Amazing Stories, August 1927 — page 50: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

464 They were similar in shape and size and were in the form of a rod of circular cross section, six inches long with a cross piece on top giving them the form of a capital letter T. Each of these were slotted across at various points, but no two in exactly the same manner, and on them were en- graved strange characters. Here is a sketch of them.” Hargraves handed me a piece of paper on which was drawn the figures I reproduce here. [ + Tl Ib dee “The thought struck me at once that these things might be keys to unlock whatever lay before me, so I tried one in a hole where it fitted snugly. Now, I asked myself, into which hole did each key fit. There were one-hundred and forty-four holes and six keys, so there were evidently 144!/138! (1) ways in which these six keys could be arranged, using all of them. Out of more than eight trillion ways of doing a thing with only one of them cor- rect, the chances are somewhat against one’s hit- ting the right combination by chance!” “You might hit it once in a million years,” I laughed, “if you could keep on trying that long.” “Well,” he continued, “I saw that there must be some solution to my problem, so I looked for a clue and found it. One of the corner holes was marked while the one diagonally opposite looked like this,” | He drew these figures as he spoke. “On the plate, above what I took to be the top of the square, were engraved twelve symbols, like this “| FERIA Pt “After copying these down in my note-book, I sat down to think it over. From the occurrence of twelves, both in the number of holes and the num- ber of symbols, it might be possible, I thought, that the duodecimal* system was used by those who had made this thing. Following up this thought I saw that the symbols were, in order, zero to eleven according to our notation, hence the first of these keys was number two and the others 60, 88, 91, 42 and 108 respectively. “Hurriedly I placed the keys in their correspond- ing holes and as I did so I felt the wards of the lock mechanism engage with the slots. Turning the keys as far as they would go I was now able to lift the plate with the aid of the boys, using the keys as handles. “Tt was thinner than the former one, being about a foot or so thick, and as we lifted it I noticed that a number of radial bars on the underside had slid back into their sockets. (1) 144! - 138! Factorial 144 divided by factorial 138 is a x 143 « 142 & 141 « 140 * 139=8,020,000,000,000 -+-.' BESS SCZ = 4 Ae Seo eter *Counting by twelves instead of tens as we are accustomed to do, hence the numbers ten and eleven will have separate symbole, AMAZING STORIES « OU can imagine my feelings as I peered down and saw no other obstacle in my way. Sac- rificing one of my few precious matches I leaned as far as I could over the hole. The match burned bright and clear; evidently the air inside was pure. Just below me I could see what appeared to be a platform. Taking a stout stick, long enough to reach it, I tested it carefully. It seemed quite strong and firm, so taking a chance, I lowered my- self into the hole and my feet just touched as I hung from the edge with my hands. “T could see by the light that filtered in from overhead that I was standing on a metal grating. It was not level, but tilted downwards to the north. As I had suspected, this construction, whatever it might be, had fallen over from the vertical and lay at an angle on the hillside. “Ordering one of the natives to fetch torches, I stooped and peered around. I could dimly see that I stood on the top of a curved stairway leading down into the darkness. Grasping the heavy hand- rail with which it was protected I cautiously de- scended. I noticed that the steps were abnormally high as I went down. Later I was to know the reason. A few steps down and I came to another platform, which I could make out in the faint light as circular, surrounding a ‘well.’ “Striking another match, I examined the wall be- hind me. In its surface I saw another set of holes similar to those in the plate we had removed. My match flickered out and, not wanting to waste any more of my precious store of them I climbed the steps and wriggled out into the daylight to await the arrival of the torches. “Presently the boy I had sent arrived with a goodly load of dry, resinous sticks that would burn well and brightly. I lit one, and calling to him to follow me, I again lowered myself into the hole, remembering to take the keys with me. Stepping carefully for fear of falling on the sloping surface, I walked around the gallery examining the place. It was about twenty feet in diameter with a five- foot gallery from which led a second flight of steps. There were four sets of key holes in the wall about five feet above the floor. “The second gallery was exactly like the first and I did not stop, but went on down the last flight of steps. This was evidently the bottom of the cylin- der and, like the other two stories, its walls held the now familiar key plates. “Going to the one on the lower side I examined it closely, Above the square of holes were twelve sets of symbols arranged in pairs, the first members of these pairs corresponding to the numbers on the keys. Evidently the keys did not correspond to the same holes as above, so, inserting them in their corresponding new numbers, I turned them as I had done before. ‘Tmmediately, a section of the wall swung inward and there was a sudden rush of air which nearly extinguished the torch. The air pressure had been much less inside the chamber which now lay open before ‘me, than outside, and the door was appar- ently airtight. No wonder I could see no sign of the joint in my first cursory examination of the valle, | “Before me, stacked sas ue coe