Scrolls, books, and tablets were all traceable to a specific period of time in history based on the materials used. Cultures could also be identified by whatever the message had been written on.
“It seems the person who wrote this was very interested in finding an ancient Greek device,” she stopped his progress momentarily and flipped back to the cover.
Her finger rested on the image of the strange mechanism. It appeared to have gears and wheels, with a few hands on it, almost like a clock, but seemingly not a clock at all.
“I’ve seen something like this before,” Sean said with a tone of uncertainty. “I can’t remember where, though.”
She nodded. “You are talking about the Antikythera mechanism. It was discovered in 1900 off the coast of the Greek island of the same name. No one could determine its use for over a hundred years. A research team claims that the device’s use was to give captains of nautical vessels a more accurate way to chart the stars and planets. It is a logical conclusion, since seafaring ships used celestial bodies to guide their voyages.”
“You don’t sound convinced,” he eyed her suspiciously.
Her eyebrows flicked up for as second. “I cannot say I am entirely convinced. Though that may have been the purpose of the one discovered near Antikythera, this book suggests there were others. And they were not created for a singular reason.”
Sean’s curiosity was definitely piqued. “So, what then?”
She smiled. “I don’t know yet. I haven’t finished the book.” Adriana pulled the journal out of his hands with a gentle tug.
He returned the smile. “I’ll let you get back to your reading then. But I’d like to hear what you learn about it.”
Her expression changed to one of doubt. “I thought you said you were going to retire? That you were tired of all this?”
A snort of laughter escaped his nostrils again. He couldn’t get anything past her. “Yeah. I know. But I’m not retired yet.”
Chapter 37
The guard looked up from his computer screen and gave a nonchalant smile. The computer was positioned on top of a small desk in the corner of the wide hall. Joe imagined the guy must have had the single most boring job on the planet, to just sit there and check people’s clearance for access to a room.
At the time being, that boring job presented a huge problem to what they were trying to do. Helen and Joe continued moving forward, hoping the guy hadn’t noticed their pace slow upon seeing him. As they neared, he gave a single nod to them, and shot a quick glance at the ID badges that hung around their necks. Almost as quickly, he returned to staring at the computer screen while Helen rapidly entered in her five-digit code.
She pressed the enter button, but instead of getting a green light accompanied with the door opening, a red light appeared on the pad. Her code hadn’t worked. Joe checked out of the corner of his eye to make sure the security guard hadn’t noticed. For the moment he hadn’t, his eyes still glued to whatever it was he was looking at on his monitor. Helen swallowed hard and entered her code again. She took a breath as she hit enter. A shot of fear ran through her as the red light beeped again.
This time, the security guard did notice. The man looked up from his computer with an irritated expression on his face. When he stood up, Joe realized how big the guy really was. The guard was easily three four inches taller than Joe and was built like a Mack truck, with muscles bulging out of the tight guard uniform. He had a military haircut, something Joe hoped was more related to fashion rather than a previous line of work.
As the huge man stepped out from behind his desk, Joe had a million thoughts run through his head. Some of them were wild, fanciful ideas of taking the guy out at the knees then knocking him unconscious. That might have worked, but to what end? They would still be stuck there in the hallway entering an invalid code. And if it didn’t work, which was the more likely scenario, Joe would probably end up in a hospital or dead.
The tension built as the guard stepped closer to where they stood next to the keypad. “I’m sorry, ma’am. We’ve had problems with this thing all day. People have been entering their access code, and it isn’t letting anyone through. The tech guys are supposedly working on it, but it may be tomorrow before they have it fixed.” He smiled as he cut in front of them and punched in a different set of numbers. “They gave me an override code just in case anyone else had any problems.”
“Thank you so much,” Helen offered, forcing a grateful smile. “I was starting to think I was losing my mind for a second there.”
“No trouble at all, ma’am.” The guard tried to sneak a quick up and down at Helen, hoping she hadn’t noticed. Joe almost couldn’t contain his laughter.
Finally, the door clicked open. Helen made herself contain a sigh of relief. “Thanks again,” she said and almost rushed through the opening. Joe simply gave the young man an appreciative nod.
Once the door closed behind them, they both let out a gasp.
“I thought we were done for sure,” Helen related.
“Done? Did you see the way he checked you out?” Joe nearly exclaimed as they disappeared around a left corner in an even more sterile hallway.
She let out a doubtful hiss. “Honey, that boy is half my age.”
“I don’t know. You might qualify as a cougar to these young guys.”
She shook her head and his comment as they rounded another bend in the corridor and came to a long, glass window. Through it, they could see a vast warehouse full of boxes, crates, and plastic containers. There were mechanical loaders moving about, lifting some of the plastic-wrapped shipments onto pallets for other automated vehicles to take to another part of the room.
“This is a high-tech operation they got going on here,” Joe observed. “I only see a few people inside that warehouse area.” He motioned to a few people in white lab coats. Each one of the workers wore a white mask over his mouth and nose.
Helen acknowledged the people inside with a short glance, continuing to push forward until they had reached a more elaborate doorway. It was an air-lock entrance, the likes of which Joe had only seen in movies.
On the wall next to one of the windows, a temperature gauge displayed red digital numbers that read 40 degrees.
“Is that the temperature in there?” Joe asked.
She nodded. “The flu vaccine needs to be kept cool. The temperature should be between thirty-six and fifty degrees. Forty is optimal.” She pointed at the intricate doorway. “That will be a clean room,” she said then stepped over to the other side of the corridor where a few lab coats and masks hung on a metal rack on the wall.
She grabbed a coat off a hook and started putting it on. “You’ll need to wear one of these,” she stated. “And we’ll need to hurry.”
Joe obeyed and quickly snatched a lab coat from the rack. He slipped it on over his coat then copied his wife, pulling a facemask over his nose and mouth.
“We have to go one at a time through this air lock,” she said, pointing to a sign that backed up what she said. “I’ll go first.”
Joe watched as Helen pressed the button that opened the automatic door, and stepped inside. When the portal closed behind her, she pressed another button on the inside edge of the next door. A stream of mist and air sprayed out from jet nozzles imbedded in the ceiling. After a few seconds of the sterilization process, a green light flashed next to the second door before it popped open.
For a moment, Joe thought he heard footsteps tapping from around the corner. He wondered if the security guard had been alerted to who they were or the fact that they weren’t really employees of the company. He had to wait until the other door closed before he could open the first, but the thing was moving slowly. The noise was growing louder, and he feared any second the guard or several guards would appear around the corner.