Chicago
The lamplight by which Walter Cerinthus worked was dim, but it was enough. The basement workroom was a full storey underground, with no ray of natural light. Only a single mechanic’s garage lamp hung suspended from an extension lead overhead, shining its light directly onto his cluttered table.
The local gathering was ready. Those who had filled the Temple earlier this morning had been unable to contain their excitement. Cerinthus could still hear their cries of anticipation ringing through his ears all these long hours later.
By now the Great Leader would be wrapping his hands around the precious key, and in a swift transfer would take it to the texts it would unlock. Already a beacon had gone out to the brethren of each locality, the calling sign that would draw the world’s enlightened, the whole Brotherhood, together at last. Were some already here? Had the gathering already begun?
He looked down to the work of his hands. He must not allow himself to be distracted by the grandiosity of events as the device that was his principal charge was nearing completion. Its components had been gathered from all corners of the world, surreptitiously brought to Chicago to enable his assembly. With all the vials and elements collected before him, he felt himself something of the mad scientist in his laboratory, though there was nothing mad about him. Cerinthus was as sane as any man who had ever lived. Perhaps even more than most, for he, unlike so many, knew his mission and his role in the world. And he knew what was coming, and that it would be a surprise to his brethren, defying every pious expectation.
He took up one of the jars from a box to his left. While many contained powders, this one contained a liquid. Donning his gloves and tightening the cords on his mask, he uncorked the bottle, and held it above a funnel suspended over a small, ten-inch-high glass tube just over half an inch in diameter. There would be twenty-five such vials in all. Three, their scientists had determined, should contain this liquid.
He poured slowly, carefully, watching the level rise.