Deus Ex Libris

Deus Ex: Libris

... Librarian Christopher Strom quickly finds out there is more to life than just cataloguing.

Soundtrack

Deus Ex: Libris

Written by Edward Shaddow

“...and this is the canteen,” explained Jason as the double doors swung open to reveal the large room. “All your basic amenities, tables, chairs, vending machines. Oh, and of course three square meals provided free of charge by Her Majesty; gods bless her heart.” As they moved past the empty tables Jason made a small bow towards the large Royal insignia above the serving stations. “Although, I’d stick to packed lunches if I were you; except on Wednesdays and Fridays those are Edesia’s days, and I tell you what, in comparison all other food will seem as bland and tasteless as cardboard. Then again you Aussies eat that, what is it, Vegomite or something? Ugh, nasty stuff.” Chris watched Jason shudder at the thought, obviously, like most English people, he wasn’t a fan. A proper Londoner, Jason was well entrenched in British culture, sadly that culture was mostly from the eighties. The gaudy tie and grey sports jacket he wore was in direct contrast to the pure black tailored suit Chris himself wore; not surprisingly, both outfits reflected the man wearing them - Jason the upbeat, jovial Londoner and Chris, the boring librarian wishing to be more. After many exchanged emails, the image of a portly, balding, slightly greasy man Chris had built up in his mind fell way off the mark. Jason was more like Chris, slender,with a full head of hair and not all that unattractive, if you liked that sort of thing.

They had reached the vending machines in the far corner of the canteen and Jason began the process of choosing his early morning snack, something he seemed to regard quite seriously. “Have you met Aaron yet?” he asked as he filled the machine full of coins. “He’s Australian as well, Ex Machina. Nice bloke but a bit weird - like all of Ex Machina I guess.” Jason offered his bag of Skittles to Chris. Politely declining, Chris watched a dozen coloured lollies disappear down Jason’s throat. “Will I get to work with the other divisions much?” Chris asked, “It’s just, I’ve heard...stories about your Ex Gladius guys.”

“Ex Gladius? Bunch of pompous, overpaid cretins with guns if you ask me.” dismissed Jason through mouthfuls of Skittles. “Don’t you guys have a G-Division?”

“Well we do, but not to the same extent; your guys are, well, hardcore. At least that’s what I’ve heard. Our main D is a giant snake, and he’s asleep most of the time. The rest are mischief spirits or smaller animals, nothing much to worry about. Our guys are, for the most part, just for show.” Jason leaned up against his vending machine, “Didn't that snake cause those bush fires a while back? The one with the koala on YouTube, loved that guy." He asked, between handfuls of rainbow lollies.

"No, no, that was Pilirin, the Kestrel. Lost a lot of good people stopping him," including Lorna, he thought to himself. Jason picked up on the sudden sombre look that fell across Chris's face, "That why you left?" he asked, pushing off from the machine. The question took Chris by surprise. He did miss Lorna, a lot, but if the transfer hadn't come up would he have left? Probably. "No, not really. I mean I lost someone, but, it wasn't like that..."

A woman entered from the nearby exit, the clack of her high heals echoed around the empty canteen as she made a direct line for the coffee machine next to Jason.

"Ah, unrequited love, cut down in it's prime. I know the feeling." said Jason looking sadly into his now half empty bag of Skittles.

"How is your cat, Jace? Still preferring the neighbours over you?" the woman said sarcastically as she made her selection.

"Xena is fine Carol, thanks for asking, and I’ll have you know she loves me unconditionally...she just chooses to express it differently than most." He replied in a tone suggesting this type of banter was commonplace between the two. “At least she doesn’t run off with younger cats every chance she gets.”

Judging from Carol’s annoyed twitch, Chris guessed Jason had just hit a nerve. "Jealous much?" she said removing the largest, blackest cup of coffee Chris had ever seen. "Who's your new friend?" she asked sipping experimentally from her cup. Her bright red lipstick matched the long hair that flowed over her shoulders, spilling on to her white blouse.

