Subsequent research on the statue by the historian Eleanor at least partially revealed its meaning. She was the only one to notice that as we were leaving the tower the statue’s arms and wings were in a different position than when we had entered, and she brought it to our attention. The same thing happened on the other days we visited. Sometimes the statue’s lips were stretched into a smile, other times it wore an expression of disappointment, and at still others it was biting its lip with its wings wrapped around its body. As a thorough examination revealed the statue to be a solid bronze cast with no mechanism concealed within it, we took the statue’s changes of position and expression to be one of the many mysteries of the device and everything related to it. Eleanor discovered in the archives a reference to the fact that the tower had once been known as the Cock’s Tower and one of the earliest names for the device was the cock’s works. Researchers disagreed on the name’s origin, but the most convincing theory was that in the twilight of antiquity there had been a fortress on this site, a citadel called the Cock’s Nest, and the name Cock’s Tower had evolved from that. In this instance etymology, the science or art of words’ origins, gropes for an explanation. In the past it was written cockworks—in other words, obviously, cock’s works. Now at least we understood the importance of the man-cock statue: It was a symbol of the original Cock’s Tower and cock’s works, which our ancestors had placed there as a symbolic guardian. After further research Eleanor told us there was yet another name appearing several times in the same context that was perhaps even older than cockworks, which was clock. It meant nothing to any of us. The historical records were of no avail. The word clock is unknown today. Maybe there was a misinterpretation somewhere along the way, who knows? In any case, we decided not to use the word, as we couldn’t safely say what it related to or what it was meant to describe. Just as we don’t know what in fact the thing called a clock was supposed to have done. From all indications there was most likely an error in copying the word from one document to another, which led to the unusual and plainly mistaken name clock.
We switched on the lights and saw a few faded frescoes and some wooden benches along the walls. Past them was the staircase up to the tower. Master Matthias went first, followed by his assistant, and I went third. After several minutes of climbing, panting for breath, we arrived at another door. Master Matthias again applied his irons to the door, and we stepped into a large square hall occupying the entire floor space of the tower. We had reached our goal. Several tables stood pushed together in the middle of the room. Resting on top of them were wooden chests of various sizes, some painted with tableaux that were now quite cracked and worn, others inlaid with metal and various types of wood. There looked to be about sixty in alclass="underline" roughly twenty large, five medium, and the rest small. Each chest had an opening for an iron, and after pausing a moment to catch their breath, Master Matthias and his assistant took out their irons and began opening all of the chests, one after the next. Inside the first was a set of iron gears wrapped in what looked like leather. The second contained mirrors; the next, drawings and books; and the next, particle accelerators and decelerators. We realized the device had been dismantled and placed in the chests for safekeeping. Once all of the chests had been opened, we gathered the contents together and catalogued everything. Two of the large trunks were full of books and papers, which we assumed were instructions for assembling the device. We couldn’t be sure, however, since the writing on the diagrams and in most of the books was in a language formerly spoken by scholars, probably the Páli dialect. One of the small chests also contained notes written by my great-grandfather. I couldn’t help but feel moved when my colleagues showed me. Some of the books and drawings were plagued with mold and falling apart, so it wasn’t simply a matter of assembling the device; in fact we would have to partially re-create it. In the course of this process we hoped that its meaning would be revealed to us. Thankfully, Eleanor was able to reconstruct one of the texts that seemed to us to be centraclass="underline"
“The theory of vitalism, also known as the theory of life force, was suppressed and swept under the carpet roughly three centuries ago, yet new insights into human consciousness have recently been unified with the latest findings in the field known as quantum mechanics, an unexpected and sudden development with compelling implications for the field of theology or divinity. As teachings on God have gradually been unified with teachings on the origin of the universe, the study of human consciousness has been unified with the study of the human soul. Now these findings, taken together, have enabled us to build the device. A device whose power is immeasurable, a device that underpins and frames our existence as individuals, as well as the principles of state and empire. The anthropic principle, that is, the idea that we see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to observe it, has been successfully unified with the no-boundary condition, which explains the infinity of the universe by the fact that the universe has no boundary in imaginary time.”
It took us several months to assemble the device. Meanwhile, the news that we were near putting it into operation spread throughout the city and its environs. Speculation of all sorts emerged. It was rumored that anyone who came within a certain proximity of the device felt a sensation of extraordinary pleasure. It was rumored that anyone who came within a certain distance experienced a feeling of incredible dread and suddenly grasped the meaning of the word only hazily explained in old encyclopedias under the heading hell. It was said that when one stood before the device, one could see not only one’s own future but the future of several nearby galaxies. It was said that when one stood behind the device, one could see not only one’s own past but the past of a large portion of the Milky Way. It was said that when one touched the device, one’s mind merged with the minds of one’s friends and enemies. Many things were said, and all that was said — whether fortunately or unfortunately — was true!
What we kept secret from all the authorities, however, was the main purpose of the device. It was revealed to us only little by little, bit by bit. Eleanor, our colleague from Aquitaine, a mixed land of French and English, was the first to grasp an inkling of its secret. She shared her conjecture with Master Matthias, and ultimately he shared it with me. Initially she was uneasy when Master Matthias told her he had let me in on her thinking concerning the device. Then, when we all tried it ourselves and everything that had been said about it turned out to be true, Eleanor came forward with Master Matthias and his assistant, and through a series of lengthy and detailed calculations convinced us there was much more to the device than we dared to admit. Their explanation involved a theory of grand unification, which merged weak and strong electromagnetic interactions, refuting the theory even as they confirmed it, then continuing with a discussion of the singularity of the idea and the phenomenon in space-time, whereby the curvature of space-time increases exponentially with the infinite value of human emotions.