The Library - The Complete Series (38 page)

Today

One

"This doesn't look like a library," I say, as Duncan and I stare up at the huge wooden door. We're standing outside what looks more like a giant fortress, guarded by a massive stone wall. There's bracken and moss all over the wall, but the entrance to the library seems to be deserted. It's hard to believe anyone else has ever been here; the whole place looks a bit like a wall that leads into a giant's garden, except Duncan insists that it's the door to a massive library.

"What's a library supposed to look like?" Duncan asks.

"I don't know," I say. "Smaller. More booky. Less terrifying."

"Not this library," Duncan replies, stepping forward. A small bell is set into the wall next to the door, and Duncan reaches out and grabs the rope. "Shall I ring?" he asks.

I shrug. "I guess so," I say, and he goes ahead. The bell itself is rather small, and it's hard to believe that anyone on the other side of the wall will hear it. "What's this library called?" I ask.

"Nothing," Duncan replies, coming back over to join me. "It's just... the library."

"Just
the library
?" I say. "Isn't that a bit presumptuous?"

"Not really," Duncan says. "It's huge. The reason other libraries all have to have names is because if you speak to anyone with half a brain and mention 'the' library, they'll assume you mean this place. It's connected to the Underworld, although the rules here are very different. For one thing -"

Suddenly there's a loud creaking sound. We look up as the door slowly starts to creak open, and eventually I see that there are half a dozen peasant-looking men pushing it. Looking through the entrance, all I can see are a series of huge bookshelves stretching as far as the eye can see. It's definitely bigger than the library near my house when I was younger.

"Where the fuck are we?" I ask. "Don't tell me it's a library, because it's blatantly not."

"It
is
," he says. "It's all the other libraries that aren't really libraries. This one makes them all pale into insignificance. Seriously, this is the perfect library. Every book that's ever been published by any man, woman or other type of creature. Every. Single. Book. In every conceivable language, and every conceivable edition. Everything. Except ebooks. They don't do ebooks. There's not much call for ebooks around these parts." He pauses. "Granted it's a bit bigger than you might have expected."

"How big?" I ask.

He takes a deep breath. "From here to the furthest point, about twenty thousand miles. That's almost the same as the circumference on the planet."

"Hang on," I say, realizing that he might be talking rubbish, "if this place is almost as big as the planet, how come no-one knows about it? How's it stayed hidden? I mean, it's not on Google Maps, is it?"

Duncan smiles. "That's because it exists concurrently with other locations. Well, one location. The whole library is contained within a grain of sand, really, but a grain that is able to repeat infinitely and with infinite variation." He looks at me, and he frowns as he sees that I'm not understanding what he's saying. "Have you ever played a computer game?" he asks.

I nod.

"And the worlds in those games fit inside your computer, even though they're much bigger, don't they?"

I nod.

"So that's kind of how the library works."

I pause. "It's inside a computer?"

"No," he says. "It's not inside a computer. But it works."

"It doesn't make sense," I point out.

"Nevertheless," he replies, sounding a little annoyed, "here it is! So obviously it works something, doesn't it?"

"Whatever," I say.

Duncan sighs. "Fortunately, you can still go into the library even if you don't understand how it works. So let's get going. We've got a long walk ahead of us."

"You're kidding," I say.

"I'm not kidding," he replies. "I never kid. Well, I do. But I'm not now. I'm deadly serious. Some people take pilgrimages to specific sections of the library. They spend years and years traveling to the right section so they can find a specific book. Sometimes they die along the way. I should warn you about that. There'll be dead bodies in here. Lots and lots of dead bodies." He sighs. "It's not the safest library, that's for sure."

"I'm not walking twenty thousand miles," I say.

"Of course not!" he says. "We're only going about fifteen miles in. I need to find a reference book that contains information about Excalibur, and fortunately that's in the Arthurian Legends section, which is relatively close to the entrance. All we have to do is go to the correct shelf, find the book, take a look at a few chapters, and leave."

"Can't we check the book out?" I ask.

"It's not that kind of library," he replies. "The books have to stay inside. But don't worry, it won't take us too long." He grins. "It'll be fun."

"Are you coming in?" asks one of the peasants. "Only we'll close the gate if you're not."

"Of course we're coming in!" Duncan says, grabbing my arm and pulling me after him as we walk through the entrance. "Ignore the smell. You'll get used to it."

I instinctively put a hand over my nose. "What the hell
is
that?" I say, feeling like I might throw up.

"No idea," Duncan says, "but like I said, a lot of people who come into this library don't make it out again, and as far as I know there's no body collection service."

"So people rot where they fall?" I say.

Duncan nods. "It's not always a pleasant place," he says, looking up at the huge, looming shelves. "It's full of knowledge. There's more knowledge concentrated in this place than in any other place on the planet, and with knowledge comes danger. That's why we're not going to loiter. We're going to get in, find the reference books on Excalibur, research the subject, find out what we need to know, and get out. No straying. No wandering off alone. No trying to be smart and falling flat on your face. None of that. We just get in, get out. Deal?"

"Deal," I say, as the door starts to close behind us.

"Hello!" Duncan says, turning to the peasants. "Do you have a moment to help us out?"

As the door slams shut, the peasants ignore us and start hurrying away.

"Hey!" Duncan calls after us. "Can one of you help?"

One of the peasants stops and turns back to us. "Sorry," he says, "we can't be seen talking to visitors. The last guy who did that, ended up losing his head. Literally." He turns and hurries away.

"Right," Duncan says. "That's friendly, but I guess rules are rules. Nothing can go wrong, so long as we just stick to the planned route and get to where we're going." He pauses. "I wonder if the war in Ethnography is still going on. Perhaps it's spread. We should be careful."

