“ Those are TVs, right? I know about them. We had electricity in my camp.” William asserts since Ellie acts as if he has never seen them before.
“You did? Alright, that is not bad, but those are not TVs. Those are computers that were carefully rebuilt over the years, and are, in fact, functional.” Ellie explains in an important manner.
“Computers?” William questionably asks since he had never heard about them as far as he grew up.
“Yea, let me show this to you.” Ellie sits on a chair beside the 20-inch screen. There are a cabled mouse and keyboard with many letters on top of each key. William sees that and comes closer to Ellie to see what is this about.
A screen lit up after Ellie presses some button underneath the table.
“Looks like TV though. What are the differences? I know some news, shows, and things that are somewhat functional from the past.”
“Oh, so you know a few things. This is… a very complicated machine. Similar, or perhaps more complex than building a car. Technological advancement made this one of the key things at the end of the 20th century. It is a piece of timeless technology that enabled a vast amount of information to a whole world.”
“It is that impressive?” William wonders with some pragmatism.
“Not that... Much. At least in the current days, where we only had machines at the general strength of the end of the 20th century. Those things were much more popular than you would guess. With billions of people who used it every day. Work, fun, learning, whatever you wanted, could be done in this machine.” Ellie explains.
“But that is in the past. Why is this on the 3rd floor, and what use does it have here? This is a library, not some technological museum or something like that.” William tries to find the correct words to describe his skepticism but still manages to find the correct words.
This doesn’t seem all that useful to him. Books are much to his taste since he can have everything in his own hand. Any virtual or whatnot things within those screens are not that convenient. TVs what he remembers from pubs, or mechanics what made them work, usually included some old shows, music, or movies from a century ago. But that was barely something he paid attention to when he grew up. One or every two months, he watches something, but it was not all that interesting to him.
William also remembers one crucial fact about them: that he could not help but marvel about. It is a piece of machine which communicate with the distant broadcast from surrounding camps, and government organization. One is the Federation which is in charge of surveillance of the Dark beings and acts as a messenger if any emergency went on. Countless times, messages of the smaller or larger attack against the camps are told through this system, in important buildings with TVs and radios for folks to get to know them.
Usually, to be safe, all citizens of the Camp had to be evacuated, while Walkers within the city had to charge against the attacks and defend the lives of the camp. Most often than not, this is a very critical point in gathering information about the movements of the Dark Beings. For the most part, it was equally important for the Federation as the camp itself. The reason are the Walkers, which would get stronger by this.
Those are undeniably wonderful machines, and William knows about them a little. Radios and TVs are most of what he has seen.
“Well, this whole floor acts as a free floor like the first floor. Anyone can come here if they have time, but it is not usually crowded here all that much. People have a lot of work in the city, and this place acts like some sort of playground for young adults, or children.”
“Like those books there? Comic section, manga section, fiction section, non-fiction… and so on and so on.” William points to the many rows of signs above the bookshelves.
“Yea. Those are retrieved and remade collections from century ego. Some are even more so than 150 year's old stories.” Ellie explains with incredible starlight in her eyes. It is apparent she likes this place more than she is simply showing on her face.
“But they are a made-up stories, are they not?”
“Yea, but there is nothing wrong with made-up stories. They are fun, exciting, and can sometimes make a lot of correlations about the real world as well. It is also a good place to see the past through the stories what are told within the time period before the Dark. You can learn a few things from certain stories, even though they never happened or don’t act as a teaching book.” Ellie explains while seated before a computer. It takes some time, until the computer boot up, so she at least explains the general structure of the floor to William.
“Sound fair to me since you say it like that.” William could not help but agree. He will most likely spend some time here as well, but not too much. He needs to see what is here at all in the first place before he judges it without a first glance.
“Great, here we go. This is one of the unique things about this floor. Those computers act as a proxy for each other, and there are a lot of interesting files from the library in its storage.”
“Files? Storage?”
“Yea, they are in the archives. For example, the freely available books on the first floor are all copied and stored for everyone to see in a single place on those computers. Here, let me show you.”
Ellie grabs the handful piece of rough-looking mice and drags it around the desk. Opening some programs and dashboard within some programs, she reveals the whole library with icons around the whole 20-inch screen.
“This is the digital library. Something that we have for a little over a decade.”
“Oh, so it is used digitally? How?”
“It is complicated. I don't think you will understand a lot, even if I will talk for an hour.” Ellie bluntly says.
William shrugs his arms, and unbothered by her words, accepts it. No need to feel too bad about this, since his life would go on even without knowing about this.
