Archive Ch.6

A peculiar feeling gripped Nic as he entered the Library.

Part of it were the wards set over the threshold. They were crushingly strong, the back of Nic’s neck practically burning as he crossed. Though they allowed him through without complaint, their presence lingered long afterwards, itching like the memory of a knife pressed against the young techne’s throat.

But it was more than just that, something beyond the magic alone. Stepping out of the airlock, Nic found himself standing in a hallway straight out of antiquity. Rather than the metal and concrete of Archive, these walls were made of stone blocks the size of Nic’s torso. They were a faded, pale brown colour, each block slotting together near perfectly, forming a continuous arch that stretched unbroken up one wall and down the other.

Looking back, Nic found there was an actual gate from the original construction, the heavy wood doors held open on either wall by iron bars. The airlock sat in the resulting space, bronze metal sitting in stark contrast to the surrounding stone. It formed a firm seal, the door literally plugged up save for the shutter through which they had just passed.

A beep from Dewey pulled Nic’s attention back to the moment and to his companions waiting for him a few steps ahead. Realizing he’d been starting, Nic moved to catch up.

“Sorry,” Nic said. “Got taken in.”

“This is just the front door,” Jordi said, a knowing grin spreading across his face. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

Jordi turned and walked down the hallway, Nic following close at his heel. It didn’t take long for them to reach the end, the hall being only a dozen strides long, though their footsteps still echoed off the walls. Nic was about to ask another question when as they stepped into the room beyond, and all other thoughts instantly vanished from his mind.

An enormous chamber unfurled itself before them, the size of a cathedral and with about the same level of grandeur. A sweeping vaulted ceiling soared overhead, crafted of the same pale stone as the rest of the building. Glowing crystals floated at regular intervals, giving off a yellowish glow that somehow at once both cast and absorbed the shadows, lending the air a soft, almost dream-like quality. Though in truth, it was what lay below that truly accomplished that effect.

Books. Thousands of them. Tens of thousands, hundreds. More books than Nic had ever seen in his life. They sat upon neat ranks of dark wooden bookshelves, each one polished to a glossy, mirror sheen that left them gleaming in the light. They rose over a dozen feet into the air, towering over the two techne in a way that reminded Nic of a dense forest.

“That forest of all knowledge,” Nic said.

“The one and only,” Jordi said.

Awestruck, Nic approached the nearest stack, his eyes dancing over the individual shelves as they drank in the details. Books of every size, shape, type, hue, and texture imaginable were here, along with more than a few that Nic had never even dreamed. He saw slim, yellowed paperbacks, covers faded and spines cracked to within an inch of their lives. Mammoth leather-bound tomes of rich reds and browns with page counts to make entire trees quiver with fright. Professionally bound hardcover texts with wafer thin pages alongside coverless pamphlets that were little more than rough parchment and smeared ink.

And those were the normal ones, the basic unexceptional examples sitting side by side with the far more colourful offerings. Books coated entirely with metal, their titles engraved on the polished surface in delicate, flowing filigree. Books wrapped in fine silks and tied shut by ribbons that billowed softly in a non-existent breeze. Books covered in thick coats of fur, books crafted entirely from glass, books bound in heavy planks of finely varnished wood, the list went on and on. Row upon row, shelf upon shelf, seemingly no two the same. Lifetimes of words all packed into a single shelf. And there were dozens of shelves.

“So, were we right?” Jordi asked, appearing behind him. “About it being worth the wait?”

“Yes,” Nic said, failing to summon a more fitting reply. “Yes, you were.”

Jordi chuckled, sounding rather amused.

“Best part is this is just the entry hall. There’s way more interesting stuff to see further in.”

Nic’s gaped, imagination already running away with what else might be locked away in this trove of wonders. Jordi laughed again, properly this time, before patting Nic on the shoulder.

“Yeah, I think I had that same look on my face the first time too.”

“I can see why,” Nic said.

He took another moment to revel in the wonder before him, then forcibly hauled himself back to practical matters. At least for the moment. He was certain to be straight back at it the first chance he got.

“So, what now?” Nic asked.

“Well, let’s start with the basics,” Jordi said. “Your question is about the first spell cast via code, yes?”

Nic nodded.

“So, from that we can comfortably infer that we’re looking for what that first code was.”

Another nod.

“Which we know needs to be programmed by a person, typically referred to by the title of techne.”

A third nod, Nic unsure if this was supposed to be profound or patronizing. He suspected the former, Jordi’s tone being less condescending and more academic.

“Thus, we can intuit that the most likely scenario to be that the first bit of functional spellcode was written by a techne,” Jordi paused, waving his hand in thought. “And from that we can deduce that the first techne spell must have been cast by the first techne.”

“Sharpe,” Nic said. “You’re talking about Sharpe.”

It was Jordi’s turn to nod, slow and sagely.

“Indeed,” Jordi said. “And as luck would have it, the books on him are some of the best mapped in the whole library.”

“Convenient,” Nic said. “I take it you know where to look?”

“I do,” Jordi said. “And it’s not far.”

