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...Doctor Liv i Hudson nie mieli pojęcia gdzie ich maszyna trafiła. Spróbowali łączyć się z centralną jednostką. Niestety, nie było żadnej dostawy prądu. Ale... ich problem był jeszcze większy... Doctor Liv i Hudson byli w kraterze wulkanu.

• - Szefie, myślę, że mamy prawdziwy problem. - Hudson nie myślał już o tym, że opuści mecz. - Małe trzęsienie ziemi... Powinniśmy wziąć centralną jednostkę i zostawić kapsułkę jak najszybciej.

Hudson i Livingstone zaczęli zbiegać z wulkanu. Byli w panice.

• - Szefie, gdzie jest chomik?
• - Nie wiem Hudson. Myślałem, że jest z Tobą
• - Nie. Zgubiliśmy Spaklessa. Nasz mały chomik! Nicole nas zabije.
• - Jeśli kiedykolwiek nas zobaczy jeszcze...
• - Szefie, musimy go znaleźć. Wszystkie 68 chomików wróciły z podróży. Musimy znaleźć 69-tego

Doktor Livingstone i jego towarzysz przedostali się przez winnicę u stóp wulkanu, szukając chomika.
Gdy Hudson usłyszał jakiś hałas dochodzący z krzaków, natychmiast ruszył, pobiegł tam, myśląc, że hałas spowodował Sparklees. Nie napotkał zwierzaka, za to zauważył starą, niewielką chałupkę w krzakach.

• - Szefie!!! Szefie , proszę przyjść tu szybko. Znalazłem chałupkę!
• - Gdzie jesteś?
• - Tutaj. Jestem w krzakach!!!
• - Ok., już idę.

Nie było nikogo wewnątrz chałupy. Żadnego ludzkiego śladu. Na środku pokoju był kosz pełen winogron. W innym pokoju były łóżko i stół z jakimiś krzesłami . Na stole był kawałek papieru. Na papierze był napis: Gladiatorzy- Pompeja i rysunek z dwoma dużymi gladiatorami.

• - Hmm, wulkan, gladiatorzy. Hudson czy to się składa?- spytał Livingstone - I rok 79
• - Szefie, możliwe, że my... - oczy Hudsona powiększyły się ze zdumieniem.
• - Myślę, że jesteśmy w starożytnym Rzymie, mój przyjacielu. I ten wulkan to Wezuwiusz. I rok 79 jest rokiem jego wybuchu... - Livingston skończył.
• - Co zrobimy teraz? Musimy śpieszyć się jeśli chcemy uniknąć eksplozji. Ale jak wyjść? Jak wrócić do naszych czasów? Doktorze masz jakikolwiek pomysł? - Hudson prawie zapłakał.
• - Bez paniki. Po prostu potrzebuję trochę czasu.

Dwóch naukowców zdecydowało się zostać w chałupce. Wciąż nie znaleźli Sparkleesa. I nie wiedzieli jak wrócić do domu. Jednakże, przynajmniej mieli dach nad głową. Gdy szukali jedzenia, Doktor Liv znalazł stare ubranie.

• - Hudson, patrz co właśnie znalazłem. Czy wiesz co to jest? To jest toga!
• - Szefie? Co to jest "toga"?*???

• - Wygląda na to, że jesteśmy tutaj sami. Pójdę się rozejrzeć, być może uda mi się odnaleźć Sparkleesa. - Hudson odszedł w stronę pobliskiej winnicy, pozostawiając doktora samego. Sparklees musiał gdzieś tu być, nie mógł odejść daleko.

Po odnalezieniu drogi do miasta, zadowolony z siebie Hudson wrócił do miejsca, gdzie zostawił Liva. Jego oczom ukazał się dziwny przedmiot złożony z glinianego naczynia i garści kabli.

