“...h-hard drive?”

  Slowly, I took the crystal from Oliver’s hand, now holding it as if it were made of the most delicate glass.

  Oliver nodded. “Hold it up to the light.”

  I did so, and he continued.

  “Do you see that rectangular cubic shape inside of it?”

  Looking carefully at the crystal, I turned it around in my hand. Oliver was right. There was some sort of structure inside of the necklace. I could only see it when the prism was turned the perfect way, but there did appear to be some sort of perfectly flat rectangle. It contrasted with the natural, organic shape of the crystal. A wave of excitement washed over me.

  “It’s some kind of storage device.” Oliver said, leaning in as well as the two of us continued staring into the crystal.

  “How do you know?” I asked, still slowly spinning the crystal into the light, seeing the new evidence flicker in my vision every few moments.

  “Well, I’m not completely certain. This tech seems like something we don’t have, but there have been ideas around glass storage. Maybe it’s silicon or quartz. Either way, it might be the most data dense storage to exist.” Pausing, Oliver blinked. “Besides, the two holes on the top of the crystal make me think there’s some way to use it with an interface.”

  With it now removed from the rest of the necklace, I looked at the top of the crystal for the first time. Sure enough, two small holes were left in place of the necklace, and both had a metal ring around the holes. Small scratches ran over every bit of the metal, as if it had been inserted hundreds of times…maybe even thousands of times. The sight was all too familiar to me; it was a look I’d seen many times on my older synthesizers from their use over the years.

  “Is there any chance you know how to read this?” I knew it was a long shot, but I asked anyway.

  “Not a clue, but…I think I know someone who can figure it out. I don’t really know what to tell him, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.”

  Hesitant to trust someone else with a one-of-a-kind object, I gave Oliver a nervous look. “Do I know this person?”

  “Not yet…” He responded, leaning back and closing his eyes. With a sigh, he rubbed his temples with a single digit, one on each side of his head. “...not yet.”

  ***

  “Oliveman!”

  A voice boomed through Oliver’s tablet, and moments later, a video feed sprang to life, as well.

  “Hey, Gav…” Oliver sighed.

  Already he sounded as if he was exhausted with…whoever this person was.

  “Long time, no see!” Gav beamed, leaning his phone against something in order to step back and be in full view.

  His voice was much higher pitched than Oliver’s, an excitable, chipper cadence ringing with every word.

  “And to what do I owe this great pleasure of a phone call from my dear, lost little brother?” He asked, tone pitching down into faux sadness.

  “Sorry, Gav…I’ve, uh, been pretty busy.”

  Gav cocked his head sideways, almost to an unnatural angle. “Too busy to call your own brother? It’s been…” Head realigning, his whole front turned to the left for a few moments before facing the camera, “...two hundred forty-six days, Olive! That’s more than half of a year!”

  “That’s…a suspiciously exact figure…” Oliver mused.

  “Timers! They keep track of all things for me!” Gav picked up his phone, turning it toward a computer monitor.

  A tower of timers flooded the camera’s view, all of the numbers ticking, each with various notes attached to them. From days, to minutes, to even seconds, they were everywhere.

  “And look!” He said, moving the phone closer to one particular timer.

  It read ‘Talked to Oliveman’ across the top of the timer, and the timer itself read ‘246:13:03:23’, the final set of numbers continuing to climb with each passing second.

  “Aaaaand…” Gav clicked the timer, dropping every number on the screen back down to zero. “...there.” Turning the phone around until it was focused on his face once more, Gav’s gaze was dead set on Oliver. “And don’t you let it get that high again, ya hear?”

  “Do you have any idea how exhausting you can be, Gav?” Oliver asked, the trace of a smile on his face.

  The happy, excited look swept off of Gav’s face in an instant. He pulled his phone away from his head a bit, a serious look on his face.

  “Yes.”

  As quickly as his smile disappeared, it was back again. The phone was placed against something, settled in a way to show off more of the background. Gav appeared to be in some sort of unfinished basement, a large pile of computer equipment stacked haphazardly on a table behind him. There were a few computer monitors mounted to the walls, each with some sort of special task, just like the screen with all the timers. Oliver’s screen wasn’t large enough for me to decipher most of them, but one contained pictures of clouds. It must have been the weather.

