fandomhigh | Library and Special Collections [Saturday] (Reply)

Dr. Jones	The library was closed. While other kids and faculty were heading to the tournament, a small contingent of students and one faculty member gathered outside of Special Collections. Some were giving the doors a slightly wary look. Indy didn't blame them. "Any of you kids want to back out, I won't blame you," Indy said fastening his whip to his side and straightening his hat. "From what I heard? This Special Collections area is no picnic."
Jen	"What, are you joking?" Jen -- who was trying not to bristle at being called a kid -- hadn't brought her blasters, because the thought of accidentally blasting books pained her, but she did have her binder cuffs on her equipment belt. You never knew. "I'm not backing out."
Dr. Jones	"Suit yourself," Indy said with a shrug. "Just giving out fair warning. This isn't your standard library collection." Or so he's been told.
Karal	"No," Karal said firmly, and Altra at his feet just gave Indy a look. "We will come with you. This won't be the first time we have been in there, and that may help."
Rodney	"Safety in numbers?" Rodney offered without much enthusiasm.
Anemone	"It knows us," Anemone replied, nodding at the other aides. "Even if it gets cranky, at least it will be a little less hostile than if you went in alone."
Mac	Mac nodded her agreement firmly. "Don't think you're getting rid of us that easily." Warnings like that rarely seemed to put people off around here. Not that she'd ever seen, anyway.
Meg	Meg was starting to regret not having her agents with her. But somehow she couldn't picture them agreeing to let her go anywhere dangerous. Which was why she'd had Chris orb her to the library without them knowing. Hopefully she wouldn't die in there. Because her mother was going to want to kill her herself when she found out what she'd done. She shrugged. "Somebody needs to do it."
Naomi	"We can't back out now," Naomi said, there was no way that she was going to stop now.
Tosh	"We can handle a bit of research," Tosh added, thinking Special Collections couldn't be that strange. She was going to be proven so wrong.
Ender	Karal had told him about Special Collections. Ender'd been curious. And now it looked like Ender was getting his wish in a different way than he'd planned it. But that was normal. "I'm not going anywhere," he said, shifting on his feet with only a little impatience.
Hoshi	There had been rumors about Special Collections, and Hoshi had heard enough to make her nervous. Still, she wasn't going to miss this. "I'm ready," she said.
Jack	"I'm going in," Jack said, determined.
Alice	"Even words can be destroyed," Alice shrugged. "Lead on."
Annja	Annja was in agreement with this and was ready to get the answers and get the place back to some semblance of normal. Normal for Fandom, anyway.
Dr. Jones	"All right then," Indy said reluctantly as he pulled on his leather jacket and pulled the brim down on his hat. "Then let's take a look." He reached over and pulled on the doors of Special collections and stepped in.

Dr. Jones	The doors flew open and the group entered Special Collections. The light was dim and the faint sound of a crow was cawing in the distance. There was a light rumbling as if it were about to rain.
Karal	Altra crouched low, ears flat. :If I get wet, I'm not going to be at all happy,: he grumbled. Karal watched warily through Altra's eyes, not really noticing the light was dim thanks to the Firecat's nightvision. "I would be grateful if getting wet was the worst we had to worry about."
Special Collections	Almost as if it had heard them, the rumbling echoed again, this time slightly louder. Special Collections did not like to be kept waiting.
Karal	Karal started at the rumble, unable to take it as anything but a warning, and bowed his head to say a brief, silent prayer. Altra looked around at their group, then padded forward a few steps, Karal following him closely.
Jen	A little chagrined that she'd hung back and let the blind guy go first, Jen activated her visual scanners (as always, hoping they'd work right today) and moved in behind him.
Ender	It reminded him, a little dumbly, of the fantasy game. But this wasn't a game (or was it? everything seemed to be), so Ender remained cautious, his eyes alert. He kept quiet, following Jen with certain steps. He didn't need to be first.
Hoshi	Hoshi didn't miss any of the unusual rumblings, thanks to her sensitive hearing. She listened carefully but didn't stray far from the rest of the group.
Jack	Jack didn't care about the order of the people, as long as everything got done and they all got back out.
Naomi	Naomi kept close to the group, cautiously keeping an eye on her surroundings.
Alice	Alice set her chin. "You should rumble less if you're hoping to avoid a nasty fire," she called out. Not that she much liked thinking of fire, but it seemed the most apt to threaten a room of books with.
