Time goes on.

Return to the mine portal.

As Linc stepped out of the portal, he could see that he had been gone
less than a minute. He picked up the lantern and examined the wall of
the tunnel where the crack was. He could see that it went from the
top of the tunnel to the very bottom. He looked closely at the rusty
water seeping out of the crack from about a foot up from the floor of
the tunnel. He wondered what kind of iron it was that was making the
water so very rusty. There was very little signs of iron here in the
tunnel. He took up a pick that was leaning against the side of the
tunnel and was about to swing it into the area of the crack, then
changed his mind. He didn't like the fact that the water was seeping
through the crack so high off the floor of the tunnel. What was on
the other side of the crack? An underground river? He hoped not.
He figured he better let Lucas in on this bit of info, now that he had
scoped it out.

As he was preparing to leave the tunnel, he stopped to think what he
had learned about iron in his classes. Iron was an abundant mineral
and had been in use for a very long time. He thought what he had
learned about the mineral and the metal it made.

Iron is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from Latin: ferrum) and
atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition
series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is by mass the most
common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core.
It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust.

In its metallic state, iron is rare in the Earth's crust, limited to
deposition by meteorites. Iron ores, by contrast, are among the most
abundant in the Earth's crust, although extracting usable metal from
them requires kilns or furnaces capable of reaching 1,500 °C (2,730
°F) or higher, about 500 °C (900 °F) higher than what is enough to
smelt copper. Humans started to master that process in Eurasia only
about 2000 BCE , and the use of iron tools and weapons began to
displace copper alloys, in some regions, only around 1200 BCE. That
event is considered the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron
Age. In the modern world, iron alloys, such as steel, inox, cast iron
and special steels are by far the most common industrial metals,
because of their high mechanical properties and low cost.

Pristine and smooth pure iron surfaces are mirror-like silvery-gray.
However, iron reacts readily with oxygen and water to give brown to
black hydrated iron oxides, commonly known as rust. Unlike the oxides
of some other metals, that form layers, rust occupies more volume
than the metal and thus flakes off, exposing fresh surfaces for
corrosion.

Been a long time since the iron age began. Sure they had copper and
bronze, but iron was a great deal harder and more suitable for a lot
of things the other metals were too soft for. He thought about what
he had learned about one of the first uses for iron. The people back
in the seventh century found that wagon wheels with an iron rim and
six spokes was much stronger than just plain wood with three spokes.
That must have made their war chariots a formidable force to be
reckoned with.
As he reached down to get the lantern, another blue glow appeared
along the side of the tunnel. Linc looked at his watch, then
thought…What the hell. Might as well see what the time masters had in
store for him now. He put down the lantern, put on his pack and
stepped into the new portal.

