38. Hephaistion’s farewell

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Nearchus:

They took another reading.
The harbor can only be dredged to 20 feet.

Alexander:
Then get a second opinion from the Phoenicians. I tell you, it goes deeper.

Cassander
Alexander. We'll well over 12,000 talents on wood alone for the fleet.
And their armor costs are staggering.

Alexander:
Cast another dye, we shall back them.

Cassander:
How? Our armor... Our Treasury...

Alexander:
With our future, Cassander, the best capital we have.

Nearchus:
Even so, I seriously doubt the Phoenicians can make a timber quote in time.
Perhaps we could sail with fewer ships or delay until the spring...

Alexander:
There'll be no delays, Nearchus.
Ptolemy, how goes our library?

Ptolemy:
The trees are falling as we speak.

Alexander:
Good. We must not forget our libraries. All the Alexandrias we have, I want libraries.
Just last night he was...

Doctor:
It's the water, Your Majesty. He mixed it with the wine.

Alexander:
But how can this be?
Typhus of India?

Doctor:
I wouldn't tax yourself, Your Majesty. A few good nights' rest will do it. But no wine or cold chicken. With the regimen of cares that I've put in place...

Antigonus:
Come, doctor.

Hephaistion:
I feel better. Soon, I'll be up.

Alexander:
We leave for Arabia in the spring, and I couldn't leave without you.

Hephaistion:
Arabia.   
You used to dress me up like a sheik...wave your wooden scimitar.

Alexander:
You were the only one who'd never let me win.
The only one who's ever been honest with me. You saved me from myself.
Please don't leave me, Hephaistion.

Hephaistion:
I remember the young man who wanted to be Achilles...and then outdid him.

Alexander:
And then what happened? Ours is a myth only young men believe.

Hephaistion:
But how beautiful a myth it was.

Alexander:
We reach, we fall.
Oh, Hephaistion.

Hephaistion:
I worry for you without me.

Alexander:
I am nothing without you. Come, fight, Hephaistion. We will die together.
We'll have children with our wives, and our sons will play together as we once did.
A thousand ships we'll launch from here, Hephaistion.
We'll round Arabia and sail up the gulf to Egypt.
From there, we'll build a channel through the desert and out to the Middle Sea.
 And then we'll move on Carthage. And that great island, Sicily, they'll pay large tribute.
After that, the Roman tribe, good fighters. We'll beat them.
And then explore the northern forests...and out the Pillars of Herakles to the western ocean.
And then one day, populations will mix and travel freely. Asia and Europe will come together.
And we'll grow old, Hephaistion...looking out our balcony at this new world.
Hephaistion? Hephaistion? No!
Where is this doctor?

Doctor:
I can't explain this, Your Majesty. It's not possible. I swear by Apollo.

Alexander:
Execute him! Take him out now and execute him.

Ptolemy:
Come away, come away.

Alexander:
Liars. Liars. You all hated him. All of you. Get out. Get out now!

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