Morning brought no end to the headache, but Mike was stoked to get back to the con. He was sure that he could find the hidden text and win the million dollars. He tried to curb his enthusiasm as the men sat through the continental breakfast. There were devilled eggs there which Mike ate several. Lane joined him when he was just about to go up to their room and pack. They sat, ate and talked about the con, the hangover and the million dollars. Lane was sure that the million dollars was also a con, but Mike was so excited about it that he held his tongue.
Lane and Mike were friends from way back. They met up in grade 1 when Mike got transferred in from Arizona. Mike was small for his age back then, and Lane was like a big aggressive breed of dog. He was mellow because no one would dare pick on him, and big enough that he didn’t feel the need to intimidate anybody. Lane would protect Mike from any adversaries, but he had his nerdy quirks that were sometimes annoying when they were kids, and kind of annoying still. He was socially awkward and small. He was always a bit odd. He was completely color blind which garnered the wrong kind of attention, and he would get caught up in his little puzzles that he would draw everyone in to. Like geo caching. He would find the coordinates of some obscure place, photograph everything in there, and leave a little prize for whoever found it after him. He never took anything from one, just added to the treasure every time. He was good at sudoku, and every manner of puzzle and puzzle game. When he got fixated on something he would go full blast toward it until he figured it out. But this puzzle was just stupid. It had a bunch of languages saying the same thing. How could he not see this scam for what it was? Lane decided not to get in his way, but instead he would shine him on until he found his million-dollar puzzle or had to leave discouraged. Lane was not expecting Mike to figure out this puzzle if it really was one. It was more likely that this was just a scam for this convention. Playing on the ambitions of people like Mike. This is the sort of thing that pissed Lane off. He hated it when people took advantage of people like that.
...
After gathering up all of their possessions from the room and storing them in Lanes car, the men made their way over to the con. Lane followed behind Mike as he went straight to the million-dollar mystery event.
“Welcome back gentlemen.” Jonathan said as he saw them approach.
Sundays at the conventions were usually slow, and it looked like they were going to be the first to go inside.
“Are these the same eggs as last time?” Mike asked as he pointed to the devilled eggs.
“This is a fresh batch, but they are made the same way. Why?” Jonathan asked.
“These ones look funny.” Mike said as he put his face down by the eggs.
Lane didn’t see anything different, but Mike wouldn’t be deterred.
“They have some sort of shifting light on them.” Mike observed.
“No, they’re the same as before.” Jonathan assured him with a smile. “Since it’s the last day I’ll give you a couple for free.”
Mike helped himself to two of them. He hardly chewed before swallowing the eggs. Lane looked exasperated.
“How’s the headache?” Jonathan asked.
“Better. I don’t know what that was all about. Maybe Lane was trying to kill me off for my game collection.”
Lane snorted a laugh. “As if.”
Mike went to give Jonathan another $20 to go into the room and Jonathan said that it was on the house.
As soon as they entered the area Mike looked at the walls and ceiling.
“Did you change this place up?” Mike asked.
Lane looked around but nothing looked any different than any other time he looked in the room.
“No. Nothing is different.” Jonathan assured him as he followed the men in.
Mike walked up to the back wall where the ancient scripts were behind glass. There was some of the shimmering that he had only spotted the other day. His headache started to return, but he powered through it. The shimmering seemed like light, but it wasn’t. It was something unfamiliar to him. He moved his face closer to the well-lit cabinets and squinted his eyes. Lane moved in closer to the cabinet as well. He was trying to see what his quirky friend was seeing. Jonathan appeared from nowhere and looked at Mike’s face. He seemed to be searching for recognition in Mikes expression.
“What do you see?” Jonathan asked in a whisper.
Lane gripped the back of Jonathan’s shirt and slowly drew him backward, away from Mike as he peered at the text.
“I don’t know.” Mike admitted. “It’s like shimmering light, but not light.” Mike blinked hard a couple of times and sat on one of the benches in the room with his head in his palms. He shook his head a couple of times before reopening them.
His eyes went wide as he looked around the room at the walls, ceiling, and floor.
“When did you do that?” Mike practically yelled.
Lane looked around the room frantically to see anything that was different than a few moments ago, but the room was exactly the same.
“Do what?” Lane and Jonathan asked simultaneously.
“Are there more lights in here?” Mike asked frantically.
“No more than before.” Jonathan repeated.
“That you use when setting up I mean. Do you have a flashlight or something?” Mike asked.
Jonathan moved out of the room, turned on more lights and closed the exhibit door. Lane was beginning to protest but he saw that Mike had discovered something. He looked over toward Jonathan who was watching Mike intently.
Mike looked around the room as visions in his eyes began to pick up on the hidden texts. The shifting blur seemed to clarify more and more as he watched in disbelief.
“Look at that.” Mike said excitedly as he pointed toward nothing.
“There’s nothing there.” Lane told him, but Jonathan was looking to see what he could see.
“Do you see that?” Mike asked Jonathan as he looked at him.
“I do.” Jonathan said to Lane’s surprise. He wasn’t sure if Jonathan was leading him on, or if they could both see something that he couldn’t.
