play it safe, go to sleep and wait until morning

It is great to be in such a young, fit body again but he has to be careful. Though they are fairly confident about the robustness of time, there is still a good chance that he could screw up the whole future, even doing trivial things. He will have to take things carefully. He will have to try and fit in with his old life, not make anyone suspicious around him.

Quietly, Joe wanders back to the dormitory. It is like a space mission to a new planet, after all: the first exploratory walk outside shouldn’t be a marathon. It should be a short, quick trip to establish that everything is safe for a deeper incursion.

Back in the dormitory, Joe climbs into bed. He is tired, after all – the time jump has taken a lot out of him, even if he is now in this young, fit body. It is difficult, because there are so many thoughts racing around his brain, but Joe eventually manages to get off to sleep…

…eventually, Joe wakes up again. He is definitely no longer tired, but as he rubs his eyes and sits up, he is surprised to find that it is still dark. Across from him, on a bedside table belonging to another boy – Robinson, he seems to recall, it is funny what kind of apparently useless information the mind stores up – he sees an illuminated alarm clock. The time reads just past midnight. But it feels as though he’s been asleep for hours!

Well, that’s no good. For a while, Joe tries hard to go back to sleep. But it’s just not happening. He’s tossing and turning, and the more he tries, the more awake he feels. He sits up again. Clock: just past midnight. Still?

Damn it. He can’t stay here. He can’t risk waking any of the other boys. He might as well do some exploring around the school. He would be careful, and anyway, it would be the second mission, it was alright to take a deeper incursion into the alien timescape. After all, if he is caught, he could act as though he’s sleepwalking or something. Even if he is caught, any punishment would be trivial on his ultimate future, surely?

He smiles. Having a mature brain gives him so much more insight into life and its possibilities. If he is **** to stay here at school, it could turn out to be quite good fun.

So Joe gets up and decides to do a little exploring.