[Inziladun]

"Would you all like to know why you're here?"
"Ummm....Yes!" answered Boro.
"Well, we know that you all responded to an advertisement I put out. I placed it all over the internet, in places I thought were likely to be visited by my target audience. It read as follows: 'Calling all fans of the written works of J.R.R. Tolkien: you have the opportunity to join in a great project to preserve the artistic integrity and general dignity of Lord of the Rings and other Middle-earth related works. Assist in this matter and your reward will be great. Send replies to...' etc. And one by one you all wrote back to me. And here you are."
"So what's this "great project"?", inquired The Elf-warrior.
"And who are you?", asked Shasta.
"Well, the answer to your second question, is that you may call me "Professor Inzil". "As for the first one....well...who all here has seen the LOTR movies put out in the last ten years?"
Everyone raised a hand.
"Now, how many of you were completely happy with those movies?"
No hands were raised.
"Not I, either", said the Professor. "Any movie based on these books has to be an abysmal failure, at least as far as integrity to the books is concerned. The deeper meaning is lost, in favor of mass-market attraction. Why did they bother making the movies if they were going to fundamentally change so much? Why couldn't Jackson have done an original script and left Tolkien alone? I'll tell you why! MONEY!"
"There's no need to shout", said Greenie quietly.
"Sorry", said the Professor. "Anyway, I decided to do something about it. I'm going to prevent those movies from being made. Prevent anyone from making Tolkien-based movies."
"Slight problem there", said Nerwen. "The movies have already been made for LOTR, and one based on The Hobbit is underway."
"Ah", said the Professor, "but I have a way to undo that. Follow me!"
The group followed him through a door, exchanging uneasy glances. Clearly they had been lured here by a lunatic.
When they emerged into the next room, they were dumfounded. What before had apparently been a large dining room at one time, now contained several computer consoles, surrounding a central, egg-shaped chamber with a door in it. Pipes and cables ran out of the contraption in all directions.
"This", said the Professor, 'is a time machine."
"Of course it is", said Boro, "and I have a fusion reactor in my basement."
There were several laughs.
"I expected no less", said Professor Inzil. "So here's a demonstration". He strode over to the door to the central chamber and pressed a button beside it. It opened. The room inside was quite small, no bigger than a large bathroom. There was nothing inside it, but a half-sphere bulged from the ceiling. There were several foot-long rods jutting from it, and from the walls.
The Professor picked up a small cage from among the general clutter, and withdrew a white rat.
"Here you go, my beastly", said the Professor, and set the creature on the floor in the chamber. He then shut the door, and pointed to a set of buttons on the console, all glowing green.
"This", he said, "is where the action is, so to speak. The number keys allow you to input your destination, which is displayed here." He pushed buttons, and an LED readout above showed that day's date, with a time one minute in the future. He then pressed the largest of the buttons, in the center. "Gzzthktkk!", came a loud noise from the chamber.
"What did you do to it?", cried Sally.
"Sent it into the future. It'll be back in one minute. Have a look in there." He went to the door and opened a cover of a round window like a porthole, covered in safety wire. They all crowded round.
"It's gone!", exclaimed Fea. There were murmurs from the group.
"Ok, let's say you aren't totally insane, and you aren't having us on", said Lottie. "Why do you need us? And what exactly are you going to do?"
"I intend to go back in time to 1969 and buy the movie rights myself", was the reply. That's why I chose this location. Tolkien lived in Poole then, and that isn't all that far from here. I can't do it alone though; I need some assistants to go with me, and some to stay here and monitor the equipment."
"Gzzthktkk!' from the chamber made all but the Professor jump. They looked into the porthole again.
"It's back!", exclaimed Pitchwife.
"Told you so", said the Professor.
"Wow!", said Shasta. "You could do all kinds of things! Like take an I-POD back and sell it for lots of money!" The Professor looked affronted.
"Never!", he said. "I didn't build it for personal gain. Besides, electronic objects don't seem to transport. They, well, break. He picked up an object from the floor. It was burned-looking, but appeared to have been a digital watch.
"I tried to use this while experimenting", he said, "but it didn't do so well. "I'm not sure why."
"You could still do other things", said skip. "Like prevent the Titanic from sinking."
"Or stop the assassination of JFK", said Nerwen.
"Or keep Lady Gaga from having a music career", said Lottie.
"Those are good ideas, especially the last one", said Professor Inzil. "And other things will come. Think of this as a trial run."
"The ad said something about a reward", said Shasta.
"Ah, well, about that, I can't exactly pay you all. Your reward will be the honor of being part of all this!" Seeing the looks on some of their faces, he added, "I'll feed you while you're here, and you have bedrooms prepared upstairs. Nice ones! Go ahead and take your bags and claim one. This used to be a writing school, so there's room to spare. The stairs are through there, and the door
opposite is the kitchen. There's plenty of food here, enough for weeks, so help yourselves! Fair warning, though," he added as they moved to pick up their luggage, "If you brought cell phones and such, they won't work here. Nor internet. It might be something to do with the ionic fields. And there's no phone service. I never had it installed."
Mumbling, the group trudged away.