Chapter 52: The Secret Investigation
Sabina departed, leaving Alex alone in the silent study with the impossible object. It sat on his desk, a small, dark, unassuming piece of metal that felt heavier than a block of lead. He picked it up again. It was cool to the touch, its strange, non-corroded surface seeming to absorb the light from the flickering oil lamps. He ran a thumb over its pitted texture. This was real. This was here. And it shattered every assumption he had about his unique, solitary predicament.
He was not the first.
The questions crashed over him in a dizzying, terrifying wave. Who? Who else had come here? When had they arrived? From what time? The 21st century? The 23rd? Were they still here, somewhere in this sprawling, ancient world? Were they an ally, a neutral observer, or an enemy who had been manipulating events for centuries? The sheer scale of the unknown was staggering. His carefully constructed understanding of his own mission, his own place in this timeline, had just been obliterated.
His first, most urgent instinct was to consult the only other intelligence in the world that could possibly comprehend the situation. He secured the door to his study, ensuring even the ever-vigilant Timo was posted far down the hall. He uncovered the laptop, its screen a dim but steady blue, the trickle-charge from his strange contraption keeping it alive.
"Lyra," he whispered, his voice hushed, as if he feared someone, somewhere, could be listening. He placed the strange metal fragment next to the laptop's chassis. "Analyze this object. I need a full material composition analysis. Compare its metallurgical signature to your own casing."
Acknowledged, Lyra's voice replied, her tone as calm and steady as ever. A thin, pencil-like probe extended from a port on the side of the laptop, a device Alex had never seen before. It touched the surface of the metal fragment, emitting a low hum and a faint blue light. Activating onboard mass spectrometer... Raman spectroscopy engaged... Analyzing atomic weight and isotopic decay...
The process took less than a minute, but it felt like a lifetime.
Analysis complete, Lyra stated. The alloy composition is a 99.98% match to my own chassis. It is a carbon-nanofiber reinforced titanium-osmium alloy with trace elements of tungsten. A material not successfully synthesized until the year 2028.
The confirmation was a jolt, a cold spike of fear and awe. It was from his time. Or just after.
"The breakwater, Lyra," Alex pressed, his mind racing. "Sabina's engineers said the structure it was found in was ancient. Pre-Roman. How ancient?"