Jacob Burns and the Order of the Algorithm #Wattys2017

Chapter 13: A Light in the Darkness (Current)

"How about this, do you recognize this?" She asked as she placed the key in front of the machine's face. A beam of light emitted from one of the sensors beneath the glass, scanning the image before sending the robot into another whir of computations.

"The Eye in the Atom," the robot replied after some time, "A high society symbol that rose to prominence in the early 2020's for gentlemen's clubs and science consortiums around the world, though its origins may date much earlier."

"Oh, for crying out loud," I said, quickly becoming exasperated with the whole ordeal, "This thing is as useless as it is dangerous. We're never going to find anything this way!"

"Hmph, well he can still help us haul books back and forth at the very least," she said with a pout, "Protectron, bring me everything you have on secret societies, symbols, and code-breaking."

And with that, the robot was off to search amongst the wreckage. Ilya and I, on the other hand, worked on finding a way into the main reading gallery. A long, vast hall lined with tall arching windows that left us exposed to the outside world, we decided instead to find a nice secluded spot in an alcove near the far end. The Protectron began bringing in stack after stack of books until slowly, we were surrounded by a treasure trove of lost knowledge.

The table creaked under the massive weight as Ilya buried herself into book after book, all but hidden among the towering stacks. I tried to help for as long as I could, but after finding half the volumes completely unreadable, I quickly gave up and took to patrolling the perimeter while she worked in a feverish silence.

The hours seemed to slip by until the darkness outside had become complete, leaving me feeling more anxious and exposed than ever. It wasn't wise to have an entire building lit up in the dead of night, in fact, it was the kind of thing that put a bullseye squarely on your back. I made my way back over to Ilya, where I found her pouring over a few faded newspapers in search of some sort of clue as to what this all meant. Halfway between an article on the increasing tensions over the last known oil reserve and a report on the New Plague sweeping across the mountains of Colorado, Ilya looked up, heavy bags forming beneath her tired eyes.

"Hey, kiddo? It's probably time to wrap it up for the night," I said as I laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, "C'mon, we'll find a place to hole up for now and get some rest. We can get a fresh start in the morning."

"No! Please, Mr. Burns, I'm so close, I can feel it! It's like, I'm missing something... Something right in front of me, but I just can't see it. I mean, it's too short to be a coded message, it's not some kind of location reference... I just can't find anything that makes sense of "M8"!

"We could probably search this place up and down until the end of time, and we still might never know the answer," I said as I rubbed my eyes, starting to feel the edge of the day myself. "Most of these books are destroyed beyond repair, even so, maybe we're just looking at this from the wrong angle? Like I said, try to get some sleep. I'm sure it'll come to you."

"Oh, I suppose you're right..." She said with a great yawn, "After all, there's no use in bashing my head against a wall. Let me just gather my things and... whoops!" She fumbled with the key as she almost tripped over a pile of books. I heard her curse under her breath as the tiny thing clattered to the floor, but as she bent over to pick it up, she stopped and stared.

"What is it?" I asked, but I could already see those wheels turning in her head. I could just barely hear the whisper beneath her breath before that smile spread wide once again.

"The Divergence Sequence..." She said.

"The what?"

"The Divergence Sequence!" She said again, "You were right Jacob, we have been looking at this all wrong! The key doesn't say "M8" at all, look!" She held up the key so that the 8 sat on top of the sideways M, and I wrinkled my brow.