Flash Fiction by Edie Arks

Our Greatest Treasure

***

Prompt #12: In a post-apocalyptic world, a group of survivors stumble upon a library and realize that the stories within might hold the key to rebuilding society.

***

Baba used to tell me about the day the sun exploded. It wiped out most life on the surface, and the few that prevailed had no choice but to continue living. So in the dying light of the red sun, they communed and persevered. To this I always reminded him that ice will completely encase the Earth soon, and we won't survive the change. He'd shake his head every time.

Life finds a way, he would say.

"Professor?"

Dejen's voice pulls me out of my daydream. I turn to him, puzzled, before noticing that we've stopped walking. "Seyyal and I were wondering if you can read that."

My eyes fall on the looming formation before us, which I initially thought was just another dune in the desert. It's not.

A building of stone and metal stands in our path, though half of it is submerged under the sand. A broken plaque hangs by a screw on a collapsed wall. I fish out a small book from my satchel and thumb through its worn-out pages, trying to match the script on the plaque with the ones I've jotted down in my notes.

"This might be... Arabic," I suggest, immediately writing down a Latin transliteration. "The vowels aren't marked, so this is all I can make out of it."

مكتبة الإسكندرية
mktbt aliskndryt

"Sounds promising," Dejen shrugs as he retrieves some rope from his bag. "I'll take a look inside."

The young man circles the structure and finds an opening, where sand has been trickling in through the broken glass panels. I watch him slide down and, after a few minutes, hear him call out to us urgently.

"Come down! You need to see this!"

Seyyal flashes me a worried look before she jumps in. I quickly follow after.

A hollow thud echoes out when my boots meet the ground. I lower my head to see wooden flooring beneath me, and it's covered in gritty papers for as far as I can see.

No, books. Piles, on piles, on piles of books.

"Well, there's your answer," I say to Dejen.

He chuckles, picking up and dusting off a leather-bound book from the floor. "I thought they used up all the paper to power the Generator."

Seyyal waves a hand to catch our attention before pointing up. Lifting my head, I see more bookshelves that seem to go on endlessly into the sky. I climb onto a fallen shelf and clamber over the metal rail of the upper floor.

A few small tables line the dusty corridor, all equipped with a black standing screen and a board with Latin letters. I fiddle with the buttons and switches, but they remain as lifeless as everything else in the library.

I amble along the edge of the shelves stacked high upon each other. Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, the labels read one by one. Sigh. If it wasn't for this mission, I'd drop everything and dive straight into this tall pile of books—

Bump.

I look down. A stool lies on its side with a hefty-looking book propping one of its legs up. I must've knocked it over in my trance.

Crouching down, I set the stool aside and lift the book into my hands. Its white cover is mostly worn down by sand, but a few words from the barely embossed parts in the middle read as Ice Age. Then I glance at the section label hovering above me. Historical Geology.

Curiosity takes over me as I pry the book open and flip through its frozen pages. Countless illustrations I don't understand fly by my eyes, filling my head with fascination. Most words in the book make no sense to me, but it does tell me one thing: humans have lived through extremely icy days... and survived.

"Professor!" Dejen's voice pierce through the stagnant air to alert me yet again. "Seyyal has a message for you!"

"Coming!" I respond as I quickly gather my belongings.

Peering down from my position, I see the pair weaving their hands in intricate movements. As soon as I rejoin them, Seyyal scurries to me and starts making the same movements with her hand.

She first points to herself, then shapes her hand into a claw that she moves from her neck to her chest.

"That means she's hungry!" The boy rushes to my side, holding an open book in his hand. "She learned it from this book for no-speak people."

Seyyal nods excitedly before she snatches the book and hugs it close to her. A bewildered Dejen turns to me, probably to gripe, but stops when he sees the withered book I'm carrying.

"You too, Professor?!" He laughs in disbelief. "Okay, but the rest goes to the Generator."

I chew my lips, for a moment hesitating between the mission and a silly, dangerous idea. But my mind's already made.

"We can't do that."

Before Dejen can retort, I hold the white book out for him to see. "Look, I think I found something that can help us endure the cold more efficiently," I start, "but I need the other books to help me understand this book."

Dejen doesn't look convinced. He's staring past me; a sign of his pessimism. So I continue.

"Listen, this library is our best discovery yet. It already helped Seyyal communicate better with us. Imagine what else we can learn!"

My speech is met with another prolonged silence. I let my arm drop to my side.

"Please, trust me on this."

Dejen's eyes flit to Seyyal, looking for reassurance. She ponders for a second before raising her hands.

She points to herself. Taps a finger to her temple. Clenches her hands into fists and lightly knock one on the other. Then points at me.

Whatever she gestured must have been good, because Dejen finally breaks his silence with a sigh. "Trust, huh?" He rubs his nape. "So... what should we do?"

Relieved, I pat his shoulder and give it a grateful squeeze. Baba's words ring at the back of my head, clearer than ever now.

Life, indeed, finds a way.