It is midsummer's day. It has to be, for the sake of the calculations, but the beautiful weather provides as good a reason as any. Fluffy white clouds hang in the sky in more or less the way one would expect them to, and the ground is dry without being particularly crisp. The moon is also up in the sky, though the crowd are paying little attention to it - as a landmark it is uninteresting and old, and does little to capture their excitement.

Their attention is focussed on the unsightly apparatus in the middle of the square - a number are standing on tiptoes in a vain attempt to see what is happening, while others watch the screens of their mobile handsets, waiting for the 'live' television coverage to catch up with reality. The cameras themselves don't have much of a view, either. At the front of the crowd is a portable metal barrier that runs 360 degrees around the apparatus, and which is reinforced by a well-manned police cordon. The police are in a better position to see what is happening, but apparently choose not to, instead facing outwards to watch the crowd. They are only lightly armed, but their presence is enough to keep the crowd at bay. Only the few men and women up on the platform actually have a direct line of sight. It is the expressions on their faces that makes this clear.

The apparatus consists of a spherical metal tank supported by a triplet of girders. The tank seems to glow blue with electricity, casting a barely visible light upon the proceedings. Around it lies a messy assortment of electrical wiring and high end computer equipment, and the whole thing is situated on the sort of metal platform one might expect to find in a thousand industrial settings. Seemingly the least exciting item in this unusual display, a metal-framed aperture situated at the far end of the platform, has now become the centre of attention.

The party on the platform consists of three men and two women. All are wearing white lab coats, for show more than anything else. The women, apparently both in the mid thirties, are comfortably seated at a pair of computer banks in order to perform all the hard programming involved, but are currently staring in shock at the spectacle taking place next to the aperture. One of the men is of the fair-haired variety and is standing by a bank of throw switches next to the sphere. According to an ID card hanging from his neck, his name is Isaac. The first switch, marked 'main circuits', is already in the 'ON' position, and so Isaac's hand rests on a second, marked 'booster'. Beads of sweat have already formed on his forehead - he is clearly nervous about throwing the switch that will up the machine's range from minutes to years, and his anxiety can only be worse for the presence of not one, but two men by the aperture. Both are familiar to him - one especially so.

Of the two men at the far end of the platform, one has grey hair and appears to be in his late fifties. His name badge marks him as one Dmitri, and his appearance roughly correlates with it. He would seem to be the one in charge of matters, save for his inability to stop the man next to him from aiming a gun at Isaac. The gunman is standing partway through the aperture, with only the front half of his body visible - he has clearly only just arrived. He bears the look of a madman, his blonde hair is ruffled, his white coat bears scorch marks, and the way he holds himself suggests that he has been badly wounded. His eyes are those of a man who has seen something he does not wish to, but they give no further clue of his dilemma. His good arm is holding the gun, his finger on the trigger, and his mouth is open wide in the manner of a man shouting angrily. Dmitri has both hands held up in a manner that might placate an angry person, but his eyes are stuck upon the gunman's name badge. The gunman is also called Isaac - the gunman is Isaac, albeit a few minutes older. He is here to save the world from the horrors of man's newest weapon: the time machine.