Jonty doodled helplessly in his notebook, trying desperately to look as if he was doing something of importance. He was way out of his depth, and the professor kept pacing, running his fingers down over his pointed chin then staring at Jonty with his beaded eyes.

Everyone was nervous. This was the biggest day of all their lives. This experiment was going to write their names in history. Not Jonty’s though, he was just the lab tech’s assistant. He spent his day checking wires and formulae, and going over Dr. Leonard’s calculations.

At Cambridge he had been somehwhat of a star, scientifically speaking. He had flown through the courses, taking on two classes in the end just to keep himself intellectually active. He just didn’t find these things hard.

That was why he was here. The child prodigy that was on his way to genius. But, right now, he didn’t feel like a genius. He felt like a child.