This as much an alternate history story as anything else. Details and dates are accurate, with some minor creative liberties. Sex in this chapter happens near the end. Plots are as important to me as the dirty stuff!
And everyone's over 18.
***
I am Demmus Alfer, and this is my story. I am an exile, duly convicted and sentenced. My crime? I fell in love. With the wrong person. Oh, I don't blame Aurilaine. I never should have let myself get attached, or she attached to me. And I should certainly never have underestimated the reaction of her weak shit of a father once our relationship came to light.
It was my own damn fault. My feats on the battlefield had earned me a class 1B breeding license, which entitled me to couple with anyone in his own breeding class on down to class 5. The only social class forbidden was class 1A. Which of course Aurilaine was.
We were caught, inevitably. And I had to be punished. Because of my record, I was given a choice--castration or temporal exile. Sometimes a choice is no choice at all.
The Chief Justiciar of the League of Humanity cleared his throat and spoke in his pompous, droning way: "Demmus Alfer, you have pleaded guilty to forming an inappropriate relationship with an individual above your assigned class. You have chosen the sentence of temporal exile, to be served in the Roman Empire, as close to the year 20 Before the Common Era as you may be placed. Do you affirm your plea and your acceptance of the sentence?"
"I do," I said, staring straight ahead and showing no emotion.
"As an act of mercy, your embedded artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and cybernetic implants will remain activated. You will be given money appropriate to the time and place of your sentence to establish yourself, and have been allowed to take a limited amount of personal items."
"I thank the court for its mercy," I said dryly.
A man in formal robes stepped forward. The Shogun of New Edo, an old friend who'd made the long trip to Earth to champion my cause.
"I wish to state for the record that General Alfer's sentence, while legal, is not just. And that those who have engineered his exile will find today's victory will become ashes." I hoped he was right, but I'd never be around to see it.
"So noted. Begin portal power-up."
I was already dressed in nondescript clothes appropriate to ancient Rome, with one of my personal items—a metasteel katana given me by the Shogun years ago—tied to my belt, concealed by a wool cloak. I stepped toward the portal, already starting to shimmer.
The Shogun put his hand on my shoulder and murmured into my ear: "I will protect her, old friend. And I meant what I said. This momentary victory of weak men will become a great defeat."
"Thank you, Matsuo. I will not forget you," I said.
"Nor I you."
With that, I stepped through the portal.
***
Time travel has been something of an open secret for nearly a hundred years, growing out of the development of faster than light drive technology in the late 30th century. It was used chiefly for research; synthetic animals or plants would be sent into the past to passively collect the sights and sounds of long-gone eras or true records of significant events. Their storage crystals and their data would be recovered in the present. Attempts to send living observers in the past had failed. They disappeared, though telemetry indicated they'd survived the initial journey. The leading theory was that humans changed history, creating a new universe from the point where they altered events. Whatever the reason, time travel for humans was a one-way trip.
I must have blacked out for a few moments. When I came to, I was next to a road near a stone marker that read "X MILES." My head was buzzing like I'd been beaten by a hundred stun batons. I sent a message to Maggie, the AI embedded in a crystal wafer between my scalp and skull.
I waited nearly a second, a very long time for Maggie to respond. The communication was all internal but I processed it as if someone were speaking to me.
"Sorry boss," she said. "Took me forever to get back online."
"It was less than a second, Mags."
"As I said, forever. Stand by for internal diagnostic."
Almost everyone of importance in the League has an artificial intelligence embedded inside them, to store extra data as well as govern cybernetic implants and nanotech. Over time, they developed personalities all their own. Maggie was a dry sarcastic bitch, and I love her. As much as anyone can love a disembodied artificial being who lives in his head.
"Diagnostic completed boss. All priority-one systems optimal. Only damage is to reproductive settings."
"Report," I said. One of the things the nanobots in my body did was either inhibit, maintain, or enhance fertility depending on the settings.
"Setting stuck on 'enhanced fertility.' I'm sure you're devastated."
"Looks like it'll be the kamikaze pullout then. I don't believe condoms have been invented."
"Not unless you like tying sheep intestine on your junk, boss," Maggie replied helpfully.
"I'll pass, thanks. Analyze the stone."
"Standard mile marker. We're ten Roman miles from the Forum. Approximately 10.5 kilometers, though I can calculate the distance more precisely."
"That's good enough," I said. "Time to get walking."
I wasn't walking long before I heard a commotion ahead. A covered cart drawn by a two-ox team was stopped and being attacked by about half a dozen men. With a mental command I zoomed in; the cart driver was slumped over, dead or badly injured. Four of the men were trying to get into the back of the cart, being held at bay by someone inside wielding a
gladius
, a Roman short sword. The other two were advancing on a terrified looking young woman who looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. She was trying and failing to stand up.
I bounded forward, drawing my katana as I ran into the fray. I decided to attack the bandit trying to rape the girl first, and he never saw me coming. Metasteel is an exotic metal alloy bonded with diamond. The sword was a ceremonial gift given to me by Matsuo Kanaka, Shogun of New Edo but it was fully functional. It sliced through leather armor and flesh as though it were cloth. I nearly cut the would-be rapist in half. I dispatched his accomplice almost as quickly.
"Maggie, ready stun punch. Heavy." I'm sure whoever owns this cart will want at least one person alive to answer questions.
As with his two less fortunate companions, the bandit trying to get into the cart never saw me coming. My punch connected to his jaw, the implants delivering a heavy electric charge that left him unconscious and twitching on the ground. The two remaining thugs fled into the countryside.
"Thanks Maggie. And thanks for holding back the punching power. I'd have probably shattered his jaw."
"No problem boss."
The guard inside the cart emerged. He was dressed in a legionary's armor. He had his
gladius