Rodney	Rodney made sure he was nowhere near the front of their little troop as they entered. That ominous rumbling sound was giving him the shivers. "I just know I'm going to regret this," he muttered even as he went deeper inside.
Meg	Meg was feeling a little out of her league as she followed along and listened to the rumbling. Nothing had ever prepared her for anything like this.
Mac	"And now I know why I don't come in here," Mac muttered, keeping close to the girl in front. Now was not a time she wanted to lose people.
Annja	"Weird stuff happens in here a lot, I take it?"
Anemone	"It's weird if something doesn't happen," Anemone corrected, skipping past people to keep pace with Altra. "If we quit threatening the books with fire -" and the glance she threw at Alice was slightly annoyed - "it will hopefully be more inclined to let us out again."
Tosh	"I'm in favor of not burning books," Tosh added as she followed everyone else.
Jen	"Especially," added Jen as she tapped the frames of her visual scanners (they'd threatened to static up for a moment there), "books that can probably retaliate if we threaten them."
Dr. Jones	Okay... For Indy this actually didn't seem to bad. "I'm not sure what the big deal is," Indy replied. "It's not like this place can actually hear us let alone threats." Special collections did not seem to care for that remark. Especially from the supposed librarian. So there was another rumble.... and that's when a small grass snake fell on Indy's shoulder. Indy turned and jumped away hollering at the top of his voice and violently swiping at the snake on his shoulder that promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke. He quickly caught his breath and looked back at the students. "Okay. So, rule #1? No threatening the books."
Special Collections	The distant thunder rumbled again, and a gust of wind whipped through the stacks, doing its best to knock Indy's hat from his head. Special Collections was, indeed, laughing at him.
Dr. Jones	The hat flew off Indy's head and got about a foot away before Indy was able to snatch it. "All right!" he grumbled. "We get the idea."
Ender	"So be careful," Ender summarised. His tone almost approached laconic through no fault of his own, "And don't say anything stupid."
Meg	Meg gently patted a book on the shelf next to her. "Nice book. Very good book," she murmured quietly. What? It couldn't hurt. Could it?
Tosh	"That's a safer approach than threatening to burn them," Tosh said quietly.
Special Collections	It was! Especially when the book rippled and purred under Meg's fingers, an eye opening on the spine to blink at them sleepily. More pats would be considered acceptable.
Jen	"That's . . . actually kind of disturbing," Jen said, then in a backpedaling effort to protect Meg's fingers hastily added, "In a cute kind of way?"
Meg	Oddly enough it reminded Meg of the way her cat would look when she scratched her ears. Warily, because seriously a book with eyes, could very possibly have teeth, Meg continued to gently pat the book. "This place is strange."
Rodney	"Great," Rodney huffed. "Now the rest of them will probably attack us out of jealousy," he muttered pessimistically. He was still staring at the purring book when he backed right into another shelf.
Ender	"Which way are we supposed to go next?" Ender was trying to ignore his own fascination for all of that movement. They had to focus on the reason they were here. He wanted to come back later.
Special Collections	The book Meg was petting cooed happily and shut its eye, while three more blinked open to zero in on Rodney as he hit the other shelf. Which promptly dumped half its contents on his head with an angry noise as they chittered at him. The fallen books 'stood' up, shaking themselves off angrily before marching off in a huff.
Dr. Jones	"Well that's something you don't see every day," Indy said thoughtfully before leading back to the route they took to come in. "Try not to knock any more shelves, kid."
Rodney	Rodney yelled and threw his arms up to protect his head as he was attacked. "You know, that wasn't actually a suggestion," he glared at the books once they were marching away. "And it's not like I did it on purpose," Rodney protested.
Anemone	"'Something wicked this way comes,'" Anemone mused, giggling as she watched the books wander off. "Is it any wonder the books take things literally? They sort of have to, if you know what I mean."
Alice	Well, fine, if they wanted to coddle the books ... "If they take things literally, you'd think there would be an easier way to ask them," Alice said, glancing around. "It's in their best interest to help, you know. The sooner they give us information, the sooner we stop pestering them and being loud in their quiet space."
Karal	:And books make a fine scratching post,: Altra added, stretching and dragging his claws across the floor in a meaningful way. "Altra," Karal hissed, reaching to offer a reassuring pat to the nearest shelf. "That is no way to talk. I'm quite sure the books would very much like to help us. Their entire purpose is to pass on information, after all."
