Chương 38: Recommended For You

Morzath refused to explain what had happened to Greenhollow, which was deeply inconvenient. Bart had asked three more questions after the lich had stated that the answer depended on which century he meant. The answers had been:"I was occupied."

"The kingdom I knew there no longer exists." And, most unhelpfully:"It was complicated." Bart pulled a sheet of fresh paper across his desk. He wrote GREENHOLLOW - COMPLICATED and underlined it twice. Gregor leaned over his shoulder, chewing the last edge of an apple pastry.

"That doesn't seem like much research, Boss."

"It is more information than we had 10 minutes ago," Bart pointed out. He returned his attention to the desk. The normal bright blue lights of the Archive's working hours illuminated the space, banishing the warm, cozy shadows of the after hours. The three green alchemy books were still sitting in a neat row beside his coffee. Next to them lay Gurrum's loaned copy of The Master's Guide to Advanced Pastry Baking. 4 completely different books, One missing scholar, One place - Greenhollow.

Bart decided to try something new and said "System. Search available holdings for material associated with Greenhollow." The blue screen appeared immediately. SEARCHING AVAILABLE CATALOGUE... Relevant holdings identified: 47 Related materials available.

"Display them," Bart said. Ding! A small, neat, pale blue card materialised beside Bart's mug. Bart frowned.

"That is new." He picked it up. Across the top, crisp white lettering read: RECOMMENDED FOR YOU. Beneath it was a title. RECOMMENDED FOR KEEPER SANDERS A Visitor's Agricultural History of Greenhollow Recommendation basis: Recent catalogue searches. Bart adjusted his glasses. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable suggestion, the recovering archive had apparently restored an automated service.

"Great," Bart murmured.

"At least it's becoming more useful." He stood up, walked into the stacks, and found the thin green volume three shelves over. He brought it back to his desk. It was not exactly The Treatise on Living Cultures, but it was a start. He opened the book and placed it flat beside Elian's three books. Ding. Across the Reading Room, another recommendation card had appeared, drifting out of the air to land perfectly on the edge of Albert's dustpan. The Chief Custodian stopped sweeping. He picked it up.

RECOMMENDED FOR ALBERT Lint: Classification, Migration, and Long Term management Recommendation basis: Unwavering dedication to particulate management. Albert's empty eye sockets flared briefly blue.

"Excellent," the skeleton whispered, immediately wandering off toward the stacks to retrieve it. A third card drifted down and landed squarely on Gregor's clipboard. The thief picked it up, squinting at the letters. RECOMMENDED FOR GREGOR A Lazy Thief's Guide to Proper Posture Recommendation basis: 4 hours, 31 minutes of observed slouching. Gregor stared at the card. He slowly looked up at the ceiling, then over to Bart.

"Boss."

"Yes, Gregor."

"It has been watching me?" Bart took another sip of coffee.

"Apparently." If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Just checking." Gregor straightened his spine slightly, looking deeply offended, but he kept the card. The plain white bathroom door rattled. Whoosh. Gurgle. Elian walked in, carrying his usual heavy satchel. He headed toward his preferred reading table, only to find a glowing blue card waiting for him. The young wizard picked it up, read it, and immediately scowled. He marched over to the main desk and slapped the card down on the oak wood.

RECOMMENDED FOR ELIAN Children's Mnemonics for the 7 Common Moonroots Recommendation basis: Recent academic stress exceeds recommended threshold.

"I am an advanced scholar of the Silver Spire," Elian complained.

"I just passed my stasis exams. I do not need a children's picture book."

"The System appears to believe you need a break, Elian," Bart said gently. Elian crossed his arms, though he reluctantly took the card back. Across the room at the Culinary Research table, two more blue recommendation cards materialised on the stone surface between Master Gurrum Goldbelly and Morzath the Undying. Gurrum picked his up with his massive, flour coated fingers. RECOMMENDED FOR GURRUM Heritage Grains of the Eastern Valleys Recommendation basis: You have expressed strong opinions about flour 36 times.

Gurrum gave a slow, approving nod.

