"Well, we’ll just have to take short jumps again, that’s all."
"Anyway, it’s kind of fun and interesting visitant all these different time periods."
"Yeah! Isn’t it great? I wonder when and where we’ll land next."
"Oh no! Look at this, will y'!” The indicator, now working, shows that, again, they are moving in the wrong direction. Now it reads: “1495”, now “1500”.
"Not again! It couldn’t be that stupid transmat beam again."
"Nah!" Kerry stands to his feet. "Probably when this lever jammed, it also nudged the temporal direction switch. Let me take a look." He runs over to the switch and checks. "Sure enough. Let’s see” He pulls on the switch with all his might. "Uhhhhh--ah! There she is!"
Meanwhile, the time indicator has read “1510”, “1520”,”1530”, and “1540”. It is at 1545 when Kerry pulls the switch. Now the indicator shows that the cylinder is moving backward again, but only for a short while. When it reaches 1517, it stops and the cylinder hangs suspended in mid-air.
"Looks like that’s as far as she’ll go, guys."
"But why?"
"Probably the shock of changing directions in-flight."
"But why doesn’t she land?"
"Probably because of this stuck lever. Let’s try it one more time."
They go over to the lever and, with their combined strength, pull again. This time, the lever gives way and the ship tumbles speedily through the air.
"Now that the lever is unstuck, do you think you could try to force another take-off?”
Kerry tries but, "It's impossible! All I can do is try to bring her down a little more smoothly."
In this, he is successful, and, as the others watch from the window, the capsule comes floating down into a field of grass and trees.
"1517! We’ve lost 27 more years."
"A freak accident. Couldn’t be helped"
"At least we won’t have to worry about finding water for the fuel," observes Daniel upon checking the fuel gauge. "We've used hardly any fuel at all."
The indicator also shows that they are in Wittenberg, Germany.
"I don’t remember anything important about 1517," muses Kerry. "Do you?"
"Well, 1517 Wittenberg sort of rings a bell," replies Walt, "although I can’t remember why. Let’s go and have a look around, shall we?"
“At least,” ventures Kerry, ”they’ll be speaking your native language, Walt, and all of us have some knowledge of German from our schooling. You can fill us in on anything we don’t understand.”
Daniel frowns. "I say we fix the damage and get on out of here. We’ve lost enough time already."
"We’ve lost centuries," rebuts Walt. "What difference will a few more minutes make?--Just to look around a bit, since we really didn't see much the last time."
"Well, at least I think we should try to contact home base and see what they say. They’re paying the bill, you know, and we haven’t talked to them for a while."
"I guess Dan’s right, Walt. We really should try to call."
But suddenly, they hear a crowd of voices in the distance. Many people are talking excitedly at the same time.
"Seems to be something interesting going on," observes Kerry. "We might as well check it out. We can call later."
"Yeah, come on!" urges Walt. "Two against one. Let’s go!"
As they leave the clump of trees, they see a crowd of people in front of what seems to be a big church. They are watching a stockily built man at the door of the church. From his attire, our friends surmise that he is a monk. He seems to be posting something on the church door. They can hear the blows of the hammer as they approach.
"Come on!” urges Walt. "Let’s try to get a closer look.”
They push their way through the crowd until they are close enough to get a good look at the monk. Walt slaps his head with his hand. "I’ve got it! Of Course! It’s Martin Luther!" He whispers to the other two: “He’s responsible for all the divisions in the Western Church! So maybe we can do some good here anyway.”
Upon hearing his name, the monk stops his hammering and turns around, startled. "Do I know you?" he asks, gazing intently at our three friends.
"No, sorry. But I’ve heard of you. What you are doing today will go down in history, although I’m sure I don’t know why."
At this, the monk turns back around and continues to hammer. When finished, he turns around again and looks at our three Friends. "Who are you?" he asks.
"Oh, we’re just three weary travelers, passing through."
"And where are you from?"
"From a long way from here, both in space and in--"
But Walt’s words are interrupted by the loud clanging of a bell and the sound of someone yelling, "indulgences! Indulgences!"
"Ah, this must be Tetzel" observes Walt.
The monk frowns. "It’s the old rascal all-right--making money off of the fears and superstitions of the people! And just look at the people going to meet him! I must warn them."
And so, Martin Luther heads up the street, following the sounds, with our three friends close behind him. Kerry takes this opportunity to clarify the meaning of the word. “What does it mean, Walt: ‘Indulgences’?”
“Indulgences,” replies Walt “are a kind of excuse for sin. People pay varying amounts of money to be forgiven in advance for varying sins the wish to commit.”
“Sounds sacrilegious to me,” observes Daniel.
Already, there is a huge crowd of people gathered in front of the wooden wagon which is parked at the side of the road. Across both sides of the wagon is scrawled in big letters the word “INDULGENCES”. At the rear of the wagon is a short stockily built man holding a box in his hand. At the top of the box is a slot. "Put your money here." he is telling the people. "The more money, the quicker your loved one’s release from purgatory.”