Mike moved close and followed along with his finger like he was reading something. Then he blinked hard a few more times and backed up toward the door and examined the entire picture. He moved over to the carpet in front of the lit cabinet and started pulling at the edges. It was stuck down with Velcro, but Mike just tore it upward with a loud ripping sound. Lane was sure they were going to get arrested, but Jonathan was right by his side watching the wheels turn in his friend’s brain.
The carpet concealed a trap door in the floor with a big, recessed metal ring that Mike lifted to pull the thing open. It creaked loudly as it opened to reveal an ancient reenforced box with a combination lock sitting right on the top. Mike looked at the other men in the room and then all eyes were looking at the box. Mike tried to lift it, but it was secured to the floor.
“So, what’s the combo?” Lane asked.
“I dunno.” Jonathan answered.
The men looked closer at the box that seemed to be built into the exhibit.
“How long have you known about the box?” Lane asked.
“It’s always been there.” Jonathan admitted. “No one has ever found it before.”
“So do we get the money?” Lane asked. Without moving his eyes from the ancient box.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Not unless you decipher the code.” Jonathan replied.
“Does the money really exist?” Lane asked.
“So, I was told. I’ve never seen it.” Jonathan replied honestly.
“What do you mean you’ve never seen it? What kind of a scam is this?” Lane asked as he and Jonathan turned to argue with one another.
Mike started working the lock. It moved freely for a few turns and then it would stop turning. There were some scratches in the dial where it looked like someone tried to open the lock for a long time but hadn’t gotten into it.
“What do you see?” Jonathan asked when Mike moved away from the lock, and toward the cases.
“Someone’s tried to pick the lock.” Mike said as he moved really close to some of the Asian writings on the papyrus in the case.
Lane looked at Jonathan with a scowl. Jonathan looked apologetic. Mike moved away from the display cases and lay on the floor with his eye right up close to the lock. At first nothing happened, but then it clicked open. The other men moved in close as Mike got on his hands and knees and opened the lock and peered inside the old box.
“How did you do that?” Jonathan asked.
“I deciphered the hidden text.” Mike laughed as he pulled out a tiny box and a tablet composed of many metal pages bound together by 4 oblong hoops. The hoops were fastened together on the bottom so that the pages could be turned in the book. “Cool.” Mike said as he took the heavy metal book from the case and showed it to the others. Jonathan reached for it, but Lane took it before he had a chance. It seemed to be blank on both sides of every sheet. Lane shifted it in the light to see if it had anything on it, but it didn’t seem to. The tiny box that had been in the chest contained a safety deposit box key.
“Is this where the money is?” Mike asked as he held up the key.
Jonathan shrugged his shoulders. The key's make and design seemed really old. It had the number 12 stamped on it.
“What bank is this for?” Mike asked, but Jonathan didn’t know.
Mike looked through the metal book. When he flipped it to the second page, he squinted his eyes and then had a look of realization cross his face. He closed the book and made for the door. Lane asked to see the metal book, and Mike handed it to him freely. He flipped through the pages but couldn’t see anything on them.
“What do you see when you look at this?” Lane asked.
“There’s a dream catcher on the front cover, and words on the inside. Can’t you see it?” Mike asked.
Lane looked at him with a worried look on his countenance. “No, I don’t”
Mike took the book back from him and opened it to the second page. “This tells us that we need to get to New York. This is going to be some old money if the text is correct. It’s been sitting there a long time.”
“Can I come with you?” Jonathan hurriedly asked. “I have been waiting so long to find you. I had given up hope.”
Lane gave him a look that could curdle milk, but Mike agreed to let him come along before he could say anything.
“I’ll pay for gas.” Jonathan added.
“Okay, but I will pay you back with the money that I get.”
Lane was wary of Jonathan. He didn’t like having this guy hang out with them. He worried about him taking the money once it was obtained. If there was money in the first place. He felt like something this big should be on the news or something. He decided to shoot a series of vlogs to document the experience. Mike was on board with that idea, but this time it was Jonathan that was wary which caused Lane to be even more suspicious.
Mike and Jonathan talked as they rode in the car. Lane was eavesdropping on the conversation but had little to contribute anyway. Jonathan brought some more boiled eggs with them that he shared as they were leaving town on the long journey.
“What’s with you and these eggs?” Lane asked as they began to snack on them.
“These ones have that same shimmer as the ones at the convention.” Mike noted as he took one and ate it without any salt or anything.
Lane looked at one while he drove but again, he saw nothing peculiar about the egg.
“They help you achieve vision.” Jonathan stated again.
“These are the reason that Mike can see that crap on the walls?” Lane asked as he gave them another look. He took a couple and ate them. He wanted to be in the club.
Jonathan was pleased that Lane had an interest, but he knew that Lane wouldn’t be able to gain vision.
“Eggs are full of amino acids.” Jonathan explained. “They have every amino acid in them by the way. Did you know that?”
Mike nodded ascent as Lane shook his head no.
“Well, you know about DNA, right?” Jonathan continued.
Both men affirmed the question.