"This is Christopher,” Jason said presenting Chris like a new car, “Chris here is the new Ex Libris from Australia. Just so you know Carol, claws off, we want this one to stick around." he said pulling Chris in close to him.

Carol glared at Jason, "Ignore him Chris, some people have issues with rejection, and possibly their own sexuality." She said extending her hand and smiling.

"Oi, leave it out." Jason replied quickly putting distance between himself and Chris, “Anyway, I'm not the one with the issues if I recall."

Chris suddenly felt the need to change subjects, quickly, "So, uh Carol, what department do you work for?" She responded by simply holding up the manila folder in her left hand, "Ex Mentis, and before you ask, no, it’s not a glamourous as it sounds. You get sick of listening to old blokes droning on and on about stupid things that happened five hundred years ago. Any way it’s more like social work now, making sure these two don’t fight with this one, and she doesn’t sleep with that one.” Carol took a large sip of her coffee, clearly taking pleasure in the sudden caffeine burst.

“Who are you seeing this morning to warrant the triple espresso?” Jason asked, stuffing another handful of lollies into his mouth. Carol yawned loudly, “...Somnus. Ugh, just saying his name makes me tired.” She took another large sip, “I need three of these just to get through one session.” She said, stifling another yawn.

“Somnus? I thought most of them went by their Greek names.” Chris asked quizzically. Carol shook her head, “It’s suddenly back in vogue to go by your Roman name. They change names all the time though; I’ve got a few who assign different personality traits to different names. It all gets very...” she yawned,”...confusing. Excuse me.”

This was exactly what Chris wanted. Somnus, or Hypnos in Greek, is the personification of sleep. The god of sleep if you will. Sick of hearing about animals and spirit men running around after star women Chris put in for a transfer some years ago; England was where the true pantheons resided and that was where the action was. The Romans brought the gods with them across the channel and most stayed on after the fall of the empire. Sure, a few ran off to the Americas or returned to Greece but the majority remained, making their home on the small island nation. Gods have lived in England for years, secretly of course, trying to avoid the rush of Christianity and other such monotheistic religions. People still worship them mind you, though most wouldn’t know it. Take Somnus for instance, every time you sleep you give power not only to him but also his sons. Basically they have existed long before any of us and it is more than likely that they will continue to exist long after we have all gone to dust. Nothing short of a divine nuke would change that, and for this reason Deus Ex was created.

It was after World War Two when the first delegation of gods introduced themselves to Parliament. As a result of the war in Europe, England was faced with an influx of deities who wanted no part of this mortal squabble, although there were plenty who did. For the most part it was not much of a problem, they continued living out their divine lives as normal. However, eventually a few of the older gods began to remember some age old indiscretions with their newly arrived neighbours. Petty quarrels became full arguments which soon turned into all out fighting, and if you’ve ever had the misfortune to witness gods fight, well; sadly most bystanders are lucky to survive, and the ones who do usually end up envying those who didn’t.

A handful of both English and European gods formed an alliance deciding to end their centuries of hiding to enlist mortal help in quenching the fires of divine wrath. Long story short, in 1946 a new section was secretly added to the Home Department - Deus Ex. The newly formed department’s chief objective was to manage and control all divine beings within England and her territories; the rest, as they say, is history.

Chris listened intently as Carol talked about Ex Mentis through fits of yawning followed quickly by large sips of her jet black coffee. Either it was that she reminded him of an actress he had once seen years ago, who’s name refused to come to him, or he was just a sucker for a grey pencil skirt and black fishnets. Regardless he was beginning to feel hooked. A beautiful smile, a deep kindness behind the eyes and fishnets...it was Lorna all over again. Chris mentally scolded himself for attempting to fall in love on his first day. He watched as Jason and Carol were locked in a friendly almost flirtatious battle of wits. Having no chance, Jason had now reduced the game to seeing how many Skittles he could throw at Carol before she drop kicked him. He was up to four and it was not looking good.

