Time Traveler

I arrive at Caesar's encampment once I realized that the message deciphered as MERIDIANUS or SOUTH. This army is very large, so the other soldiers of his must have been an expeditionary force. Two legionnaires grab me and haul me before Julius Caesar. Fortunately, I understand Latin, although this is the first time I've heard it spoken by native speakers. One of my captors explains that they found this strange foreigner, me, running desperately into the camp unarmed, but with an odd sort of armor about him. He no doubt meant the time machine that encloses my torso. Caesar demands to know who I am and business I have in his camp. I explain in my book-learned Latin that I just came from the skirmish between his force to the north and Pompey. Caesar asks me if his forces are able to hold the line there and I tell him no. He seems pleased and says that they were meant to lure Pompey into the plain I just traversed. I tell him Pompey's army should be appearing behind me within an hour at the most. He thanks me for the intelligence and commands his men to "set the trap."

I find a safe place and watch the battle unfold. Caesar's army is smaller than Pompey's but Caesar's superior skill as a general leads to an overwhelming victory for him. Pompey is crushed. Pompey gathers his gold and his family and flees disguised as a civilian. It is thrilling to watch, but I realize I am lucky to have escaped alive. It is time to return to a safer time and place.