"War?" I ask.

"This place is huge," Duncan continues. "There are a lot of people here. Sometimes they argue, and wars break out. Whole civilizations have risen and fallen between these bookshelves. It's a remarkable place. That's why it's so dangerous." He turns to me. "Okay. Jess. There are three rules to surviving this library, and you have to stick to them without exception."

I shrug. "Hit me," I say.

"First rule. Don't help anyone. If you see someone in trouble, leave them be. If you find someone dying by a bookshelf, leave them to die. It sounds cruel, but it's the only way to survive. Don't get involved in the life of the library. Okay?"

"Okay," I say, feeling that Duncan is taking this a little too seriously. "Next?"

He pauses. "Second rule. Don't go wandering off. I know this place. I know the route to the exact book I need, and I know the route back. Some aisles are safe. Some aisles aren't. Stick close to me.
Trust
me. The last thing we need is to run into a bunch of rogue Drazi, or the Soldiers of Tea."

I find it hard not to laugh a little. "Okay," I say, smiling.

"Third rule. Do not, under any circumstances, approach the Librarian. If you see him, ignore him. Try not to make eye contact and don't do anything to attract his attention." He takes a deep breath. "Got it?"

"Got it," I say. "But what does the Librarian look like?"

"You'll know him if we're unlucky enough to run into him," Duncan says. "But as long as you stick close to me, I guarantee you won't have any problems if you stick to me. I'm well-known for my aversion to trouble."

"Are you?" I say.

"I am," he replies. "Now let's get going." He turns to walk away, and then he turns back. "There's a fourth rule," he says. "Sorry, I forgot, but it's important." He pauses. "Watch out for bookworms. They're not cuddly."

"I never thought bookworms were cuddly," I say.

"They're deadly," he continues. "Don't touch any books that look to be in poor condition. Bookworms here look like maggots, but they're far nastier. They can kill. They attack in swarms and once they've locked onto you, it's almost impossible to get rid of them."

"Okay," I say. "No bookworms. Got it."

We start walking along the aisle that runs from the main door towards the interior of the library. Above us, the sun is shining bright in the midday sky, and I start to realize that when Duncan said we were "taking a trip to the library," he meant more of an epic trek
through
a library. We have a few snacks to keep us going, and Duncan insists that it won't take us
too
long to get the book we need and get out. But looking either side of us, seeing aisles of books stretching off into the distance, it occurs to me that this is one of the few times when I should actually follow Duncan's advice. This is the last place I'd ever want to get lost, and -

Suddenly I stop walking.

"What is it?" Duncan asks.

I point at a dead body that has been left leaning against a bookshelf. It looks like the remains of a man, his skin dehydrated and ragged, and a patch of blood directly beneath him. It's not clear what killed him, but his face is raised towards the sky and his mouth is wide open as if he was screaming. He's wearing a gray business suit, and there are little white maggots crawling all over him.

"Bookworms," Duncan says, grabbing my arm. "Come on. There's nothing we can do."

"What do you think killed him?" I ask as we keep walking.

"I don't know," Duncan says, "and I have no intention of finding out."

After we've been walking for five or six hours, it's starting to get a lot darker and I realize that the sun is setting. We've been making our way in a straight line since we got here, with Duncan occasionally glancing at a map he keeps in his pocket, but while the library is pretty creepy during the daytime, the thought of being here at night is another matter.

"Do you have a torch?" I ask, feeling a little nervous.

"No," says Duncan. "Do you?"

"No," I say quietly, though I wish I did: it feels like the kind of thing that would've been useful. I look back over my shoulder and see the vast, seemingly never-ending rows of library shelves receding behind us. We've been walking and walking and walking, and it seems like we're getting no closer to our destination. "Shouldn't we find somewhere to sleep for the night?" I ask. "I mean... somewhere safe?"

"Yes," Duncan says, suddenly stopping. "But where?"

I sigh. "Sorry," I say, "I was kind of assuming you'd have that worked out. I mean... you're the expert."

"Me?" he says. "Hell no. I've got a map and I came here once, years ago, briefly, but I didn't get very far. I walked maybe five, ten meters and then I turned and ran." He takes a deep breath. "Well, maybe a little more than ten meters. I poked around, met some people, but I didn't interfere with anything. I just came, and saw, and didn't conquer anything." He pauses. "No, definitely I'm no expert when it comes to the library." He points at a spot on the ground, between two shelves. "There!" he says.

"That doesn't look very safe," I say.

"Nowhere in here is safe," he replies, sounding strangely confident. "It's very hard to convincingly run away from anything in a place like this. Everything's arranged in large grids, there's nowhere to hide. Fortunately, none of the really nasty things come this close to the main door. Not usually, anyway. They loiter around the back of the library. I've heard it's horrible there. It's where they started running out of space, so the shelves get closer and closer together, like in most libraries."

We walk a little way down a side-aisle and finally we sit down. I pull off my shoes and examine the blisters on my feet. "Great," I say.

"Isn't this nice?" Duncan says. "Sleeping under the stars, surrounded by books."

"What happens if it rains?" I ask.

"No idea," Duncan says. "The books are protected by plastic covers, but I guess we'll just get wet. Don't worry, though. It almost never rains in here. It's quiet and calm and beautiful. Don't you think this is nice?"

"It's lovely," I say, not really 'getting' it. "So how many people are in the library?"

"Who knows?" Duncan says, shrugging. He produces a couple of sandwiches from his pockets and hands one to me. "Egg," he says. "There are at least a hundred million people here, maybe more."