Padway initially wonders whether he is dreaming or delusional, but he quickly accepts his fate and sets out to survive. As an archaeologist, he has enough understanding of various devices used before his time but after the sixth century to be able to reproduce them by the means available. He can speak both modern Italian and Classical Latin, and quickly learns enough Vulgar Latin (which was spoken at that time) to communicate effectively. Most crucially, Padway had read with great attention the book of the historian Procopius, who described the very war at whose outset Padway finds himself. Though not in possession of a physical copy of Procopius when hurled back in time, Padway had memorized his book in great detail, down to the precise details of the time and route of the various armies' moves and their tactical and strategic considerations, as well as the convoluted and violent power struggles of the various contenders for the Gothic Kingship. Thus Padway, in effect, knows the direct, immediate future of the country where he lives and often of individual people whom he meets (at least, until he acts in a way that changes that future). In addition to this specialized and uniquely useful knowledge of the current war, Padway had taken a general interest in military history, which he would eventually be able to put to very practical purposes.