Rome

by Matthew Thayer

  And then came the rise of Martinellism. The worldwide movement named for time traveler Lorenzo Martinelli was a final blow for The Team. Its Buffalo facilities were shuttered by lack of funding years before the Martinellists’ bio-plague wiped out 81 percent of the world’s population.

  Before the virus mutated and turned on the Martinellists and their vaccine, the fanatics managed to destroy large swaths of the world’s infrastructure. Power-generating plants, dams, bridges, highways, factories and especially the media were targets in the fanatics’ quest to return mankind to the Paleolithic.

  Ironically, the two landmasses vilified by the extremists, North America and Asia, suffered the least casualties, roughly 65 percent of their populations, while areas the Martinellists most wanted to spare, South America, Africa and Europe, were nearly wiped out.

  For the past two decades, humanity has been pulling itself up by its bootstraps. Slowly but surely, populations redistribute, lines of communication open and food security is attained.

  Somewhere along the line amenities like making and watching historical documentaries become possible again. Fourteen months ago, a crew from newly reopened Harvard University gained access to The Team’s Buffalo headquarters to make a short movie in the epicenter of so much suffering and chaos.

  During their two-week shoot, a young cameraman found the computer. It was one of two identical devices that had apparently sat in a drawer unnoticed for 62 years. It took months to locate a technician who could gain access to the one computer that functioned. The first files to open were very detailed warnings about the oncoming rise of Martinellism and the Thinning.

  Why didn’t someone discover the computers earlier? What secrets are contained in the second, which steadfastly refuses to boot on? Members of the reformed Team are asked those questions a lot.

  Investors still alive and in business, mostly universities and energy corporations, have been more than willing to accept their shares of the data trove. The chance to recoup the investment they put toward financing a worldwide fiasco generally outweighs their distaste for what one essayist termed “blood money.”

  While the forward thread of Dr. Duarte, Spc. Kaikane, Capt. Jones, Cpl. Bolzano and their native friends ends for now, there are still many untold adventures from their decade in Europe.

  Due to renewed interest in their stories, the search for the computer or computers they may have buried in North America has gained traction. Hints provided in Hunter’s final entry give reason for optimism.

  The enigma named Hunter continued writing for more than 2,200 years. Entries range from details about immigrating to Tasmania aboard a penal ship to what he ate the day before he hopped a ride aboard the Einstein IV while posing as a washed-out Team recruit named Hubert Cohen of Kent, Ohio.

  Was Mitchell Simmons aware he shanghaied a version of himself for his crew? Were they co-conspirators? In his final journal entry, Hunter claims altering his appearance for the loop back to 30,000 B.C.

  Initially, there was great excitement over the historical value of 2,200 years of Hunter’s observations. We had an eyewitness to history, a fact-checker to put controversies to rest. This fervor has been doused by the overall nothingness of the nanobot’s long life.

  Moving on the far periphery of greatness, never really contributing to society or taking a stand for anything, he primarily led the life of a middle-level merchant and trader. Roughly 77 percent of his entries deal with business transactions such as debits, credits, keeping track of shipments and stock, employee wages and taxes.

  He does not mention it in his entries, so we are unable to discern if he used his knowledge of history to dodge important moments in time, or if it was just fate that removed him from the action. It is uncanny how completely he whiffed. During the rise of Hitler, he was living unawares in the southern Andes growing wine grapes. When the Magna Carta was signed in June of 1215, Hunter was going by the name of Aboggola and running a semi-lucrative shipping business on the Ganges.

  Despite their repetitiveness and overall lack of historical punch, the entries do contain a few hidden gems. Every few centuries, Hunter found himself in a situation he felt was worth analyzing and writing about in depth. Some of these stories are rather interesting.

  The discovery of the computer has breathed new life into The Team. While the stigma of Martinellisim and the Thinning can never be erased, analytics show if those movements had not occurred, some other global correction would have. Earth had reached its tipping point. The death toll could have been much worse.

  This message is gaining acceptance amongst a population two generations removed from the suffering. Evil as the Thinning was, there is no denying the planet is infinitely healthier and more equitable now that populations hold within sustainable levels. The atmosphere has thickened back to UberMind levels. People can toil outside without radiation suits.

