As far as star searching was concerned, it would be totally impossible due to the daytime light.  This produced another problem as the telescope was firmly pointed towards the sky.  They were not sure if they would be able to rotate it or lower its angle.  Upon testing, they realized that it was firmly locked in place.  Callahan hadn’t come all this way to see the telescope itself, and therefore began pondering with the surrounding buttons and levers, hoping to unlock or loosen the firm grip.  Not before long he managed to partially succeed as Janina was now able to move the telescope to a limited degree.  It was not known to Callahan which button or lever, or combination of the two, had done the job – if in fact it was accomplished by him and not by a mere coincidence – and thus the confined movements of the telescope were enough to satisfy them both.

Because of the location of their campus, even the current maximum turn of the telescope would not be sufficient to provide them with a clear view, although they did manage to recognize some of the buildings and features on its southern side.  However, doing so would not prove to be an easy task either, as the received image was rather blurry and unclear and so their familiarity with campus played a huge role in their identification.  Callahan tried to correct this flaw and his messing around with the adjacent buttons kept him busy, although had little effect on the hazy view.   Clearly this telescope was not meant for such relatively short distance viewing, and Callahan wondered about its actual power if and when it was charged up and fully connected to its supplementary devices.  With no positive response from Janina, who had one eye glued to the eyepiece, he finally gave up, but not before kicking the base of the telescope in frustration.  For some time they scanned the different locations on campus which fell into their viewing range and identified most of them, although Janina did most of the latter.  They then turned to the other side and began to explore the unknown.  There really wasn’t much to see as the land before them was pretty much a mirror image of the path that they had come.  At some points they did locate small houses.  Whether anyone still lived in them remained a mystery as no visible signs of life were apparent.  However, they did spot a crowd of about 10 people moving across the land at some point.  Their accompanying equipment suggested that they were on a hunting trip.

Callahan and Janina spent close to an hour observing whatever they could of their surroundings, which incidentally wasn’t much.  Noon was approaching so they decided to have their lunch, by Janina’s suggestion by the river.  They got their belongings together and headed towards the stairway.  This time Callahan lead the way, quite assured of the winding stairway’s stability.  A short decent brought him to the third floor.  Callahan stopped.

“What’s the matter Paul, why did you stop?”

“Well, I don’t know, I’m thinking there’s four stories of building here and we’ve only seen one.  There’s gotta be something on all the other floors.”

“There’s really nothing of interest, just maybe some desks, decomposing files and in some locations loose wires and cables.  All together there is nothing you would want to see.  Everything is gone.”

Ignoring Janina, Callahan walked towards what he assumed was the main corridor.

“Look Paul, this floor is empty.  We can check the basement, there might be some astrolabes there,” pleaded Janina.

“Kiss my astrolabe.”