Chương 58: Relief Staff

Bart stopped walking and slowly turned toward the Sphinx. He pulled the glowing blue identification panel back into view and adjusted his glasses. ANNEX SECURITY OFFICER Name: Mabel Species: Sphinx Position: Senior Access Guardian Security mandate: INDEPENDENT Employment status: ACTIVE Posting: EXTERNAL CUSTODY ANNEX 7 Posting status: CONTINUOUS Departure restriction: ACTIVE WHILE EMERGENCY POSTING REMAINS IN FORCE Bart stared at the final line.

Departure restriction: ACTIVE WHILE EMERGENCY POSTING REMAINS IN FORCE. Less than an hour ago, he had argued that centuries old restrictions did not become correct merely because nobody reviewed them and there was Mabel.

"System," Bart said quietly.

"Display full employment history for Senior Access Guardian Mabel." The blue text flickered, digging through centuries of damaged administrative records. EMPLOYMENT HISTORY: MABEL Archive service duration: 903 YEARS Current posting duration: 616 YEARS Posting authority: EMERGENCY CLOSURE PROTOCOL Gregor leaned closer to the screen.

"Wait. You haven't been standing here for nine hundred years?" Mabel drew herself up proudly.

"I have served the Infinite Archive for 903 years. I have been assigned to Annex Seven for only the last 616."

"Only," Gregor muttered.

"Right." Bart focused on the third line. Emergency Closure Protocol.

"System," Bart ordered.

"Display the original emergency assignment order." EMERGENCY SECURITY REASSIGNMENT Employee: MABEL Original position: Senior Access Guardian Emergency station: External Custody Annex 7 Assignment date: FINAL 72 HOURS PRECEDING RUIN Expected duration: UNTIL EMERGENCY CLOSURE TRANSFER COMPLETE Operational transfer status: COMPLETE Formal completion certification: NOT FILED Termination authority: KEEPER / PERSONNEL REVIEW Current status: CONTINUED PENDING CERTIFICATION Bart just kept staring at it.

"So the job should be finished?" Gregor asked, trying to make sense of the text,"Yes, it should have" Bart said.

"But the paperwork is saying the job is finished didn't it?" Bart stared at the screen.

"Yes." It was suddenly painfully clear why the Curator had never relieved her. The Curator possessed sweeping External Closure authority, but nothing Bart had found gave him personnel authority over Archive staff. He could not terminate a Keeper issued staffing order. It was sadder than Bart had anticipated. This wasn't the Curator being cruel but simply the other side of stale bureaucracy: a valid emergency rule had continued for six centuries because nobody with the authority to review it had remained.

"You could have just left," Gregor pointed out. Mabel's golden eyes narrowed, her expression hardening.

"I gave my word to guard this boundary." That stopped Gregor. He had spent his entire life avoiding obligations. He had no context for someone treating a promise that seriously.

"For 600 odd years?"

"Yes."

"For one order?"

"It was my order." Gregor looked at her for a long moment, a slow, genuine respect settling over his features.

"That's a terrible job."

"It is an important job," Mabel corrected indignantly.

"Didn't say it wasn't," Gregor said. Bart wasn't going to simply override her orders. That wasn't how the Archive worked. If the original rule had been correct, he needed to review its continued application.

"System," Bart said.

"Confirm original termination condition for emergency posting." EMERGENCY POSTING MAY BE TERMINATED UPON: Filed certification of External Closure Transfer completion OR 2. Authorised Keeper review confirming completion Bart looked over his shoulder, toward the massive, sealed vault of the Closed Collection far down the tunnel.

"Was the operational transfer completed?" This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it CONFIRMED - 616 YEARS AGO Bart adjusted his glasses. He didn't need to break any rules, just complete the paperwork.

"System," Bart commanded.

"Conduct overdue Keeper review. Confirm the operational completion of the External Closure Transfer. Satisfy termination condition two and terminate the emergency posting." The blue light pulsed, glowing brightly in the freezing dark. REVIEW COMPLETE Original assignment: VALID Emergency necessity: VALID Termination condition: SATISFIED Continued posting basis: NONE EMERGENCY POSTING TERMINATED DING! A new line of text materialized beneath the Sphinx's name.

MABEL - SENIOR ACCESS GUARDIAN Status: ACTIVE Current assignment: UNASSIGNED Mabel froze, her massive wings trembled slightly, sending a small cascade of dust over the rails. Gregor grinned.

"You're free." Mabel didn't look happy. She looked terrified.

"I have not been discharged."

"No," Bart said gently.

"You're still Senior Access Guardian. The Archive still employs you. You just don't have to guard this particular tunnel anymore."

"Then where is my post?" she asked, her voice losing its rumbling authority. Bart looked back up the tunnel, toward the distant transfer station and the portal that led back to the main desk.

"The Infinite Archive currently has one functioning entrance, several restored sections, a Restricted Collection, a thief on staff, an undead custodian, and some patrons," Bart listed.

