The Vaulted Bookbank.

The large wooden doors swung in soundlessly. Ravi’s hand had barely pressed against them. He stepped in, and as soon as he was past the doors, they shut silently behind him. Ravi looked back at the door, it was long, impressive, cracked and frayed yet looked really solid.

Ravi adjusted the satchel from his side and walked forward.

“WELCOME.” Boomed the large alien behind the desk.

“Hello.” Ravi said.

“Hmm, usually humans are a little more excited when they reach this place.” Said the large alien peering down the end of his long nose at Ravi.

Ravi looked up at the alien and scratched the back of his head. “Well, it’s just a library, isn’t it?”

The alien grew pensive, leaning back on his chair and staring wistfully at the ceiling.

“Ah, you young ones don’t know the pleasures of libraries. And this library…this library is extraordinary. It was setup by the Inter Galactic Association of Human Literature Enthusiasts and is the biggest library of its kind.”

Ravi shrugged his shoulders and said, “It’s just a library.” He looked around the room, at the large corridor lined with shelves that stretched on either side of the Librarian’s chair as far as the eyes could see.

“My dear boy, just a library? There are over 106 billion stories here, captured from birth till the very last breath. 7 billion more stories are being written right now, including your own.”

“Yes, that’s cool.” Ravi said, looking around again. “Where are the writers? Some hall away from this library?”

“My dear boy, we don’t divulge our secrets.” And the big alien winked at Ravi.

“So…Ravi Nagpal?” said The Librarian, “that’s your name, boy?”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing here? And how did you find this Library?”

This time Ravi looked down at his feet, then looked around. “I…found out about it in a book. It wasn’t easy but I made it.”

“I know it wasn’t easy, boy. We make it hard. We make it very hard. How old are you again?”

“I’m 16.”

“16, eh? That’s young for a human. Who did you have to defeat?”

“Well, there was a dude who kept saying Gror, gror. Big, ugly, tentacles all over?”

“Ah, you met Gror. You were lucky. He’s the runt of the litter but don’t let my mother hear that. Or Gror, bless him. Still, you have earned your right to the library.”

The Librarian picked a box near his arm and blew on it. Large amounts of dust spread all across the table. “We haven’t had a visitor here in years! You’re the first one after a long time.” then The Librarian stopped and looked at Ravi. “Are you sure you’re 16?”

“Yes. Positive.”

“Hmm, sound a little excited, eh? And you’re one of the youngest who’s ever been here. The others kids were…special. Oh, they were wonderful little kids. You must be pretty special too.”

Ravi just shrugged his shoulders in response.

“Oh, a quiet one. Here’s your pass.” Said The Librarian handing over a large slab made of a big block of diamond. “This, you get to keep. And any and all knowledge you gather when here. You also have my services for as long as you like.”

“Yeah, thanks for the pass. I don’t really need any service. I’ll find my way.”

“Well, boy, think of me as a tour guide. I’m going to have to accompany you. I could keep some distance, but you got me as long as you’re here.”

Ravi looked down at his feet and then looked up saying, “Fine. So be it. Let’s go then.”

“What do you want to read first?” asked the Librarian.

“My book.”

“Ah, always the first choice. It’s good to learn more about yourself. Gives one some perspective.”

“Whatever.”

“Well, the other younger kids did so as well. And oh they read so much. I think once they were done they had enough information to rule the world. Which, if I remember, they did. One of them was a young boy called Alexander? Heard of him?”

“A little.” They had both begun to walk down the corridor. Ravi kept throwing glances at the shelves to their side. The shelves seemed to go on forever and forever too.

“Yeah, he came quite a long time back. I remember it like it was yesterday. He had really curly hair. And I think he had an army that helped him. Who was helping you?”

“No one.”

“Ah, you did it alone? Well that was managed by one woman quite a long time ago. But that was like the beginning. I think she was Athena or Saraswati, she went by many names. Don’t really remember now.”

“Okay, that’s cool. Can we go faster?” Ravi said, looking at The Librarian.

“My dear boy, all in good time! We will get there soon enough. You have plenty of time.”

Ravi took a deep breath and said, “Fine. Less talking though.”

For a while they both walked in silence. The human with the curly hair and the tall and fat alien whose appearance was one of uniform fat that rolled all across his body.

They walked deeper and deeper into the library. Ravi kept his head down, while The Librarian kept looking around, a small smile playing on his lips.

“It’s been so long since I walked down these corridors. I’m usually confined to my desk. There’s always so much work, the bureaucracy is killing it’s own workers. One form at a time, I tell you. Paper cuts can be nasty, you know.”

Ravi nodded, still looking at the floor, only occasionally glancing at the shelves around.

“But this rule, one where I have to accompany humans through the Library. It is quite nice. Also necessary, since the humans can die. We have had some cases where they got lost. They were found trying to chew on the books, but our materials aren’t the conventional book material and they are indigestible for humans. Still, we also have some snacks and water all around now. So that humans don’t die, if they come. But I think it hasn’t been replaced for a long time now.”

“So I shouldn’t get lost or I could die?”