Luckily for Jason, Carol’s imminent attack was put on hold as several people crashed loudly through the canteen doors. Each was dressed head to toe in black uniforms not dissimilar to an American SWAT team; small machine guns slung behind their backs, the strap obscuring the white block lettering on their vests - Ex Gladius. Talking and laughing loudly amongst themselves the unit made its way towards the vending machines, completely ignoring the three other occupants of the room. Jason leaned over and whispered in Chris’s ear, “Try not to stare, they can smell fear.” Chris was far from scared, he was in awe. Here he was, in the same room as the most famous Ex Galdius unit; the elite of the elite, poached from the tops of their respective fields, issued weapons and given carte blanche. These guys were the sole reason England and the rest of the world was still standing. He wanted nothing more than to shake their hands and babble incoherently about how great they are. As if hearing his wish one of men turned and made his way towards the small group.

On reflex, Jason and Carol turned away from the approaching mountain of a man and took up a conversation between themselves. Chris, slow on the uptake and still a little star struck, kept his eyes locked on the black clad figure making his way towards him. Being the geek he was, Chris knew exactly who was walking towards him - the hard chiselled face complete with deep scar gave it away. It was none other than Unit Commander Richard Lavin. Lavin was responsible for saving the world more times than Chris could count, even in Australia he was just as well known. Frequently, reports headed towards the archives would have Lavin’s name in bold throughout. If they had Ex Gladius football cards, Lavin would have an entire deck to himself, and Chris would have the entire set, signed. It was no surprise at all when Lavin pushed past him without even a blink of acknowledgement. Chris watched the back of Lavin’s shaved head walk to the coffee machine, punch in his order, collect the hot beverage and walk back soundlessly to join the rest of his unit.

He didn’t care that the Ex Gladius hadn’t acknowledged him. Why would he? To him Chris was just some other pleb that happened to work in the same building, he was a lowly Ex Libris not even worthy of mention really. He sighed and looked over at Jason and Carol.

“Don’t worry man, you two will be best buddies before you know it. Heck, he might even let you touch his gun!” Jason’s attempt at reassurance caused Carol to cough violently as she choked on her coffee. “Wow, I was just kidding about the latent homosexuality before, but I think I may have to upgrade my diagnosis!” she said wiping drops of spilt coffee from her top. Jason threw a Skittle at her, the green lolly striking her on the forehead where it stuck briefly leaving a bright green mark. She shot Jason a look as she wiped away the stain.

“Well it’s obvious I’ve become a third wheel here and I'm late for my appointment. Nice meeting you Chris, I might see you around, yeah?” dropping her smile she extended a nod to Jason, “Jace." As Carol walked off Jason pulled a face at the back of her head.

“She loves me you know, poor thing just can’t handle it.” he said finishing off the last of his Skittles and throwing the packet in the nearby bin. “Well, onward and upward my friend, or in this case, downward. Why they shove you Ex Libris guys under four thousand feet of concrete I’ll never know. You’re not all that bad.” Jason, heading towards the far exit was still talking as Chris hung back. He watched Lavin as he stood sipping his coffee, apparently oblivious to the rowdy antics of his unit. The Commander slowly turned his head and stared at Chris, those dark, almost black eyes seemed to peer right through to his soul. Shaking himself off Chris hurried after Jason as he disappeared through the door. Lavin grinned slightly as he raised his coffee cup to his lips and watched the new Ex Libris walk out of the canteen.

