Chương 1: The Late, Late Fee

The Shemenz ice wastes were immense, stretching endlessly across the planet Vulca. A lone figure trudged through the landscape, silhouetted by the moonlight. He looked tired and haggard, pushing forward with a desperate speed. The wastes were populated by giant creatures known as Rohoedrons, but they ignored him entirely, leaving him to walk on in isolation. Suddenly, a jagged flash of lightning stopped him in his tracks.

He turned around, cast a quick look across the empty horizon, and spoke three words:"Grul nar er." And then, he turned to dust. Achoo! Bart sneezed violently, breathing in a lungful of dust just as his alarm clock started to beep.

"Damn," he muttered, rubbing his nose. He sat up in bed and looked at the time.

"Today is a new day. I better get going, or I am gonna miss the bus into the city." Bart had a sneaking suspicion that the driver of the bus number 787 hated him. On more than one occasion, the driver had closed the doors a second early, forcing Bart to watch the bus drive away while standing in the rain. Bart did not want to give the man any excuse today. Today was an important day. He was officially being promoted to Assistant Librarian at the Beaumont Public Library. The Head Librarian, Mr.

Ashburton, was a strict man, and Bart did not want to disappoint him on a day like today. He threw off his covers and moved quickly. Bart had always been an organized person. It was a habit drilled into him by his late father, who had been in the military. Moving from base to base as a kid, without a mother who had passed away when he was very young, meant that keeping his things neat was his only way to feel in control. Being a kid with military habits made him orderly, clean, and always on a schedule.

He grabbed his favorite pressed shirt, slipped on his trusty green sweater, and pushed his glasses up his nose. He pulled on a clean pair of jeans, ate a quick bowl of cereal, drank a fast cup of coffee, and rushed out the front door. His legs carried him fast down the sidewalk. He rounded the corner and smiled. The bus was still there. He stepped on board, giving the grumpy driver a light smirk, and paid his fare. He found an empty seat near the back and pulled out his phone.

To pass the time on his ride to work, Bart had recently gotten into reading web novels. His current favorite was a story called The Last of Our Kind. It was a fun story about a regular guy who had to rebuild a massive organization from scratch after it was destroyed in a huge cosmic war. Bart liked the idea of organizing things, so the story was right up his alley. He got so lost in reading about the main character fixing broken buildings that he completely lost track of time.

He did not look out the window until he felt the bus come to a hard stop. Bart looked up. It was the stop just after the library. He had forgotten to press the stop button. He rushed to the front of the bus and hopped off. As the doors closed, he saw the bus driver looking down at him with a giant smirk on his face.

"Great," Bart sighed. He broke into a run. He sprinted down the block, his backpack bouncing against his green sweater. He was completely out of breath when he reached the large glass doors of the Beaumont Public Library. He checked his watch. It was 9: 05 AM. He gently pushed the door open, hoping he could sneak to his desk before anyone noticed.

"Mr. Bartholomew Sanders," a familiar, dry voice echoed through the quiet lobby. Bart froze. He turned around and saw Mr. Ashburton standing by the front desk, holding a clipboard.

"Yes, Mr. Ashburton," Bart said, trying to catch his breath. It was 9: 05 AM right now.

"I apologize, sir. I had issues with my transport today."

"Dear, dear," Mr. Ashburton sighed, shaking his head.

"Now, you have an important role to fulfill here. What will our clients say if the Assistant Librarian is late?" Bart looked around the giant, empty lobby. There was not a single person inside the building yet. Still, he nodded his head respectfully.

"Sorry, sir. I won't let it happen again."

"See that you do not," Mr. Ashburton said. He reached under the desk and pulled out a thick envelope.

"Anyway, here is the official promotion letter. You are now the Assistant Librarian. Congratulations are in order."

"Thank you so much, sir!" Bart smiled broadly.

"Now, for your additional duties and responsibilities," Mr. Ashburton continued, his voice dropping into a dull, flat tone. For the next thirty minutes, Bart stood completely still while his boss gave a very long speech about additional responsibilities and keeping the quiet areas actually quiet. Bart nodded along, happy to just have the job. When he was finally free from the long talk, Bart began his first real task of the day: sorting the new book arrivals. The library smelled of old paper, a smell Bart loved.

He rolled a metal cart over to the sorting desk and looked at the new books. Crypto for Dummies by MoneyKing769. The Heart Withers by Pamela Grayson. A Study of Critical Interactions in Mayan Culture by Sam Newmayne. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. He picked them up one by one and walked through the library, placing them in their proper sections. The public library was very well organized, and Bart knew exactly where everything went.

