Chapter 133

Ellie didn’t mind William questioning her like a clueless outsider. It was kind of nice how it kept happening and kept her engaged.

“It’s not that handful, by the way. Digital words used to hold information worth whole worlds. One couldn’t see everything, let alone write or read it all. So, I get it, Will. Digital words are a loss for you. And that includes just a portion that remained up to the current time. The majority of this Museum isn't like that though. It is physical! You must have realized it by now. Nothing much is about copies. They are original pieces of history. Pages, books, paintings, and so on. Weapons? They are metal. Those skeletons are the same. Part of the history.” Ellie argued, standing too close to William to read some signs.

“I guess. Everything looks old and worn down, yet well-taken care of, so... how impressive, right?”

“Right? How about going into the first restricted room to change the pace?” Ellie offered since the end of these exhibitions was finally approaching. After seven hours, however.

“You won't say much to this American history?” William pointed to the wall depicting interesting historical events involving wars and politics. For him, it seemed convoluted and flawed, if not stupid. Why did humans fight so much? Why was the former world full of that stupidity?

And why it kept happening?

“I won't say anything. A lot of things about it are as good as reading it alone. It isn't worth dwelling on it because it's not nice. Now, follow me.” Ellie said importantly and put her finger forward.

William followed her like he had for the past hours. Behind the historical exhibition was a wall with a hallway. There were many doors, going for at last hundred if not more feet. Those depicted secret rooms and places of no little curiosity. All locked up, of course. One had to have a clearance and card to go inside of them. They were regarded as premium places with fewer publicly available findings because they showed sensitive, expensive, or very nuanced and specific concepts.

In a sense, they were secrets that Kaufmans deemed as fitting objectification of history that was worth locking. It wasn't that bad. Paying some credits once was fine to see these secrets, and the Federation or this library didn't hide them too much. It was about willingness and engagement, while the bonus credits helped fund some work and keep this place running. Still, the majority of revenue was still about the lower floors, and Walkers were worth a lot as well, albeit their case and worth were on a different level and style.

Ellie led William to one of the doors without explaining this hall. There were no names everywhere. No tags. No board for directions. They were all clean and with the same wooden style.

Upon closer look, William saw numbers on the handles, with the one that Ellie chose being number eight. Ellie gestured for him to go in, so William put his card on the handle, sliding the door into the wall even if the hallway was far too big and empty. It wouldn't hurt to let it outside. In fact, he barely saw any doors in exhibitions.

What was inside was also rather open and wide, and dark. He couldn't see anything but a dull and shaded place surrounded by walls. It was surprisingly big and barren, which William found weird, considering how tight the exhibitions felt. No lights were on, and no windows were present.

Weakly, the light escaping from the open door revealed something enormous, but Ellie soon closed it, leaving them in the darkness. It wasn't enough, so William felt how his hand tightened and his heartbeat increased in anticipation.

“What is this?” William asked and noticed Ellie was nowhere to be found. He heard footsteps.

Then something clicked, letting brightness illuminate the empty space. It was no common light. In the middle of the room, there was a huge globe more than a dozen feet in diameter. It was suspended in the air, glowing and depicting the Earth. William noticed Ellie standing below it, enlightened by the light coming from the globe's numerous inner sections and finishes that were either oceans, cities, or some continents.

William walked to her and saw what this bright globe was about.

It wasn't very hard to guess what he was watching.

“Is this what I think it is?” he said after his eyes adjusted.

“I hope? It is our little planet. Miniature, that is. Not.... real, by the way.”

William overlooked her joke, mesmerized by the myriad of lines that depict the continents, oceans, currents, and many mountainous—lands that protrude from the globe—and light or anything else. It was big and carefully crafted to picture the real world. The former world, of course. Some lands were no longer present, either cracked, wounded, or no longer sustained live or greenery like this.

Stolen story; please report.

“It is the last remaining lifelike depiction of our planet. Those mountainous regions should even make some real-life meaning to their heights, as they are works of art and technology, but our Earth is more like a very large smoothened balloon. Gravity is why, by the way. Spheres are very odd at it, as they amass gravity. Stars and suns and planets are like this. This one is about some proportions and calculations. It should be around the same outlook as reality, with the scale being separate. When this was built before the Dawn, the world was like this. I think it remains the same... for the most part.”

“Most part...”

“I mean, the Dawn changed a lot of things, right? How? Unfortunately, we don't have the ability to make new ones, despite mapping and discovering what has changed being very much alive to this day. Most of it is private and hard to get since Walkers are good at navigating or going around, which is a shame. I like this place, you see. It's nice. Old maps don't work as well. Again, it's a shame. We have so many of them you would be surprised how stacked our archives are. People loved drawing maps... Like always. Hundred or a thousand years ago.”

