The Return of the Watchers (Armageddon Rising Book 1) (23 page)

              After about an hour he was finally able to get a moment's respite from the well-wishers.  He sat down in his mother's chair and turned on the television, randomly flipping channels as he was primarily using it for background noise. He didn't want any of the cheery, feel-good Christmas music or programming, so he settled for a history channel that was documenting World War II. Yuki was fiddling with her tablet, texting her relatives and making a few calls of her own; mostly to keep her sister and parents abreast of her current whereabouts and well-being. 

              Dorian walked over to her, holding a small package. “I'm not into it this year for obvious reasons, but I would like you to have this,” he said, extending a package to her.                                                                                                   Setting down her tablet, she took it from him and said a solemn thank you with a slight bow, so perfectly that one would think she had rehearsed it for months. As the opportunity presented itself, she handed him a neatly wrapped gift. The rabbit mug and chocolates he had bought her brought her spirits up a bit, making him feel a bit relieved. He opened her gift to reveal an unusually carved metallic disc with a a slender triangular slot cut out. It had a dark patina which gave the appearance of it being very old. Carved on top was a scene of cranes standing at the water's edge which were inlaid with gold. Accompanying it were a pair of small golden ornamental figures, of a horse and rider, which had posts on their back to fit into something.                                                                                                   “That is a tsuba and these are called menuki. They are parts of a katana that the samurai wore,” she said, unsure if he knew what it was.              “Yes, I'm familiar with their history. They're
quite
beautiful. They look very old,” he replied, studying their design.                                                        “They belonged to my grandfather, many generations back. The shape that you see is of our family crest. A samurai would carry his sword everywhere he went. It is said that the soul of the samurai is one with his sword. I hope you find it acceptable,” she said politely.                           

              Dorian felt a bit embarrassed at his comparatively paltry gift, but he was happy that she had shared a part of her family history with him.  “Are you sure you should be giving me this? It seems like a valuable family heirloom,” he said, with a concerned expression.                                          “Of course, it is fine. We have many other items from our past. I want you to have it,” she replied with a gentle smile.

              “I meant no insult- believe me, it's awesome, I will treasure it always. Thank you so much.” He got up from his chair and hugged her tightly for some time and she patted him on the back. As they embraced, he stared at the pictures of his parents on the wall and wondered if they were sharing a moment like this.                                                                                     They cleaned up the mess and he sat back in his chair, thinking about how he was going to tell her that he was leaving without her. There was a pit in his stomach and an ache in his heart; he needed her more now than ever, so how could he say goodbye?                                                                      “What are we going to eat for dinner?” she asked.                                          “Um, well, we could...,” he started. “Damn,” he thought to himself. There had been no planning, given recent events, and his mind wasn't on his stomach since it wasn't growling at the moment. He checked the refrigerator in the back and sure enough his mother had prepared in advance for Christmas dinner. There were pork ribs wrapped in paper from the butcher, some lutefisk along with a bowl of cloudberries and and ingredients for riskrem. Yuki was unfamiliar with traditional Norwegian Christmas dinners; however, with the help of the internet they managed something palatable. Afterwards, they sat down together in the living room with the television in the background. Dorian was still avoiding the inevitable discussion he would have to face. They both sat quietly watching the espionage tactics of the Axis and Allies from WWII, not exactly the most festive of programs. 

              “
...with the development of the Enigma Machine at the end of World War I by German engineer Arthur Scherbius, espionage was taken to new heights. It saw widespread use by Germany before and during World War II. The subsequent reverse engineering of the device by the Polish Cipher Bureau with the help of French Military Intelligence had a significant impact on the war effort. The device itself employed a combination of mechanical and electrical parts that consisted originally of three movable rotors between two fixed wheels. Over time, subsequent revisions increased the rotors to five. The basic function of the machine utilized a poly-alphabetic substitution cipher that helped obscure messages from being detected by opposing forces. It was not long....
”

              Dorian was staring intently at the television, his eyes widened as epiphany struck both of them simultaneously.                                                         “Are you thinking what I am?” he asked.

              “Do you suppose?” she asked with a similar expression. Her pulse quickened. “Where is that thing your mother gave you? The strange, metallic scrunchy thing?” she asked.  She got up and began making room on the kitchen table.                                                                                                                “I'll be right back. I don't believe it. If this is what I think it is...,” he said as he ran back to his room to get the device as well as the deciphered diagram he had written. Running back from his room with both in hand he set the object on the table for the two of them to examine.              “Do you see this?” she asked, pointing to the dots on top, then to the symbols down below. “There are three rows of dots set up in some kind of pattern. This one has one dot on top of another on top of another, three single dots in one column. Look to the right. There is one dot on top of another, which is on top of two dots side-by-side. The next has one dot, then two side-by-side, then one dot.”                                                                                    Dorian was staring at the document when something peculiar just occurred to him. “These symbols, down at the bottom of each set of dots; I know what they are. That's 'tu' and that is 'ka', and this one is ''un'. These are letters of an alphabet, and these at the end are numbers zero through nine. That's strange; I didn't recognize them the first time I copied all this down,” he said, looking over at Yuki, who appeared to be counting.

