The next morning, Calvin and the rest had left the school, they were on their way to Germany to find out more about Franz Hopper and the Carthage supercomputer. Before leaving, they had come up with an alibi to prevent suspicion.

(At the Stern Residence)

"Rumiko?" Yumi asked "Have you seen Calvin and Ami? I thought they got the weekend off too?"

"Oh, they won some contest and they had to go to Germany to claim their prize." Rumiko lied

"Germany?" Ulrich said "And they didn't even tell us?"

"They wanted to surprise you." Rumiko said

"When do they get back?" Ulrich asked

"Sunday, I believe." Rumiko said

"Well, when they get back," Yumi said "Tell them they should have asked next time."

"I'll make sure they get the message."

Meanwhile at the airport, Calvin and the others were about to board the plane to Germany, before boarding, Antea had noticed that Calvin had been awfully tense.

"What's wrong, Calvin?" She asked

"Nothing." Calvin said nervously "I just feel that we should have taken the train."

"Why?" Sam asked "It's much slower."

"Yes." Calvin said "But much safer."

"Oh for the love of..." Dennis said "Don't tell me you're afraid of heights!"

"No." Calvin said defensively "I'm just uncomfortable sitting over 9 kilometers in the air on a 50 metric ton aircraft for 2-3 hours."

"In other words, you're afraid of heights." Sam said

"You're telling us this now?" Dennis asked

"Look, I don't think I can do this." Calvin said "You guys go on without me, if you find anything interesting, feel free to..."

"Calvin." Antea said putting a hand on his shoulder

"What?" Calvin said

"It's okay. If it'll make you feel better, I'll sit next to you."

"Okay." Calvin said loosening up

"Besides," Sam said "You're more likely to die in a car accident than in a plane accident."

"Yeah, that is true." Calvin said

"And with your girlfriend here, you'll probably be as calm as the rest of us." Sam said

"She's not my girlfriend." Calvin said blushing

"Now, come on." Dennis said "We don't want to lose our seats."

They then went on the plane. Everyone was already relaxing as the plane took off, except for Calvin who was still tense and even threw up a few times. But Antea held on to his hand for the entire flight, and he felt just fine. A few hours later, the plane had landed in Berlin, Germany. Everyone got out, grabbed their luggage, and began their quest. When everyone was about to leave the airport, Dennis was accosted by a stranger.

"Entschuldigen Sie mich." He asked him "Haben Sie die Zeit?"

"Umm..." Dennis said "Hold...on..., Mein...friend...knows...Deutsch"

Calvin came up behind him "You wouldn't last 5 seconds here if it wasn't for me."

"Haben Sie die Zeit?" The man asked Calvin

"Ja tue ich." Calvin said "Er ist halbe letzte acht"

"Danke, junger Mann." He said

"Sie sind willkommen." Calvin said

"So, what did he want?" Dennis asked

"He was looking for the time, and I told him it was half past eight." Calvin said

"You understood all that?" Dennis said "You should give me a lesson sometime."

"Be sure to remind me when we get home." Calvin said "Now, should we go on and look for the house?"

"You can go if you want." Dennis said "I'm going to find us a hotel."

"Alright then." Calvin said "Call us when you're done, so that we can tell you where you are."

After Dennis left, Calvin and the rest, using a compass and a 1950's road map of West Berlin, reached their first checkpoint : The Berlin Wall.

"Well, at least we know where the wall stood." Calvin said "Now to find the house."

"Already found it." they heard a voice shout from a distance, the voice belonging to Dennis.

"Dennis?" Antea asked "How did you get here before us?"

"Never mind that." Dennis said "I managed to find the house judging by the diagrams you gave me."

"What is that?" Ami asked pointing to the large stone Dennis was carrying

"Oh this?" Dennis asked "I got this at a nearby gift shop; it cost me 5,000 euro."

"You blew 5,000 euro on a rock?" Sam asked

"This rock is actually the largest fragment of the Berlin Wall they had for sale." Dennis said "Shall we continue?"

"Yes let's." Antea said

A short walk later, they had reached the Schaeffer house, it was a heavily dilapidated stone house, the windows were smashed, and the wall looked like they could collapse at any second.

"Whoa. Look at the nameplate on this house." Sam said reading the nameplate on the nearby fence. On the nameplate, it said in black letters:

JULIEN XAVIER

"Julien Xavier?" Ami asked "Isn't he the history teacher."

"Well yes." Calvin said "But 'Julien' can mean 'of Julius', who was Franz Hopper's father, and 'Xavier' is Basque for 'New House'. So the name could translate to 'New House of Julius'. Now let's go check this place out."

After going inside, they formulated a plan.

"Alright," Dennis said "Each one of us will investigate a room of the house. When one of us finds anything interesting, give us a shout and we'll meet back in the foyer. Now, forgive me for saying this, but 'Let's split up, gang.'"

"I don't get it." Calvin said

"Forget it, Calvin." Antea said "It's a bad joke."

Everyone then split up and looked through their assigned rooms. Calvin then grabbed a few papers that grabbed his interest. just as he was about to tell everyone else, he had a vision. HE was walking down a maze that seemed endless, eventually he reached a door at the very end. When he opened the door, it blinded him with a bright light, he then jolted back to reality.

"Guys, come down here!" Calvin said

"What? What is it?" Dennis said as everyone came down

"I know where the supercomputer is." Calvin said "It's here in the house."

"Calvin, this is hardly the time for jokes." Sam told him

"I'm serious." Calvin said "I had a vision, and it said that..."

"Okay..." Dennis said "So we should follow you because you inhaled too mush ash and passed out?"

"Visions can be a sign of madness, yes." Ami said "But should we at least not give him the benefit of the doubt?"

"Alright." Dennis said "Where do you want us to go?"

Calvin then retraced his steps that he took in his vision. It led them up the stairs, across the hallway and to a room on their left. The room appeared to be a bedroom, it was decorated with science poster on every wall and there seemed to be different equations and formulas scratched on the walls. Dennis then took out a notepad.

"What are you doing?" Antea said

"Writing down these equations." Dennis said "They could help me with something."

"So." Sam said "Where are we supposed to go now?"

"Over there." Calvin said pointing to a wardrobe at the end of the room

"Calvin?" Dennis said "That's just a wardrobe."

"But there's something behind it, see?" Calvin said as he opened the wardrobe

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" Dennis asked. Calvin looked in the ward robe to see that it was empty.

"Damn it!" Calvin shouted as he pounded on the back of the wardrobe. "I thought for sure there was something!"

"Wait." Dennis said "Calvin, pound on that again."

Calvin did just that.

"It's hollow." Sam said "Calvin, you actually might be on to something. See if you can move it out of the way"

Calvin tried to push it away, but it didn't budge a centimeter

"No good." Calvin said "I think it's bolted down."

"Well, you know Pencak Silat." Ami said "See if you can kick it down."

Calvin then focused on the wardrobe, and kicked the back of it. The entire back then broke off, and what they saw had immediately caught there interest.

TO BE CONTINIUED...


For those who can't understand German, or are too lazy to use a translator:

Man (To Dennis): Excuse me, Do you have the time?

Man (To Calvin): Do you have the time?

Calvin: Yes I do, it is half past eight.

Man: Thanks, young man.

Calvin: You are welcome.