Lost In Thought

Blocked

The Doctor:

She needed something she knew. A place that could show her that just because her Archive died on Gallifrey with the Matrix, didn't mean she couldn't rebuild. Plus, I kept getting evils regarding the overdue Library book. So, it was safe to say I was finally following the note from the psychic paper.

"Books. People never really stop loving books." I told them as we went into a book alcove. "51st Century By now, you've got holovids, direct to brain downloads, fiction mists, but you need the smell. The smell of books, Donna, LizBeth. Deep breath."

Sister dearest was loving where we were, a vibrant purple streak in the front of her hair now. "Don't have to tell me. The Library. so big it doesn't need a name. Just a great big The. I always wanted to document this place in my Archive, but it was protected."

Donna was in awe. "It's like a city."

Better than that. "It's a world. Literally, a world."

"The whole planet is the index computer. Second biggest hard drive ever after my Archive, but mine also held the memories of every Time Lord who lived." Yeah. Still slightly terrified what your computer system told me. "Up here is a physical copy of every book ever written. Whole continents of Jeffery Archer, Bridget Jones, Monty Python's Big Red Book. Brand new editions, specially printed." And I pulled her back quickly as she leaned over the balcony edge. I was still used to her being mildly suicidal, so, no long drops. "Oh, I think this is biographies. I love biographies."

"Yeah, that's very you, Lizzy." Donna smirked. "Always a death at the end."

That made her stop, face falling, but I covered for her. I looked after my sister as best I could. "You need a good death. Without death, there'd only comedies. Dying gives us size." She picked up a book so I snatched it. "Way-a. Spoilers."

"What?"

Liz smiled,  running her finger along the spines of the books. At least this was making her happy. "These books are from your future, Shiny. If you read ahead, you'll spoil all the surprises, like peeking at the end."

"Or reading the mind of the person buying the Christmas presents."

That got me a middle finger, but I stuck out my tongue. "Isn't travelling with you two just one big spoiler?"

Yes, but mostly by accident. "I try to keep you away from major plot developments."

"Badly!"

"Shut up and read whatever you're reading!"

"Bite me!"

"I would but you're covered in hair dye!" That was a big echo. "But yeah, I do seem to be pretty bad at it, because you know what? This is the biggest library in the universe. So where is everyone? It's silent?"

My sister tilted her head to the side. "I... I can't hear... It's like, it's a whisper, a... A child." Her nose bled a little. "And there's more."

I quickly rushed over to close her mind as she kept taking it in. "Okay, there we go. Don't try that again, there could be some sort of virus in the Index. Come help me with this."

She nodded, wiping her nose and gave me a hand with the screen terminal. "Maybe it's Sunday?"

"My brother is against Sundays. There's nothing on the system, so what could I hear? I could definitely hear something." Which was when I got glances at. "Why are we here really? Because your walls have been up since you decided."

"You like books, I like books, and you needed a distraction." And changed something on the screen to distract us both. "Now that's interesting."

Her eyes widened. "The hell? That's what I could hear. There's no humanoids beyond us, at all, but if you extent it then there's more than it can count. A million-million, then it gives up the ghost."