Myles was still digesting the information: it meant that in Germany he hadn’t been exposed to lead after all, just harmless calcium. He turned back to the doctor. ‘Do you follow the news? Has there been anything about Helen Bridle?’ he asked.
The doctor shook his head in ignorance. ‘I don’t know,’ he admitted.
Myles wondered what else to try. He pondered for a moment, then queried, ‘Can you download books here?’
He saw the doctor nod.
‘Then, doctor, can you get me a book, please. It was first published in 1776, and written by a man named Edward Gibbon.’
‘I’m not sure books that old are available online,’ said the doctor. ‘I’ll try. What’s the title?’
Myles’ face opened into a smile. ‘You should be able to get this one. It’s called The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.’
Ten minutes later the female orderly returned and presented Myles with an electronic book reader. Myles took the device eagerly and thanked her. Immediately Myles started to scroll down.
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
By Edward Gibbon, 1776
The Asiatic woman plumped up Myles’ pillow, so he could sit up and read. Seeing Myles already thoroughly absorbed in the book, she leant over to a television suspended from the ceiling. Quietly she swung it into place and put the remote control near her patient. But Myles was too busy with the electronic reading device to notice.
Myles kept pushing his thumb down until he reached the text itself.
…peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury. The image of a free constitution was preserved with decent reverence: the Roman senate appeared to possess the sovereign authority, and devolved on the emperors all the executive powers of government.
The words were formed in the same language as the American Declaration of Independence. Perhaps not surprising: the book hailed from the same year. Substitute the word ‘president’ for ‘emperor’, and the book could apply to the States. Gibbon had even spoken of a ‘revolution’ when he explained the purpose of his masterpiece:
…to deduce the most important circumstances of Rome’s decline and fall; a revolution which will ever be remembered, and is still felt by the nations of the earth…
Gibbon seemed to fear democracy. He had opposed the ‘colonies’, as they then were, breaking away from the British Empire.
Under a democratical government the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards lost…
But it was not democracy which caused the decline; Gibbon seemed to blame corruption.
Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty, was successfully practised: honours, gifts, and immunities were offered and accepted…
Myles jumped down to the events which actually brought down the Empire, when the city itself was sacked.
The fabric of a mighty state, which has been reared by the labours of successive ages, could not be overturned by the misfortune of a single day… The union of the Roman empire was dissolved; its genius was humbled in the dust; and armies of unknown barbarians, issuing from the frozen regions…had established their victorious reign over the fairest provinces of Europe and Africa… Its fall was announced by a clearer omen than the flight of vultures: the Roman government appeared every day less formidable to its enemies, more odious and oppressive to its subjects.
Then he found a vital sentence.
If all the barbarian conquerors had been annihilated in the same hour, their total destruction would not have restored the empire of the West: and if Rome still survived, she survived the loss of freedom, of virtue, and of honour.
He paused, then lowered the book. The words rang through his brain. Why had Placidia told him to look at it again?
Myles wondered: Was ancient history like this really so important to the present day?
He remembered the lectures he’d given at university. History needed to be humble. ‘Some people say they study the past so they can learn from it,’ he often told his first year students. ‘They’re wrong. We study history to learn whose mistakes we’re copying.’ It made his undergraduates laugh.
History mattered, but Myles knew it was the present which mattered most. Juma was heading for Rome. He might already be there. And he was going to destroy the currency conference, now just days away.
Myles picked up the remote control and pointed it at the TV as he pressed. The screen came on. The picture showed a man and woman sitting behind a desk with a map of the world’s new superpower behind them — the news in Chinese.
He scrolled through the channels until he found an English language TV station. Instantly he recognised the voice of the presenter. It was Helen. She was back at work.
Myles stared at the image of her. He longed to be with her. As he studied her face, he saw there were no scars from the smallpox, and she didn’t even seem pale: the doctors in Turkey had cured her of septicaemia completely. Knowing she was safe made Myles’ whole body relax in relief.
He tuned his ears to hear her report, which he guessed had been recorded in the last few hours. From the way she moved as she read the news, Myles could tell she was even well-rested.
‘Confirmation that his father was killed in Iraq came with only a modest consolation for his son, Richard, who has been named as his successor by the State Governor,’ reported Helen. ‘The new Senator, still shocked by his father’s death, has pledged a return to Christian values, and to continue his father’s work protecting America from terrorists…’
There was footage of Dick Roosevelt being jostled by cameras and reporters.
‘…and since the recent Congressional scandal, in which indecent images were found on roughly half of the computers in the Senate, Dick Roosevelt — whose IT equipment was given the “all-clear” — is even being talked of as a future contender for President,’ continued Helen’s voiceover. ‘Although the US Constitution requires candidates to be thirty-five years old before they can run for that office…’
Myles was interrupted by the doctor rushing in, worried. ‘We logged your name earlier as Myles Munro — is that right?’ he asked. The man raised his voice at the end of his question, as if there was genuine doubt in his voice.
But Myles knew — there was no use pretending anymore. He had been on the run long enough. ‘Yes, I am.’ Myles guessed the doctor had just made the connection, and was about to have Myles arrested. But instead, the Chinese man just said, ‘Mr Munro, we have a call for you.’ He pressed a button on the TV remote, and glanced up at the screen, which went black for a few moments, while the doctor departed.
Then a new picture appeared. Sitting in a video-conferencing studio very far away was a familiar face.
Sixty-Three
Myles adjusted the volume and sat up in bed. The picture on the video conference was slightly hazy, and the image seemed to follow half a second behind the sound. But Myles didn’t mind. To see Helen again made him feel alive. From being in the middle of a strange hospital room, it seemed as though Myles had suddenly returned home. ‘Helen,’ he smiled to the image on the screen.
‘Myles — you’re alive!’
‘And so are you! Sorry about leaving you at the hospital.’
‘It’s OK,’ she accepted. ‘You did the right thing. You saved my life.’
The words made Myles feel much better. ‘Thank you — I hope we’re together again soon.’