“So,” said Jason when Chris caught up to him, “this is the long way around, normally you’ll just take the service elevator from the street right down to the main floor. Much quicker, although I wouldn't recommend having a heavy breakfast, at least not for the first few times anyway.” Chris half listened to his guide’s chatter as they both walked down the stark white corridor. The London office had been refitted and expanded during the late sixties and as a result suffered from the maxim ‘less is more’. Large grey blast doors spaced intermittently down the hallway helped to brake up the solid white expanse. Each door sported a stencilled yellow letter and number, followed by large red letters stating ‘Authorised Access Only’ and the appropriate clearance level. Chris’s clearance was L10, one of the highest in the Ex Libris field, but compared to some of the numbers on the doors it was a wonder he was even allowed to walk down the corridor. It was an entirely different world compared to the Canberra office; while all security guidelines and procedures were followed to the letter there was still a subtle, laid back attitude around the place. Possibly a result of Australian culture or due to the fact that everyone knew that the secrets they kept were not that great. London definitely had secrets, real secrets, and by the looks of things, they were determined to keep them.

“Is that Carol’s office?” Chris asked as they passed a door marked with the clearance “MEN008”. Jason replied without looking or slowing down, “Sort of, it’s the counselling rooms. I’d tell you more but as you can probably guess we’re a little strict on security here.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Chris said, looking back at the counselling room door, “Uh, Jason.”

“Hmm?”

“You haven’t said what unit you work for. I figured you for an Ex Libris but...” Chris trailed off as Jason remained awkwardly silent, “Lifts are just down the end here.” he eventually said. Chris decided to drop it, he had obviously asked a question well above his station. The lift door was now visible at the end of the corridor, it carried no stencilled number or warning and as far as he could tell, no call button. In fact, all the doors he had passed had no swipe card panel, no key pad, not even a security camera, it looked as if there was no way to enter the doors from the outside. He looked down at his freshly issued pass card hanging form the black lanyard around his neck. Apart from name, department, clearance level and a very bad mug shot, the card was blank. It had no barcode, visible microchips and the plastic was too thin to hold an RFID, Chris was about to ask Jason how he was expected to open any doors when he noticed the man standing by the lift.

Dressed in a kaki jump suit the old man was mopping the floor near the lift. His blue plastic cleaning cart sat motionless in the hallway. Jason walked casually up to the lift.

“Morning Janus, how’s things?” Janus looked up at them both, his long grey beard hung in large curls about his face, matching his short cropped hair. “Morning Jason, you’re late.” his thick Italian accent made it hard for Chris to understand, forcing him to concentrate on the old man’s voice. “This the one?” he said, nodding his broom handle towards Chris.

“Chris, this is Janus, our head Janitor. You need something fixed, cleaned, unlocked, he’s your man.” Chris extended a hand towards Janus, the old man gripped it firmly and looked intently into Chris’s eyes. “Pleasure.” he said eventually, releasing his grip but not his gaze. Chris rubbed his hand and nervously tried to avoid eye contact with the janitor. Jason coughed breaking the uncomfortable silence between the three men, “Just headed downstairs, would you mind...” Before he could finish his sentence, the lift doors opened with a soft ding. “Thanks Janus. Coming Chris?” he said moving into the lift. Chris followed flashing a nervous smile back at Janus. The lift doors shut suddenly, blocking Chris’s exit.

Turning around Chris found himself face-to-face with the old man. The air heavy with the odour of cedar and bleach, punctuated by Janus’s stale breath. Jason started banging on the elevator doors, his voice too faint to hear through the thick steel. Chris began to feel nervous as Janus leaned in close, “I know who you are boy. I’ve seen what you have done and what you will do.” he breathed. Straightening up, Janus ran a large rough hand over his beard, “I’ll be keeping my eye on you, son of Libris.” he said nodding towards the elevator. Jason’s banging stopped as the doors opened, “Janus! What the hell man? Chris, you good?” he asked, holding the door open with his hand.

“Yeah...yeah, I’m fine.” Chris replied wearily.

“OK, let’s go. That is, if it is all right with you.” Jason raised his eyebrows and looked at Janus. The old man just shrugged and returned to his mopping, moving down the corridor. Safely in the lift waiting for the doors to close Chris saw Janus looking at him, despite the old man facing the opposite direction. Something registered in the back of Chris’s mind as the doors closed and the lift began it’s decent. “Wait, was that...” Chris began, pointing to the now closed doors and looking at Jason. “Mm.” he replied, “I don’t know what you did, but try not to annoy him anymore, else you’ll never get through another doorway again.” Chris leaned against the back of the lift and smiled to himself, it was only his first day in London and he’d already had more excitement in the first hour than in the last seven years in Canberra.

