“Let’s go and sit down” He said, in a way that makes me feel like he’s really sorry about what he’s going to say.
He was still touching me, his hand guiding my elbow to the sofa. Terrified. I didn’t want to look at him anymore. After spending all these years trying to get a reaction out of that face, I now no longer wanted to see it. I wanted my neutral faced, plain, bored faced Axel back. He turned me to face him. Terrified.
“I think it’s time I told you why you were brought here to the Library”
I had been so happy living here that apart from idle curiosity I never really cared why I was here. I was always just happy that I was. I never really thought about parents. There were no other kids around so parents never really came up in conversation. Axel had been my mother, father, brother and friend. He was all I needed, all I wanted and I was happy. Whatever it is that he was about to tell me was going to shatter my world, my happy, happy world and I don’t know how I’m going to bare this.
I covered my ears “I don’t want to hear this” I cried out.
He gently, carefully pulled down my hands as if they were made of porcelain and held them for a few seconds longer than anyone really needed too. Terrified.
“I was the one that found you on the steps of the Library” he said. “I brought you to the Curator, you were a tiny, tiny baby. He was not interested ‘this isn’t a home for abandoned babies take her to the proper authorities’ he said. I had no choice. I had to follow his orders. I remember that day so well. You were asleep when I found you, bundled up tightly. I guessed you were a girl only because you were wrapped up in a pink blanket, you know the one, you made a pillow out of it. Throughout all the activity you generated, my protests, the Curators shouting, you slept. I didn’t want to give you up. I’m not sure why, not even now. I wanted to keep you and walking out of the Library towards the police station was excruciating. And yet you slept, you weren’t bothered by anything happening around you. Halfway to the station I heard gurgling noises coming out of your little bundle so I looked down at you. I swear you were smiling at me, unafraid, feeling safe and that’s when I saw you properly. That’s when I noticed the colour of your eyes”
Chapter 6
Wolf
Magic Man could hear his mobile phone beeping with every message that was deposited into his mailbox. He knew it was Wolf. He knew he couldn’t help him. Considering the Palace had a reputation for fairness and objectivity they weren’t exactly playing the role of gracious house guests. Not when they had him tied up and gagged in his own living room. They didn’t even try to torture him. They broke in, guns aimed and syringe straight in his arm, veritus potion right into his vein. So he told them everything. At least everything he knew which wasn’t much. He was expecting to die but for some reason that he hadn’t quite worked out yet he was still alive.
It was an ordinary house, in an ordinary city and Magic Man looked quite ordinary to any passer-by. His special room wasn’t ordinary though, the Palace guards had found it without too much trouble, the room beyond the pantry that housed his special equipment. Quite the biological genius was our Magic Man. He had been playing around with people’s brainwaves for years. Some of his research was so abhorrent – and this in a field where gruesome animal experimentation was the norm- that he was eventually blacklisted from every research facility in the country, and then some.
He was even too hard core for Gentech, that’s really why he fell off the grid and into suburbia. That was when everyone knew him as Dr Neil Carter. Not anymore, his black market tag Magic Man seemed to have evolved on its own, something to do with how he always disappeared after a transaction as if by magic. The research world may have shunned him but there were other agencies that had need of his services. That’s how Wolf had come to know him, they had worked together a few times over the years and a type of camaraderie had formed between them. Wolf was an introspective, non-judgmental, objective man who never asked too many questions. That’s why Magic Man liked him. That’s why he felt so guilty now.
The ambush came by surprise. Wolf didn’t know what hit him. With a syringe full of who knows what piercing Magic Man’s neck, he called to Wolf to come through the door.
“It’s open”.
Wolf barely had time to say “Hey man, you had me worried” when they jumped him.
Wolf never saw it coming. His special brand of syringe was full of something enough to knock him to the ground and render him speechless. He was zip tied to a chair next to Magic Man, uncomprehending, dazed. His instincts told him he was in trouble, still consciously unsure of how this was going to play out. He recognised the Palace guards, he recognised Magic Man gagged next to him. Had they figured this out?
Gordon sauntered into the room with that stupid smirk on his face all but answering that question with a big fat yes.
“You’re probably wondering why it’s taken us so long to track you down agent Wolf. It may or may not surprise you to know that we have known of your whereabouts ever since you “disappeared””. Stupid air bunnies.
“We were in the process of dispatching a retrieval team when the Esperanzi showed up on our radars. Following you it would seem, because wherever you were they were not far behind. Interesting don’t you think. Now why, I asked myself would the Esperanzi be after agent Wolf. There was only one way to find out so we sat back and watched. When we intercepted your path here to this lovely house in down town suburbia, well we decided it was our chance to finally find out what you were running from exactly. Our friend Mr Magic Man hasn’t been all that helpful actually. All he could tell us was that you were on your way here to have your memories erased.”
