Doctor Who: The Girl Who Said No

Chapter 22 The Library of Souls

The Doctor

It had been three days of searching, after the wedding, for this library.  I thought it was a myth for a long time.  Just a story, a fairytale even.  The Library of Souls was a Gallifreyan Institute with a record of every Time Lord and Time Lady's life from birth to death through each of cycle of their generations.

It would handle the answers to the questions that had been dangling over Olivia and myself for some time.  Just how much of her DNA was Gallifreyan?  Would she survive generation?  Or was she more human than Time Lady?  And what of Gallifrey?

Finally the TARDS scanners picked up something on a star that was already dying.  I had found it just in time.  From my readings the star didn't have long to live, a few weeks at the most.  Soon the library of souls would be gone for ever and the Librarian too.

The TARDIS just landed outside the main entrance to a small building.  At least it looked small.  It definitely couldn't hold enough books or scrolls on all the lives of the Gallifreyan people.  I started to wonder if I found the correct place at all.  Still I ventured out on to the dying star and climbed a few steps up to an archway.  I could see the glow of candle light shining within.  It was a welcome light in such a dark part of space.
"Hello?" I called, stepping into the atrium.

Small on the outside, big on the inside.  Time Lord technology, keep up please.  Nobody answered. I walked through a smaller archway to a room full of shelves and scrolls that seemed to glow in the eerie darkness.
"Hello?" I called a little louder.
"Hello?" Someone shouted from a distance.
"Where are you?"
"I'm at the desk.  You need to walk through the next archway to your left and straight through to the far end of the room."

I followed the instruction given to me and found more candles here, the room even brighter than the last and the shelves this time were filled with the biggest books I'd ever seen before.  Eventually I found the source of the voice.
"Are you the Librarian?" I asked.
"Expecting someone older, were you?" The woman asked

She did look young, may be thirty years or thereabouts.  The Librarian was dressed in an Earth garment from the twenty-first century.  A pretty red dress with a black collar and high heels.  She smiled as I approached.
"I know you!" She leapt from her chair.  "Doctor!  It's so good to see you again!" She gave me a peck on the cheek.
"Have we met?" I asked surprised.
"Oh yes, it was a long time ago and I went by a different name then."
"How old are you?  You seem young."
She laughed, "You know it's rude to ask a woman her age but if you must know, I'm nearly five hundred years old.  So I suppose I still am young, in your eyes."
"Ouch."
"So how can I help you?" She asked.
"Well I have a few rather burning questions I'd like the answers to."
The Librarian laughed a little nervously, "You know, I can't show you everything that's in these books. Especially, if it's in regards to your future."
"A mind reader, are you?"
"Of course not.  You're not the only person who's come looking for answers I can't give them."
"Such as?"
"Your daughter, for one."
"Mercy Song aka Olivia Morgan.  Quite recently actually.  She was also looking for you."
"What did Olivia want from the Library of Souls?"
"Well, took at her book of course.  Same as you, I imagine."
"Did you let her?"
"Of course not. I'm the Librarian, I guard these books."
"But you must have given her something."
"I didn't give her the answers she was looking for."
"So what did you give her?"
"Perspective, and then I sent her home."
"That's all?"
"That's all I can reveal to you.  Olivia knows more but has been sworn to secrecy too."
"You're a tough nut to crack aren't you?"
"I need to be, in this line of business.  Otherwise, I'd be out of a job."
"How long have you been here for?"
The Librarian sighed, "Oh, at a guess, almost four hundred years now."
"On your own?  Hardly seems fair."
"I knew what I was signing up for. Besides, this is only part of my life.  There are other things waiting for me."
"Have you peaked inside your own book?" I asked intrigued.
Her brow furrowed cross, "Absolutely not. That'd be over the line."
"All this time with all of these old books and you've never even peaked at your own?  How?"
"I suppose there's a reason why I have this job and you don't.  You couldn't be trusted and you couldn't sit still long enough to protect them.  You'd get bored after five minutes sitting in that chair.  You'd probably pop off to Pompeii out of boredom."
"Been there, done that."
"Well then, let's cut to the chase.  Tell me what you want to know and I'll tell you only what I am able to."
"So you're not going to let me look at the book?"
"Don't be daft!" she scoffed.

The Librarian walked away and searched a few surrounding shelves before returning with one of the thickest files I'd seen so far.
"That's a very large book." I sighed.
"Well, you've got a brand new cycle of generations.  No other Time Lord in history has received that before so you probably have one of the thickest books in this library.  After the book of Gallifrey itself that is and that of the Timeless Child."
"You have those books here?"
"Yes, but they're stored in a secret vault with an impregnable deadlock.  They're sensitive material."
"All of this is sensitive material." I pointed out.
"Of course, you're right." She agreed.  "But there's been attempts to steal that information before."

Carrying the book over to her desk, she laid it down gently and pulled back the leather binding, flicking through pages that were long and blank.  I stopped her from turning any further pages.
"They're blank.  They're all blank."
"Only to you and everyone else."
"So you can see something in these books?"
"Of course, I'm the Librarian, after all.  Aren't I?"
"Who were you?  Who were you before all this?"
"If you don't know, I can't tell you?"
"Why?"
She laughs, "I can't tell you that either."
"Why would the High Council of Gallifrey trust you with this Library?"
"Who says they did?" She winked.
"You stole a library?  How?"
"Well, it's not just a library, is it?"
"Isn't it?"
"Oh come on, small on the outside and big on the inside?"
I sighed, "It's a TARDIS?"
"Yes."
"So why are you here on a dying star?"
"I was waiting for you."