o Alana and The Open Door Society

In 1900 a group of freshman at Harvard University found one another.  Though all were from wealthy families, their backgrounds could not have been more different.  The things that brought them together were a love of science and technology, a sense of dissatissfaction with the religious and cultural norms of the day, and their status as being outcasts within the Harvard community.

Of all of them, few came from gentried backgrounds and the ones who did had something in their recent past that kept them apart from the run-a-day students.  The nine founding members came together at first out of necessity, but grew a deep friendship around their similar interests and social states.

Their rejection of American culture of the time led them to the study of alternative religions such as Buddhism, Islam, Shintoism, and Native American Animism.  They were especially interested in tales from other cultures which spoke of people who had travelled to other worlds and of other-worldley travelers finding themselves in this world.  They dreamed of finding a world that would be better than the one they were stuck in.  

They never tried to keep their early meetings private.  There was little need as most of the Harvard students either ignored or actively avoided them.  They began to notice that a strange young man was listening in on their conversations.  He began to show up at the same times that they were meeting, find a place near them, and listen as they told tales of gates to other lands and the wonders found beyond.  Eventually, one of the society members invited him to join.  

They were surprised to find that he was very outgoing and gregarious.  He admitted to listening in on their meetings but swore that he meant no disrespect or harm.  He'd simply been trying to gaugue their level of interest in these stories.  He claimed to know of a story of just such a world.  But in his opinion, this one was real.  Their levels of interest piqued, the members drew close, to listen to his tale.

Augustus Winslow told them that in his family there was a story about an ancestor who had been a world traveler.  He'd traveled through Europe and Asia and had even been to Africa.  But his wanderlust was never sated.  Once, while in Asia, he'd saved the daughter of one of the local warlords.  This man was so pleased by his actions that he offered the daughter's hand in marriage to the traveler.  But the traveler refused telling the warlord that he had a wife back home.  The warlord being a perceptive man, summoned his vizir.  The warlord told the traveler that, for many centuries, his people had held and protected the secret of travelling to another world.  Sensing this man's love for seeing new places, he offered to let the man travel to this other world.  The man jumped at the chance.

This traveler, went to the other world and lived their for many years.  He told tales of fantastical creatures, awesome sites, and a wonderous type of magic used there.  But while he was there, a great war broke out and the traveler was forced to either leave, or face death.  The great mages of the world agreed to summon a gateway for him and he left that world behind.  But the mages gave him three items, so that he may return to them when the time was right. A book, written in a secret code and a lamp that would burn forever.  They told him that when the lamp went out, that would be there signal that the time had come to return.  As for the book, they told him that the cipher for it had been lost years ago.  But that a copy of it had been taken to his own world, for the book contained the secrets of unlocking the power that allowed them to travel between worlds.  They gave him its description and told him how to use it.  They also warned him to keep this knowledge secret, for their enemies would also be fleeing this world and would find themselves in the travelers world.  They would be seeking the same knowledge as he and would kill him if they found he had it.  

The traveler returned to his world with his treasures in hand and began seeking out the cipher.  He travelled for many years, eventually traveling to the New World in search of this cipher.  While in America he found and married a woman and started a family.  He watched the lamp for years but it never went out.  He told the story to his son and made him promise to keep up the search after his death.  When the man died, the son took up the mantle but soon became distracted by everyday life.  Eventually, the story became more of a family legend.  No one knew what became of the book or the lamp.

Augustus ended his tale by telling them that he had always been captivated by the story.  He claimed not to know for sure ifit was true or not, only that his family believed that it was.  He asked the group if they would be interested in looking into it with him.  All of them jumped at the chance.  At first it was just a fun lark for them.  They never truly thought they would find anything but they had fun with the possibility of the whole thing.  

They started by helping Winslow to create an accurate family tree, going back to his family's arrival in the New World.  They were able to trace it back to a man named Gregor Winslow who'd arrived in Virginia in 1705.  Eventually they found their way to an old family crypt in Massachusetts.  Emblazoned on the crypt was the image of a lamp, its flame lit.  Thinking that maybe this might be what they were looking for, they decided to throw caution to the wind and break into the crypt.  Inside they found the book and the lamp.  

They carried the items from the crypt away with them and back home to Harvard.  Once they'd returned they held a meeting.  They all agreed that what they had found was amazing.  They discussed it with Augustus and all agreed that they would help him to take up the search for the missing cipher.  They decided that this search should remain secret but they worried about what would happen if they were never able to find the cipher within their lifetimes.  According to legend, several members of the Winslow family had tried and failed and had spent a lifetime doing so.  They couldn't tell the world at large but they also didn't want the search to end, becoming legend as it once had.  They all realized that someone would have to take up the search when they could not.  

Together they laid out a plan.  They would formally incorporate the Open Door Society as an organization at Harvard.  New members would only be accepted every four years.  The graduating senior class members would select a group of freshmen that could be entrusted to carry this burden.  But Winslow broached an objection.  How could they be sure of the loyalty of these new members?  How could they ensure their continued secrecy?  The group had to agree that he was right.  This quest was too important to risk on the shaky loyalties of human beings.  Winslow proffered an idea.  He put forth the suggestion that they select new members based not only on apptitude and character but also by the availability of secrets that could be leveraged against them.  

