Corrupting Dr. Nice Read Online Free PDF

tourists sat in the theater-like lounge, waiting for the Caesar Assassination tour to begin. Gen and August had a good grasp of period Latin and Greek from the Constantine con they had pulled three years before, but looking at the twitchy faces of the others Gen could tell their downloaded language mods were fizzing away at the top of their brains like club soda. As usual, despite the numerous amusements offered by the first century--Imperial Rome, bustling Alexandria, exotic India and the rough Americas--the Holy Land was the main attraction. The hotel was crowded with holiday spenders from up and down the timestream, throwing around their money like they owed it to Caesar, besieging the markets for videodisks of the Sermon on the Mount (with subtitles) and after-dinner entertainments in the court of Caligula (without).
    Gen wanted nothing to do with the crucifixion. She'd seen plenty of Jesus's talk show back in the 21st century. And reports of the older one, the recluse. In a charisma-based society, where anyone with enough money could have himself genetically altered into a duplicate of the famous or dead, she had gotten tired of celebrities a long time ago.
    There were only ten people on the Caesar tour. Genevieve had braided her hair and piled it high on her head. She crossed one leg over the other and bounced her foot up and down, holding onto the sandal she wore by the toe, as she watched the door for Vannice's entrance.
    The photo they downloaded from the social register showed a man much more handsome than the clown who'd sprawled on the floor of the arrival chamber. At first Genevieve thought it must have been enhanced, but when Vannice entered the briefing room she realized that in person the good looks of his photographs were negated by the prim set of his mouth, the awkward way he carried himself.
    He wore a toga and blue robe, his hair disheveled, and muttered in a distracted way as if carrying on a conversation with himself. One of the Marilyns from the bar sashayed conspicuously by, but she might as well have been invisible. He stumbled over another of the tourists on the way to his seat, apologized awkwardly, then sat in silence while the tour directors got organized. He'd lost the mood boots but was no more graceful in an outsized pair of sandals.
    "I wonder how much of a tool he really is," Gen muttered.
    "A significant one, I'd wager," August said.
    "I hope so. I hope he doesn't know a thigh from a drumstick."
    "Calm down, my dear. You don't want to appear overeager."
    "Don't worry about me, I'll be calm as old smoke. Only I wish we'd get going!"
    Finally the tour director climbed to the podium. The room quieted.
    "Good afternoon. Welcome to the first century C.E. As you know, from the Herod Palace in our safely settled Moment Universe we can take you to any of the splendors of Rome, the spiritual glories of the Holy Land, the vital cultures of central Africa and India. From here the more daring can visit virgin Moment Universes at any time from 100 B.C.E. through 200 C.E., a period that covers the slave rebellion under Spartacus, the last days of the Roman Republic, the emperors from August to Severus, including such illustrious figures as Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Trajan and Hadrian.
    "Those of you who've visited a virgin M-U before are perhaps familiar with procedures, but even so we do ask that you give your best attention to what we have to say here today. Here in the 30 C.E. Moment-Universe Jerusalem we have established a beachhead. The historicals have had ten years to get familiar with visitors from the future and used to friendly commerce with people of the twenty-first century. Most significantly, they know the consequences should they harm a visitor. But in a virgin Moment Universe no one will ever have seen a person from the future before.
    "The key to safe travel to a virgin M-U is to minimize the contact you have with historicals. First of all, we ask you to remain in character at