Anya caught her staringand said, “I have many things to cut.”
Veronica shrugged. “Ilike to pretend to be French, so who am I to judge?”
With their pocketsbare, the two women stepped from the vehicle and waited for Sascha toenter yet a third code and provide a thumbprint to a scanner besidethe keypad. The locks built into the heavy steel door clicked,releasing at least three bolts. The foursome stepped inside to yetanother sally port and repeated the entry security process.
Finally inside, Saschaturned to Volkov. “You’re sure about this?”
Viktor silently noddedhis approval, and the scientist led the way into a small butextremely well-appointed laboratory.
Anya committed everyinch to memory as they traversed the room. Eighteen boxes shaped likemicrowave ovens lined three of the four walls. Although theyresembled microwaves, they were much heavier, and instead of keypadsto select cooking time, a collection of electrical lines and plumbingran from each of them. They were like nothing she’d ever seen.
“These are ourovens,” Sascha began. “Inside each oven, there are six smallcompartments with plates securely clamped inside each one. On each ofthose plates is a micro-thin layer of carbon. In a process we haveperfected beyond any other facility in the world, we bombard eachplate with plasma formed by combining hydrogen and methane at immensepressure and temperature. Under these conditions, carbon is strippedfrom the plasma and deposited on the base layer on each plate. Overtime, as the carbon collects, diamonds are formed in exactly the sameway nature created them eons ago. We’ve simply discovered,harnessed, and exponentially sped up the process. These are real,natural, authentic diamonds. The only difference is Mother Naturetook her time forming her precious stones deep beneath the Earth’scrust over centuries and allowed volcanic activity to bring them nearthe surface in certain parts of the world like Africa, and even theformer Soviet Union. We grow ours in these ovens in a matter of weeksinstead of eons.”
Anya memorized everyword as the scientist spoke, and she suddenly understood theoperation. It was merely a high-tech version of exactly what Volkovhad done by creating replicas of the jewelry worn by Russia’s eliteand exchanging his reproductions for the real thing.
Sascha ran his handacross the ovens as he slowly walked along the front of each one,peering lovingly inside through the treated glass fronts that musthave been two inches thick. When he came to the end of the bank ofovens, he opened a blue metal box and pulled an object from inside.The object was roughly the shape of a cube, but the edges were farfrom uniform. In fact, they were jagged and malformed. The cube was adingy brown color with streaks of darker colors randomly coursingaround the surface. He held out the object for Anya to inspect.
She lifted it from hisgrasp and examined it from every angle with both eyes. When she’dmemorized every surface of the object, she handed it back to Sascha.“What is it?”
His eyes lit up. “I’mglad you asked. It’s my baby. Well, one of my many babies.” Heheld up the rough cube. “This, as hideous as it may look to theuntrained eye, is a three-and-a-half-carat diamond of unimaginablequality. Come with me, and I’ll show you.”
Through a pair ofglass-paneled doors, he led them to a work area that resembled thesmall back room of Levi’s jewelry store, where he mounted thediamond into Anya’s setting. A man of indeterminate advanced agesat hunched over a spinning wheel resembling a small record playerwith a heavy arm where the needle should be.
“This is Sheldon. Heprefers to be called Shel, and he is, in my humble opinion, thegreatest diamond cutter who has ever lived. Here you go, Shel. ShowMs. Anya why we never judge a book by its cover.”
The old man didn’tlook up. He clamped the brown, jagged cube into another heavy arm andapplied the lab-grown blob to the spinning wheel. Soon, the unsightlydark surface vanished, revealing the clear, beautiful stone beneath.
Anya watched infascination as the master craftsman continued to shape and polish thestone. When he was finished, he washed the diamond, rubbed it betweenthe folds of a white cloth, and deposited it into Anya’s waitingpalm.
She reached for theloupe that had become part of her wardrobe but found only an emptypocket. Shel smiled and offered his loupe.
Anya inspected thestone from every imaginable angle and found herself lost in its utterbrilliance and perfection. Reluctantly, she surrendered the flawlessgem back to Shel. “I am without words. Why does the whole world notknow about this?”
Sascha took the diamondfrom the old man and handed it to Volkov. “The world will know soonenough. Other labs are creating stones less than a fourth of the sizeof this one, but they lack the technology to push the limits as faras us. We are, perhaps, a quarter century ahead of our nearestcompetitor. As technology advances, this facility will cease to be anoddity and will sink into Melbourne Lake. Shel will be well over ahundred years old or dead by the time the others catch up.”
The old man groaned.“Oy vey, I pray for being dead in these twenty-five years.”
Volkov pressed thestone back into Shel’s wrinkled, stained hand and motioned towardAnya.
The old man looked up.“Yeah? You sure?”
Volkov nodded, and Shelextended the diamond toward Anya for a second time. He closed herhand around the stone. “Young lady, you will someday have abeautiful daughter. Give this to her on the day she becomes a woman,and remind her that her mother was once also a beautiful, pricelessgem in a world of worthless rocks . . . like these guys.” Hemotioned toward Sascha and Viktor as Anya stared down at thebreathtaking beauty lying in the palm of her hand.
She spun to faceVolkov. “Viktor, I cannot accept such a gift. It is too much.”
Viktor placed one handon Sascha’s shoulder and one on Shel’s. “My dear, it is not agift from me. It a gift from its creators, and you cannot rob them ofthe joy of sharing their creation with you.”
She leaned down andkissed each of the old man’s cheeks, and he blushed at theattention. “You must stop,”
