In my story, a casket containing the secret to Greek Fire (which historians to this day have not been able to duplicate) is stolen from a vault beneath Hagia Sophia. I came up with the idea that the casket was made double walled and had a lock so well made that it could not be picked or broken. This is so that the integrity of the secret can remain intact. The story is set in the late tenth century. SO can anyone with any knowledge of locks and of iron smithing in general and of this early period in particular, tell me if this is even a plausible explanation, or should I come up with a different scenario? Say, someone chucked it overboard by accident or something. LOL. I know that the secret of Greek fire was a closely guarded one by the Byzantine rulers to the extent that no one person had all the knowledge of all the steps necessary to create it, but was created somewhat assembly line style. It was like having the atom bomb. I would appreciate any insight into this matter.
At that time there were many clams that this thing or that thing was unbreakable but that usually meant that no one up to that point know how to break it. Just say that the lock is un-pickable and that'll be fine.
Any ordinary or complex lock of iron or bronze could be both picked and broken. However, if the box itself were a lock, sort of a puzzle box that only opens if you get the sequence right, that might help protect the secret. I remember I used to find these wooden boxes, in a store in my small town, that fit together like a puzzle. Other things of that type no doubt exist, and it would fit with the assembly line idea - each segment of the box, each secret compartment and puzzle piece would hold one part of the secret to the whole. Of course, it could just be a metal box inside another metal box, and the second metal box is sealed on all sides, and the only way to release the seals is to move some pieces on the front/back of the puzzle into a specific design/shape....
I really like the idea of a box that is a puzzle in itself. That sounds like the sort of thing that would come out of Byzantium. LOL. It comes across as something out of a Dan Brown novel, but then my story is sort of a quest in itself. Not just to recover the box, but also for a man to realize something about himself. But then I guess every story is that basically in one way or another. Because that is what life is about.
