Chapter 9

Day 2 - The morning after the fall

Juliet woke as the first light of dawn began to creep over the edge of the gaping hole in the ceiling and filtered into the tent. It took her a moment to register where she was: lying on a stone floor with her head on Cal's shoulder and one hand resting on his chest. The clear sky last night had foretold a temperature drop to be wary of, and there had only been space for one tent in their little corner, so it had been decided they would share. She had been sure she wouldn't sleep, lying on her side in her sleeping bag at the farthest edge of the small tent, but he had thrown out an arm and pulled her close. It wasn't that he made her uncomfortable. If anything, she was too comfortable. Even now, with the light outside the tent growing gradually brighter, she just didn't want to move. She could feel his chest rise and fall steadily below her hand, his heartbeat slow and equally steady. He was still asleep.

Juliet disentangled herself from Cal's arms and sat up, looking down at her recumbent patient and friend. How he could sleep with the wounds on his back was beyond her, but he had refused morphine and had settled down on the hard stone floor without much complaint. She had felt his breathing settle into the even rhythm of sleep long before her own. Her mind had been too busy going over the days events. Her body had been complaining about the discomfort of the makeshift bed. More than that though: she had been trying, trying so hard, not to feel comfortable lying next to Cal.

It shouldn't bother her. They had shared a tent before in similar circumstances. They would probably share one again, more than once, before either of them left Veritas. It was that kind of job: your colleagues became your friends, your best friends, and you shared everything with them. Why? Because these were the people you trusted with your life. Because these were the only people who understood everything, every single thing, about what you did every day. Because these were the only people who truly inhabited your world.

Really?

But Anthony was part of her world now too, wasn't he?

Maybe she couldn't talk to him about everything she did at work, but that was normal wasn't it? Nobody went home at night and told their partner everything they'd done all day. Most people probably didn't even talk about work when they got home. Anthony never did. Not unless she pressed him about it, anyway.

The rising sun cast its first warm rays across Cal's face. For a moment he was like a serene statue warmed by the glow of sunlight through high church windows, then his eyes scrunched up against the light and heat and the moment had passed. His arm cast out to the side, looking for her.

"Juliet?" Cal's voice sounded distant.

XXXX

"Juliet!" Cal's voice was beside her now, snapping Juliet out of her reverie. That had been happening too much lately, she thought.

"What?" Juliet snapped back, hearing the irritation in her own voice and immediately berating herself for it.

"Scanner!"

She passed him the mobile scanner and clicked the icon on the computer desktop that ran the item's software.

"Ready," she called as the program pinged at the end of its loading.

Laser sharp images apeared on the screen as Cal passed the scanner over the wooden box. The HD upgrade had been worth the money their generous benefactor had paid. The computer pinged as the image screen saved and closed. Another window opened as Cal began scanning the second side of the box. It took time to set up and adjust the light boxes, and the items all had to be scanned slowly, but there was no argument that the picture quality was much better, even picking up things that there was no way anyone would have spotted with the naked eye. Juliet watched the image on the screen slide slowly by, glad of the necessity for someone to watch the screen as someone else handled the scanner. The carvings on the box were interesting: detailed and intricate, yet incredibly old. How old exactly was unknown, and would remain so until they could send a sample down to Maggie for carbon dating and other chemical analyses.

The computer pinged as Cal moved on to another side. Juliet watched as the scanner moved over what was now the base of the box. Plain grained wood slid past at high resolution and higher definition. Juliet blinked. Surely that wasn't a natural knot in the wood? Her head jutted forward, following the pattern across the screen until it disappeared. She stared at the side of the screen where the pattern had vanished from sight. Eventually, the computer pinged and another picture began to fill the monitor. Juliet grabbed the mouse and pulled up the program history, clicking on the item it had just completed and dragging the newly opened file to the right spot.

To the naked eye, it would look just like an ordinary knot in a piece of timber. Small, but ordinary nonetheless. Under high definition, other lines could be seen. Someone, someone with a skill beyond modern ideas of talented, had painted the base of the box. Not just painted it, but painted over it. And they had painted the exact pattern of the wood grain. The exact pattern, right on top of the pattern itself! The colours, the lines: everything matched perfectly! Everything! Until you reached the knot!

As Juliet examined the knot in greater detail, she could see the lines of the wood grain continuing towards the eliptical spot. They continued as if there was nothing there! The paintwork on top matched the wood grain perfectly, until the point where the paintwork slid out to bend, perfectly naturally, around the darker ovoid, and the wood grain did not.

