"Thank you for coming." Abbandon announced, smiling. He shook hands with everyone in the room. "Now I gather you here today, not for a wedding but for us to plan to break into the Public Alexandrian Museum, otherwise known as PAM. I've already planned it, but I want us to go over the finer details, to iron out any problems." He paused for breath, tidying the tufts of white hair he had remaining behind his ears. "Right then. Work with the PAM has already begun. Miss DeMode here," he gestured to her, "sold a specially designed keycard to the head of security this morning. This keycard will allow us to take control of the doors they assign it too. And do you know what door that is?"
No was the general reply.
"The door to the restoration room, where the eye of Helios is kept. I'll explain why this is important later. Now, our cover is as documentary makers, which will appeal as the museum has been losing publicity recently. Miss DeMode will play our presenter, Bone Piern the director and Word Chain will play the cameraman. Joan, my personal favourite lab rat, will be playing as Miss DeMode's daughter. Here's the main problem. We've heard rumours that the eye of Helios may be being bought soon, so it's going to have to be a rather in and out style job. Getting in is easy enough, it's the getting out I'm concerned by."
Bone Piern smiled. "How about we pretend someone is dead?"
"I'm sorry?" Peter replied.
"When Margaret Thatcher died, the BBC changed their scheduling so they could have shows about her. I was most disgruntled, as they cancelled New Tricks. What if we did that? What if one of their staff died whilst we were filming and so we said we'd been given a deadline to finish so we could celebrate the dead persons life."
Peter grinned like a schoolboy. "Genius! Chain, DeMode look into it."
"Won't they find it weird that we're in and out very quickly? I mean the plan to get out is brilliant, but surely they might be suspicious?" Joan suggested.
"Which is why we're going to put it on television." Peter replied.
"We have our own television channel?!" Joan exclaimed, doubtfully.
"Of course!" Word Chain replied. "How else would you explain BBC 4?"
"Now, once we're in, we'll spend the first day simply learning the surroundings and then on the second, we'll perform the heist. And boy it's brilliant. At some point, one of you will drop an electromagnet into an inexpensive vase. That night, you'll return to the room and continue filming. About halfway through, Joan will request to go to the toilet. Miss DeMode will accompany her. You'll leave the toilets and then go to the restoration room." He pointed to the location on the map on the table. "The door can be opened with a keycard and a code, but quite cleverly, we sold them the keycard. The card is specially designed to record the code, so you'll be able to open the door. Once you're inside, you'll have to work out your own way of getting the eye back out, but you will have the electromagnet to turn off all the security cameras. Now, once you've done that, you can come home. Remember, you can stop the guards getting into the restoration room by deactivating the keycard remotely." And so it went on.
Sunday:
"Tomorrow." Miss DeMode climbed up. "Please excuse me. I need to make some arrangements."
She walked out and pulled out her scribe, switching it to the call menu. She got threw to the lab rat menu and selected the Bainsbridge Repository. "Hi." She said. "Is there a lab rat on site called Spud?"
"One moment Miss." A few minutes later the voice came back. "Yes, Miss. What would you like me to tell him?"
"Give him the brief case he handed in under my name yesterday and send him to the copiers furnace." DeMode hung up and dialled another number. "Hello? Is that you O'Collin?"
"What do you want?" The irish copier, a member of the Occult, replied. "I only get a little holiday from the Public Alexandrian Museum."
"How would you like a permanent holiday?"
"Is that threat?"
"Sort of. We're trying to steal something from the PAM and I need you to do me a favour."
"What?"
"I need you to pretend to be dead."
"What!?"
"I need you to allow us to fake your own death. I'll give you £25,00."
There was a pause down the line. "Make it £50,000 and you've got yourself a deal." He was being a bit cheeky at that moment, as he'd been planning to disappear, but he might as well take as much money as possible.
Miss DeMode thought. That sounded too much, but she remembered Peter's parting instructions. 'The artefact is paramount. Take it, by any means.' "Alright. £50,000. A runner called Spud will arrive with the money soon. I have got a question, though."
"Yes?"
"Of all the pieces still in the restoration room that you have made, which would you say resembled the eye of Helios the most?"
He remained silent as he thought. "With a bit of alteration, I'd say my replication of Michelangelo's David's head."
"Thanks. See you soon."
"Unless I don't rise from the dead."
She hung up and rung her assistant. "Hi AI." She said. "I need you to buy something for me."
"Of course, Miss. Under what name and from where? And what, of course!"
"The O'Collin replication of Michelangelo's David from the Public Alexandrian Museum. Offer up to £500,000 and put it under the Florentine Museum. It'll improve their confidence."
"Of course, Miss. How's it going?"
"Not good. Not good at all." She hung up and smiled. Perhaps it would work.
Tuesday Night:
They ran in and consulted a computer system, finding the location of two different artefacts, David's head and the Eye of Helios. They ran to the eye and dropped it into a box labelled with the name of the eye. They loaded the box onto a trolley and pushed it to the room in which David's head was stored. They opened the box and took the Eye out. It was round and smooth, unlike the head which was round but rough. There was a box in the room, identical in every way apart from the label on the front, which read 'David by Michelangelo.'
Miss DeMode, quite carefully, started chip away at the head whilst Joan swapped the labels. Once DeMode had finished her preparation of the head, so it looked like the eye, then she and Joan dropped them carefully into the two boxes.
All of a sudden, the lights went out. But Joan and Miss DeMode didn't react. It was part of the plan.
They flicked on their torches and carried the box holding the altered head to the room they had started in. And so they continued.
