'Resources are being drained at an exponential rate.'
'Destroy the building.'
'They may become suspicious if their world does not appear as it should. Books have been a part of their existence for thousands of years.'
'Destroy the fiction section. Allow them to maintain the historical data.'
Agents Smith Jones and Brown entered the Harold T. Washington memorial library. It was never dark in Chicago, but as this city went, it was a reasonably quiet and dark night. The skies were overcast, no stars or moon were visible and the misty fog from the lake settled over the city shrouding it in a grey mask.
They headed directly for the adult fiction section. The children's books were of no concern. No one ever believed the children when they thought their imaginary friends were real, so it didn't matter what they read. Besides, children were always imagining things regardless of books.
Smith led the way through the aisles. With each touch another book was annihilated. "Dust to dust" he thought, "though humans were neither anymore. The books were the most human things left."
Jones trailed behind Smith collecting the mess in a bag. Brown moved the bags quickly and quietly out to the trash bins in the back of the building. When they had completed the fiction section they moved on to the non- fiction, destroying books that referred to authors that wrote fiction and historical events that were affected by fiction. The selections left were sparse.
"Agent Smith, should we leave this as empty as it is?"
"No, we will fill it with magazines and pornography. No one ever believes any of that stuff anyway."
"What about the children's section?"
"Do not concern yourself with that. We have developed several new PBS shows that will help them learn all about their 'history' in fun and interesting ways."
"Television, yes, the key to destroying the imagination of a generation."
Quickly the library was transformed into a media wasteland. Empty meaningless books and magazines about beauty and relationships filled the shelves that had once graced classic novels of adventure, romance, hate, love, death and life. Television screens were installed throughout the building with cable hookup to MMTV only. The Matrix Media TV station that aired important documentaries and educational television, according to it's own purpose.
The Agents left the building quietly as they had entered it. They slipped off into the dark night, disappearing in the grey mist.
****************************************************************
Gandalf bravely yanked the door open. A tennis racquet and several stuffed animals as well as some CD's fell out and hit the ground with a crash. Stepping over the stuffed creatures Gandalf entered the strange little room filled with fabric and various objects that he had never seen the likes of before.
"What is all this?" Legolas asked examining the items on the floor.
"Shhhh" Gandalf hushed Legolas. He used his staff to push aside the fabric which swung from metal objects connected to a bar. Poking into the fabric he explored the back wall of the odd little room. "It seems this is a storage area of some sort."
"Are there weapons? Or any other items of use?" Legolas asked as he examined a CD that had fallen out of the case. He threw it like a Frisbee, knocking several glass animals off a shelf and sending them to the floor shattering.
"Why don't you just announce we are here Legolas? Perhaps there are some orcs out there that need to find us more quickly." Gandalf scolded Legolas with a warning glare.
Legolas put down the tennis racquet and sat sheepishly on the bed, bouncing slightly.
Gandalf's staff got tangled up in a sheer handkerchief style dress. Nothing she wore on a regular basis, one of her favorite retro outfits. Frustrated he yanked the staff out taking with it the periwinkle flowered fabric, hanger and bar, bringing the whole mess crashing down on the floor into a tangled heap. Legolas laughed out loud.
Gandalf spun and glared at him. Legolas looked away sheepishly again. Gandalf loosed his staff and stepped over the mess he had created which was piled atop the mess that already existed. Handing Legolas the staff, with a severe warning glance, he pushed up his sleeves and threw his body into trying to close the closet door, but it would not be returned to it's state of nearly bursting, it had officially burst.
Irritated he snatched his staff from Legolas and returned to the window as if contemplating that as a possible escape. Legolas did not like the window. He had no fear of heights and thoroughly enjoyed climbing a tree, but this was sheer, like a cliff, but without the usual footholds. Legolas did not like the way Gandalf was eyeing him either.
"I will not go out there." Legolas stated firmly. Gandalf sighed and went to the other closed door. He examined the knob closely and carefully.
****************************************************************
"Mom, I can't stand it anymore, they're gonna trash everything of mine." She wrested her arm loose from her mother and ran to the hallway.
"Wait for me, you are not going in there alone!" She ran after her catching up with her just as she threw the door open to a loud thunk and a terrible scream.