Ellie spends about 10 minutes going over the computer stuff so he would at least have some user experience. She also has not left out its historical importance, as well as current needs to know them. Military, and a huge amount of structural work is done through machines nowadays. At least in the Federation.
“Alright, I think I’ve got some basic understanding of this computer. It seems surprisingly simple after seeing you use it, and your explanations are very good.”
“Thank you. I will take it as a compliment.” Ellie says and nods approval in a good mood.
Afterward, William decides within the remaining hour, he gave to himself, to travel through this floor.
Rows of bookshelves are scattered, but their designs are different from the bookshelves on the lower floor. Some hold the hardcovered books the same way, while some held softer kinds of books with their covers, facing the front. It is easier for a person to see them straight into their eyes. Eye-catching covers, words, and countless designs he finds interesting are in every row.
Ellie gave him some suggestions that she finds worth telling him, and for the most part, strolls alongside his wandering walk through this floor.
“What? Lord of the Rings? Why is this called recommended section above the bookshelves?” William asks Ellie while holding a robust-looking book, with a wooden cover. He finds this in a particular location of many old-looking, and hard-cover books. This is a small section of the most intriguing books according to the readers of the present, and little bits and pieces from the past. That information could be found throughout some backlog of research.
“Those are, at least according to the past, one of the better stories of humankind within this bookshelf.”
“So, these are good books? Who decides that?”
“I don’t know. People liked them in the past, and some people find them worth putting here. I don’t question the decision of the Directors who arrange everything within this library.” Ellie shrugs her shoulders while explaining everything to the more curious acts of Wiliam who seems surprised by this, more than the lower floors.
Hmmm.” William hums in an unknown response and glances at the book in hand.
Big letters of the Lord of the Rings are carved into the designed cover.
“Rings… sounds like bullshit to me. Who would someone name himself Lord of the freaking rings? I would call it something like Lord of the Mountain. Or Lord of the Heavens? Those sound so much more impressive than pieces of metal on the hand.” William laments for himself as he puts the book away.
There were much more of them. With many copies of each book. “Great Gatsby, War and Peace, The Odyssey, Gulliver’s Travels, Around the World in Eighty Days…” William recites the names of a couple of books that pique his interest from the name alone. Ellie also gives him some advice but mostly left him alone.
“Those works are by Jules Verne, an author who lived in the 19th century. His books are utterly fascinating in their style and the world he creates within the books. They are very special because all of them feel very real, even though almost 3 centuries passed.” Ellie explains while pointing to rows of hard-cover books in a corner what William already went through.
“3 centuries? How did his work survive that long?”
“Well, the words of the pen are usually enough for a lot of lifetimes. They will last the author and the whole population. That is one of the most intriguing aspects of this, what I found very fascinating.” Ellie says with stars in her eyes.
William could tell that this place is very dear to her, so he takes it seriously as well. Not like he has never chanced upon to have fun as a child, but certain things had to be done when growing up in a harsh place Outside.
Instead of forcing himself into a hard world, he could perhaps leave a little slack on himself, and enjoy himself, since he could afford it.
Not like he could save anyone in his current position, and that would not change for a couple of years down the road, depending on his choices.
This single hour goes fastest, and before William even has a chance to go through this whole long bookshelf, one hour is up. Reason beings Ellie’s hidden watch in her pocket, that shows her the time of the day.
“Time’s up. Do you like this? I hope the Library of the Federation is up to your taste, William.” She says with a bright smile, and the usual self-importance on her face makes it quite idyllic.
“Yea. I will gladly spend the remaining 6 weeks in a heartbeat. I will learn a ton for sure. Although you will not be with me for the whole time, I am very glad for your help today.” William boldly bows a little and sincerely thanks Ellie for today.
“Oh? So you know some manners? How nice, you can continue on your own, so be my guest in the Grand Library of the Federation.” Ellie giggles and backs away towards the exit. Waving and smiling at Wiliam in return as her time with him was still enjoyable to her. She disappears beyond the bookshelf's corners.
“What a bright girl. I’ve never met someone like her.” William thinks and considers whether it is a good idea to continue.
“It will be soon at the end of the daytime, so I guess the end it is. Not like my head hurts from the amount of information I had to gather today, but… yea… it is a lot to take in.”
Sighting, he returns some random book from the bookshelf named Moby Dick. It was some book about voyages, which piqued his interest right away. The world of seas and oceans is particularly the topic he found impressive and interesting. The sight of the first glance at the ocean when he was younger still lingers in his mind. Those are his precious memories.
“Time to get home. Hopefully, mister Luke will be there.”
He has yet to get a key, so it goes to luck, in the hopes Luke is back.