A night at the toilet

-report continued-

We spent quite some time repairing the collapsed stack, and I must have seemed been a bit annoyed at that, because my Guide explained that for her, this is a short "expedition". Usually, they stay about a week inside, doing several repairs and other maintenance work. 

We continued our way deeper into the Book. The smell of old paper deepened - records are kept on special acid-free paper that stays good longer. Amazingly, paper and parchment remain one of the most long-lived way to store information. Magnetic tapes, spintronics, optical storage, all the modern techniques turn out to have a shorter lifetime. Only chiselling something in rock beats paper.

The day ended with some climbing. Using the scaffolding and the stacks rather unceremoniously, Guide Maslan clambered all the way up to the ceiling to replace a broken light. After that, we made our way to sanitary station C13-4R4. It’s a toilet in what used to be a visitor’s area, before the area was swallowed up by the ever expanding records. It is still functioning, there are some sinks with running water too. We set up camp for the night and ate a simple dinner. No cooking on fire, since the fumes are not good for the records.

It was hard to catch sleep. Sometimes, you see lights going on in some distant part of the Book. Are there others supposed to be here? Guides working late? Or do the motion-automated lights get triggered by accident? By rodents? Then there were noises. Creaking wood. Something that sounded footsteps. Guide Maslan was sound asleep quickly enough and I did not want to wake her. It was not a comfortable night, my imagination was fueled by the stories of the Keepers about zombie librarians roaming the stacks.

-to be continued-