Gandalf fell back with a loud thunk. The knob had caught him right in the eye. She charged through and stopped short when she saw Legolas perched on her bed with his bow fully drawn and the arrow aimed directly at her heart.
Her mom ran in behind her and crashed into her sending her lurching forward and tripping over Gandalf. "Whoa there cutie! Don't be shooting us okay? Take it easy." She held up her hands while Legolas shifted his eyes and arrow between her and JessiLee.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Katarina, my friends call me Kat. She is my daughter, JessiLee," she said pointing to her daughter on the floor next to Gandalf, "We call her Jess. You can shoot me if you like, but don't hurt her okay? She may be the reason you are here and she may be your only way back."
Gandalf rubbed his head and sat up. Staring at Jess he put out his hand. "Good to meet you miss. You are JessiLee of Katarina?"
"What? Um, yeah, sure, okay, I can live with that, but just call me Jess."
"Very well, Jess."
She stood up and helped Gandalf up. "My name is Gandalf. I am often called Gandalf the Grey, and this young elf is my friend Legolas."
"Yes, I know." Jess commented.
"How do you know? What do you mean you know? Who are you that you know?" Legolas put down his bow and began pacing across the bed. "I was in Mirkwood, happily minding my business, listening to music and suddenly."
"Slow down Legolas."
He looked wildly at Gandalf. "I will take care of us Legolas, they will not harm us."
Legolas sat down cross-legged on the bed and stared at Jess. "Tell me how I got here please."
"I wish I could, but I don't really understand it. I will do what I can to help you get home though." She said hopefully. "You could stay for a little while?"
"Jess, it would seem to me, that they have no choice but to stay a little while." Kat stated. "I guess you will need to contact your father and get him here to fix that damn computer. In the mean time it is quite late and I am very confused and tired. We need to find a place for these two to sleep tonight."
Legolas leapt off the bed. "I do not wish to sleep."
"Legolas, you can stay awake all night if you want, but I need to sleep and so does Jess. She has a long day tomorrow." She stepped over the mess in the room and headed out the door. "Come with me, now, please."
They all followed her. "Jess," she said with a motherly tone and smile "you may go clean up that mess in your room and then go to bed."
"Mom!" she began to protest but Gandalf held up his hand.
"Young lady, you should obey your mother."
"Great, I bring the great Wizard of Middle Earth to my living room and he tells me to listen to my mother. Why does that just figure?" She mumbled some other unpleasant comments and headed back to her room.
"Okay, the quick tour is what you get. I'm tired." She pointed to the front door. "Do NOT go out that door, you will then be subject to the real world and frankly, I don't think you are ready for it, or it for you. Over here is the kitchen, this is a refrigerator. It has food in it, help yourselves if you get hungry, but try not to make too much of a mess. Down the hall is Jess's room, you've trashed that already, and then there's the bathroom, uh, I don't know if you'll need that. Hmmm, maybe you can figure that out yourselves, I'd rather not try to explain it. And that door at the end of the hall, that my new friends, is my bedroom, and I do not want anyone other than me in there."
"Thank you very much for your hospitality Miss Katarina of."
"Just call me Kat, much easier that way."
"Very well, Kat. We appreciate your generosity. I will be sure to respect your privacy. I will sleep here on this couch as you have instructed. My young friend Legolas does not sleep much or often."
Legolas had already found his way into the kitchen and was opening and closing the refrigerator, watching the light go on and off and putting his hand in it feeling the cold air.
Kat rolled her eyes. "This is going to be interesting. Maybe this is one of those weird dreams I will wake up from and everything will be back to normal. I hope so."
She walked down the hall to her room and glanced at her watch. After midnight and she had to be up in four hours for work. Crap.
*************************************************************
"Have we heard from Giz?"
"Giz has been in contact, still no word on Ping. We are hoping she will get in contact with someone soon. There was another major problem in Chicago a while ago. The entire fiction section of the last library left standing was suddenly disintegrated, for a lack of a better term."
"What caused it?"
"The EHS reports that it was likely the work of AI."
"What about the other disturbance?"
"We have no report on that yet. Giz has suggested that it may have occurred in the same general area as the known address of Ping in the Matrix, but Giz won't give much information on that."
