Chronica by Paul Levinson Read Free Book Online

cadence.

    Their plan was to get a room in the hotel they had stayed in the last time they had been here – just a week ago in their lifetimes – then call Appleton on one of those brand new spanking old phones to see if he was home, and, if he was, take a train from Grand Central, just down the block, up to Appleton's home in Wave Hill.

    But they caught sight of his familiar moustache and bowtie as they walked near the edge of the dining area. He looked up and saw them, smiled broadly, and gestured them grandly to his table.

    "I had hoped the two of you would find some peace in the future," Appleton said, "but it always delights my heart to see you! It has been well more than a year in my life since last we met!"

    Max shook his hand, Sierra squeezed his shoulder, and the two sat.  

    "Tea?" Appleton lifted a cup. "The Millennium has some new flushes from the Orient, quite good."

    "Whatever you have that's black and strong would be good," Sierra said.

    Max nodded.

    Appleton summoned a waiter and gave the order. He turned to Max and Sierra as the waiter receded. He grew more serious. "It wasn't easy," he said, quietly. "Jowett was not at his peak. His focus was diminishing. He managed to complete the translations of the Aristotles before he died, but never made much progress on the Chronica ." He nearly whispered the name of the Heron text. "Science was never Jowett's strong suit. But I think I may have someone who can help with this." He touched a stack of papers – under which, Sierra realized, was a book.

    "That's not—" Sierra began.

    "No, no, of course not," Appleton said. "I would never bring the Chronica like this to the club. And it is as yet still in the scroll form in which you entrusted it to me, and the one manuscript copy that I gave to Jowett and then retrieved when it became clear that he could not do the job. But here," Appleton took a book with a blue grey marbled cover and gold embossing out from under his papers and handed it to Sierra. "It's by Jack Astor. Do you know it?"

    Sierra took the book, nodded slowly, and tensed.

    " A Journey In Other Worlds by John Jacob Astor," Max leaned in to get a better look. "No, I don't think I know it."

    "It is a scientific romance. The air vessel that leaves the Earth makes its departure from Van Cortlandt Park in the borough of the Bronx, just a few miles from my home!" Appleton said, triumphantly. "How could I resist publishing it?"

    Appleton and Max both became aware that Sierra was frowning. "Oh, of course not," Appleton said to Sierra. "I know better than to ever reveal to him any hint of that."

    Max looked at Appleton and then Sierra. "You want to fill me in?"

    Sierra and Appleton both began talking, but Appleton deferred to Sierra. "John Jacob Astor IV is one of the most famous people to lose their lives on the Titanic," she said. "He was thought to be one of the richest men in the world."

    "I admit, I looked at the passenger list of the Titanic, in the future, as soon as I learned of its sinking," Appleton said. "I had to know if any of my children or my family were upon it. And of course I immediately recognized Jack's name. But I know what it could do to history if I told him about that."

    Sierra had opened the novel. "It says Appleton's published this in 1894 – that's two years ago. Is it just coincidence that you brought the book to the Millennium here today?"

    Appleton looked at her with concern. "You seem more suspicious – of me – than the last time we met. Did something go awry in the future?"

    "In a manner of sorts, yes," Sierra replied. "That's why we came back here now, to talk to you. But about the Astor novel—"

    "You are right," Appleton said. "It is no coincidence that I have his novel with me now. I was just talking to him, before you arrived, about how he might help with finding a translator for the Chronica. He is a very wealthy man, as you said."

    "That's very dangerous—" Sierra began.

    "Of course it is,"