Space Librarian

By Oscar A McCarthy

WHEN WE BURNED THE EARTH!!

Nikolai Tesser began his days as he always did, with a routine check of his data-miners. He was the proud owner of five machines, each processing at an Exabyte-per-second. Sure, they were a little outdated, but his custom hardware and clocking software made him more than comfortable with the information he was able to excise from the Exonet. He then went on to the less important checks of his little Star Jumper—life-support, food processors, and material waste converters. After all was done and the ship was humming to life again, Nikolai sat down to test out his latest acquisition: a new bit of software that supposedly allowed him to brew an exact replica of a pre-Burning single-origin coffee from his food processor.

According to his research, the foliage that originally produced this curious product had a long and dramatic history with ancient humanity, including sabotage, wars, and piracy—Nikolai especially liked that. Nikolai had never had any personally, but rumor was the Librarian himself enjoyed three cups a day from this very program.

Just as the steaming liquid began to spew into his chipped ceramic mug, he received the familiar beeping that signaled an incoming call at the front deck.

"Damn."

He grabbed a shirt on the way to the deck, slipping it on and managing to not spill a single drop of the scalding coffee. He had no idea it would process so hot; a person could get some serious burns from that stuff.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oscar A McCarthy
• Release date: Apr 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386417835

Book preview

A Day of No Importance - Prologue

UPON THE RINGS OF SATURN

Rest eternal the great Monument

Upon the Rings of Saturn

Upon the Rings of Saturn

Stands his Great and Holy Name

Upon the Rings of Saturn

I search upon the Rings

For the day of future-past

I search upon the Rings

I search upon the Rings

Till Doom's light illuminate

I search upon the Rings

—excerpt from the Obelisk of the Mind,

ca. 1.987 EK

A Day of No Importance

NIKOLAI TESSER BEGAN his days as he always did, with a routine check of his data-miners. He was the proud owner of five machines, each processing at an Exabyte-per-second. Sure, they were a little outdated, but his custom hardware and clocking software made him more than comfortable with the information he was able to excise from the Exonet. He then went on to the less important checks of his little Star Jumper—life-support, food processors, and material waste converters. After all was done and the ship was humming to life again, Nikolai sat down to test out his latest acquisition: a new bit of software that supposedly allowed him to brew an exact replica of a pre-Burning single-origin coffee from his food processor.

According to his research, the foliage that originally produced this curious product had a long and dramatic history with ancient humanity, including sabotage, wars, and piracy—Nikolai especially liked that. Nikolai had never had any personally, but rumor was the Librarian himself enjoyed three cups a day from this very program.

Just as the steaming liquid began to spew into his chipped ceramic mug, he received the familiar beeping that signaled an incoming call at the front deck.

Damn.

He grabbed a shirt on the way to the deck, slipping it on and managing to not spill a single drop of the scalding coffee. He had no idea it would process so hot; a person could get some serious burns from that stuff.

As he entered the deck he checked the encoding of the signal and heard himself curse for the second time this morning. It was an encrypted stream. He wouldn't be able to mine any of it, and an encrypted stream meant some potentially high value data. He took a breath, checked to make sure he was wearing a full set of clothing, and pressed the accept key. A shining, gilded automaton in the clockwork style that was so popular in Saturnine design appeared in front of him.

Nikolai Tesser of the Star Jumper Tesseract?

Speaking. He felt himself curse for a third time. A Saturnine operator meant a Saturnine Librarian, which was the last thing he wanted to deal with.

Do you willingly accept this call, knowing fully you may not and cannot attempt to mine for data?

Yes, Nikolai sighed, I accept.

Please hold while I connect your call. Be advised that any data you send will be mined for value.

Nikolai exhaled audibly as he waited for the holocall to connect. He hated these things. The three-dimensional image of a person just popping up in your home felt so invasive. On top of that, he was now receiving a call from someone in the Saturnine Branch, most likely a low-level Librarian, and the last thing he needed was for them to detect his data-miners. He wasn't exactly up-to-date on his licensing. In fact, he couldn't remember ever acquiring licenses to begin with. After all, Nikolai Tesser was a data pirate. What use were licenses to him?

A bulbous man in flowing orange and gold robes appeared in front of him. He had a shining bald pate, save for a thin ring of hair from temple to temple. Nikolai's interest was immediately piqued, and he felt his pulse quicken. The man looked at him and began to speak.

Nikolai Tesser? Former Lieutenant of the Martian Branch Colonial Brigade?

Speaking. With whom do I have the pleasure?

I am Aristotle Pine of the Saturnine Branch. I am speaking on behalf of His Greatness, the Librarian of the Gate of Saturn, the Watcher of the Obelisk of the Mind, and the Protector of the Found World. His Infinity has requested an audience with you.

Why would he want to speak with me?

I do not question His wisdom. He seeks to understand a conundrum and believes your distinct set of skills will be useful.

My distinct set of skills.

Specifically, your experience at data-theft.

Now hold on. I'm a legitimate business man. You'll find no evidence of piracy on this ship.

Your ownership of a Star Jumper is proof enough, Pine said matter-of-factly. Although, the five Exabyte-class data miners without any evidence on file of having ever carried a license essentially closes the case on that subject.