I blinked at the appearance of that hologram, the librarian. He seemed much more aware of my presence than the hologram that I had seen earlier in the help menu. No, this one seemed almost like he was present here, but that didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

“You seem to have some confusion. Please, ask your questions and I will answer.” The hologram’s voice was soft, but filled with understanding, a gentle warmth on his smile.

After a moment’s consideration, I strode forward and pulled a chair out from a desk. “Well, let’s start with the meta one then. What can you tell me?” I slid down to sit, leaning forward to watch the hologram, wondering if it would actually respond.

“Oh, well. That is slightly complicated.” The hologram pulled off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt in a thoughtful manner. “I am unable to volunteer information not directly related to your queries. And there are certain topics which must be unlocked via your path before I am allowed to go into detail about them. Certain restrictions, you see, were a necessary component of my existence.”

“And what is your existence, then? You don’t seem to simply be a recording, but,” I said. “And no offense here, but you’re clearly artificial in nature.”

“Oh, no offense taken. This body you see before you is indeed not the one I was born into. It is, in fact, a form of recording. You may have seen other holograms in your time studying the system.” He paused and waited for my nod before continuing. “Those are snapshots, like writing down a missive. What I am though is.” He trailed off then, falling contemplative.

“Yes, I am the ‘upload’ of my mind into the system. If it helps, you might consider this to be my soul.”

I shook my head slowly. “Are souls real? I was never much of a believer in that sort of higher power business.”

“Ah, such beliefs were widespread amongst my people, but I never shared in them myself.” The hologram, no, the librarian, I had to remember that he was more than just a hologram, flashed me a grin. “It is good to see that the manager is in line with my own way of thinking.”

I perked up a bit at that, the use of a proper title, but put it to the mind for a moment. “What do you mean by upload?”

“Ah, well, I was one of the engineers working on this project, and it was decided that someone would need to accompany the program to assure that the end user, the presumptive manager, would be able to maintain the plan to the utmost degree. It’s a very complicated plan after all.” The librarian has a conspiratorial glint in his eye as he said that.

“I’m perfectly confident you can complete it though!” He added very quickly, a brief expression of concern coming to his face. This was a very detailed hologram, very expressive, like a copy of a person before me. “But still, we wanted to have someone on the ground to make sure that everything would proceed according to plan. And with the nature of what was going to happen to our world, there was no way that a living body would survive the transition.”

I nodded, thoughtful at that. “Because your people were facing extinction.”

The librarian’s eyes flew wide. “How did you know?”

“Just extrapolating from some of the system message notes.” I waved a hand idly, though I watched his expression carefully.

His features smoothed to a mask of calm, but I could see the gears whirring behind his eyes. “Okay, yes. Things were not going well for my world. My species. We weren’t the first ones to suffer this fate though, though our hope is that we might be the last. And no, I cannot tell you how this extinction happened, that’s something that’s still locked.”

“So you accepted this upload as the only way of survival, and now your mind is stored in the system?”

“Yes. The system is remarkably large in terms of its storage space, though there is no indication that it was ever intended for this kind of storage. Once individuals figured out how to add database entrance and from there how to code information into the language of the system, more complex options evolved in terms of what could be saved from iteration to iteration.” A small smile played over the librarian’s features. “And one of the key bits of information saved was how to save information.”

“That makes sense.” I leaned back and briefly scanned over the interior of the library, wondering how these physical items had been coded into the system, though ultimately that was more a curiosity than anything pressing. “Institutional knowledge is key to any form of advancement.”

“Precisely!”

I leaned forward once again, settling my elbows onto the top of the deck and holding my chin in my hands. “So, this is how the chosen path you made for me was coded?”

“Yes.” The librarian sighed softly. “I know it must seem like an awful lot of work, but I can assure you that it is of vital importance.”

“What exactly is the goal of this path?” I spoke the question softly, wanting confirmation but already knowing the answer.

“To halt the extinction of all life on this planet.” The librarian’s voice took on a somber tone then, and he looked off to the side.

Now, for the question that had been burdening me since this all began. “Why me?” I instantly looked off to the side, feeling heat in my cheeks, as I internally berated myself for my foolishness.

“It’s not a bad question.” The librarian stepped forward, towards me, but was unable to leave that central-most ring. A chair appeared beneath him and he sat slowly, making sure his words were as careful as possible. “The process we chose was fairly complex, there were a number of values we had to consider.

“First, a basic level of engineering knowledge, with higher levels being prioritized fairly highly. Second, a strong ethical framework, which was the highest priority of all. Third, proximity to an empty space where the factory could phase into being without harming other sapient life. And fourth….” The librarian trailed off for a moment, before continuing in a softer voice. “Luck. Sometimes, it just boils down to luck.”

“So, I was just in the right place at the right time.”

“No, your skills and your worldview are also instrumental to you being chosen. No, you may not be unique in possessing what you do, but what you do possess is enough. I promise you.”

I looked down at my hands, the words hitting my chest like hammers. I squeezed my eyes shut and just sat there in silence for a long time, though I couldn’t tell quite how long had passed.

Finally, I cracked my eyes open again and looked back up to the librarian who had moved a distance off, staring into the middle distance. “What should I call you?”

He turned back then and tilted his head to the side. “I think that ‘librarian’ will do for now. There are things you must discover first before I can inform you too much of my people, and my name is very much a part of my people.”

“Okay.” I sat back up fully and considered my next question for a moment. “I know I need to build some walls and another ergon condenser, which means I’m going to need to tap that deposit fully. But also, I’m going to need food very soon, and I don’t really have any survival skills, which means that I’m going to need to get to my car where I have some snack bars which can keep me going, but I don’t know where my car is from here.

“Any advice?”

“Have you tried accessing your map?” The librarian raised an eyebrow and smiled in a kindly but still somewhat teasing manner.

“Map?” I frowned then thought the word. “God damnit!”

A large map popped up into my vision, almost all of it was blacked out, showing areas that I had not been or seen, but the entire crater was visible, as was a winding trail showing the path that I had taken from my car. I unpinched the screen to zoom in and saw that the map was largely abstracted, drawn in a watercolor adjacent style, but the factory was still clearly visible. Shockingly, so was the wreckage of my car.

“Okay, so what are the odds of this place getting attacked by monsters while I’m away?”

“Wondering if you should build the wall first?” The librarian considered for a moment. “The ergonic resonance of this place is still out of tune with the surroundings, though increasingly becoming less so. The monsters hunt by ergonic signatures, which means that this place should be invisible for the time being.

“But not forever. I’d say perhaps a day before creatures come sniffing around.”

I nodded and quickly stood. “A day, that’s fine. Plenty of time, so long as I don’t run into any trouble.” I turned to exit, before pausing and turning back to the librarian. “Can I store other things in my inventory besides things that I have created and gathered?”

“Just concentrate on them and will them into your inventory and they will do so. The process is also reversible.” The librarian’s expression seemed brighter now that I was getting ready to actually do something.

“Okay, good. That should be everything I need to know for now.” I paused once again. “Will you be alright here without me?”

“When the library is not in use, I fall into a state very similar to sleep. I will be fine.” He smiled and made a scooting motion. “Go, your adventure calls!”

I felt reinvigorated, with a plan of action ahead of me, a map to guide me, and the promise of something edible in my stomach by the end of it. I’d definitely need to ask the librarian about the other facility options, especially the cafeteria, after the wall got built. In the meanwhile, I hurried down the stairs and out into the crater.

After resizing the map’s window, I swung it over to the side of my vision, letting it rest there out of the corner of my eye as I began the return trip to my car.