Greg Scowen: The Spanish Helmet

‘No,’ Julia said. ‘This is my first time in Switzerland too.’

‘Me neither.’ Matt answered. ‘But I know it by reputation. Didn’t Einstein study here?’

‘Among many other very notable scholars,’ Andreas said, full of pride. ‘The ETH is one of the world’s leading universities, of course. The library’s also a leader in the field.’

As they exited the funicular station, Matt was struck by the dominance and stature of the ETH’s main building. Spread out in front of the large stone structure was an expansive terrace. The city, lake and mountain views were superb. The Alps looked stunning.

‘How does anyone get any work done in there with a view like that?’ Julia asked.

Inside, the building opened out in front of them into a four levelled lobby with galleries running around all sides. The top floor was closed in behind glass. The mixture of old with new was tastefully done and Matt was pleased to see that this building hadn’t lost any grandeur during its years of serving students. Andreas spotted a directory near the lifts which told them the library was on floor H.

‘We’ll be needing the Special Collections Reading Room,’ he said.

They took the lift and found the reading room, which was quiet. Only a few people were scattered about at desks, engrossed in large old books. At a red counter in the middle of the room a friendly young librarian stood to greet them.

‘How can I help?’ she asked in perfect English. Matt smiled at how some Swiss had a knack for knowing what language to use before you even spoke. He wondered if it was his clothes.

‘We’re looking for the Kirstein Collection,’ Matt answered.

‘Sure.’ she said, pointing to a computer on a large desk to her left. ‘If you use this terminal here, you can browse the collection contents and let me know what items in particular you’d like to see. There are over two thousand items in the collection, you see, so we can only bring up an item or two at a time.

‘Ah, the collection isn’t actually housed here then,’ Matt asked, a little disappointed.

‘It is, but it’s down in the basement archives. It normally takes some time for the archives team to retrieve items and send them up here.’

‘How long?’

‘Depending on the item and the preservation techniques needed to protect it, anywhere from two hours through to four days.’

Matt’s heart sank. Maybe the librarian had seen this in his face, because she added, ‘but have a look at the catalogue, let me know what you require, and we’ll see what we can do.’

The three of them took places at the desk with the catalogue terminal and had soon located the Kirstein Collection section. Thirty minutes later, they approached the librarian again.

‘Have you found what you were looking for?’ she asked.

‘No,’ Matt answered, hoping his frustration wasn’t showing too much. ‘Is it possible there are items in the collection not catalogued?’

She hesitated. ‘Everything is catalogued, but there’s always a possibility that some items are held in the private collection. These are items that are to be accessed with special permission or under certain circumstances.’

‘Who makes the decision of what counts as a special circumstance?’ Matt asked, a glimmer of hope returning.

‘That would be the Special Collections Manager.’ She smiled again. ‘In fact, this is him coming our way right now.’

‘Good morning,’ the friendly looking man said, reaching out his hands to shake those of Matt, Julia and Andreas. ‘My name is Mischeler.’

‘Good morning, Herr Mischeler,’ Andreas said, before Matt had a chance. ‘I’m Andreas Bosshard. These are my colleagues, Dr. Matthew Cameron and Julia McKenzie.’

‘Bosshard.’ Mischeler repeated. ‘Not any relation to…’

‘Michael Bosshard.’ Andreas smiled, glancing sideways at Matt. ‘Yes, he’s my father.’

Matt realised what Andreas was doing. Clearly this was no time to interrupt.

‘I know your father well. We’ve worked together on many a project over the years.’ He looked Andreas up and down. ‘Yes, I can see a family resemblance.’ He paused, and smiled a warm and welcoming smile. ‘Well, master Bosshard, what can we do for you today here at our humble library?’

‘We were hoping to make a visit to the Kirstein Collection.’

‘Anything in particular you’re looking for?’

‘It’s hard to say, we aren’t exactly sure ourselves what we’re looking for, but it would have been an item submitted following Kirstein’s final journey. An item he picked up in New Zealand.’

‘Ah.’ Mischeler nodded. ‘About ninety percent of that submission, the findings of that journey, are part of the private collection. Never been published, and most likely never will be. Can I ask for what purpose you need to find this item?’

‘It’s a long story,’ Matt said, hoping it was OK to put his bit in now. ‘But if what we think is there is actually there, then the history of New Zealand may possibly need a full revision.’

‘Sounds exciting.’

‘It is exciting,’ Andreas agreed. ‘If there was some way we could access the collection, those items, it would be greatly appreciated.’

Herr Mischeler looked down at the red counter. He tapped his lip with his finger. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Matt, he lifted his head again and smiled.

‘Alright,’ he said. ‘Since your father has done me so many favours over the years, I’ll return one now.’

‘Great,’ Matt said. ‘Thank you so much Herr Mischeler.

‘That’s OK, but I want to come with you, it sounds like there might be some adventure hidden in this. Give me two hours to organise things. I need to advise the director that I’ll be taking guests down to the archive and to arrange the appropriate access passes.’

‘Alright,’ Andreas said. ‘We’ll go and find lunch somewhere and see you back here at…’ he looked at his watch, ‘Thirteen hundred.’

‘I suggest you try the Mensa, student cafeteria, down on floor B, under the Polyterasse. That’s the large terrace out front. They have a few meal options on there and it saves a trip back down into the city centre.’

They said their goodbyes and made their way down to the Mensa. The building was a rabbit warren, with stairs and corridors leading all over the place, but eventually, after passing by a sweaty-smelling gymnasium, they were greeted with the smells of food, and joined the queues at the student cafeteria.

Matt placed his knife and fork next to each other across his plate. He wasn’t sure if it was the processed meat in the Schnitzel, or the anticipation of finding some hard evidence of a Spanish discovery of New Zealand that left him feeling a bit sick in his stomach. Either way, it was 12:50pm, time to get back upstairs.

‘Welcome back,’ Herr Mischeler greeted them. ‘Everything’s arranged. If you’d like to follow me, we can make our way to the archives right now.’

Matt, Andreas, and Julia followed Mischeler through a sliding glass door at the back of the collection room. He took a key from his pocket and the group passed through the door he unlocked. It was a different world.

They passed through corridors lined with rolling shelves stacked wall to wall, floor to ceiling. Large steel chests of files and wide drawers crowded another hall. A conveyer system ran overhead, books frequently going past to an unknown destination. There were even yellow boxes running around on an overhead track, turning corners, crossing intersections, and going down through the floor. Matt was suitably impressed. The whole place had a familiar smell of old books. They took a cargo lift down to floor D.