Forever Young

Chapter Twenty-five. A New Element

Chapter Twenty-five

A New Element 

Janik opened the south-facing door revealing a short corridor illuminated by light streaming through the only exterior window. At the end of the corridor stood a double door with two small windows. Peering into the darkness Erika thought she saw some movement in the shadows.  On stepping through the doors she felt the squish of animal droppings and heard the residents scuttling for cover. The place reeked of urine. 

Using their torches, and staying close to each other, the two students moved through an open gate on to a huge flat rectangular piece of concrete . Battered wooden boards surrounded the surface. At either end, large glass-like barriers soared to the ceiling. On the other two sides rows of wooden benches, placed at varying heights, reached half way up the walls. Moth eaten remains of banners covered the upper reaches. 

"It looks like the Myr came here to watch something," said Erika. 

"But there aren't any lights. Look at the ceiling. Nothing. I don't understand." 

"But I can't see the ceiling, Janik." 

"What do you mean? It's clear as a bell." 

"Not to me. You must have really good night vision." 

"I was never aware of it." 

Janik's eyes had obviously adjusted to the darkness and he soon detected a little room in the far right corner of the building. It contained treasure. There were shovels of various shapes and sizes, a couple of huge cord baskets on metal frames, and standing in the middle of the room, the first wheeled vehicle they had seen in Pergamon.  

It was a one-seater. Erika almost lost her balance as she climbed up to the lofty perch, intent on examining the control panel. There was the expected wheel for steering, a lever which mechanically raised and lowered a skirt at the bottom of the vehicle but little else except for a horizontal slot to the right of the wheel. Erika scanned the ledge beneath the glass windscreen and soon found a silvered disk that fit snugly into the opening. Nothing. Behind the driving seat were two silver coloured cylinders. Could they be gas tanks? 

"What have you found down below?" 

"Brushes, really big brushes and there is a pipe here full of holes. It looks like a sprinkler of some kind." 

"What do you think it is, Janik?" 

"A cleaning machine of some kind but I have no idea what you would clean with it." 

"Maybe the floor in there?"  

"Maybe." 

"I just wish I could find out what is powering everything here," said Erika. "I'm sure it's something to do with these discs but I can't get them to work. Maybe we should have another try at those machines in the library. Let's get out of here. It's so much nicer in the main building." 

"I suppose we should make our way. Don't forget, you still have to look at Hertz's papers. I don't think Leitus expects me to uncover the secret of the alphega diet on my first attempt, so I could mess around with the discs. Come on."

***** 

Janik made absolutely no headway with the discs. Nothing worked, so he returned to his task of deciphering the Myrian language. Meanwhile, Erika found Professor Hertz's papers quite easy to follow. Apparently he had been running a small analytical business on the side, probably to supplement an inadequate income. He had kept a detailed record of all his transactions. Most of them seemed to involve water analysis. There were some exceptions. One piqued her interest, an analysis carried out for a Mr. Howie Galgov of Timus. Leitus would be intrigued by this. Timus was the home town of his ancestors, Walt and Hilda.