"Man, it's dark in here," Tucker said aloud, to himself, as he descended the stairs. It looked to be quite the way down. The staircase was a traditional stainless steel one that didn't look like it was for public use. After going down two more landing, Tucker started to wonder just how deep this basement was. Then he hit the bottom landing and a single door stood next to him.
Turning the knob, Tucker found himself in a much, much deeper darkness than he had stepped out of. If he didn't have his flashlight, he would probably never make his way out. Flashing the light around, Tucker found something that reminded him of exactly how old this place was. There was a long shelf of oil lamps right next to the door and boxes of matches under it.
Tucker shrugged. "When in Rome…" He sighed and fiddled with one of the lamps until he got it lit.
A few more lights and Tucker could see again. The first thing he saw was a very, very big computer. It was ancient and huge. It wasn't the size of a fifties processor, but ten feet long easily, about five feet deep and eight feet tall.
"Lets see," Tucker hummed and walked over to it, positioning the lamps appropriately. Evidently the tale of the basement computer was true. Although, Tucker couldn't really identify the make and model. "Maybe an private creation," Tucker mused. If it was original, he would have fun trying to figure it out.
Seconds later, Tucker discovered something that made him blink in utter confusion. It shouldn't be possible. There was no way that anything like this could happen. A small light on the front of the front of a ten-inch screen argued the point.
The computer had power.
Tucker's brain tried to figure out what that meant when Danny's voice cut through his musings.
"Tuck? You there?" Danny asked through the talkie.
"Yeah, what's up Danny?" Tucker replied.
"Not much. We found the library, and man is it big."
"How big?" Tucker asked. It seemed that there was a trend in this house; big things.
"I can't see the end," Danny paused, "in any direction."
Tucker's eyes widened. "Wow, that's big. Well, I found the computer, and it's on."
"ON?" Danny asked unbelievingly. "Where's it getting power from?"
"I have no earthly clue," Tucker said honestly. "So, in case you find a generator or something…don't turn it off."
"Why?" Danny asked.
"This computer," Tucker said thoughtfully. "I've just gotten started on figuring it out…but. Okay! To be honest, this thing is so far beyond anything I expected I have no idea where to start. I really need the time to look at it before you cut the power off."
"Okay Tuck. Jazz and Sam are going to stay here and start working. I'm off exploring, might drop by your way after a bit." Danny said as he started to walk back down towards the main hall.
"Okay, signing off." Tuck said and flipped off the talkie.
"This place is really spooky," Danny noted as he made his way back towards the staircase. He wanted to get a better look at those higher floors…
Five minutes later Danny was climbing stairs to the first landing. Looking up, he flashed his light onto a small nameplate. "Hall of human history."
Shrugging, Danny walked in the grand doorway. The exhibits were all covered by white tarps like downstairs. Unlike downstairs, though, this floor had windows. The partially drawn curtains cut off most of the light, so the flashlight still came in handy.
Walking up to one, Danny pulled the tarp off. It was a Sumerian artifact. An ancient Sand-script tablet. One of the oldest ever discovered, found in a time before it could be appreciated for what it was. Danny shined a light more closely on it and, from a tablet in a language that hadn't been spoken in millennia…read.
"And with the blade Gourunova, the warrior Gabrieve slew the mighty beast Zanafar," Danny read. He obviously had no idea what he had just done because he just turned to another exhibit and reached his hand out. Stopping cold, an idea hit him.
"I'm going ghost!" He cried and felt the rings change him.
"Now," Danny hummed. "I am the house ghost, so…" Concentrating on what he wanted, he saw all of the rooms cloth tarps start to rise. At his mere thought they folded themselves nicely in a corner. "Now that's what I call cleaning house," Danny quipped and floated down to have a closer look at what he had uncovered.
It was an amazing collection. The room that housed the fifty or so cases was huge, but there were definitely enough to go around. Sumerian, Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Roman, even some primitive caveman-era artifacts. The fact that Danny was able to read most of them was completely lost on his part.
Floating over to one of the several hallways that lead off from the main hall. There were various display room off to each side of the hall, housing special collections of things from specific periods. At the end of the hall, though, was a room which he knew Blake was sure to like.
Display case upon display case. All full of swords, daggers, spears, and lances. It was a staggering amount of weapons and Danny could practically feel the blood in the room. All of these weapons were authentic. Each and every one had the weight of blood and spirit on it that could only come from battle.
Deciding that he did not like this room, Danny moved on, and failed to see one sword, a gigantic Norman blade, start to glow ominously.