Everything in the library's sorted meticulously, to the point that it's almost improbable that people genuinely kept the library from falling into disarray with misplaced books.
The books meticulously sorted based on their size and weight, the heavier books remained on the bottom shelves, with the heaviest books at the very bottom. From upwards, the books become lighter and each corner of the library's broken up with different genres.
It'd appear that fiction writing wasn't something Time Lords did, all that's in the library revolved around history, schematics, nonfictional literature, hardly biographies, but that's expected as they're rigid about who gets remembered.
Worse, there's no sections for children, either, not a book with pictures that wasn't scientific anatomy.
Something that became apparent as Theodore and Lila walked through the aisles of the library in search for Laney as he's somewhere here, but it's difficult finding him among the aisles.
Like Vulcan, children born on Gallifrey revolved their lives around the rigid studies of Time Lord society. Compliance expected among them and nothing short of perfection from their parents.
Outliers, like Theodore's father, existed, but they're easily targeted for nonconformity and it's wise for them to play along, rather than stick out, at least until they're older.
Though, for Theodore's father, he didn't wait that long, stole the TARDIS at the age of sixteen!
Insane to think about, but with the man as he's known in life, it no longer surprised Lila, only surprised her when the Council wanted to exile a sixteen-year-old for merely taking something from the scrapyard.
He traveled for years after, only started getting into the idea of using his chosen moniker as a symbol, a proverbial insult to the Council that looked down upon him, around the tender age of twenty-five.
Met his future wife Sarah around the age of thirty, returned to Gallifrey at thirty-two, married Sarah at thirty-five, retired from his capers at forty.
Should've been a hero to Time Lord children everywhere, but unfortunately, the nature of it all, prevented children from aspiring their own travels.
With everything Lila learnt about Gallifrey, wouldn't surprise her that some children would've ran at the first chance in hopes of a different life.
How they fare outside the domed cities, hard to say, but if Mackie and Theodore's father made their marks, maybe with a little work, they can, too.
Scouring the long aisles until they broken up into a circular area, Theodore and Lila see a large statue in the centre of the library, the founder, with light shining above.
At the feet of the statue, they see a wide counter, made of chocolate coloured wood with gold trims.
On top, stacks of books, with scrolls rolled out in the middle, and judging what Raan told them, Theodore deduced this' Layne's work.
"What's the plan if Layne doesn't wanna help?" Lila asks him what he planned to do if Layne decided against helping him repair the TARDIS.
Perhaps he greedily protects the parts he obtained, perhaps he gets intrigued at a working 'machine' and wants to take it for himself, always room for things going wrong in their bizarre life.
"If he's collecting these parts, surely he'll want to see them put to good use," Theodore summed that he hoped Laney, seeing that a machine still works, wanted to see it survive, enough that he'd help them fix it.
Slowly nodding, her loose chestnut hair bobbing as she did, Lila walked with Theodore towards the counter, searching for Laney, among the tall stacks of books.
He wasn't behind the counter and Theodore caught glimpses of the scrolls of paper left on the counter. Schematics, as Raan suggested, not the schematics of the TARDIS, something else.
Couldn't tell what it was, as he skimmed through the scroll with Lila looking at the spines of the books, seeing similar circular shapes as she saw elsewhere, hard to describe, but they're like different states of the moon, from full moon, the empty circle, to eclipse, the blackened circle.
After Theodore gave her the knowledge of the language, what looked like nothing more than circles, became a written language, no different than English, and Lila's reading the spines as she went down the stack of books on the counter.
They're all manuals of some sort, the names of the devices they're for didn't come easy for Lila to say and she didn't get the chance at trying to say them when they heard movement from somewhere in the adjacent aisle.
Turning their heads, they see a small man, shorter than Lila, with a neatly braided platinum colored beard coming towards the counter with more scrolls.
He almost didn't see them until he bumped into Lila, his aqua eyes looking up at her instantly, with confusion.
"What's the meaning of this?" Layne squeaked as he recoiled with his collected scrolls. He didn't recognize them and nobody told him that there's anyone in the library.
Coming around the counter, Theodore looked down to Layne, saying that they're there to ask him for help, that he's the one with answers.
"Answers, why, if it's an answer you're looking for, you're in the right spot," Layne pointed out that they're in the library, they'll easily find their answers if they looked in the right places.
Shaking his head, Theodore responded that the answers they needed revolved around something the Council dismantled long ago, something that Layne's interested in, and Theodore needed his help, he had the parts.
Explaining to him that he has a machine, intact, but barely hanging on, made the little Time Lord's aqua eyes sparkle with intrigue.
Shifting in his spot, Layne mused that he didn't think another one survived the scrapping.
"Wait, there's another one?" Lila noticed that comment instantly and Layne nodded, his braided beard stiffly bobbing in the phantom breeze.
Layne worked at the scrapyard; it was only for a spell. He didn't last long, the Council had him fired after it came out that one of the machines went missing.
It happened one evening, Layne busied with his studies, he was sure everything intact, nobody goes to the scrapyard except him, but the following day, the Council ended up calling him to the court.
A machine, marked for scrapping, disappeared from the scrapyard, and since Layne was on charge, they punished him for losing it.
