The Library Rescue – By Claire Davon #3
Before I could speak, we were spinning into the void again. I was sure I struggled, caught in the grip of the cyborg and a primal fear so deep I expected a Lovecraftian monster to swallow us whole.
Then we landed in a new library, with stacks of books and patrons milling about. I could make them out through the door of the empty room we were in. Perhaps the cyborgs all had these sorts of rooms where they went through time, like a safe room.
“Are we… back on earth? Where were we?”
Ryrise frowned and then peered out of the room before nodding.
“We were not meant to go there. You have no immunities to the microbes that exist there, just as those who live there do not have immunity to those on Earth. It will be many years until the planets learn how to solve this problem. If we did not get you out of there, the result could have been… unpleasant.”
I’d seen pictures of plague victims in my time, when Braedon had gotten interested in the Marburg virus. That was enough for me.
“Thanks for getting us out.” I hadn’t been very gracious to the cyborg, so I would try and do better.
“No thanks are needed. You are my customer, and I am attending to your request.”
The noise outside soothed me like the whine of buses and subways would comfort an urbanite. I wasn’t on some weird planet with a giant blue sun and dwarf counterpart. Maybe not in the right time zone, but home, nonetheless. Funny how priorities shifted under extreme circumstances.
“We will get you some water and food. Stay here.”
Ryrise shut the door behind them, and I couldn’t be sure whether they locked it or not. No that I would try to leave and risk getting lost in whenever we were. I was so tired, the image of the star system we had left dancing in my mind like fireflies.
I picked up my phone but had no signal. Wherever we were must have been before the time of satellites that blanketed the earth and gave the power of the greatest library through history to anyone with a connection.
Right now, all I had was the picture of me and Braedon on the home screen, along with dozens of useless apps.
The place we needed was just outside the door with its books and librarians with storehouses of information at their fingertips.
We had taken a trip to a zoo once. Braedon was fascinated with the giraffes most of all, their elegant grace despite their necks drawing his attention.
But that wasn’t why I remembered the zoo.
It had been the first place where he had told me that he loved me, with the giraffes in one habitat and the zebras in a second, in his awkward, endearing way.
“Check out the zebras. They are amazing, with their stripes, like horses but not horses. I love this… and I love you.” He’d stammered out the words, his cheeks staining bright red as he ducked his head, so his hair fell over his forehead.
I stared at him as silence grew between us among the cacophony. Finally, I blurted, “I love you back, you ridiculous man. Oh, Braedon, I love you.”
Ryrise was gone for so long that I wondered whether the cyborg had left.
I had little way of telling time in this windowless room.
If Ryrise abandoned me here, I was screwed.
The folly of what we were doing came at me in full force.
I was one woman facing impossible odds, chasing a man lost…
somewhere, with one sole cyborg to help me.
After what dragged for far too long, the cyborg finally returned bearing a sack of some unfamiliar material.
“You must eat and drink. Then we will continue.”
The food that Ryrise brought out consisted of bland sandwiches on white bread, but my stomach rumbled so loud I believed the entire library could hear it. I guzzled the offered water down before breaking off and tilting the glass to Ryrise. The cyborg shook their head.
“Thank you, but we have no need for refreshments.”
I finished eating quickly, dusting the crumbs off my lap as I rose. “I’d like to keep searching for Braedon. We’ve got to be close. Aren’t we?”
The impression I got from the cyborg’s still face didn’t give me any answers. They nodded and moved to the doorway.
“Yes. Let’s continue.”
Once again, we swirled into the void, and I counted my breaths. I waited to land, but like before when they’d gone to the planet with the blue sky, the time ticked forward. Longer and longer. I didn’t think I screamed, but inside everything was in a state of panic.
Not again. I couldn’t take it a second time. We might come out in a rock wall, or in the middle of a black hole, or maybe a burning sun. I wanted to see something—anything—solid.
When we emerged, I drew a ragged breath. I wasn’t sure we were still on Earth. If we were, we had to be far from my time, which would explain the long transition. As I was quickly learning, the further away you went from your current position, the longer it took.
The air was breathable, without that tang that the blue atmosphere planet had had, but it didn’t taste quite right either. This reminded me of a sanitary room, with everything filtered out.
