Exactly two months and seventeen and a half days later, Eradani was sitting at the desk in her bedroom staring at a sheet of printed paper. Maths homework. Arguably the lowest point of any physics degree. And to make matters worse, it was the worst type of maths homework. Sorting out differential equations was something you were either in the mood for or you weren’t, and if you weren’t, then you didn’t stand a chance.
Eradani was definitely not in a differential equation mood, and she could feel her temper beginning to flare up inside her.
She finally gave in to her frustration, slammed her folder shut and jumped onto her bed in defeat. It was during moments such as these that she most wished she’d never chosen to study physics. She was beginning to suspect that she wasn’t really cut out for it, even though she’d done quite well in her exams so far. The trouble was that she was perfectly capable of sticking numbers into equations and getting answers out at the other end. What she didn’t have, and she was starting to find she really could do with, was an instinctive feel for the material. Real physicists, proper physicists who build spacecraft and explode atomic bombs, now they have a natural feel for the subject. They only have to look once at a problem to see how to go about solving it. Eradani looked at a problem, came up with eighteen possible different solutions that all seemed perfectly reasonable to her, picked completely the wrong one and then executed the face/palm gesture when she later found out that the first solution she devised was actually the right one.
And that, as far as she could see, was her problem.
She would most likely never make it as a physicist.
She would pass her exams, of course. That wasn’t an issue, but what she would do afterwards was. It was something that worried her rather a lot.
Finally deciding that moping about wasn’t going to get her anywhere, she sat upright and flicked on the television. She surfed from channel to channel, but there was nothing on. Wasn’t that just typical? She plipped it off and put the remote control down, while picking up a book to read.
She got halfway through the first paragraph, realised that she hadn’t taken in any of what she’d read, skipped back up to the top of the page to re-read it, got half of it that time, so then read through it a third time, finally realised she wasn’t going to be able to put herself fully into it, slammed it down on her bedside cabinet and went to bed.
It was days like these that really got her down.
<=> <=> <=>
The next day, however, started out as the kind of day that really cheered her up.
Eradani sat with a group of friends on the grassy open space between the library building and Chancellor’s Court. It was a warm April day and lazing around outside was the popular thing to do. Guys were lying in their shorts and girls were wearing summery skirts. There were picnics and salads and refreshing drinks, and fresh fruit salads a-plenty.
Eradani had been an astrophysics student for nearly a year now. She’d been doing quite well. Reasonably good marks so far, made a lot of good friends, and pretty much was enjoying the course. Exams were looming however; she’d been revising fairly diligently whenever she had a few minutes but was a little concerned that she was relying too much on her good memory to get her through. Still, the weather had taken a huge turn for the better and she was certainly not going to let exam fever ruin a nice relaxing laze like this. Sunny days were rare at the university, and she was happy to let the wonderfully light and carefree mood make all the stresses of the world melt away and be replaced instead with ice-cream and lemonade.
Propping herself up with her palms, Eradani sat and giggled merrily and chatted excitedly with her pals. She wore a jolly white dress adorned with random red splashes that was cool and comfortable, although she worried it made her look very slightly like a raspberry ripple. She brushed her hair behind her ear and delved further into the conversation.
‘So what you’re saying is that they ripped you off,’ her friend Kate was saying.
‘No,’ said Theodora indignantly. ‘Not ripped me off. They just... got the orders mixed up.’
Eradani sipped at her lemonade. ‘Seems to me,’ she said, ‘that you need to speak to trading standards. I mean the shop has an obligation to you as a consumer.’
‘Yes, I know that. But they refuse to accept that there was a mixup because the other party says everything was fine.’
‘Well they would,’ said Kate. ‘They got your expensive party shoes, you got a pair of second hand safety boots.’
Eradani chuckled slightly. She wasn’t one for enjoying the misfortune of others, but Theodora managed to attract more than her fair share; and this particular fiasco was, she had to admit, quite amusing.
‘Look,’ said Theodora with exasperation oozing out of her ears, ‘it’s not my fault that there’s now a Birmingham City University as well as a University of Birmingham, and I can’t help the fact that there’s a Thea Dorason studying there either. I just can’t convince the store that they screwed up.’
‘Theodora Ssan, University of Birmingham and Thea Dorason, Birmingham City University,’ muttered Eradani. ‘I can understand the confusion.’
Theodora took a bite of her ice cream. ‘It gets worse. Apparently a Theodore Rasson ordered a pair of wellington boots at the same time. And he is at the University of Central Birmingham, and he’s convinced that Thea Dorason has his wellies. Which isn’t true, because I know for a fact that Thee Addorason at the City University of North Birmingham has got them. This university rebranding fad has really got to stop.’
