Erra, stood looking at a random collection of nick-knacks on a shelf in the back of the antique shop. He loved looking at and wondering about the random assortment of things and their stories. Erra picked up a golden globe, about the size of a softball and turned it over in his hands, it was the type of thing you would see at any thrift store or on the mantel of any well to do business man.

Erra was a regular customer of the “Old and Gold” antique shop, stopped by weekly on his way home from his job at the local university, where he worked in the student computer lab. His duties consisted of adding paper to the printers when it ran out and removing the occasional paper jam. He was also tasked with ensuring that the other students who used the lab were able to print and log in and out of the system. I was a boring job but it made a little money and was a good use of his time between classes. It was a paid study hall. This was his second year at this university, working on his degree in computer sciences with a focus in cybersecurity, hence a fitting job.

The “Old and Gold” shops owner was an older gentleman by the name of Tom J Keeper. If Erra had to guess, he was in his late 70’s. Erra, on one occasion, asked why Mr Keeper why he was still in business, in the era of the internet, where you could order anything you wanted online and in a week it would be at your door. “I’m not really in the business of selling things, It’s more about selling the stories attached to them, that’s what makes them true treasures. You can’t find that on the internet.” Mr Keeper replied. Mr Keeper did have a point a lot of the objects that passed through the “Old and Gold” were unique, and that’s why Erra stopped in weekly, just to see what was new.

Erra put the golden globe back on the shelf, and walked over the counter where Mr Keeper sat on a stool behind it. “Any thing new come in?” Erra asked “I did not see anything new, hiding something in the back?” Erra said in jest. “Well its funny you mention that,” Mr Keeper said shifting his weight to his feet as stood, “I got a whole bunch of books in the back. I would appreciate it, if you would give me a hand in putting them out.” Mr Keeper pointed down at the display in the counter they were standing at. “In here would be fantastic, getting up and down is not as easy for me as it used to be. I will toss you a few bucks?”

“Yeah, I’ll give you a hand.” Erra responded as he shuffled around the back of the counter. Erra help the old man around the shop often. He made a few bucks and got to hear the stories about the things that passed though Mr Keepers hands, most of the time it was, what Erra would consider, junk, but occasionally it was something interesting, and that why Erra came back week after week.

Once behind the counter and though the door that lead to the back room, Mr Keeper stood in front of a large chest. It was ratty, worn and broken. “Put gloves on and Take the books out of here and put them in the display case.” Erra, took the gloves that Mr Keeper handed him and open the chest. “Whats the story on these?” asked Erra. “Those, those came in with a bunch of other things, I think it was part of an estate sale in the area. The house it came from was really well to do. Apparently the owner traveled a lot and collected things from around the world, be careful with those books, I think some are older than you and I have not got a chance to go through them. If you would be so kind as to note the title, and copyright date I will look them up later.” Mr Keeper pointed to the small desk, with a stack of index cards and a pen, next to the tattered trunk. The shop door bell jingled as someone entered. “Take notes on the cards and leave them next to the books in the display case, I will add the prices later.” Mr Keeper instructed before heading back up front.

Erra looked at the first book and opened the cover of it up, not in English, looked to be in Spanish or French. “Okay.” Erra said as he puffed out his cheeks, “This is going to be fun.” He pulled out his smart phone and opened the translate app, pointed the camera at it and the text. On the screen, the once foreign text, was replaced by something Erra could read. Squaring circles. “Huh, I wonder what this is about.” Erra said to himself while flipping though the pages. It seemed to Erra that the book was filled with equations and maps of lands that vaguely looks like the world. Interested, Erra picked up the next in the trunk and began to flip thought it pages, this book was also filled with mathematics and maps. “Great,” Erra thought to himself, “Could be anything, and I found really old textbooks.” Erra continued thought the trunk, only a few were in bad condition, the four oldest ones, the others looked like new books or reprints of old ones. Erra continued to use his smartphone to scan the front and get some idea of what the tomes were about.

Most of the books seemed to be about the occult, well that what Erra was able to find out about from searching up the titles on the internet. Books on how to preform magics and bind demons. The Lesser and Greater key of Solomon reprints being the ones in English that Erra could read without the help of the translation app. “Okay ,so not just textbooks, crazy people textbooks.” Erra thought to himself. As he put the smartphone back into his pocket.

The last book Erra was flipping though, seemed to be the oldest, but not so old the pages were brittle, 50 or 60 years maybe. But the translation app could not translate the text, Erra assumed it was coded somehow as all the letters were from the English alphabet. Erra heard the sound of the front door bells again and the footsteps of Mr Keeper as he make his way back to the back.

“Any progress yet?” Asked Mr Keeper as he entered the back. “Yeah, all done but this last book, no idea what its called, I assume it has something to do with the occult but, no idea.” replied Erra. “Occult?” Asked Mr Keeper “Well cults like code, so not surprised, let me take a look at it.” Mr Keeper motioned Erra to hand over the book. “ah, yes this one is famous, it called the Eye of Etherious. The whole book is coded, each chapter is encrypted, you can buy this online its like $20.” Mr Keeper stated to flip through the pages, “See, looks the the owners stated to decode some of the pages, ” Mr Keeper pointed at the scribbled in hand writing on a few pages. “that explains the occult stuff, like I said, cults like codes. Looks like he was trying to solve it.” Mr Keeper closed the book with one hand handed the book back to Erra. Erra was always fascinated by code breaking and encryption, cybersecurity was his focus after all. “Can I take this in lieu of pay?” Asked Erra. “You can have it and here is $20 for today.” Mr Keeper said as he pulled a $20 bill from his wallet. Erra thanked Mr Keeper for the money and headed home, new project in hand.

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