How to Find your Way in the Incomplete Archives

Eight

"We will take you to the city but that's as far as we'll allow you to go,"

"That will be plenty. I cannot ask you to risk your lives for my sake," he did not meet their eyes, "There is one concern though,"

"We've heard that Umbrapolis Castle used to be called the Death Maze," the Princess chimed in, "Inside, there are rumoured to be numerous pathways that lead to blind lanes. People have strayed from their paths only to end up dead. Do you truly plan on finding your way in there?"

A wry smile played on his lips, "It will be no trouble. After all, I've lived there for over five decades,"

****

"There you are," a figure stood close to the reading table, "Are you looking for me?"

This entity also had a humanoid appearance but they wore a featureless, black mask to hide their face. Their hair was bunched up into a shoulder-length ponytail in the back. They were dressed in a loose-fitting sweatshirt, paired with barrel jeans and sneakers.

'Yes, I am,' the Librarian turned away from their latest read, 'I have some questions for you regarding a book classification. But first, do not speak in the library.'

"Oh come on! We have acoustic nullifiers installed here, solid stuff, no echo flutters. No one can hear our voices too far. Besides, I don't like using the 'Shared Cognition' module."

'Rules are ...'

" ... made to be broken!" they cut in with the gleeful answer, "Don't you think it's kinda creepy how words drop into our minds just like that. I mean, I get it's not a physical space but the Creators did design vocal chords on us. You should try speaking like humans,"

'Enough, Archivist! Your use of unnecessary jargon disrupts my enjoyment of the present experience. Please be reminded that we are in a place modelled after the famous storehouses of knowledge rivalling those from the days of yore,'

"Immersion breaking, what a bummer," mumbled the Archivist. The next words were spoken through the shared cognition, 'Happy now?'

'Yes, very much. Now, my opinions aside, we have more pressing matters at hand so I will overlook your transgressions for the moment,' the bookkeeper turned to point at the table, 'I would like to know why this series, these three books here, were put together in the Incomplete Archives?'

'Shouldn't that be because, I don't know, they are incomplete?'

'It should. That is why I want to understand what led to the misclassification. Which part of these books do you find half-done?'

'Do I have to look through all of them now?'

The Librarian wondered if eye-rolling was a cognitive expression. If so, the Archivist had conveyed it well.

'You need not, I've looked through them myself. And I see nothing wrong with the content, presentation, the packaging and even the distribution details. All the facts point to these books being part of a completed story that was also in circulation in the human realm.'

'Then how did they get to the Incomplete Archives?'

'The reason is what I would like you to discover. And if there's been a mistake, I want you to report to me as to how it happened.'

The other stepped away, 'Wait. Are you accusing me of not doing my job properly?'

'I have made no such claims,'

'Po-tay-toes po-taa-toes! It's the same difference. You might be the Librarian here but I'm no slacker. Do you have any idea how many written materials are produced on a daily basis?'

'We do have an Intelligent Classifier module installed for that purpose.'

'That's what you'd think! Even now, with me stepping away from the office, the work continues to pile. Add to that the complexity of genres, subgenres, book lengths, nature of content, formats, print media and all those other itsy-bitsy pointers. I barely have time to breathe!'

The bookkeeper had not expected this passionate tirade, 'I, uh, well, you see that's not,'

'And then you get reprints, piracy copies, duplications through error. Combine all of that with the system generated inputs and manual verifications to check if said system context is in line with actual material. How much is the classification error margin after all that? Huh?'

'Uh, well, what I mean is,' the Librarian gulped down their anxiety, 'Even so, the margin should not exceed 5%,'

'Wrong answer,' the other crossed their arms over their head, 'It's a whopping 0%. That's the error rate of our system when it comes to classifying complete and incomplete ideas. And you're telling me I, the Archivist, misplaced a completed work into the Incomplete Archives?'

'Then how do you explain this,'

A frustrated grunt escaped the mask-clad face, 'It's obvious isn't it? The system doesn't move books and we are the ones who manage them. So the only other variable that can interact with the texts must be ... ?'

'The characters themselves!'

'Bingo!'