Abby - Ragged Pages Part 1 TG

Previously on The Abby Longbloom Tales...

Abby Longbloom, young explorer of parallel worlds, has been searching. Ever since the sudden disappearance of her father many years ago, she has sought clues in the reality-altering 'anomalies' he used to research. Despite her long travels, she knows she will find him again some day.

Her quest takes her to a farm in a fertile version of the Sahara desert where a family's cow has altered a young boy into a young girl. From there, she arrives in an alternate reality Boston named "Trimountain", where her special goggles tell her a pair of ever-burning panties reside.

Along with flaming underwear, she finds secrets, potential foes, and garish colonnades.

The competing seekers of the supposedly ever-immolating garment represent the Nuhaizi Corporation, a group of dark creatures, snake girl devoted, and those who wish to bring about an apocalyptic shift in reality known as "The Rift".

While all leave empty-handed, Abby gains new friends, connects with old ones, and earns a favor from an unlikely source.

Leaving behind this world…she prepares to step into the next.

The Ragged Pages of the First Book (An Abby Longbloom tale)

Young Abby Longbloom leaned forward from her bed and watched as her father's hand skimmed through the books on the walls. She knew he was going to pick the perfect one. He always did.

Finger to his broad chin, Demetrius Longbloom regarded the choices carefully.

With his free hand, he gestured as he talked, "Now, we know you have an aversion to princess tales…"

Abby stuck out her tongue for emphasis.

Demetrius smiled and pushed his glasses up. "So that's right out. Another science book, perhaps?"

Putting her hand on her chin, Abby thought that one through before answering, "Those are nice but I want a story."

With that in mind, Abby's dad turned back to the wall. The rows of books reached in a U-shape across three walls with seven shelves. There were plenty to choose from.

His eyes traced the covers. Some were bound in leather with golden-trimmed pages. Others had smart paper which changed colors as Demetrius neared them. Then there were the quiet ones, faded with old materials from before dust-repellent paper. And the quietest of all sat wedged between two mightier books with bold, bright titles.

The book stuck in place a moment before Demetrius pulled it from between the two. Once he had it, he turned it around a few times and softly brushed the cover. The pages were ragged at the ends and yellowed throughout. Demetrius remembered it instantly.

He held it out for Abby and asked her, "Do you remember this one?"

She pushed through her covers to get a better look before concluding, "Nope."

With a faint laugh, Demetrius cradled the old book, carried it back to his chair beside Abby's bed, and sat down. Abby pulled the covers up comfortably around her silver-blue nightgown.

A bright glimmer in his dark brown eyes, Demetrius looked at his daughter's expectant face and said, "This is the very first book I read to you more than five years ago when you were not even two years old."

Hearing that made Abby's eyes widen. She could scarcely imagine such an eon when weeks and months seemed an eternity. By her estimation, this book was truly ancient.

Looking at the book with all due reverence, Abby asked, "What's it about?"

Gingerly turning the first page, Demetrius peered through his glasses at the book. He looked like he was reading intently for a moment. Then, he relaxed before saying, "Ah yes…You'll find out soon and I'm sure you'll love it."

Abby buried herself even deeper in the covers, a delighted grin spilling over her face. She leaned towards her dad, arm underneath her. None of the quiet marvels of her room could divert her attention from her father. The filtered starlight through the special ceiling above provided the mood lighting.

Clearing his throat deeply just once, Demetrius looked resolutely at the page and began, "Once upon a time, there was a brave young girl on a long journey…"

----

Abby slipped back her goggles onto her forehead and looked at what was now in front of her.

She looked up and up and up…She had to stop when she nearly lost her balance. A vast structure loomed beyond Abby's sight into a sky dominated by its gray, ridged presence.

In golden letters, each bigger than entire buildings, it said, "THE LIBRARY."

Behind Abby, a vast park stretched out with multi-level apartment complexes. The horizon in the distance was filled by another immense, gray presence.

She had to admit the description in the goggles didn't do it justice. It had been some days and intervening trips before Abby decided to check out the goggles notification about a children's book in a library which feminized and reduced people in age.

Those days had been thankfully quiet and the trips uneventful. She laundered her clothes with the aid of her jacket a few times and had swapped to her brown flannel pants from pocket storage.

