Chapter 113

Alvin walked in front of Fred in the tunnel, carefully looking for traps and triggers on the way. He spotted a few in copious tripwires which he promptly disabled.

After a while, they both reached a dead end. Fred felt around for a while, before he removed a slab that had perfectly blended with the rest of the walls. They both then stepped inside the storage area.

They immediately saw numerous sealed barrels and crates without any identification, which they could identify from the smell they emitted as gunpowder. There were hundreds of such containers containing gunpowder.

"If used correctly, this could cause thousands of deaths and losses worth 200,000 pounds" whispered Alvin from the side, looking at the sheer number of explosives around.

He cautiously looked around, but did not find any traps or triggers that would blow up the whole thing. He then walked up to some boxes and barrels and looked around for some seal or mark.

"All identifying factors have been scraped off, but a few words are remaining in a few of them occasionally" said Alvin after looking around.

Fred pulled out a notebook and a pen, and started putting together various incomplete markings that remained, to try and obtain a complete identification mark. After a while, he was left with a vague symbol with a few incomplete works and letters underneath.

"These words look like Dutanes words" said Fred. "Dutanese is commonly used in the colonies of Balam"

"And most of our gunpowder for Loen comes from the colonies in the Southern Continent. So the gunpowder is intercepted from the processing locations in Balam?" wondered Alvin.

"The military is in total control of the shipping of gunpowder, but since our church requires a lot for our use too, we have the military ship them to us. I remember that a small amount of gunpowder would be missing from our order most of the time. We were always told that it had gotten wet in the journey across the sea, and hence was unusable. But it looks like it was smuggled by some forces, and then sold" said Fred.

Alvin then spotted a door on the opposite side. He went in through that door, and he ended up climbing some stairs. Very soon, he was underneath a wooden trapdoor, and by his feet was the device that Fred had tossed in earlier. He picked it up, walked back, and returned it to Fred.

"That was the opening underneath the machine. The one the supervisor knew about" said Alvin.

Fred nodded, but he still had a contemplative look on his face. "Were there no other exits in there?" he asked.

"No, not that I could see. Why?" asked Alvin.

"The door behind the portrait was closed. It still doesn't explain the air that lacks the overwhelming smell of gunpowder. There must be another entrance that is ventilating this place" said Fred. He put down the device Alvin handed over, and then started working in the flat sheet and rectangular box again, and started working on it.

"What is this?" asked Alvin looking curiously at the rectangular box. He figured the flat sheet would receive sound waves emitted by the transmitter, but he was unsure of the function of the rectangular box.

"This is a simplified second-generation difference machine, used specifically to analyse sound waves and thus determine the surroundings" said Fred without looking up.

Alvin remembered the information on this device. He wanted more information on this device, but he didn't want to directly ask and appear interested. Knowing that the Machinery Hivemind's frequently corrected others when they spoke of factual errors, he asked, "It was invented by Emperor Roselle wasn't it?"

"Well, you are half right. Emperor Roselle created the first-generation difference machine, and also established theoretical foundations for the second, but the second-generation difference machine was actually invented by Turani von Helmosuin. It was them simplified and adapted for different functions later by the church" said Fred.

"Rumour has it that Turani von Helmosuin invented the third-generation difference machine. If only we could get its blueprints" said Fred wistfully.

"What is the difference?" asked Alvin.

"Well, as you know, difference machines are quite integral to research and analysis of information and data. It can find calculate the answers to mathematical problems involving dozens of digits, and identify anomalies and patterns in an impossibly large swatch of data. The latest second-generation difference machine is a must have for any laboratory that hopes to archive decent results. The first-generation difference machine was invented by Emperor Roselle. It was the size of a room. He insisted on calling it a weird name, Eniac, for some reason. It was later renamed to first-generation difference machine after the second-generation difference machine was invented. Compared to the first, the second-generation difference machine is only the size of a boulder. It triumphs the first-generation difference machine in efficiency, and can be further reduced in size if it is only used for a specific function, like this sound analysing machine. It has this small size, enough to fit in one's pocket, but it only has the sound analysing function. Apparently, the third-generation difference machine has superior performance compared to its predecessor, and a complete version is no bigger than a slab of rock!. And it can be further reduced to being held in the palm of one's hand and still triumph the first-generation difference engine in functions" said Fred excitedly.

"It seems that this third-generation difference machine is very valuable" said Alvin excitedly.

"Valuable? It's priceless! The church would pay you hundreds of pounds even for vague clues to the location of Turani von Helmosuin or one of his labs or unpublished books! If you can find something related to it, you will never have to worry about money again" said Fred.

He then looked in a particular direction and said, "Found it. It's quite small, but there is an opening there!"

Alvin barely heard him, as he was already dreaming of searching for Detective Zrail and kidnapping Ian Wright.