06/23/2025 Snippet, THE BOOK. (Unfiltered)

Have some special plans for Patreon stories for the near future, but this can also be worked on.

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Archival Studies
Voynich Memorial Library
Lewis University
State of Plymouth
2150 AD

I stared at the box. The very battered, rusty, and smeared box. I’d like to say that something that filthy didn’t belong on my desk, but fair’s fair: it wasn’t the nastiest item I’d gotten handed lately. Or, in this case, dropped on my desk by a scowling coworker. That was a surprise, actually. Jessica usually preferred to smirk.

Not this time. “Have fun, Phil,” she told me, or at least in my general direction. Her eyes were focused on the box. “Without me, dammit.”

I raised one eyebrow at the swear word. She wasn’t the foul-mouthed type. “I’ll try, Jessica,” I said, in my most reasonable tones. “What am I going to be having fun doing?”

“Oh, nothing. You’ll just get to archive one of the burn boxes from the old Special Collections.” She gave the box an exquisitely dirty look. “Only it’s not burned.”

Fortunately, I had already put down my coffee. “Unburned?” Now I was staring at the box, a hopeful academic lust struggling to be born. “You’re joking.”

“Either I am, or the label is,” she told me. “The seals check out, the lettering matches, there’s even a disposal ticket still attached. I got to see that, at least. Here, take a look.”

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