Eradani agreed thoroughly, smiled at the thought that this was the worst thing they had to worry about, rolled over onto her front and kicked her feet contentedly in the air a couple of times. The grass felt lush and warm and soft. She sighed at the dreamlike perfection of the day, squinted up at a flock of seagulls crossing the face of the toasty-red sun and relaxed. Somebody somewhere was playing ‘Here Comes The Sun’ by the Beatles through a tinny little mobile phone speaker, but it fitted the mood perfectly so she didn’t mind. Closing her eyes she could almost imagine she was lying on a golden sand dune near a beautiful cove, listening to the gentle, rhythmic swell of the sea.
Then absolutely everything changed:
- a deep drop in temperature
- a gust of icy wind
- a violent, uncontrollable shiver
- a sudden stillness and silence
‘What the... what was that?’ she spluttered.
The breeze had been unnaturally cold and bitter, and the reaction of Kate and Theodora confirmed that she hadn’t in any way imagined it. She sat upright, shivered and paused for a moment. An eerie calm had imposed itself upon the scene; the warm sunshine of just seconds before was deeply, achingly absent. Eradani delved into her bag for a cardigan and eased it over her shoulders. It didn’t warm her up much. She began to wish she'd brought a proper coat.
She turned to Kate and Theodora and asked if they were alright. They barely noticed her - they were too wrapped up in their own discomfiting thoughts.
All around them the gentle chatter and happy laughter had given way to a choking, oppressive silence.
Eradani sat and contemplated. What had happened? What had changed? It was chillier certainly, and the air was stony still, but there was something else. Something not tangible. Something didn’t feel quite right. She looked at her friends and could tell they were thinking much the same thing.
‘Guys, is everything...’ she started, but was cut short by an intense blinding blue flash and bang. An irresistable force lifted her off the ground and threw her a good two or three metres backwards. She found herself lying on her back on the now uncomfortably chilled grass, stunned momentarily into paralysis. Her whole body jittered and jiggled slightly, and her hair tingled and fizzed with residual charge. She had been temporarily blinded by the magnitude of the blast, and as her vision returned she could see that everybody else around had also been tossed forcefully to the floor.
The effects slowly wore off. Gingerly she sat upright and checked everything was okay. She didn’t seem to be injured at all, so she ventured to try and stand. As those around her also began slowly to drag themselves to their feet Eradani noticed a hubbub erupt underneath the giant redbrick clock tower that lay in the central square. Apparently everybody else noticed it too and began to wander in that general direction. Unable to think of anything better to do, and feeling instinctively that she should join in, she went with the flow. Kate and Theodora followed but were soon separated in the throng.
Eradani passed under the arches of the law building and emerged in Chancellor’s Court. The clock tower, officially called the Joseph Chamberlain Clock Tower but more generally referred to as Old Joe, dominated the crescent-shaped open space. It was some one hundred metres tall, making it the tallest free-standing clock tower in the world. Built from the same red brick as the main university buildings, and styled after the Torre del Mangia in Siena, it was a spectacular sight at the worst of times, but now a sizeable crowd had accumulated around it, staring blankly, giving the impression that it was a colossus of dark intelligence exerting some kind of hypnotic force over its subjects. She tried to push her way further into the melee but met with little luck.
‘Eradani!’ She turned. It was Frank, a fellow astrophysics student. He addressed her, but he was transfixed by the clock tower. ‘Did you see that?’
‘Hi Frank. Yes, I saw. And felt. It was... odd.’
‘Odd? It was more than odd, Eradani. It was incredible. You probably won’t have seen this, but it was... it was like... I can’t explain it easily, but imagine everything was hit by lightning simultaneously, except for the clock tower.’
‘Except the clock tower?’
‘Yes. I guess I was just looking in the right direction when we all got zapped. I saw a, well, this is going to sound crazy, but I saw what I can only describe as a streak of non-lightning striking the tower. It was black, Eradani, like a void. A streak of black nothingness. Terrifying. I just can’t believe it actually happened.’
Eradani looked up at Old Joe. The clock seemed to be running still. There was no obvious sign of damage. And although clearly something mighty strange had happened, all this grandiose talk of voids and nothingness and non-lightning was a bit hard to swallow. She did, however, find it very difficult to peel her eyes from the tower.
‘But that’s nothing,’ continued Frank. ‘You should see what’s turned up under the clock tower.’
‘Turned up?’
‘Yes, just... appeared. Materialised.’
Eradani blinked several times as she tried to process this information. Something had materialised under the clock tower? During the second unnaturally violent electrical storm to hit the area in three months? That couldn’t be a coincidence surely. It just couldn’t.
She had to find out. She had to get through the crowd. Surging forwards, she elbowed and barged her way through, relying on her stubbornness and her determination to get to where she wanted. ‘Move, please!’ she shouted. ‘Out of the way! It’s important!’ There must have been hundreds of people there by now, and none of them were especially keen to let her through. It was a forest of elbows, knees and satchels. Eventually, though, she emerged at the head of the crowd and saw the impossible.
