my dream took the form of me floating, bodiless, high over the surface of a world I somehow knew to be Terra/Earth. Great cities were thinly scattered across the continents (something else new), their massive towers reaching up to touch the very heavens. Flying chariots were everywhere, and I knew with my new knowledge that they were mechanical vehicles using a combination of solar and nuclear power (as each new word popped into my head, a complete definition of the term came with it; handy, that). The machines were lightning fast and extremely maneuverable, being thought controlled, with manual controls present in case of emergency.
Most of the largest cities were clustered in and around a long, titanic basin. A disturbing feeling of terrible familiarity came over me as I studied the outline of that place. Then it hit me like a punch in the teeth. I was looking at the great Mediterranean Sea minus the leagues of water I knew so well! What time of the World’s history was I viewing!! The answer came swiftly thanks to my little crystal. This was my world one hundred fifty thousand years before the Roman era. Nothing of this age was known in my time.
Names from forgotten ages poured into my already overtaxed brain. Avalon! Lyonesse! Asgard! Mighty Atlantis! Stygia! Amon-Ra! Abraxas! Seth/Set! Anubis! Cerberus! Tethys Basin! The Great Temple of the Maker! The Triad! Lilith! Genesis War!! And on and on and on.
It was when I chanced to look to the heavens to break that stream of knowledge that my completely overtaxed mind almost shut down. Night had fallen and the stars were out as normal. But there were two moons shining in the sky!! What in Hades . . . !! One Moon was smaller than the other much larger sphere which I recognized as the moon I was familiar with. At a second glance I saw that there where subtly disturbing differences to Luna’s bright face. Some of her well known features were missing.
As for the other, smaller moon, it was already racing across the sky as if in a hurry to get somewhere. I noted that it was grayish in color and reflected light poorly. (Knowledge continued to pour in at a steady rate. Available when I needed it.) As the smaller companion of Luna raced across the heavens, it was dimmed for a split second, then continued along its way. I didn’t know what I’d seen until Merlyn explained it to me later. What I was unknowingly looking at were Terra/Earth’s long lost rings. Dim and sparse, they were already beginning to fade in that age. They would be wholly gone by my time.
While all of this joy was going on, I began to hear a voice. A faint whisper at first, it grew louder and louder. It spoke but one word. Varus. Varus! VARUS! And I was awake. I sat up and groggily looked around. It was with some disappointment that I saw that my busty female friend was gone. Staring at me with concern etched on his ugly mug was Merlyn.
“The way you were thrashing and moaning, I was afraid that, somehow, You’d suffered brain damage. Thank the Maker you’re alright.”
He never saw my fist coming.
The Roman View 
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