Jake and Michelle looked at the top row of screens, which showed the sort of displays one saw in hospital emergency wards: lights pulsing, lines going up and down as they monitored everything inside the glass case.
‘Yes,’ said Jake.
Waning pushed her hands into a pair of gloves that were fixed to the case with airtight rubber seals, and set to work. As she removed the black leather case from inside the plastic bag, Jake felt his heart skip a beat of concern, wondering if the outside of the ancient leather had been contaminated. If so, then he would surely be affected in some way. But the various displays registered nothing alarming, just kept up a low beeping while the lines on the screens remained constant.
Waning pushed the bag to one side, and set the ancient black leather case in the centre of the base of the glass case.
‘No contamination detected on or in the outer bag in which the object was delivered,’ her unemotional voice said. ‘No contamination detected on the exterior surfaces of object.’ Jake and Michelle turned to the monitors and saw the black leather package magnified on the screens. ‘The object appears to be made of leather treated with a preservative. Further tests will need to be carried out to identify the constituents of this preservative. The object is rectangular in shape, consistent with casing that may contain a small book of some sort. The surface is embossed with a symbol: a Roman letter “M” with what appears to be a snake of some sort intertwined in that letter.’
Yes, thought Jake, silently urging Waning to go faster and open the case. It’s the Order of Malichea. We know that. Just get on and open it and find out what we’ve got.
‘There are Roman numerals embossed on the material,’ came Waning’s flat and unemotional tones. ‘DLVII. This translates as 557.’
Five hundred and fifty-seven! thought Jake excitedly. Then there really were hundreds of books out there, hidden like this one had been.
‘I am going to open the outer casing,’ said Waning. ‘It appears to be closed by a simple slip knot of two leather strips.’
Jake watched, transfixed, as Waning’s gloved fingers took hold of the ends of the leather strips that formed the small slip knot, and began to gently prise at them. After over five hundred years of being buried in soil, Jake wondered if they would be supple enough to be untied, or would they simply crack? Either way, the excitement and expectation in him at what was about to be revealed almost stopped him from breathing. He and Michelle watched in rapt silence as — in magnified close-up — Waning’s gloved fingers teased and pulled at the knotted leather. There was obviously resistance.
‘I am now using a small tool to aid undoing the knot,’ announced Waning, and they watched as she took a small metal probe, rather like a small screwdriver, and used it to prise the strands of leather apart. Finally, the knot was undone.
‘I am now opening the outer casing,’ said Waning.
With that she carefully peeled back the old leather flaps of the protective casing, to reveal a small book inside. The covers and binding of the book appeared to be green. Waning slid the opened black leather casing from beneath the book, and pushed it to one side. There was now just the small green book in the centre of the glass case.
‘I am opening the cover of the book,’ said Waning.
Jake held his breath, unable to speak, unable to do anything. This had been the point when the last book had proved dangerous, as the hidden spores exploded. Although he knew that they were all protected from whatever may be inside the glass case by the airtight seals, if there were any hazards now exposed, it would delay the proper examination of the book by Michelle for her article.
The green cover, which appeared to be made of some sort of thick card, was turned over, revealing a blank page beneath.
Jake’s eyes went to the monitors registering the conditions inside the glass case. No changes. No hazards so far.
He switched his attention back to the CCTV screen with the book in tight close-up. He saw the ends of Waning’s gloved fingers delicately touch the blank page, and then lift it and move it gently back, to reveal writing on the next page.
‘The first leaf of the book is blank,’ said Waning. ‘I suspect it is merely an endpaper. Beneath that is a title page, stating . . .’
Jake repeated the words to himself that he saw on the screen as Waning read them out:
‘“Physikiana”, with a subtitle in Latin which translates as “A treatise on changing physical appearances by magic”. The name of the author is given as Roger Bacon.’
‘Wow!’ Jake heard Michelle gasp beside him.
He turned to look at her. She was staring into the lab, at the book inside the glass case, a look of awe on her face. She turned to him, suddenly animated.