The man was ancient, his hair completely white with unruly tufts sticking out at odd angles. He was perpetually stooped over, staring into books and scattered papers. This caused him to be always fuddling with his pince-nez glasses, taking them off, placing them back on, and the chain becoming entangled as he constantly handled them. He would then stop to untangle it, completely interrupting the lecture's flow.
Professor Janning was beyond a doubt the worst professor that I ever had the misfortune to have in my entire academic career. And to think, I had once enjoyed chemistry. At his hands, my enjoyment had quickly turned into suffering. Without a doubt, his class was the worst hour of my academic day. And as was made obvious by the clock watching, the jaw- cracking yawns, and the eyes turned heavenward in silent please for reprieve, I was not alone in feeling that way. It was a misery that my classmates and I shared.
To compound the suffering, he was a horrible lecturer. Janning had a monotone voice which if bottled it, would have made him a fortune as a sleeping tonic. It certainly did not help that Janning read verbatim from the text, with the students attempting to follow along through our acute boredom. One could always tell where the end of a page was reached, because the lecture hall was filled with the sound of textbook pages turning at same time.
Janning's class would not have been as painful per his scheduled experiments. They would have broken up the monotony if they had been performed correctly. He would generally perform one or two experiments a week, but none of them had been executed according to plan. Janning would stand there befuddled, not quite understanding what had happened. Or more precisely, what had not happened.
After I had looked at the clock for what must have been at least the millionth time, the class blissfully ended. We gradually rose to our feet and shuffled out, as if dead lice were falling from us.
I met up with my friends and together we slowly walked to an area where we could smoke unnoticed. As if on cue, we all whipped out our cigarettes and lit them frantically, pulling deeply on them, hoping for the nicotine hit to awaken us.
"My God, that was painful," moaned Matthias. He had already finished his first cigarette and was lighting a second. "Janning was in rare form today. Worse than normal if that is even possible."
"What are you complaining about?" Ellery retorted. "You were snoring through most of it."
I looked at Matthias in envy. So he was the lucky soul who had escaped into oblivion, if only for this afternoon.
"I was?" He looked surprised as he shook his head. "For the life of me I can't remember a thing. Not good for me, though. I won't be able to sleep at all tonight and then I'll be all that much more tired for his lecture tomorrow. Makes for a doomed never ending cycle, I tell you."
"I know why we are required to take this class," commented Kurt. We all looked at him expectantly, as if he had a major revelation of life to reveal. "It's to get us accustomed to torture in case we're captured by a future enemy. Either that or to teach us how to torture the enemy." We all looked at him dumbfounded, too numb to laugh.
"No one could possibly be that cruel to inflict that type of punishment on any enemy," retorted Albrecht.
We walked in silence, slowly beginning to wake up. Supper was still over an hour away. Normally, I would use the free time to study, but today I knew it would be a folly to attempt any academic pursuits. As my mind cleared, a spark of an idea came to life. I suddenly stopped walking, and turned to face my friends.
"Gentlemen, we really should do something to assist the good professor, don't you agree?" They looked at me strangely.
"What are you babbling about, Hans?" mumbled Ellery.
"Exactly what I said: Janning needs our assistance. I believe it is our responsibility to do something. In fact, we would be lax if we did nothing like the other obviously uncaring students. By helping Janning, we will be helping ourselves. Have you stopped to analyze why the class is so boring?" I paused for a response, but received only blank stares in return.
"The reason why Janning's classes are so monotonous is because there is no variation to them. Janning reads verbatim from the text, repeats the same dull jokes and fails at his experiments."
Ellery nodded slowly. "He fails at every experiment."
"Yes, every one. However, while we are unable to alter his lecturing style and his awful jokes, we do possess the capability to impact his experiments."
I could see them begin to comprehend my suggestion. Slow grins began to appear across their faces.
"You mean to…?"
"Precisely," I nodded. "We are going to assist the professor so that one of his experiments will finally be successful. He and the other students would no doubt thank us for stepping in and taking control of this dismal situation. I predict that it will also build up Janning's confidence. Perhaps he will begin succeeding in the future on his own without our assistance"
"I think it would be best if we left well enough alone. What if something goes wrong? I mean, it could be dangerous." Ellery looked and sounded hesitant. He looked around at the rest of the group for support.
He found little. The others were looking at me with more interest than they had ever shown in one of Janning's monotone lectures.
"Ellery, you are too cautious and practical," I snorted. "We certainly couldn't do any worse than the professor. He will have already set up the experiment before he leaves for the evening. The experiment is clearly defined in the textbook. We merely need to adjust his measurements to ensure it matches."
"And how, pray tell me, are we to do this?"
"I do believe I hear a faint touch of doubt in your voice, Christoph, but I will humor you. We will enter the class and the adjacent storeroom after lights out, make the adjustments and return to our quarters. I estimate it will take less than an hour for us to accomplish our mission."
"What do you mean 'we'? Do you have a mouse in your pocket? Are you already assuming we will accompany you?"
"I have no qualms about proceeding on my own if none of you have the fortitude to follow me. But I also will not share any of the accolades when the reality leaks outs to our fellow students."
"It's easy for you to be so bold, Hans. You have a powerful father to step in to save your ass if this blows up in a disaster."
"As you are fully aware, my father and I are barely on speaking terms with each other, Ellery," I replied coolly. "I would never ask him for assistance nor will I ever need it." I was becoming bored of their excuses and lack of enthusiasm. "Now are you gentlemen with me or not? I hold no hard feelings if any of you decide not to participate."
"Well, I'm definitely in," agreed the fun loving Matthias. "I wouldn't miss this opportunity for the world."
I wasn't surprised at his immediate participation. If anything, he would be leading the charge for the event.
The other three looked at Matthias and finally also gave their reluctant nods of assent.
"Good." I smiled in satisfaction and motioned for them all to gather closer as I outlined my plan. "We will meet under the window of the lecture hall. The latch to the lower window is broken. All of us should easily be able to fit through it. Once we gain entrance to the lecture hall, the storeroom will not be an issue. There is no lock on the door. Then it will very straightforward to…"
"What are the five of you scheming about so secretly? May I join whatever you have brewing?"
I whirled around, startled to hear the smug voice of Wilhelm Meyer so close behind me. He did not share the chemistry class with us, but must have spotted us huddled together and wondered what we were discussing.
We needed to get rid of Meyer, and quickly.
"Our conversation is no concern of yours, Meyer. Now leave us." He didn't move an inch.
"Always so high and mighty, Dietrich, like the world owes you a living and everyone is at your beck and call to follow through on your orders. That's fine. I know when I'm not wanted. I'll be on my way."
Meyer turned haughtily on his heel and left.
I couldn't help but notice the jauntiness of his step as he walked away.
Of all the cadets at the Academy, it was unfortunate that it was Meyer who had interrupted us while we were plotting. Other than a surprising overture to me for friendship in our first year, which I had rebuffed, Meyer had never attempted to hide the fact that he held me, my father's influence, and my family's position in disdain. I had never liked Meyer, and I trusted him even less. I knew that he felt the same about me.
I never would have spoken a word about my plan if I had known he was anywhere in the vicinity.
Meyer had become a very risky wild card in our plan, one which could prove to be dangerous. There was a growing part of me which was beginning to believe my scheme was not a very good idea. I pushed that doubt aside as I did not want to appear weak in front of my friends.