Voyage in Time: The Titanic (Out of Time #9) Read Free Page B

dear, yes. As much as one can be when one doesn’t possess a scientific mind. I do find it fascinating though, don’t you?” He held up his hands as though he were holding an invisible beach ball. “A whole world around us, so small, so minute that it’s nearly undetectable. And yet, it’s the fabric of everything we see.” He shook his head. “Remarkable.”
    “It is, isn’t it?” Elizabeth agreed.
    Sir Charles looked down at a group of men who had just entered the hall. “Those men are the future.”
    Elizabeth followed his gaze. She recognized two of them from the Council dossier: Thomson and Rutherford. She leaned forward to get a better look when Simon touched her forearm. He nodded toward the doorway, and there stood the man they’d spent the day looking for, Niels Bohr.

Chapter Two

    S IMON WATCHED AS B OHR shook hands with his former mentor, Thomson, and then sat down in the front row with Rutherford. Bohr looked exactly like his photo. He was only in his late twenties now, but he already had the look of the older scientist most people would come to know. He had a long face with large, drooping cheeks like the jowls of a hound, and that slightly haggard and distracted look that was de rigueur for scientists.
    Simon listened to Thomson’s lecture but kept his eyes trained on Bohr. Now that they’d finally found him, Simon wasn’t going to lose him again. Elizabeth might not be bothered by the sudden and unexpected, but Simon was, and Bohr’s unannounced trip here certainly fell into that category.  
    It all would have been so much easier if the Council had been able to tell them who Bohr was meeting and where. Then again, it would have been simpler still if they could use the watch to save him from any threats, but Travers had been more than clear on that front. The universe did not take kindly to mortals rearranging its chess pieces. Considering that the potential outcome of World War II rested on Bohr’s survival here, it was a sobering admonition indeed.
    As Thomson came to the end of his lecture, Bohr leaned over to whisper something to Rutherford, who shook his head and replied. Whatever Rutherford said, Bohr was unhappy, but he nodded reluctantly in return and joined in the applause.
    “Remarkable,” Sir Charles said.
    Simon agreed and quickly stood, silently urging Elizabeth to do the same. Down front, Bohr was speaking to Thomson, but the older man was quickly pulled away by other admirers and Bohr turned toward the door. If they didn’t hurry, they might lose him again.
    Sir Charles came to his feet as Elizabeth did. “Didn’t you think so?”  
    “It made me hungry for plum pudding,” she said.
    Sir Charles barked out a delighted laugh. “Delightful! Plum pudding.”
    Simon took Elizabeth’s arm and helped her out from behind the desks and onto the stairs.  
    “We have to hurry,” he said, but it was fairly pointless. Their seats had been near the last row of the lecture hall and the traffic on the stairs was impassable. Only a handful seemed to even be trying to descend. Scientists were positively the worst dawdlers on Earth.
    Simon managed to get them down two rows, but the logjam of men discussing the lecture blocked their way. Just as he’d feared, Bohr was at the door, leaving.
    “We’re losing him.”
    It would probably make the papers, but Simon considered shoving the entire brain trust of Cambridge out of his way.
    “We’ll catch up with him,” Elizabeth said. “Don’t worry.”
    But he did worry.  
    “If we lose Bohr now—”
    “Niels? Is he here?”  
    Simon had nearly forgotten about Sir Charles and turned back to face him. “Yes.”
    He laughed and waved a dismissive hand. “He’ll be at the party, surely. All of them usually are.”
    “Party?”
    Sir Charles’ eyebrows rose and then knit in confusion. “Yes, the fundraiser. Disguised as a cocktail party, of course, but it’s all about the money,” he added sotto voce. “Don’t tell Lady Edith