"That doesn't seem fair," Lila called out on the punishment, but Layne wasn't bothered, saying that he's glad the Council didn't exile him.
It came as a silver-lining when the second machine went missing after his replacement.
If he'd stayed then, the Council surely would've exiled him, believing him incompetent.
"What happened to it?" Lila inquired what became of the first machine, but the intrepid Time Lord replied that he doesn't know, it simply disappeared from the scrapyard, made no sense to him, as he checked everywhere before returning to his studies.
Never reappeared since, but the Council made sure that word didn't get out, they weren't pleased with something like it disappearing from the scrapyard, more that they left Layne with only a minor punishment for failing his duties.
If the other Time Lords found out, it'd be chaos, so the Council leaves him alone with his studies, and the parts he collected with a stipulation that he stays away from the scrapyard.
"What do you think happened to it?" Theodore asks him as he went around the counter, got on the high chair, and stacked the books on top of the scrolls.
An audible thud, Laney responded that he didn't think it even worked, too much of the components failed, worse than others, it'd be a miracle if someone managed to fix it enough without leaking radioactive material.
It was marked for one of the first machines scrapped due to the issues it had, but alas, it's nowhere on Gallifrey.
"How'd a machine like that go missing in a scrapyard without anyone noticing it somewhere here?" Lila grew curious as Laney told them that the missing machine seemingly disappeared from Gallifrey.
Which surprised him because of the sorry state it was in prior, but that nobody knew what became of it, it's odd, and Laney's sure that nobody got inside it, the lock broke on it a long time ago.
Nothing opens it and if the thief used a tool, he would've heard it.
"And when the second machine went missing, it amplified them wanting the rest destroyed," Theodore summed that because of the thefts, it pushed the Council over the edge, forcing their hands, and destroying the remaining machines in a bid preventing more thefts.
Laney's sure that the first machine's a broken mess, worse than anything he'd seen, that it's improbable someone managed to use it without dying horribly.
"Well, ours works for the most part. Unfortunately, it's falling apart, and I can't do much with it. None of the stuff I've used fixes it for long and I can't rummage for dark matter all the time," Theodore frowns as he explained how the TARDIS' in dire need of repairs.
He did everything he could with what he found on Earth, but it's not enough, and he can't risk his life for dark matter.
Illegal moonshine's temporary and finding 1200 proof whisky's tough.
The conductor coils on their last legs, about to break in seconds and the chameleon circuit's broken in spots.
Snorting, Layne remarked that of course the machine isn't repairing with what Theodore uses, he's using the wrong things!
"I coulda told him that," Lila commented as she shrugged.
His curiosity growing, Layne agreed helping Theodore with the TARDIS, only for his scientific inquiries, and keeping the parts away from the Council.
Already unhappy with the thefts, they'll sooner strip the parts for whatever needed, before admitting there's thefts.
Relieved, Theodore reached out to Al, and managed to convince the aging TARDIS to force itself in the library, once it did, the sight alone made Layne joyful at seeing the machine intact.
He's baffled at the choice of disguise, but Theodore said that it's been stuck like it since ever, and became an icon, of sorts.
Nodding, Layne replied that the chameleon circuit's fickle, sensitive, and a pain.
Within the span of minutes, the tiny Time Lord made trips back and forth, grabbing the parts and the schematics he squirreled away from the Council.
He said that they have time, the Council's in session, debating on matters that have no bearings on their like, and by the time they reconvene, they'll be too busy to notice.
Even the Council just wants to pretend they're not at work, only wanting to distance themselves for the evening.
While they're busied with repairing the TARDIS, Layne reading off the schematics as Theodore used the tools and parts, it gave Lila time roaming the aisles, since she knew nothing on fixing something like the TARDIS, and Layne taking charge immediately.
She ended up finding an aisle filled with yearbooks, she's able to read the spines, and they showed the semesters.
Out of curiosity, Lila searched for the yearbook with Theodore's father, intrigued by the thought of seeing the young Time Lord in his element before he ran away.
It took time, but Lila found it, delicately pulling it out of the shelf, and looked through it.
The words jumped out at her as she's reading through the little tidbits written in the yearbook, before she flipped through the pages until she stopped at the pictures.
Funny, seeing Time Lords using yearbooks, much less taking pictures of the students, but suppose there's a reason for it, whatever it may be.
Carefully flipping through the pages, Lila ended up catching that familiar nose, and a careful glance showed it's Theodore's father, in his youth, pictured with his class.
Of course, it's black and white, guess even Time Lords couldn't stand the price of printing in color.
Despite it in black and white, it showed where Theodore gets it from and Lila ended up looking at the other students in the picture.
Next to Theodore's father, there's a girl with long straight blond hair that draped over her shoulders, and her large eyes glistened in the camera flash.
She's one of the few that beamed with energy and that's saying something.
Curios, Lila searched for her name, and she found it after going through more pages.
Not an easy name to say aloud, but at least Lila's mind processed it with ease, even if she couldn't say it without sounding like she's trying to raise an Elder God from the depths of the sea.
Romanadvoratrelundar.
Try saying that name fast!