The gathering at Lydia’s house had thinned somewhat by the time Filby found the courage to approach Paul. The widow was distributing bread, the lamps were burning low, and the murmured conversations of the small assembly drifted like smoke through the courtyard. Yet Filby hesitated—his hands clasped, his breath shallow—as though he were about to address not a man but a mystery.
The Psychologist, who had been observing Filby’s trembling reverence with a mixture of amusement and concern, leaned close and whispered, “Remember—here, visions are evidence. A dream is a testimony. A hallucination is a revelation. If you tell this man you’ve seen something, he’ll take it as fact.”
Filby swallowed. “I know.”
“And he himself,” the Psychologist added, “never met Christ in the flesh. Only in a vision. That’s the foundation of his authority. You’re speaking to a man whose entire life changed because of something he saw in his mind.”
Filby nodded, steadied himself, and stepped forward.
✦ Filby Speaks with Paul
Paul turned toward him with the alertness of someone accustomed to strangers. His eyes were sharp—searching, assessing, yet not unkind.
“Peace to you,” Filby said in careful Greek.
“And to you,” Paul replied. “You are travelers?”
“Pilgrims,” Filby said. “From many lands.”
Paul studied the group behind him—the Egyptian scholar, the Assyrian linguist, the Babylonian expert, the Athenian classicist, the Cyprian merchant‑impersonator, and the rest of the Time Team. Their clothing was correct, but their posture, their manner of watching everything, their faintly scientific curiosity—these were harder to disguise.
“You have come far,” Paul said. “Seeking what?”
Filby hesitated. “Truth,” he said. “Understanding. We have heard of your teachings.”
Paul’s expression softened. “Then you are welcome. The Lord calls all who seek Him.”
Filby’s voice trembled. “You… saw Him. On the road.”
Paul nodded slowly. “Yes. A light brighter than the sun. A voice that struck me to the ground. I was blind for days. But in that blindness, I saw more clearly than ever before.”
The Psychologist, listening from a few paces away, muttered under his breath, “Classic visionary episode. And here it’s treated as eyewitness testimony.”
Paul turned slightly, as though he had heard the tone if not the words. His gaze lingered on the Psychologist—curious, faintly wary.
“You are not all pilgrims,” Paul said. “Some of you watch as scholars. Others as men who have seen strange things.”
The Time Traveler stepped forward smoothly. “We come from distant places,” he said. “Where customs differ. Where people speak of us as odd.”
Paul’s brow furrowed. “Odd?”
A woman near the doorway, who had been observing the Time Team with open suspicion, spoke up. “Are you from that island off the coast of Gaul? The one where the people paint their faces and speak in riddles? They are strange there.”
The Assyrian scholar bowed politely. “We are not from that island.”
Another man added, “You walk like men who have spent too long at sea. Yet you carry no salt on your cloaks.”
A third murmured, “Their sandals are new. Too new.”
The Time Traveler smiled with practiced ease. “We replaced them in Athens. The roads were rough.”
Paul’s eyes narrowed—not in hostility, but in the way a man narrows his eyes when confronted with a puzzle.
“You are seekers,” he said at last. “But you are also… different.”
Filby’s voice broke through the tension. “We wish only to hear you speak. To learn.”
Paul placed a hand on Filby’s shoulder. “Then listen. And ask. The Lord does not turn away those who hunger for truth.”
The suspicion in the room eased—slightly. But the Time Team could feel it: the first faint ripple of attention, the first whisper of curiosity that might, if mishandled, grow into something dangerous.
The Time Traveler leaned toward Filby. “We must be careful,” he murmured. “We are already being noticed.”
Filby nodded, though his eyes remained fixed on Paul—on the living man behind the letters he had studied all his life.
And in that dimly lit room, with the lamps flickering and the night pressing close around the courtyard, it became clear that the past was not merely a place to visit.
It was a place that could look back.
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