Page 36 (1/2)
"Already done" Miria at that chro you anywhere, Roberts Take a break"
Chris flung down his pen "We need more data"
"We’re scientists Of course we need more data" The air between Chris and Miriam hummed with tension "Come and look at the pretty picture anyway"
"Oh, okay," Chris gru Miriam a sheepish s rested on a wooden book stand No e always amazed me--and not just because the personifications of sulfur and quicksilver looked like Matthew and me So much detail surrounded the cheuests, the mythical and symbolic beasts itnessed the cere wings Next to the page was so that looked like a flat metal postal scale with a blank sheet of parchment in the tray
"Scully will tell us what she discovered" Matthew gave the student the floor
"This illu her eyes behind a pair of thick lenses
"Heavier than a single page should be, I ht it felt heavy" I looked at Matthew "Ree in Madison?" I reminded him in a whisper
He nodded "Perhaps it’s so a vampire can’t perceive Even now that I’ve seen Scully’s evidence, the page feels entirely normal to me"
"I ordered some vellum online from a traditional parch I cut the sheet to the sahed it You can have the leftovers, Professor Clairmont We can all use some practice with that probe you’ve developed"
"Thank you, Scully Good idea And we’ll run some core samples of the modern vellum for comparison’s sake," Matthew said with a shed a little over an ounce and a half
When I weighed Professor Bishop’s page the first tihed thirteen ounces--as much as approximately nine sheets of ordinary vellue froht of the ink can’t account for that discrepancy" Lucy put on her own glasses to take a closer look at the digital readout "And the parchment used in Ashmole 782 looks like it’s thinner, too"
"It’s about half the thickness of the vellulasses back into place
"But had es--probably close to two hundred" I did sohs thirteen ounces, the whole book would weigh close to a hundred and fifty pounds"
"That’s not all The page isn’t always the saital readout "Look, Professor Clairain Now it’s down to seven ounces" He took up a clipboard and noted the ti randoood sense to leave the page on the scale If she’d removed it immediately, ould have missed it"
"That wasn’t deliberate" Scully flushed and lowered her voice "I had to use the restrooht had risen to a full pound"
"What’s your conclusion, Scully?" Chris asked in his teacher voice
"I don’t have one," she said, clearly frustrated "Vellu I’ is possible!"
"Welcoh He turned to Scully’s coe is clearly soes inside it Its weight changes because it’s still somehow connected to the rest of the lance in ht, Mulder," I said, sht every fifteen ested
"Sounds like a plan" Chris looked at Mulder approvingly
"So, Professor Bishop," Mulder said cautiously, "do you think there really are other pages inside this one?"
"If so, that would ination sparking "A ical palimpsest"
My conclusion from today’s events in the lab was that huive them credit for
"It is a paliht of Ashical container," he repeated, looking pleased
We already knew that Ashenetic infor what else ht be in it
"Have the DNA results coo, Matthew?" Maybe if we knehat creature the velluht on the situation
"Wait You removed a piece of this manuscript and ran a chemical analysis on it?" Lucy looked horrified
"Only a very se We inserted a e
You can’t see the hole it lass," Matthew assured her
"I’ve never heard of such a thing," Lucy said
"That’s because Professor Clairy, and he hasn’t shared it with the rest of the class" Chris cast a disapproving look at Matthew "But we’re going to change that, aren’t we, Matthew?"
"Apparently," said Matthew
Miriaed "Give it up, Matthew We’ve used it for years to remove DNA from all sorts of soft tissue samples It’s time soe to you, Scully" Chris inclined his head toward the other end of the lab in a clear request for a conversation
"Can I touch it?" Lucy asked, her eyes glued to the page
"Of course It’s survived all these years, after all," Matthew said "Mulder, Scully, can you help Ms
Meriweather? Let us knohen you’re ready to leave, Lucy, and we’ll get you back to work"