The listing, Timeline by Michael Crichton (2001, Paperback) has ended.
Tucked away in the arid New Mexico desert, Robert Doniger and his team of scientists develop a time machine based on the development of quantum technology. While Doniger envisions a lucrative monopoly on the tourism and travel industries, beloved Yale history professor Edward Johnston sees it as a chance to finally experience the subject of his scholarly profession. After getting his hands on a prototype of Doniger's time machine, Johnston is hurled back in time to Medieval France. Problems arise, however, when the aged professor gets stuck in this colorful alternate universe filled with fantastic castles, knights in shining armor, and beautiful damsels in distress. Anxious to redeem his ticket to fame and fortune, Doniger sends out a daring rescue team made up of two ex-military types and three of Johnston's university colleagues dressed in the latest Medieval styles complete with electronic sound pieces used for language translation. Soon after their arrival to the year 1357, the brawny military guides are slaughtered by horse soldiers hired by an evil English nobleman who has mistaken Johnston for a sorcerer and kidnapped him. Now it's up to the academics to save the professor and find a way back to the twentieth century.