[Reply] [New] [Edit] [Email] [Print] [RSS] [Index]

Next >>

---------------

WRITER'S NOTE: This story takes place between Saving the Future #24 & 25.

---------------

The lone satellite, known as The Moon, revolving around the 3rd planet, known as Earth, that it's self was revolving around a central star, known as The Sun, in what is called by the locals' "The Solar System". On the northern hemisphere, in the western quadrant, on the dark side of this satellite, nestled amid it's pocked marked surface is a circular building. The building is known as The Moon Public Library & one of the many IOL sanctioned Libraries that dot this sector of space, Sector 2875.

The Sun light came through the several inches thick liquid crystal roof of the Library shining down on to the Library's four main floors. Contained there are rows upon rows of Bookcases filled with almost of all of the printed knowledge of the universe. It's floors are held up by large marble columns. Among the floors are various display cases featuring various artifacts from the Library's private collection, many of them collected by the head librarian, Lee Bookman, himself.

Now at this time of the day, The Library normally was a hive of activity but it's not. The Building is currently on lock down due to the appearance of two Ohmposians & their desire to kill Lee Bookman. There was only one problem in that plane: He's not there. So, the Ohmposians were dealt with by A.L.F.RED.

The fight is now over & he is currently attempting to scrub a rather large blood stain off the floor. He let out a sound of anger, that was if he could feel such a thing.

"What's wrong?" D.D., the visual representation of The Library Artificial Intelligence, said from over by the main Information Desk.

"It's.. It's.. This Spot! I just can't seem to get to come out." He said as continued to scrub away.

"Well, you knew that the Blood of an Ohmposian stains pretty much what ever it touches."

"Yes. But It felt good ripping it's arms off." A.L.F.RED with a smile.

"Turn about is fair play?"

A.L.F.RED stopped for a moment to process the comment. "Yes, something like that."

"It was interesting to see you do that without the use of your own arms since one had already ripped them off."

"Yes. I did take some processing power to come up with an alter means but I don't think it was expecting that."

"Yeah." D.D. replaying the images of the fight back in what would be her mind if she was an actual person.

"So, after you subdued them & I helped you get your arms back on: what did you do with them?"

"I took them down stairs & let The Book Worms deal with them."

"Oh. They'll be pleased with that. They don't normally get fresh meet like that."

"Yes. But we will mostly get a few more of there kind around here looking for their friends."

"Yeah. But we can take them."

A.L.F.RED nodded in agreement & went back to his scrubbing.

A few minutes went by & then D.D. found something as she was looking over some security logs & said "That's odd."

"What?"

"According to the security Log, even though we were on lock down, someone over rid that & auto piloted the Galactibus out of the docking bay."

"So, someone stole Master Bookman's personal transport?"

"It looks that way."

"When did this happen?"

"During the heat of your battle. I didn't even register it, I was concentrating on the fight."

A.L.F.RED stopped scrubbing & walked over to the hologram of D.D.

"Do we know where it went?"

"I was tracking the emissions made the Galactibus it appears to have gone down to the Earth's surface."

"Do we know where?"

"No. I lost the trail when it hits the Earth's outer atmosphere."

A.L.F.RED processes this for a moment & then says "Do we have another one in Storage?"

"Yes. We have a couple, actually. Lee's model of Galactibus isn't made anymore so we have them as back-ups' in case he destroys his or needs parts & such."

"Could we bring one over until we get this one back?"

"We could..." D.D. said as he voice trails off.

"What?"

"The Galactibus is now docking, or at least attempting to."

"What Concourse?"

"Vonnegut. The same concourse where the Galactibus disappeared from."

"Is there someone inside?"

"Yes."

"How many?"

"One life sign, but there could be more."

"All right. Are they hailing the Library?"

"Yes. It has been since it noticed the door wasn't going to open."

"What hails is it using?"

"The typical ones & in a variety of languages."

"Let them in."

"What?" D.D. said a bit surprised.

"Yes." A.L.F.RED said sternly. "If they did steal the Galactibus & were stupid enough to return: we'll deal with them. If it's just Master Bookman returning from where ever he went off to, He'll be angry at us for not letting him in."

D.D. thought about it for a moment & then opened the concourses' doors.

