Project J Read Online Free
of that tunnel; billions then trillions, and then far greater numbers of quarks, the building blocks of matter, were linked in a strange manner that defied the laws and logic of physics. Incredibly thin beams of photons focused on the center of the platform. Slowly, molecule by molecule, a copy of the book was being built from the bottom cover upward. Each page appeared magically from nothing, the black text and red highlighting becoming visible for just a moment before the next page overlaid it. The intertwining vines and red flowers used to enliven the text seemed to be growing around the pages.
Eleven minutes later, the Machine ceased weaving the book from nothing and reduced to its background hum. Immediately, the man shut it down. The room became suddenly silent, making his footsteps loud on the metal floor. Swinging open the chamber door, he stepped in and bent to pick up the book. Fighting the urge to stroke its soft leather cover and admire its gold decorations, he closed the chamber door. The book he placed on a cart, along with a squat clay bowl decorated with black and red primitive images of dancing deer and leaping wolves. Next to those were two other artifacts, a flint spear point and an oval piece of wood with crude symbols carved on the surface, looking almost more like scratching than a language.
The other items were enclosed within glass boxes with sealed lids. But the book he simply covered with a towel.
Leaving the large room where the Machine was housed, he took an elevator up to the office level where he deposited the glass boxes on a table. In the morning, the scientists who had requested those items would pick them up and take them to whatever lab they had, to do whatever it is they did to them. Williams really did not know or care. His job was simply to take the list he was given, search for, find and duplicate those items.
His last stop was the small office he shared with the other operator who ran the Machine during the daylight hours. Looking around to make sure that no one was present, even though that was highly unlikely, he took the towel off the book and lightly ran his fingers along the spine. Almost reverently he opened the cover and touched the black letters on the page. He could not read the Latin, but he knew what it said – more or less. This was a copy of the Bible. But not just any copy. This was a very special copy. This was a Gutenberg Bible, the first major book ever printed. In 1454, Johann Gutenberg used moveable type on his invention, the printing press, and changed the world. No longer did books have to be painstakingly printed by hand. The information explosion he had created ushered in a whole new world of technology and innovation the world was still recoiling from.
Williams had done his homework. A little research on the Internet had told him all he needed to know about this item. It was historical, very rare and very valuable. Gutenberg had printed only about one hundred and eighty of the two volume, thirteen hundred page book, of which only forty-two copies were known today, and only twenty-two of those were complete copies. The last complete Gutenberg Bible to be sold had fetched 2.2 million dollars. Those were 1978 dollars. One website estimated that a copy today would be worth between twenty-five and thirty-five million dollars – if one were available. Virtually all copies were in museums. Even leaves from that book were expensive, running between twenty thousand and one hundred thousand dollars each, depending on the size and condition.
Almost unable to take his eyes off this prize, he had to force himself to put it in his briefcase. In a few hours, he would go off shift and take it home. He would then show it to Daisy – not that she would understand how special it was – and explain to her how he would break it into small sections and
Eleven minutes later, the Machine ceased weaving the book from nothing and reduced to its background hum. Immediately, the man shut it down. The room became suddenly silent, making his footsteps loud on the metal floor. Swinging open the chamber door, he stepped in and bent to pick up the book. Fighting the urge to stroke its soft leather cover and admire its gold decorations, he closed the chamber door. The book he placed on a cart, along with a squat clay bowl decorated with black and red primitive images of dancing deer and leaping wolves. Next to those were two other artifacts, a flint spear point and an oval piece of wood with crude symbols carved on the surface, looking almost more like scratching than a language.
The other items were enclosed within glass boxes with sealed lids. But the book he simply covered with a towel.
Leaving the large room where the Machine was housed, he took an elevator up to the office level where he deposited the glass boxes on a table. In the morning, the scientists who had requested those items would pick them up and take them to whatever lab they had, to do whatever it is they did to them. Williams really did not know or care. His job was simply to take the list he was given, search for, find and duplicate those items.
His last stop was the small office he shared with the other operator who ran the Machine during the daylight hours. Looking around to make sure that no one was present, even though that was highly unlikely, he took the towel off the book and lightly ran his fingers along the spine. Almost reverently he opened the cover and touched the black letters on the page. He could not read the Latin, but he knew what it said – more or less. This was a copy of the Bible. But not just any copy. This was a very special copy. This was a Gutenberg Bible, the first major book ever printed. In 1454, Johann Gutenberg used moveable type on his invention, the printing press, and changed the world. No longer did books have to be painstakingly printed by hand. The information explosion he had created ushered in a whole new world of technology and innovation the world was still recoiling from.
Williams had done his homework. A little research on the Internet had told him all he needed to know about this item. It was historical, very rare and very valuable. Gutenberg had printed only about one hundred and eighty of the two volume, thirteen hundred page book, of which only forty-two copies were known today, and only twenty-two of those were complete copies. The last complete Gutenberg Bible to be sold had fetched 2.2 million dollars. Those were 1978 dollars. One website estimated that a copy today would be worth between twenty-five and thirty-five million dollars – if one were available. Virtually all copies were in museums. Even leaves from that book were expensive, running between twenty thousand and one hundred thousand dollars each, depending on the size and condition.
Almost unable to take his eyes off this prize, he had to force himself to put it in his briefcase. In a few hours, he would go off shift and take it home. He would then show it to Daisy – not that she would understand how special it was – and explain to her how he would break it into small sections and
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