“Now you sound like Felix. And let me remind you that you helped convince me it was okay to take this job!”
Yumi hung her head, sheepish. “Fine, I did.” She lookedtoward the door where Vulcan and his wife had gone. “If you had told me at the beginning that I would end up helping you hack the database of the gods, I would have escorted you directly to McLean myself.”
Aida raised an eyebrow at the reference to the psychiatric hospital in the Boston burbs, known for its famous patients Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Ray Charles, David Foster Wallace, and others. “We might both need to visit when this is said and done. Come on.”
The room they entered was vast, with high ceilings adorned with frescoes depicting scenes from ancient myths. Warm golden light emanated from sconces lining the walls. Intricately woven carpets graced the floor. Marble columns, masterfully carved with delicate patterns, framed the room, supporting the weight of the vaulted ceiling above. A well-stocked library lined one wall, containing both scrolls and tomes, complete with a cozy reading nook, plush cushions, and a warm flickering fireplace. A tablet, likely for reading, lay on a side table. Four golden women—automatons—stood stationed in each corner, immobile, but Aida was sure they were ready to move at a moment’s notice. In the center of the room, there was a large circular seating area filled with comfortable oversize chairs and couches, upholstered in the finest fabrics. Aggie and Vulcan were seated there, locked in a low heated conversation.
Aida cleared her throat. Aggie looked up and waved them over.
“Now then,” Vulcan said, looking at Yumi after she had sat down. “The gods seem to have accessed Pandora and probably all the other automatons. It will be up to you to find her, but first...”
“Wait, why us?” Aida broke in before Vulcan could finish. “If a god took your automaton, can’t you just take it back?”
He grunted, but Aggie’s hand on his arm softened his response. “I can’t interfere with the machinations of other godsand how they are compelling humans. In this case, if we are right, the happiness of millions of humans is stored within Pandora. As I did not initiate it, I cannot meddle because it is an arrangement between another god and humans.”
Next to Aida, Yumi sighed.
“But there are ways to figure it out. I built a fail-safe—an override, if you will—into the automaton in the event someone other than me took control of her. You’ll need to find the key to override Pandora’s instructions and subsequently control all the other automatons. What you need to find is the specific pattern of the meander.”
“What’s a meander?” Yumi asked.
Vulcan explained, his voice steady and clear. “A meander, or Greek key, is a decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated motif. It’s a design that dates back to ancient Greece and is often found in architectural friezes and pottery.”
“Mazes often use a meander pattern. That’s why it’s called a meander... You wander within them,” Aggie added.
Vulcan continued. “This particular pattern represents the eternal flow of life, the meandering path of existence. In the context of Pandora’s key, the meander isn’t just a mere design, but a code. It’s crafted so that each turn and twist of the pattern aligns with specific mechanisms within the lock. You see, the key and the lock are uniquely intertwined, much like the lines of the meander—intricate, complex, and deeply interconnected.” He looked at Yumi. “To find the key, you need to break the code by finding the pattern of the meander.”
“How do I do that?” Yumi asked. “I think she’s in London. The database IP tracks to a location there. And that’s where Aida always goes for her work.”
“Okay. Then you need to go there. If Pandora is in the city, the meander will imprint itself in some way upon the most important public locations, usually into the architecture. Themeanders change based on how the city and its people change if Pandora is in one place for a long period of time—so the key may always be found. There are five meanders.”
“But London is massive. There are countless museums and important buildings. How on earth will we know which ones are the right ones?”
Vulcan made a movement with his hand, then held out his palm to Yumi. A gold-encircled lens lay in its center. “Like I said, it will be the most important locations. If you use this, you’ll be able to see the correct meanders and the specific part of the pattern you’ll need.”
Yumi took the lens and lifted it to her eye.
“You won’t see anything unless it’s the right meander,” he told her. “Once you have identified all five, you must put them together into the correct pattern to fashion a key.”
“An actual key?” Aida asked.
He shook his head. “No, not now. In the past, yes, I would have said that. But Pandora and the key adapt to the world around them. If she’s being used as some form of database, then the key is likely digital—code that you would input directly into her.
“Each meander will be unique in design. The differences might be subtle, but they will be there. Each will have its own structure and its own number of turns and lines. The complexity of the lines, the length, the direction—these are not arbitrary. They each represent something, a different numerical or alphanumeric value.” He glanced up at Yumi, ensuring she was following along. She nodded her understanding.
“When you find these meanders, you’ll need to discern their unique features, and then overlay them, one on top of the other, in a specific order, based on the importance of the locations where you found the meander.” He sat back and pointed at the lens in Yumi’s hand. “That lens is a tool but also a guide. With it, you’ll be able to see the meanders and their potential combinations. And when you look at the combined design throughthe lens, you’ll see something new. Think of it like a QR code of sorts. The overlay creates a new unique pattern, which can be converted into a digital meander. This will be the key. Based on how my automatons have adapted—” he waved his hand around the room at the golden beings “—Pandora will have a way to scan this key from your mobile device.”
“Wait, we can’t do this remotely?” Yumi asked, horror evident in her voice.
“Unfortunately, no. You’ll need to see the meanders in person.”
“And she’ll have to give you permission,” Aggie added.
Vulcan nodded sagely. “That’s right. She’ll have to agree to it.”
Aida gaped. “I don’t understand—are you saying that Pandora was willing to house the world’s happiness? That she took on the information willingly?”
“Yes. My guess is that Apate deceived her in some way and convinced her to take on such a task. But yes, that’s exactly what happened. She agreed. I’m the only one that can command her at will. And of all my automatons, Pandora is the only one with free will to choose.”
