"Come in," came a voice from inside. "The door isn't locked."<br/><br/>Tim opened the door into an almost empty room, dominated by a massive computer on one side and what appeared to be a glass window, but beyond was nothing but complete darkness. At first Tim couldn't figure out where the professor was, until he realised a pair of lab coat clad legs was visible poking out from under the computer.<br/><br/>"You ask us here and you can't be bothered to say stop working for five seconds?" Tim asked, raising an eyebrow."<br/><br/>"Sorry," the professor said, slipping out from under the computer. He was a short, skinny man in his 30s, a tangled mop of red hair on his head and a pair of glasses perched haphazardly on the end of his nose. "My name is Professor John Mertens..." he stopped as he saw the lack of interest from all three. "Sorry, you aren't here to talk about me. What would you say I'm in possession of a device which could prove you were innocent?"<br/><br/>"If you're referring to that computer," Tim replied, "that's barely more complex than the average ship's computer of a merchant's frigate, I don't see what you think THAT could do."