There was silence for a while and the only sounds were the whisper of envelopes sliding along the surface of the table and the tiny clinks of metal as each item was examined. While others took their time looking at them, it seemed to Marina that the only one who was doing so with an opinion that mattered was the Historian. Eventually, she completed her examination and looked at the others around the table.
“I can’t identify the purpose of many of these objects.” She gestured toward the bracelet bands that looked like watches but with blank faces. “Others I have an idea of the uses. But what puzzles me is how these are being sent to reclamation. Who had them?”
Marina took out the list and slid it across the table toward Greta. “The objects I brought today are marked by a tick mark at their entry line. You can see that most of them were provided by the Hotel.”
She had the attention of everyone now. Piotr’s eyebrows drew together in a frown and she hurried on, “These weren’t in use. Apparently, there is some sort of storage in the hotel and these were in boxes marked to be left alone. No one there had any idea of how long they’ve been there or for what purpose they were stored, but it’s been at least as long as we have history. They brought them out and sent them down since no one knows anything about them.”
Greta and Piotr gave each other a look so she added, “The resolution did mandate the turn in. They made a correct decision based on their information.”
Taylor pointed toward the envelope still tucked behind the encircling protection of her arms and asked, “And that?”
Marina withdrew the pocket watch carefully and unfolded the cloth tucked around it. She laid it carefully on the little nest and slid it slowly toward the historian. “This was turned in by a resident. Aside from its beauty, it is also a timepiece and I think I might be able to repair it. I thought it might be significant enough to be of interest to the Historians. Only the case is silver…”
Greta picked up the piece with careful fingers, immediately found the tiny button and popped open the cover. She turned it over to look at the face of it and ran her finger over the unmarred glass. “It is exquisite.”
Piotr held out a hand and asked, “May I?”
The historian seemed reluctant to hand over the treasure but did so, her free hand beneath his during the transition in case the watch fell. He, too, looked over the details of the case and frowned when he looked at the scene as it was revealed when both sides faced him. “I’m not sure this is something we need to keep. It’s violent.”
Greta tilted her head to the side, as if considering her next words carefully, “You are correct in that it is in essence, if not in exactitude, against the tenets. However, we do kill animals to provide food and materials we need and that is what is being done there.”
Piotr laid the object down and pushed the envelope to the next person as if to get it away from his person as quickly as possible, an expression of distaste on his face. He replied, “Not humanely.”
“No,” Greta agreed, “not in the way we might choose to do it now, but I think that is a very old piece. From long before our history begins. Perhaps that is what they considered humane then.”
“I think it is from…” he stopped there, going no further with his thoughts. Marina thought she knew what he was going to say because she had thought it herself when she first examined the watch. Even before she found the hidden image and letter inside, it hinted of outside to her.
“You think it is from the First People or before them,” Greta said. It wasn’t a question.
He nodded stiffly and stopped himself from looking again at the watch as it made its way from hand to hand around the table. “I do.”
Marina wondered what Greta would say to that and watched her closely. She also watched the others. Would their faces give away their thoughts about the object? Her secret knowledge of the image and the letter gave her curiosity an edge.
“I think that you may be correct in that, however I have nothing that can prove that as a certainty.” Greta’s response was suitably noncommittal for a Historian and frustrating for Marina. Apparently, it was the same for Piotr.
“And exactly how could one ever possibly prove it? What do you want to do with it?”
“As to your first question, I can’t think of a scenario in which I would be able to prove this. The presence of an animal in such surroundings does hint of…and please excuse my choice of words…well, it hints of outside in a time before the First People. That could mean that this object was made by one of them after reaching the silo as a reminder of what once was.”
She paused a moment, either gathering her thoughts or trying to choose her words carefully. “If that is the case, then this item is of a value that can’t be ignored. That being said, it could just as easily have been made generations later based solely on fantastical ideas passed down from the First People.”
Greta turned back to Marina and asked, “What do you know of the object? What did you call it?”
“A pocket watch. It came from a resident on Level 50. The turn in slip didn’t have much more on it.”
“And did you go speak with the resident?” Greta asked and Marina was suddenly very glad she didn’t stop and try to speak with Genevieve Hardi before.
“No. I came here with it.”
The watch had made its way around the table again and back once more to Greta. She wrapped it in the cloth and tucked it back into the envelope, this time protecting it under her folded arms. Marina felt a pang as it disappeared from view and she wondered if she would see it again.
“I’ll see to the investigation on this piece,” she informed the group. “And the Historians will also visit the hotel and find out about this storage.”
It was said with finality and everyone else seemed to take it the same way Marina did. She immediately began turning over in her mind how she would go about speaking to Genevieve Hardi. She was probably going to have to make it look like an accidental meeting. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that if she didn’t find out what she could for herself, she would never know the answers.
It would be found out by the Historians and then ‘studied’ by them for decades, never being shared until every possible avenue was thought about over a lifetime or two. That wouldn’t do. She had the picture and the letter and knew more than the historian who had just taken the watch and the responsibility away from her.
A few of the pieces were selected for tentative inclusion into the holdings of the Memoriam and a good many others were selected for imaging and then reclamation. The other items sat, looking rather forlorn on their envelopes. They were neither important nor interesting enough and would be immediately reclaimed, their designs destroyed forever.
The ring that changed color when worn by the wearer was selected to be saved and Marina was very happy about that. They had each tried it on and gotten a slightly different color, with Piotr getting a yellowish green that was very pretty and Greta getting a blue that almost looked purple. She wondered if they would let others try it on or if it would simply go on display.
The group tried to be social for a few minutes, following the tradition of ending all discussions on friendly terms, but it faltered as each of them thought their own thoughts. With assurances that the objects to be drawn would be ported back to her very soon, Piotr left.
Everyone aside from Marina, Greta and Taylor made their way out shortly afterward. Taylor was waiting for Marina to finish re-packing her satchel so he could escort her out when Greta told him that she would do it. She told him she wanted to have a few words with her. Marina tried not to react.
Marina cinched up the cord on her little sack, now much lighter, and stood. The pain in her foot and thighs was still at bay, but slowly coming back. She hoped she wouldn’t embarrass herself in front of the older woman.