NOTE: Much like “Interview with a Bookman”, not sure where this exactly fits in continuity. It just is at the moment.

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It’s the beginning of the month known as January on Earth. Up on that planet’s sole non man made satellite which is known to those inhabitants as The Moon. Nestled among the cratered surface on the dark side of that planetoid on it’s northern hemisphere there stands one of the few non natural structures.

It’s a circular building with a glass top. The light of the sun shines down through the main atrium of the building to the patrons milling about. Up on one of the upper balconies, sitting with his legs dangling off the edge sits the in name only current Librarian, David Bookman. A young boy, he has a messy mop of chestnut brown hair to went half way down his neck. His skins was a bit pale but also seems to have a tan at the same time. He had a slightly ill-fitting IOL sanctioned uniform, dark blue jumpsuit with gunmetal dark grey leather accents. Around his waist was a gunmetal black leather belt. The belt had a well worn silver buckle with a faded yellow “L” painted on it. On his hands is a pair of dark brown, well wore, leather gloves; the fingertips of the gloves are cut off exposing his fingers. He also wore mid calf gunmetal black leather boots. Each boot had 3 dark brown leather straps with silver metal clasps. They were cinched down so that the boots held snug tightly around his legs.

Sitting next to David was a olive drag colored messenger bag. On top of the bag, was a small rectangular device with a few minimal buttons on it & a glowing blue screen. Attached to the device with a small black cord that to lead to a pair of headphones that David was wearing over his ears. The device looks to be from 2077 but the headphones looked to be from 1977. David had a leather bound book sitting on the side opposite of the massager bag. Along of the spine of the book was some circuitry.

David was displaced in time and only exists in this time period solely because he shares enough DNA with the past Librarian to keep the building & all it’s contents out of the hands of the IOL, the former owners of the Moon Public Library. He has made this balcony “his”. Patrons rarely traveled this far up into the collection. Oddly enough they’ll most often go down into the bowels of the library then go further up in. David wouldn’t go anywhere below the 4th subfloor alone, day or night. The Bookworms are scary, even when feed, no matter what time period there are in.

David is actually remaking the balcony his. This small corner of the library is “his” in the time where he comes from. It’s one of the highest points in the library. You get some of the best views outside the skylights from there. He’s been told by Grandma D.D. & The Great A.L.F.RED that he can’t live out on the balcony as the library is open for business & his living quarters might obscure parts of the collection. He agreed that he sleep & keep personal items in a room in the staff only areas of the library but in the time he’s been there, no one has ventured up to this part of there collection. He has also been told by the Grandma D.D. to not call her that. The Great A.L.F.RED does not seem to mind what David calls him.

The past few days, David has been messing around with an invention he got from his first trip to the Earth. The thing is a defensive/offensive device that attempts to replicate something his father, the former Librarian could do quite naturally. No one has exactly managed to replicate it’s exactly but David thinks if he can get this device running they might let him go out on fact finding missions. There is so much life to search out & explore. The universe is so much more alive in this time period. The Library is even more alive!

David is not use to seeing so many people using the library. He’s more use to seeing one or maybe two strangers every few cycles come to the library but here & now: there are thousands of people a day. Plus, the energy output of the Library is amazing. You don’t have to ration the energy output, the power just flows freely. He does miss the friendly flicker of the torches but the low hum of the lights is nice also. You can also have more then one drone on at a time.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the musty smell of the Library. It’s a bit stronger in his home time but the smell is still present. The Library has been around for a while in this time period but given where he’s from, the Library might as well be brand new.

“let’s see… If connect these to wires, according to this manual I should be able to remotely connect it to the library’s database.”

*PING*

“hmmm…”

Just then from behind him, a voice says “Can I help you with something?”

David is startled a bit, pulls off his headphones & turns around to see a holographic projection of D.D. He’s still not use to seeing her look so young.

“oh… no, Miss D.D. Just trying to connect this gauntlet to the Great Library’s database.”

“David… You known that’s name won’t be used for a while…”

“What? Oh…. sorry…. The Moon Public Library’s database. Old habits die hard.”

“It’s ok. If your going to interact with people in this time period you’ll need to learn the local terminology.”

‘That’s what I have playing on the device you & The Great A.L.F.RED gave me.”

David points to the device on top of the bag next to him as D.D. rolls her eyes.

“Do you really think you can get that thing working?”

“I don’t know. It seems like that if i can it would be great help to us here since it would help replicate those things that only my dad could do.”

“not all the the things.”

“yeah… I know. But some of those more special things that he did.”

D.D. nodded.

“You know if you wanted I could hard wire that into my systems.”

“I know but it should also be able to connect to those systems still under the IOL’s controls. I know that you, The Great A.L.F.RED & my Dad changed to the Great Library’s protocols when you broke away from. Plus there are other non IOL libraries that it might be nice to connect up with also.”

“ok. If you need anything, just ask.”

“I know.”

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TO BE CONTINUED?

So David is trying to replicate his father's ability to transfer the complete written works in the library from source to source?

That would mean they would have breached the lower levels of the library & came up on to the main floors of the library. That would be bad, real bad.

The "Bookworms" are a living part of the Library & have a much harder to pronounce real name so they got the nickname of of "Bookworms". They mostly are used as the waste disposal system & live in bowels of the library that is rarely visited by anyone. BUT every so often a worm does manage to get out & will end up roaming about the lower levels of the library's collection.




yes.