Chapter 2 Part 1

The door on the far left clicked, and everyone knew that it was open. On the screen, John picked up a large hourglass and flipped it. The sand started falling. The group turned to each other, tried to read each others' body language, but failed to do so. "So," Said Esther, "What do we do?"

Ivan said, "I doubt that this is real. This has got to be a hoax, or at least a gross exaggeration."

"What? The guy was just talking to us through a wall, how is that a hoax?" Said Esther.

Ivan said, "Well, obviously that's not a trick, we just saw it. But it was also just a picture, it doesn't mean that everything he said was true. What if we go in there and it's a trap? Maybe we're not supposed to go in there."

Esther raised her voice, "If he didn't want us here, then he easily could have left the front door locked. Or he could have told us not to go in there when he was speaking to us. Or, you know, he would have just left the door locked!"

Ivan raised his voice, as well, "Maybe he's just sick! You heard him, 'I look forward to meeting you.' What the hell is that? He's clearly nuts, this place is, according to him, something like 700 years old!"

Esther yelled, "So he was a little eccentric, who cares? Look, we need to go in there. If there's anything in there like what he just did with that picture, then we could be walking into a goldmine. Besides, if he really wanted to kill us, he would have done it by now. He could have just made spikes come out and stab us. Hell, he could have just locked the front door and let us starve to death. He unlocked the other door, gave us the option to leave, and left the front door unlocked."

Ivan calmed down a little bit, "It's still probably a big waste of time."

Esther didn't calm down, "Then we'll leave after we look! I'm going in. Listen, if nothing else, we should try to get that moving picture machine out of here. If we can get that back home and figure out how it works, then we could be rich just for that."

Ivan paused for a moment, then spoke, "I suppose you're right..."

Esther calmed a bit, "Even if he's exaggerating, and the stuff in there isn't world-changing, there should at least be a few cool machines we can grab and use. He also clearly has some sort of fuel here to run this stuff, we can grab that, too."

Ivan paused again, "What if it is as big as he said? Should we be the ones to find out?"

Esther, now perfectly calm, said, "Absolutely."

They both looked up at the screen to see that the hourglass was now half-way through. They both walked toward the door and stopped a couple of feet away from it and stopped. Esther took a breath, and stepped forward to open it. She reached out her hand to grab the door handle, and jumped out of her skin when Stephanie shouted, "Yeah! Let's do it!" Esther and Ivan both turned around and glared at Stephanie, who had her fists up in the air and a ridiculous grin on her face. She looked embarrassed, put her hands down, and wiped the grin off her face. Esther grabbed the handle and pulled on the door. It wouldn't budge.

"What the hell?" Yelled Esther, as she began pulling the door with all her might, "It won't open!" She then kicked the door and it swung in easily.

Ivan walked up to the door to inspect it and pointed at some writing above the handle, "This must mean 'Push'."

Chapter 1 Part 4

A thin man then appeared on the wall, and they realized that it was him speaking. The man was thin, with wavy auburn hair, and piercing, grey eyes. "Hello, and welcome to The Library Alexandria, Revision 2."

"Hello, what is this?" Said Ivan.

"My name is John Autumn, and I am the curator and founder of this repository of knowledge and technology."

Ivan looked annoyed. He waved his hand as if to get his attention. His hand cast a shadow on the wall, and he realized that his likeness was being shined on the wall from behind the glass. It was one of those situations where he knew that the man on the wall wouldn't talk back to him, but he asked anyways, because he figured that he couldn't embarrass himself if the man wasn't really there, but he didn't want to come off as rude if he was.

"If you can see this film, then that means that it has been at least 400 years since it was built. This also means that whoever is viewing this has made the discovery of a lifetime. It my time, humanity was making progress is science in technology at rates which are difficult to even describe. Disease and hunger had become all but unknown in developed nations of the day, and aging had been slowed considerably. However, this was all being destroyed by a global technological revolt led by extremist religious groups who saw the technology as blasphemous, and radical political groups who saw this as disruptive to their power.

These groups convinced many people from undeveloped nations to start destroying advanced technology and places of learning in their own countries, and then in the developed nations of the world. These groups were incited to destroy only the most recent developments of our day to slow the growth of science to a pace that the political and religious groups could control and use. It wasn't long, however, before pent-up jealousy and hatred caused these riots to spiral out of control into an all out war against knowledge and progress. It got worse as the same religious and political groups, when forced against the wall, turned on the same people whom they had led to start this revolution by using the latest technology they had at their disposal to fight off the rioters.

At the time that this library was sealed off, most world governments had declared themselves as being in a state of emergency. Marshall law is being imposed, quite unsuccessfully, in most of Europe and North America. The East was among the earliest, and hardest hit at this point. At this date, 2076, these riots have been going on for 4 years, escalating continually with no sign of slowing. Although the majority of people are not explicitly in favor of these riots, many of them are simply apathetic or rioting for other reasons. The outlook is grim, and that brings us to where we are now.

This is not your average public library. This place contains much more than volumes of science and literature. It contains step-by-step instructions for reconstructing the most important technological, industrial, and medical innovations up to my time. And, well, yes, it also has an extensive scientific and cultural archive as well. The point is that this library is effectively a seed from which a better life for all may sprout and grow forth.

If you step through the door on the far left, there will be additional instructions for what needs to be done. But, you must first understand that the effects it will have on you, your way of life, and perhaps even the rest of the world, will all be your responsibility the moment you step through that door. When I finish speaking, an hourglass will appear where I am now and the door on the left will be unlocked for 15 minutes. If you open the door and go inside, then it will remain unlocked and society will progress once more. If you cannot accept this responsibility, then allow the timer to run out. As soon as the last grain of sand reaches the bottom of the hourglass, then the door will lock, and remain locked for another 25 years.

Make a wise decision, and if you go through that door, then I look forward to meeting you."