  While it is unlikely The Team will ever regain the resources to build its next generation of Einstein time travel ships, the trove of data compiled by a few courageous survivors confirms the viability of scientific time travel.

  Though they have no living heirs to reap the benefits of their labor, and their infractions void the contracts of their personal sponsors, Dr. Maria Duarte, Spc. Paul Kaikane, Capt. Juniper Jones, Cpl. Salvatore Bolzano and Dr. Mitchell Simmons have earned something far greater: immortality.

  They have changed how we perceive this world. The Team applauds their outstanding efforts and continues to be awed by their dedication under such trying conditions. May their sacrifices on mankind’s behalf be recognized for millennia to come.

  The End

  THANK YOU READERS

  Thanks for joining me on this journey through time. I know there are many reading choices in the world and truly appreciate your interest. Posting reviews on Amazon is a great way to show support for the 30,000 B.C. Chronicles. Have a comment you would like to share personally? Drop me an email at matthew@30000bc.com.

  Aloha,

  Matthew

  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to honest, hardworking journalists around the world, the men and women who ask tough questions in a never-ending quest to shine light upon the truth. Not so long ago it was only in war zones and oppressed countries where professional journalists were targets of abuse. Now even in the United States there are government factions pushing to limit press access, to undermine journalistic credibility and to ignore basic guidelines like sunshine laws that forbid conducting public business in secret behind closed doors. In this age of struggling newspapers and an internet full of opinions, half-truths and straight-up lies, the need for accurate, unbiased information is greater than ever. Quality journalism is based on solid reporting: research, fact checking, ethics, impartiality, exploring all sides, and finding sources to go on record to confirm details. Once reporters have done their best in the time allotted, they turn their pieces over to editors who make sure they haven’t taken shortcuts or left important questions unasked. When mistakes are published, they are owned up to and corrected. True journalists are not cheerleaders who present one-sided opinions as news, or so lazy as to replace credible sources with the lame innuendo “some people are saying.” I decided to pursue journalism as a career in the age of Woodward and Bernstein, Cronkite and Brokaw, Superman, Lois Lane and Brenda Starr. Journalists were heroes fighting for truth and justice. Through my long career, I have had the honor of working with many great reporters, editors and photographers. Ink in their veins, these pros never thought of themselves as heroes, but to many in the community that is what they were. Just as they stood on the shoulders of journalists who came before them, the next generation of storytellers and investigators is preparing to stand on theirs. Have you hugged a journalist today?

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  It is impossible to adequately express how grateful I am for Editor Cindy Moorhead’s input and support. If there is anything you readers do not like about this book, blame me. Anything you like? Thank Cin
dy. Never shy about offering her honest opinion, she served as counselor, punctuation cop, psychiatrist and quality control inspector. Many Hawaiian nights I emailed questions to Cindy’s Pennsylvania farm and woke the next morning to find her answers in my in-box. As a writer, that sort of quick feedback and sense of teamwork is enough to get you out of bed and back in the saddle early. Cindy’s intimate familiarity with the characters and storyline makes her an invaluable sounding board. Her gift for language and grammar make her just plain invaluable. Thanks also go out to artist Darko Tomic, copy editor extraordinaire David Hoff, careful readers Dr. Diane Shepherd, Paul Edmunds, Frank Hackett, Kathy DePalma and Lindsay Alexander, and European friends and travel partners Colette Bastin and Hans Zink. Insights from Bastin and social scientist Zink made my research trip to Italy especially productive. Finally, mahalo nui loa to my lovely wife Kelly. Writing can be a very solitary, sequestered endeavor. Her patience and understanding for the many hours I’m out in the office, lost in the Chronicles, are most appreciated.

  FAREWELL – AU REVOIR

  Rome is the first manuscript in the 30,000 B.C. Chronicles series that my friends Ron Youngblood and Dr. Pierre Langeron did not assist in proofing. Youngblood, a longtime journalist, wordsmith and colleague at The Maui News, passed away in April of 2016. Langeron, a beloved Kihei pediatrician born in Burgundy, France, died in May of 2017.

