1 {scene: Ancient Rome. A stately vista of elegant columns and civic buildings.}
1 Julius: Ave, Marcus.
1 Marcus: Ave, Julius. What news?
2 Julius: I've invented a new business model based on sending messages using existing Roman road bridge and water transport infrastructure.
3 Marcus: That sounds superb, by Jove!
4 Julius: Yes, I call such businesses "via-duct-coms".

For some time there I had no idea what I could do for the next strip in this theme. I even considered drawing a strip. Desperate times, indeed! But then I decided that Jedi robes are close enough to period Roman clothing that I could just use Lego minifigures. Hey, if The Brick Testament can do it, so can I.

So, here we have our first characters in this theme, Marcus and Julius.

A viaduct is a bridge that connects two points on the landscape of equal height, usually bridging a narrow valley. They are often used for rail bridges, since trains cannot handle steep grades. They are also used for transporting water, in which case they are often called aqueducts. Ancient Romans were especially fond of building aqueducts to supply their city with water.

A dot-com is a start-up company with an Internet-based business model, often funded by venture capital. They flourished in the so-called "dot-com boom" of the 1990s, following which many went broke as the technology sector collapsed. Hopefully that won't happen to Julius.