The Device: Part I

``No way!'' Sally said as Tom told her about his discovery yet again. ``I don't believe that there is such a device in the world!''

``It's true!'' Tom said for the umpteenth time. ``It does exist and is sitting right under our noses!''

``Show me then!''

``If that is all it takes to satisfy you, then okay, let me take you there.''

Sally was a little stunned---that was hardly the reply that she was expecting. Clearly if Tom was actually bluffing, he was really not about to just give up the ghost like that. Still, Tom was making some rather extraordinary claims, and extraordinary claims definitely required extraordinary proof. Besides, Sally was curious to whether Tom was pulling her leg or not.

Tom and Sally had known each other for years, since college days, in fact. Tom did his major in anthropology, while Sally was an engineering student. While both of them were in diverse fields, a one-time romance between them cemented the friendship that was to last long into their professional lives. Recently though, it seemed that Tom was studying various pseudo-mechanical artefacts, and had, on occasion, ask for Sally's professional advice to how and what the devices might be for. For the most part, the things that Tom discovered were easily understood by Sally, since they were often some ancient clockwork designed to simplify certain types of computations. But this time round, Tom was suggesting something altogether different, something that was a little out there even for Sally to accept as an engineer.

``So, how are we going there?'' Sally asked.

``Well,'' Tom began, ``I will drive us to the site. It is not exactly a dig site, but the various access panels and such of the device are well camouflaged that the whole structure sits in full view of the general public, who have no idea what the implications of such a device are.''

``Hold on a minute,'' Sally said, her keen mind latching on to something that sounded crucial. ``You are telling me this thing is sitting in full view of everyone and that people actually frequent it?''

``Uh huh...''

``That makes it even more impossible to believe!'' Sally said, her skepticism out in full force. ``I sure hope you have solid proof about what you have been claiming.''

``Rest assured, I do,'' Tom said with an air of confidence.

`Tom, Tom, Tom,' Sally thought to herself as she followed him to his car. `Why do you always look so sexy when you are assertive of yourself? Why did we break up at all...?'

------

``So,'' Sally said as she fastened her seat belt in Tom's car, ``are you going to tell me the location or are you just going to make it a surprise?''

``Well,'' Tome said as he adjusted his rear mirror, ``I'll tell you the location, no need to bring in the snark. It's on top of that hill-park near the bird park tourist attraction.''

``No way,'' Sally said as she recalled the location that Tom pinpointed. ``That place is a public park for crying out loud---I'm pretty sure the national park authorities would know of something like this. They have been administering the location for years now.''

Tom gave a grin as he eased the car out of its parking lot carefully.

``I don't know if they know, but the study of the historical relevance of the hill-park location was commissioned by the national parks authority. I found it kind of weird for such a study to be commissioned, considering the fact that it was done after the site had been developed into a public park, and not before. That would probably have destroyed many markers and artefacts that would have made the place historically significant,'' Tom replied as he drove his hatchback out of the basement car park.

Sally sat there quietly, taking in Tom's words and weighing them as she looked at the passing scenery.

``Sounds a little sketchy to me,'' she said finally as Tom made a turn out into a slip road.

``Yeah,'' Tom replied. ``I'm hoping that you might have a better explanation for what I found; that's why I looked you up on this one.''

Sally nodded and looked out of the window in silence.

Outside, passing cars and roadside trees flashed past in a blur as Tom accelerated towards their destination. The silence between them was simultaneously comforting and wounding, comforting because they each had space to think their own private thoughts, wounding because it would keep reminding them ever so subtly why they divorced in the first place.

A few more turns later, Tom finally broke the silence.

``We're nearly there.''

Ahead was the bird park, and to the left was a long inclined road that flanked the little hill. Tom downshifted his gear to the second and turned onto the inclined road. The engine purred softly as the tachometer edged past the two thousand mark.

The inclined road they were on wasn't too steep, but it was steep enough to have its presence felt. Sally could feel her back pressing into the back rest of the seat sa gravity did its job. Tom grinned to himself---Sally wasn't one who liked going up hills in cars, since her back wasn't really comfortable with all the compressive forces on it. In fact, when they were still living together a long time ago, she always slept prone, which became a little awkward when they tried to make love, since he liked being the top and... Tom shook his head. Now wasn't the time to think of this.

As the inclination of the road went up, Tom carefully slipped the hatchback down to the first gear. It was the final part of the entry anyway, and it was a little steep even for a slope. With a louder purr, the tiny engine revved and carried the car over the speed bump that sat at the top of the climb.

``Ow,'' Sally said. ``Stupid bumps.''

``Aand, we are here,'' Tom said as he upshifted his car to the second gear. ``Let me park this first and we can go up and have a look at the device.''

Sally nodded nonchalantly, her mind obviously elsewhere. She had reclined the seat and was sitting upright so as to ease the compression of the back rest on her back. That was something that she did very often, and Tom knew that, so he did not kick up any fuss.

------

Tom and Sally stepped out of the car and walked in front of it.

``So, where's the device?''

``You are staring at it.''

``Huh?'' Sally looked about confusedly. ``I don't get it.''

``What do you see?''

``Some rock garden, and the observation tower.''

``Uh huh.''

``You don't mean---''

``Yes, the observation tower. That's the device.''

There was something strange about what Tom just said, and suddenly it clicked in her head.

``Wait, the observation tower is the device? It is not the place where the device is stored?''

``Nope,'' Tom shook his head as he repeated his words carefully. ``The observation tower is the device itself.''

Sally looked skeptical once more.

``Okay, that's not funny. Show me the proof that makes you claim that the observation tower is the device and that it does what you had claimed it did.''

``In due time,'' Tom replied. ``But first, let me get the key.''

``Wait, key? What key?''

``The key that the national parks authority gave us when they commissioned the study.''

Sally fumed slightly.

``You are telling me the the national parks authority gave you a damn key to the observation tower for the study and that they have no idea that it was a device for...''

``That's right. It was a key that they found near the observation tower when they took over the location to develop into a public park. They didn't know what to do with it, since there didn't seem to be any lock that the key would fit in the general location.''

``The fact that there was an observation tower already existed before they developed the place into a park did not faze them at all?'' Sally was sounding more incredulous by the minute. ``I'm not buying this; too fishy.''

``Well,'' Tom explained as the both of them walked towards the observation tower's entrance. ``It wasn't exactly the observation tower in the form that we see today that was there---it was just some dilapidated looking cylindrical structure. The national parks authority didn't want to tear the existing structure down to rebuild, so they just did some renovations on it and integrated it into the park's design as an observation deck of sorts. It fit well into the whole theme of the park though, since it is on a hill and all.''

Sally shrugged. The story that Tom was telling seemed to be getting a little out of hand by now.

(Store continues here.)