  “So, what’s up?” Gav asked. “Because I know you’re not calling just to chat.”

  Oliver started to respond, “well, I’ve got–” but Gav didn’t let him finish.

  “Did you finally decide to go with that sound system I suggested for that bucket of bolts you call a car?” He asked, nearly bouncing up and down in his chair.

  “Uh…no…nothing like–”

  “Or did you finally try that sushi place I told you about? I told you, you’ve got to call me if you try it because I want to know if you loved it, really loved it or if you’ve got terrible taste in food and I can never trust you again!”

  His voice was getting faster and faster with each word.

  “Gav, I need to…” Oliver began, but Gav started to interrupt once more.

  Luckily, Oliver knew what was coming, speaking louder and powering past his older brother’s interruption.

  “...I have something you should take a look at!”

  I glanced over at Oliver. He was definitely looking exhausted by this conversation…if it could even be called a conversation.

  “Oh! Show me, show me!” Gav leaned forward.

  Oliver hesitated, looking at me. The crystal was still in my hand. Cautiously, I held it out to him, but before he took it, Oliver seemed to change his mind. Waving for me to put the crystal out of sight, he turned to Gav instead.

  “I’d rather not show it over a call like this. Could I bring it to you in person?”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I asked.

  Instantly, I realized the mistake I’d made. Oliver’s face slightly drained of color, a look of dread spreading across his features. Gav’s face, by contrast, lit up with excitement. He leaned into the camera.

  “Olive! Who’s over there? Who was that? Was that a girl?! I thought you were afraid of those!” He laughed, mostly to himself.

  Oliver buried his face in his palms, resting his elbows on the table, slowly shaking his head.

  “-you know Oliver, I knew this day would come. You always said you’d never find someone, that you were ‘happy being all on your own’–” Gav raised his hands, making air quotes with his fingers, “-but I knew you’d run into someone someday, and now look at you! Wow! Amazing…” He leaned back in his chair, hands still in the air. “Now, now admittedly I thought you’d have found someone sooner, but hey, people can be late bloomers, and you were always one of the late bloomer types. Hey!”

  The exclamation almost made me jump. Oliver, however, remained unmoving.

  “Do you remember that time after school at the picnic tables, and that girl told you–”

  “Gav! Please!” Oliver yelled–almost begged–over the phone, pulling his hands from his face as he cut his brother off.

  “Ohhhh, okay, don’t mention the picnic table thing, got it. So, who’s this girl? What’s her name? How’d you find each other? What’s–”

  As Gav continued with an endless barrage of questions, Oliver sighed, reaching down and hitting the mute button before looking at me with a pout and an eye roll.

  “And he wonders why I never call.” He mumbled, Gav still asking away. “He’ll wear himself out.”

  Sure enough, after another minute, Gav seemed to slow down. Satisfied with the decrease in words per minute, Oliver unmuted himself and spoke.

  “So how about I head over there tonight? I could be there in about two hours.”

  “Oh! Yeah!” Gav grinned. “Yes! Of course, let’s do that! I’d love to see you! You’re bringing your girlfriend, right?”

  Oliver visibly cringed. I couldn’t help but giggle.

  “Probably not this time, Gav.”

  “Awwww…”

  Gav started to speak again, but before I could process any words, Oliver hung up the phone…and by comparison to moments ago, the silence was deafening.

  “He’s, um…a pretty excitable person, isn’t he?” I asked.

  “What he is is exhausting…but I think he can help us.”

  Looking at the crystal, I frowned slightly. “You think he can read this thing?”

  “If anyone could, he’d be the one who could figure it out. He’s always been energetic and driven when it came to…well, whatever he wanted to do, really. I always just followed along. When he played video games, I played video games. When he started guitar, I started violin. When he was into skateboarding, I got into roller blading…well, until the accident, obviously. Heck, I only got into horseback stuff because he did.”

  I nodded, letting Oliver continue. It was probably a bit freeing to be able to speak after talking with someone so spirited.

