Thea's Goal

Chapter One

The present

          Carefully, slowly, holding her breath, Thea Cooper unwrapped the protective coverings of the artifact from the lending museum.
          "What on earth?" She stared at the red clay figurine resting in its nest of packing material There was nothing remotely attractive about the figure. Childish, grotesque and anatomically incorrect, it was almost eleven inches tall and at the widest, nearly three inches where the arms extended in a curiously aggressive posture. The only distinctive feature was the etching on the broad forehead.
          Thea moved her magnifying glass over the figure. The marks resembled letters carved into the clay, but she had no idea what they signified. Touching the tip of her finger to the markings, she traced the slight gouging in the clay.
          She put down the magnifying glass, reached for the packet of documentation that came with the figurine. This was a golem, undated, but thought to have survived from the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century.
          "A what?" Thea murmured and read on, understanding now that the lending museum needed assistance in dating the figure. She set the documents aside and re-wrapped the figurine to forward to the appropriate department.
          As she worked, she recalled the fairy tale of the gingerbread boy who came to life and created mayhem. She didn't need havoc in her life, she reflected. She could do with some order, routine and companionship.
          Rather than place the golem artifact in her out-basket, Thea picked up the package and left her office. She picked her way through the maze of corridors and couldn't help peering over her shoulder as if something unseen tracked her footsteps. Fear and suspense and a feeling very like anticipation fused to make her breathing shallow and excited. Uneasily, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck standing at attention, she found office she wanted.
          Thea knocked and a tall man ventured out of an inner room and peered through the glass at her. She held up the golem package.
          The man frowned but opened the door. "What is it?"
          Thea handed him the package. "This came to my department by mistake. It needs dating."
          "So?" Obviously impatient, his forehead was creased and his dark blue eyes skimmed over her. "What department are you?" His eyeglasses didn't hide the impatient look in his eyes.
          "Archivals."
          He snorted. "Damn right it's not yours."
          Thea figured him for a recent grad student. Heavy on scientific knowledge, way light on social grace. You didn't learn manners face down on a dig. "It's all yours."
          "You can't come in here and expect me to drop everything." He took the golem's package and placed it on a table already heaped with other bundles, opened boxes and mounds of packing material. "I'm busy."
          "So am I. I need a receipt for that."
          He shrugged. "Wait."
          She followed him into a small office where he leaned over a desk and worked his keyboard. "So what is it?"
          Thea retrieved the package and documentation and scanned the paperwork. "It's a golem, circa 1590, more precise dating requested."
          "It's pronounced goilem," he corrected her as he glanced up, interest growing in his eyes.. "A golem, hah? Haven't seen one of those in ages." He keyed in a few entries and then held out his hand. "Let me see."
          She handed it to him, watching as he unwrapped the package with care. He unfolded the last wrapping and blew out his breath. "This is a good one."
          "What is it?" Why hadn't she learned about this golem thing?
          "A golem." He ran his tongue over his bottom lip. "A manlike creature created to serve man. Very big in Jewish mythology, particularly Kabbalistic lore."
          "That's silly," she scoffed, earning a laugh.
          "Don't knock it. Legend has it that golems aren't exactly bright. You tell it what to do and it does it over and over again. But better watch it, they can get too big and turn on their creators."
          "Yeah, right."
          "Sneer all you want." He glanced up at her. "They're also big in the movies. "
          "How do you know that?"
          He rolled his eyes and tapped his employee identification badge. "I'm a scientist. It's my job to know these things."
          Thea snorted at his arrogance. "So what's this clay thing all about?"
          "Golems are supposed to come to life from clay and then do whatever you want them to do. Like robots. There are legends about an old rabbi who used mystical rituals to create one to save the Jewish community, but the golem got too big and powerful, so he had to kill it."
          "Yeah, right. All that from a bit of clay?"

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