They waited for the pilot to make there way up to the main floor. They came up one of the Library's many spiral metal staircases. The man ascending the stair case was wearing a long beige trench coat, the ends of the coat were frayed, dirty & a bit burnt. Under his coat, he had on a blue jumpsuit with gunmetal black leather belt. He had stylized yellow "L" on his silver belt buckle. On his hands is a pair of dark brown, well wore, gloves; the fingertips of the gloves are cut off exposing his fingertips. He also wore a pair of gunmetal black leather boots, that matched his belt, with dark brown leather straps. He had mid neck length brown hair was slightly messed, his skin was a bit pale & he wore frame less glasses.

"Uh, guys. Is there something wrong with the Concourse bay doors?" Lee Bookman said.

"No, Sir." A.L.F.RED said.

"They seemed sluggish for some reason." Lee said & he looked around & then asked. "Where is everyone? It's not an IOL approved holiday is it?"

"No, sir. The reason for the lack of people & as you called them 'sluggish' Concourse doors is The Library is currently on lock down."

Lee was about to ask why but then saw the spot of the floor. He sighed & said sadly. "Ohmposians."

"Yes, Sir."

"I'm seriously thinking of revoking their privileges. They try to kill me a couple more times & I'll do it." Lee said with a half laugh. D.D. giggled a bit at the comment but A.L.F.RED didn't.

Lee gives the Library another quick look around. "So, anything else interesting happen while I've been off-dimension?"

Both A.L.F.RED & D.D. gave him a bit of a puzzled look. He saw that & said. "I'll tell you later."

As the two of them stood there & one floated, a thumping noise could heard. It went on for a few moments, then stopped & then started back up.

"Anyone else heard that?"

"Yes." A.L.F.RED said. "I think there is also some screaming accompanying the thumping."

They all listened to the thumping & screaming. Then, D.D. got a look on her face like she had just remembered something. "Lee, go check the return bin."

"Ok." He said, not sure why.

He walked over there & open it. He was surprised to not only find books in there but a person. He also got a foot to the face but he managed to duck out of the way in time.

"Here. Let me help you out." Lee said as reached into help the person out.

Once they were out, Lee could see that they were a human female. She was dressed in, starting from the ground up, a pair of navy-blue Chuck Taylor All-Star high-tops, on her feet were a pair of argyle socks. Her pants were a well-worn, and ripped in places, pair of blue jeans. She wore an unzipped graying black hoodie, and under that was a black T-shirt. On her wrists were a few too many bracelets and a couple of wrist bands. A few of her fingers had some rings on them. The girl's black nail polish was cracked and chipped in places. She had short, sandy blond hair which was pulled back and into two small ponytails, one on each side of the back of her head. She had somewhat pale skin was wearing a pair of black plastic glasses.

"Thanks." She said.

Once she looked at him, he noticed who it was & said. "Hello, Miss Gillespie."

"Hi." Catherine said & then noticed who it was, she said. "Bookman."

"Yes?"

"Were you at the Lair Mansion when it went poof?"

"Yes, I was. Along with the rest of the Legion, most if not all of S.P.U.D. & some other people."

"Were..." Catherine started to ask but Lee stopped her.

"Yes. Misters' Beeslyhuxtoy & Swiss were with us. And they also came back with us, I'm not sure where they went after that."

"Ok." Catherine said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Now can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Would you mind telling me why you were in the book return bin?"

Catherine thought for a few moments & then said. "I'm not sure."

Lee gave her a puzzled look & then asked. "You don't know?"

Before Catherine could say anything further, D.D. floated on over. "I can explain!"

Lee turned his attention away from Catherine & to his resident A.I.

"During the heat of A.L.F.RED's battle with the Ohmposians' Catherine was caught behind the Information desk. So, to keep her safe I transfered her to a safe place that neither of the brutes' would think to look for her."

"There are plenty of places you could have sent her, so why the Book Return Bin?"

"It was spur the moment. I had a Ohmposian charging at us & I needed a place quick."

"And you saw the Bin's hatch?" Lee conjectured.

"Yeah."

"Can I say that it wasn't the most... " Catherine interjected & then searched for the right word. ".. pleasant place to find myself unexpectedly. I was suddenly poked & prodded by also sort of mystery objects."

Lee looked at her for a moment, she then said. "It's dark in there. I didn't know what they were at least until a few minutes into stay in your bin."

Lee nodded & turned back to D.D. "So, what was your thinking for after getting Miss Gillespie to safety?"

"I didn't really have one."

"So, you left a defenseless Patron in relative safety but there were still two other dangerous patrons running about. What would happen if they were to come into contact?"