“Deoxyribonucleic acid makes up the building blocks of life. These eggs are from chickens that are fed a special diet that includes another building block that energizes the DNA that is present in your body.” Jonathan explained.
“How so?” Mike asked.
“Well, life on earth began a long time ago. All life is made from a blueprint of DNA. Even plants.” Jonathan started, and then trailed off and changed the subject. “Do you know about deuterium? Have you ever heard of that?”
Both men shook their head.
“You know the periodic table of elements, right?”
Both men nodded.
“Well, when you look at the periodic table of elements you don’t see deuterium. What you see is hydrogen as the element with the least mass followed by helium. Either will float your balloon since the mass of each is lighter than the mass of the surrounding air.” Jonathan said and followed it up with a few short breaths for emphasis. The other men nodded.
“You will also find a number that shows the atomic weight for each element. Each element is made of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Well, protons and neutrons each way about 1, and the atomic weight of electrons is negligible. So, hydrogen atoms have an atomic weight of one point something. The discrepancy in the atomic weight isn’t because the electrons weigh more sometimes than other times. The atomic weight is determined by the number of protons and neutrons. Well occasionally there is a neutron in the hydrogen atom. It’s still hydrogen because it has one proton and one electron, but the mass is higher than normal because it has a neutron in the nucleus of the atom. It’s just stuck there. But it’s not hydrogen because it has this increased atomic weight because of the neutron. This new element is known as deuterium because the atomic weight is two instead of one. It’s naturally occurring, but still fairly rare. Even more rare is when there is another neutron attached. That element is called tritium.”
“Is this the stuff that they use to enrich nuclear materials with? Like heavy water?” Lane asked.
Jonathan nodded. “It is. Some of the neutrons that are in these atoms are different somehow. Some people think that they can only form someplace extraterrestrial.”
“Extraterrestrial? Puh lease.” Lane commented which got him an elbow from Mike.
“Go on.” Mike encouraged.
Jonathan gave Lane a disapproving look that they exchanged as Lane looked in his mirror.
“DNA is made of 4 basic building blocks called nucleotide bases. The four nucleotide bases of DNA are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T). Every DNA has a sequence of these nucleotide bases. And when a cell is reproducing these DNA chains separate like a big zipper. Adenine separates from thymine, and cytosine separates from guanine, but the two halves of the zipper stay intact as they separate. Once they are separated, they latch back on to the missing parts of free floating nucleotides and the zipper reforms in each new cell. Adenine pairs up with thymine, and cytosine pairs up with guanine. In some cases, the DNA in the chromosomes carry a genetic code that makes them color blind. Somewhere in the genetic code for color blindness there is a sequence that is affected by these energized neutron infused amino acids from outer space. With a rich concentration of these enriched amino acids in the diet of these individuals, it activates something that increases vision.” Jonathan explained.
“So, you are color blind as well?” Mike asked.
“I am not fully color blind. I have difficulty seeing most colors, but I can see them as being different. That shimmer that you see when you see things that you couldn’t see before are colors. They are hard to explain to someone like it would be for someone to explain what a color looks like to you.”
Mike nodded agreement and pulled out the little metal book from his backpack to examine it. He smoothed his fingers over the front cover and tried to point out the dream catcher to Jonathan.
“Like this dream catcher. You can see it, but Lane can’t.” Mike said matter-of-factly.
Lane tried to see it but was still unable to.
“I actually don’t see that.” Jonathan admitted.
“You just knew about the chest under the floor because you have been doing those conventions then?” Lane asked.
“No, I can see most of the colors. I can’t see the dream catcher, nor the instructions in that metal book.” Jonathan admitted. “It was me who tried to figure out the combination on that lock. I’ve been the only person to see the arrows on the walls of the booth for forever. I had given up.”
The group rode in silence for a long time before anybody spoke next.
“Where did you find the food for those chickens?” Lane asked.
Jonathan had a guilty look on his face.
“I use their crap for fertilizer that I grow their food with.” Jonathan explained.
Mike accepted this explanation, but Lane didn’t.
“So, this book is written in a different color that you can’t, see?” Mike asked as he displayed the book.
Jonathan nodded.
“How did you unlock that lock?” Jonathan asked.
“There were instructions hidden in the text inside the display case.” Mike said. “They must have been in the color that you can’t see. How is that even possible?”
“I do not know. Maybe you have the force young Skywalker. I have vision enough to do many basic things, but those secrets have never been unlocked to me.”
“You say secrets unlocked; do you think I could get access to this ability?” Lane asked.
“It has to be in your DNA for it to do anything.” Jonathan explained. “It’s like the neutrons are out of phase. They align with the nucleotides and are sent to your brain to decipher. Your brain is then able to make out the colors that it has been missing your whole life. It reveals the hidden colors for you to see. With a little training you can then use those colors for other purposes.”
“Like what?” Lane asked.
Jonathan was silent for a long time before answering. “Other purposes.”
They drove on for many hours as the sun set behind them. They got to know each other during the drive but didn’t discuss the vision for the rest of that day. When they stopped at a hostel for the evening, they decided to get 1 room to cut costs. The fear of betrayal had diminished since the morning had ushered in their journey. It would do little good to betray anybody anyways.