When Caesar Met Cinderella

Chapter 5：The Magic Box and the Moving Pictures

Back in the relative quiet of her apartment, after their bewildering foray into the London streets, Emily found Hadrian still looking slightly shell-shocked. He’d been surprisingly quiet on the bus ride back, his gaze fixed on the ever-changing scenery outside the window, a thoughtful frown creasing his brow.

“So,” Emily began, settling onto the sofa, “any more… perplexing observations?”

Hadrian slowly turned his head, his dark eyes meeting hers. “That small, glowing tablet that everyone carries… you called it a ‘phone’?”

“That’s right,” Emily said, reaching for her own phone on the coffee table. It was an older model, slightly cracked screen and all, but it served its purpose. “This is mine.”

Hadrian leaned forward, his interest piqued. He regarded the device with an almost reverent curiosity, as if it were some sacred object. “It is… remarkably small. Yet you said it allows one to speak with others who are… leagues away?”

Emily nodded. “Exactly. Watch.” She unlocked her phone and tapped on her brother Tom’s contact. She held the phone up. “I’m going to call my brother. He lives in Manchester, which is… quite a distance from here.”

Hadrian leaned closer, his gaze fixed on the screen as it lit up with Tom’s name and picture. He seemed to hold his breath as the phone started to ring. After a few moments, Tom’s voice, slightly distorted by the phone’s speaker, filled the small living room.

“Hey, Em! What’s up?”

Emily held the phone so Hadrian could hear. “Hey, Tom, just wanted to say hi. And… well, there’s someone here who’s a bit… curious about this.” She glanced at Hadrian, who was staring at the phone with an expression of utter astonishment.

“Who’s that? Sounds like you’ve got a weird echo,” Tom said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

“It’s a long story,” Emily said quickly. “I’ll tell you later. Just wanted to demonstrate the… phone capabilities.”

“Right, okay. Well, I’m in the middle of… you know what? Never mind. Just say hi from me to… whoever that is.”

“Will do. Talk to you later,” Emily said, and ended the call.

Hadrian remained frozen, his eyes wide. “I… I heard his voice. He is not here, yet I heard him as clearly as I hear you now. This small box… it carries voices across vast distances?” He reached out a tentative finger and gently touched the screen.

“That’s right,” Emily confirmed, a small smile playing on her lips at his genuine awe. “It sends your voice through the air, somehow, to another phone, and theirs comes back to you.” She knew her explanation was woefully inadequate, but she wasn’t sure where to even begin with concepts like radio waves and cellular networks.

Hadrian shook his head slowly, a look of profound wonder on his face. “Truly, this is the work of the gods. To capture a voice and send it across the land… even the most skilled orator could not achieve such a feat.”

“It’s just technology,” Emily said, feeling a familiar urge to downplay the extraordinary.

“Technology,” Hadrian repeated, the word sounding foreign on his tongue. “A power beyond even the legions of Rome.”

Emily decided to move on to the next demonstration. “Okay, so that’s the phone part. But it can do other things too. Remember those pictures on the billboards we saw earlier?”

“The moving images that spoke?” Hadrian asked, his interest immediately reignited.

“Well, this can show still images too. Pictures.” Emily tapped on her phone again and opened her photo gallery. She scrolled through a few recent pictures – a shot of her cat, Marmalade, asleep in a sunbeam, a blurry photo of a concert she’d been to, a group selfie with her friends. She handed the phone to Hadrian.

He took it carefully, as if it were a fragile artefact. His eyes scanned the small screen, his expression shifting from curiosity to utter fascination. He lingered on the picture of Marmalade, a soft smile touching his lips.

“This… creature… it is captured within this box? Its very essence, frozen in time?”

“That’s my cat,” Emily explained. “And yeah, the picture is… a moment frozen in time. I took it yesterday.”

Hadrian tilted his head, examining the photo from different angles. “The detail… it is remarkable. To think that one can preserve a moment, a likeness, with such ease…” He then swiped to the next photo, the blurry concert shot. His brow furrowed. “This gathering… it appears quite… chaotic.”

Emily chuckled. “It was a rock concert. It gets a bit wild.”

