#48 Unity, part 2

(Previously, in Shelver Explorer: Shannon summons the ghosts in the library, ad I discover one of them. Together we make plans to infiltrate Council to find documents which will reveal the corruption of BiblioTech. SIR overhears us (can a robot even ‘hear’?) and attacks.)

I dropped and rolled under the Large Print shelving as SIR sped towards me. I managed to avoid its attack but suffered in the process as my T-shirt snagged on a loose hook. As I crawled out from underneath, I heard a RIIIIIIIP sound as half of my top tore away. Feeling exposed in both senses of the word I grabbed a display poster proclaiming the library to be a World of Learning and held it before me. SIR stopped midway through its retaliation strike, confused at the sudden disappearance of its prey. There was a loud THWONK followed by a couple of ZAPs and a BRRRRR-CHUNGGGGGG, and then silence.

I peeked over the poster and saw Shannon holding the heavy Reference book and panting. She was standing over the battered ruins of SIR. She looked up at me with a glint of mischief in her eye, and thanked me for creating a diversion for her. I felt a pang of bereavement for the fallen warrior, but quickly reminded myself that it had just tried to kill me and had almost put me out of a job before. Revenge is a dish best served cold and from behind.

We fitted our camouflage gear in the toilets then waved goodbye to the Book Man and the other ghosts. We left the library via the staffroom. Council is right next door so we didn’t have to travel far. As we walked we talked. Shannon had found out about her father’s ghost after working here for a year. She developed a bond with them, and began doing a four year librarianship course so she could work alongside her dad. I never knew this about her, but now I think I get why she was so spiteful towards me.

We snuck into the council building. Shannon went ahead to deactivate the security system, and returned a few minutes later with a smug look of vandalistic satisfaction on her face. We wove through the many corridors until eventually we came to the Archives. Tentatively I opened the door and discovered a room filled with wall-to-wall folders. The Book Man floated out of one of the walls, startling us both until I remembered that this room was a kind of library in itself.

The ghost led us over to a particular corner and pointed to a folder. I grabbed it and held it so Shannon could see too. I read the documents. They all looked legit, to the untrained eye, but as a shelver I have the ability to notice fine details at a glance – it comes in handy when shelf-reading Reference books and having to pay attention to the 20th decimal number. I found something that looked out of place, something about Viktor…

Before I could finish an alarm siren sounded. Red and blue lights flashed in the corridors and in every room. Shannon wasn’t fazed, just looking mischievously guilty at being caught out. I shoved the documents into a duffel bag like a petty thief and we ran for the exit.

As we were about to turn the last corner Shannon grabbed my shift and pulled me back. I snuck a peek around the corner and spotted two burly security guards blocking the exit. They didn’t look like they were going to move aside for us, and we couldn’t tackle them. One cleared his throat and announced that they knew we were in there and oh boy were we in trouble and that we had better come out with our hands above our heads or there would be hell to pay. Things weren’t looking good for us.

To be continued...