  “After…that, I started getting to computers. Since physical activities were a lot tougher, it was something I could do, and it made sense for me. It was interesting…and for the first time, Gav followed me, which was…” He paused, mulling it over. “...it was cool, I guess. I got into software while he got into hardware. Gav ended up settling on that as his vocation and took all of his energy with him. He always wanted to know how things worked, wanted to take things apart and put them back together. He’d try and make things work in ways they were never originally intended to.”

  Oliver shrugged, leaning back a bit. It looked as if he’d just aged a few years.

  “Like I said, he’s always been very driven. I couldn’t keep up with him. I tried, but he just kept pushing things further and further. Eventually it seemed like he’d come up with something every day that took me months to figure out, and it got…”

  “...exhausting.” I said.

  He sighed. “Exactly.”

  ***

  “So you’re sure you’re okay with me taking it?” Oliver asked, holding the crystal in his hand.

  “At this point, I just want to know what’s on it.” It was true; this was our best lead and I was eager to get some sort of answer. “It could be anything, right? Hopefully he can find a way to read it.”

  Though I was calm on the outside, internally, I was tense. Still, I knew this gamble was the best chance of finding what secrets were contained in the crystal. Taking a deep breath, I knew I had to trust Oliver to take care of it.

  He put the crystal inside of a small pouch on the inside of his backpack, zipping it shut. Nodding to me, Oliver made his way toward the door, turning around just before he reached the door.

  “I’ll call you when I get there, so be sure your phone is on.” He gave a small wave. “See you soon.”

  I waved back, watching the door close behind Oliver. I was alone again, standing in the middle of the living room. The whole house suddenly felt empty. After all those weeks by myself, it felt nice to have someone around for a while. All I could do now was wait for Oliver to get to Gav’s home. Heading upstairs, I decided to organize my belongings and properly unpack.

  Once upstairs, I pulled everything out of my bag, laying it all on the floor. Sure enough, I was right–none of my clothes were in a salvageable state. They were completely destroyed. Though I hadn’t really taken much interest in them previously, I took a good look at my pants. They looked a lot like what I was wearing now, aside from the stitching and other modifications to fit me. My gaze drifted down to the pants I was wearing, thinking about how silly they must look. I didn’t know how to sew, but I figured it was best to keep a pair of pants as a reference, if I ever could make another pair.

  My old shirt was in similar condition, but the changes were much more simple. If I was right, it was a large shirt with the sides cut–a way to keep the original length, but to stop it from being so wide on me. I could feel the question swimming into my head again: how could I have missed all of these obvious differences between myself and everyone else I knew? I was always given clothes whenever I needed them, never questioning all the little abnormalities.

  I really should start questioning things more often…

  With my clothes sorted, I decided to wash my old clothes and throw everything out I’d taken from the shop. The first order of business finished, I sorted through the rest of my gear. I pulled out my phone–out of battery, as expected. Knowing I would need to charge it as soon as possible, I took it straight to the desk and plugged it into the cord.

  I grimaced as I looked at my last can of tomatoes. When it was all I had, it tasted amazing, but after eating it for several meals in a row, it looked revolting. Hand digging at the bottom of the bag, I pulled out my bowl, spork and a few other small things from the camping store. At the very bottom, my hand brushed against some papers. They were still damp, but I yanked them loose before turning the backpack upside down against the bed to dry.

  Carefully pulling apart the mess of congealed papers, I blinked in confusion. I didn’t remember putting papers in my bag, but the moment I spotted the remnants of a headline, the memory came flooding back to me.

  Colorado S–ngs ma–c-r-

  Now I remembered getting this newspaper after my phone call with Oliver. The woman at the store had mentioned something about it. Gingerly holding the print, I attempted to read more while walking to the desk. With all the smeared ink, there was no way to understand anything else written on the papers. I softly placed the paper on the desk, trying not to make a mess. Thankfully, a few minutes of time was enough to get my phone to come back to life.

  There were tons of notifications, but I ignored them all, opening the browser. The last tab I had opened reemerged, making me frown. Placing this feeling was impossible, as I looked at a list of chords and samples for the basics of the ukulele. It felt like a lifetime ago…

  That search was from the night of my birthday. I had finished playing with the ukulele given to me by Emily and John. Up in my treehouse…just before I had the conversation inspiring me to visit Colorado Springs…that night was when I last looked at this page. My thumb carefully traced the massive crack going through the glass of my phone. It was a constant reminder of what happened there.