• - Doktorze! - powiedział zdziwiony Hudson, przyglądając się uważnie dziełu Dr Liv. - Co to jest?
• - Nauka, drogi Hudsonie - odparł naukowiec - Próbuję zasilić naszą machinę czasu znanymi mi sposobami. Zaraz za tą chatką znalazłem kilka butelek wina. Chciałem odrobinę skosztować, lecz teraz już wiem czemu je ktoś wyrzucił.
• - Wydawało mi się, że pan pije tylko kawę - powiedział z ironią Hudson.
• - Nie chodzi o to co pijam. Wino, które znalazłem jest bardzo kwaśne, dzięki temu do głowy wpadł mi pewien pomysł. - Dr Liv pogrążył się w myśleniu, patrząc na swój wynalazek. Po krótkiej chwili spędzonej w ciszy, Hudson przerwał milczenie.
• - Jak to działa - spytał zaciekawiony - wygląda mało skomplikowanie, to miałoby dać nam odpowiednią ilość prądu?
• - Zasada działania jest bardzo prosta, odparł Liv, do tego naczynia wlałem kwaśne wino. Zanurzyłem do tego dwa elektrolity: ołowianego żołnierzyka i ten miedziany przewód. Znalazłem to w kieszeniach, choć sam nie wiem skąd to się tam wzięło. Jeżeli wszystko poszło zgodnie z planem, na tym przewodzie powinno być trochę napięcia.

Liv znów się zamyślił. Hudson słyszał o takim sposobie wytwarzania prądu w szkole średniej, ale było to ostatnia rzecz o jakiej teraz myślał. Nadal nie był pewien gdzie jest, czy on i Liv na pewno są tu bezpieczni i gdzie mógł podziewać się Sparkles.

• - Musimy sprawdzić, czy płynie tu jakikolwiek prąd. Hudsonie - powiedział Liv z lekkim uśmiechem - pozwól na chwilę.
• - Jak ma pan zamiar to zrobić? Przecież nie mamy żadnych mierników. - Hudson ze zdziwieniem patrzył na doktora.
• - Sprawdzimy to na sobie - odparł Livingstone - dotknij językiem tego przewodu. Jeżeli poczujesz choć odrobinę napięcia, to mój plan się sprawdził.

Hudson looked at his favourite clock. He was hurrying in search for the forum. Fortunately, it was not difficult to find it. After a few minutes he reached the place. There were crowds of people rummaging among the stalls. Hudson was going along the streets seeking carefully for lemons. Uncertainty was growing with his every step. Suddenly... he noticed some yellow objects in the corner stall. He came closer... Beautiful, sunny lemons seemed to be smiling at him.

• - Finally - Hudson thought and a broad smile appeared on his face - Here is our chance to come back to London!

Without thinking, Hudson jumped and threw himself on the stall with lemons. The merchant started shouting because he took Hudson for a thief. Hudson started weaving hands and explaining that he only wanted to exchange lemons for his clock.

• - I need lemon... this... - he pointed to the fruit - le...mon... l_e_m_o_n.
  Gosh, he doesn't understand me... - Hudson realised - I'd better take these lemons and run away

Thousands of thoughts swirled in his head. He wanted to watch Arsenal match so much! He thought out a plan...
When the merchant calmed down Hudson pretended to be going away. He hid himself behind a nearby stall with cotton underwear.
He was still watching the merchant suddenly... A big commotion...
Two women started struggling over a big and smelly fish. One of them hit the enemy with fish on the head...
Hudson felt amused by this incident... he took advantage of the situation and ran to the stall with lemons... At that moment the merchant was reconciling two fighting women. He was almost there when... surprisingly, the man jumped at him and started calling for a guard.
Seeing what was going on, Hudson started running very fast. He didn't look back. He felt like Emmanuel Eboue (a footballer of his favourite football team) during his best match.
He didn't mind that people before him were falling down into mud, bringing down theirs stalls. Hudson stumbled over a drunk fat man and fell down. He felt the guards breath on his back.

• - It's over!!! - he thought in despair - No, it can't finish just like that. I must do something! But what...?!

He looked at the big crowd and thought:

• - Here is my last chance!!! Now or never!

He got up from the ground and jumped into the crowd.

• - Yes!!! Yes!!! Yes!!! - he thought excited.

He turned around... He was scared because the guards were still running after him. He ran faster until he saw a big gate. He didn't care where it was leading... For him, the gate seemed to lead to heaven. He was on the arena...

• - Great! I'm falling!!! - Hudson thought.

