The Book (35 page)

“The digital book was a good thing. Not many people know this, but, at one point, each publishing house came out with their own version of the digital book. There must have been fifteen to twenty versions, each that appealed to a different people group. But the government had a plan that, as I’ve learned, spans a long time. And it began by using our guilt and our fear. They told our grandparents that selling paper books was wrong. That reading paper books was evil. And if you had any in your library, especially if you weren’t reading them, you were just as much to blame for the destruction of our planet as the companies who dumped toxic waste into the water supply. They encouraged the digital book heavily and warned that if we didn’t change our viewpoint on things, the world would not survive. The primary solution they endorsed was The Book. The government decided to take technology that already existed and they created something far better using our grandparents’ tax dollars. And then they cornered the market on digital reading devices by giving The Book away for free.

As Holden elaborated, gasps wove through the room in warps and wefts. “They gave it away for free because not everyone could afford the new technology. But nothing in the world is free. They had one, uncomplicated stipulation. Our government told people that if they brought in fifty used books, they would be handed a free copy of their new, government-issued digital reading device. The Book was the most functional, most attractive, most convenient version of the electronic book and it easily surpassed every other option on the shelves.

“Trick was, you couldn’t just buy The Book and the demand was high. People began raiding used bookstores just so they could get the newest device for free and sell it for an outrageous profit. Eventually, to avoid such pandemonium and theft, which was certainly planned, the government developed
Indivisible Publishing
, a profit-based subsidiary of the Publishing House. This provided them with a way to channel money through The Book as well as a way to create newer editions that would appeal to a large mass, in hopes that it would soon eradicate any of their competition.

Holden took a sip from the glass of water Marion had left on the pulpit and coughed into his fist. “Within eight years…
eight years
…there was only one way you could read without receiving a dirty look from someone else. Through The Book. Within twelve years, you couldn’t read from a paper copy without breaking the law and receiving an exorbitant fine of eight hundred dollars. A year later it was jail time. A year after that, the only way anyone could read, was through The Book. It happened that fast. The Great Recycling had removed so many of our freedoms forever.

“To those of you who knew those details, my thanks for remaining patient. To others of you, this knowledge has come as a surprise. The important lesson you should take away is that their primary intent behind manipulating the outlet for reading was motivated by a singular factor. Control. What had once been a marvelous development of technology that reformed our thinking about forestry and paper had soon been compromised, altered and placed into the hands of people with control at their hearts. Believe me. I completely understand their motivations. And not from Winston,” Holden affirmed, raising a hand to greet him, “I missed you, man. But because eleven weeks ago, I was captured by Agents from the Publishing House.”

A riot of questioning and frightful noises rumbled like a caravan of horses through the small chapel. Holden grabbed the reins and pulled tight. “
And I think it’s safe to say
,” he proclaimed, over the commotion, “that I’m the first person in over a hundred years that has escaped their custody, based on something very simple. They underestimated me. Yes, I was captured and, in fact, my daughter was hurt in the process. But there’s so much we can learn from what happened. I lived to tell the tale. On top of that, I’ve drawn a rough layout of the entire building on pieces of fabric and plastic. I know where the
real
Publishing House is located in our nation’s capital and I have a rough estimate of how many people work there, since I funneled them out of the building. These are things we can use.”

“Did they try to recycle you?” a young woman shouted.

A roar of other questions barricaded him from continuing and Holden had no choice but to stand and wait for them to subside. In the minutes that passed, he looked around the room for people he knew and noticed Alex and Kari in the front row, smiling. Holden recalled the long journey they’d had across the country together and he smiled back at them and the tiny baby slung between their arms.

“I know you guys have a lot of questions, but you have to accept that they may need to go unanswered.” As the murmuring continued, Holden started realizing, all too late, that his attitude of authority was unwelcome in a group of naturally rebellious people. “I was fine and I am fine. When I first got there, they didn’t do anything to me. I had been spared, but for a purpose. They wanted to frame me. To use me as they used so many Americans before, to destroy the last remaining copies of books on the planet. At the Library of Congress there is a single copy of every book ever written, except for the ones they’ve banned entirely. They told me that after using me to destroy the last library in existence, they would kill me and use my crime to incite patriotism throughout the world. From there, who knows? Change laws…change a lot of things. They would be free, once and for all, to alter The Book as they pleased because there would be no originals left in the world to challenge them.”

There was a respectful silence in the chapel now. Holden allowed his mind to rest in it before moving on. “I know that our grass roots movement is working. I can see that and I’m proud of you. Shane. Shane, I’m proud of you,” Holden hollered out, until he eventually found his friend standing at the back of the room. They shared a smile and he could tell in a glance that they had a lot to discuss. “I just don’t think we have a choice. We have to make a big move.”

“Well, what do you suggest?” a teenager, one of the
Bereans of Bedlam
, asked from the front row.

“We have to save as many books as possible. I mean, we’re lucky that we have such a great library, but there are so many pre-digital stories out there, fiction and non, that we simply don’t have. And some of these books, an amount that could fill this church, are worth dying for.” Holden recalled what Winston had told him as he raced back to The Library to save Marion. “These pages are worth more than me. Worth more than all of us combined. I know you guys have a lot of ideas of how we can find more, but this whole thing will only work if we stop them from winning. When this is over, and we don’t have an original version of a book, we might as well consider it dead. We can never be sure if what we are reading is genuine. We’ll never be able to know if another author is on the page or whether our imagination is being forced toward some particular end. How can we preserve our personal freedoms when we can’t turn off the propaganda?”