“That would be best, Ravi. I wouldn’t like that kind of thing on my records. Seriously, if you die then don’t die over my records.”

Ravi nodded and kept walking. The Librarian took a left turn between two shelves.

“You don’t mind all this walking do you?” Asked The Librarian.

“This is easy. Let’s keep walking.”

Soon they stopped.

“Ah, there you go. That’s you isn’t it?” The Librarian pointed at a shelf. Ravi followed his gaze and moved forward, going through the names of the books on the shelves and selecting the book with his own name.

“Yes. It is me.” Ravi said, thumbing through the pages quickly.

After a little while he put the book back in the shelf and said, “Let’s go. I need to check another aisle.”

“But my dear boy, you barely had a look through that book.” The Librarian said, hurrying after Ravi.

“Also, do you know where you’re going? Perhaps I could be of assistance?”

“I know where I’m going, you can follow or you can leave. I know the way from here.” Ravi said, walking even faster.

The Librarian followed him silently now. They both turned left and then right and then left again, always walking deeper and deeper into the library.

“It’s been while since I visited this section.” The Librarian said.

Ravi barely even glanced at The Librarian, he just kept on walking.

And then Ravi stopped.

“Here. Here it is.”

“Here what is?” But Ravi was already walking towards the shelf. He paused briefly, his hand hovering over the cover of a book. And then he reached out and took it in his hands.

He held it almost reverentially, running a hand over the mottled leather cover, running his finger through the pages.

“Whose book is that?” Asked The Librarian.

Ravi ignored him and instead focused on the Chapter in front of him.

Son of Ajeet Nagpal, Ravi Nagpal.

Ajeet stood outside the tent when his son was born, he was tensed and had walked out to get a breath of fresh air. He couldn’t see his wife in all that pain anymore. So he stood outside, away from the other men who made light jokes on Ajeet’s account.

Ajeet appreciated the humour but he couldn’t be a part of it right now. There was something in the air that night, it didn’t sit well with him.

“Our men are in position?” He asked one of the men standing near him.

“Yes. You need to relax Ajeet. You’re gonna have a son soon. The alien scum can keep out today. You just relax, okay?”

“I know, but I’m not able to relax tonight. There is something amiss. Ever since the aliens started helping us with these biographies, things haven’t always gone smoothly. It’s all over human history. How do we not see it?”

“Look, you’re just paranoid. There’s nothing nefarious…” From the distance came a small rumbling sound. It sounded like a small explosion, but it could be one of the mountains around them having an avalanche too. Either way, their vision was blocked.

“Get me the scout report, now.” Ajeet barked the order and turned back to the tent.

He stepped in the tent and asked the doctor on duty, “How is she doing?”

“She’s fine, it’s a normal childbirth.” Ajeet nodded, looking down at his wife. She briefly glanced his way then turned away in pain.

“Doctor, you need to pack up and leave with my wife. I expect things to go wrong very soon.”

“But the child is coming.” The doctor said, pointing to his wife.

Ajeet’s face contorted as he heard more booming sounds from outside.

“Then hurry. And get moving. I can only hold things for so long.”

Ajeet stepped out of the tent after that, and he found one of his scouts running up to him.

“They’re coming, they have a massive force covering all sides. They know where we were, they have ambushes all across the valley.”

Ajeet closed his eyes, a brief moment of realisation dawned on him.

“Evacuate as many as you can. Anyone and everyone. If the aliens are the noble creatures that they say they are, then they will let them leave.”

Then Ajeet ran to the tent of the chief doctor. He found the doctor hunched over a table. Yanking the doctor up from the shoulder, he looked him right in the eyes and said, “Tell me who did not get the biographer from the aliens.”

“The new borns, and some of the nurses, I think. They give it to everyone, it’s been going on for generations. You know that.”

“Which nurse?” Ajeet asked, gripping the doctor tighter.

“I think Charulata is one, she never got it and refused later.”

Ajeet found Charulata and grabbing her from her tent dragged her over to where his wife was. He found a crying baby boy in the arms of the doctor.

“How is she?” Ajeet asked, pointing to his wife.

“Healthy and happy. So is your son.”

“Give him to me.” Ajeet said, taking his son in his arms. He looked at the tiny boy, holding the wrinkled face in his memory.

“Don’t trust The Librarian.” he said to the boy and then handed him over to Charulata.

“Go, run with him. Don’t come back.”

Charulata took the boy in her arms and looked around the tent. Ajeet point at the door and said, “Go, NOW!” She looked around and then ran out.

Ravi closed his eyes for a moment, absorbing what was written on the pages. Then he closed the book and put it in his bag. Turning around he reached inside his pocket for the tiny gun that he had in his pocket.

“Is everything alright, my dear boy?” Asked The Librarian. “You seem a bit shaken.”

Ravi smiled at The Librarian and said, “I’m fine.” Then Ravi shot him.

— — —

Written in response to the following prompt:

“You discover a library with a biography for everyone on Earth. While reading your own, you notice that whenever someone else is mentioned, there’s a footnote showing where you can find their biography. It’s odd how someone who was only a sentence in your book has a whole chapter for you.”