Siege Gates

Ever feel the chill in the back of your neck that says someone has you in their sights? Someone who means you harm? Tim West is thrilled to find himself going to his first professional conference in his subject area, even if it means that he has to go shopping for actual business clothing. The conference is focused on historical events, so he thinks it should be right up his alley. It certainly will be a break from the intensity of his studies and the exhausting time travel trips. The professor who invited him has two TAs going, and Tim will be sharing a room with one of them. He is on pins and needles because this means he cannot be with Olivia when she presents the project that she has been working on for many months in a prestigious architectural contest. His fiancée has promised to join him if she can and says he has to take this opportunity to meet others in his field and gain exposure to the business and academia that revolves around one of his two main fields of study. Her encouragement and the lure of the conference’s language translation challenge pushes him into deciding, and he heads off for the seminar with a clear conscience. When an impassioned speech to one of the TA’s leads to an invitation to a special meeting, Tim ends up in a confrontation with a very powerful man. The normally nonconfrontational college student is shaken by the encounter and hopes the rest of his stay at the conference will be easier. Before he can relax much, Tim is whisked away to once again don the garb of a Roman Centurion. Pushed into the time of the Roman conquest of Judea, Tim finds himself in a desperate race to do what he can to save at least some of the people trapped in Masada. Can this man from the future provide a way for trapped women and children to escape? Will he come back to the conference and be able to interact professionally? Why does he now feel like an ever-present enemy is at his back just waiting for the time to attack?