Dipping into pocket storage, she took out her blue scanner and began searching. After a moment, the scanner bleeped in protest. Abby poked it a bit till it begrudgingly told her, in more complex terms, "This place is really big."

It was big. Really big. It took Abby a moment to grasp just how mind-bogglingly big. Just what her scanner could work with was larger than her entire home solar system. And that was just a microscopic speck out of what seemed to exist. It was so much data that her scanner was on the verge of locking up.

Quickly, Abby reduced the range and the scanner returned to normal operations.

Looking up from the scanner, Abby couldn't help but marvel again at the size of it all. It had to occupy some untold span bigger than any world she'd ever encountered. It could well be a mass spread across an entire universe. Abby's analytical mind thought about that. Questions of how the gravity and air pressure didn't crush everything into a super-dense black hole immediately occurred to her.  

Even with its narrow search, the scanner could tell both gravity and air pressure were comparable to an Earth-like environment. Tapping a finger against her lip, Abby paced around a bit and finally had to shrug. She made sure the scanner logged the information but decided to explore further first.

The walk to the nearest section of the Library was about the length of a city block up sections of gray steps. Abby paused a moment to tap her foot on the ground. It felt like cement but the sound her boots made on it seemed closer to wood. Another oddity Abby decided to mentally file away for the time being.

As she got closer to the wall, Abby noticed there wasn't an opening in this area. She looked left and right and did a quick scan. No openings anywhere nearby.

Standing right in front of the straight, smooth side of the building, Abby leaned close and gave it a quick tap. To her surprise, the wall shifted with her touch to dark-tinted glass. A small section projected from the side like a door handle. With an easy pull, the door swung open.

Once inside, Abby's mouth dropped. The Library revealed itself to her all around. While she expected it to be massive from the outside, what she saw dwarfed her imagination. There were shelves after shelves in long rows, curving angles, and fluid geometric shapes. Books were everywhere and every color. Some looked like the most advanced books from back home. Some were heavy tomes which filled massive spots along shelves. Many were larger than Abby herself.

The floor seemed to be made of the same material as the outside. It had a different echo from her boot tap though. It still had the look of cement but now the sound of marble. Abby barely noticed this for the overload of books everywhere.

She giggled to herself and ran along the first aisle she could with her arms outstretched. Her fingertips brushed the covers of the books. She twirled in place and took a long, deep breath, expecting the taste of musty, old books on her nose. Instead, the smell was varied. The mustiness was there but it seemed very subdued. Instead, there was a slight fragrance of rosewater mixed with fresh paper and glue. Despite the variety of books, the pervasive presence was of newness.

Abby took another whiff. It still smelled new. It smelled pleasantly fresh but there was something about it. I smelled too new and too fresh. Abby leaned against a shelf and pulled out her scanner. She narrowed the scanning radius to just the nearest book.

It was a big, brown one about how to bake artisan bread. On either side were books about incense candles and the Great Sphinx. The organization seemed random. The scanner was quiet for a while, taking in information. Then it burst out with a sudden, tweeting discovery. It wasn't far from what Abby expected.

From behind her, a calm voice asked, "May I help you, miss?" Abby covertly slipped the scanner into her pocket before turning around.

The face which greeted her was something she didn't expect. It was pale as ivory and smooth as the face of a poseable drawing figurine Abby had once seen in an art class. The hands moved with little clicks and hisses. Visible gears and actuators showed at the wrist. The ivory coverings protected its hands like gloves but the internal structure of the figure's chest showed.

Abby couldn't help but smile at the workmanship. Silver and golden gears shifted and spun within it. Light puffs of steam issued every few moments from small vents around its neck.

The robot's hands soon settled to a low and passive position as it looked at her and waited for some reply. Abby answered, "I'm just looking. Marvelous library."

In response, the robot went through a quick nod. As she listened to its response, Abby realized the puffs of steam actually provided the voice for the machine. "Of course. Is there anything I may assist you with?"

Abby paused a minute and looked over the machine. She shifted her foot but made sure not to activate the special spot. After considering her reply a bit, she said, "I am looking for information. Can you help me with that?"

The machine straightened immediately, as if going into a set routine. "Of course. I am Library Assistant 416, or simply LA-416. I am here to help. Please follow me."

