1

You race across campus on foot toward the university's admin building, woefully late. How could you have lost track of the time on the most important day in your entire academic career? Of course, it doesn't help that the university placed its student parking lots halfway to outer Mongolia. Maybe you've been focusing your energies on the wrong project. Wouldn't it be more sensible to devise a practical means of local teleportation—across town or across campus—rather than multimillion-year time travel?

You shake your head. No way. It's better to stick with your true passion. For longer than you can remember, you've poured your heart and soul and time and money into your dream.