There was much debate about this but in the end, Winslow was able to convince them all.  The group spent their senior year not only studying and searching for the cipher but also in gather secrets and information about the new freshman class.  In May, nine freshman were brought to the Tomb, a house that had been purchased to be used as a meeting place by the society.  The seniors had created an eleborate ritual for inducting their new members.  The final portion was conducted with each member individually.  In the end, the dark secret that the initiate harbored was revealed.  When the initiate begrudgingly accepted their terms, the secret of the book and latern was revealed, as well as the quest.  

Once out in the world, the members of the Open Society quickly rose through the ranks of society becoming captains of industry and pioneers in technology.  From time to time they made sure to check in on the younger members of the Open Door Society.  Making sure that they were keeping to the quest.  

Years went by and no progress had been made in finding the cipher.  However, the Open Door society had gathered a devestating profile on the deepest darkest secrets of the luminaries of the technology world.  By the spring of 1972, the society had become little more than a powerful fraternity of future leaders in the world of science and technology.  The lamp and book, and the legend of the other world remained but little effort was put into it anymore.  Even the graduated members gave only token attempts at finding the cipher.  This all changed when Derek Winslow, the grandson of the founder came to Harvard.  He was of course inducted into the society as most legacies were.  

He quickly established himself as the leader of the group.  He was not satissfied with the attempts that had been made thus far nor with the efforts being carried out by members who had since graduated.  He commanded the current members of the society to start placing threats to the alumni society members.  If they would not carry out their quests, their secrets would begin to be revealed.  When little interest was shown, Derek commanded the society members to murder the son of the former society president.  The junior members freaked out.  They gathered together to discuss what they should do.  They brought together the living alumni and all decided that it was high time that the society disbanded.  But first, they had to take care of Winslow.  To do this, they used the tool that had served them so well thus far, secrets.  George Mason Jr was sent in, a hidden microphone under his shirt.  He talked to Winslow and got to say on tape that he had ordered the murder.  Once the tape was copied and distributed amongst the alumni, Mason confronted Winslow with the tape.  

Winslow was furious but agreed to peacefully allow the disbanding of the society.  However, he insisted that the lamp and book remain with him.  George Mason agreed to this but when they went to retrieve them, they found that the items were gone.  Someone had stolen them while they met.  Winslow was furious blaming Mason.  Mason protested his innocence and Winslow believed him.  The two men left the Tomb for the last time. Soon after, Mason was contacted by Ruth Brandeis.  She informed him that it was she who had stolen the items.  She apologized for igniting Winslow's anger.  However, she told Mason that she had been visited in a dream and been charged with guarding these items at all costs.  She was told to await someone who would come to see that the book was taken back to where it belonged, where it would be safe from Winslow forever.  Mason begged her to return the items to Winslow.  But she refused.  She told him that she would contact him when the time had come.  

Winslow took up his family's company and continued in his search for the cipher.  It was no mere happenstance that he found himself in Greece just after the retrieval of the ancient greek vessel.  He'd planted spies throughout the entire world just waiting for news like this.  He acted immediately, using damning information he had to secure the sale of the artifact by the greek government.  But he'd still been unable to recover the manuscript.  He built the archeology lab reasoning that there were perhaps other copies of it in existence and to establish himself in the archeology community.  He'd hoped that whomever had stolen it would either be careless and show it to someone and that somehow he would hear about it through the grapevine of the archeology world, or that the person would die, and he would be able to buy it from the estate.  

He'd expected to have to wait a good long time.  However, fortune seemed to smile upon him when Cynthia Thornton, a well known kook in the archeology world contacted him, wanting to donate a large sum of money to the lab.  Her one condition was that he take on her niece as an intern.  He was immediately suspicious of the offer but agreed to the deal.  But of course he had both women watched.  It became clear very on that this Alana Mosvani was not who she said she was.  Winslow dug deeper and was able to reason out that Cynthia was in fact Ruth Brandeis and that Ruth had been the one to steal the manuscript.  

He was about to have the two women killed.  But he stopped hismelf.  He realized that Ruth would not have been foolish enough to leave the manuscript anywhere he could find it.  And besides, even with the manuscript, he didn't know how to use the cipher.  But if Ruth was so anxious to get her hands on the cipher, she must know how to use it.  He decided to keep watching Alana, waiting for her to lead him to the cipher.

*****

Alana arrived on earth in the middle of an empty canyon.  She was startled to find that she was not alone.  A woman sat at a campfire.  The woman spoke to her but she could not understand.  Not sure if it would work, she called the light for understanding.  Instantly she was able to understand the woman.  This woman identified herself as Ruth Brandeis but said that she would be known to the world as Cynthia Thornton.  She said she had been waiting for a long time for Alana to arrive.

She told the story of