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  The people…the snow plow…getting found by Emily.

  I started shaking, started crying. Everything had rushed back into my mind all at once, crashing into me like a tidal wave. I was able to ignore it for so long, focused on staying alive, on cleaning, on talking with Oliver…but now I was forced to confront it, alone.

  John’s death didn’t feel real. The house fire didn’t feel real. I could imagine myself going back to my home…and all of it would still be there. John would be working on his truck, and the house would be warm and inviting. Emily would be…Emily was still out there, somewhere.

  There must have been something I could have done better. I shouldn’t have left the house, and even if I did, I should have run back inside sooner. I could have saved him. I could have stayed with Emily, instead of spending weeks walking, barely surviving on my own.

  My eyes drifted shut, squeezing out tears as I rested my head on the desk. Time lost all meaning as I just wallowed in suffering, trying to figure out where everything went wrong. I regretted so many decisions I’d made. I wished they had told me I wasn’t normal…we could have avoided everything. John would still be alive.

  I would still have a home.

  ***

  At least an hour had gone past before I finally lifted my head from the desk. My body felt like a lead weight as my bleary eyes wandered around the room, trying to remember where I was. At least I was by myself–right now, I wouldn’t have wanted anyone to see me looking so defeated. Wiping some tears from my eyes, I regained my bearings. My phone was next to me…the object which reminded me of all of this suffering in the first place. I had been…looking something up…

  My hand brushed against the paper. I blinked, remembering what I had been doing as I picked up the phone, taking a deep breath. As I brought it back to life, as expected, the ukulele information was there again. I went to close the tab, but something stopped me. It felt as if I kept this tab open, I could keep part of myself alive…the part of me from before this mess started.

  Instead, I opened a new tab. While typing ‘Colora-’, autofill options began to fill the space below the search bar. The first one there made my eyes widen. ‘Colorado Springs Massacre’, plain as day. I clicked on it, waiting for those few seconds in silence, holding my breath for what felt like far longer.

  Tons of articles from various publications burst forth from my phone. A few of them were local ones, ones I recognized, but some of these news outlets were national. Whatever had happened, it was big. I picked one article at random, titled, “Colorado Springs Massacre: What we know so far”.

  The news appeared to be updated a day ago, with the top of the article having the most recent information. Scrolling to the bottom of the page, I began to read. It had taken a while to reach the oldest post, but I knew it was best to start from the beginning.

  ***

  February 14th, 3AM

  Police were called for a noise complaint by a local Colorado Springs resident after the Stellar Beats nightclub turned its sound systems on outside of operational hours. Officers showed up at approximately 3AM to find windows blown out, glass on the sidewalk and major structural damage in the entryway. One officer saw what appeared to be a dead body inside the building.

  *****

  That would have been the same night as the fire.

  *****

  February 14th, 3:30AM

  SWAT was brought onto the scene to enter the building. The inside was described as a massacre, with initial estimations of 46 bodies found in the building. Channel 4 was unable to interview any police who investigated the scene, but there appear to be no survivors from the attack. There is currently no information on who was inside or what caused this attack to occur.

  February 14th, 8AM

  Very little information is available. All bystanders and reporters have been asked to keep their distance. More investigators were brought to the scene, but only select officers have been allowed past barriers set up by law enforcement. There is still no time frame available for public information to be released.

  February 14th, 9:30AM

  ***

  There was no text on the update here, only a video with a play button. I touched it, holding the phone closer as the video began. The night club rested in the background, glass blown out of several windows. Most of the remnants of the windows were scattered in the snow, but what caught my eye was the front door. A large streak of red snow lead from the door out into the street. A man with a police uniform approached a podium set up in the center of the screen, his shoes covered in blood.

  “I am aware you all have many questions. Unfortunately, there is very little we know so far.”

  His voice was scratchy, tired. It was clear he hadn’t gotten any sleep.

  “What we do know is this incident appears to be affiliated with a gang. We’ve only identified a small number of the victims, but those identified thus far belong to either the Phoenix cartel or the Outliers gang. We do not yet know what led to this, and we will not speculate without additional information. As of this moment, we have identified 49 unique bodies.”