Hadrian swiped through a few more photos, his reactions ranging from quiet contemplation to open astonishment. He seemed particularly intrigued by a picture of a historical reenactment he’d accidentally come across. “These warriors… they dress in the manner of my legions. Is this some… tribute to the past?”

“Something like that,” Emily said. “People who are interested in history sometimes dress up and re-enact historical events.” She watched his face, wondering what he made of seeing a modern interpretation of his own soldiers.

“Fascinating,” Hadrian murmured, handing the phone back to Emily with a thoughtful expression. “To hold within one’s hand the ability to capture voices and preserve images… this ‘technology’ is truly transformative.”

Emily felt a surge of something akin to pride, even though she had absolutely nothing to do with the invention of the smartphone. “And that’s not all. It can also show moving pictures. Videos.” She opened her video gallery and selected a short clip of Marmalade chasing a laser pointer.

“Moving pictures?” Hadrian’s eyes widened again. “Like the murals that tell stories, but… they truly move?”

“Exactly,” Emily said, tapping the play button.

Hadrian watched the tiny screen intently, his gaze fixed on the frantic movements of the digital cat. He gasped softly as Marmalade leaped and pounced, her tiny paws scrabbling for the elusive red dot. When the video ended, he looked up at Emily, his expression a mixture of disbelief and pure wonder.

“It lives! Within the box! It moves and plays! This is… beyond comprehension.” He shook his head again, a slow smile spreading across his face. “The wonders of your age… they surpass even the most fantastical tales of our poets and philosophers.”

“It’s just… clever engineering,” Emily repeated, feeling a little inadequate in her explanations.

“Clever engineering,” Hadrian echoed, the words rolling off his tongue with a newfound respect. “To think that minds could conceive of such marvels… what other wonders does this ‘phone’ hold?”

Emily hesitated for a moment, considering the vast array of functions her smartphone possessed. Where did she even begin? “Well, it can access… pretty much all the information in the world.”

Hadrian’s eyes widened even further. “Information? Like the scrolls in the great libraries of Rome and Alexandria?”

“Kind of,” Emily said. “But… a lot more. You can look up anything you want to know, read books, see maps of the entire world…”

Hadrian stared at the small device in her hand as if it held the secrets of the universe. “A library that fits in the palm of one’s hand? Maps of the entire world? This is… truly astonishing.” He paused, a thoughtful look on his face. “Could one perhaps… find information about… the history of Rome?”

Emily smiled. “Definitely. We could look up anything about the Roman Empire, about you…” She trailed off, suddenly aware of the implications. What would Hadrian make of reading about his own life, his accomplishments, and ultimately, his death?

Hadrian seemed to sense her hesitation. “Perhaps… another time. For now, I am content with the moving image of the small feline.” He gestured towards the phone with a newfound familiarity. “This ‘technology’… it is a powerful tool.”

“It can be,” Emily agreed. “But it can also be a bit… distracting.” She thought of the hours she’d wasted scrolling through social media or playing silly games.

Hadrian nodded slowly, his gaze returning to the phone in her hand. “A tool, then, that requires wisdom in its use. Like any powerful instrument.” He looked up at Emily, a hint of his former imperial bearing returning. “You wield this power with… responsibility, I hope?”

Emily blinked, slightly taken aback by the unexpected question. “I… I try to,” she said, feeling a sudden urge to delete half the apps on her phone.

A small smile touched Hadrian’s lips. “Good. For such power in the hands of the many… it requires great care.” He paused, then his gaze softened again. “Thank you, Emilia. For showing me these… marvels. It helps me to understand… this strange new world I find myself in.”

Emily felt a warmth spread through her chest. Despite the inherent absurdity of the situation, there was a genuine connection forming between them. He was so utterly bewildered yet so intensely curious, and his reactions were so utterly sincere.

“No problem, Hadrian,” she said, a genuine smile gracing her own lips this time. “There’s plenty more ‘technology’ where that came from. Just wait until I show you the internet.” She suddenly had a feeling that explaining the World Wide Web to a 2nd-century Roman Emperor was going to be a whole new level of perplexing. But somehow, she was looking forward to it.