Anno Urbis Conditae

[Cmdr Ba'alyo 0]

"By their own reckoning, they're in the 18th Century AUC," Ensign Isaac Spencer explained from the Communications console. With Lessard down on Magna Roma as part of the diplomatic team, Spencer was serving as her relief. "Anno urbis conditae - it means since the founding of Rome," Spencer added. "So their Rome has been a Republic and then an Empire for almost two thousand years old."

 

Since their arrival, Challenger had been tapping into the planet's public networks and eavesdropping on various educational and entertainment broadcasts to learn about Magna Roma history, both recent and ancient. Captain Seiben, however, had successfully requested access to the official Imperial archives from Consul Marcus Quintus. The data was being reviewed by specialists from several disciplines - linguists, anthropologists, cosmologists, and historians like Spencer.

 

Commander Zen Ba'alyo looked at the ensign, leaning in. "What does that tell us?"

 

"Well, we'd already reported an apparent point of divergence," Spencer toggled the display of a timeline, "sometime after the reign of the emperor Hadrian. His is the last name shared chronologically between our Earth history and theirs. That's around 888 AUC."

 

Ba'alyo raised his eyebrows, expectantly.

 

"So, if they are an example of Hodgkin's parallel development, their history branched off during the equivalent of Earth's early second century A.D.," Spencer explained. "That event, whatever it was, is the key to why their Rome never fell. Before Hadrian, we see references to identical battles, mythology, even named individuals. After that, new people, new place names, things not in Earth history."

 

"And what if we weren't talking Hodgkins?"

 

Spencer blinked, looking cautiously around the bridge.

 

"Ensign," Ba'alyo pressed, "does this database support or refute alternate theories such as transplantation or cultural contamination?"

 

Spencer shook his head. "I haven't really looked at the data that way, but..."

 

Ba'alyo stepped away, leaning back against the inner railing. "But?"

 

The ensign took a breath. "There's some indication that they consider their early history as myth," he ventured, "but the real Romans did that, too - the Aeneid may be great literature, but Rome wasn't really founded by Trojan sons of the god Mars."

 

Ba'alyo frowned again. "I don't understand your point, Ensign."

 

Spencer swiveled his chair around to face the Efrosian executive officer. "It comes down to tangible evidence," he explained, "like Schlieman unearthing the ruins of Troy."

 

He went on. "If the pre-Hadrian history isn't theirs," he suggested, "if it was the result of someone exposing this world to it or bringing Romans of that era, well, you wouldn't find any evidence of Roman civilization older than a millennia. There'd be nothing covering those first eight hundred years from the founding of Rome, even if their histories mention it. Of course, if there was already a civilization here and new people just showed up, the Roman culture might be centered on some kind of landing site." Spencer shrugged. "All speculation, of course, sir."

 

Ba'alyo nodded, stroking his pale facial hair. He thought about the discreet archeological survey he'd authorized Lieutenant Savros to conduct. The Vulcan had already gone down, sufficiently disguised. It seemed they were already pursuing the most likely avenues of discovery. He felt a surge of pride in the crew.

 

"Good analysis, Ensign," he praised. "See if you can find out more about this 'divergent event' you mentioned."

 

Spencer nodded and swung his chair back toward the console.

 

Ba'alyo turned away, looking toward Reed at navigation and thinking about her comments on the Preservers. Was there a way to prove their involvement? Or disprove it?

 

Mentally, he mocked himself. He wondered if he was letting his personal, metaphysical issues with A. E. Hodgkin's theories force his mind toward alternate origin concepts. Certainly Hodgkin's groundbreaking work explained the prevalence of biological similarities on disparate worlds, but its sociological extensions were far more controversial for their ramifications. Did the existence of termites on Loracus Prime really explain how 892-IV could be governed by the 21st Century version of an Earth empire that fell thousands of years ago? Right down to the language? Right down to the names and physical similarities of historical individuals?

 

Academy textbooks referred to this world as a "classic" example of Hodgkin's theory. But was it? Some of the basis for that conclusion seemed unproven. How could a world be identical long enough to create a duplicate Julius Caesar, but diverge away from a Renaissance or the abolition of slavery? He could understand theories that contemplated mirror dimensions or alternate quantum realities, but replica worlds in the same galaxy? And why were there no parallel Efros out there? Was Earth somehow more likely or important?

 

It was a logical exercise that needed more evidence, in any case, he reasoned.

 

But the question wasn't only how these Romans came to be, but where they were going. Challenger seemed no closer to answering how the Romans had acquired a knowledge of subspace communication and warp propulsion. Or why they were interested in opening a dialogue with barbarian offworlders. He walked around the outer ring of the bridge, wondering how they could unravel that question. Parallel activities, he mused, and stepped down toward the vacant center seat. They'd just have to navigate them all.