  Several reports started asking questions, a cacophony of noise exuding from the crowd for a few seconds until one voice rose above the rest. “What do you mean by ‘unique’, exactly?”

  The officer took a deep breath, taking a moment to mull his response over as he looked at the podium, then back at the mass. “They’re in pieces. There’s a lot…I do not…I do not have any other information at this time.”

  He turned around. Reporters began to yell more questions, but the officer ignored them all, stepping back inside of the building.

  The video ended there. I kept scrolling, finding more updates with timestamps throughout the day. Finally, the number of updates seemed to slow at seventy-one, an update from the end of the fourteenth. I continued scrolling, going past most of the information about the locals and the impact of the massacre on the town…until one post caught my eye.

  ***

  February 17th, 8:40PM

  Police identified a black SUV related to the incident, driving along Route 24, outbound from Colorado Springs. Several cars engaged in pursuit, which ended at the Rampart Reservoir after the SUV swerved off the side of the dam and into the water. The driver was confirmed as one of the two unaccounted individuals from the massacre, George Manos, leader of the now defunct Phoenix cartel. One person still remains unidentified from the tragedy. Police say they will release the name of this individual soon.

  ***

  From there, the next article was a week later.

  ***

  February 24th, 11:36AM

  Police Chief Michael Cormac, along with multiple officers from the Colorado Springs Police Department, has officially been arrested without bond on the grounds of information gathered from the massacre last week. According to limited information, it appears several officers within the department were involved with the two groups in the massacre. Their involvement is currently unknown.

  February 25th, 3:27PM

  Security camera footage has been released, as police have failed to find any necessary information about the catalyst of these murders. Footage from within the club has been withheld, due to evidence of faces from people yet to be identified. Police claim footage shows the members of the Phoenix cartel entering the empty nightclub at approximately 2AM. The Outliers gang followed the Phoenix cartel around five minutes later, with security cameras cut off a minute later. This time coincides with the time music began playing inside the club. We’ve obtained a single image of the moment with a person going by the alias, “Little Rat”.

  ***

  A photo appeared underneath the post, a low resolution image of someone inside the nightclub, before the massacre happened. They appeared to be walking down a hallway with several others, but the image was cropped to show only their face. The post continued.

  ***

  A series of shots have been released from a security camera posted across the street. Police are asking anyone that might have information about these individuals to come forward and aid with the investigation.

  ***

  Above the request in the article, there was a short, looping video. A black SUV pulled up in front of the nightclub. The video then cut to the windows being blown out, then a small scuffle, then the SUV pulling away. It looked exactly like the SUV from the photos of the police chase from the previous week’s news.

  I recognized that SUV, and not only from the images and video.

  My fur stood on end as my body went cold.

  My hearts started to race, muscles contracting.

  All I could do was stare at the looping video, as if I were frozen solid.

  I knew this SUV. It looked identical to the one pulling up to my house that night…the one with those terrible people inside of it…the people who killed John.

  My eyes widened, still staring at the images in front of me. Just as I began to scroll, my phone changed over to a call. Even before it could buzz a single time, my finger accidentally pressed the answer button, unable to react in time to stop scrolling. I screamed, throwing my phone into the air as I jumped from my seat. The clumsy result of my actions was a loud thud as I fell onto my back, the phone softly thudding right next to me. I gazed up at the ceiling, trying to catch my breath…trying to lower my heart rate.

  “Uh…hello?” Oliver’s voice rang out from the other end of the call.

  “H-Hey, sorry, I, um…I just got startled and uh, fell over. I was doing…a thing…” My words were spluttering out, failing me.

  Even if I was fully coherent, I wouldn’t know how to describe how I felt at that moment.

  “Oh? What sort of thing?” Came a familiar voice.

  “Hey, Gav.” I said, collecting myself as I looked over to my phone, slowly plucking it from the ground.

  “Hi, Tess! By the way, Olive told me that I’m not allowed to call you his girlfriend-”

  Oliver’s voice quickly cut over him, “dammit…Gav, just…stop. Jeez.”