“So, has anyone told you exactly what you’ll be doing down here?” Jason said removing a small PDA from his jacket. With a shake of his head, Chris answered, “No, not really. I figured it will be much the same as I was doing before. Cataloguing, literary searches, looking after the archive and its staff...normal Ex Libris stuff; but now I’m guessing it’s a little more complicated than all that?” Jason was navigating the touch screen of the PDA, from what Chris could see it looked to be a staff directory. “It’s not that much more complicated. Basically you’ll just be learning the ropes for the first few weeks, the guy you’re replacing was a bit of a legend around here. Wrote a lot of the software you’ll be using, Anthony was something else man; but don’t worry, he wrote meticulous notes and procedures. Here.” he said handing over the PDA. The screen showed a picture of a man in his fifties wearing rimless glasses, his clean shaven face was only interrupted by a neat grey goatee. His light brown and grey hair was cut very close to his head, probably to hide any emerging baldness. Apart from some very blue eyes he was quite average, definitely no Sean Connery. The accompanying caption read “Anthony Reynolds - Ex Libris; MIA.” Chris looked up at Jason, “MIA? Can an Ex Libris go MIA?” Chris laughed, “What did he do, get lost in the Archives!” He continued laughing at the slight joke but stopped when he noticed Jason was not. “Believe it or not, that is exactly what happened. Anthony went down to the archives one day, and now we can’t find him. He’s been gone four months with absolutely no trace.” Chris took another look at the image on the PDA before handing it back, “I know the archives are big, but surely not that big.”

“Well, he went in and he’s yet to come out. Until he does, you’re it.”

Silence fell between the two, letting the gentle hum of the lift fill the space. Downward momentum swung the metal room lightly and Chris let his mind go blank. Gods wandering the hall, trained killers drinking coffee in the same room and a labyrinth of an archive waiting for him wasn’t quite what he was expecting; life in London was going to be very interesting indeed. Chris looked over at Jason, his face was solemn and heavy obviously thinking of the missing Ex Libris. “Were you two close?” Chris asked eventually. Jason looked up and ahead, staring at the closed lift doors, “He was a good guy, friendly, always helpful. It was hard not to like him...” Jason coughed quietly and looked at Chris, “But anyway, he’ll turn up, probably got stuck in a file folder or something.” He laughed nervously and shuffled on his feet. Chris smiled, “Yeah, those old card catalogues can be tricky. We’ll probably find him cross referenced under ‘Modern Icelandic literature’ or something.” it was Chris’s turn to laugh and Jason soon joined in. The doors to the lift opened and harsh bright fluorescent light flooded in. Jason was still chuckling as they walked through the short entrance hallway leading to Ex Libris.

“Well, here we are. Four thousand feet under solid reinforced concrete, your fortress of solitude. Nothing else exists on this level and the only thing below you is the archives. If you’re not used to the neon glow, you soon will be. Bathroom is on the right, kitchenette on the left - don’t get them mixed up - and circulation is dead ahead. Any questions?” Jason strode through the main library like he was an estate agent showing a newlywed couple their first home. Chris stood in the entrance hall and looked around in awe. In stark contrast to the rest of the complex the library before him was entirely decorated in dark wood, green leather and white marble, it reminded Chris of an old private estate library he had once visited. Just like that library, books lined the walls, their leather bound spines creating a textured wallpaper interspersed with slats of wooden shelving. The large mahogany circulation desk sat in the middle of the large room, its oval shape splitting the library in half. Jason stood behind the desk now and motioned for Chris to join him.

The staff side of the counter was neat and organised, as you would expect from any half decent librarian. In fact, suffering a mild case of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder is usually a job requirement in library work. Chris stood back and admired the order and cleanliness of the work area while Jason sat down and logged onto the desk’s lone computer.

