Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Six and a Half Keys
Chapter Six
"Speaking of museum security, how well do the cameras work?" Nancy asked, pointing to a security camera in the corner, on the ceiling. "They must be able to zoom in a long way, right?"
"No, actually, those cameras are fake," Oskar said. "They don't record anything."
"If they were good enough to fool me, they must be good enough to fool any potential thieves!" Nancy laughed. She picked up a cylindrical object lying on a table. "What's this weird thing, some kind of soda container?"
"That is a priceless artifact, which is over a thousand years old," Oskar corrected her.
"And you leave it out in the open where tourists can touch it?" Nancy asked, spinning the cylinder on her finger. "Not very safe! What's inside it?"
"I don't know. It's never been opened," Oskar said.
"I bet I can open it," Nancy said. She lifted the cylinder above her head, then prepared to smash it against the ground.
"Do not harm the artifact!" Oskar begged.
"I would never harm it. I was just, uh...stretching my arms," Nancy said. "Look at the top of this thing! That's clearly some kind of puzzle."
There was a moveable piece that Nancy could drag along two different tracks. There was also a sun that could be flipped from the left side to the right side.
"Yes, but no one has been able to solve it," Oskar said. "My guess is that it blends Kepler's three laws of planetary motion with the limited astronomical knowledge of the time period in which it was made. The 'C' at the bottom is clearly a reference to Caspar Lehmann, the famed glassmaker who lived during the time of King Rudolf the—"
"Got it," Nancy said, popping off the lid to the canister.
"Wha—who—HOW DID YOU DO THAT SO QUICKLY?" Oskar yelled.
"I told you, I'm a genius detective who's great at solving puzzles!" Nancy said. "But don't tell anyone I'm a detective. I'm trying to keep it a secret, you know."
The truth was, Nancy was just playing with the lid at random, when it opened up. She couldn't resist spinning the planet piece around in a big circle. Nancy was just about to start spinning in a circle until she got dizzy, when Oskar interrupted.
"Wait! It's not opened fully," he said. "There's a second part to the puzzle. It looks like you need to find four specific symbols."
"There's a part two?!" Nancy complained. "NO!"