  The video suddenly appeared, with Oliver holding the phone and Gav standing over him, just behind Oliver’s wheelchair. Both of them were in the same basement area I’d seen in the last phone call with Gav. It was definitely…an interesting setup: a large workbench with tools and random junk tossed across the surface, an equally large assortment of computer monitors of different shapes and sizes, and all of them were held by metal arms, ones which seemed able to move the monitors. Oliver reached behind himself, pulling his backpack out from the back of the wheelchair.

  “So, Gav, we wanted you to take a look at this thing here.” He said, taking the crystal out of the backpack.

  My ears turned toward them. After everything I’d just seen, the crystal was the last thing on my mind. I’d forgotten what this phone call was even about until I saw the familiar shape come into view. I rested my back against the side of the bed, watching intently.

  Gav pulled a nearby office chair to him, sitting down as Oliver handed the crystal to him. Gav looked at it for a moment, then wheeled himself over to another desk, picking up a pair of odd-looking glasses with magnifying lenses. Quickly gliding back to Oliver, he then pulled a light from somewhere above my view, turning it on and leaning it toward the camera. His hand stretched out slightly, inspecting the crystal closely.

  “Oh…interesting…” He mumbled, going silent for a few minutes.

  It was the quietest I’d ever heard Gav. Evidently, Oliver rarely heard Gav this silent, either. He looked into the camera, then back at Gav. The crystal turned in all different directions as Gav continued his examination. After a moment, Oliver quickly mentioned, “so the top comes off too, by the way”.

  “Oh, neat.” Gav responded, very quietly, very monotone.

  There was no emotion in his voice. The chipper, excited person had gone completely with all of his attention on the object in front of him. With the cap removed, he continued inspecting the crystal, looking at the two small holes at the top. He adjusted it in every direction, moving the flashlight to look into the top after a few moments. I had no clue what Gav was doing, but I kept leaning into the phone as he continued. Oliver was doing the same, leaning forward, almost on top of Gav, trying to see what his brother was doing.

  “Fascinating!” Gav suddenly yelled.

  Oliver jumped at the sudden exclamation. I was a bit startled, too.

  “Oh, sorry.” Gav apologized, then continued, “this is a neat little thing you got here!”

  “Do you think I was right about it being some sort of storage device?” Oliver asked.

  “Definitely!” Gav responded.

  Oliver waited a moment, then, getting no additional response, “...aaaaaand?”

  “And I think it’s really neat! It looks super pretty under the light, too!”

  Oliver sighed, rubbing his temples. Not wanting to stress put my friend any more, I decided to get Gav on the right track.

  “So, Gav, do you think you’d be able to figure out what’s on it? Is there any way to read whatever it has?” I asked, gentle as I could.

  “Definitely!” Gav beamed, excited.

  Oliver looked up from his palms. Gav continued.

  “...not. No, I don’t think I can.”

  Oliver screamed into the air in frustration, making me jump slightly. “Why do you talk like that, oh my god!”

  Gav laughed, slapping Oliver’s back. “Sorry, sorry, but I can’t not take an opportunity to mess with you!” He continued laughing as he leaned back in his chair.

  Oliver huffed, a grumpy look plastered on his face as he crossed his arms. “So does that mean you can read it?”

  “Oh, no no no, definitely not.”

  My hearts sank a little, hearing that result.

  Oliver collected himself a little, quietly asking, “Do you think there’s any way of figuring out what’s on here? Any clues, ideas…anything?”

  “Here, let me show you this…” Gav said, tone flowing back into his chipper self once again.

  Gav seemed to switch between two modes at the drop of a hat, depending on if he was speaking seriously or not. In one mode, he was silly, goofy, wanting to make someone smile; in the other, he was much more serious, entirely down to business.

  “See the top here?” He asked, holding the crystal in a way I could see it, “this one here…” Gav pointed to one hole, “...this is the input. If I shine a light through it like this…”

  He brought the flashlight back to life, holding it behind the phone as he shone the beam directly into the top. The one he called an ‘input’ stayed black, but the other one started to glow.

  “The other one is the output. I don’t know how it's changing color like that, but it must be doing something in there.”

