An Ancient Inhuman Book (Infinite Library Part 1)

Rodney Brown walked into his professor’s messy office holding a binder under his arm. The binder contained his thesis which covered his process of measuring and studying quantum vacuum fluctuation. He needed to review his work with his professor before he defended it next week.

Dr. Carrus’s door was open, but Rodney knew this did not guarantee the man would pay attention to him when he entered.

Martin Carrus sat at his computer switching his gaze between the computer screen and the notebook next to him. Dr. Carrus’s office felt small because he insisted on having two desks, the standard issue desk was not enough for his multiple monitors, spare electronics, and mounds of research papers. Rodney assumed that if the man were a little more organized, he would be able to get by with having just one desk.

The grad student knocked on the door and startled the man from his focused work. “Oh, hey there?” The professor said in a tone that added tension to the room. The man’s typically frazzled hair was somehow more unkempt than usual. His old eyes had heavy bags under them that would probably need to be gate checked if he was traveling.

“Is everything okay?” Rodney asked the professor.

The man nodded slowly, but this did not reassure the student. Rodney looked at the only other chair in the office. It was covered high with papers and binders. The most peculiar thing about the stack was an old book that sat on top of the pile. The only way Rodney could describe the book was inhuman.

Carrus jumped out of his seat once he noticed where Rodney’s gaze fell began clearing the stack of binders off. There wasn’t much room for the junk on the floor or bookshelves, but the professor found a home for enough things that Richard was able to take a seat. The strange book gained temporary residence on top of the professor’s keyboard.

Rodney repeated his question, “Is everything okay Dr. Carrus?”

The man let out a deep sigh, closed the door to his office and put his computer to sleep. He picked up the book that leaned against the keyboard and gave his student his undivided attention.

“Rodney, nothing is okay,” he said. His dread and discomfort were not hard to hear in his words.

The mood was unusual since Rodney picked Carrus for graduate work because of the man’s notoriously carefree attitude. A professor who displayed his Woodstock tickets on the wall of his office was the last professor Rodney expected to start a conversation with “Nothing is okay.”

The man continued, and Rodney listened, “I have been looking into something for, well for awhile, longer than you’ve probably been alive. I haven’t told many people about it, the ones I have told are, well they aren’t with us anymore.”

Rodney felt like the atmosphere of the room had gone dark. As if by beginning this conversation the two men had invited a demon to come into the office.

To attempt to alleviate the situation Rodney asked, “Should you be telling me about it?” He added a dry laugh as a last-ditch effort.

The professor’s eyes went to the door as if to make sure no one came in. Rodney’s gaze followed and the professor finally answered. “No, I probably shouldn’t,” The professor said. “Unfortunately you were inevitably going to find out, and I’m afraid this may be my last chance to discuss these things with you.”

The worst thing Rodney could imagine came to his mind. His professor was sick with a terminal illness and was going to pass all his research onto the young grad student.

“You’re the only person qualified to believe me though. Years ago I discovered something unbelievable. Thanks to you it’s finally starting to make technical sense now.” He gestured to the book that was in his hand. “This is not an ordinary book.”

Rodney nodded his head in agreement. The cover was a color that skirted the edge of jet black and luminescent purple. It had a golden design on the cover with curls that ended in pointed spikes. It was a pattern that no human would have ever created. Rodney knew nature was random and uncouth sometimes, but this design didn’t resemble anything organic. In addition to the strange design and colors, the book seemed to be both ancient and new at the same time. Rodney spent most of his childhood around books and could tell that this book had been cared for.

“This book is from the Infinite Library,” Dr. Carrus said as if he had just revealed an entirely new reality to Rodney. The student’s face reflected that the professor had not only failed to disclose a new reality and instead had added more confusion to Rodney’s life.

“I’ve never heard of an infinite library,” Rodney admitted, “But if you’re about to give me another paper on astrophysics to review I have to tell you I am pretty swamped with the thesis stuff. My defense is next week, and I want some feed-”

The professor waved his free hand frantically to dismiss Rodney’s comments. “No, no, no, your thesis is nothing compared to the knowledge that is in this book.” The professor scolded.

The words cut Rodney. He had spent four years on research for his thesis two of them were in the design of a low-cost machine that would be able to measure what he was studying. “What are you trying to say?” Carrus had assigned him the project instead of the one Rodney wanted to do because he had deemed it cutting edge. Then the student made the connection it. Whatever was in that book covered his thesis. From the size of the text, he figured the author had even expanded it.

In his mind, he cursed the private sector, and their unrestricted grant money and profit-focused actions. His lousy lab could barely sustain itself with the measly funding the school gave him.

“Give me the book Dr. Carrus,” Rodney said in a tone that nearly demanded his elder to take action. The old man gave him an unsure look but released the book into Rodney’s possession. Rodney let the binder that held his thesis fall to the floor and held the strange book with both hands.

