As the steam came I felt my lungs react to the additional moisture. I felt like spitting as the mucus rose, but this wasn’t the place to do so.

“You know the Romans were the most civilized people of ancient times. They invented the bath. A man would enter and work out enough to build up a sweat. Then a slave would apply olive oil to his skin, and scrape it off with a strigil. He would enter the frigidarium, where he bathed in cold water, then the tempidarium for a warm water dip, and finally the caldarium for hot water immersion. These bathhouses are direct linear descendants of just such baths.”

“I didn’t come here for a history lesson,” I said.

“Please indulge me a moment more. Here in the steam room we have a very unusual place. We can all see that none of us here has a weapon. None of us is wearing a listening device. And even if we were the heat and humidity would cause it not to function. So you see there are practical considerations to our coming here.”

I had to admit, he was right.