Jacob Burns and the Order of the Algorithm #Wattys2017

Chapter 14: The Writing on the Wall

With little else said, Ilya and I split up. I immediately raced toward the console where I carefully climbed on top of one of the main databases. Ilya, on the other hand, began to scour the room in search of any other clues, even so much as inspecting every mention of "eyes" in all the mad writing. I left her to it as I turned to the ominous symbol, suddenly a lot larger than it seemed below, but just as everything in this library, had been carved with artistic mastery and clinical precision. As I brushed away the dust and grime, I had hoped to find some kind of button or secret compartment, just like you'd find in an old copy of Tallahassee Jones or some other cheap comic book, but it was to no avail. Just as I'd thought, the thing was solid stone, and as for it's "gaze", it didn't seem to be looking anywhere except right back towards the entrance and the riddle itself.

As I climbed back down, I found Ilya now pouring over the computer screen.

"How's it going over here?" I asked, but as she heaved a great sigh, I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.

"Poorly," she said with a shake of her head, "It looks like the entire system is fried, I can't even do a basic backlog retrieval! The whole thing's completely shot..." She said as she threw her hands up in a defeated slump back into the chair.

"Damn it, I was afraid of that," I replied, although I couldn't help but wonder if it was by mere accident of the bombs or if there had been an intentional wipe of the systems. Either way, we were getting nowhere fast.

"C'mon Ilya, think!" I urged the girl on, knowing this was just a world I didn't understand, "I mean, you were able to figure out the map, the painting, and the key. Whatever's going on here, it's clearly meant for you, so there's got to be something, anything in here that strikes you as odd or out of place. Whether you want to admit it or not, this was your father we're talking about, and nobody understood him better than you, so just think."

Ilya furrowed her brow in tired contemplation before speaking again.

"Well, It does seem a little odd for my father to be using the geocentric model...'

"The what?"

"The geocentric model," she said again as she pointed up at the rotating planets above our heads, "Look closely, that's the earth at the center, not the sun. That kind of model hasn't been used since the early fifteen hundreds. At first, I thought it was just a decorative choice, but now that I think about it, if this lab was really built as early as 1895, then there's no way they would have used anything other than the most cutting-edge technology and knowledge of the time. My father would have been the same way..."

"And this!" She said, almost exasperated as she jumped to her feet.

"The floor is made to look like a great star map, but look, where are the constellations? There's no Orion, no big dipper, no north star... Nothing! It's extremely detailed and intricate, and yet looks as if it were taken from a completely different galaxy! And what about this? This circle of black marble in the middle of the room? It looks like a black hole at the great center of the galaxy, but such a concept was only ever a theory in my time, so why even use it? It just doesn't make any sense... this library is a literal monument to knowledge and truth, so why wouldn't you portray everything as accurately as possible?" She trailed off again as she seemed to get lost within the peaks and arcs of a star system that perhaps never existed in the first place.

When suddenly, she stopped... and looked up.

Just as I had hoped, something had been triggered in her mind, but this time she needn't say a word. I followed her line of sight and instantly saw what had her standing speechless. From the angle we were looking at, it was clear as day. As we stared up from the center of the room, we could see the model for what it truly was... the ever moving iris of an eye.