Mac	"She has got a point," Mac agreed somewhat begrudgingly. Threats around the books here, made her understandably uncomfortable. She looked vaguely upwards, not quite sure how you were supposed to address living libraries. "How about it?" she tried, hoping it had actually been listening. "Help us get what we need, and we'll go be... way far away from here." Chances probably were she might regret drawing attention to herself, but she wasn't thinking of that right now.
Special Collections	There was a pause, almost as if the entire air was considering her request. No sound, no motion, nothing. Then there was an audible creaking as the shelves shifted, forming a new corridor for them to walk down. One that was almost well-lit and tidy.
Tosh	"It seems to be in agreement," Tosh said as she watched the new corridor form.
Alice	"I knew we could be civil about this," Alice smiled, pleased. She dropped the library a very proper curtsy. "Thank you very kindly."
Rodney	"Whatever," Rodney rolled his eyes and headed down the new corridor. "Think we can actually try to find something now?" He was still quite irritable from having those books fall on him for no good reason.
Jack	"I hope so," Jack said, trying to stay away from that book-victim kid in case the heebie jeebies rubbed off on him.
Karal	Karal echoed Alice, saying, "Our thanks," to the library and sending a silent thank you to Vkandis, before he and Altra followed Rodney.
Annja	Annja stared for a moment, and then patted the nearest shelf. "Thank you."
Meg	After giving the book one last pat, Meg started after the others.
Special Collections	The book gave a disappointed sigh, sulking at her for a moment before going back to sleep. The rest of the books, however, continued to warily watch the small party as they made their way down the aisle. Especially that whiny-grumpy-nasty boy.

Special Collections	After an eternity of having travelers lost in its maze of shelves, Special Collections was starting to get cranky. So when a book finally fell from one of the top shelves, it was probably no surprise to anyone that it was aimed squarely at McKay's head.
Rodney	Definitely McKay's. "Ow!" Rodney yelled louder than one should in a library. He caught the book as it bounced off his head. "What the..." he trailed off as he actually looked at it. It was an old volume and looked as though it had taken a few beatings before impacting with his head. "Huh."
Mac	Mac winced sympathetically. That just looked painful. Then followed Rodney's line of sight to the book itself. 'Huh' was about right. "So, does the library really hate you, or--" She leaned in to take a closer look. "Is it actually being helpful?"
Rodney	"There is no reason at all that the Library would have to hate me," Rodney sniffed defensively at the suggestion. "As for it being helpful, there's only one way to find out." The cover of the book was well worn; if it ever had a title, it was long gone. Gingerly, Rodney positioned the book so that he could open it without having it instantly fall apart. He glanced at a random page, and then looked up at the group around him. "Um, who's the most fluent in Latin?"
Jen	Jen held her hands up in the universal sign for 'not it.' "That's way before my time."
Karal	"I don't know it either, not beyond a few words," Karal said, and Altra shook his head.
Meg	"Pig Latin maybe," Meg said, joining the chorus. "But not the real thing. Sorry."
Anemone	"What's Latin?" That probably answered answered any questions regarding Anemone's language abilities as she looked at them blankly. "I have enough problems with reading English sometimes."
Naomi	"I understand bits and pieces of it," Naomi said, "but I don't think I could do a full translation,"
Ender	"My school was a little light on languages," Ender replied. If the book had been written in astrophysics, that had been a completely different thing, but as it was, he was left to study every member of the group. "Maybe we should take it outside."
Hoshi	"Latin? That's no problem for me," said Hoshi.
Rodney	"Oh, good," Rodney sighed. "I was afraid I'd have to find a dictionary and muddle through it myself. Not that I couldn't," he quickly added, "but it would probably take longer than we have." He cautiously held the battered volume out to Hoshi. "Let's see what you can make of this."
Hoshi	"Good thing I came along for the ride, then," said Hoshi, carefully taking the book. She was a little afraid of it falling apart in her hands.
Jack	Jack was in the back, covering his smirk that it wasn't his head something fell on. For once.
Annja	Annja was waiting as patient as she could for the translation as she looked around warily.
Tosh	Tosh waited as well, glancing at the book as if willing it to produce an important clue.
Jen	"Wow," Jen said, a little of the geek-glee creeping into her voice no matter how much she was trying to look serious. "It's so old. You don't see books that old where people can touch them any more, back home."