“You’re, ah, going to notice something unusual about this terminal in a moment...try not to freak out too much.” Jason said, spinning around on the chair. Chris was intrigued, “What do you...” Before he could finish, a woman appeared before them. She sat perched on the edge of the desk, her black stockinged legs crossed and swinging as she leaned towards Jason.

“Morning Jason; Christopher. How are you both today?” From her appearance she looked to be no older than twenty, but something in her voice suggested that she was a lot older than she looked. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a messy bun and held with a large red hair tie, she gently swept away a stray hair from her long fringe as she looked up at Chris. Her sad blue-grey eyes matched her gentle face as she forced a half smile and looked away shyly.

“Chris, this is Sarah, your new colleague...sort of.”

“Uh, pleasure to meet you.” Chris flicked a confused look at Jason as Sarah ignored his outstretched hand. “Hologram?” he asked, trying to look through Sarah.

Jason nodded, “Got it in one. He’s pretty quick Sarah, might just keep you on your toes!” Sarah sighed and hopped down from the bench, “It’s official then. He’s not coming back is he?” Jason made a pained face, this was obviously a subject he was used to discussing. “It’s not as if we’ve given up, Sarah. You of all people should know that. The department still needs Ex Libris to keep running, we had to get someone else in.” Chris moved out of the way as Sarah walked away from Jason.

Just short of five feet tall, she was dwarfed by the two men as she stood up. The red and white polka dot dress she wore accentuated her petite frame and it was hard not to notice her well proportioned breasts straining against the fabric; Chris silently questioned the intentions of her programer and tried very hard not to stare. Sarah’s image rippled as she passed through the desk.

“Look,” Jason said, his hands outstretched in a gesture of apology, “as soon as Anthony turns up, Chris here will be shipped back to OZ, I’ll personally buy the plane ticket; no offence Chris.”

“None taken, I think.”

“Come on Sarah, think of it as a temp job. Tony’s just popped off on holiday and Chris here is filling in.” Jason had placed a friendly arm around Chris and was shaking him roughly. It reminded Chris of his first (and last) Friday night out with the ‘guys’ - male bonding at its finest. Despite Chris thinking Sarah would be able to see through such an obvious ploy she replied “Do you mean that Jason?”

“Of course I mean it! Sarah, darling, have I ever lied to you?”

Just as Chris was thinking the conversation couldn’t become any more clichéd, the lift doors suddenly erupted, red hot shards covered the library. Instantly six large concrete blast doors slid up quickly into place, blocking the entrance hallway completely.

A red glow fell over the library as Chris and Jason slowly raised their heads from the cold marble. Sarah stood at the back of the room looking down at a red and grey lump on the floor, it took a few seconds before Chris realised it was Carol. He rushed over to her side despite the calls from Jason to wait; she looked like a discarded pile of clothing, crumpled and dirty.

“She’s alive.” Sarah said coldly. Chris ignored the hologram and searched for a pulse, desperately trying to remember anything from all those First Aid courses he was made to take. Jason knelt down at Carol’s feet, and gently touched her leg, “What the hell was that, Sarah?” he said looking up.

“A level ten Demi, unconfirmed.”

“Ten? A level ten couldn’t do that, not without some help.” he replied, standing up, “Have you called in Ex Gladius yet?”

Sarah turned to look at Jason, she sounded slightly vexed as she answered, “Yes Jason, it was the first thing I did after pulling up the blast doors. They’ve had to take the service route; ETA two minutes.”

“Good, good.” he replied, oblivious to her bitter expression.

Chris looked up at them both; he had managed to roll Carol onto her side in a haphazard recovery position, her torn clothes were soaked in blood from the thousands of cuts along her body. “Uh guys,” Chris said, placing his black suit jacket over her, “what about Carol? She needs a hospital, I think she’s got a punctured lung.” Jason smiled down at Chris, “She’ll be fine, don’t worry. Carol’s a hell of a lot tougher than you might think.” He reassuringly patted Chris on the back and asked Sarah, “So, what do we know about this Demi? She’s sure as hell not a level ten, not now anyway.”

