"The catacombs! Yes, I could do it! But what about you and others?"

The prisoner shook his head. "We each will serve God in his own way. But you - take this to brethern." From within his cloak he drew a small scroll made of some animal skin. "I thought it would have to be destroyed with me, but now it seems that is not so. It's a first generation copy of a letter from our brother Paulus to his friends in this city. Give it to others - they will treasure it well!"

Tock tucked scroll into his shell with reverence. Then, before he could think twice about it, he hopped into slimy pit. Oh, stench! At least he had a soft landing. (He tried not to think about reason why.) Tock crawled away as fast as his legs would take him. He made mental note to thank George, his personal trainer, for working him so hard on treadmill in recent weeks.

The dark passage twisted and turned. Tock passed through a broken cistern where he was able to wash off most of muck covering his body. After more wandering in dark, Tock entered a cavernous room dimly lit by sunlight shining through cracks in high ceiling. There were signs that people had been there recently, but not a soul was to be found. Alone and lost, Tock sat down in despair. From within his shell, he pulled out scroll and his laptop. "I wonder how long I've been down here", he muttered. Then, for first time, he noticed that label on center face in his Clock Domain.com Trizoner clock read "Italy".

"Of course!" Tock slapped his shell with palm of his hand. He remembered now that he had set one of three clock faces for Shiverbrook time, one for Eastern Standard (he often phoned his sister in Virginia), and one for corresponding time in Italy (Trik-Tech was sending him there next week on business). He tried to activate Shiverbrook clock face, but it didn't respond. But clock face labeled "Virginia" was active! With a quiver in his green belly, Tock clicked Apply. Immediately, he felt a buzzing in his head again ("Got to cut back on coffee after 10 p.m.", he thought) and his surroundings began to fade.

"Oh no, scroll!" Tock cried. Drat. It would probably sit in that cave for all of history. Nothing to be done about it now.

In every issue of "Just a Minute", join Tock Turtle for an adventure in time and space. No one knows just where or when he'll find himself next, not even folks at Clock Domain . com! http://www.clockdomain.com/cgi-bin/subscribe.cgi?id=28

Andrew smiled as though to himself. "Well, sure, if a turtle's going to talk to me in a vision, no reason why I shouldn't answer it. We're in Virginia, near a place called Farmville. Yesterday around this time, we were nearly decimated by General Lee's troups, who passed through here like a whirlwind. I and my men are all that's left of our regiment, and we've lost contact with other Union forces."

"And date?" Tock asked, breathlessly.

"April eighth, year of our Lord 1865."

"Sir, listen to me. Don't give up! If you can just make it to a place called Appomattox by tomorrow morning, you'll be fine!"

"Hmmm, Appomattox... That's a good forty-mile haul from here. But if we started now... I wonder what hour is, already?"

Tock smiled in relief. Andrew would take his men to Appomattox in time for historic moment of Lee's surrender! He whipped out his laptop and reactivated screen. "It's only 4:30 in afternoon, sir. You've got plenty of time to..." Suddenly he noticed that Andrew was looking at computer with a dazed expression in his eyes. His head nodded, and then he slumped over in a faint. Tock decided to take advantage of this temporary lapse in Andrew's attention to make his getaway. Scrambling under a bush, he pulled out his laptop again and tried to activate Trizoner clock faces. They were dead. In frustration, he selection Change Skin function, and looked through list of clock skins.

"Hmmm. Pizza with extra cheese. I could go for one of those right now!" Tock clicked Apply, and in an instant now-familiar buzz began in his head. (He was starting to like it. "Better than coffee, actually.") His surroundings began to fade. Now a well-seasoned skin traveller, Tock waited a few moments, and, as he expected, buzzing stopped. But where was he? All was dark, and some rough material dangling from a low ceiling scratched top of his head. Trying not to panic, Tock began to crawl. All he had to guide him was faint sound of voices in distance, and tantalizing scent of a hot pizza, probably oozing with extra cheese...

In every issue of "Just a Minute", join Tock Turtle for an adventure in time and space. No one knows just where or when he'll find himself next, not even folks at Clock Domain . com! Subscribe: http://www.clockdomain.com/cgi-bin/subscribe.cgi?id=28