A street pedlar wandered past with a tray full of pastries. Customers happily accepted them from his filthy tray and even filthier fingers. A street barrow was setting up nearby, piled high with lettuces. A small boy continually sprinkled them with water to keep them fresh. On the corner, an old man slowly unfolded his stool and made himself comfortable alongside a small table stacked high with what looked like wax tablets. A public scribe, all ready for the day’s work ahead.

Their scratchpad, hazy on historical details, had downloaded a rough map from the AI.

‘We’ll find the River Tiber,’ said Luke, ‘which is not far away.’

‘How far is not far away?’

‘Even we won’t be able to miss it. Crossing the bridge will take us to the Field of Mars, which is where we want to be. We should be able to follow the crowds until we get to the Theatre of Pompey itself. What could possibly go wrong?’

Jane looked down at herself. ‘We could be stoned by the fashion police.’

‘Well, take your sweatshirt off, numpty.’

‘I don’t like to. This tunic feels . . . precarious. Suppose I have to run.’

‘Good point. Although I don’t think Roman women did a lot of running. Come on – let’s go and have an adventure.’

‘Yes, because we haven’t had enough of those already, have we?’

He grinned at her but said nothing. He didn’t have to. This was likely to be the last adventure they ever had. But – it was a lovely day and here was a chance to see ancient Rome and one of the defining moments of its history.

Still she hung back. Stepping out into the street implied crossing some sort of Rubicon. An apt metaphor, she rather thought. ‘Is this wise, do you think?’

‘I do,’ he said firmly. ‘It’s better to be lost in a crowd than be picked out in a wilderness. If you get my meaning.’

‘Does anyone ever get your meaning?’

He sighed. ‘I am a lone voice in the Deserts of Incomprehension. Ready?’

‘Yes.’ She smiled up at him.

‘Don’t do that, Jane, it makes me nervous.’

‘Sorry.’ She scowled ferociously at him.

‘Much better. Let’s go.’

And off they set.

‘It’ll be interesting to see how far we get before trouble envelops us, don’t you think?’ said Luke chattily as they negotiated a street barrow half in and half out of a doorway.

Early it might be, but everyone was already up and shouting at the tops of their voices to celebrate that fact. From all sides they were bombarded with opportunities to purchase something they hadn’t known they needed.