Chapter 7

I spoke to BamshAd, "He does not want to listen to me. Let's go get the rest of the Romans. Maybe the cat that attacked us has a mate nearby."

"The cat would get sick." I felt good because he had made a joke in a way.

BamshAd and I walked around, with me speaking Latin and we took out the remainder of the Romans. The pickets were more difficult because we were not supposed to go near them. They warned the rest of an attack but nobody was awake to hear about it.

There were no deaths but three were very close. I had to heal those or they would surely die.

The rest of the Persians came when called and they laid the Romans out as if they had all gone to bed. In a few minutes the wagon rolled by and we pulled a long line of Roman horses attached to it.

There was no way to hide our tracks so we went as quickly as possible. The wagon and most of the men took a detour and the tracks were obscured. The Roman horses went another way being pulled by men on horses.

It was about one in the afternoon that the small group of Persian horsemen returned to us. They were in a very jocular mood and greeted us as if we were part of their army.

KavAd said to us, "They left the horses tied in a swamp. The other Romans were riding or running very quickly to catch up to us."

We ate from the saddle but the stove was used in the back of the wagon to feed us hot food as we rode.

The Romans never caught up to us and on the evening of the third day we ran across a sizable Persian calvary unit.

Our own men were nervous. I told them, "The Persians think very highly of their king. They would not think of disobeying him. You are now under their protection and they will die to make sure the king sees us."

At noon the next day we had climbed out of the lowlands and were in the mountains. We went through a lot of pickets that had to see our papers before being allowed to continue.

We waited in a compound near the camp and cleaned up. BamshAd had left us at the second set of pickets but he said he would find a reason to stay for as long as possible. We were both sure that the king would ask him and his men questions.

We made camp that night when it looked like we were not going to be called. I set an internal alarm clock to get up early because a king could use the early hour to get a confused and sleepy man to answer differently than he would normally. This proved unnecessary because we were called around nine o'clock.

I was the one that was called but I brought Mithridates with me. He did not like this idea but came nonetheless. The guards tried to tell Mithridates to leave but I simply stayed still until the orders were changed.

Many different men met me and I talked for a while but none of them were the king. I still remembered the golden mask and bust of him in New York and none matched yet.

We were offered refreshments and they soon learned that Mithridates was here as my interpreter. I knew that he would phrase the words the way I wanted and perhaps let me know about more of the subtle ideas mentioned.

I saw women about the camp but they were unveiled. They didn't act like Arab women. They didn't mind looking at us though that was not something that was usually seen in an Arab state. I was basically feeling my way through their customs by comparing them to some I had read of.

Women were treated shabbily by all races and only sometimes had power within a home. This left half of the human race out of the picture when discussions on some important event was being discussed. I could also see a male's point of view and it was hard for me to understand a woman.

Mithridates and I cooled our heals for a while then we were offered a meal with some functionaries. One young man spoke in poor Latin then turned to his own language and asked bluntly, "Why are you here?"

"Your king sent for me."

The man got a bit upset and said, "I heard that you wanted to come here. What did you wish to discuss?"

I talked with Mithridates' help and said, "The gods do not like slaughter. There are ways that can be used to stop this war and allow your people to deal with the Huns and the Romans to deal with my countrymen."

"Are you a traitor to your people?"

"Far from that. Rome is great and the Frisians are going to find a place to sit at the table of world affairs with them. I know that a place is waiting there for the Persians, the Indians and the Chinese. More people will be invited to speak so that injustices could be remedied. I am calling this the United Nations. No single government will lead. A group will do what is best for them and the greater group will do what is best for the world. I do not think that wars will be completely avoided in the future but they can be reduced in number and severity."

"Who would lead this group?"

"That is to be decided by the group itself. The gods have shown that the head can be elected by the group and the position rotates from region to region every five to ten years."

"This sounds like a foolish idea. Why would any country want to place itself under the leadership of somebody elected by peoples of other lands?"

"The countries are still the way we have them now. It is like a group of diplomats that speak for their kings. The kings are told of what is being voted on and he either gives the diplomat the choice of voting as he sees fit or to vote exactly the way the king thinks."

"That too is foolish. Nothing could be accomplished."

"We have been talking over a nice meal for a few moments and I do not even know who I am addressing. Who are you?

"My father is king of all these lands."

When he spoke no more I said, "Forgive me for there are many kings in the lands around us."

"My father is Sapor."

