Book Searching Blues (Part 2)

"Wow, you've got gumption," says James, clearly pleased. I can't help but giggle a bit at this word usage. I know that's unfair--he comes from a different universe, after all, and "gumption" might very well be a normal idiom for youth to use in his world. Still... He doesn't mind, though. "The trolls work as low-level management. They're not very pleasant and are easily angered. If they don't like your questions, they might kill you. That won't do any permanent damage, though. In theory, nothing can be lost permanently in Tumbolia, although that doesn't always seem to be true of people. But usually people who die here come back for some reason. However, it might make you incapable of returning to your own world, if that's what you want. Not that it's likely you'll even find a wormhole anyway, but I've seen people who died here be unable to pass through wormholes afterwards. Anyway, the bookworms are one of the worst problems we have here--life forms that eat information. They might have eaten the book you want and the card catalog wouldn't know it, because it updates kind of sporadically. They are also very vicious, so we'll have to be careful. I'm fairly experienced at outrunning them, though. As for the card catalog and the computer, well, they both access the same mystical source of information, but the card catalog would be more complete. This is because we're still making the transition from card catalog to computer here, so it probably has some information the computer doesn't. I hear we've been making that transition for a million years. You have to understand that both are based on something that at least seems to be magic, and the card catalog is more advanced then most computers on our worlds."

As James is explaining all this to me, he leads me through the vast corridors full of towering bookshelves. It feels less like a building than a forest full of books. I sometimes feel as if people are moving behind me or hear snatches of conversation, but when I turn around there is nothing. "What's that?" I ask James.

"That's just the books," said James. "They can be kind of loud, because you can directly feel the reality of ideas and stories here. I know, it takes some getting used to."

"Is it possible for the books to take you to other worlds?" I ask.

"Yes, but probably not yours," said James. "I've looked all the time I've been here for a book about my world, but I haven't found anything, even though htere are some mentions in the card catalog. ANyway, none of them seem to be about my own time. The only ones I've found are about the past and future. Perhaps the library is trying to keep me here. Maybe this is why the computer system directed you to a book from an analog universe rather than the one you wanted. Maybe there's a reason you're supposed to be here."

I can't think of anything to say. This is too big for me to grapple with. It's rather frightening, but I'm intrigued by the possibility of a knowable purpose for my being here, especially considering the implications it might have for the rest of my life if I ever leave. "What do you think your purpose here is?" I ask.

James shrugs. "Just working at the library and helping people use the knowledge here, I guess. It doesn't feel like much, but I feel I really am helping make the world a better place here, in a little way."

"Sounds great," I say, not really sure how sincere I sound. Would I be content with a purpose such as this? Maybe. The library certainly seems fascinating, from what little I've seen of it, but somehow I now feel as if I'm called to something greater. Then, I laugh a little at the thought. James looks at me quizically. "What was that about?" he asks.

I shrug. "All of this," I tell him. "This is just insane. In a good way, maybe, but..."

James smiles. "Tell me about it. That's exactly how I felt when I first came here." I feel like I should say something to him, but am not really sure what. Whatever it was that was going on between us was hanging over us like a dark cloud. I want to build on it, but I'm also deeply afraid of it. If only I'd kept my stupid mouth shut earlier...

Then, James stops, having apparently reached the point he wanted to. There is a circle in the middle of the ground with several pentacycles clustered in it. "Let's take this one," he says, picking out one that's a tandem. He sits down at the front of it. "Remember to pedal at the same rate as me," he says. "And hold on tight. This might make you a bit dizzy..."

I wonder why it is that we're taking pentacycles now when we'd walked all this way before, but as we start peddling I feel a strange hum in the bicycle. I look down at the wheels and see that they're glowing with a weird purple radiance, the kind I'd describe as eldritch if I were the sort of person who used that kind of word. It jerks a bit as I get adjusted to pedaling at the same rate as James, but before long we are rolling smoothly along the ground. And then we jerk up into the air. I gasp and feel like I'm on the verge of losing my lunch. I'm not the sort of person who enjoys roller coasters and other such things, but this is somehow an entirely different level. It is both terrifying and exhilerating--just like everything that's happened since I got here.

As we soar among the towering bookshelves, I see a large stone spire looming ahead, with something resembling a Greek temple circling its top. "That's where the card catalog is," says James. "Let's hope it has what we're looking for."

1. We land on the card catalog without incident.
2. As we drift close to a bookshelf, however, we are attacked by a creature that resembles one of those worms with legs from M.C. Escher's prints--a bookworm, perhaps?

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