Gordon likes speeches and dramatic pauses. He will use any excuse, just like this one to orate. He wasn’t as eloquent as he liked to believe he was. Wolf could hear everything Gordon was saying. Was slowly but surely starting to make sense of what was happening. He knew it wouldn’t be too long before they put the whole story together. He was kind of hoping the Esperanzi would find him right about now, have a real fight on his hands, maybe then he could get away. Maybe then he could….
“Wolf” Gordon’s scream made him look up. He was losing patience. He too must have known the Esperanzi were on their way.
“We’re wasting time here” Gordon screamed at the guards. “Get him ready for transport, we leave in five minutes”.
As they were untying Wolf, they injected another syringe full of who knows what into Magic Man. This had an instant desired effect of knocking him out. They untied Magic Man and just lay him on the sofa as if he’d been asleep there all afternoon. Wolf looked on sadly. This was not going to end well and he knew he would never see this man ever again. Wolf was too weak to fight. Whatever they injected him with had rendered his muscles useless for anything other than standard functions, and maybe, just maybe if he was lucky he would be able to see out his last ditch plan to protect his daughter.
He nearly didn’t find out. The Esperanzi didn’t bother knocking and using niceties. They tore the front door off its hinges and three ran in with a roar. Not just the front door either, ten seconds later the back door was thusly opened and four more Esperanzi trotted up behind the Palace guards surrounding them. Where the guards had hidden their weapons is still a mystery. There were no tell-tale signs, yet on seeing the Esperanzi they had all whipped out their P90’s and a stand-off was in play. Wolf was the prize standing between the Esperanzi and the Palace guard.
Surprisingly the only sound was that of Gordon laughing. He was nearly hysterical. “Wonderful” he managed to say “I have never seen any of you this close before, just wonderful”. Just peachy thought Wolf.
When the fight came it was vicious, the ferocity of the wall of death unsurpassed. Without warning both sides reacted to a change of energy and instinctively ran at each other with nothing more than death on their minds. There was a p
rize and both sides wanted him. The Palace guards barely had time to fire any of their weapons. They were in close quarters and their guns didn’t have the range for such short distances. They had to rely on hand to hand combat and the odd knife that made an appearance.
In the midst of the attack there was only one set of eyes on Wolf. The Esperanzi pack leader was coming for him. These animals were smart, they had every one of the Palace guards occupied, the screaming was testament to that. Wolf knew he couldn’t get away, he didn’t care anymore. He didn’t flinch when the Esperanzi jumped at him knocking him to the ground. There were guttural sounds coming out of the pack leader’s mouth. If Wolf didn’t know better he would think they were words.
Oh my God. They could talk. He could make out a word here or there, something that sounded like prisoner, back, guard. This was going to be his last chance. He had to take it.
The pack leader was thrilled with his catch, that’s why he didn’t notice Wolf going for his boot. He must have thought that Wolf was doing the necessary struggling thinking he had a chance at escape. That’s why he didn’t notice Wolf putting the gun to his temple and pulling the trigger. There were a few seconds of stillness in that little corner of the room. The pack leader piecing together what he had just seen, understanding what just happened. As he looked down on his blood and brain splattered fur he let out a fierce cry, loud enough to stop the fight. Six Esperanzi and four Palace guards including Gordon were still standing.
Chapter 7.
Lily
“Please Axel, just tell me what’s going on”.
“It’s not that easy to explain, I need to tell you a few things first, so you can understand. Please be patient, it will all start to make sense. What I’m about to tell you is a true story.” He paused for a moment and just looked at me, and stroked my hair. Oh my god, terrified in ways I cannot express. He was stalling, as if he didn’t want to say what he knew he now had too.
“The Library isn’t just an ordinary library. It’s more like an archive for things that happened on Earth a long time ago. We are like keepers of these stories, watching, chronicling. My people, we are ancestors of the original Library keepers as are the Curator’s. You’ve noticed that we live a very secluded life only going out into the world as necessary, well most of us, the Curator likes it out there. He resents being stuck here.” I was starting to sweat. I didn’t understand, “Axel!”
“Please Lily let me get this out. You can ask me any question you want when I finish”. Now he was staring off into the distance, recalling some memory maybe. It gave me a second to gather myself. I did not want to fall apart, not in front of Axel. Deep breath in, now let it out. I looked up to find Axel watching me. Under different circumstances I would have called his expression amused to find me trying to regain composure by breathing. He had taught me to do that.
“We’ve done a really good job covering our tracks. Nobody knows who we really are and we’re quite enough that people just leave us alone. For centuries we have just stood alone without anyone looking on. It helps of course that we cloak this building and make it look like a warehouse, people around here think we’re in the import/export business. It also helps that we cloak ourselves and no one out there really knows what we look like. I knew though, when you were left on the Library steps that our secret isn’t an absolute.” He looked at me then, searching my face, looking for a reaction. What was I supposed to be reacting too, the building being cloaked or looking like a what, old lady when I was out on the street.
“Lily are you alright?” He was still searching my face.