When Hudson arrived at the arena he saw a gladiator with a sword, a helmet and a big shield. He was scared to death and he didn't know what to do. The other gladiator was closed in the basement, waiting for the fight. He was the first to fight but when Hudson suddenly appeared at the arena everybody thought that he was the fighter. Hudson tried to avoid fighting with big Macedonian slave. He was crazily running around the arena. The audience and the proconsul of Campania were very angry. They didn't like when a fighter was avoiding the fight. To show their disappointment and anger, the audience started throwing lemons and other fruit at Hudson. Seeing that, Hudson tried to catch the lemons out.

• - Your Highness, what do you want me to do with this coward? - Gladiator asked Proconsul
• - Nothing - said Roman - I'm going to feed the lions with him.

Hudson didn't understand what they were talking about, because they spoke Latin. Suddenly the gladiator was gone.

• - I'm lucky - his thought - they are going to let me free.

But the true was different. Roman ordered to open the gate. The lion came out. Hudson fell into such a panic that he even couldn't run. His muscles got stiff... As the lion was slowly closing to Hudson, the watch Hudson kept in the pocket suddenly started ringing. It was the alarm that Hudson set to remind him of the match. The sounds of arsenal anthem filled the air at the arena. The sounds were completely unfamiliar to the lion. Frightened animal escaped back to the cage. The audience were so shocked that they started to cheer and at the end they wished to set Hudson free. Proconsul would rather the lion ate Hudson, maybe because feeding lions was so expensive, but eventually he did what the crowd demanded.

• - Throw him out from the arena with his lemons - Proconsul ordered to the prefect.
• - Yes, sir. - prefect said.

The soldiers throw Hudson away together with his lemons. When the soldiers went away, Hudson stood up, gathered the fruits and ran to the Doctor Liv with good news and with lemons of course. Hudson bumped into the house. He was exhausted but fully satisfied with himself. He stood in front of Livingston with a glad expression on his face and pockets full of dirty, half-squeezed lemons. He needed some time to be able to explain what had actually happened.

• - My mission is completed. I risked my life for a few lemons. I hope they will help us to come back home before the match.

However, Doctor Livingston's reaction was not as strong as Hudson expected. He took Hudson's jacket and went on hustling around the "lab" as if they had just sent by post the other part which he had ordered before. Hudson was used to Liv's eccentric behaviour and he started looking around the shack as if he wanted to find something. It could be noticed at first sight that Doctor worked hard during Hudson's absence. On the table there were cables, wires and pipes.

• - Come here Hudson. I will need you. Cut all the lemons into two halves and I will prepare the rest of equipment.
• - Of course, Boss.
• - Don't eat the lemons. They are our ticket home!
• - No, I won't. I would rather sit in front of TV and eat popcorn away. In fact, not only me, Sparklees loves popcorn, too.
• - Yes, indeed. But where is Sparklees? I hope we will find him. We should not leave our things from future here. It could disturb the time continuum.
• - I am sure Sparklees is not very far from here. Last time I saw him it was just a moment before a huge man on the arena tried to smash my face just like these lemons.

Hudson took one of the most squeezed and dirty lemons and waved it in front of Doctor's eyes. At that moment some, more impressive fruit rolled out of his sleeve. One of them was strangely fluffy and lively. Sparklees loud squeal was probably a form of a warm welcome with his owners.

• - So our Sparklees is back! We can come back to work. Take better care of Sparklees this time, Hudson!
• - Of course, I will. I will keep an eye on him all the time.

The two scientists went back to work. Doctor Liv started to join the fruit with the cables and the wires. The whole procedure was observed by puzzled Hudson and Sparklees peeping out of the pocket of his dirty jacket.

• - I made a positive electrode from copper wire and a negative electrode from a tinned ending of the resistor. I managed to get it from the remaining parts of our vehicle. Standard potential for copper is +0,34V and for tin just -0,014. Very little. But only such metals were accessible.

Doctor was patiently explaining the observers what he was doing. However, they were much more interested in the results they hoped to see.

• - So... Let's take all the equipment and go back to the crater.

Having checked if everything was correctly fixed, there came a moment of start. The passengers got into the machine. Doctor Liv took out two wire endings and excitedly started the final countdown. It became his habit after 68 test time journeys.

• - 10.. 9... 8... 7...
• - Boss, is it necessary?? - But Doctor kept on counting down.
• ... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

At that moment Livingston joined the cable endings. Something cracked in the corner of the machine, something moved a bit. There appeared a little of smoke but for sure it was not a sign of a success.