A Song of Spiders

Chapter 4 - The Library

While they filled in their logs at the end of the day, Dex and Karma whispered to each other.

'The picture, that arch is the National Library. Rachel went there a lot, she even had a readers card, we should ask there about that number.' said Dex.

'No way. Even if you are right, it is too risky. The Inquisition is watching us. I saw the 'copter  yesterday. If my theory is right, they are using us to get to Rachel. If we help them find Rachel they will disappear us all.' said Karma.

'She wants us to find her. Maybe she's in trouble we have to try.' said Dex, looking worried.

Karma sighed. 'Fine. We can at least see what this number is after work, OK?'

They walked tthrough the city, past the church's headquarters in Trinity and finally turned into the street when the library was. They hurried with their heads down, avoiding the corpse-like drug users who drifted along like unquiet ghosts. Soon they reached an archway with ‘The National Library’ written above it.

‘I don't think we were followed.' said Dex. 

'I don't think so either, but still...' Karma trailed off.

Dead leaves blew ahead of them as they walked across the courtyard towards the entrance.

‘Will they let us in?’ said Karma.

‘I think so, the church still pay lip service to the ideal that knowledge still belongs to the people. This old library is a tradition. This one has books dating back hundreds of years, some over a thousand.’ said Dex.

They walked inside. The building had a huge atrium with balconies around the sides. They could see a walls of books protected by dark glass on each level. They walked to a desk that said ‘Information’ above it.

Karma said to the young man behind the counter, ‘Hello, we're doing some research for work? We're be-movie time tour guides? We were looking for a book, ISBN number is 081320920X’.

The man was in his 20's but dressed in old fashioned tweeds. He said to his owl mobile sitting on the counter beside him. ‘Have a look Diana, if you please.’ The owl nodded and it's eyes glowed green. It then spoke in a crisp English accent, ‘Restricted Archive. Speak to Johanna.’ 

The young man looked at them. ‘She works in the archives on the third floor. The lift is over there. Head on up and she'll meet you there.’ He young man gave them both a quick thin smile and resumed reading a book he had open on the counter.

They headed up, their foodsteps echoing in the empty space.  They stepped out of the lift and saw a women totter towards them.

‘Hello, you are looking for a book from the archive, would I be correct?’ the woman looked about 50 years old and was thin and walking towards them in high heeled shoes and a tight tweed skirt. She was wearing a pink tweed jacket with wide shoulder pads and her hair was an unnatural shade of blond and straightened so it hung more like quills than real hair. She was also wearing a lot of makeup. Most importantly, she had a black covered book in her hand.

She reached out a hand with long red nails to Dex. ‘How do you do.’ He shook it quickly, it felt like old parchment.

‘Come along, we can find somewhere cosy for a chat.’ she turned and walked away with a marionette like gait. Dex and Karma followed as quick as they could. 

She sat down in a quiet corner. She gestured for them to sit too and leaned towards them both, looking over her gold half-glasses hanging on a gold chain around her neck. ‘What do you need to know?’ she asked without further preamble, resting her hands on the book in front of her.