"Well..." D.D. said. "I was thinking that the Ohmposian I was facing would be to busy trying to find where I was beyond this hologram form & if I could keep it distracted long enough for A.L.F.RED to finish off his, he'd come after the second one. Then, we could retrieve our Patron."

"I'm guessing most of the plan worked?"

"Yes!" D.D. said & then said "Most?"

"Yes. The Patron in the bin."

"So, I forgot about her." D.D. said, turned to Catherine & said "Sorry." She then turned back to Lee. "In the heat of the battle somethings slipped my mind or didn't even register like you taking the Galactibus."

"Galactibus?" Catherine interrupted. "Is that some kind of space version of a VW Minibus?" Catherine asked. She'd never heard the term.

Lee turned to her & said. "Your close. It's more the size of a Volkswagen Microbus but with rockets strapped to the sides of it."

"Cool. Is it painted purple & pink?"

Lee didn't answer since he wasn't sure how a person from Earth with, according to him, didn't have an knowledge of space craft knew the color scheme of her personal transport.

"So, what would you have done if your plan didn't work?"

D.D. thought for a few moments. "I guess Plan B would have go into action."

"Which Plan B?" Lee asked.

"You have more then one?" Catherine interjected. Her comment was apparently ignored since no one replied.

"I don't know. One of them. Most of them are put into action when we're all taken out."

"True. But I would think an A.I. with one of the largest collections of data in this universe would have better planning skills." Lee said.

D.D. looked a bit dejected.

"It's ok. We all slip up, even highly intelligent A.I.s'."

D.D. smiled back at Lee, it wasn't a big one but it was smile. Lee smiled back & turned his attention back to Catherine.

"So, Miss Gillespie: what brings to the Library today?" He said cheerfully.

"Well, the Library." Catherine said after a second of thought.

Lee didn't understand. D.D. said. "One of the Data Nodes handling communication misunderstood a reply given by Miss Gillespie so it transfered her from her apartment on Earth to here."

D.D. looked at Catherine for confirmation. "Yeah. I was trying to explain something to it & said offhandedly that it too bad I wasn't there in person. The next thing I know is I'm up here on the Moon once more."

"Sorry about that, on both occasions." Lee said then asked. "What were you looking for? I am the head Librarian so I should be able to help you out."

He laughed a bit, Catherine gave him a courtesy laugh then said. "I was looking about info on a guy I keep running into but know little about."

"Well, The Intergalactic Order of Libraries is one of the largest repositories of Information around." Lee said.

He walked over to the Information desk, he tapped a portion of the countertop & it lit up showing a keyboard.

"So, tell me about this man?"He said kindly.

"Well... I don't know his name, just what I've been told to call him."

"Ok."

"His nickname is 'Mr. Spooky' & he's very particular about it."

Lee starts to type.

"He's a tall man. Sounds like he might be english but I'm not sure. Every time I've seen him he dressed predominately in grey. Chad has told he use to wear a cloak but I've always seen him in a three piece suit."

"Ok." Lee says as he continues to type. "Anything else about his physical appearance?"

"He has brown hair, a goatee & green eyes which are kind of freaky."

"How?"

"They look like they glow."

Lee stopped typed & had a look on his face that to Catherine looked like he knew someone that fit Spooky's description.

"Do you know him?" Catherine asked.

"Maybe, or at least someone like him. How does this Mr. Spooky act?"

Catherine thinks for a few moments & then says. "Cryptically. I feel that most of the time he's knows more then he lets on."

"Ok. Is that all?" Lee asks.

"I think so."

Lee presses a button.

"I've entered in all you've said & now our search query is being put through the Library's database looking for who best fists his description."

Shortly there after, a screen appears. It floats in mid air over the desk.

"Interesting. According to this, there is only one person who matches your description in our system." Lee says & touches the screen.

Another one pops up showing the results.

"No. It's can't be." Lee says shocked.

"What?" Catherine says as she looks at the screen, at Lee & back at the screen.

"According to the IOL database your Mr. Spooky is The Hooded Hood but that can't be."

"Why?" Catherine asked. She vaguely knew about the man on the screen. She knew he was a high level Super Villain but that was about it.

"He's been dead for years."

"But I just saw Mr. Spooky a few hours ago & he certainly didn't look dead. In all the time I've known Mr. Spooky he's never looked like a Zombie."

Lee turned to Catherine. "Have you ever had a gaps of missing time when you've been in Mr. Spooky's presence?"