  A lover of language and the rhythm of writing, Ron Youngblood was one of the first people to read the 750-page manuscript that eventually became Bordeaux and Tuscany. He consumed it in one 11-hour gulp. When he was done labeling me “Back Breaker” for what sitting so long at a kitchen table had done to his spine, he said, “This is good, you’ve got something here.” His encouragement and advice gave me confidence to keep plugging away. Ron became a trusted storyline advisor for subsequent books. I would give him the rough manuscripts fairly early in the process when there was still time to do more writing. He was outstanding in identifying weaknesses in plot and character development, a terrier when it came to flushing out clunky writing and hackneyed phrases. Many times while working on Rome, I found myself asking, “What would Youngblood think?”

  Dr. Pierre Langeron, a barrel-chested Frenchman with a quirky sense of humor and twinkle in his eye, was our kids’ pediatrician for many years. I ran into him after Book One: Bordeaux was released. He said he enjoyed it, but found a pair of typos. He followed up with an email pinpointing the errors. In my thank you note, I mentioned I was working on another book and wondered if he would like to read a manuscript before it was released. Pierre became one of my most owl-eyed proofreaders. I don’t know if it was because English was his second language or because he was such an intelligent man, but Pierre found typos that had not only slipped past my eyes 150 times, but also escaped the notice of many previous readers.

  Rest in Peace Ron and Pierre. Your smiles and positive energy, your willingness to help so many people on Maui were greatly appreciated while you were with us, and sorely missed now that you are gone.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Matthew Thayer has won more than 75 state and national awards for his writing and photography. He lives on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where he is a staff photojournalist for the local newspaper. Matthew was born in Erie, PA and graduated from Kent State University. Along with writing and photography, his interests include ocean kayaking, coaching soccer, public speaking, traveling the world with wife Kelly and enjoying the great outdoors with their adult children.

  ADDITIONAL BOOKS IN THE SERIES

  30,000 B.C. Chronicles: Bordeaux – Shipwrecked in the Paleolithic with their modern gear slowly turning to dust, members of a scientific expedition go native to survive. The 30,000 B.C. Chronicles begin with Bordeaux, a tale of love and action set in a prehistoric world. The time travelers from dried-out, overpopulated year 2233 are beached on a European continent that is a sea of green. Home to outsized megafauna, forests without end and mind-boggling sea life, it is a land unspoiled. There is also danger at every turn. The explorers soon join Cro-Magnon clans to survive. They find that man’s basic needs, the desire for companionship and comfort, the fear of death, and the eternal question of, “what comes after?” transcend time.

  30,000 B.C. Chronicles: Tuscany – Leaving a trail of carnage as he preaches his warped brand of religion to a growing Cro-Magnon army, empire builder Lorenzo Martinelli takes his campaign into the boot of pre-historic Italy. The madman’s modern shipmates face many challenges as they attempt to halt his crusade before it disrupts the future of mankind. Tuscany is the second book in the 30,000 B.C. Chronicles, an action series of love and exploration in a world dominated by mammoth and wolf pack.

  30,000 B.C. Chronicles: Gibraltar – Taking two very different routes north, members of the Green Turtle Clan begin their quest to find the wreckage of the Einstein IV timeship. Diligent Chief Botanist Dr. Maria Duarte and her lover, Hawaiian waterman Paul Kaikane, brave the open seas in a small, jury-rigged sailboat, stopping to study the Neanderthal of southern Spain along the way. Dandy Salvatore Bolzano bends the rules as he and Capt. Juniper Jones accompany native members of the clan in a perilous, thrilling trek across prehistoric France.

  30,000 B.C. Chronicles: Galway – Shipwrecked in the Paleolithic with their modern tools and weapons long turned to dust, survivors of a scientific time travel expedition join their native clan mates on a brutal crossing of the northern ice shelf in search of would-be rescuers from the year 2233. Galway is the fourth book in the 30,000 B.C. Chronicles series. Journeying from the Cliffs of Dover to the coast of Stone Age Ireland, the characters compare the bounty of the wild, prehistoric land against memories of the scorched, used-up Earth they left behind. Their trip is turned upside down by the arrival of the Hunter.