It was a nice summer evening. Zoey and Kate were walking in the park as the sun set down behind mountains far away and houses not so far away. It was a day like any other; they went for a walk every day for the past 5 years that they had lived together. They talked about their days—what happened—good, bad, and everything in between. "It was so funny as the whole cafe watched them trip, fall, and spill the coffee all over the customer. I really tried to hold my laughter like everyone else, but I couldn't, so I burst into laughter and then the whole cafe did; it was so goo--what is this?" Zoey didn't get to finish the story because of the strange box that lay in front of them. They walked there every day and never saw anything like this. It was a wooden box with what looked like hand carving. "Should we leave it here and just leave?" Kate asked, but didn't get a response from Zoey, who was already investigating the box. "What are you doing? You don't know what it is or what it does!" Said Kate, but Zoey was quick with a response: "If this wasn't meant for us, why would there be an envelope labeled 'for Kate and Zoey' ?" There really was a letter. It was in a nice, black envelope with golden ornaments that looked like they were painted and carved at the same time; they had never seen anything like this. Someone got really creative and made sure that it was perfect. They opened the envelope only to find a letter on the same black paper with golden ornaments; it almost looked like nature's best creation. "Come on, read it," Zoey insisted. Kate was slightly annoyed since she had to read everything because Zoey is a very slow reader. "For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8" That was all. Kate was confused. Zoey, on the other hand, was really excited; it seemed like a puzzle. Zoey loves puzzles. They took the box and letter home.
"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" Kate asked but didn't get a response. Zoey was investigating the box from all sides; there was nothing but a combination lock with a weird, little protrusion in the middle. The combination lock needed a 5-letter word. Around the combination lock was a painted compass with some constellations around it. "To the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Read Kate again out loud. "You're a genius, babe, but we need to knock so the door will open," said Zoey, with excitement in her voice. "Go on, you figured it out; you can knock if you want to," said Zoey with a slight smile. "I'm scared of what will happen; don't you want to do it?" Kate replied with a little fear in her voice. Zoey started immediately knocking on all sides of the box, but nothing happened. "What do we do now?" Asked Kate. "Well, maybe we should direct the north of the coordinates to the north." Said Zoey with an uncertain voice. Kate pulled up her mobile and started to download CSS. Immediately she started pointing the box's north toward the real north. When she was finished, Zoey started to knock again on the sides, but still, nothing was happening. "Let's leave it up for tomorrow; it's late, and we will be smarter after the night." Kate said, with quite a tired voice. "Maybe we can be smarter thanks to the night!" Zoey exclaimed enthusiastically.Kate looked at her incomprehensibly. "We have it right here, in front of our eyes, or, more accurately, someone used to have it in front of their eyes!" Said Zoey with even more excitement in her voice. Kate still didn't get it, even after Zoey pointed out the constants around the compass. "Maybe we need to look to the past, because this is not how the circumstances are now. The equator of the Earth is not static; it changes. It's not really a noticable change during one life span, but if you look back many years, you will see." Explained Zoey. "OK, but how do we figure out when it was and where north was?" Asked Kate. Zoey was lost; she had no idea.
They went to sleep for the night, but Zoey couldn't fall asleep; she was haunted by the thought of what was inside the box, who set it up, why, and how they were supposed to know the date for the journey. She replayed all the evidence; there wasn't that much; how could she not figure it out? Kate sleep talks, and sometimes, when Zoey can't sleep, she listens to her. Sometimes it's just nonsense, sometimes she talks about memories, and sometimes she has ideas. This time, she muttered, and Zoey heard only one word clearly: Matthew. She immediately knew what to do. There was only one sequence of numbers, and that was 'Matthew 7:7-8'. She got to work, searching through their library for old books, of which they had plenty. And conveniently, they had a book from the year 877 with a map of the stars and a compass. She woke Kate up and, full of excitement, told her the story of how she found out. Kate was really surprised and asked her if she had tried it yet. "Of course not; I wanted you to be with me for this!" Zoey told her, still full of excitement.
Kate got up and went to the box with Zoey. "Well, how do you line it up?" Asked Kate. "I don't know; I haven't thought that far ahead." Answered Zoey, quite nervously. "Don't you want to wake me up again when you figure it out?" Asked Kate sleepily. "No, I think I got it; there is only one way to solve this with this method. We need some light, magnetic material; a thin iron plate would be perfect." Said Zoey, and she immediately got searching. Kate didn't really think about it and started to search too. Shortly after, Kate found something that looked like what Zoey described. She didn't even have to say anything because Zoey was right there beside her as soon as she heard the distinct sound that thin metals make."That's exactly what we need; we just need to cut it in the right shape, and it's done."
When Kate finished her very precise cutting, they went back to the box. "You could have grinded it more, don't you think?" Asked Zoey ironically. "Maybe I could have, but I prefer having it perfectly done by me, even if it takes an hour." Kate answered with humor in her voice. "Well, let's just put it on the box and hope it works." Said Zoey nervously. They put the plate on the protrusion, and it started to spin until it settled down. "You see, why did I drill that little hole in the middle now?" Said Kate, still with humor in her voice, maybe even more this time. Zoey didn't answer; she just looked at her and smiled. "Well, do you want to try to point it in the right direction now?" Asked Zoey happily. Kate nodded and started directing it in the right direction with the map. When Kate had done it, she asked Zoey to knock on it. Zoey knocked, and the first wall slowly dropped down. She kept going, but with no luck on the other sides. This was huge; they finally had something done, but it wasn't over; this was actually only the beginning.
