The Vault of Hercules

Chapter 16

Purdue collected the readings from his bug device while Nina waited, having no idea what the alpha-numerical mess on the screen of his tablet was revealing. It was by watching his face alone that she could determine whether it was good or bad, but even that was uncertain. Rubbing his chin with his thumb while the columns of information populated the screen, Purdue seemed to be concerned by the readings and Nina could no longer speculate.

“So, is it going to melt our faces off?” she quickly asked.

Purdue slowly looked up at her with a blank expression that frustrated her. He was surprised that she’d become so engrossed in the discovery that her urgency exceeded even his. One more time he looked at the tablet before declaring, “According to the chemical composition contained herein, we will keep our faces, my dear. What disturbs me somewhat is not what curse could be inside, but what my readings disclose are inside.”

“And what would that be?” she scowled impatiently.

“Biological matter,” he announced, looking a bit spooked.

“Biological matter?” she asked in disbelief. “So… it's a coffin?”

“I believe so,” Purdue replied. “However, by the size of this artifact, whatever is inside is either chopped up in pieces to fit, which in itself is too macabre, or… or I'm afraid this could be the body of a child.”

Nina's hand came over her mouth. From behind it Purdue could hear a muffled, “Oh my God. I don't know which prospect is worse.”

“I know, but we know now it doesn’t contain any toxic gases, which means we can open it and have a look. Admit it, gross as it is, the suspense is killing you too,” Purdue said.

“Aye, let's open it,” she agreed fervently and grabbed a crowbar off the bottom shelf where Purdue kept loose steel tools.

“No!” he yelled protectively. “A crowbar would destroy it, Nina.”

“Who cares?” she frowned, holding the curved end of the prying tool up in front of her in a ready stance. “It is not the Ark of the Covenant, remember? Even its gold adornments are fake, Purdue. It's a goddamn makeshift coffin probably built to fool a tribe of poor, unwitting villagers.”

Purdue slowly and gently clutched his fingers over Nina's hands, gripping the tool so that she could not swing it unexpectedly. “You’re right. It’s not the Ark, but have you considered that this thing could perhaps only resemble a very famous religious relic while in actual fact being tenfold more powerful? Imagine if this chest held something far more potent than the true Ark itself, only nobody paid attention because it was an obvious counterfeit. How do we know whomever made it did not do it like this deliberately?”

Nina had to concede. After all, the carvings did consist of some seriously irreligious symbols and etchings that were not decidedly unholy, but far from anything Biblical. That alone merited investigation.

“Okay, open it your way,” she surrendered. “But please do hurry. We need to find out what you have here so that we can get Sam out on an expedition before he loses it.”

Purdue flung the crowbar aside and it clanged into the various other heavy-duty tools. “Could you please bring your laptop down here, Nina? We might find something significant that you may not have encountered before or might not know of, if that is even possible.” He smiled. Nina rolled her eyes and turned on her heels. As she left the room he could hear her shout, “I saw right through that!”

He smiled at her playfulness, more than visibly delighted that Nina was once more in his home, in his company, and in his life. Like the good old days before the Amber Room catastrophe, she was once more her feisty self with him without being hostile. That was precisely the intangible quality in Nina that first had made him fall for her, her beauty being the obvious first attraction. It was good to work with her again, even if that meant he had to be concerned for her safety the whole time. She was worth the extra trouble.

“Good morning, sir,” Charles spoke from the hallway. “Would you like some breakfast?”

“Hey, morning Charles!” Purdue beamed, the sight pleasing the butler. “Yes, could you get Lily to fix me two rye sandwiches with cottage cheese and gherkin, please? With black coffee?”

“Of course, sir,” Charles obeyed.

“And do ask Dr. Gould if she wants something.”

“He already hooked me up, thanks,” Nina said with a mouthful of biscuit. Her laptop bag was slung over her shoulder while her hands were occupied with a fresh mug of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies. “Lillian is going to undo all my hard training in one bloody day, I tell you.”

“It would take more than cookies to undo that perfect rump, my dear,” Purdue said matter-of-factly, hardly noticing that he was flirting.

“Oh, can it. I'm not twenty-five anymore, Romeo,” she teased. “Open the bloody chest already. I’m not going to lie — as much apprehension I feel for the contents, my excitement matches it.”

“Don't worry, me too. It’s rather light, considering its size. So, apart from the biological tissue in it there could hardly be anything else in there. Would you prefer to wear a mask and gloves?”

“Absolutely. It is too antique to take chances with. Foreign agents could easily be dormant inside until exposed to oxygen and light. Rather safe than sorry,” Nina advised.

They put their food and drinks on Purdue's corner desk a good distance away, which he usually used to separate scrolls and papers from the towers of stored history that lined the shelves of the dusty, hidden storeroom. Both slipped on surgical masks and dressed their hands in latex gloves, just in case the decayed tissue carried harmful bacteria or exotic agents.

“I stayed up all night devising a way to open this chest. Let's hope it works,” he said.

“Between the two angels?” Nina asked.

