All Souls' Day

VII

"The great library," Phil said as he pointed to a stone grate on their right. The younger Christina stared in awe through that grate at a vast open space filled with ancient stone columns reaching up to unseen arches. Rows of bookshelves ran between those columns and extended off into the mists of a grand hall that seemed to stretch on indefinitely. "What we've been crawling through has essentially been a kind of ventilation shaft, as far as I can tell. It connects a number of key locations. This library is reserved for the acolytes."

"Acolytes?"

"Yeah, I've managed to sneak in when they're not around. Fortunately I'm fairly conversant with Paleo-Hebrew. The higher level documents are in the administrators' own language. And it's one that has a remarkable resemblance to Paleo-Hebrew."

"This all reminds me of that crazy cult up in Thousand Oaks."

"I remember that," the older Christina interjected. "Poor Wilson family. I wouldn't doubt if it wasn't connected to the administration here."

"More than possible," Phil said. "They have their hands in a lot of things. Anyhow, I've been studying here at this library for a while now."

"For the better part of a year..." the older Christina noted wistfully.

"Hey, remember this?" Phil asked her, as he pointed off to another light up ahead on the left side of the shaft.

"Ugh, yes."

"What is it?" the younger asked.

"The arboretum," the older replied bluntly.

As they came to that blazing light filtering through another stone grate, a painfully bright blur transformed to an entire landscape beyond that grate. To either side were rock faces. A rocky alcove framing distant hills. Lush and verdant hills dotted with trees. An entire river winding away from a rushing waterfall. And further still, the hazy silhouettes of distant mountains, all of which painted against a bright blue sky.

"Wow..." the younger Christina said with a gasp.

"It's all very lovely and all," the older remarked, "until you realize it's a cage. A fake domed sky. And metal flooring only a few feet below the soil. I never would have known if he hadn't shown me..." After she trailed off for a moment, staring out at that landscape, Christina quietly wiped a single tear from her worn face.

"Do you regret it?" the younger asked.

"No," the older replied, "no, not at all. I will always be eternally grateful to Phil for so many things. I wouldn't be here. You wouldn't be here." And then, under her breath, she half whispered, "I miss him so damn much."

"Phil?"

"The older me," Phil explained. "They... knew each other. Came in at the same time. And before that..."

"We need to keep moving," the older Christina interjected, before sniffing away a tear. "There's no telling how much time we have left after that wheel."