"Then I am glad to meet you. My father too is a king. Our country is not very strong though the men are very big and brave. They are also foolish and naive."

"People have said that you speak to the gods."

"I was hurt in a foolish accident. I went into a coma where I slept for half of a year. My spirit went to the land of the gods and resided there for over fifty years. I learned a great deal and when I came back to my body here, my spirit had aged but my body did not." If this young man had been reading the books I wrote then this explanation would be a bit different. I knew that later they would get back to this point and try to make something of it.

I continued, "The gods have given me many tasks to perform and even some tools to do what they ask."

The young man said, "I have heard that you are a magician."

"I am simply an old man in a young body. I have learned a great deal and wish to share it with all of you. The gods though work through my hands. I think that is far different from a magician."

"Is it true, that you use your hands to kill?"

"That is true. Have you not used a weapon in your hand to kill a man?"

The young man didn't answer and said, "Why do you kill some and not others?"

I ate some of the food before me and chewed a while then said, "Why do you kill some and spare others?"

"You did not allow our men to kill the Romans they found."

"I have killed a great many Romans. Some I spare and some I do not."

"You had no right to tell my men to not take the Romans' lives."

"I came here to talk of peace. You do not sign the parchment with blood."

"I would have killed all of them."

"A wise ruler knows that he has to deal with other rulers without side issues. If the Romans and Persians meet today to do battle then that is fine but not when it has anything to do with the peace talks."

"Why should my father talk to you?"

"A wise ruler listens to his advisors and makes up his mind. If he has time, he may find something of value."

"What could you have of value for my father?"

"Did I not tell you that I was in the land of the gods for over fifty years? I went to school there and learned a great deal. I saw much more that I do not understand quite as well.

"I have written books that talk about travel on the land, on the water, under the water, through the air and even above all of the air." The young man made a face so I figured that I was full of shit.

"You look like you do not believe me. I have a small ship that burns wood to make steam. This gas moves us forward. It pulls a barge behind it. I have gone from half way down the Rhine to half way down the Seine and then half way down the Weser. There is no ship like it.

"I have made steel so hot that it pours like water. I made steel tracks and then a steam powered device to ride on it. It can pull or push carriages.

"In the land of the gods this device will go sixty Roman miles in an hour for freight. It can go up to five hundred miles in an hour in special places when people are carried.

"My ship and train are slow now but they will get better in a few years."

"Who has seen these things? I have not."

"How many times have you been to Gaul and Germania?"

The young man was angry now and I could see that he too would like to have me killed. I simply went back to eating and ignored him.

The man left soon after and I could see that Mithridates was visibly shaken. He said nothing because we were not alone.

We were sent back to the wagon later to wait some more. Instead of looking defeated I got out one of our soccer balls and started a game. I would have asked some of the Persians to fill out our numbers but this might get them into trouble. Besides I thought that they were too dour to play with us.

After an hour we had a crowd of boys though. I was able to get a few of them to play and the game altered so that we were now teaching. In another hour we had only boys playing and we were coaching or cheering them on. Our noise attracted even more people.

This only lasted so long until the guard detail sent the children scurrying home. I was sure they wanted to just stay away from the view of the upper echelon of their society.

Six men a bit later came into our compound. They bowed their heads like the Japanese and I did the same thing to them. The oldest was in the middle and asked, "We are the followers of Zarathushtra. May we speak with you?"

"I am the Hand of Woden. I would be very honoured to speak with all of you." The term had been hung on me a few times and I figured it was a good appellation to use with my name.

We sat on mats around an unlit fire and I brought out a package of matches. I had known of a visit similar to this and had made the necessary preparations. On the way here I had seen the Persians doing their mornings ritual with a thin string that went around them three times. They had another observance during the night. Fire was very important to them but it was not their god. Rather it was a symbol much like what would be seen inside a church or synagogue.

I make my praise to Woden and thanked him for giving me the knowledge of how to make matches. I then presented the box to the old man. The man took them reverently but didn't know what to do with them.

"Woden has given me fire. It is used to destroy my enemies and to heat my food. It can now be used to start this fire. May I show you? If I do not I am afraid your fingers will get burnt."

The old man handed back the box and I extracted one match and closed the box. There were many stones around but asked instead, "Will one of you hand me a stone of the earth."

I was presented with many but took the first. Tinder had been put in place and I waited for the wind to die because it would be embarrassing if this failed. I had made some sodium nitrate from ashes recently and this had been sprinkled on the tinder and the container given to the priests.

