The Foundation #
A new stability settles over the modern site. "Peace is expensive, but we bought it," Ulysses narrates. Team B has their temple, Parrini has his headlines, and Ulysses and Lucia have the quiet.
We keep the miracles spaced out. No more streaks. Every week, Marcus sends a coordinate, and every week, they dig. The routine of miracles brings forth pristine bronze lamps and surgical kits. But they are finding more than objects; they are finding ideas.
Inside a sealed wall niche, they discover a completed Aeneid—an alternate ending where the refugee becomes the builder. Lucia unrolls the scroll, the light of the Stone illuminating the text.
Ulysses sees the mirror of their own actions: "It validates everything. They are building a New Rome from the ash. And for the first time... I think they might actually pull it off."