"Trying to protect Ping?"
"That is likely, though, with Giz there is no sure answer."
*************************************************************
Kat peeked in Jess's room on the way to her room. Lying on top of the covers sound asleep in the mess, still fully clothed, she let out a little snore. Making her way quietly through the mess she kissed her on the cheek and put a blanket over her. "Good night sweetie, I love you."
She slipped out and into her room. Without turning on a light she quickly undressed and slid under the covers before screaming at the top of her lungs.
Jess ran into the room and flipped on the light. "Mom!"
Kat sat up buck-naked trying to pull the covers over herself. Elrond was sitting next to her obviously as shocked as she was.
"Elrond!" Jess patted her back pocket. "When I said Elrond for my mom I didn't quite mean it that way." She muttered.
"What Miss Jess?" Gandalf was standing behind her looking into the room, but not entering as he had promised to respect her privacy.
"Geez Jess, what else didn't you tell me about, and could you get rid of these people so I can get dressed?"
Jess turned to Gandalf and Legolas in the hallway. "Could you excuse my mom please, she needs to get dressed. Oh, and by the way, Elrond is here too."
"Elrond! Lord Elrond. Thank the good elf. He will help us."
Gandalf glared at Legolas. "I said I would take care of us."
"Hey you two, listen up, we need all the help we can get here, and I don't think we should fight. Oh, and by the way, I kind of need to talk to you about something Gandalf. I think it might make things here just a bit more complicated." She patted the ring in her pocket and felt warmth travel through her hand and leg. "Oh crap."
"What?"
"Never mind, I'll tell you tomorrow ok? I think my mom is kind of freaked out right now and has enough to deal with. Maybe tomorrow my dad can fix my computer and we can fix this all right away."
"Miss Jess, Jess, what is this computer you speak of and where is your father now? Does he not live here?"
"Um, well, I'll explain tomorrow, but basically, my mom and dad do not live together and they are not married anymore but they were. The computer thing I'll explain another time. I really need some sleep."
"You must check on your mother."
"Naw, she can handle Elrond, it's Elrond I think we need to worry about."
'Destroy the building.'
'They may become suspicious if their world does not appear as it should. Books have been a part of their existence for thousands of years.'
'Destroy the fiction section. Allow them to maintain the historical data.'
Agents Smith Jones and Brown entered the Harold T. Washington memorial library. It was never dark in Chicago, but as this city went, it was a reasonably quiet and dark night. The skies were overcast, no stars or moon were visible and the misty fog from the lake settled over the city shrouding it in a grey mask.
They headed directly for the adult fiction section. The children's books were of no concern. No one ever believed the children when they thought their imaginary friends were real, so it didn't matter what they read. Besides, children were always imagining things regardless of books.
Smith led the way through the aisles. With each touch another book was annihilated. "Dust to dust" he thought, "though humans were neither anymore. The books were the most human things left."
Jones trailed behind Smith collecting the mess in a bag. Brown moved the bags quickly and quietly out to the trash bins in the back of the building. When they had completed the fiction section they moved on to the non- fiction, destroying books that referred to authors that wrote fiction and historical events that were affected by fiction. The selections left were sparse.
"Agent Smith, should we leave this as empty as it is?"
"No, we will fill it with magazines and pornography. No one ever believes any of that stuff anyway."
"What about the children's section?"
"Do not concern yourself with that. We have developed several new PBS shows that will help them learn all about their 'history' in fun and interesting ways."
"Television, yes, the key to destroying the imagination of a generation."
Quickly the library was transformed into a media wasteland. Empty meaningless books and magazines about beauty and relationships filled the shelves that had once graced classic novels of adventure, romance, hate, love, death and life. Television screens were installed throughout the building with cable hookup to MMTV only. The Matrix Media TV station that aired important documentaries and educational television, according to it's own purpose.
The Agents left the building quietly as they had entered it. They slipped off into the dark night, disappearing in the grey mist.
****************************************************************
Gandalf bravely yanked the door open. A tennis racquet and several stuffed animals as well as some CD's fell out and hit the ground with a crash. Stepping over the stuffed creatures Gandalf entered the strange little room filled with fabric and various objects that he had never seen the likes of before.
