“Hmm, that’s curious,” Helena finished her coffee. “How recent?”

“Oh, I don’t know, about a month or so ago. I was in Los Angeles for a meeting and she approached me with questions about the portal and told me the most imaginative story about her time travel,” Professor Kroll chuckled. “She is a writer, after all. She presented me a story with very impressive details and it was probably one of the better time travel fiction I’ve ever heard. She’s must’ve watched a lot of sci-fi movies. But it was just another fraudulent story after all. She mentioned the Orange County as a starting point, but it was hardly a news to her since she has been to my lab before and reviewed some of my research.”

Helena bit her lip and frowned, “Did she know anything about the specifics of your research or any details about the discoveries you made so far?”

“Not that I recall,” Professor Kroll tried to remember. “When she came to the lab to interview me, she was rather skeptic of everything and didn’t understand most of the scientific jargon or explanations. She was asking a lot of questions at first, but after awhile I think she just got bored and used an excuse to leave. I thought her rather simple-minded at the time. She did write a nice article about my research and my work in general, so she’s not a bad writer. Her imagination though…” he chuckled again.

Alice snorted and quickly turned away, making sure they couldn’t see her face. She hoped that they didn’t pay attention to the loud noise she made. “Simple-minded? Not a bad writer?” she whispered. “I’m such a good actress if I convinced him I was a simple-minded. I should’ve been an actress. I’m cute and talented.”

“You know, professor, I’m afraid that Alice is not as simple-minded as you think she is and if she made up a story about time travel, it is possible she based it on the real time traveller, Bette Porter,” Helena said pensively. “I wonder…”

She didn’t finish because Professor Kroll shook his head and put a finger to his lips. “I think we need to find a more secluded place to talk so you can tell me more about this Bette Porter.”