[Archived Short Story] What Would It Have Even Done?

The machine was prepped.

A special bronze plate was ready. Jerry had even gone as far as to get some scientists to do an in-depth analysis on what era and region appropriate bronze was actually made of. Which turned out to include a few weird ingredients. Though in particular, the source material he was working off of seemed to include a trace amount of iron that one scientist suspected came from blood. Which Jerry sourced from a nearby butcher.

He had printed blanks with a test pattern and proved everything should work.

That left a simple need for time.

Jerry frowned, he had no way to check on the work in progress. This wasn’t the normal style of laser engraver. He had to build it himself to include some special features. That sadly resulted in a machine that would destroy any delicate equipment left in the work chamber, such as cameras. Sure, he could have probably sprung for some glass like in a welders helmet or some such, but that would cost money he didn’t need to spend.

Nevermind the fact that the entire work would take at least six hours, though possibly up to eight. Which seems weird as laser engraving should be the sort of thing that you can guess the run time needed. Except, one of the features was a sensor to detect when the engraving got deep enough.

Now, Jerry wasn’t running on the tightest of tolerances, but from his research, there needed to be more control over depth than not. Besides, he didn’t exactly trust his jury-rigged laser array to be consistent enough for the task. Such were the downsides of doing a research project despite not getting enough research grants to actually cover everything.

Jerry sighed as he closed up the chamber and had the decade old netbook he had repurposed into a controller to start the engraving.

With that, Jerry was done for the day. Tomorrow, he will have a period accurate alchemist plate. Which, as far as his fellow researchers were concerned, would mean a complete success.

Not that anyone was certain that was what these plates actually were. All the grants in this area of study had, in fact, gone to those trying to use various methods to place the unknown symbols or maybe even translate the things. There wasn’t much to work off of, though.

As of the last report, there were only four known examples and one of those was clearly a reproduction made at least a hundred years after the other three. At this point, most would just assume either a minor cult or band of alchemists that quickly fell apart. Except, they had found the three real plates spread across the continent. It was only the reproduction that was found close to one of the three. Though even stranger, the reproduction was actually of one of the far off plates and not the plate they found it only a few counties from.

If it wasn’t for the fact that they coincidentally found the three real plates on the same day and reported on in the same archeology magazine, they likely wouldn’t have been connected. It actually took a ton of readers writing in for that magazine to even realize there was a connection as each of the small articles had been written by different people. Then the reproduction was found and it really got people interested.

After all, the three real plates didn’t exactly come with a guide book or written reports on what they were. Not so for the reproduction plate. Of course, it couldn’t be as simple as having everything spelled out. The journal that was found with the reproduction was grimoire in the most traditional sense.

A mix of personal journal, observations of the natural world, and all sorts of alchemy notes. Though the last two tended to blend together. Oh, and the author used at least four different levels of encryption for his writings.

From a simple symbol replacement for the day-to-day journal entries, all the way up to what some linguists suspect is a constructed language. One that pulls from at least three major language groups as well as a couple of dead languages that even during the time of the real plates would have been long dead. As for why those languages being dead, when the original plates were made would be important? Simple enough, the language is exactly the one engraved onto the plates.

Which is unfortunate since no one has cracked the language yet. Sure, linguists the world over have guessed at what things mean. They even claim to recognize what might be the structure of the language. It is just that no one can translate it.

You would think the journal would be the needed clue. Yes, it all requires decrypting, but the three other schemes are just masks over the author’s language. Well, three languages. The guy seemed to skip around between the three seemingly at random and many who have studied the journal agree that he likely was a native speaker of each of them. With him changing language depending on who he had to interact with during the day

Which is very strange since the area they found this has no history of regular visitors of the two non-native languages. Yet the journal entries make constant mention of meeting such speakers on a regular basis. At this point, many believe that the writer had likely lived elsewhere before settling down in the location they had found the journal and reproduction plate.

Jerry personally suspected that the man must have begun living somewhere around one of the other plates. The only catch is that neither of the other two languages used are native to the areas of the other plates. So, he didn’t bother to mention this suspicion. Though it would make sense for the author to have at least been around the plate he had replicated.

It is actually the reproduction plate that caused Jerry to want to make his own replica. The journal went on and on about how much work the writer needed to go through to make the plate. It went on about the various “required” steps such as not being engraved by mortal hands.

