One of the main differences between this professor and the other one is that this one hasn’t yet learned all of the ins and outs of team leadership. At first glance Biff seemed to be the ideal choice for the recon assignment, since he combines toughness with expendability. What Professor Chronometricos didn’t realize, however, were certain limits Biff has when it comes to perception and fidelity of reproduction.
At least it wasn’t difficult to figure out that Biff had gotten it wrong. The lords of Romania took their names from a very limited set of four: Carol, Ferdinand, Michael and Nicholas. None of them was named Emily, and none of them really qualified as beautiful, although Michael I was pretty handsome when he was younger.
Not much harm done, anyway – the helpful peasant is still around to be of assistance a second time. I guess if you’ve handled one conversation with a piece of vegetation without freaking, another polite bush showing up with probing questions isn’t that much of a trauma anymore. Good thing our friends haven’t ended up in Ancient Egypt, though – I’ve heard people back then sometimes had funny reactions to being addressed by bushes.
More on Thursday.