"I think we'll find you something," Bart said. He tapped the System interface again. PRIOR FUNCTION RESTORATION AVAILABLE Senior Access Guardian Posting: INFINITE ARCHIVE - MAIN FACILITY Responsibilities: Entrance security, patron screening, general access control. Challenge protocols authorised where appropriate. Acceptance required: EMPLOYEE Mabel stared at the glowing blue text. She looked from Bart, to Gregor, and then back to the screen.

"I may administer challenges?" she asked quietly.

"Where appropriate," Bart confirmed. Mabel considered for approximately half a second.

"I accept."

"Good," Bart said.

"Then let's go home." He turned and began walking back up the dark tunnel. Mabel did not follow easily, Her front paw lifted half an inch from the iron grating, then stopped, hovering in the freezing air. For 616 years, leaving that exact patch of floor had constituted abandoning her post. The invisible boundary line was etched into her very bones. Gregor looked back.

"You're allowed now." Mabel exhaled a long, rumbling breath. She slowly placed her massive paw beyond the old boundary line. Her joints gave a faint stone like grind as she stretched limbs, she carefully maneuvered her bulk over the rusted rails, stepping fully into the corridor.

"So," Gregor said casually, falling into step beside her.

"What do you want to do first?" Mabel looked down at him.

"I have absolutely no idea." Gregor reached into his leather satchel.

"Ever had a sandwich?" Mabel stopped.

"What is a sandwich?" Gregor stopped walking. He looked at the massive predator, his expression turning completely serious.

"Boss," Gregor called out down the tunnel.

"We have an emergency." They retraced the old rail route to the abandoned transfer platform. Without having to stop every few hundred feet to determine which of twenty dead tunnels to follow, the return trip was considerably faster. At the transfer boundary, the white Staff Restroom portal was exactly where they had left it, waiting amidst the old machinery. The portal deposited them back in the warm, wood paneled safety of the main Archive with a loud Gurgle!

Albert was standing exactly where they had left him, gripping his broom so tightly the wooden handle creaked. When Bart stepped through, the skeleton let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief. When Gregor stepped through, Albert nodded politely. Then Mabel stepped through. The Staff Restroom door frame groaned ominously as the enormous pale Sphinx squeezed her massive shoulders through the portal.

She stepped out onto the polished wooden floorboards, her golden eyes sweeping over the high ceilings, the brass railings, and the towering wooden shelves of the main desk. Albert went completely still. His blue eye lights flared to maximum brightness, illuminating his skull. Both stared at each other for a moment.

"Good afternoon, Chief Custodian," Mabel rumbled politely. Albert slowly lowered his broom.

"Good afternoon, Senior Access Guardian." Gregor looked between them.

"You two know each other?"

"We served together for several centuries," Albert said softly. He looked at Mabel with something approaching skeletal awe.

"I had assumed you were lost in the Ruin."

"I was reassigned to Annex Seven during the emergency," Mabel said. Albert tilted his skull.

"I do not remember that." Mabel studied him for a moment.

"You were present when I received the order." Silence filled the moment, Bart understood why. The order must have been given during the final 72 hours. Albert's skeletal hand tightened around the broom handle once again.

"Of course I was." Mabel continued to study him, her golden eyes narrowing slightly.

"You have changed considerably, Chief Custodian." Albert looked down at himself. Mabel's eyes moved over his ribcage.

"You possessed considerably more of yourself when last we spoke." Albert nodded slowly.

"Yes. That is apparently one of the things I have forgotten." Bart allowed them another moment, letting the weight of the lost centuries settle between two employees who had known the Archive before the Ruin. Then he looked toward the basement stairs.

"Albert," Bart said gently. Albert's blue eye-lights shifted toward him.

"It's time." They walked down the stairs in silence. The Restricted Section was quiet, smelling faintly of old leather. Six tiles of Veyric Memory Porcelain sat embedded in the cracked stone floor around its perimeter, exactly where Bart had installed them weeks earlier. Thin blue lines began to wake between the six tiles as Albert approached. Albert stopped at the edge of the array. For a moment, he didn't move. Then he tightened his grip on the broom and stepped into the center.

Bart remained just outside the glowing boundary.

"System," Bart said, his voice ringing clearly in the quiet basement.

"Initiate memory recovery procedure for Chief Custodian Albert." The six porcelain tiles pulsed with a brilliant, blinding blue light. MEMORY RECOVERY PROCEDURE Subject: ALBERT Memory Authority: VERIFIED Closure concurrence: VERIFIED Local anchor: VEYRIC MEMORY PORCELAIN ARRAY Suppressed period: FINAL 72 HOURS PRECEDING RUIN Recovery available. WARNING: Severe cognitive distress possible. Bart looked up and glanced at Albert. Albert was staring at the glowing blue text hovering in the air before the tile array.

His hands were trembling slightly.

"Albert," Bart said quietly.

"Are you ready?"

"No, sir." Albert's hand trembled once more. Then he reached up and straightened his impeccable black bow tie.

"But 616 years is quite long enough not to know."