Innocents Pay Chapter 16, Actum Non Verbum

Ulrich and Yumi arrived shortly. Jeremy debriefed them. "Yumi, I need you to enter the coordinates on this sheet of paper," he indicated a small legal pad on his chair, "into the program I have set up here. Ulrich, be careful. If the police come back, there's not much we can do. Try to buy time if they do. After this, we only have feudal Europe left to travel to." Jeremy and Aelita descended in the elevator. Looking coyly at him, she slipped her hand into his. Jeremy stiffened a little. "Ae, I thought we were going to wait until this was over to get involved with eachother?" Aelita was blatantly shocked. "What?!? What about what you did at Da Vini Ta? What was that supposed to be, then?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about! The last time we went to Di Vini Ta was almost half a year ago!"

"Ha! You mean earlier this afternoon! After church, remember!"

Aelita suddenly realized something, and changed her tone of voice. "Oh, Jeremy, I'm so sorry! You have so much depending on you right now! You must be forgetting. The strain of all this has got to be devastating you emotionally and mentally. We went to church today, and then Di Vini Ta. After lunch, your funny watch started to beep, and you..kissed me..."

"No, Aelita! I was here all day! I've been working on code. I stood you up. I didn't go to church, I didn't go out with you! I failed! The siren song of fixing a problem got in the way."

Jeremy sank to the floor. When he looked up, it was with a face full of regret and pain. "Can you forgive me, Aelita?" Aelita sat down next to him. "Of course, Jeremy. But how could you have been in two places at once?" Jeremy snapped his fingers. "It was a shade! Just like X.A.N.A. used against us!" Aelita shivered.  The shade had seemed so real. "But Jeremy, it was just like you! Only, he seemed older." Jeremy smirked. "You're only as old as the callous on your soul. Come on, we have a game to attend."

They stepped into two scanners, and Yumi entered the code.

--------Rome, 64 A.D.

The games Jeremy referred to were the kind most civilized people avoid at all costs. The most tame among them were chariot races-still, deaths were frequent in those. Jeremy and Aelita appeared near very good seats-at least for those who enjoyed violence. Jeremy whispered to Aelita, "I'm sorry, but we have to stay here until our contact gets here. Try to enjoy yourself, if it's at all possible." Currently, it was a lion versus a hunter armed with only a short sword. Stalking close to the man, the starved lion lunged but only gouged the man's leg before he'd jumped out of the way. The wound was enough to topple him, however, and the lion jumped on his prostrate foe and savaged him violently. Aelita and Jeremy threw up, while the crowds cheered. The lion was dragging the bloody body away by the arm when the man seemed to come back to life. Screaming in pain, motivated by desperation more than anything, he plunged his sword into the beast's neck. The lion roared, but it was cut off as blood from the jugular leaked into the severed trachea. Its head twitched, tearing the man's arm off, and the cat rolled over and lay still. The man stood up, saluted his emperor, but then collapsed to the ground. The crowd was on its feet, roaring its applause. Jeremy said, "Aelita, don't worry, they'll treat him now." Jeremy was wrong. A man in a ghoulish mask, impersonating the creatures in hades who escort souls to torment, walked out onto the sand hefting a large hammer. Aelita realized what was going on too late to look away. The downed fighter whimpered, but the masked man laughed harshly, and brought the war hammer down on the man's skull. Those with front row seats were splattered with gore, and went wild with excitement. Aelita was on the ground sobbing, and Jeremy was trying to comfort her, when a man spirited them away into a dark corner, away from the horrible scene. He stood silently, obviously expecting a signal. Jeremy had his wits about him, and drew a fish in the dust. The man nodded. "I'm sorry you had to see that. My name is Marcus. Paul sent me."