Dr. Jones	Indy put on a pair of glasses and peeked over Hoshi's shoulder. "A lot of this is too damaged to read," he said scanning. "And it's a strange dialect of Latin as well." Then he spotted something and pointed. "There. That's the latin form of nemesis."
Special Collections	There were perfectly good places for them to use their terrible language skills elsewhere. Special Collections was quite tired of its uninvited guests, and a growl drifted towards them as something started moving in the stacks. Subtle, it was not.
Rodney	"Um, I don't know about the rest of you, but I think leaving might be a good plan at this point," Rodney nervously suggested.
Meg	"A very good plan," Meg agreed as she glanced about worriedly.
Hoshi	"I think this part here says something about an island," said Hoshi, not sounding very sure of herself. "It's definitely a dialect I haven't seen before. This might take a little while." She didn't miss the growl. "Whatever that is, it doesn't sound very good," she said.
Ender	"We've got what we came for." Ender wasn't nervous. He was just very, very alert. "So let's move."
Dr. Jones	"Agreed," Indy replied and signaled everyone to move. "Back the way we came."
Jen	"Good, because the last thing I need is for a library to grow the size of a skyscraper," Jen muttered. "I wouldn't even begin to know how to deal with that."
Tosh	Tosh nodded. "I like the leaving plan."
Mac	Mac, very much a supporter of the 'flee' idea, was already backing away, quite ready to be gone. She was far more at home in the part of the library where books tended not to throw themselves at you. Book should not have malicious intent. They just shouldn't.
Annja	Annja was backing away from the sound as well. Her hand was twitching and she could feel the sword close by, ready for her to call it if they needed it. This whole thing had already gone down the deep end of bizarre.
Naomi	Naomi was also very much in favour of the leaving plan and started to back away.
Jack	"Oh, what was that?" Jack asked in a groan. He was not happy in this place.
Annja	Annja clenched her fist, trying not to immediately call her sword to her. "This is definitely the first time I have ever heard a library growl."
Dr. Jones	"That would be our cue to leave," Indy replied as they reached the exit. He pulled open the doors and waved everyone through. "I think we have enough excitement going on. Everyone out and we can take a closer look at that book."
Special Collections	The moment the last of the explorers were out into the regular library, Special Collections shut its own doors with a spectacular bang, the sound of heavy locks clicking into place with a disgruntled finality. As the last of the echoing thunder died away, a check-out slip materialized in the book, made out to one Dr. Indiana Jones. Simply a reminder. He did not want to face the late fees that Special Collections tended to impose.
Dr. Jones	He did not indeed. Indy took the book and carefully laid it out on the table, opening it to the page they were looking at earlier. "According to this... It says something about a penal colony. For multiple... earths? Worlds?," he said trying to read through the damaged page. "And then there was some kind of revolt."
Hoshi	Hoshi tried to read the page. "The prisoners went... okay, it's either deep underground or out for a deep-dish pizza. I think the first guess is probably right," she said with a frown.
Jen	"Unless it's an evil deep-dish pizza," Jen remarked. She paused, realizing how that sounded. "Well, if that place is like an evil version of Fandom, it is possible."
Dr. Jones	"Underground," Indy said shaking his head. "Definitely not pizza. Not evil or deep dish." He paused for a second to read. "It says here they were able to... lock down or harness the island's... power so they couldn't be incarcerated again."
Annja	"Harness the island's power? That really doesn't sound like it could be good."
Karal	Karal paled slightly and reached down to lay a hand on Altra's head. "Does it give any clue as to what we can do?" he asked quietly.
Meg	Hopefully something, Meg thought to herself. She perched on a table edge, feeling fairly useless at the moment.
Dr. Jones	"Looks like if we remove the lock," Indy said translating on the fly. "Nemesis can take over in its natural state. That is if you believe the text."
Jen	Jen peered over at the book, but -- nope, still Latin. "That's . . . disturbingly vague. But hopefully, at least, someplace not attached to Fandom."
Dr. Jones	"Hopefully," Indy nodded as he turned the page and grinned. "Well this should be useful." It was a map. Still in Latin but a map. He pointed at one particular part of the map. "These words? Mean 'special library'." He then gently traced his fingers down the map to another location which then tapped. "With a path leading exactly to the heart of Nemesis island."