"A respectable text." Morzath picked up his own card. RECOMMENDED FOR MORZATH The Gentle Art of Waiting Recommendation basis: Patron has demonstrated difficulty allowing biological processes to proceed without intervention. Morzath read the title. He looked at his bowl of yeast, then back at the card.

"I already dislike this book recommendation," Morzath said with menace. Gurrum reached over and tapped the card and said.

"And hence you will read it twice, while you wait for the yeast to do its work" Bart watched the room settle. By the Infinite Archive standards, slightly invasive book recommendations barely qualified as an incident. The patrons all quietly retrieved their recommended books from the stacks and sat down to read. 10 minutes passed, Gregor had moved to stand beside the main desk, eating a turkey sandwich he had pulled from his pouch. While he chewed slowly, his eyes darted across the room.

Gregor had spent his entire life watching rooms, studying exits, guards, and patterns. Something seemed wrong here. He leaned down.

"Boss," Gregor whispered.

"Hm?"

"They've been turning pages together." Bart looked up from his paperwork.

"People do that, Gregor."

"Not like this." Gregor pointed toward Elian.

"The Wizard boy usually reads fast." He pointed to Gurrum.

"Big fellow reads slow." Then he pointed to Morzath.

"And he spent 10 minutes staring at one sentence because it told him to be patient. He takes everything almost literally" Gregor lowered his voice, leaning closer to Bart.

"They've all turned the last seven pages at exactly the same time." Bart frowned but listened to Gregor and began looking at the patrons The Archive was perfectly quiet. Flip! Flip! Flip! And then Silence. Flip! Flip! Flip! (in sync) A cold chill ran down Bart's spine. It was incredibly creepy. The patrons weren't in a trance, but the rhythm of their reading seemed mechanically synchronized. Bart stood up and pulled open the circulation drawer to check the recommendation slips one by one.

"Gregor. Your card please," Bart said. Gregor pulled the slip for his posture book and handed it over. Bart stamped it into the verifier. CLACK. The System interface flashed over the desk, but the text was glitching. BORROWER: GREGOR CHECKOUT DATE: 317 YEARS AGO Gregor stared at the screen. He lowered his sandwich.

"Boss."

"Yes?"

"I don't think I was alive then." Bart examined the card carefully.

"I am reasonably certain you weren't." Bart quickly checked for Gurrum's heritage grains book. The System pulled up the file. CURRENT HOLDER: ELIAN MONTHER OF THE SILVER SPIRE RETURNED: TOMORROW Bart froze. Gurrum was sitting 20ft away holding the book while Elian was sitting across the room reading something else entirely. The catalogue no longer agreed with the reality in the room. Beside Bart's coffee, A Visitor's Agricultural History of Greenhollow remained open to the first chapter.

Above the desk, the main System interface began to shudder. The bright blue light turned a sickly, pale amber. CATALOGUE COHERENCE: 99. 7% CATALOGUE COHERENCE: 99. 1% CATALOGUE COHERENCE: 96. 4% CROSS REFERENCE CONFLICT DETECTED HOLDING IDENTITIES: UNSTABLE CIRCULATION RECORDS: DESYNCHRONISED For a fraction of a second, the amber screen violently flickered. A jagged, starless black border appeared around the System window.

The Archive used blue for normal operations and amber for warnings while red when something had gone very badly wrong. Bart had never seen it use black. It sparked a faint, chilling memory of the sealed directive he had encountered during the Dhoravel affair. Before he could process the connection, the black border vanished, leaving the screen flashing amber. Bart tapped the flashing amber interface.

"System," Bart commanded, his voice sharp and loud in the quiet room.

"Disable Patron Recommendation Protocols." The System buzzed. A flat, emotionless error message appeared. REQUEST INVALID. NO PATRON RECOMMENDATION PROTOCOL IS CURRENTLY INSTALLED. The Reading Room fell dead silent. The synchronized page turning stopped. Gregor stood perfectly still. He looked at the error message, then slowly turned his head to look at Bart.

"Boss?" Bart stared at the screen.

"Yes?"

"Then who recommended the books?"