Wednesday:
Two planes rolled out of a hangar. "What are they?" Asked Joan.
"Our two courier planes. One of them is taking the replica head of David by our copying friend." The curator assistant replied. But it wasn't taking the head to the Florentine Museum, it was taking it to Rhodes. And the other plane was taking the Eye to Florence, where it would be picked up and conveyed back to the Obscure Meadows.
"Oh!" Joan replied.
After they finished talking, the Occult members climbed onto their jet and flew all the way back to England, to organise the new show being added to BBC 4.
Bone Piern smiled. "How about we pretend someone is dead?"
"I'm sorry?" Peter replied.
"When Margaret Thatcher died, the BBC changed their scheduling so they could have shows about her. I was most disgruntled, as they cancelled New Tricks. What if we did that? What if one of their staff died whilst we were filming and so we said we'd been given a deadline to finish so we could celebrate the dead persons life."
Peter grinned like a schoolboy. "Genius! Chain, DeMode look into it."
"Won't they find it weird that we're in and out very quickly? I mean the plan to get out is brilliant, but surely they might be suspicious?" Joan suggested.
"Which is why we're going to put it on television." Peter replied.
"We have our own television channel?!" Joan exclaimed, doubtfully.
"Of course!" Word Chain replied. "How else would you explain BBC 4?"
"Now, once we're in, we'll spend the first day simply learning the surroundings and then on the second, we'll perform the heist. And boy it's brilliant. At some point, one of you will drop an electromagnet into an inexpensive vase. That night, you'll return to the room and continue filming. About halfway through, Joan will request to go to the toilet. Miss DeMode will accompany her. You'll leave the toilets and then go to the restoration room." He pointed to the location on the map on the table. "The door can be opened with a keycard and a code, but quite cleverly, we sold them the keycard. The card is specially designed to record the code, so you'll be able to open the door. Once you're inside, you'll have to work out your own way of getting the eye back out, but you will have the electromagnet to turn off all the security cameras. Now, once you've done that, you can come home. Remember, you can stop the guards getting into the restoration room by deactivating the keycard remotely." And so it went on.
Sunday:
"Tomorrow." Miss DeMode climbed up. "Please excuse me. I need to make some arrangements."
She walked out and pulled out her scribe, switching it to the call menu. She got threw to the lab rat menu and selected the Bainsbridge Repository. "Hi." She said. "Is there a lab rat on site called Spud?"
"One moment Miss." A few minutes later the voice came back. "Yes, Miss. What would you like me to tell him?"
"Give him the brief case he handed in under my name yesterday and send him to the copiers furnace." DeMode hung up and dialled another number. "Hello? Is that you O'Collin?"
"What do you want?" The irish copier, a member of the Occult, replied. "I only get a little holiday from the Public Alexandrian Museum."
"How would you like a permanent holiday?"
"Is that threat?"
"Sort of. We're trying to steal something from the PAM and I need you to do me a favour."
"What?"
"I need you to pretend to be dead."
"What!?"
"I need you to allow us to fake your own death. I'll give you £25,00."
There was a pause down the line. "Make it £50,000 and you've got yourself a deal." He was being a bit cheeky at that moment, as he'd been planning to disappear, but he might as well take as much money as possible.
Miss DeMode thought. That sounded too much, but she remembered Peter's parting instructions. 'The artefact is paramount. Take it, by any means.' "Alright. £50,000. A runner called Spud will arrive with the money soon. I have got a question, though."
"Yes?"
"Of all the pieces still in the restoration room that you have made, which would you say resembled the eye of Helios the most?"
He remained silent as he thought. "With a bit of alteration, I'd say my replication of Michelangelo's David's head."
"Thanks. See you soon."
"Unless I don't rise from the dead."
She hung up and rung her assistant. "Hi AI." She said. "I need you to buy something for me."
"Of course, Miss. Under what name and from where? And what, of course!"
"The O'Collin replication of Michelangelo's David from the Public Alexandrian Museum. Offer up to £500,000 and put it under the Florentine Museum. It'll improve their confidence."
"Of course, Miss. How's it going?"
"Not good. Not good at all." She hung up and smiled. Perhaps it would work.
Tuesday Night:
They ran in and consulted a computer system, finding the location of two different artefacts, David's head and the Eye of Helios. They ran to the eye and dropped it into a box labelled with the name of the eye. They loaded the box onto a trolley and pushed it to the room in which David's head was stored. They opened the box and took the Eye out. It was round and smooth, unlike the head which was round but rough. There was a box in the room, identical in every way apart from the label on the front, which read 'David by Michelangelo.'
Miss DeMode, quite carefully, started chip away at the head whilst Joan swapped the labels. Once DeMode had finished her preparation of the head, so it looked like the eye, then she and Joan dropped them carefully into the two boxes.
All of a sudden, the lights went out. But Joan and Miss DeMode didn't react. It was part of the plan.
They flicked on their torches and carried the box holding the altered head to the room they had started in. And so they continued.
Wednesday:
Two planes rolled out of a hangar. "What are they?" Asked Joan.
"Our two courier planes. One of them is taking the replica head of David by our copying friend." The curator assistant replied. But it wasn't taking the head to the Florentine Museum, it was taking it to Rhodes. And the other plane was taking the Eye to Florence, where it would be picked up and conveyed back to the Obscure Meadows.
"Oh!" Joan replied.
After they finished talking, the Occult members climbed onto their jet and flew all the way back to England, to organise the new show being added to BBC 4.
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