I once worked as a personal assistant for an old professor who had PhD's in physics, mathematics, and astronomy. This guy was a real genius. I spent little time helping him out with his projects. Mostly, my duties consisted of cleaning up his shop at night, feeding his iguana, pete, running errands, and sorting his mail. He rarely shared any details of his work with me and didn't seem to be in contact with any of his old collegues. He called himself Dr. V (never knew what the "V" stood for), an odd name for sure (damn name sounded evil). No one wanted much to do with the guy, and he was quite happy with that.

I could never pinpoint where, exactly, he came from. He didn't teach in the states at all. I'm guessing he's Austrian or maybe German. Dr. V's tutonic accent had a fine, high-pitched snear. There was one call I constantly dreaded from him. He laid his accent on real thick just to get under my skin: the "Caum heyer, Vill! I've gotzum paperz for ze incinzarator!" call. Cripes, he thought that was so funny. I had to go down to the basement of his old house where an old coal furnace lived. I'm a little dim when it comes to all the figures, equations, and theories of the hard sciences, and I think that's why he's kept me around. But, it pained me to burn all of this important stuff, even if I didn't get any of it. I could never figure out why he would spend so much time on his work, then immediately have me burn it. Maybe, I thought, he was just a perfectionist, but I once asked him if he was sure about burning his work. His reply was "I've no reason, only to confuse you Vill!" His humor was always inscrutable in that way.

As for me, I was a college dropout trying to get some kind of feel for what life had in store for me. I dunno, I supposed that it was all in the stars, but that sounds gay. I knew that something big was coming; I just didn't know what exactly until I got the letter from Dr. V:

William,
I have to leave for an undetermined time. I am trusting my estate into your hands. I have no kin or friends that I can trust. You are a good boy, Will. Don't worry about legal matters. I took care of everything with my lawyer. On top of your normal salary, you will have a stipend for college. I no longer will tolerate your state of moratorium. Lazy bones syndrome is what you have, and I don't want a thick-brained lump staying in my manor. Yes, you heard me, you can live here now. You can't have my room, though. The brown room is yours. But, you can have any of the other seven rooms, if this one is not good for you. There will be no mortage or leans, debts, etc. to worry about. You'll have enough in your stipend and salary to take care of expenses and utilities. For other things, talk to my lawyer. His card is attatched.

I trust, Will, that you will keep my affairs and my work confidential. I have a special room that I've kept secret all this time. It's down in the basement near the well. If I do not return within a year, I'll need you to access this room. There are important things in this room. You must keep this to yourself. The well is not what it seems. Crank the handle nine times clockwise, thirteen times anti-clockwise, then seven and five eights clockwise. This will give you entry to a chamber. In this chamber you will have specific instructions on what to do. I stress that you do not meddle with any devices and follow, precisely, my orders. This is all I can say. Keep this letter safe.

Will, I want you to know that you are not in harm's way as long as you keep to yourself. Don't invite people over to the manor except some of the family and friends that I have met personally. Don't be bothered with inquiring sorts. Be vague and aloof with them. I know that I can trust you with these simple things. I only hope that I will not need you to be trusted with things that might come, if I do not return.

Sincerly,
Dr. V.

What a mindblower that was! Honestly, I didn't think that I was that close to the guy to merit something like this. I'm probably the only person that he has interacted with for the past five years that I've known him. All the groceries, goods, and services were being handled by me near the end. If I didn't know any better, I would say that he was probably prepping me for something, but other than this note, I didn't know what at the time. I''ll spare you the details of the few months that I stayed in that house alone. When someone just up and leaves you their estate and takes off for some unknown location and period of time, you get a little curious and very paranoid.

I didn't wait a year, like the letter advised, to go down into the secret room. I'll tell you about that later, though.
But, what I will tell you now is, after this letter, life as I knew it had changed forever. The kicker is it keeps changing so much that I thought I'd be better off dead than feeling responsible for screwing things up so badly. The world, history, and man can be in danger because of one footstep out of place and time. I'm still going to make everything right, but right now I'm having a blast traveling. My name is William Schears, and have I got a lot of stuff to tell you.