              “It probably has something to do with your spirit awakening,” she replied. “Look; there are sixty-four sets of dots which correspond to the sixty-four symbols, and ten of them are numbers so that leaves fifty-four for the alphabet.”                                                                                                                “Hold on, five of them repeat. There are forty nine letters in this alphabet. This thing is some kind of Rosetta Stone. Something is missing though. There are sixty-four sets of dots that have three rows with up to four dots. Eight times eight is sixty-four. Sixty-four....,” he said continuing to stare at it.                                                                                                                              After about fifteen minutes of them contemplating and thinking Yuki shouted “The message!”             

              Dorian snapped to attention.                                                                                     “The one from the old lady. How did it go? I wrote it down on my tablet,” she said.                                                                                                                “Something about three notes make the chord, three instruments and something else. Glad you wrote it down. I've practically forgotten it,” he said as Yuki flipped through her tablet to find the saved message.              “Okay, I found it. 'Three notes make the chord, and three instruments are required to play. The music is read with the aid of the stand. The mighty ones shall be your reward'. Three notes and three instruments. Well there are three rows of dots. Three instruments; maybe there are more devices? Try looking at it closer maybe?” she said, unsure of how to piece the clues together.                                                                                     Dorian picked up the object and scrunched it a few times.
Each time
it returned to its resting shape. He began flipping it over and scrutinizing it closer, hoping to find something that would shed more light on the subject.

              A moment later he had another revelation.                                                         “I can't believe we both didn't see this earlier. I don't think this message is just about my musical upbringing; I think it's talking about my background in genetics. It's starting to come together. These three rows of dots represents a codon. Look, there are four of them that have the same number of dots in all three rows. There are sixty-four possible combinations for the four amino acid bases. I kept having dreams about garbage and the strange dream about the seventh, fourteenth, and twenty first chromosome. Junk DNA! It has to be. These dots represent specific codons which when translated give these letters. There's something in those three chromosomes, I'm sure of it. Three notes make the chord or codon; three instruments are required to play; the three chromosomes. The music is read with the aid of the stand- this thing,” he said holding the heptagon up.  “I'm betting part of the answer to the riddle is in the seventh, part in the fourteenth and part in the twenty-first. Three instruments playing together to make the chord. Some kind of message or something else,” he said.               “I wonder why Urieth never mentioned anything to me,” he thought, suddenly remembering his encounter with him.                                          

              “Okay, but even if we translated the non-coding portion of those three chromosomes and wrote some program to turn those into the letters of this alphabet it would be billions of letters jumbled next to each other. How will you find any message in it. It could take years, no?” she asked.              “Good question. That's what I need you to do for me, figure out a way without taking years to do it,” he said with newfound vigor, realizing that this was his opportunity to send her off with less risk of harm coming to her.                                                                                                                                            “Listen,” he continued, “there's something I have to tell you. I met with my father a few nights ago. My biological father. He wants me to head to a remote location for some training; spirit training. He told me that everything that's been going on in the world, all of the disasters, the floods, earthquakes, wars, riots, all of it- is leading to some kind of war. I don't want you to get hurt, so I think it would-”                                                        “--be a good idea for me to go home. Is that it? I get it. So this is your way of getting rid of me?”                                                                                     “Yuki, look, you're twisting it into something else. I couldn't bear to see anyone else I care about end up..... Look what happened to my mother; and that was because of me. I wasn't even trying and I almost killed the two of you. I have no idea what I'm going to be facing, or if I stand any chance against it. I just want you to be safe; I'm not trying to get rid of you. How about we join forces again once I know more about what's in store, and at least that can give you some time to solve this mystery? I'll write down all of the symbols' meanings and you can see what you can come up with. I have faith in you, so I could use your help if you're still up for it,” he said with a pained expression.                                                                      She stared off into space for a few moments taking it all in with a sour look on her face. “I suppose I'll head back to Japan, then. I may need Kasia to help me come up with a way to find a hidden message in all of that data. You better not forget about me or leave me out of this. We are in this together, right?”              

              “Of course, Yuki. I appreciate everything you've done and gone through for me. Thank you for understanding,” he said with a slight smile, grasping her hand in his. She looked depressed as she picked up her tablet to try and book a last minute flight home.                                                                      “What was it like to finally meet your father?' she asked                            “Not what I expected, of course, especially the setting; he visited me in a dream.” Just as she took her eyes off her tablet and was about to say something, Dorian interjected. “No, I didn't imagine it all. It was just as real as you and I sitting here, believe me. We spoke about the past and he told me some things I needed to hear.”                                                                      “So where are you going then?” she asked.                                                        “Somewhere in Italy. Sicily in fact.”                                                                       “Who are you going with?” she asked in a peculiar tone.                            “I'm going by myself, but I'm meeting Yelnisha and my father there. I have no idea who else will be there. Is everything all right?”               “That Yelnish woman, what's her name? She is the one who called you, correct? Why is she helping you, I wonder? Remember what the old lady said, not everyone is who they seem. I wouldn't trust her, Dorian,” she replied, her tone glazed with a bit of envy.

              Dorian played along so he wouldn't fan the flames any further. “Thanks, I forgot about that. I'll keep my distance, for sure. There were a number of beings that I met when I made my journey. I'll have to remind myself to be on guard.