  I spoke again in response to the new information. “I can’t tell what color it is through the phone, but you’re right. It does look different…”

  Gav looked into the camera for a moment, then back at the crystal…then back to the camera. “It looks the same through the camera as it does here, so what you’re seeing is what I’m seeing, too.”

  “Yeah, but the phone is missing a lot of colors, I mean…” I paused for a brief second, “okay, it’s different, I understand what you’re saying.”

  “Missing…” Gav mumbled to himself, “...I’m not sure what you mean…er, anyway, there’s no metal circuitry in here. It looks like it works through light. Now, how those pathways are found…how it directs things, I have no idea.”

  Oliver shrugged, sharing a look with me as if to say, ‘well, it was worth a try’.

  Continuing, Gav rotated the crystal slightly. “I’ve never seen anything like this before, but whatever is inside here is definitely storing something. I have seen this kind of stuff in super early development…glass storage. Again, super early in development, but the fractal light patterns I’m seeing here are the same as what I’ve seen in those.”

  Oliver raised an eyebrow. “So doesn’t that mean you should be able to read it?”

  “No!” He responded, excitedly. “What we have right now is two dimensional. This is a three dimensional stack. There’s no external optical laser here, instead, there’s some internal structure guiding light through itself. This is a completely different technology with a similar core design. Problem is: I have no idea what kind of light to shine through it.”

  Great, so we were still stuck, then. Surely there had to be something we could do.

  “A flashlight like this should be fine since this crystal was obviously meant to be portable. If something like a flashlight were to break it, then it wouldn’t be designed this way. To read it, I’d have to test a ton of variables…and any one of those things could destroy it beyond repair.” He gave the crystal another curious look. “How bright should the light be? What frequencies is it expecting? What do each of the colors mean? I have no idea, and if I were to test it, I’d almost certainly break it.” His gaze shifted back to the camera. “I’m assuming this is the only one you have, right?”

  “Yeah.” Oliver and I replied in unison.

  The call went silent for a bit, Gav looking at the crystal more as Oliver gave a quiet sigh, looking a bit defeated.

  Gav, of course, broke the silence.

  “So where’d you find this thing? A crater or something?”

  “Uh…” I answered, trying to think of something sensible. “It was given to me by someone.”

  It wasn’t a good answer, but at least it was the truth.

  “Uh huh, uh huh. And this someone…was it a little, green guy? Big antennae on his head? Did he have a particular hate for a certain country singer?”

  I didn’t know what to say–especially to that last question–and neither did Oliver. He looked nervously between his brother and the phone. Gav continued, tone back to full seriousness.

  “Where this crystal came from, it’s not from here. Definitely not. This was manufactured in a way that’s well beyond anything we can do. We’re barely scratching the surface of this sort of tech. It’s still all experimental right now, and this doesn’t look like any kind of prototype. My guess is that this is mass manufactured, simplified, robust. Experimental tech is fragile, held together with hot glue, duct tape, and hope. This is something else. We’re probably decades, maybe even centuries away from being able to manufacture anything this complex.”

  He held the crystal up to the camera again, letting me get a close look at it.

  “Wherever this came from, it’s not from earth. You should ask the person you got this from about it.”

  I paused for a moment, answering after a moment. “He…died recently…”

  “Ah.” He responded, giving a small pause. “That’s…unfortunate. I’m sorry to hear that…” Gav looked suspiciously at the camera for a moment, then blinked, seemingly snapping out of his trace. “So! Is there anyone else who might know something about its origin?”

  “There’s one person that might know.” I said, grimacing slightly. “I’m not exactly on great terms with her at the moment…”

  Gav nodded. “You might have to figure that situation out, then, if it means getting some answers. In the meantime, is it okay if I keep this here?” He pointed to the crystal. “Just for a bit, I promise.”

  I thought about it for a moment. Gav didn’t seem to be interested in turning it over to anyone, and if Oliver trusted him, then I could trust him too. “Sure, you can keep it there. You’d probably figure out more stuff with it than I could. Just, um…be sure to keep it safe, okay?”

  Gav stood, giving an overly exaggerated salute. “You’ve got my word!”

  Oliver rolled his eyes. “I’ve got to get some dinner in me. I’ll see you later tonight, Tess.” He said, reaching forward and ending the call.