13

You begin with an apology to get on their good side. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting, Dean Green, Professor Thorne. Truly, I am."

Your words are met with stony silence from all quarters.

Forging onward, you open your lab book and set it on the dean's desk. "If I may, let me show you these entries. Here's where I derived the first of several key temporal-physics principles. See? I've got my supplemental notes in the margins. And here's where I translated my proof of concept into sketches of a viable prototype…."

Professor Thorne gives you a slight nod.

Encouraged, you turn to Darien Vance. Time for a gambit. "What variables determine the brief temporal windows during which time travel is possible?"

"Huh?" Panic flashes across Darien's face. "Temporal windows? Why, the usual variables, naturally."

You have him! "Can you name them? Any of them?"

Professor Thorne's expression shows that she knows full well the import of his flubbing an easy question like this. She opens her mouth, but Vance Sr. cuts her off. "I will not have my son's integrity maligned by this little twerp."

"Agreed," the dean says, glaring at you.

Your enemy's panic turns to relief. His father crosses his arms, confident. Too late, you realize that this outcome was never in doubt.

Dean Mean rises to his full six feet four inches and presses both fists into the blotter on his desk. His knuckles go white. "Do you think this is a joke?" he roars. Your mind blanks on any possible response. You stare down intently at the ornate carpet in front of your feet. "Well, do you, Guth?"

You can barely manage to get out two words. "No, sir."

He points a beefy finger at you. "I am hereby expelling you for cheating, effective immediately. My decision is final."

Gulp