The cyborg had taken us to a desolate landscape with nothing to offer. This was a dead end just like everything else. All Ryrise had accomplished was take us further away. I was not excited for the trip back.
“Why are we here? This doesn’t make sense.”
The cyborg said nothing. Ryrise never did anything without a reason. Each of our jumps had been calculated to search for Braedon, so this one couldn’t be any different. The food I’d eaten lay in my stomach like a rock.
Buildings dotted our surroundings, resembling doorways more than structures. Perhaps humans lived underground now, which would explain the curious lack of cities.
Somewhere behind us was a whining noise, and Ryrise raised their free arm. I wondered if the cyborg had weapons as well as scientific advances beyond my capability under their dark beige artificial skin.
“Who’s there?” I spat out the words and then choked. The air might be breathable, but only just. We couldn’t stay here, wherever this was.
A figure stumbled forward, and Ryrise pushed me behind them.
“Halt. Identify yourself.” Ryrise sounded more like a sentry than a librarian, but I was beginning to learn that librarians were many things.
The form came into view. My heart leaped as I recognized the man.
Ryrise must have followed some trail of electricity or kinetic energy and, dare I say it, a hunch?
Or perhaps when the cyborg had vanished, they had cycled through all possible places before ending up here.
All the things they had tried, all the planets or wherever they’d been, all the dead ends had led here.
Braedon, worn and weather beaten, dirty and disheveled, stumbled forward. His brown hair was tousled, and his eyes that matched the darkest locks on his head were glazed with exhaustion.
“Please, you have to get me out of here. Sarina?”
He stared at me. Ryrise continued to keep that arm raised. I was surer than ever that it held some sort of weapon.
The librarian was full of surprises.
“Braedon!” I tugged on Ryrise’s arm, but the cyborg didn’t budge. “Oh my God, it’s you.”
Ryrise moved aside to allow him to get to me. He engulfed me in a hug that was so weak I wondered how long he had been here.
“This place is not suited for humans either. We cannot stay.”
“Where… when are we?” Braedon kept his hand on me but flicked his attention to Ryrise. The cyborg considered the question before gesturing to the ground.
“We are in the future removed from your time. Humanity lives underground. The surface parts of what is now called Terra are not stable anymore. Have you been here this whole time?”
By the way the cyborg said it, my heart faltered. Though Ryrise didn’t say it, I got the distinct impression that Braedon would not have lasted very long here.
He shook his head. “No. It’s hard to tell the days here in this place, but it couldn’t have been more than a week at most. I found a little water, but no food. This is Earth... Terra?” His pale face and sweaty brow showed his disbelief.
Ryrise nodded. “It’s many hundreds—thousands—of years from your future. We must go. Come. Both of you, hold onto me.”
I took Braedon’s hand and then once again put my hand over Ryrise’s wrist. If I wasn’t mistaken, the cyborg was smiling, in their way.
“We will take you back.”
A commotion started somewhere nearby. A bolt came out of nowhere and flung Braedon and I away from Ryrise. Then soldiers came through a spot close to us as a new bolt surged past, just missing Braedon. I focused on the scene, with Ryrise in front of us and the five armed men marching through.
To my shock, the blue-haired clerk from the library stood with them, not masked like his counterparts. He gestured to me and Braedon even as my partner was hauling me to my feet.
As our enemies fanned out, I grabbed for Braedon. I would not let him go again. The people facing us were now in a ragged line, their weapons pointed not at me but at Braedon.
“It’s me you’re after.” Braedon’s voice was weaker than I liked. He’d lost some weight, but he was alive. I was not about to lose him a second time.
A grizzled older man with an aura of authority kept his weapon aimed at us. “This should never have gone this far. We tried to stop you, but the cyborg was one step ahead of us.” He focused on the blue-haired clerk. “Thank you for your information. You are dismissed.”
The man fired, and the library clerk collapsed to the ground, twitching for a few seconds before he stopped moving.
Everything we’d done, all the times we’d been through, and it had come to nothing. We found Braedon but were going to lose him again. If I threw myself across the path of the energy bolts and shoved Braedon to Ryrise, they might be able to get him out when I died.
Braedon met my gaze and mouthed “I love you” as the leader swung around to face us again.
“Who’s next?”