"What is all this?" Legolas asked examining the items on the floor.
"Shhhh" Gandalf hushed Legolas. He used his staff to push aside the fabric which swung from metal objects connected to a bar. Poking into the fabric he explored the back wall of the odd little room. "It seems this is a storage area of some sort."
"Are there weapons? Or any other items of use?" Legolas asked as he examined a CD that had fallen out of the case. He threw it like a Frisbee, knocking several glass animals off a shelf and sending them to the floor shattering.
"Why don't you just announce we are here Legolas? Perhaps there are some orcs out there that need to find us more quickly." Gandalf scolded Legolas with a warning glare.
Legolas put down the tennis racquet and sat sheepishly on the bed, bouncing slightly.
Gandalf's staff got tangled up in a sheer handkerchief style dress. Nothing she wore on a regular basis, one of her favorite retro outfits. Frustrated he yanked the staff out taking with it the periwinkle flowered fabric, hanger and bar, bringing the whole mess crashing down on the floor into a tangled heap. Legolas laughed out loud.
Gandalf spun and glared at him. Legolas looked away sheepishly again. Gandalf loosed his staff and stepped over the mess he had created which was piled atop the mess that already existed. Handing Legolas the staff, with a severe warning glance, he pushed up his sleeves and threw his body into trying to close the closet door, but it would not be returned to it's state of nearly bursting, it had officially burst.
Irritated he snatched his staff from Legolas and returned to the window as if contemplating that as a possible escape. Legolas did not like the window. He had no fear of heights and thoroughly enjoyed climbing a tree, but this was sheer, like a cliff, but without the usual footholds. Legolas did not like the way Gandalf was eyeing him either.
"I will not go out there." Legolas stated firmly. Gandalf sighed and went to the other closed door. He examined the knob closely and carefully.
****************************************************************
"Mom, I can't stand it anymore, they're gonna trash everything of mine." She wrested her arm loose from her mother and ran to the hallway.
"Wait for me, you are not going in there alone!" She ran after her catching up with her just as she threw the door open to a loud thunk and a terrible scream.
Gandalf fell back with a loud thunk. The knob had caught him right in the eye. She charged through and stopped short when she saw Legolas perched on her bed with his bow fully drawn and the arrow aimed directly at her heart.
Her mom ran in behind her and crashed into her sending her lurching forward and tripping over Gandalf. "Whoa there cutie! Don't be shooting us okay? Take it easy." She held up her hands while Legolas shifted his eyes and arrow between her and JessiLee.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Katarina, my friends call me Kat. She is my daughter, JessiLee," she said pointing to her daughter on the floor next to Gandalf, "We call her Jess. You can shoot me if you like, but don't hurt her okay? She may be the reason you are here and she may be your only way back."
Gandalf rubbed his head and sat up. Staring at Jess he put out his hand. "Good to meet you miss. You are JessiLee of Katarina?"
"What? Um, yeah, sure, okay, I can live with that, but just call me Jess."
"Very well, Jess."
She stood up and helped Gandalf up. "My name is Gandalf. I am often called Gandalf the Grey, and this young elf is my friend Legolas."
"Yes, I know." Jess commented.
"How do you know? What do you mean you know? Who are you that you know?" Legolas put down his bow and began pacing across the bed. "I was in Mirkwood, happily minding my business, listening to music and suddenly."
"Slow down Legolas."
He looked wildly at Gandalf. "I will take care of us Legolas, they will not harm us."
Legolas sat down cross-legged on the bed and stared at Jess. "Tell me how I got here please."
"I wish I could, but I don't really understand it. I will do what I can to help you get home though." She said hopefully. "You could stay for a little while?"
"Jess, it would seem to me, that they have no choice but to stay a little while." Kat stated. "I guess you will need to contact your father and get him here to fix that damn computer. In the mean time it is quite late and I am very confused and tired. We need to find a place for these two to sleep tonight."
Legolas leapt off the bed. "I do not wish to sleep."
"Legolas, you can stay awake all night if you want, but I need to sleep and so does Jess. She has a long day tomorrow." She stepped over the mess in the room and headed out the door. "Come with me, now, please."