“Well,” whispers Walt to his companions, “It seems that’s another meaning of ‘indulgences’—they pay to have their dead relatives freed from suffering in the afterlife.”
“Why take chances?” Tetzel is saying, “Put the largest coin you have, and when the coin jingles in the box, the soul flies from its prison."
"That’s a lie!” yells Luther, now close enough to be heard. "How can you stand here and listen to this foolishness? Read the Bible and you’ll see the utter falseness of what this man is telling you. Read the Bible and you’ll see that all you have to do to be saved is to believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ."
At this, the crowd becomes furious. Different people begin shouting different things back at Luther.
"Who do you think you are, you blockhead?”
"To believe on Christ is to believe in His Church!”
"Yeah! Who are you to go against Christ’s Holy Church?"
"I’m not against the church." screams Luther, trying to make himself heard, "but I am against what this man is doing."
"He has the blessing of the pope!" screams back another man.
"Well, in this case," screams Luther, "The pope is wrong!"
"What?! Blasphemer! How can you speak against God’s anointed?"
"The pope shall hear of this!" yells another.
"But why wait?" asks a yet another man. "Let’s defend his good name and the name of the church now!” Thus, some in the crowd take up stones to hurl at the monk.
"Take this, you blasphemer!"
"Come on!” urges Walt, as he pushes the monk behind a clump of trees. Kerry and Daniel follow Walt’s lead and soon all four are lying breathlessly on the grass, listening to the remarks of the angry crowd:
"Looks like we lost him."
"Well, never mind. When the pope hears about him, he’s done for anyway."
"He was nailing something to the church door before the indulgence seller came. Let’s go and see. Maybe it has his name on it."
Finally, the crowd dwindles down to nothing and the indulgence seller leaves.
"Looks like the coast is clear now. Let’s go."
"Well, I have to thank you fellows for saving my life."
"Oh, anyone would have done it."
The monk taps Walt on the shoulder. "Say, have you fellows had your supper yet?"
"Well, no, as a matter of fact, we haven't."
"Well, you’re welcome to share mine, such as it is. Come on."
************
The meal is a simple one of stew and biscuits. But, to our friends, it’s a meal fit for a king. They eat in silence. After the meal, they sit and talk.
"What was that document you were nailing to the church door?" asks Kerry.
Before the monk can answer, Walt asserts: "Some sort of list of grievances against the church, wasn’t it?"
"Exactly!” answers Luther, a bit surprised. “I have a copy of it in my study if you wish to read it. This way."
************
The study is a big room with a desk and several chairs. Books and papers are scattered about. He invites them to sit down, seats himself behind the desk, pulls out a long document and hands it to them. "Here’s a copy. But I’m curious to know who you are and how you came to know so much about me."
"We’re travelers from another place, and time, if you can believe that."
The monk only frowns and murmurs "Hmmm!"
"95 Thesis," reads Walt aloud.
"Wow!" exclaims Kerry, "You found that many things wrong with the Church?"
"Accordion to the Bible!" insists Luther.
Walt thumbs through the document and stops, holding his finger at a certain point. "This business about justification by faith alone--"
Luther’s eyes light up. "That’s my central theme and my main grievance! You see, I suddenly realized that there is nothing I can do to earn my eternal salvation but simply to trust in the shed blood of Jesus."
Kerry sighs and looks at the other two. "There’s that name again!" He then turns to the monk and asks: "But what can Jesus possibly have to do with it? He was just a good man--a prophet, who taught many good things. But that’s all. Nothing more."
"He was the Divine Son of God,” insists Luther, “and He died for our sins so that now we need only to trust in Him. We are saved by faith in Him alone."
"But, surely," insists Daniel, "Our good works must count for something. I mean, admittedly, we can’t be perfect, due to the entrance of sin into the world, but if that could be prevented--if there were no original sin, surely we could be good enough to earn our own salvation."
"That’s probably what the Church is talking about," adds Walt before the monk can reply. "Perhaps it’s only waiting to find a better way to deal with original sin."
"So why fight the establishment, Martin?" asks Kerry.
"Yeah!" adds Walt, "If you believe salvation is by faith in Jesus alone, fine. But keep it to yourself. I mean, why stir up trouble needlessly?"
The monk’s face is grim. Suddenly, he rises from his seat, grabs an inkwell from the desk and hurls it in the direction of our three friends. "Satan, the Lord rebuke you!" he cries out at the top of his voice. "Fowl demons, sent from hell to dissuade me from my purpose! Be gone!"
They move quickly to the side and out of the study. They hear the inkwell slam into the wall and break as they run out of out of the house, not pausing to look back.
"What’s wrong with him?" asks Kerry. "Is he crazy?"
"No," replies Walt, "Just a little fanatical."
************
Back at the ship, they quickly work out the coordinate settings and repair the slight damage, talking while they work.
"That name again--Jesus--it keeps coming up."
"Yeah! It’s uncanny!"
"Why people want to worship him and trust in him as if he were God or something is beyond me."
"I tell you, I don’t care if I never hear that name again!"
"That goes for me too!"
"And me!"