Standing under the clock tower, the crowd keeping a safe distance away just in case, was a confused and weary-looking Professor Hughes, still in his dark ceremonial robes. He was just waiting there, swaying slightly, his gaze sometimes falling on a student without any flicker of recognition. He didn’t appear to have any physical injuries and there was nothing to suggest that he’d ever been caught up in the explosive destruction of an entire building.
For some time the crowd gaped at the Professor. He showed little sign of comprehension and continued to look confused and nervous, turning slowly round and round. Eventually his befuddled eyes settled upon Eradani. It was as if somebody had suddenly switched him on.
‘Ah, Eradani,’ he announced brightly, his expression softening and a jumbo smile spreading across his face. ‘Good. Glad you’re here. Would you mind assisting me? I seem to have become a bit... disoriented.’
In an instant, the hypnotic spell of Old Joe broke. The crowd began to come to their senses and tear their attention away from the tower. The tense, oppressive atmosphere returned to normal, albeit a highly confused version of normal, and people began to slowly drift away.
Eradani grinned a big happy grin and ran forwards to help her tutor towards his room in the School of Physics and Astronomy.
<=> <=> <=>
‘So,’ said the head of the school, closing the serious-looking file that lay on his desk, ‘this is a fairly unique problem you’ve created for me.’
Professor Hughes blinked slowly in acknowledgement. He had been summoned, not unexpectedly, to explain himself to the management. He had half expected to see higher authorities present, but the head of school had evidently decided to handle it himself.
‘You destroy an entire building, and a very modern and expensive one at that, you vanish for nigh on three months, there has been no sign of your band of followers, and you make your return amidst the single largest mass electrocution in recorded history. This, on the face of it, seems fairly reasonable grounds for dismissal.’
‘Indeed,’ said Professor Hughes. ‘But I ask for leniency.’
‘Leniency? Professor, I... I hardly know where to begin! You have broken every rule in the book, and several more that we’ve had to invent as a result of all this! You... this... all of it, it’s utter mayhem! And you want me to be lenient?’
‘I appeal to your better nature.’
‘Well, I don’t have one. I’m afraid there is no option other than to terminate your right to teach.’
Professor Hughes put his hands together. ‘Perhaps there is an opportunity here. It may be possible to manipulate this situation to our mutual advantage.’
The head of school raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. ‘I don’t see how.’
‘You no longer believe that I am fit to teach. I myself would thoroughly agree with you. It would irretrievably tarnish the university’s otherwise glittering public image if I were to resume my tutoring. On the other hand I do happen to be your most celebrated and recognised scientist. And I believe that in the long run I am of great value to you and your department.’
The head of school sighed. ‘Yes, but there are responsibilities to bear in a post such as yours, and no matter how highly I value your work, we have to face the facts.’
‘Indubitably. However if I were to suggest my retirement from teaching and lecturing, but not from theoretical research, surely that would solve your problem? I would have no direct contact with students and no opportunity to lure them into any “evil” or dangerous schemes, yet my name and my work would still be affiliated with your school.’
The head of school fiddled with a pencil for a few seconds as he contemplated. ‘Well, your proposal seems on the face of it to have certain... advantages. But I would need your guarantee that you will not interfere with the education of the students.’
‘But of course. You may draw up a new contract if you so wish stating these terms clearly.’
‘And you are certain this is what you want?’
‘Yes. I have various new ideas that require time, dedication and solitude to fully investigate. This arrangement would suit my needs perfectly.’
‘With all due respect, Professor, nobody needs to work alone. It isn’t good for the community.’
‘These are my terms. Take them or leave them.’
The head of school contemplated some more. Hughes could see he was going to give in. ‘Alright, I accept your proposal. However, I have two stipulations: one, we need you back on the departmental Scrabble team, we’ve been doing terribly since you left; and two, you absolutely must retain some form of professional contact with the school. You cannot disappear off into some desolate cave somewhere working completely incommunicado. We need to be able to keep an eye on your progress, if only to ensure you are keeping to your side of the contract.’
‘Very well,’ agreed Professor Hughes. ‘Then I shall continue my research in an office of your designation and I shall remain in contact with the school through an emissary of my choosing. I nominate the first year student known as Eradani for this role.’
‘A student? Eradani?’
‘Yes. A tutee of mine. You might know her; longish, wavy chestnut hair, average height, doesn’t seem to care much for fashion. Very level-headed and a most promising student. She is the only person I trust enough to take on this responsibility.’
The head of school shook his head. Make a student the sole point of contact with the Professor? Wasn’t the aim of this meeting to try to prevent such interactions? Still, the man had a point. The school could little afford to lose someone of his international stature. He guaranteed the school both high profile exposure and valuable funding. If this was the only way to keep him here... well, it did have the benefit of removing him from teaching. Which was the primary goal. And Eradani was only one student after all - there couldn’t be much harm in that, surely?