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off suspicions as long as possible, she programmed her
telecommunicator to send a message to her parents' home right before
she was supposed to arrive for their weekly family dinner, saying she
was tied up on a project. A second message two days after that would
tell them she had decided to take a brief holiday and would contact
them when she returned.
     
Romulus had not been aware that the
tempometer had been removed from the desk in his residence, and Shara
hoped he wouldn't go looking for it now. All she needed was a little
luck. With the tempometer's help, she might even be able to get back
without her parents realizing she had been gone.
     
Although she
tried
to sleep for several hours, it was a futile effort. Finally she arose
and got dressed to leave. Using the clothing she planned to take along,
she carefully concealed the tempometer and the notes Lantana had given
her, and packed it all in a small bag.
     
Though
she knew she wouldn't feel anything there, she touched the spot behind
her ear where the universal translator chip had been inserted last
week. Since she rarely left Innerworld, she had never had a use for it
before. With the chip in place, she would be able to understand and
communicate in any known language or dialect being spoken wherever or
whenever she visited.
     
Ready to depart hours before the
appointed
time, she headed for her lab to pick up the microputer and make sure
she had left adequate instructions for her research team.
     
As
departure time neared, Shara's excitement mounted. Suddenly the door to
her lab opened, and the unexpected sound caused her to spring off her
stool.
     
"Going somewhere, Shara?"
     
For several wild
heartbeats, she
could only gape, speechless from the shock of being discovered by the
worst person possible. How could the professor have known what she was
planning? She hadn't made advance reservations or even spoken to
anyone. There were only the preprogrammed messages for her parents. But
there he stood, like an angelic centurion, with his feet spread and
arms crossed. Her resentment toward the odious man increased another
degree.
     
She tried to mentally order him away, but discovered
that
she was locked out of his mind for some reason. She tensed, expecting
him to be furious with her attempted invasion, but he didn't seem to
notice that she had done anything. Carefully avoiding an untruth,
especially with the evidence of a travel bag at her feet, she hedged.
"I don't believe my itinerary is your concern." He marched across the
room and cupped
her chin in his hand before she had a chance to object. As she jerked
her head away from his touch, a slow smile appeared on his face.
     
Gabriel
had seen what he was looking for, but decided not to let her in on his
realization quite yet. At the moment her eye color was a drab olive
green, and he knew she was hiding something this time. He mentally
catalogued that information for further analysis.
     
Shara backed
away from him, discomfited by the way his brief touch had warmed her
skin. "What do you want, Professor?"
     
"Teh, tch, tch. Still
angry, I see. Too bad. This journey will be difficult enough without
you scowling at me the entire time."
     
Shara
straightened her spine and gave him the scowl he was expecting. A week
had passed since their last encounter, and when he hadn't made another

appearance, she had hoped he had gone off on another one of his
research treks. "And what journey might that be?"
     
"You're not
a good
enough actress to pull off the simpleton routine, Shara. I know the
Tribunal turned down your request to travel back in time. I also know
you're planning to ignore their decision." Her small but audible intake
of breath confirmed his assumption.
     
"How do you know that?"
she whispered.
     
He
gave her his most charming smile. "Because, fellow scholar, that is
precisely what I intend to do as well." He paused for that dart to sink
in, then continued. "I could stop you right now. All I'd have to