Sarah tilted her head and stared blankly towards the blast doors as if she was listening to some unheard voice. It reminded Chris of a search engine, those few seconds of nothing between imputing a query and getting your results. Sarah slipped into a trance like speech pattern, her usual fluid speech became halted less natural, “File found: Melania Palmer; born 1981, Camden; daughter of Peleus, or so she claims. Neither Peleus or the mortal mother will back the stated claim of birthright.”

“Well, I think that claim could turn out to be true. So, she’s pissed off that we won’t recognise her heritage, fair enough, but what the hell does she want with Ex Libris?” Jason looked at Chris, “Any ideas?”

Chris shook his head, “Uh, sorry, you had me lost at level ten. I haven’t had any field training, the closest I got to this sort of thing was filing reports.”

“You do know who Peleus is though, right?” Jason asked.

“Yeah, of course, he was one of the Argonaughts and the father of Achilles; I’ve never heard that he had any more children though, in fact I didn’t think he was still alive.”

“Well, you know how it is with these gods, most of them can’t keep it in their pants. You’d be surprised how many people have slept with a god and not known it, half the night clubs in London are full of them; bloody randy buggers.” Jason walked over and leant up against the circulation desk, “Sorry, I forgot you’re not as clued up as Anthony. Anyway, the levels refer to how far someone is away from a major god; a level ten Demi is, well, ten generations away, and fairly innocuous.”

“But,” Chris said slowly getting to his feet, “this Melania obviously isn’t that powerless; “Right, adding to her claim to be Peleus’s daughter. So, the question again is, what do we have that she wants? It’s not recognition, she could have just filed for a Section 453 paternity test.” said Jason, folding his arms. “Pissed off illegitimate daughter, big arse library, what is it we’re missing?”

“Wait,” said Chris, “missing, library...Sarah, where are the archives?”

Sarah looked daggers at Chris, “That is not at all funny, Chris.” Before he had a chance to stammer out an apology Jason pushed off the desk and started walking towards the back of the library. “That’s not what he meant Sarah. Obviously she want’s something in the archives, and I’ll hazard a guess it’s something of Peleus’s.” A look of understanding flashed across Sarah’s face. “Oh.” At the same time, a large metal tube raised out of the floor next to Jason, revealing a private lift. “Cavalry’s arrived” said Sarah, as the lift door swung open and revealed Commander Lavin and his Ex Gladius squad.

A wall of black Kevlar and assault rifles filed out of the lift’s cab and onto the library floor. Three men took up positions in front of the blast doors, their weapons trained on the unmoving concrete and steal. A fourth, the only woman in the unit, made her way to the circulation desk terminal and began typing in commands while patching various equipment into the computer’s firewire ports. As Lavin walked over to Chris, he looked down and inspected the prone and bleeding Carol “Ouch,” he said smiling at Chris, “she’ll feel that in the morning. What have we got Lieutenant?” The woman at the circulation desk, snapped around and addressed the Commander “Back up systems are coming online Sir, we’ll have visual in a few minutes.”

“Good work Lieutenant. Chief?”

“In position Sir.” replied the most thickset of the other three men. Lavin nodded back at the officer, “Jason, get these two back to the surface, we’ve got it covered here.” He continued walking towards the circulation desk as Jason called out from the back of the room, “Commander, we think we know why she’s here, there’s something in the archives she wants.” The Commander turned slowly around. Holding a hand up he snapped his fingers, “Brack!” he barked.

“Sir! Yes Sir!” responded the young officer.

“What is our mission?”

“Sir! To stop the Demi from breaching the barrier and accessing the archives, Sir!” Brack’s Scouse accent thickly laced his words.

“And why is that Petty Officer?”

