Pompeii

events and circumstances that had brought him to this place, at this time. If Exomnius had not been born a Sicilian, he would never have ventured on to Vesuvius and would never have disappeared, Attilius would never have been dispatched from Rome, would never have set foot in Pompeii, would never have known of Corelia or Ampliatus or Corax. For a brief moment, he glimpsed the extraordinary, perfect logic of it all, from poisoned fish to hidden silver, and he tried to think how best he could describe it to the admiral. But he had barely started before Pliny waved him to stop.
    'The pettiness and avarice of man!' he said impatiently.
    'It would make a book in itself. What does any of it matter now? Put it in a report and have it ready on my return. And the aqueduct?'
    'Repaired, admiral. Or at any rate she was when I left her this morning.'
    'Then you have done good work, engineer. And it will be made known in Rome, I promise you. Now go back to your quarters and rest.'
    The wind was flapping the cables against the Minerva 's mast. Torquatus stood by the aft gangplank talking to the flagship commander, Antius, and a group of seven officers. They came to attention as Pliny's carriage approached.
    'Admiral, with your permission, I would rather sail with you.'
    Pliny looked at him in surprise, then grinned and clapped his pudgy hand on Attilius's knee. 'A scientist! You're just like me! I knew it the moment I saw you! We shall do great things this day, Marcus Attilius.' He was wheezing out his orders even as his secretary helped him from the carriage. 'Torquatus – we sail immediately. The engineer will join us. Antius – sound the general alarm. Have a signal flashed to Rome in my name: "Vesuvius exploded just before the seventh hour. The population of the bay is threatened. I am putting the entire fleet to sea to evacuate survivors.'"
    Antius stared at him. 'The entire fleet, admiral?'
    'Everything that floats. What have you got out there?' Pliny peered short-sightedly towards the outer harbour where the warships rode at anchor, rocking in the gathering swell. 'The Concordia I can see, is that? The Libertas. Justitia. And what's that one – the Pietas? The Europa.' He waved his hand. 'All of them. And everything in the inner harbour that isn't in dry dock. Come on, Antius! You were complaining the other night that we had the mightiest fleet in the world but it never saw action. Well, here is action for you.'
    'But action requires an enemy, admiral.'
    'There's your enemy' He pointed to the dark pall spreading in the distance. 'A greater enemy than any force Caesar ever faced.'
    For a moment Antius did not move and Attilius wondered if he might even be considering disobeying, but then a gleam came into his eyes and he turned to the officers. 'You heard your orders. Signal the Emperor and sound the general muster. And let it be known that I'll cut the balls off any captain who isn't at sea within half an hour.'

    It was at the mid-point of the ninth hour, according to the admiral's water clock, that the Minerva was pushed away from the quayside and slowly began to swivel round to face the open sea. Attilius took up his old position against the rail and nodded to Torquatus. The captain responded with a slight shake of his head, as if to say he thought the venture madness.
    'Note the time,' commanded Pliny and Alexion, squatting beside him, dipped his pen into his ink and scratched down a numeral.
    A comfortable chair with armrests and a high back had been set up for the admiral on the small deck and from this elevated position he surveyed the scene as it swung before him. It had been a dream of his over the past two years to command the fleet in battle – to draw this immense sword from its scabbard – even though he knew Vespasian had only appointed him as a peacetime administrator, to keep the blade from rusting. But enough of drills. Now at last he could see what battle-stations really looked like: the piercing notes of the trumpets drawing men from every corner of Misenum, the rowing boats ferrying the first of the sailors out to the huge quadriremes, the advance guard already boarding the warships and swarming over the decks, the high masts being raised, the oars readied. Antius had promised him he would have twenty ships operational immediately. That was four thousand men – a legion!
    When the Minerva was pointing directly eastwards the double bank of oars dipped, the drums began to beat below decks and she was