“No!” Holden disagreed over the racket. “Guys, you’re not listening to me. The building and all the books will be destroyed any day now. Hell, they could be gone tomorrow for all we know. We have to move quickly. I got away before they forced me to do it…but they’re going through with their plan with or without me.”

He paused to take a breath, stepped back from the pulpit and sat on the carpeted steps before them. He could see in their faces that they were waiting expectantly for his solution. “To be honest, it has been a breath of fresh air, returning here. Your spirit. Your courage. Your hope. It’s in the air, guys. I don’t mean to diminish that. I truly…I don’t. My life over the past eleven weeks has been horrible. There were times I lost hope. Times I thought I wouldn’t get through it. But I have. I know we won’t be able to beat them overnight. But we still need to try. We need to take risks. Make big moves. It’s not a surprise that the rain has come back. Our time of rejoicing in the discovery of their lies and our decision to rebel is over, man. The revolution has to begin today.” Holden stood up and raised his voice. “The Book is still updating! I’ve seen it! I’ve watched people’s faces as they hunger for that machine to turn back on. Their fingers swooping over the page like vultures as they devour the words they trust. Every day it’s getting worse!”

Holden, once a simple-minded man, now stood before them a great and powerful mind that could sense their anticipation. As he neared his final statement, he saw them looking up at him with golden eyes of esteem that he knew would not last long.

“These milestones we’re making aren’t going to matter if we wake up to the bad news. They are still going to win and we can’t let that happen. I’ve had time to think about it and I know what to do. But you have to trust me. We need to take risks. We need to make a single, big move.” He paused to clear his throat and said, “So I’m going to set the Library of Congress on fire.”

* * * * *

030-83868

They built their strength upon words, both printed and digital. They determined their calling by what was the same and what was different and deleted. As readers who had been lied to all their lives, seeing their leader and hearing his words for the first time, the members of
Ex Libris
were soon meeting in groups in the gardens of the chapel and in the backyards of the neighborhood to carefully discuss a single, specific concern: whether Holden’s mind was the original or if had been altered somehow by the Publishing House.

Eight of them had known Holden before he was taken and one of those eight was an eight-year-old. Their impression of him was limited and their simple acceptance of his reputation struggled to last under such a constant atmosphere of distrust and cynicism.

For a few days following, life at Winston’s house was unpleasant. People were unimpressed with Holden. And there were some legitimate concerns over his mental condition. A rumor began that he had been brainwashed and that they were no longer safe. Every day, the house woke up to less people roaming the halls. And no one could argue against it. Their leader had arrived looking crazed and at his first opportunity to speak to the group, he told them that The Book was good and then endorsed setting fire to the last library on the planet. Regardless of his reasoning, there weren’t many books left and he was willing to burn some. For that statement alone, many people didn’t believe.

For the others, the most compelling reason to doubt Holden was because he had escaped. Even Winston had difficulty accepting that. Much wiser men had gone before him and only Holden had found his way home. But, as the week carried on, the shock of what he had said subsided and they began to understand his motivation for suggesting such drastic actions. Of course, if Shane hadn’t been there it may have all fallen apart.

Holden was given honor as their leader. But they didn’t know him and it was hard to trust what he had to say. On the other hand, they did know Shane. And they respected Shane. They listened to him. And when he told them that Holden had the best interest of the
Ex Libris
at heart, they stopped murmuring behind closed doors and started to listen. In less than a day, it made sense. They really didn’t have much time. If Holden was right, the Library of Congress might be charred hunks of rubble by dinner. Their leader had spent every day for eleven weeks focused on the singular task of saving as many books as possible and they believed he had more planned than simply starting a fire, grabbing a few books and running. Once Holden was able to speak without dissent, he laid out the plan very clearly for everyone.

The Library of Congress had the most rigorous, most intense fire protection system on the planet. Holden knew that because he and Shane had studied the structure often during their apprenticeship. It was a perfect example of a multiple action protection system. The building integrated three distinct safeguarding methods, all of which General Fire Protection had installed in one or more buildings throughout Chicago.

The first system was the release of flame retardant foam from a hollow sprocket that coated the area and smothered the flames. This was often used in the protection of expensive, non-electronic property. The second, that would kick in if the foam system failed, was a typical, wet piping system. The pipes were filled with water and ready, at a moment’s notice, to launch a continuous stream upon the blaze. If the wet system failed, for some unlikely reason, the third and final system would kick in. This option was the most unsafe and widely rejected as a viable alternative. It was incorporated into the most extreme plans when living organisms were unlikely to be present. A ventilation system that extracts all the oxygen from of the room, thus making the fire decay rapidly before having the ability to take down the building. As all of these would be integrated into the fire alarm, the manipulation of the complex system could be done easily by a professional technician like Holden or Shane. Based on their plan of attack, they could either increase or decrease the flames. Even time the burn. Once Holden explained why understanding such a system was beneficial to their goal of extracting the books from the library it was simply a question of when.

If a fire was started at the library and continued to burn at an even pace, the government would have no choice but to keep appearing as if they cared and would need to find an alternate solution for protecting the books. This is because when the government made the decision to recycle all the books on the planet and to bar people from owning paper copies, many rigorous laws were set in motion to ensure the safety of the originals. Holden had learned, through the oddest arrangement of wise Unfortunates and ragamuffin book lovers, that there had been specific protective measures in place at the Library of Congress if such a tragedy occurred.