"A higher chance of success doesn't exactly sound confidence inspiring." Quinn said. She couldn't shake the bad feeling she got from the potential of putting Lynx in stasis.

Cadre blinked and Harish nodded, leaning forward on the table. "I see your point Librarian. There is, as always in anything like this that deals with infection, memory loss, and data loss, a risk involved. But with Aradie's assistance as well as the Library and Lynx cooperating fully, we have a much better chance at having a successful outcome."

Quinn glanced over at Lynx who gave her an almost imperceptible shrug. It seemed he wasn't exactly fussed either way. If she was honest, the manifestation appeared to have mostly given up. Yet another aspect for Quinn to worry about.

Milaro was still watching her, studying her, but he stood up suddenly and clapped his hands, startling the others in the room who hadn't been watching her. "Alright. I think we've got the gist of it then. We're placing Lynx in standby mode, and have the Library watching over both him and itself, while we monitor it, correct?"

Siliqua blinked in surprise. He'd been mostly quiet while they all talked, and the King could often be much larger than life when he chose, as he seemed to have chosen in this instant. "Yes. That's quite correct."

Quinn held a hand up. "Monitor it from where, none of you can stay in the chamber indefinitely, right?"

"That's right." Siliqua smiled, back from the slight shock Milaro's sudden interjection caused her. "We'll be able to monitor him from outside the chamber. Make sure everything is going to plan, tweak what we need to, observe the pathways. We've got it all sorted. Perfectly safe for all of us."

Quinn sighed. "Then I guess this plan is a go then... Lynx, what about you? Are you okay with all of this?"

He shrugged. "I have to be. I'm not working at my usual capacity and it's both demoralizing and frustrating. If for no other reason I want to return to being my efficient self and to stop feeling as if my brain is full of holes."

She smiled at him, feeling slightly better. "That makes a lot of sense. I'm sorry you're all holey."

Lynx laughed. "Yeah, it's strange operating like I'm missing parts of what makes me myself."

Siliqua and Harish stood up, joining Cadre who'd moved near the door. Milaro moved over to them as well. He smiled. "See you both in a couple of hours then." and the King ushered the other three out of the room before they could say another word.

Quinn watched after them, frowning. Had Milaro somehow known she wanted to talk to Lynx by himself?

Their discussion was over for the moment, leaving Quinn with a little too much time on her hands to think. She could also sense Malakai standing just beyond the doorway. Another thing she'd been perturbed about in the last couple of days. Malakai seemed to have velcroed himself to her side since the incident with the golem on Ishiposa Isle. He basically didn't let her out of his sight at any point during the day.

Except when she slept.

At least, she hoped when she slept. She was fairly sure he wasn't sleeping on the ground outside her room. She wasn't going to ask him. She'd remain in ignorant bliss.

Still, he lounged around her office door just like he was doing now when she was trying to gather her thoughts about the whole situation with Lynx and the calibration. After what happened last time they rebooted the Library, she couldn't help being worried that they might instigate a catastrophic failure in this as well.

Quinn sighed. Maybe Malakai was just taking his guard duty seriously, which was probably a good idea. Quinn seemed to be fully capable of getting herself into the most ridiculous forms of trouble ever. She sighed again.

"Will you stop sighing," Lynx said. "It's really not all that bad."

"I know it's not a bad thing," Quinn said. "It's just that you're going to be out of commission again."

Lynx laughed. "You know, I've practically been out of commission more than I've been helping you run the Library."

But the joke fell flat. Not that it was true either. She'd been there for three months, and he'd only been in stasis for about two weeks of the time. It just felt like a very long time every time it happened.

"Don't be sad," he said. "I should be sad. I'm the one that's running the risk."

"Is it really a risk?" she asked, trying not to let the worry shine through in her words.

"I mean, they said it wasn't a big one." Lynx laughed, but the sound was forced. "But when do researchers ever fully know what they're doing, Quinn?"

She hesitated. "True. I'm worried about you. Okay? There you go. I said it. I'm worried about you. I just want to make sure you come back."