“Sir!” replied the third member of the unit, “The Demi is after the Sword of Peleus, making her invincible in battle, Sir!” Lavin simply looked at Jason and Chris, a smug grin across his face. Jason stared back at the Commander “Chris,” he said deflated, “help me get Carol in the lift.” Lavin watched as the two men gently picked up their co-worker and shuffled into the small lift. Jason and Chris looked around the room silently as the Ex Gladius unit began setting up various equipment. Carol let out a small moan as the doors slid shut and the lift began to descend.

“I thought we were going back to the surface?” asked Chris, shifting his hold on the now semiconscious Carol. The uncharacteristically quiet Jason simply looked over and grinned at Chris, “Lavin doesn’t control everything around here.” he said cryptically. Shortly the lift arrived at it’s destination, the LCD control panel displayed ‘Sub-Level forty three - Artefact Archives.’ Sarah, now wearing a short black dress, stood before them as the doors slid open. Chris and Jason carried Carol from the cage and laid her out on the cold concrete floor of the archive. Setting her down gently Chris looked up and around for the first time; the main library floor was but a mere appetiser compared to the surroundings he now found himself in. Countless numbers of relics spread out in all directions, each shelved and catalogued meticulously, hints of gold and silver gleamed under the large warehouse lights hanging from the low ceiling. For the first time since signing the transfer papers Chris became aware of the Herculean scope of his new job, managing the history of the unknown world. His grasp of the sheer impressiveness of the archives materialised as a long drawn out whistle passing over his lips.

“You can say that again kid.” said Jason standing up, “Good Sarah,” he began, posing dramatically, “cast thy nighted colour off and let thine eye look like a friend on the Archives.” His voice echoing all around them and down the rows of shelves that filling the enormous space. Sarah looked at Chris and rolled her eyes while Jason made his way to the lone study desk that guarded the entrance to the shelves. It’s dark wooden surface was illuminated by a lone bankers lamp and held a small LCD screen and keyboard. Jason motioned for Chris to join him, “Now, you’re the Ex Libris, do your library wizardry and see if you can find this sword.”

Excitedly, Chris slipped behind the desk and began to call up the archive catalogue. All the Ex Libris offices used the same catalogue system; from this screen, and with the right passwords, he could search the shelves of the library he left behind in Australia. Focusing on the task at hand, his fingers flew across the keyboard as he filled in various search boxes and terms. Finding things came easy to Chris, he was very organised as a person even before Ex Libris; his CDs and DVDs were arranged alphabetically by artist and title, being a librarian is more than just a job, it’s a way of life. Jason watched, mesmerised by the way Chris navigated the catalogue software, “This thing has always confused me; it took me five hours to find a report I needed last week, you my friend, are a godsend.” Chris laughed awkwardly, he still hadn’t learnt how to take a complement.

“Ah, guys...” said Sarah, standing next to a row of shelving.

“Just a minute Sarah, I’ve almost found it.” Chris replied, waving a hand at her. “Yes! There it is, section...” Chris was interrupted as Sarah talked over him, “Section B, row J, isle 93, call number 623.441 PEL, third shelf from the bottom.” The two men looked at her blankly. “What?” she said, shrugging her shoulders, “It’s my job...I’m a computer.” Sheepishly Chris thanked Sarah and turned to Jason, “I can head down and grab the sword if you stay with Carol.” Jason nodded as Chris started out down the labyrinth of shelves.

“Chris,” he said, “don’t get lost, yeah.” a half smile forced itself across his lips as he watched Chris disappear into the shadows. Turning, he sighed and sat down on the cold concrete floor next to the shallow breathing Carol, “Buggered if I could find you again.” he said running a hand through his thick black hair.

Continued...

Artist

Kasabian

Song

Butcher Blues

Reason

As I write I imagine a story playing out as a movie in my mind. With Deus Ex: Libris I can see the opening credits with a montage of Chris getting ready for his first day against this funky London sound.

Jason strode through the main library like he was an estate agent showing a newlywed couple their first home.