The knot was false. It was well hidden, but it was definitely false.

The computer pinged as Cal completed the fourth side of the box. It took him considerably less time to scan the two ends, then he made his way over to the computer with the scanner.

"Done," he said, placing the scanner in its holder. "This can go down to the boy wonder and Vincent."

"Don't be too sure," Juliet grinned, sliding out of her computer chair and ducking under Cal's arm to reach the box. She deftly turned the box over, found the tiny knot and flipped the box right side up again. "Watch!"

The top of the box didn't slide dramatically outwards or spring suddenly upwards like a jack-in-the-box. Instead, there was an almost inaudible click and a thin crack appeared all around the midline of the sides of the box.

"Should we?" Juliet breathed. "Professor Zond..."

"He asked us to find out if opened, not if it started showing signs of breaking down," Cal cut in. "Let's find out if it opens right up before we start breaking out the champagne."

Juliet placed the box back down on the light rich surface they'd used for scanning. Gently, she edged the top half of the box upward. It slid up easily, revealing tall internal edges almost as high as its external ones. When the top of the box finally came loose, Juliet lifted it away and placed it reverently down on one side. There was a tablet in the box. The top half protruded from an ancient padding of velvet. It looked intact. Cal's hand snaked out towards it. Juliet slapped it away.

"It's open. Go fetch the professor," she commanded.

"Go fetch?" Cal complained, moving away anyway. "What am I? A labrador?"

As his footsteps left the room, Juliet crouched down, bringing her eyes to the level of the box. There were markings on the internal edges. She looked into the box, her eyes scanning the visible part of the tablet. There were markings on the tablet too. Both sets of markings were clearly forms of writing, but they were just as clearly different. The markings on the inside of the box looked like runes, probably Norse. The markings on the tablet, though clearer, looked older. They were sets of lines. Much simpler and more primitive even than the angular runes.

"Found something interesting?"

Juliet jumped up and spun around, instinctively blocking the box from view with her body.

"Anthony? What are you doing here?" Juliet hissed.

"I had a gap in my schedule," Tony shrugged smoothly, his eyes scanning the walls and contents of the room lazily, almost as if he was bored. They came back to rest on Juliet. "Can't a guy visit his girl at work if he feels like it?"

"You shouldn't be in here, Anthony," Juliet sought for a reason to back her up. "These labs, the equipment; it's all state of the art. It's so sensitive to any contaminants or knocks... And the artefacts! We have to be so careful with these old parchments!"

"I won't touch anything!" Tony held up his hands in mock surrender. "I'll be on my best behaviour, I promise!"

"How exactly did you get in here?" Juliet frowned, closing the reflectant light boxes around the wooden box and tablet as she watched her boyfriend sidle into the room, hands in pockets and eyes scanning everything. She had the uncomfortable feeling that she knew that look: it was the one Vincent got whenever he was casing somewhere.

"I'd like to know that too," said Professor Zond from the doorway, Maggie and Cal behind him. "My head of security is on his way here as we speak," he continued. "I'm sure he'd love to hear all the details!"

Anthony smiled brightly. Too brightly, thought Juliet.

"Just dropping by, saw the door was open and thought I'd surprise Juliet," said Tony, oozing charm. "No offense meant. Sorry if I broke the rules."

"You'll know better in future," Solomon replied, stepping aside to make way for their unexpected guest just as Nikko and Vincent joined them. "Please allow Vincent to escort you out. We wouldn't want you to lose your way: this building can be quite confusing when you've never been in it before."

"Leaving so soon, Tony?" Nikko grinned. "And we never even had time to chat!"

Nikko continued grinning as he watched Vincent propel Tony towards the exit. As they rounded the first corner and moved out of sight he began to chortle then winced as a hand connected with his head.

"What? Seriously!" Nikko fumed at the trio behind him. His father raised an eyebrow and turned, leading them into the lab.

"What have we got?" Solomon asked, indicating the closed reflectors behind Juliet.

"Professor, I am so sorry about..."

"Don't worry about it," he interrupted Juliet's apology with a wave. "Vincent has been looking for an excuse to overhaul the security measures in here ever since the new computer system arrived. I think he's jealous of all our new toys. Cal said you opened the box?"

Juliet stepped aside and moved the light reflector boxes out of the way. The edge of the tablet was visible over the side of the open box. Professor Zond picked up the scanner and passed it to Juliet.

"Let's get it recorded in situ, then we can start getting it out of there," he ordered. "This is the next link in the chain."