All his life he had been learning physics from books. His mother would bring him home library books about subjects that no 13-year-old boy should be reading, but she was just happy he was demanding books instead of expensive video games. When he finally saved up for a computer he used it to read physics forums and learn programming languages for physics simulations. Rodney’s life had been physics, and the past four years of his life had been used to study how electrons exist in all places, and no places at the same time.

He felt a power when holding books especially one that he knew contained new information. This book made him feel more powerful than any other book he had ever touched before. He suspected this was because it held all the information he had been working on until that point in his life. It could have also been from the weight his professor’s stare as he examined the book. The design was eerie. With the book in his hand, he felt the darkness of the room grow deeper than it was before. He felt the need to check the door to make sure no one had wandered in, but then determined the urge was silly.

Rodney cracked the book open and flipped to the first diagram he found. He studied the figure, but it didn’t resemble anything familiar. He looked at the words on the page for guidance and saw only squiggly symbols he couldn’t read. “What is this? Farsi?”

The professor shook his head.

“It’s not Chinese or anything of Asian origin,” Rodney said as he flipped from page to page. As he studied it and noticed that the formatting was different from any other research paper he had ever read. There were no figure numbers to start with, and the graphs looked like they using a mutated polar coordinate system.

“Who wrote it? How old is it?”

“I don’t know,” The professor answered.

“Which part don’t you know?” Rodney asked. He felt the knowledge that the book held and didn’t want it to slip away. “Where did you get it? Why do you have it?”

“That’s a story in and of itself. I’ll tell you in a bit,” Dr. Carrus answered, “What’s important is for you to know that this book contains some resemblance to your thesis, although I suspect it goes more in depth and covers much more.”

“Is there a translation?”

The professor let out a boisterous laugh, “Rodney I don’t think you understand. This book, it’s not from earth.”

Rodney shook his head, “You’re saying this book is alien?”

The professor scoffed under his breath, “No I’m not suggesting something that ridiculous. This book is from another universe, another time, another dimension.”

Rodney stared at the professor unable to believe what he just heard.

“That may be the only book on this planet that is written by another species. And it just so happens that it covers your thesis.”

“What are the odds of that?” Rodney wondered out loud.

“Pretty good since you applied for a grad position under me two days after I got a vague grasp of what the book was about.”

Rodney looked at the man dumbfounded. “Tell me, professor, how long have you had this book and where did you get it.”

“I met a man named Stanley Hastings at Woodstock and became friends with him throughout the seventies. He was an explorer of sorts. Although, by the time I met him, he was mostly doing his explorations with psychedelics. Regardless, we became fast friends and when he discovered I was a scientist he gave me this book. Two months later he disappeared.

“Most thought he went off on another exploration, but I am pretty sure the Overwatchers took him.” Carrus paused as if to let Rodney speak.

More questions entered Rodney’s mind then the man was answering but before he could ask them the professor stared up again.

“I don’t think the Overwatchers want us to have this book and I think they’ve caught on that I have it. They’ve been visiting my dreams more often, and sometimes I see them when I’m awake. But they can’t touch the book. I don’t know why, but if they could, they would have taken it long ago.”

“What is an Overwatcher?” Rodney asked now uneasy holding a book that had such a noxious past.

“Humanoid black figures with red eyes. I’ve dreamed of them since I was a kid. They would stare at me as I lay in bed, and I wouldn’t be able to move. I knew they were watching me sleep, but they were also looking at something else about me. Then they would disappear,” he made an explosion gesture with his hand, “poof out of existence like the electrons you study.”

Rodney tried to smile but couldn’t muster the emotion. He wanted to believe that the man was crazy. Rodney questioned how much of this was a joke and wondered how much effort his professor had put into the fake book. But as he tried to figure the trick out the room became more ominous.

Then Dr. Carrus became as still as stone. He gazed over Rodney’s shoulder at a mirror that hung on the wall.

“Is everything okay?” Rodney asked for the third time since walking into the office.

The man seemed to be fighting for the ability to speak. Then he let out a few labored words, “There’s one behind me.” The old man gasped for breath and was able to add “Do you see it?”

Rodney shook his head. He didn’t see anything behind the professor.

But the fact that his professor had frozen up was not funny to Rodney. The man was old and probably suffering from a severe heart attack or stroke. Rodney got out of his seat. He knew there was an AED device in the hallway that could start his teacher’s heart back up. He opened the door and as soon as he did he heard the man behind him say, “Stop, don’t leave.”

Rodney whirled around, looked at the man who had gone from completely tense to merely shaken up. The darkness that shrouded the room disappeared. “What’s going on Carrus?”

“I’m not sure, but I don’t think I have much time left. I need to explain everything I know about the book so that when I’m gone, you can continue to study it.”

“Is this a joke?” Rodney asked finally discussing the fear he harbored the whole conversation.

“No young man, this may be the most serious discovery of all humankind. I wasn’t able to open the library doors, but you’re young and may have a chance. Sit down and listen to me. After a while, you will understand and believe that I’m not crazy.”

Rodney was dubious. The professor would be fighting an uphill battle to convince Rodney of something that wasn’t written in a physics textbook.

Photo Credit: Thom Watson, Skipology, Visual Hunt