Abby followed LA-416 but covertly checked what her scanner had just told her. It had found the presence of advanced nanites, the sort which blew away any the scanner had ever seen. And yet before her stood a robot which would've been an antique a century before on her world. The contrast of technologies was another thing she mentally filed away for the time being as they walked.

The robot moved more quickly than she expected. It led her through a rotunda area flanked by shelves. Despite the spectacular height of the rotunda, something bothered Abby. So far as she had seen, the interior dimensions were relatively mild compared to the looming mass of the gray exterior.

Pondering her question carefully, Abby asked LA-416, "What's the best way to travel between levels of the library?"

LA-416's motion halted and it swiveled on noisy gears with a long hiss from its vents. Another hiss voiced the words, "Always transport lifts. Of course."

Abby nodded quietly and echoed, "Of course." That made sense to Abby. The massive level they were on was just one of many.

The robot watched her for a long moment before turning back and advancing again. Before she continued after it, Abby noticed a faint rustling behind her. She turned and saw a small silver eye peering from between a space in the bookshelves. With a flutter of yellow and a slap of feet, the eye dashed away.

Abby stood on her toes a moment to look but didn't follow the figure. She hustled to catch up with LA-416.

From the front area, LA-416 led her into a wider room. It looked more like a warehouse with dozens upon dozens of floors. The arrangement felt vaguely organic, like a fractal had been used for inspiration. Abby, despite any concerns, looked up and twirled a bit as she walked. Her smile beamed out at the rainbow of distant book covers. Even an eon of lifetimes would not be enough to count all that was stored here, let alone read.

But LA-416 led her onward to something which made her halt and gasp. What had been behind her was nothing compared to what was before her.

A shiver went through her as she tried to take it all in.

Her first impression was of a hollowed-out mountain. But there were no boundaries on the distant side. Shelves upon shelves reached out everywhere. A chasm split the sections. Within the chasm, nothing but shelves and stairs far above and below to the point that weather systems and fog seemed to cluster where there were no books. A misting rain fell into the abyss on one side, away from the books.

And there, occupying most of the center shaft, hung a snowflake-like design of shelves upon shelves supported on massive cables like a wind chime without a breeze. It turned slowly and silently, intersecting with itself like a kaleidoscope of books.

Abby breathed it all in, briefly considered taking a picture with her goggles, and found the same fragrance was as constant here as when she had first entered. The robot led Abby onto a narrow footpath to the chasm's kaleidoscoping section. At the center was a massive study area larger than any coliseum she'd ever seen in her life. To her relief, there was not a single colonnade in sight.

The journey ended at an unassuming brown, wooden desk with a name placard which read, "Alexis Rillera". The woman behind the desk sat with her eyes down and a book open. On paper beside the book, she seemed to be slowly drawing. Her clothes were a simple pink blouse and a pale pink top. Long, full dark hair shrouded her head and dipped far past her waist.

With a steam cough, the robot announced itself to her. Alexis looked up. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of Abby. She dropped her pencil. Stammering, she asked the robot, "Y-y-yes…?"

LA-416 bent an arm towards Abby and then back to Alexis. "This woman seeks information."

Alexis took a breath and carefully retrieved her pencil before nodding with her answer. "Of course…uh. I remember her. She's been doing research."

The robot nodded once and looked away. It said only, "Of course." And then it left. Abby leaned forward after a while but Alexis put a finger to her mouth and held out her hand. The robot took a circular path around before finally leaving, the sound of steam giving way to silence.

After waiting a moment more, Alexis released her breath and asked, "How did you get in here? You're not one of the guests or librarians. Were you changed by that book?"

Abby shook her head and inquired, "You mean the book which turns men into young girls?"

Alexis paused a moment but nodded softly. "Not sure I should say…but the Library Assistants are going nuts about it. The nanites can't do a thing with it. Three of the Librarians it changed have been 'sequestered' because they don't conform to the system records now. So how did you get in here?" Alexis looked around again cautiously with her question.

Abby answered with a tap of her goggles. "I'm a traveler from another universe. These goggles let me move between worlds."

Her eyes widening as she listened, Alexis stood from her chair and said, "We had a traveler once. He was 'sequestered' as well because he 'wasn't supposed to be here'. Set amount of librarians. Set amount of guests. And the numbers aren't supposed to change…ever. I have no idea how you got past the system…which might mean…" She pursed her lips and slowly nodded. "Come with me, please…You may the Library's only hope."