Nothing happened.
“Is it that fast then?” whispered the vampire who had not volunteered. He sounded awed.
“No, fool!” said his companion before Kendra could respond. “I didn’t go anywhere.” Seeming unable, or more probably unwilling, to show the relief he must have felt, he channeled all his emotion into anger, and glared at Kendra. “What’s wrong with your thing?”
Kendra felt her own anger flare. How many times can one scientist be kidnapped for crying out loud? “Nothing’s wrong with my thing!” She snatched the fob out of his hand, and turned her back on the two vamps to stare at her equipment until she calmed down.
“Look,” she said when she turned to face them again. “I’ve never tried to send a vampire back in time. In fact, I haven’t managed to send anyone other than me, so you’ll just have to be patient while I figure it out. Why don’t you tell me your names? I’ll be less distracted if I know a little about you.”
The vampire who had volunteered to jump regarded her suspiciously. He seemed to be the leader of the two. “I am Rolf,” he said at last. “This is William.” He nodded toward the other guard.
“Excellent. Thank you,” said Kendra. It never hurts to be polite. “Please tell me the name of the leader of your group. It doesn’t seem right to refer to him as your giant leader.”
Rolf and William exchanged a look. Rolf shrugged.
“His name is Akhom,” said William.
“Egyptian?”
William nodded. “Ancient Egyptian. It means ‘eagle’.”
Kendra nodded, pleased that she seemed to have made some inroads with at least one of her guards. “Listen,” she said and looked at them both. “Physics involves a lot of thinking and not much action. You might be more comfortable if one of you were to bring down a couple of chairs.”
“That is not necessary. We do not tire like humans do,” Rolf said coldly.
Kendra nodded. “Okay. Think about it from my perspective. Do you suppose that I’ll think better with the two of you looming over me, or with both of you seated and a bit more relaxed?”
Rolf did not look pleased, but after a moment he nodded toward William, who headed out of the lab and up the hall.
While he was gone, Kendra ran the equipment log, and played back the video. The video showed nothing that she didn’t already know. While she waited for the equipment log to load, she pondered her situation. To demonstrate a successful jump with Rolf and William in the lab seemed wise--at least it would show Akhom that she was trying. It might also prove useful if she jumped to a place and time that might get her and Alex out of their current conditions. Would Rolf let her go?
William came back with chairs, and two very thick novels. Kendra caught sight of the titles.
“You read historical romances?” she asked, surprised.
Rolf looked a little sheepish.
“All vampires after a certain age read any and everything historical,” William explained. “Rolf and I like to see whether the fiction or the non-fiction is more accurate.”
“And?” Kendra asked, intrigued despite her rather dire situation.
“It’s a draw,” Rolf said.
“But we’ve only run the comparison for fifty years so far,” William hastened to add.
“You know,” Kendra said thoughtfully, “it’s a shame that humans and vampires don’t work together. You could make fantastic contributions to all kinds of research.”
William looked pleased, but Rolf seemed wary.
“Back to work, then,” she said.
After an hour of checking both her equation and Alex’s for clues about what failed with the jump, Kendra was convinced that the equipment was safe and had worked normally. Maybe approaching it from the other end would help. With no sound other than that of her own breath, and pages being turned, she spent the next hour looking through Alex’s computer for any data, especially vampire electrophysiology, that might help, but made no progress. It was half an hour before dawn, and time to end the vampire “day” on a successful note.
Rolf and William looked up from their books when she stood. They were already halfway through their novels.
Jumpy. Kendra didn’t say anything, and walked past them to check both closets in the lab. She found her old knapsack, bulging with her 16th century outfit, in the second. “Would you two mind turning your backs?”
“What are you doing?” Rolf stood, instantly on alert.
“I’m changing my clothes so I’ll look like I belong in 1593.”
“You’re not going to jump alone.”
“I need to know that the equipment still works,” Kendra insisted.
“Akhom told you to send us back.” Rolf gestured to himself and William, who had also stood.
“He set no restrictions on my methods, and gave me only five days to succeed, so I suggest that you stop interfering, and turn around so I can change my clothes.”
William turned his chair, sat down, and went back to reading.
“I will hear it if you do anything unusual,” Rolf threatened after he, too, turned his chair to face the wall.
“Of course,” Kendra agreed.
When she had only her over-tunic and shapeless slipper shoes left to put on, she said “Okay. You may turn around.”
“Not bad,” said William, “but you smell too nice and you’re too clean.” He started to head out of the lab, but Rolf put a hand on his arm to stop him.
“Please allow me. I’m going to enjoy this.” Rolf sped out of the room.
Kendra finished dressing, and had begun to enter her target variables into her equation when Rolf returned with a watering can, one bucket half-filled with manure, and another with dirt. He grinned maniacally.
“Oh no,” Kendra said, backing away.
The vampires ignored her.
“Front and back, or one side each?” Rolf asked William.
“One side each, better to compare.”
“Right.”
Kendra felt only light touches as two blurs of motion engulfed her. Thirty seconds later, her vampire guards had finished.
“Yuck!” Kendra plugged her nose. “This can’t be right!” she wailed. “I smell like a dung heap.”
Rolf and William laughed.
“If you set me up to fail, then Akhom will be angry,” and Alex will die.
The two looked aghast. “We’ve helped you to succeed!” Rolf objected.
“Really, Kendra,” William said with a reassuring smile. “We took it easy on you. Rolf brought mostly dry cow manure. To be accurate, you should have human shit stains on the hem of your dress too.”
“No way! I am so out of here.” Kendra moved to the black spot, fob in hand.
“Wait.” Rolf grabbed her arm. “How do we know you’ll come back?”
“Are you kidding?” she asked. “I’ll be back to shower as soon as possible!”
“Bring some proof,” said Rolf.
“How about a nice wolfsbane poultice?” William’s cheery suggestion was the last thing Kendra heard.
