The traffic on the way to Dundee was almost non-existent. It was Frank who spotted the helicopter. They had just left the exit signs for Stirling behind. It flew round them a couple of times, far enough away to be almost inconspicuos. There was a big, spherical, camera bay fixed underneath. They'd just started to get edgy as it flew around a couple more times when, apparently, it buzzed off.

The sky was just beginning to turn grey as they finally approached Dundee. "Any idea how we get in touch with this guy?" Asked Teddy.

With a flourish Shona produced a Palm Pilot and a mobile phone from her handbag. "I never leave home without them!" She said plugging them together. Quickly she checked out the online phone directories.

"Got him!" She disconnected the phone and punched in the number. "I just hope he's in."

"Hey! Don't furget it's only about six in the mornin'!" Said Frank.

"Aye. An' don't furget it's a real, genuine emergency, neither!" Exclaimed Teddy.

"Somebody's answering!" Luckily Shona always thought best on the hoof. "Hello! Professor Watkins? Thank goodness. I'm sorry to have to get you up so early. My name is Shona Macphail. I'm a doctorate physics student at Strathclyde. My friends and I have a bit of a problem on our hands. We think you're about the only person who can help. Yes I know it's a bit early in the morning for research queries. This is more in the way of a practical demonstration of the Vonnegut-Moorcock `Chrono-synclastic Infundibula Theory.' I remember you presented a paper on that very thing just last year. The problem is, rather peversely, we seem to be running out of time!" She listened intently for a minute, then turned to Teddy. "He says to come right over."

"Good thing there wiz a tourist map o' Dundee oan the internet, `r we'd never huv fun' this place." Teddy looked at Shona. "Y'd better dae the honours, Ah think." Shona rang the bell.

There was sound from inside. "Just a minute!" The door opened and a bearded, grizzled face peered out at the motley crew. "You're the physics students?"

Shona smiled nervously. "Professor Watkins? I'm Shona MacPhail. I'm sorry we've disturbed you so early. We're not all physics students, by the way," She introduced them everybody, which took some time. "Professor, it's about our friend here." She indicated the unconscious Johnny. "I've read your work on `Chrono-synclastic Infundibula.' You seem to suggest that under certain circumstances a CSI warping of hyper-dimensional reality might find some sort of physical locus, or specific focus in four dimensional space that was not specific on a gravitationally significant scale. A form of naked singularity manifested as an exotic quantum particle."

"Aye, the Chronon. They all laughed at Christopher Columbus an' all!" The professor shook his head. "Is this some sort of daft student prank. If so it's in very poor taste. That wee paper cost me a lot of peer-credibility." He looked at Johnny shrewdly. "Are you telling me that young rocker has something to do with my theories? How so? What's wrong with him?" He paused, "You'd better all come in, but I'm warning you. There's nothing worth stealing.

They all trooped in and were directed into the big front room that served as the Professor's study and den. "You can lie him on the settee." The professor looked around. "Who's up for making some coffee? I want to hear all about this." Sophie and Frank put their hands up and he showed them to the kitchen.

"What's this lad got to do with Chrono-synclastic Infundibula? Who is he?"

"He told us his name was Johnny Fist. He's from The US of A, so he says." Said Teddy. "He appears tae have travelled forit through time. Yesterday mornin,' his time, MacMillan an' Eisenhower were still in charge."

"Johnny Fist? That name rings a bell." The Professor did a double take. "That's Johnathon Fist? Jings! That's guid! He'd be getting on for my age. He vanished more than forty years ago. wait a minute." He crossed over to a wall of crammed bookshelves. "Hmmm..." He pulled out a thick, bound volume. He leafed through it for a few minutes. "This is it, a very brilliant paper." He handed the open book to Shona. "On an Approach to Problems Underlying an Unification of Electromagnetic and Gravitional Field Equations Using n-Dimensional Tensors. By, Johnathon Fist, Phd. MSc." I remember how excited I got when I first read it. I was a British Rocketry boffin at the time. We had access to some rare stuff."

"Yeah. I'm glad to hear somebody got a chance to cast his peepers on it, outside of the brasshats." Johnny sat up. He looked groggy. "Where are we this time? How long have I been out?" Sophie and Frank came back into the room carrying trays. "Is that coffee I smell?"

"Feeling better?" The Professor looked at Johnny. "So, you're telling me that you wrote this?"

"Yeah. So, what did you think of the extrapolations into seven, ten and eleven dimensional space using special case values of the Kaluza-Klein theory incorporating Planck's constant?"

"Jings! It's a while since I read it. I seem to remember you produced some very convincing graphs. I'd say you were on your way toward Superstring theory without a doubt."

"Superstring? What's that? Ah, no! Wait a minute. Maybe I get it... Little wiggly string things."

"Don't worry Johnny, boy. A bit after your time. Okay kids. Maybe you'd better tell me what's going on."