“Sure I’m alright wouldn’t you be hearing about this, please continue your story, tell me about the little green men”. Ok, that sounded a little hysterical.
Axel took a big, patient breath. “You’re not that far off you know. They weren’t green, that much I know.” OK, where are the cameras because these are real tears that are leaking out of my eyes. “Conspiracies are interesting things” he said. “Did you know that all conspiracy theories are put out there by the people involved in the conspiracies? It’s how they throw the general public off their scent. If we’re talking about it then it can’t possibly be happening. We’re a good example of that.” I think he’s waiting for me to start screaming, yelling, hitting, running. I’m paralysed though. I feel torn apart believing the man who has never lied to me, except that he’s been lying to me all along.
“My ancestors are not of this planet, where they came from and who they are exactly is another story for another time. It doesn’t matter right now. What’s important for you to know is this. When they first arrived they co-existed with the people of this planet. We were all humans we just came from two different places. Some were happy with that, some weren’t. Some of our ancestors felt themselves far superior and wanted to be in control of this planet’s evolution, the other half thought it only right to allow human evolution to take place at its own natural pace. You see, they had come from a world whose technological and conscious advancement were far beyond the years of Earth humans. A war broke out between the factions and between Controllers and the human’s. Controllers are what certain of our ancestors called themselves, they thought themselves more than the humans of Earth. It was an ugly fight. The Travellers –as the ancestors were known- had far superior technology and eventually gained control. The fight then became a fight between Travellers. Sometimes the humans were caught in the cross fire, for the most part the humans had begun to forget that the visitors were here – this wasn’t a coincidence. This was a deliberate offensive on the part of the Travellers so that they could fight for control in private with no interference from a group of people who had no clue the gift they had been given when our ancestors arrived from the stars.”
Again, he’s searching my face. He can’t read it. He has no clue whether I’m buying this or not. This is a moment, a small, tiny victorious moment that I’m supposed to be able to enjoy. Damn him, here come the tears again.
“Go on” I say impassively, trying to keep up my non chalant expression, not wanting him to see how much he’s freaking me out.
“A group broke off and set the Library in motion, archivists, record keepers, archaeologists, explorers. They wanted to chronicle what was happening, maybe someday someone would read all this and make sense of it. Just in case life on Earth did not survive the war between the Travellers. At least not survive as we know it. What you see in the Library is human history, the classified section that you know so well houses the literature that combines human and Traveller experiences. The real stuff, the stuff my ancestors left behind, that’s in an area you have never been too, deep below the foundations of this building. If at any point in this discussion your expression changes from disbelief to curiosity I may just take you down there”.
He was attempting to lighten the mood except it isn’t so much disbelief as it is raving hysteria held under some amount of control he’s seeing on my face. Again he’s staring at me.
“Shall I continue or do you want a break?” “I have a question” I said. “I know you said not to ask until the end but I have one now.”
He nods his consent, watching, preparing himself. “Where are they, all these archivists, if you’re all supposed to be here, I’d imagine all means more than three. Wait… Is Maisy one too?” He wasn’t expecting this, not sure if that was a smirk or something mirroring regret.
“There are more of us. Several decades ago alliances were formed among the archivists. There were those that didn’t want to remain hidden- cloaked, anymore. We broke up into two groups. Us and the other group, they wanted to be out in the world, they wanted to fight the Controllers. The Controllers are strong, slowly placing their people into positions of power, running all the technology, slowly feeding it to the masses until one day…(big pause)….so the other archivists wanted to get out there and fight, allow human evolution to t
ake place at its own pace. This life, sitting here, taking care of documents wasn’t the life they wanted anymore, not once they discovered what the world out there looks like, so they went out and formed a foundation called the Palace, they are the ones that continue to fund the Library.”
“So why are you here”, I interrupted and I wasn’t reprimanded for it so I waited for Axel to answer.
“I never wanted to leave, I didn’t need the life out there. I had seen it as a young boy and I knew I would be much happier living here and protecting my ancestor’s legacy. It was the best decision I had made, staying, otherwise who would be here to keep you under control.” He actually smiled at me as he said this and took my hand. I wasn’t terrified anymore, numb was a better word to describe it.
“Lily, you are one of us. That’s what stopped me dead in my tracks when your sweet baby face looked at me. We have an extra base pair in our DNA, an extra building block embedded into our genome. It’s not something found here on Earth, it’s an adaption our ancestors had to the planet they were living on. We’re essentially the same as Earth humans with just a few tweaks here and there, and we’re older historically. We’ve been around longer than humans on Earth. We just come from two different places and have evolved a little differently, that’s how for the most part we blend in and no-one’s the wiser. We just get put down to some conspiracy theory and well it was actually our ancestors that propagated the theory of little green men, or grey as is the current theory”
Axel did something then. He tapped a button on his fancy watch. The one he never let me play with. The one he would never let me read the time from. I thought it was some fancy gift from a long forgotten lady friend and he didn’t want me to break the precious memory of her. He let me believe that. Another lie.