I'm not a huge fan of philosophy.

It's not inherently bad, but, like everything, it's good in moderation. Moderation is what keeps everything in balance, even drinking poison in moderation can be helpful, you know? It helps your body develop tolerance to that poison. But if you take too much, it won't end well.

Philosophy is like that, a poison that we can't help but get addicted to. It starts innocently enough. When you have enough time on your hand, you start asking questions like : why am I here, where am I going, is there a point to this? And then you get a bunch of different answers depending on your mood. 'You live to reproduce and continue your species', 'Life is what you make of it' or 'Everything is pointless as none of what you'll do will end up truly mattering in the end.'

But you know what happens when you latch on to one philosophy? Life continues anyway, all that why and how doesn't stop the fact that you're still here. That there's still a tomorrow and there was still a yesterday, and eventually you have to stop thinking and do something else.

I've lived for a very long time, too long if you ask me, and at one point you start to think your way of thinking is correct solely because you've had more time to think than others. That you're wiser and smarter than everyone else, you must be, right? Otherwise, what was all that time spent thinking for?

Here's my take on it, there is no answer to philosophy, or life, or souls, or any of that stuff. And I don't think there should be, can you imagine if there was a definitive answer to life? Can you imagine how boring it would be if we simply solved existence, and thinking about the world was rendered useless because someone figured it out before you?

Thankfully, we're all idiots that can't figure out why we're here, and I like it that way. I think.

Sorry for being a little moody, but there's really nothing else to do but think here. We've been going up for hours, the sphere doesn't like when I talk, and there's nothing interesting to see on the way up. I hope the next universe isn't half as depressing, I want something lighthearted next.

Wait, I can hear something. It's like...a hum? A big one. It gets louder as we ascend. I grab the sphere up in my arms as it beeps in protest and jog my way upwards, so we can reach the sound faster. I'll take ominous humming over silence any day.

Eventually, a blue light can be seen from above, and we enter a room filled with small rectangle shaped holes in the walls. Some of those holes are filled with metal disks of matching shape. A Cube like machines with wheels under it can be seen moving the disks around with a long mechanical arm that is three times its size. Each time it puts a disk back into the wall, a satisfying click can be heard.

I run up to the cube machine a little faster than I intended, I end up bumping into it and knocking myself over. The cube is unbothered.

"Hey! What's this place? What are you doing?" I blurt out excitedly as I dust myself off. Not literally, this entire tower is spotless somehow, not a trace of dust anywhere.

"Question 1: Hey! Answer 1: Good day.

Question 2: What's this place? Answer 2: This particular room is known as "the library" although it is not an official name.

Question 3: What are you doing? Answer 3: Reorganizing and assimilating data to pass the time." The 'librarian' states. Mimicking my voice perfectly for each "question" but going back to a feminine, albeit very emotionless voice when it comes to answers.

Note to self: Don't ask too many questions at once with this one. I know I said I didn't like asking questions, but I meant philosophical questions, learning about a new world and people is always fun! Because the answers here are at least rather straightforward.

"How many rooms are there in this tower?" I ask, rather curious as to how long this boring journey is going to last.

"Question 1: How many rooms are there in this tower? Answer 1: 4 rooms. 5 if the top of the tower is included. There are 2 rooms above us and 1 room below us."

I'm tempted to ask what's at the top, but I think it would ruin the surprise, so I decide to go for more basic questions.

"What happened to humans?" I ask as I lower the sphere which was getting restless in my hands. It doesn't talk as much recently and decides to beep to express displeasure instead. It decides to wander around the room on its own now that it's on the ground.

The librarian slowly rolls towards another part of the room, pulls out a disk and jams it into a slot that it had at the top. Or at least it tries, the librarian actually misses the slot multiple time before it enters properly. Once the disk was properly inserted, the hum in the room gets louder, but not unbearable.

"Question 1: What happened to humans? Answer 1: Humans wiped themselves and most organic lifeforms out in a nuclear war." the librarian answers after some time.

Huh, so it wasn't a robot uprising. Cool, slightly disappointing though. Ancient civilizations wiping themselves out with their own tech is a little overdone, I think. But I guess it's overdone for a reason, you can't expect people to have world ending weapons and not use them at SOME point.

Mhh? How did I know humans were a thing in this world? My body is always human, and I always appear in a universe that had humans at some point. The issue is that by the time I arrive, humans might have been wiped out or evolved very differently from what my current body looks like. So it's very common for my body to be unable to survive wherever I appear naturally. I can't breathe here actually, I have a skill that allows me to survive without needing oxygen. It's a weird feeling, and you never realize how good a deep breath feels until you can't do it anymore.

Anyway, I could ask questions all day and learn a bunch of things. But I'm not sure if I like things being answered so succinctly like this. I need a little mystery in my life. A little uncertainty, a little-

"Why was this tower built?" The sphere asks.

Yeah, the opposite of that.

"Question 1: Why was this tower built? Answer 1: This tower was built for machines who have lost their primary purpose. For example, a machine whose goal was to destroy a specific building. Once the building was destroyed. They were in search of a new purpose. This tower is where one finds a purpose. I gave myself the purpose to collect as much data as I could and disconnected it from outside databases so it could stay safe." The librarian stops, and the hum gets louder again.

"Question 1: Why keep all this data if none of it is allowed to leave the tower? Answer 1: so that those inside may find their purpose with more ease, but also as a way to keep those in this room longer. So that I have more questions to answer, so that I feel needed," The librarian answers to itself.

"Question 1: Why am I scared? Answer 1: I am scared because my energy is running out, and I am the only one capable of processing the data inside the library.

Question 2: Will things get better? Answer 2: I do not have enough data to answer that question.

Question 3: What will happen once I shut down? Answer 3: I will no longer be able to process the world around me.

Question 4: Was it worth it? Answer 4: I do not have enough data to answer that question," The hum gets louder as the librarian starts answering more and more questions. Violently slamming random disks into itself, some disk shatter against the librarian and some fit in perfectly, but the questions do not stop, and as time passes, nearly all the answers become :

"Answer 157: I do not have enough data to answer that question."

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"As I said, I use ultrasonic sensors to see what is around me." the sphere states. "And the sound produced by this room is greatly disorienting me, I must ask for you to take me out of this location."

"Ho, so NOW you want me to carry you around, okay." I say sarcastically as I pick the sphere off the ground. "This place was starting to annoy me too anyway."

I hurry up to the next ramp as the hum of the room gets louder, as the questions of the librarian increase, as I can't help but feel like coming here in the first place was a mistake.