Deus Ex Machinarium

It was a busy morning for both men. After finishing their breakfast Brandt wasted no time, preparing to venture to the site the tanai visited in the night. He secured their cart, and took two shovels, an axe, a machete, and his sheathed sword, leaving most of his belongings, how little there was, in the camp. Anh took the hint and likewise, after rummaging through his things, he produced a leather rucksack which, judging from the looks of it, was packed to the brim.

Brant was wondering for a bit, where did the tanai hide it.

The morning was brisk and surprisingly warm and as they went along the overgrown road, it was looking as if the day was going to follow suit. It took them more than a single candle to reach the site.

-” So, we are here” - dryly announced Brandt. Immediately his gaze landed on the obelisk -” Considering you are the specialist here. What should we do now?”

Anh scratched his head for a moment, confused.

-” I can read ancient languages. I am not”- the tanai paused momentarily, searching for a word -” a person who digs for remains of old things. I would start by measuring the place and sketching its plan. Then, I guess we can document the obelisk. What are we looking for?”

-” You tell me. It was you who pointed to this place” - calmly replied Nord.

Anh took a blink to reply.

-” I wanted to confirm my hypothesis about the coordinate system. Which I consider to have tentatively achieved. Let me rephrase. What are you looking for Mr Zerster?”

It was Brandt’s turn to fall silent. After a few moments, he responded with a hint of doubt.

-” Something. I can’t tell. Once I find it, I’ll know. I suggest you document the obelisk. I will sketch the plan of the entire site. I assume you took sufficient parchment and ink?”

Anh nodded in confirmation, then took off his rucksack. After a brief struggle with its contents, he produced an inkwell and a few sheets of rolled parchment.

-” On second thought. Won’t you need the ink yourself?” - asked Brandt reluctantly when the tanai handed him the utensils.

-” I have ink in three other colors” - shrugged Anh - “You will be making your notes in green though.”

-” Fine” - hoomin grabbed the items and was about to walk away, but Anh stopped him.

-” You’ll need one more thing” - once again, this time the tanai needed a mere moment to reach into his rucksack and obtain a flat piece of wood, a third by a fourth of a mer in size and covered in smooth black leather stretched over. He passed this item to Brandt.

-” What is that?”

-” Portable scribe backing. You don’t intend to draw with the parchment on your thigh, do you?”

-” These things are made?” - said Brandt with genuine confusion.

-” Of course! How do you expect to make notes in the field? I also have parchment clips over here but you are not getting those. Backings, I have four. Clips, not that many.” - Anh threw the rucksack on his back and headed towards the obelisk in the middle of the glade -” Now it’s time to get productive!”

Brandt followed him with his gaze for a moment. When the tanai was at a significant distance the hoomin took interest in a rectangular hole nearby. It was time to get to work.

The first order of business was to obtain a measuring device. That however was easy, as he knew that his sword’s blade was exactly one mer in length, thus it made for a handy measuring stick.

It was time-consuming and monotonous work. Brant hopped into each and using his sword, carefully took measurements. Most were about a mer in-depth, but their shapes were vastly different. Most were rectangular, between ten and twenty mers on each side. They were also separated from each other by about five to seven mers. A few had more complicated shapes.

Brandt spent some time examining the interior of each rectangular hole. After going through several he found a few chunks of ‘rock’ that resembled the poured mortar. In one there was even an iron rod sticking out. Other finds included two cracked, heavily rusted heads of a pickaxe, a deteriorated boot, some broken clay bottles, and what seemed like iron rings that once held a bucket together. For each newly found ’treasure’ Brandt wrote a note where he found it. Then he would carry the find to a single pile near the central obelisk.

As the day progressed Brandt was taking vigil of what his companion was doing. The tanai spent probably close to two candles doing … things to the obelisk. Poking it, scratching it, measuring, most likely, and making notes and sketches. Lots and lots of notes and sketches. The tanai even set up a little ‘office’ near the obelisk. He cleared a piece of land with a pyrohex, followed by some earthworks which Brandt could not determine from a distance. Finally, the tanai swept it with an appropriate pneumohex and thus invoked a cloud of dust. In the end, Anh spread his utensils over the ground and periodically returned to them, and was busy scribbling things, staring at things, and then returning to the obelisk. By the end of the second candle the tanai had several filled sheets, while Brandt was halfway through his own. At that time Anh froze over his makeshift office and stared at it for a good third of a candle. At one point, he took a quick gaze at where the hoomin was and decided to explore the part of the site opposite Brandt’s location.

