Chapter 2

A

quote from Albert Einstein. Heike had read it in the news. And somehow she didn't find it inherently consistent. Heike was a genius herself. She was professor at the famous "Frankenstein School for the Gifted." At the moment, she was walking to the basements, where she expected her colleague Amor Sonoras. Woo! Gloomy mood here! A leaky water pipe periodically dripped down onto the centuries-old ground. "Blop, blop, blop." These old basements were a real labyrinth! And many a student was wandering around for hours here! One bend to the left, then she was hopefully at the right door!

With both hands, she levered up the big metal door 699. Gleaming light streamed into her eyes. She held her left arm over her face to avoid going blind. Somebody two meters tall soldered a giant metal device with steel visors! It was Amor. The door clicked shut. When it stopped, she took down the arm. Amor looked at her.

"What do you do here again? What IS this?" Heike asked and bent her head.

"That? That's my newest experiment! It will please you. Almost ready!"

"Another time journey, Amor? I already mentioned that this could become dangerous! We don't know what consequences..."

"Yeah, yeah", Amor interrupted her, "always the same old story! They got a one-meter long beard! Look! This big ring lifts the Grat-Energy into the ultraviolet sector. The expansion factor remains constant at zero point one!! Theoretically, it is harmless and should create a threshold to another time. Guess which one?" Amor adjusted his glasses on his nose and posturred.

"2400?" Heike asked with her nerves shot.

"No, not the future this time," he said, apparently delighted that she guessed wrong. "It's the Dark Ages!"

Heike was startled. "The Middle Ages? Who in God's name would want to travel to this time? The majority of the people had been poor peasants that had enough to eat, but they could also have been raided and robbed at any time! A dark period!

In the twinkling of an eye, the machine started!! Heike gave a start. The noise was ear shattering. Suddenly, a glaring light occurred in the middle of the ring, first very small, than larger and larger. After it had reached a two-meter radius, it stopped. The light was strange metallic bluish in color now and did not seem to change its intensity.

"That's gorgeous, Amor! How did you resolve the problem of the adjacent electronic ply?"

"This, dear workmate, stays a secret. But I will switch off the machine now. For a voyage into the Middle Ages one should be properly prepared, right?" he laughed.

That was a weight off of Heike's mind. Amor didn't seem to be such a daredevil after all! And he was more reasonable than she'd thought. And he also was really beautiful... She went closer to the light and admired its colorfulness. "How..." Suddenly she got a kick in the butt and fell screaming into the machine...

Black. Vortex. Light.

Coughing, she snorted fern out of her mouth.

"Dirty swine!"

Her body woke up on moss ground.

It was cold.

There was snow.

It was dark!

"What a rascal! How could he kick me into the machine?"