William agreed, observing this globe.

On a large planetary scale, making calculations, experiences, and ventures like this were no longer feasible. The land was locked and cracked, and societies were scattered and not acting as one. It was fine to map small areas, but connecting them accordingly sounded tough.

William imagined it. Terrible land. The ZONES! Seas... Fogs as large and eclipsing as cities and sky. He wasn't sure how much of this globe was covered and no longer green or blue. It wasn't like this.

Still, there were many important lands, with waters and obvious boundaries like mountains. The atmosphere created the sky. Made of rocks, iron, water, elements, and countless other materials, it was like a huge rock. Some planets might be different, but William didn't know anything about space or what assembled some planets.

He had trouble wrapping his head around how to picture this globe, so he observed, trying to notice continents from his memory.

He noticed America, which was long, ranging from north and south. It was huge, but the rest of the world was even bigger. And those oceans?! How was it possible for them to be so enormous?

“This thing is a century old?” William pointed with his finger at the globe. It looked brand new. “Who in their right mind sees our planet with such details or... is this even acceptable?”

Ellie beamed in delight at his interest and surged with new intent. “Past humanity made it? Not only like this, by the way. We documented the sun, other planets, our moon, and who knows what else. Our home is this planet, so it is easier to see its layers and what it is made of. It's big for ants that are people, you see. It is here, below our feet, and it is wild and supposedly familiar and old. Billions of years old, by the way. That's how old this rock is.”

William was speechless and Ellie wasn't over with blowing his mind. She enjoyed his flabbergasted face more and more.

“Well, let's take that back. I bet some Walkers could accomplish the same thing, fly and see this planet for what it is. Many can fly pretty darn fast and far, and their powers are wild yet they are having problems with Darks. I say that planets and space should remain still until we are independent and safe. Perhaps then, space would open up and we would be able to travel beyond this little planet once more. It sounds insane, but it can happen! Walkers are magicians!”

“W-what? How? Go... how far?”

“Oh,” Ellie laughed. “You don't know about that, eh? Delightful. For now, think about this planet. What is it? Why is it?”

William nodded to her without thinking and began walking around the globe. It was stable and not moving. Inside and around it were many lights that illuminated the continents and seas. One could also see glaciers in the north and south, depicting white lands of ice. The globe was too tall for him to see, so the north pole was kind of vague.

Upon closer inspection, there were some names etched into the globe, depicting oceans, seas, major islands, and larger nations They put a whole world into a display and locked it away. Why? William realized how silly it felt and didn't hesitate to ask about it.

“Why is this room restricted? This world? This globe?”

“It is the least restricted space. One could get inside with a couple of credits because we don't have room for this sort of thing outside of here. Don't ask me about most prices, please, since I don't get them either.” Ellie bluntly answered. In truth, this single business was embracing this library because a lot of lives and resources went into it, and it was still part of the Federation. Thus, Kaufmans had to show some effort and make some things work with credits because Assembly required it.

How worth was it? To put it into a display and call it the greatest discovery? Perhaps it wasn't fitting or popular, but it was very human.

“Despite that, William, if I have to guess why this room has this silly restriction, it is probably because of those stairs.” Ellie pointed to a corner, where there were stairs leading to somewhere.

“Oh, can I go up?” William asked and remembered what it could mean.

“Yes.” Ellie didn't stop him.

Since there was only this globe put on display, William considered everything in a few minutes. Engraving this into his memory, his plan to never forget this planet wasn't terrible.

This was by far the most impressive exhibition he had seen, not including the library itself.

Ellie hadn't added much to this room, since it spoke for itself. It had nothing but this globe and huge empty space to heed the status of the Earth. People saw it and felt a variety of emotions and realizations. For some of them, it was a representation of their goals, histories, places, or something unfathomable out of their reach. Not a big deal, most Walkers assumed instead.

Ellie was silent because she hoped William would ask her something, but he never did. She had so much to tell and show on this planet, point to that globe, and talk about the history of some continents. Like where was the Federation? Or Academy?

Before her disappointment showed, William walked to the stairs.

“Let's see what is above.” William walked up and momentarily stopped halfway there. The globe looked better but it was further away, so he couldn't read anything. It was no star either. He glanced at his home and didn't know the scale of this world, or how crazy big this rock was.

Reaching the end of the stairs, the room he entered had some similarities to the lower floors. It was yet another library. William should've expected it.

“So... this what kind of history can that globe show? Seems the same as any other, right?”