Chapter IV, part two — The Institute of Anomalous Studies

Instructions

PART ONE: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/703525090/                    ―――――――   "Oh, /come on!/" Aurelia threw up her hands in disgust. She'd thought the electric in here had been fixed!   The lupi ferrei -- somehow she'd forgotten about them since the last time she'd been down to L-6, even though they and their cacophony characterized it -- decided now would be a good time to howl even more loudly.   Aurelia took a few steps forward, hoping to get away from the din, but almost ran into one of the pedestals. The glass dome atop it contained... was that a zeppelin bomb? She was glad she hadn't knocked into it.   The lights flashed on, three times their normal brightness.   Aurelia swore and threw her arms up, trying to block the glare. As she did so, she wondered if the bomb would even still explode. It had been over a hundred years, after all; did explosives have a shelf life?   The boy guarding the door shouted, "Are you alright?"   She replied with, "Not dead yet, so I'd say yes!"   She was almost glad when the lights decided to plunge her into darkness once more, and could've shouted with glee when they came back on, set to dim. She took the opportunity to orient herself and get a read of the place.   She was in a large room riddled with square columns, the tops of which widened and joined together to form the ceiling. Between them lay a rough grid of pedestals, about waist-height, each topped with a glass dome containing an object (or, in one case, a sleeping raven). These were Level Six's permanent residents. Too dangerous to be stored normally, they were housed inside a dead zone.   Induced dead zones like this one were weaker than their naturally-occurring brethren, but they did their job well enough for the Institute's purposes. The anomalies in here could cause nothing new, though any effects incurred by someone before entering would remain. Agent Beaufort and Dr. Lavenza wouldn't recover if brought inside a dead zone, even if the curse were lifted.   (Each of those globes, somehow, hid a Faraday cage. It wasn't exactly useful information, but Aurelia found it neat.)   Index LIB-aya-6a, often called the Lavinnicon, was no permanent resident.   Lavinia Winston, its resident, was only moderately malicious; and no one except her could read the contents of the book, so that mostly lacked danger. She seemed to like Aurelia, though that may have been because the Director was one of the few people who routinely visited her in containment. Their 'friendship,' if one could call it that, had started when Aurelia was working on Greater Domesday and had heard a scratchy voice greeting her one morning. After nearly jumping out of her skin -- she laughed thinking of it now, but she had been genuinely terrified -- she'd had the insane idea to strike up a conversation.   Back to the problem at hand.   Miss Winston would be in Temporary Holdings.   Where was that? As soon as Aurelia began looking around for it, the lights went off. /Gears./ Electric was dreadfully unreliable. Why couldn't they use gas lamps down here again?   She heard chattering to her left -- sounded like a mind-shredder. She spun around to face the noise, but the lights snapped back on and there was nothing there. One wouldn't be able to shred minds down here, thanks to the field. Give them a few paper cuts, maybe. Aurelia found that reassuring, although she shouldn't have. She turned back around and, conveniently, saw an archway set into the faraway wall labeled "Temporary Holdings."   She glanced at the artillery shell in its dome one more time, then set off. She weaved her way through columns, tiptoeing as she passed the raven on its perch -- were those feathers made of /jet?/ -- and for the rest of the way until she reached the arch.   Once there, she searched for any traps or tripwires switched out since the last time she'd come. None? That wasn't typical of the Institute, but it made Aurelia's day easier, so she didn't question it very much.              ***