“Yep,” Purdue affirmed as he flicked a switch on a steel arm that was attached to an electrical box fixed to the wall. “Between the angels, right where their wing tips meet, that is where I must apply the Power of God.”

“Sorry, what?” she asked with a deep frown on her brow.

Purdue smiled, “Lightning. The energy field between the lid and the container needs a powerful charge to disrupt the magnetic hold governed by the elements in the angel wings.”

Nina was in awe of the science behind the mundane-looking box. “Goosebumps,” she whispered as the machine hummed into life and the clapping sound of charging electricity started. “Whoever fashioned this relic had to have an above average knowledge of physics and applied science, and judging by the age of the wood it had to be a civilization from antiquity.”

Above the seams of the white masks they exchanged looks before Purdue lowered the pen-shaped end of the arm to a few inches above the lid, pointing it downward to meet the summit of the invisible triangle formed by the two statues. It rested there when Purdue pressed the button to lock it in place. “Maybe the civilization it was guarded by was not responsible for its creation,” he speculated. “This kind of engineering would take precision instruments to conduct lighting into a current no thicker than 7mm moving straight down. I doubt it could be employed or controlled by mere villagers. Now, Nina, close your eyes.”

She didn’t question Purdue. When it came to arcs and currents it was best to trust his judgment. The beam hissed, brightening the room around them. Outside Charles waited with Purdue's breakfast. Knowing his master, the door was closed for a reason and the blinding illumination flashing under the door was a sure sign to wait. He had to hide his curiosity behind his professional rigidity, but he often watched the fascinating developments in his boss' laboratories and workrooms. Working for a genius would naturally be intriguing, but Charles worked for the genius, the restless and flamboyant billionaire Dave Purdue and his brilliant facets of business.

He loved his job and he was not going to lose it.

Inside the electric room Nina shrieked from the discharge that messed with her body's electrolytes and the static of her hair. “Stand still!” she heard Purdue cry out.

“It's going to fry me!” she protested.

“Only if you move and change the dynamic of the charge,” Purdue explained casually, leaving Nina in a frantic panic.

“Great! I feel much better now, rooming with a bolt of lightning that's feeling me up and all,” she whined sarcastically. “How long is this going to go on?”

“I set it for one minute, but we won't know until the current stops if the lid is dislodged yet,” Purdue shouted, suddenly bellowing his words into dead silence as the machine shut off. “Oh,” he said softly. “Shall we see?”

“Aye,” Nina replied, slowly opening her eyelids in slits to make sure there was nothing out to blind her. “It looks okay. Is the lid open?” Again, as she asked, the lid of the relic shifted a few inches by itself, just enough to present a niche into the box. Nina started at the supernatural feel of it all, but Purdue only smiled.

“That’s just an electromagnetic field disturbance pushing it aside — opposite poles, that's all.”

“If you say so. I say it’s that fucking genie inside we just liberated,” she cautioned, to Purdue's amusement. “If it is, I wish first.”

“Your breakfast, sir,” Charles announced behind the door. Purdue lunged to open the door and get his food so that he could free up Charles' time to get to his other chores.

“Thank you kindly, Charles,” Purdue said hastily. “I'll call you if we need you, alright?”

“Very well, sir.”

Purdue closed the door again, quickly setting his food down to get back to the beckoning mystery of the freshly cracked safe of antiquity. Nina waited for him to return, stepping aside for him to take a glimpse.

“Ladies first,” he said chivalrously, but Nina declined gracefully.

“No. Please, go ahead. It is, after all, your find,” she insisted. Purdue and Nina shared a long, serious look as he took his place beside the gilded trunk.

“Help me lift the lid?” he asked, to which Nina obliged. They placed the heavy slab of shittim wood and pyrite on the floor, away from the vicinity. Peeking over the edge, they caught their breath in sequence.

“Holy Mary, Mother o…” Nina started, but words eluded her.

“Not quite, but close enough, my dear,” Purdue gasped.

“Why do you say that?” she asked.

Inside the unorthodox coffin they found the mummified remains of a young child, its gender impossible to determine without forensic examination. It was curled up in a fetal position on a bed of scattered scrolls, some clearly tainted by the bronze evidence of splattered blood.

“This child is grasping the skeletal vertebrae of a reptile in its hand! He or she was holding a snake!” Purdue exclaimed in whisper. Under the head of the child was a stack of bound papers reminiscent of a handmade book with no cover. Upon the browned pages the fading ink formed words Nina barely recognized.

“Purdue, the collection of arcana we have here span several unrelated eras from before Christianity right up to the Second World War,” Nina informed him. “Looks like someone popped this cherry before you did.”

“Now we know what the Swastika's inscription was doing in the exterior design,” Purdue said, glowing with excitement.

“Aye, the contents of this chest holds the location of a mystery the likes of which the historical academia have never known,” she smiled. Purdue was already pacing. Nina briefly scrutinized the books and scrolls. “The child killing a snake in its cradle is unmistakable, Purdue,” she declared. “According to mythology, that child was the Greek god Heracles, the Roman Hercules.”

Purdue looked at the cadaver of the child, its hand still preserved enough to clutch the snake's white bones. “Call Sam. We’re going to Greece.”