-” Trawins!” - they were working silently for two more candles, but when Bivos’ position denoted late afternoon, Brandt decided the time had come to return to their camp. Thus he shouted at the tanai - “ I think we are done for today!”

Anh raised his head from the hole he was cataloging things.

-” I’ll be done with this one shortly!” - he shouted back. Without even noticing the response Brandt started to carry the artifacts he had found to the office of the tanai. This took him a quanter, but it was still before the Anh wrapped up his doings. Having no other things to do, he squatted and started to shuffle notes the tanai had made.

It was surprising how much text one person could scribble about what was, essentially, a huge chunk of material. The tanai described the object in exquisite detail, noting its size, shape, surface structure, and every fracture Brandt could see. Up to measuring every major one’s length and depth. On subsequent sheets were detailed drawings of the object from several angles. Each drawing was almost life-like and was adorned with arrows pointing at points of interest.

-” They are a little rough”- Anh’s voice sounded from behind -” but as you can imagine, conditions are what they are.”

-” I am amazed how much one can write about such a simple object.” - Brandt replied slowly, directing his attention towards the notes -” the drawings are also excellent.”

-” Umm, thank you. I think.” - said Anh aloofly - “I think I should gather my things. Please, give me your notes, I’ll carry them and we’ll analyze what we have found.” - tanai reached towards Brandt in anticipation of getting the sketches hoomin has made. Once he received them, he began to pack his utensils and notes into his rucksack.

-” What are we going to do with these?” - tanai nodded towards Brandt’s finds -” I can’t carry all of these.”

-” We’re going to leave them here” - shrugged the hoomin - “It’s not like anybody is going to take them. They’ve been laying here for the last however many years.”

-” Fifty-five to sixty years. I think” - said Anh while finishing packing - “If the timeline we established is sound.” - he just finished packing - “I’m ready. Let’s go”

-” Besides, we have all the time in the world, don’t we?” - Brandt said as he was collecting his things scattered on the grass -” I’m willing to spend a few weeks here. Maybe even move our camp entirely to the premises.”

Both men headed towards the road back to the camp. Anh floating, as tanai does, and Brandt on foot.

-” What do you think we have found here?” - inquired Nord as they reached the overgrown road.

-” It was a settlement of sorts. The holes we explored are remains of foundations.” - answered Anh in a mentor’s voice.

-” I figured as much.”

-” The foundations were deep. The closer to the obelisk, the deeper they were. I can’t say what kind they were. You could build a three- or four-story building upon the deepest one. I reckon, judging from my limited knowledge of masonry. They certainly supported something very heavy. The obelisk was placed in the center and supported… something. I haven’t got even the faintest idea what. But it had to be massive as well.”

-” You have gotten all that from that one place?”

-” That is not all. I’ll show you once I merge the sketches you made with mine. But, I think, I can trace how cart movement was organized in this place.”

-” I’m going to ask the obvious. Where is everything?”

-” Since you know the answer already… we found some remains, we found tools. I think Ordo Pro Cvirsi was harvesting this place. Possibly before the monument was built.”

-” My thinking exactly. Moreover, they were through, which suggests they were in a hurry.”

-”... or what they found was especially valuable.”

Their way back to the camp was spent admiring the woodlands slowly waking up from the winter’s slumber. To the untrained eye, everything was bare, but once attention was paid, the bushes, the trees, and other flora were already busy sprouting buds and early spring flowers were also showing up.

The sporadic conversation between Anh and Brandt devolved into one contentious issue. Brandt noted that the cleanup operation by the, supposed, Ordos was thorough, yet the obelisk remained. The tanai put forward a hypothesis of the order trying to move the obelisk. To which numerous scratches on the surface were a testament. What stopped them was the sheer mass of the structure.