As the light from the portal began to fade out, Linc could see he was
in a narrow tunnel of sorts and it was very dark. He got the
flashlight from his pack before it was completely dark. He followed
the tunnel, and come out in what looked like an open air foundry.
There was a crude kiln, and a forge . There was a couple guys working
around the kiln. One was sprinkling pulverized iron bearing ore into
the top of the kiln, and the other was stepping up and down on a pair
of foot operated bellows attached to the kiln. The forced air fanned
up the heat from the charcoal in the bottom of the kiln. As the ore
filtered down onto the super heated charcoal, it melted into a blob ,
that was drawn out later, then refined. Linc watched, fascinated. He
had read about how this was done, and now he was seeing it for
himself. There was another guy who took a blob of the crude iron out
of the forge coals and placed it onto a glowing hearthstone over one
end of the forge. He then rolled it back and forth on the stone, with
a wooden paddle, making it into a long sausage shape. Then placed it
back into the coals.
A man, who now days would be called a blacksmith , took the rolls from
the coals and with a huge bronze hammer, forged them into a complete
circle.
The iron ring then went to a different bunch of men who made wooden
wheels to fit inside the rims. Even after college, Linc found this
very educational.
Linc wandered around and found another group of men making chariots.
A lot of them had small wooden wheels and there were some being built
that had much larger wooden wheels that were rimmed with iron.
Linc wandered down a lane and saw where a group of men were gathered
around a table where a man sat. It looked like he was taking bets, as
money was exchanged for slips of paper. Must be some kind of gambling
going on Linc thought.
The lane widened out as he went on down it. As he walked farther, he
came upon a crown gathered on each side of the lane so he went behind
the people and on down along side the lane and the people. Here he
found a huge crowd gathered around three chariots that were drawn up
along side each other at what appeared to be a line of sorts. Then it
finally dawned on Linc, that this must be the start of a race, and the
men were betting on the outcome of the race, back there.
As Linc watched the chariot drivers, he recognized two of the men
talking to one driver. It was two of the time masters. They looked
right at him, but showed no sign of recognition. It must be because
they were back in time and they had never met him yet. The driver must
be a time master too because he wore a broach just like the other two.
That was what made Linc recognize them in the first place, because all
the time masters wore the same broach with a blue stone in it. He
didn't know the driver, because he had never met him. Hmm! This was
strange. Who was this guy? Linc thought. He heard one of the time
masters call him Roland.
The horses were beginning to dance a bit, so the people moved away
from the chariots. Linc moved back away then someone grabbed at his
pack. He twisted around and saw that it was a kid who accosted him.
The kid pulled at him, motioning to him to follow him. Linc wondered
, what now, but he went after the kid who started running. Linc
stepped up the pace, but when the kid ran in between two buildings,
Linc stopped. Now that was a strange thing to do to someone who you
wanted to follow you. Hmm! Now what? Linc slowly approached the
corner of one building. Just as he was about to enter, a man appeared
out of the ally and swung a piece of a board at him. Linc grabbed
the board and wrenched it from the mans hands, and hit him on the back
of the head with it. Down he went, out like a light. The kid jumped
on him like a wild cat. Linc had to swat him and knock him away. He
started to leave the man on the ground and the bawling kid when the
kid tugged at his pack. Seems like they were just thieves trying to
rob people.
Linc hurried on back to the crowd just as the race started. The
chariots raced down the lane, around a large statue and raced back to
where they started from. Looks like Roland was declared the winner.
As the cheering crowd milled around, Linc looked more closely at
the chariots. He could see that the time master's wheels had a larger
hub. He could see where the hub on his wheels had a bronze bushing
between the hub and the forged iron piece that was placed on the
end of the wooden axel. With grease of some kind, no wonder his
chariot was faster. Linc wondered if this was an idea of the chariot
maker or did the time master bring the idea to him back from the
future. Hmm! He thought. Strange, but since the two time masters
were back in his real time, this couldn't be where they lost the power
to time travel.

The crowd started dispersing, but Linc wandered around looking at the
chariots a little closer. He could hear Roland and a big burly man
talking heatedly about some thing. Linc didn't understand Italian, but
knew from the red face and bulging eyes of the burly man, that he was
very angry. Linc then saw the two other time masters walk over to
Roland and he heard them tell him to ignore the burly man. That man
was a champion jouster, and Roland wouldn't have a chance in a
jousting match with him. Roland explained that he had accepted the
challenge to a match the next day over at the arena. He had to go
now, or lose face. Even though he was a chariot racing champ, his fans
and admirers would think him a coward, like the burly man had called
out very loudly before he left.
The time masters clapped Roland on the back, then they all walked off
with Roland leading the team of horses.
Linc decided to go back to the area where all the manufacturing was
taking place.. He was curious to see how they constructed the armor
and helmets.
He walked on past the plaza where the statue was, and marveled at all
the quaint markets and displays there was scattered all around. There
were buildings, but there was a lot of open air market about this
town.
It was beginning to get late as Linc wandered up yet another street.
He wondered just why the time masters wanted with him in this town. So
far there was nothing but maybe the other time masters in this time
period.
He looked around and saw he was near a big arena. This must be where
the jousting matches were being held. Well tomorrow he would find
out. He wanted to see just how the time master did in the match.
It was getting dark and he was tired. He remembered walking past a
stable, so he went back to it . He went inside and climbed up into the
loft where hay was stored and pulled the sleeping mat from his pack
and sat down on it, took an energy bar from the pack and ate it.
Again he wondered why he was here. He then took a drink from his water
bottle and lay down to sleep.



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