As the morning passed, a few regular visitors came in. Most of them were older folks looking for newspapers or thick history books. Bart noticed that younger people rarely came in anymore. They just used their mobile phones or asked AI bots for information. Sorting books made Bart reflect on his own life. He had always felt most comfortable surrounded by books. With his father working long military hours and having no brothers or sisters, Bart had spent a huge chunk of his childhood hiding out in quiet libraries.

Books were his friends. They never moved away, and they always made sense. That was why he loved working here. At noon, he went back to his desk. Sitting right in the center was a shiny new wooden plaque that read: Bart Sanders, Asst. Librarian. He smiled, sitting down in his chair and eating his favorite ham and brie cheese sandwich. A few hours later, he was back to organizing files when a young teenage girl walked up to his desk. She was wearing a bright red top and looked a bit nervous.

"Hi, I need to return a book," she said softly, sliding a heavy book across the desk. Bart typed her card number into the computer and scanned the book. A small red warning box popped up on his screen.

"Well, thank you for bringing it back," Bart said with a friendly smile.

"But it looks like this is quite late. The late fee comes out to 27 dollars." The girl groaned, digging into her pocket to pull out some crumbled bills. While she counted her money, Bart picked up the book to look at the cover. It was an odd, plain brown book. The title on the front said: Help Needed: Repository Creation.

"Funny title," Bart thought to himself. He collected the money, gave the girl her receipt, and put the weird book in the return bin. He went right back to his work, happy that his first day in the new role was going smoothly. At 6: 00 PM, his shift was finally over. He logged off his computer, said goodbye to his coworkers, and waved at the security guard. He walked out the front doors of the library and stopped. What had started out as a clear, pleasant morning had turned into a terrible storm.

It was raining cats and dogs. The sky was dark, and the wind was howling. Bart sighed, pulling his green sweater tight around himself. He stepped onto the wet sidewalk, ready to run for the bus stop. As he looked down the street, he saw a flash of bright red. It was the teenage girl from earlier, the one with the big late fee. She was running down the sidewalk, holding her jacket over her head to stay dry. Tucked under her arm was another book. Bart could just barely read the title: New Beginnings!

He watched her run to the crosswalk. She didn't look both ways. She just stepped right out into the street. At that exact second, Bart saw the city bus turning the corner, moving way too fast in the heavy rain. The girl saw it too. Panic took over her face. She screamed, diving forward toward the sidewalk. As she jumped, the book slipped from under her arm, falling right into the middle of the road. Most people, in a moment of pure panic, would have tried to make sure the girl was okay.

But Bart was a librarian to his core. His brain saw a book about to get crushed by a bus tire, and his body moved on its own. He jumped off the curb. He didn't dive for the girl she was already safely rolling onto the grass. Instead, Bart looked completely foolish as he dived straight for the book. He landed hard on the wet pavement, his hands wrapping tightly around the cover of New Beginnings!. He stood up straight, clutching the book to his chest, safe and sound. Then he heard the loud blast of a bus horn.

He turned his head. The giant grill of the city bus was right in his face. And then, everything went completely blank. Values books above his own safety... Processing... Suitable candidate found... Transmigrating... Bart groaned. His head felt like it had been hit with a hammer.

"Ugh, my back," he mumbled, slowly opening his eyes. He was not on a wet city street anymore. He wasn't anywhere that made sense. He was slumped over a cold, heavy stone table. He slowly pushed himself up and looked around. He seemed to be inside a giant, broken room. The walls were made of dark gray stone, but large chunks of the room were just missing. Where the ceiling should have been, there was only endless, dark, floating space.

"What is this structure?" Bart whispered, fixing his crooked glasses. The floor was covered in a thick layer of gray dust. It looked like the place had been empty for a thousand years.

"Ah, you are finally awake," a dry, clacking voice called out. Bart jumped back, nearly tripping over his own feet. Standing on the other side of the stone table was a skeleton. It was a real, living skeleton, holding a wooden broom. It had no skin, no eyes, and no hair. The only thing it was wearing was a very neat, black bowtie around its bony neck.

"Welcome to the Infinite Archive," the skeleton said, its jawbone clicking up and down.

"My name is Albert. I am the Chief Custodian. You must be the new Keeper." Before Bart could scream, ask a question, or run away, something flew past his head. It was a book. It was just floating in the air, flapping its leather covers like a bird. The book hovered in front of Bart's face and opened its pages. Words magically wrote themselves on the blank paper in bright red ink: Wow, they really picked a loser this time. The guy looks like a sad green bean.

"Excuse me?" Bart said, offended, completely forgetting that he was talking to a flying piece of paper.

"Pay the rude book no mind, sir," Albert the skeleton said, sweeping a pile of dust.

"We have much work to do. As you can see, the library is a bit of a mess." Bart looked around the floating ruins. He looked at the skeleton with a bowtie. He looked at the book that was currently writing the word NERD in big red letters.

"I am going to need," Bart said slowly, "a very big cup of coffee."