The writer did this through an application of what most would now recognize as one of those bamboo water features that makes a thwock noise. You know, when there is a hollow piece of bamboo that is filled by water until it tips over and the water pours out. Yeah, the writer had used one of those and a chisel to slowly engrave his plate. Well, plates. While only one remained, it took the guy hundreds of attempts to get it right.

Except he didn’t. Jerry didn’t know if they made the real plates to the same exacting measures that the journal declared they had been made to. However, if they did, whatever they used to engrave the plates was ahead of its time as their engravings had a smooth flow uninterrupted by start and stop marks usually found when using a chisel.

Not that Jerry believed in any of that. He just, you know, figured it would be neat to try and do it right. And laser engraving was his method of choice. After all, he isn’t moving the laser around to engrave the plate so his hands aren’t involved. Sure, technically he is the one to start the process and plan it all out, but there has to be some limit or you need one to just appear fully formed in nature.

Also, at least his method involves engraving. Unlike that other team that snipped most of the grants, he had managed to line up. Sure, maybe their hands weren’t involved in the actual direct creation of the plate, but using a mold? One they directly create? That isn’t engraving! And Jerry would argue till the cows come home that crafting the mold is the equivalent to crafting the resulting item.

Either way, at this point, all he can do is go home and wait. In theory, sleep should be involved at some point, but he’s honest enough with himself to know that isn’t happening. The only reason he is leaving is because they don’t let people stay overnight without prior approval and for some reason he couldn’t seem to get that no matter how far in advance he asked for it. There was clearly some behind the scenes nonsense going on there, but Jerry had never been one for office politics and so ignored it.

So the next morning arrives and he is waiting for the building to open, only slightly jittery from an energy drink. Had to keep his hands at least slightly steady for what was to come. Though the fact he showed up an hour early certainly helped give him time to calm down. Oh, and he wasn’t the only one waiting. Some people just didn’t like being separated from their life’s work. Who knew?

Anyway, Jerry and the five others were let into the building at exactly the opening time. The guards had long ago learned that if they let them in by even a minute early, it would only mean the people waiting to get in would demand to be let in two minutes early and so on. Even if the person they let in wasn’t a problem, someone else would be.

Once through the door, Jerry rushed to his room. Well, he would like to call it his lab, but the people in charge of the building very much did not want it labeled as a lab for insurance reasons. That meant his door was just a normal door, which before now never bothered him.

The problem now is that he had carefully opened up the chamber. Well, first he completely unplugged the laser array, then he opened the chamber and sitting there in the center was a square tile of bronze. Jerry would love to call it a plate, but that would imply success. Instead, it was still blank and so he could only work himself up to calling it a tile.

Did someone break in last night? Not likely, even if his door is shoddy, the building was secure. Sure, they would catch anyone entering the room on security cameras. Except, Jerry was mostly certain security wouldn’t be all that helpful. There might have been a small beef between him and them. So no matter what he suspected, it had to be put to the side for the moment.

And it isn’t like the machine hadn’t run the night before. It didn’t even get canceled at some point. The reference marks to the side of the tile were marked exactly how they would be after a complete run through of the machine. Both the marks just to keep track of the run and those used to make sure the laser array stayed calibrated confirmed the machine worked. And it wasn’t like the lasers hadn’t been powerful enough to mark the tile as some of the test marks were on small pieces of bronze.

Jerry slaps himself, something must have happened so first he has to confirm everything. Was the tile the original one? After examining it closely, it should be the same one? The requirements for the plates didn’t require too much precision for the back and so Jerry hadn’t bothered to buff out the scratches. So, unless someone managed to duplicate those, this had to be the same one.

Jerry sighed, something was up and he just didn’t know where to start with it. So, over the next week, he would try to engrave the tile again and again. Every time he would arrive at the same result. He even tried putting up a security camera in the room to see if someone was interfering, no matter how unlikely. At least this made it go from unlikely to a confirmed not happening.

-----

Around his room a number of beings waited. All acting without the others noticing. One would change out the plate for a replica. Another would force the plate in the chamber to revert how it was before being engraved. A third simply observed, ready to act if Jerry ever succeeded and many others. All hidden from each other and all believing the other’s organizations were simply rumors.