Catherine thought for a few moments & then thought some more. She then said "I don't know. Maybe. There are some times that I can't exactly account for but I knew thought to much about it."

"Hmm..." Lee said as stroked chin thoughtfully. As he did this he starred at screen before.

Before any further thought could be done, a beeping noise could be heard. That broke Lee's concentration & he reached in his coat pocket & got out his credit-card-sized Legion communicator. He pressed a button on it & said. "Bookman."

The screen on the card turned on. "Hello. It's Hatman. I was wondering if you could come with me to the White House to help debrief the President & some other officials about what's been going on."

"Sure. I'll meet you there."

"Thanks. Hatman out."

The screen turned off & Lee put the card back in his pocket.

"Well, I guess this will have to wait for later."

"Ok."

"I will get back to you on this. It's both fascinating & perplexing."

"Thanks." Catherine said as Lee walked away.

Once he was gone, D.D. floated on over. "I'm betting your wanting to go home?"

"Sort of. I wouldn't mind exploring the Library some."

"Ok. But you know you can come back."

"But both times I've been here some sort of fluke."

"Maybe next time will be on purpose?" D.D. said cheerfully.

"Yeah. But I'd need a Library card."

"Ok."

"What?"

"It's not a hard process to get one. The Ohmposians have them & their as dumb as rocks."

D.D. leads Catherine over to the Information desk.

Three circular sets of doors opened in the floor & out from those holes came the same droids Catherine had seen before. Once the droid was out of the hole, it's eyes light up & it said. "How may I service you?"

"Yes. I was wonder how one would get an ID card?"

"Answer: Question not understood. Patron needs to speak clearly & enunciate their words."

Catherine sighed & looked over at D.D. for some help. She just smiled back. Then Catherine said with pauses in between each word. "I. Would. Like. an. I. D. Card."

"Reply not understood. Question may relate to Identification Cards. Is this correct?"

"Yes."

"Reply is an Incongruity. To gain access to Moon Public Library: all Patrons must need to have an Identification Card. Patron is currently in the Moon Public Library so Patron must have an Identification Card."

"See!" Catherine said to D.D.

"Yeah, I know." D.D. said. She then turned to the Droid & said one word "Lemon." which made it's eyes turn off & slump over.

"What did you do?"

"I used a override codeword. It negates it's base programing."

"If I had one that would have saved me some time earlier."

"Would you like one?"

"Sure."

"Ok. What's your word?"

Catherine thought about for a few moments & then said. "I got it: Waffle."

D.D. looked off into space for a few seconds then said. "Waffle is now an excepted override codeword. it will work on most base level droids or nodes you may come into contact with."

"Cool. so, what about the ID Card?"

"Hang on a moment." D.D.D said as she disappeared.

"D.D.?"

The droid's eyes lit back up & it righted it's self & said "Yes?" using D.D.'s voice.

Catherine just looked at the droid for a few moments.

"Everything is hard wired into me so if I need or want to I can take them over I can. So, let's get you that ID Card."

"Ok." Catherine said a bit scared.

D.D. inhabited Droid went about getting the application form for Catherine, she filled out, The Droid processed the form. Then out of a small slot in the desk popped out a card. Catherine picked it up. It looked to be a cross between a credit card & her own Library card for the Parodipolis Municipal Library.

She looked up from the card & the Droid had slumped over again.

"D.D.?" Catherine asked looking around.

"Yes?" She said as her hologram form appeared out of no where. "I don't like spending to much time inside them, it's to cramped for me."

"Thanks." Catherine said as she showed D.D. the card.

"Sure. No problem. Your one of the handful of Earthlings to have those. Some of the Friends of Library are Earthlings, a number of the others are associates of Lee's & then there a few others. There is only one Earhtling has ever hacked into our system to obtain a card: Meng, Salieri. He hasn't yet tried to use his card but we'll deal with him when does try."

"Ok." Catherine said with a shrug of her shoulders. She didn't know that Meng guy.

"So, what do you want to do now?" D.D. asked. "Take the tour or go home?"

"I think I should go home."

"Ok. Thanks for using Moon Public Library. Have a pleasant day." D.D. said & Catherine was gone back to her apartment.

"A.L.F.RED?"

"Yes?"

"I think we should just replace that section of floor, I doubt the stain is coming out."

"That's what I was think too."

---------------

THE END

---------------

FOOTNOTES!

- The Previous Chapters:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3