The men were amazed when the match burst into flame but astonished as the tinder almost exploded into flame. I had known what was going to happen and was well back.

The fire settled down to burn regularly and I just stared into the flames the way I had seen countless others do.

We traded information for hours. Sometimes what we searched for made us laugh but that was good too. Zoroastrians were very tolerant of others but it was not common to find converts. You had to be born into the religion.

Much later I showed the men the iron stove and I cooked a meal for them that was not anywhere as nice as they would have eaten in the tents. They liked mine very much even when I got them to help me cook.

I had a sudden idea. We could not have french fires because we had no potatoes on this continent but we did have onions.

"Friends, I remembered something from the land of the gods. I do not believe this has been prepared before but I may be mistaken."

They all looked at me and I said, "I would like some large onions. I have flour and salt. I need some oil but olive oil will burn at too low of a heat. Fish oil has too strong of a taste. Is there another oil that can be used?"

I found that they had sesame oil and I asked for some and used my hands to give an idea of the quantity. "Please bring some honey and some fresh birds eggs too if they are not too difficult to obtain."

Our supply of flour was plundered. I took the ingredients and mixed them with clean hands. The oil went on the stove and I mixed up a batch of donut dough. There was enough for an army but I had an army around me.

We restricted the air to the stove and the temperature dropped. The donuts took a while to come out and the handy hole in the middle allowed them to be manipulated.

I tried the first and it was ok but not great. The priests thought they were great and then so did my own people.

It was getting dark now but we stayed at the job. The donuts disappeared as quick as they were done. "The onion rings leave a taste in the oil that flavours the donuts so you should not make more donuts unless you want to try them with onions. We can make something else called bagels that you may like."

The onion rings went down even faster and the men were getting full. I talked about fish done this way but again the flavour changing with what had been cooked previously.

The fire on the ground had been allowed to go out and a new pile of fuel added. The head priest put a pinch of sodium nitrate laced tinder to start the fire even though I told him why I had done this. The match though was very important to them and the man didn't even burn his fingers.

We sat around a bit more and sipped wine and talked of families, wives and children. This lead to their instruction and to the foibles all of us got into.

I was asked, "Do you have children?"

I smiled as I thought of them all. "I have so many that I cannot count them all." The men smiled and I continued, "Some are older than me. I feel for them all the time. They are scattered all over the world. I love to hold them and I do not mind too much even if they pee on me. I want them to all grow up to be responsible citizens. They have to care for each other and for those that they are not brother and sister to. If we are all brother and sister we would make a family that will have everybody alive in it. Perhaps a family can deal with some of the troubles that beset the rest of the members."

The old man said, "Do you have that many wives for all your children?"

"If I run into an orphan that needs help then he or she comes into my family. Age is not the way I judge but I admit to favouring the young and weak."

"Do you really have that many children?"

"I have not told you of my recent troubles." The men shook their heads as if to assure me."

I brought over the men that were with me when we first sailed into the Mediterranean. Mithridates was much more interesting to listen too as he explained things from his perspective. His Latin quit as he went into Pahlavi only. The speech got faster and faster. His hands gestured like an Italian of my time. It was interesting looking at him even if I did not understand what he was saying. I was not the only one, because the priests and the Romans with me were the same way.

The next morning was too early but I got up anyway. I had to do some stretches and calisthenics and I felt much better. We had eaten a lot last night and I was not hungry yet.

The guards got up later and after their morning rituals they had some water and porridge for breakfast. They liked it even more when I put some honey in their plates.

We had another mid day meal but it was only for Mithridates and me. This time I asked about purchasing supplies. A few of the men nodded their heads as if in saying they would get back to me.

Mid afternoon, a well dressed man came to us and said in fair Latin, "Our king wishes to see you."

"May I bring Mithridates. Your king will get a clearer idea of what is being said and so will I."

"He only wishes to see you."

I turned to Mithridates and said, "I will see if I can get you in next time."

"If you ask me I will go but I prefer not to get noticed."

"You are being too modest."

I cleaned up a bit more and put the better jacket on that KhAvar had made for me. I took no weapons or armour but I was not worried.

We came to a very large tent. The guards looked at me for visible weapons and the man that escorted me subtly shook his head. I let him see that I had no weapons when I had dressed.

