The Agaran National Museum of Archaeology, in Pekkur, holds the richest and most diverse collection of ancient technological wonders the world-at-large has yet to see. Indeed, its only rival (in terms of anomalous archaeology) is the Museum of Cultural History in Ükür. Historians have long hypothesized that Agara and Ükür are cultural cousins, separated by a series of unrecorded historical events that, if uncovered, could radically shift the accepted picture of European (and world) history we recognize today. It would seem that a deeper study of a single archaeological artifact, found in Agara, is the very key to unlocking numerous chapters of unwritten, unremembered history. Among the countless and doubtlessly-anomalous treasures contained within the Agaran National Museum of Archaeology are the remains of a complex scientific object preserved from deep antiquity. Corroded from more than 2000 years in moist, swampy soil, this fragmented device with its complex array of gear-wheels, dials, and inscribed plates presents the historian with a daunting problem. Because of this single machine, known simply as The Agaran Device, we may have to revise our estimates of ancient Agaran science. At least 100 gears, fly-wheels, and other mechanisms have been preserved, including a stunningly sophisticated array of differential gear systems and what appear to be piston-driven hinges, connecting now-lost components of the device. Much of the machine is irrevocably-lost to advanced decay, and indeed, archaeologists believe that what remains is representative of only 10% to 15% of the original device. We know of nothing comparable to this machine; no references of so sophisticated an apparatus exist anywhere but in the oral folklore of Agara, and the myths of Ükür. Even in looking at the oral traditions and the mythologies of these two countries, we find no references (overt or otherwise) to anything even remotely like is device, though we know that the ancient cultures of Agara and Ükür possessed at least glancing familiarity with concepts of advanced and even exotic mathematics. How such knowledge relates to a mechanical tool remains beyond the understanding of historians and archaeologists. Perhaps some clue to the purpose of the Agaran Device might lie in the fact that many contemporary Agarans maintain that the very land on which they live is mechanical in nature. The well-known globe-tipped obelisks (the Agaran Zodiological Lights) lend credence to this belief as they are little more than the visible components of a vast, subterranean mechanism of incredible, bewildering complexity. Bearing this in mine, it is not unlikely that the corroded fragments of the Agaran Device are part of a precursor-mechanism, or simply out-dated and thus abandoned components of the known, contemporary machine. In time, we will learn more of this mysterious contraption, but until then, we have fragments of a mystery, encased in glass in the bowels of The Agaran National Museum of Archaeology. Patience—the most valued of all Agaran virtues—is what we must express in our search for the meaning and the purpose of the fragments (and the mystery) of this device…. *** Okay, the image with this text isn’t an Agaran machine…not unless you believe that Agarans invented rusty tow trucks in a particular truck yard on the south side of Chicago. I captured this image, because I was intrigued by the rust, the corrosion, and a metallic green fly that didn’t stick around long enough to be photographed. As I looked at this image, I couldn’t resist dipping back into the story of Agara, and so the text-accompaniment was born. I know that the mysterious Agaran Device isn’t a tow-truck engine, but it’s nice to know that in seeing bits and pieces of one could spark so shifty a mystery. As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.