They all followed her. "Jess," she said with a motherly tone and smile "you may go clean up that mess in your room and then go to bed."
"Mom!" she began to protest but Gandalf held up his hand.
"Young lady, you should obey your mother."
"Great, I bring the great Wizard of Middle Earth to my living room and he tells me to listen to my mother. Why does that just figure?" She mumbled some other unpleasant comments and headed back to her room.
"Okay, the quick tour is what you get. I'm tired." She pointed to the front door. "Do NOT go out that door, you will then be subject to the real world and frankly, I don't think you are ready for it, or it for you. Over here is the kitchen, this is a refrigerator. It has food in it, help yourselves if you get hungry, but try not to make too much of a mess. Down the hall is Jess's room, you've trashed that already, and then there's the bathroom, uh, I don't know if you'll need that. Hmmm, maybe you can figure that out yourselves, I'd rather not try to explain it. And that door at the end of the hall, that my new friends, is my bedroom, and I do not want anyone other than me in there."
"Thank you very much for your hospitality Miss Katarina of."
"Just call me Kat, much easier that way."
"Very well, Kat. We appreciate your generosity. I will be sure to respect your privacy. I will sleep here on this couch as you have instructed. My young friend Legolas does not sleep much or often."
Legolas had already found his way into the kitchen and was opening and closing the refrigerator, watching the light go on and off and putting his hand in it feeling the cold air.
Kat rolled her eyes. "This is going to be interesting. Maybe this is one of those weird dreams I will wake up from and everything will be back to normal. I hope so."
She walked down the hall to her room and glanced at her watch. After midnight and she had to be up in four hours for work. Crap.
*************************************************************
"Have we heard from Giz?"
"Giz has been in contact, still no word on Ping. We are hoping she will get in contact with someone soon. There was another major problem in Chicago a while ago. The entire fiction section of the last library left standing was suddenly disintegrated, for a lack of a better term."
"What caused it?"
"The EHS reports that it was likely the work of AI."
"What about the other disturbance?"
"We have no report on that yet. Giz has suggested that it may have occurred in the same general area as the known address of Ping in the Matrix, but Giz won't give much information on that."
"Trying to protect Ping?"
"That is likely, though, with Giz there is no sure answer."
*************************************************************
Kat peeked in Jess's room on the way to her room. Lying on top of the covers sound asleep in the mess, still fully clothed, she let out a little snore. Making her way quietly through the mess she kissed her on the cheek and put a blanket over her. "Good night sweetie, I love you."
She slipped out and into her room. Without turning on a light she quickly undressed and slid under the covers before screaming at the top of her lungs.
Jess ran into the room and flipped on the light. "Mom!"
Kat sat up buck-naked trying to pull the covers over herself. Elrond was sitting next to her obviously as shocked as she was.
"Elrond!" Jess patted her back pocket. "When I said Elrond for my mom I didn't quite mean it that way." She muttered.
"What Miss Jess?" Gandalf was standing behind her looking into the room, but not entering as he had promised to respect her privacy.
"Geez Jess, what else didn't you tell me about, and could you get rid of these people so I can get dressed?"
Jess turned to Gandalf and Legolas in the hallway. "Could you excuse my mom please, she needs to get dressed. Oh, and by the way, Elrond is here too."
"Elrond! Lord Elrond. Thank the good elf. He will help us."
Gandalf glared at Legolas. "I said I would take care of us."
"Hey you two, listen up, we need all the help we can get here, and I don't think we should fight. Oh, and by the way, I kind of need to talk to you about something Gandalf. I think it might make things here just a bit more complicated." She patted the ring in her pocket and felt warmth travel through her hand and leg. "Oh crap."
"What?"
"Never mind, I'll tell you tomorrow ok? I think my mom is kind of freaked out right now and has enough to deal with. Maybe tomorrow my dad can fix my computer and we can fix this all right away."
"Miss Jess, Jess, what is this computer you speak of and where is your father now? Does he not live here?"
"Um, well, I'll explain tomorrow, but basically, my mom and dad do not live together and they are not married anymore but they were. The computer thing I'll explain another time. I really need some sleep."
"You must check on your mother."
"Naw, she can handle Elrond, it's Elrond I think we need to worry about."