 Martin builds a "CCTBS", a cathode-ray centrifugal time breakascope: a time machine. He plans to use it to go back to just before he crashed so that he can avert the problem the second time around and fly back to Mars. Tim corrects the clock on the CCTBS to the current hour/minute time of 12:15. However the clock is actually the year calculator and that sends Martin and Tim back to the year 1215 in England, England over where Martin s spaceship malfunction originally happened. The time trip broke the CCTBS, so they have no way of getting "home" until Martin fixes it, which he does and has it set to send them back at the stroke of midnight. In the meantime, Tim witnesses a young man being attacked, and Tim comes to his rescue. However with Tim and ultimately Martin s interference, the man drops a parchment and runs off without it. Tim has just altered history as the man, who would have beat off his attacker, would have delivered the parchment to its intended destination. That parchment and its intended destination are the Magna Carta and the Archbishop of Canterbury at Runnymede. Before Martin and Tim can correct history by taking the Magna Carta to the Archbishop, they meet the Duchess of Brimstone, who witnessed the attack. Although the Duchess commends them for their heroic action, she really works for King John, who opposes signing the Magna Carta. The beautiful Duchess distracts girl-crazy Tim and drugs Martin, allowing her henchman, Basil, to get and destroy the parchment. A further problem is that the drug has shrunk Martin to 1 foot high. However Martin still intends of going to Runnymede, where the Duchess and King John are also located, as he needs to get some more of the drug from her as an antidote. Martin also intends on getting the King to sign "a reasonable facsimile" of the Magna Carta as he acts as a miniature appearing/disappearing sorcerer. All this needs to be accomplished before midnight when they need to get back to the CCTBS and hopefully back to present day Los Angeles. They do make it back, but the CCTBS doesn t make it back with them in a usable state. Martin is still stranded on Earth, but at least "home".