This time, there was an echo of laughter through her mind.

It was the Library. He's going to come back, Quinn. This isn't that dire.

"Oh, you mean the holes in your memories and data points? The inability to access them? That's not a problem or a dire situation?" Quinn snapped, quite irritated at the downplaying of the entire situation.

No, it is a problem. It's just not as dire as you're making it out, because we now have a solution. The way that Siliqua explained they're going to tackle this is the safest possible route. The paths will be replaced first, and then the infected areas. And then we should be good to access all of the memories and data points. The Library's tone held a soothing note that barely managed to calm Quinn's nerves ever so slightly.

"Okay, in theory it sounds fantastic," Quinn said. She hated theory. It rarely worked in practice.

Yes, it does, doesn't it? the Library said back to her. Don't worry. We're good. Do you want to come down and see us go into stasis? See it for yourself? Might help put your mind at ease about the whole thing?

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Quinn perked up at that, suddenly feeling a wave of better. "Yeah? Is that okay?"

It'd be nice for us both, actually, because the only other person who can come down is Milaro, and we all know how stroppy he can get.

Quinn laughed although she did wonder just how it would work for the others who needed to observe Lynx. There was obviously something they hadn't told her. Perhaps they had special glasses they could use to see him with. "Okay, we'll be down there when the time comes." She said, and felt the Library fade from her immediate consciousness.

After several seconds of silence, and a few deep breaths, Quinn smiled over at Lynx.

"Do you feel better now?" Lynx asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually, I do. Much better in fact."

"Good." Lynx said and then looked at her more seriously than she'd ever seen before. "Because I need you not to get too anxious about this. It's unknown to me too, and one of us needs to stay awake and alert – to make sure the Library runs smoothly. And that person should be Dottie."

Quinn blinked at him after that totally unexpected addition. "Say what now?"

"Dottie will keep an eye on them, and the Library, and everything. You know she loves to rise to a challenge. So let her just take care of the Library, along with Misha and Geneva while you're gone." Lynx concluded, looking quite pleased with himself. Sort of like a cat that got the cream.

Quinn held up a hand. "Wait, wait... and where am I going?"

He blinked, like he didn't understand the question. "What?"

"Where am I going that I need to leave Dottie and the rest in charge of making sure you and the Library are taken care of?" Quinn wracked her brains to find the information she was sure she'd just glossed over.

"You're visiting Hal." Lynx said, like it was a given.

Quinn blinked. Well, she had to go and visit Uncle Hal because of Tenejo, and now Adrito, and to be completely honest, she desperately needed some help with this whole heat trying to immolate her thing. But... "I don't have time to go right now. There's far too much to do."

Lynx laughed. "Do you think the Library can't run without you?"

Quinn narrowed her eyes. "I think a broken Library, that can't remember its arse from its elbow, probably shouldn’t have prolonged Librarian absences."

He laughed again. "Okay, you've got me there. But... think on it. It's only portions of the system that won't be accessible. You have a great group of assistants and supervisors who can take over for the few days you'll need. It's not like you can do anything to help me anyway. And I'm pretty sure Milaro will be watching over us during the whole recalibration process."

She frowned at him. He did have a very good point. "Well, I'll think about it."

Lynx raised an eyebrow. "You need to get that problem figured out, and right now, the Library has to recalibrate and sequence in order to return to its original glory. I don't think you can afford the time it'll take to wait until the Library has all of its memories intact and thus can help you." He ended the plea in a soft but serious voice.

"Yeah. I think you're right." Quinn said, as she could feel the heat in her veins push to the fore again. "Okay. I'll go as soon as possible."

"Good." Lynx said and stood up, brushing himself off even though she knew he didn't need to. "Shall we proceed then?"

About 20 minutes later, Quinn found herself standing down at the core, watching as Lynx approached what looked like a small cushion perched at the base of the petrified trunk. Or at least whatever that trunk was. She'd still not asked the Library why it was presented as a tree... and now wasn't the time.