*

Not far turned out to mean a full thirty of walking. It was not a difficult or particularly confusing walk, consisting entirely of razor straight aisles laid out in a basic grid pattern. The entire trip was just one long chain of walking for several minutes in a single direction, occasionally broken up by ninety-degree turns. Even Nic, with his horrible sense of direction, had no trouble keeping track of where they were and how to get back to the door they had entered through.

Though where they were going was anyone’s guess. Landmarks were sparse and unassuming among the stacks, limited to a handful of sitting chairs and the very, very rare sign. The most notable detail they’d passed had been a random CAT sitting off to one side of an aisle. It had been stripped of its parts and had been sitting undisturbed long enough to collect a layer of dust. Jordi had walked right past it without a second thought, simply calling it ‘an unfortunate mishap’ when asked about it. Nic made a mental note to press him for details later.

Besides that, everything else was the definition of same-y. For all their staggering numbers, the books and shelves quickly faded from notice, becoming a mere background detail that passed by in a blur. Nic hadn’t done it on purpose, they were just so easy to forget about, especially with the boredom of walking the same aisles for so long.

Jordi was shockingly quiet the whole time, his previously chatty persona replaced with one of hyper focus. He answered questions when asked but other than that the number of words he spoke for those thirty minutes could be counted on one hand. Instead, he was constantly scanning their surroundings, looking ahead, behind, above, even at his own feet with clockwork regularity. It was a bizarre transformation, but Nic didn’t question him on it, assuming that it was all related somehow to navigating this place. At least one of them should probably know where they were going.

“Here we are!” Jordi said out of nowhere, twirling around in the middle of a random aisle. Dewey stopped as well, Nic nearly tripping over the bot before he recovered, though not before crying out in surprise. Jordi was nice enough to pretend it hadn’t happened as he gestured for Nic to join him next to one of the shelves.

“And where is here, exactly?” Nic asked.

“Complete techne historical records from the Great Resurgence to 150RE.” He leaned closer, examining individual titles. “A bit broad but it should help us at least narrow the search.”

“Right,” Nic said. “So, what are we looking for exactly?”

Jordi looked at him, tilting his head to invite Nic closer. Nic did so, close enough to read the titles and noticed that they were all very similar, each spine emblazoned with the word VOLUME in bold block letters, followed by a number. Each of them was arranged in order, the numbers Nic could see being in the high five hundreds.

“Wait, are these all the same series?” Nic asked.

“All the same book, actually,” Jordi said. “A complete written record of this period of history.”

He pulled out a volume at random, turning it to show off the cover. It was a plain tan colour, a large 583 embossed across the top in shiny black ink. Below that was a sigil Nic didn’t recognize: a half sun emblazoned on a kite shaped shield.

“No author?” Nic asked.

“A few guesses but nothing certain,” Jordi said, returning the book to its place. “Text is reliable though, that’s been verified.”

He stepped back, clapping his hands together before pointing up towards the top of the shelf.

“Anyway, the one we’re after is near the beginning, probably volume three at a guess.”

Nic glanced up, only now really absorbing just how tall the shelf was in comparison to them. It stretched almost all the way to the ceiling, far beyond the range of what they could hope to reach standing on the ground. Nic started feeling actual dizziness looking up at them, something about the sharp angles triggering vertigo despite him standing firmly on the ground.

“Right.” Nic said. “And how are we going to get up there?”

“That’s what this rust bucket’s for,” Jordi chuckled, reaching over to pat Dewey’s casing. “Could you back up real quick for me?”

Nic obliged, backing away down the aisle while Jordi began fiddling with the controls on Dewey’s back. After a moment two of the arms began to move, slowly unfurling like a flower. Jordi grabbed hold of one as they continued to move, letting it pull him upwards until he was freely hanging from it one handed. A second came up from below, Jordi bracing against it with his feet and comfortably riding it up like a trapeze artist. He made the action look effortless, his posture relaxed and casual despite the stunning amount of athleticism such an act would take.

Rapidly the arms ascended the shelf, slowing as they drew level with the very top. Once they had stopped, Jordi used his free hand to scan the books, running a single finger over the spines in rapt concentration. Dewey began to drive forward, carrying Jordi with him and allowing the scanning to continue uninterrupted.

“A-ha!” Jordi called after a moment, his voice triumphant. He reached up to pull a book from the shelf, barely getting it free before Dewey’s arms began to descend. As it did, Jordi swung around to hang from the arm like a pullup bar, dangling for seemingly for no reason other than to show off. Which he managed to do successfully, stepping straight into a natural stride as soon as he was back to the ground.

“That was impressive,” Nic said.

“I try,” Jordi grinned, holding up his prize towards Nic. “For you.”

Nic took the offered tome. It was the same as all the others here, the only difference being that it had a simple three stamped across the cover.

“Thanks,” Nic said. “So, do I just, what, read it?

“That’s typically how books work, yes,” Jordi said.

“Hey, I just watched you acrobat your way up a bookshelf with a military grade bot,” Nic said with a smile. “I’m assuming nothing.”     

“You’re learning,” Jordi said with a laugh. “But no, in this case it’s good old-fashioned words per minute.” He gestured further up the way they had come. “Come on, I know a good place we can sit nearby.”

*

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