--- /dev/null
+I checked around to see if I was being watched but the room was definitely empty and I couldnt hear
+anything outside so I ducked down to inspect the underside of the table The top was highly polished
+with a graceful slope to the edge thickening as it approached the centre column There was no visible
+mechanism to suggest that it was anything more than it appeared to be a grand work table at the
+centre of a grand control room I pushed poked and listened for another mechanism but there was
+nothing mechanical that I could find The thickening of the top and the bulk of the column did allow
+room for a fairly substantial mechanism though and tucked up in the fold where the top joined the
+column there was a small metal plate bearing a makers mark My heart skipped the door to the Shadow
+Archive carried a similar plate inscribed with the trademark of John Tann the locksmith who
+manufactured the security system on the entrance It looked like he had also made this table He was
+not a furniture maker and there could only be one reason he had made this one It must be part of a
+lock mechanism He was the leading safe maker in Victorian London and if Black had felt the need for
+him to build a safe in the heart of the Shadow Archive it could only be because there were secrets
+that were too dark even for the security of the Archive itself Maybe this is what my attacker was
+really after and if so they had struck way too soon I should thank them really without my aching
+head I would have been unlikely to discover Tan ns mechanism but that thought reminded me I was
+still vulnerable down in the shadows I didnt think there was anyone else around but I couldnt be
+sure and I needed backup Until now there hadnt been enough to get Harry involved in this adventure I
+still wasnt certain that he would be allowed to help out as I wasnt really sure that national
+security was involved but I was absolutely certain he would want to see this I needed to get out
+safely and comeback with a team so we could properly explore the Archive and find out what the Tann
+safe stored Before I left I took one more look around gathering the few papers that were left and
+putting the codebook securely into a pocket of my backpack I still couldnt believe that my attackers
+had left it behind but perhaps they missed it in the gloom in their excitement to gather the
+government papers which they had found If nothing else came out of this I was certain that the
+codebook was worth reading I hadnt had time to inspect it properly but the section on the Vi genere
+cipher looked absolutely fascinating
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projects / cipher-tools.git / blobdiff