Issue 1 Downtime

Roland Puzzle #2: Freedom Riders
Difficulty: Easy
Google allowed?: Yes
((Note -- this is a placeholder while I work on a more interesting one -- just kind of a difficulty check, this one. Probably a bit easier than I intended, but I'm not a-redoin' it.))

"There have been a lot of modes of transport, over the years, that have been crucial to bringing things to freedom. From Hannibal and his elephants -- no, I wasn't there -- to the Trojan Horse -- which really shouldn't have worked -- people have been finding unique ways to get from point A to point B.

The question, then, is what is this?"

"Haley's handiwork!" Kay pipes up, maybe a tad too loudly.

"...he's still mad about the Trabant, isn't he?"

Haley took the opportunity to rub her eye wiwith her middle finger in Kay's direction.

"...car parts?"

"Very IMPORTANT car parts. Car parts that are difficult to replace."

"Look, I'm sorry I broke your car alright!" she snapped.

"It was Regan's fault anyway," Cal put in.

"It was a team effort.

But there's a way to make up for this!"

"Well I didn't help break it," Steve mumbled.

"We can't afford to buy you a new car." Aisha said "None of us get that big of an allowance."

"Oh, that's being taken care of. And most of you didn't actually blow it up, or suggest blowing it up, did you? No, no, that's stuff that can be taken out on the midterms."

Haley scowled. She most certainly wasn't trying not to cry, no sir.

"As I said, I'll be getting a new car. And I'll need a couple...let's say volunteers...to wash it for me. We'll consider that even, as, from what I can tell, the, erm, going rate on a Trabant isn't what it once was."

"I found one for sale for nine hundred pounds in Kent," Cal offered, just to underscore the point.

"...that's more than I paid for it when it was new..."

Haley quirked her eyebrow a bit, the scowl mostly dissipated--washing a car was one thing. Losing points on a midterm over a total accident was something else entirely.

"Your car cost less than a thousand bucks...quid....whatever they're called here?"

"Well, you have to remember when I bought it, it was the '60s. Quite a different time, then."

Brigid pictured her professor in an Austin Powers-esque mod outfit, then made a face.

"And what was that all about?"

"Nothing!"

"Were you at Woodstock?" Alex put in.

"I'm afraid not; I was sort of stuck in the DDR at the time. I did listen to some of that rock and roll on pirate radio stations, though I'll admit, much of it just seemed like noise to me.

I DO have a couple things from that era in my office, though; anyone want to go down and check them out?"

"Dance Dance Revolution?" Kay asks, confused.

"What's this? Dancing revolutions?"

"Well it's... a dancing... game....." she says, slowing down as it dawns on her that that is absolutely not what he was talking about and that she's in the process of making an idiot out of herself.

"It's a video game, Professor."

God does he even know how to use a computer?

Roland blinked. "Like....Pong? That's a thing, right?"

"This one has buttons you step on like you're dancing."

Roland blinked. "Dancing in what way?"

"This sounds like a worthwhile field trip," Cal decided, nodding.

"...to dance, or to my office?" Roland said, now hopelessly confused.

"To go to your office." Aisha said "Where were you, again?"

Haley tried mostly unsuccessfully to contain her smirk at the whole situation.

"Well no, I meant we need a field trip to show him Dance Dance Revolution. I mean, he knows how to dance, right?"

"Dancing's...never been my thing...I wasn't blessed by the muses.

The DDR, Aisha. East Germany."

"Oh, ok." Aisha said "Why were you there?"

"Were you a spy? Of course, then you'd have to kill us if you told us."

"Because I lived there. That was my home at the time...

I wasn't a spy. At least, I wasn't a spy then.

I actually haven't done much...James Bonding, as it were."

"Why? I man... why did you live there? Weren't they all, like, communists and stuff?"

"It's...complicated. Let's leave it at that."