Once inside, the man got to his knees. I had to come across as strong but not stupid. I bowed my head as respectfully as the priests had done to me recently. There were some strong mutters from the guards and a few came towards me thinking of committing mayhem. A finger wave from a man on a large cushion stopped them from doing anything.

There was no speech until the man said in fair Latin, "You are a strange person, Jón of Germania."

"I think you are perfectly correct, King of all of Persia."

This was not the accepted way to speak and the man had to think. I tried not to offend but not to try to curry favour.

"Will you take a seat so that I do not have to raise my voice?"

"I would love to. Do you have a particular cushion in mind for me?"

The king lazily moved his hand and a finger pointed to one cushion more than the rest. I admired the material and ran my hand over it in appreciation before I took my seat. I finally wiggled to get comfortable. "This is very nice, King of all Persia. I may have to have some of these made for my own home."

"Tell me about your home. The one you were born into."

"I will do this but the story may be lengthy and I know that you have many duties."

"I will make time."

I told the story of my life as Jón or as much as I could deduce. Jón's attitude was stressed so that I could compare it to my own. The accident with the horse took a few moments to set up to explain the coma.

I explained how I was judged and found wanting. The gods did see some potential in me and would send me back after arming me with knowledge.

The standard travelogue with the gods was done then my shift from there into the future of man. This I explained was mutable and I had already shifted it greatly from what I had seen. I went through my future, with a wife and family. I gave my education and discussed a few points in physics that those around me could comprehend.

Finally as an old man I was sent back into my original body and that was of a young man. Conflicts with my mind and body being of different ages were mentioned. My ability to heal was explained just a bit more as if I was just a new tenant in my body and I could make a few alterations before finally settling in.

Healing was just an offshoot of this where I altered others instead of myself. This helped because I used it on myself to gain strength and speed.

I stopped then for a breather. As I rested the king called for refreshments. I was sure he wanted me to continue until the present. I gave very personal information about myself but I was vague about those around me.

While we waited I just chatted about the current situation. The need to gather supplies for my people was mentioned. Mithridates was also mentioned and how he gave a very dramatic if bias account of our passage here.

The king piped up and said, "Perhaps I will have him give me his rendition."

"He is a nervous man. You may need to get him to drink a bit of wine first then stay away from his waving arms as he tells the story." The king smiled now.

A silver tray came in with a silver urn. The smell came to me and my mouth watered. This was coffee. I watched the king and put honey into my small cup of coffee and sipped it. It was strong Turkish coffee but it said 'gold' to me.

I put half of the cup back as this had the particles of the beans in it.

"That was very good, King of all Persia. I see a mountain of gold for you in the future because of this."

"Gold? Tell me more."

"This is a matter of business. An idea alone may be worth a fantastic amount of gold. An idea spread by gossip is diluted for you."

The king now ordered everybody from the tent except his guards. "Tell me more."

"I did not exaggerate about the gold. Coffee beans can stay fresh for up to three years if they are green. They are good for two weeks after roasting. You can roast them differently than what you may know now. Your beans are almost burnt. You grind them to flour which gets all of the flavour and the chemicals from the beans.

"You can also grind them less fine and filter out the particles. The money will come when people all over the world get a chance to try coffee. When enough have tried, they will want more.

"Tea is from China and must have been used in India by now. There is another mountain of gold in selling this product too. The trick though is to alter the economy of the world so that everybody has money. When they have more than enough for a home and food they will spend what is left on what they like. Some will buy wine but far more will be spent on coffee and tea. The ones with money now are the Romans. They will love what you offer and try to go to the source themselves so they get this product cheaper."

"The Romans are always greedy."

"It is a human condition I am afraid. All races are driven by greed. It is not necessarily a bad thing. Greed can be used to change empires and improve the lives of all of us."

The king didn't like being called greedy even by inference.

"Tell me more."

"Tea grows well in India and China. It is best to just trade to get it. Coffee can be grown in many warm areas. The best I am told is in the mountains. The cool air does not allow the plant to grow fast. The beans hold more of the flavour when this happens.

"When I was in the future I enjoyed coffee every morning and at each meal. There was even a time in the morning and afternoon that was called a coffee break. Coffee has a drug in it that stimulates our bodies. Black tea is fermented and has a lot of this drug too. Oolong tea is partially fermented and has a little of this drug. Green tea is not fermented at all and has none. It is actually this drug that people will crave.

"Many people that are in a city doing shopping will stop in a small wineshop but it will sell coffee and food instead of wine. It even has the name coffee shop in one or more languages on it.