He looked up at her and gave her a thumbs up.

Milaro nudged her as he popped what looked like a hard candy into his mouth. "It'll all be okay. I have a good feeling about this."

She eyed the wrapper he stuck in his pocket. "Is that how you can stay down here?"

He nodded. "Yeah, only way."

"Can you stay down here indefinitely if you have enough of those?" she asked as she watched Lynx flicker ever so slightly.

"Nope. A couple of days at most." He shrugged. "If I don't leave then, it'll start killing me."

"Wow, you must really like the Library." Quinn raised an eyebrow.

Milaro watched her for a second before answering. "I like what the Library stands for, and the fact that the Library's a pretty good person, also helps. I like balance, Quinn. I would do most anything to maintain the balance that keeps our universe healthy and, you know, not imploding in on itself."

Quinn laughed, but it was a forced expression. Milaro had a point. While she hadn't visited even a fraction of the universe, she was fairly certain that most residents would choose to exist. Maybe. She really did need to know more about the place she was in charge of. Right then she felt so positively uninformed about everything.

She watched as Lynx settled down onto or into the cushion. He melted back into his Lynx form, and the runes that were the stripes around him swirled lazily as he curled up onto the cushion. It sank back into the petrified core tree trunk. The Library hissed ever so softly, and then Lynx was gone.

"That's it," she said, a strange emptiness where Lynx usually was in her senses.

"That's it," the Library said, its smoky visage evident next to the trunk. "Siliqua and Harish will run the relevant sequences from above."

"Wait. There's a control room above or something?" Quinn said. She'd been trying to figure out how they were going to observe this all. A control room not only made sense, but did make her feel slightly better about perhaps leaving to get her fieriness under control.

The Library shimmered slightly. "I didn't think you would be interested considering you can always come down and see me."

"Oh, well, that makes sense." Quinn smiled. She was a bit of an exception after all.

"Where do you think we've been working this entire time?" Milaro said.

"Well, I don't know, I assumed you'd be down here... Oh, that wouldn't work either, would it?" Quinn laughed. "Well, how about you go show me this control room so I can at least come in here and maybe get an idea of what's happening?"

"You could always just come down here, couldn't you?" Milaro asked softly.

"True..."

He was right, but Quinn was feeling very out of her depth. Lynx, while cantankerous, had been the first one to greet her, and the one who took her through her first perilous days. He'd guided her this whole time, even when he was barely present. She couldn't help the worry.

"You know this will take days, right, Quinn?" the Library asked.

"Of course," she said reluctantly.

"And you realize Lynx is right." The Library practically whispered the next in her ear. "You have to go and get this under control. I can't help you for days. And if, as I assume, your heritage is awakening sooner than I'd anticipated, then you really need to go and see Uncle Hal since I'm currently indisposed."

"Even you're calling him Uncle Hal." Quinn said, but she couldn't bring herself to laugh.

"It's much easier to pronounce. Let's just say that."

Quinn smiled. "Okay, okay, I'll go."

"Really? While we're out of commission?

"Sure." Quinn agreed and almost immediately wished she hadn't.

"Delegate to your supervisory staff. Milaro will be overseeing the entire transfer of sequencing anyway. If anything big comes up..."

"Yeah I get it, he can take care of it." Quinn laughed. "Fine, I'll get ready to make the trip." She glanced back at where Lynx had disappeared into and knew he was in the best place possible for what he was about to undergo.

"Don't forget to take Eric with you," the Library said.

"I won't." Quinn called over her shoulder as she exited the core.

"First of all," Milaro said, as he nudged her toward the exit, "we have several things we need to discuss. But as soon as we've done those, and as soon as Adrito and Tenejo are prepared, you're going to see Uncle Hal."

Quinn smiled. "You know, I think that sounds like an excellent plan."

"Good. Because you're going even if Eric has to shrink you and throw you in his storage."

Quinn gasped. "He can't really do that can he?"

Milaro shrugged. "I don't know. He's an imp. He can do all sorts of things."

That didn't make Quinn feel any better.