"You can make the most money by making a 'franchise'. This is a special way of doing business. If I were in you position, I would go to a city and open a business. It has tables and chairs so a person can eat a meal. Only simple and quick foods and drinks are sold. Various types of coffee and tea are sold though. This will be a place for people to come in and drink and talk.

"In cities far from here, I would make a deal with wealthy men to make the same kind of buildings and make them work all the same way. They have to pay you a lot of money to start and then buy the coffee and tea from you.

"I would also have to sell coffee by the shipload to cities. A person can prepare coffee at home but will go to the coffee shop for companionship. People with money have to be exposed to coffee and tea and then they will buy."

The king said, "I do not see a mountain of gold in either of these things. Men will only spend so much on them."

"That is true but I did say that we have to make everyone in the world prosperous. It will take a rich man now to buy coffee but everybody will be rich and you will get the gold from all of them."

"How does everybody get rich? I do not want them to get my money."

"Rich is when a man and his family are well fed. Rich is also when they are healthy and have a good home to live in. I can make a type of shit that nourishes the land so plants to grow faster. The farms I see that are not used any more can be put back into use and do better than land turned for the first time.

"Being healthy means getting enough exercise and eating well. It also means that instead of throwing human waste into the streets, it is kept away from people so it will not spread disease. I can do that too by making people dump their waste into a hole in the ground or better yet, process it so it can be used to nourish a crop.

"I am a physician before I was the healer I am now. As a physician, I leaned how to cut and sew people. I also learned how to repair teeth if they were not too unhealthy. I know how to make drugs that fight disease.

"I have seen the cities of the future and understand some of the ways to keep people safe and healthy."

The king said, "How does all this bring gold into my chests?"

"I am making machines that allow a man to do more work. This is like using a large ship to carry food to market instead of carrying it many times on a person's back. A farmer will soon have a small family and have a farm that is five miles long by five miles wide and be able to bring all his crops to market.

"This means that most people live in cities and towns. They work at jobs and gain gold. They need to pay for their home and food so they give up some of the gold to the man that owns the city. They need fresh water. I can give it to them by turning a handle. They will want the power of a lightning bolt to do work for them. This too I can provide. I will even supply a tube to each home that will take away their waste."

"I still cannot see how I make all this gold."

I gave an example by describing my foundry and manufacturing concerns. Again I went into detail. I added shipping by water and rail. The farms were then factored in and the infrastructure that supported all of the units.

"The people make a very good wage working for me. They turn around and give me back most of the money to get that which other people make for me. I also get a surplus which I can sell to other people."

"How much do you make?"

"I will tell you that if you tell me how much you personally make. If we become partners then I will give you more information."

"Partners? I could have you killed."

"You certainly could. Your own ethics hold you back as would mine if our roles were reversed. You also need a lot of details that would take years to come out and years more to understand."

"You seem to know a great deal about me."

"I know some facts from 1,700 years in the future about you." I paused then said, "King of all Persia, do you believe me to be an honourable man?"

It took a moment but he said, "Yes, I do."

"I give my word that I will not attack you if you do not attack me or my extended family. This I swear on all that I believe."

"I will not attack you either."

"Then let's talk where nobody will hear or understand out speech. I know that a lot of servants have their bodies far away but their ears working hard to hear us."

The king started to get angry and I said quickly, "They are human and cannot help themselves. If I were working in your kitchen I would be trying to listen too. I think the same is for you."

He gave some orders and the servants were moved further away. When this was done he said, "Begin."

"In that other time and place I visited a place for people to come and view beautiful things. Some were paintings, some were stone carvings. Others were the bones of animals that had died hundreds of millions of years ago.

"One of the beautiful objects I saw was a gold mask of you. It had a large crown and showed you with a full beard. You looked younger than you do now. A bronze plate had words about you. It said that you were the one that made the Persia the strongest it ever got. Not as big but the strongest. From then on your empire dwindled.

"A group of people of many races were bound together and were called Arabs. They took over in a few hundred years and your empire mainly died or was changed into something else. Not long after that a race called Turks took over this land and formed a vast empire.

"Gaul and Britannia became very strong countries and formed empires. They too controlled this land.

"I wanted to learn how to fight when I was young. I learned how to fight the way they did in the future but I also wanted to see how it was done in the past. Rome had many wars and I studied them. I did not study the people very much, just the wars and a bit about what the people of the future thought were the causes. Here too I learned about you.