innovate-issue-005

The Library – Chapter TwoI carried a couple of additional books across to the table, then decided I would be less conspicuous if Iactually sat and did some reading. I had of course no writing implements upon my person, and theredid not seem the likelihood of borrowing or buying any from here, so I tried to commit what I could tomemory. I attempted to read something of Germany, but the closest I had been able to find had been abiography of "King Frederick William V of Prussia". Similarly, I had looked for something onVictorian Britain, but had ended up carrying to the table the curiously titled "Deeds of The Magi -British Politicians of the Golden Era".The world I read about became increasingly strange the more I read. Roundell Palmer had been PrimeMinister of Great Britain in the 1870s, and it was his government which had finally ended the so-calledArctic Freeze with Russia and brought Tsar Nicholas II's government to the table. The original treatyfrom 1865 had long since been torn up, and a new one was hammered out in London to reflect currentrealities. Louis XX's France had taken some persuading but had eventually signed up to it, and afterthat it was not long before even the Ottoman Empire had agreed to waive the lost clauses from 1865and make the best of the present.Palmer had been created in quick succession earl, and then Duke of Selborne...by a grateful KingFrederick I of Great Britain"Who?" I said aloud, then swallowed the question. Who on Earth was King Frederick I?I found something of an answer in the biography of Louis XX - Frederick I had succeeded his uncleGeorge IV as monarch of Great Britain in 1830... The Duke of York had been called Frederick, and thenon-accession of William IV appeared indeed to indicate that this king was in fact York's son. I knewwell that he had never had a son, or a daughter for that matter, but what I knew was no longer relevant,or important. In fact what I knew seemed merely to be a counterpoint to what I was finding out,something for me to hang the names on, to form an idea in my mind of what things meant.My watch beeped and I looked down at it in surprise. One o'clock! I had been so absorbed in what Iwas doing that I had almost missed lunch! On a weekend, the canteen stopped serving at half past, andI had set this little alarm for myself after missing dinner the previous week, although that had been theresult of an alcoholic haze and not detailed study of impossible history. I realised that I was starving,Louise not having provided anything other than harsh words and bad feeling for breakfast, and quicklystood to return the books to their shelves.I was about to head back towards the door, when I realised that if the library stretched along the lengthof the second floor then exiting by the door at the far end would bring me out nearer to the canteenbelow, and stop me having to either walk out into the rain, or downstairs through the administrativecorridors to get there. I could see a door in the distance, beyond the Classics section, where a few moretables were scattered about with one or two men hunched in their reading, sat in straight-backed chairs.I looked briefly at the books as I passed - Plato, Euripides, Aeschylus, all seemed normal there.Passing through the door I found myself not on another landing, but in a small room, darkened with nowindows, doors off it to either side, and one at the far end ajar and showing light. I was about to headin that direction when an elderly woman opened one of the side doors and came in. She started slightlyat the sight of me, then smiled in a business-like fashion"My boys, always creeping around" she said."Um", my brain reeled, "Please can you tell me the way to the canteen?" I asked"To where?" she reached down and switched on a standard lamp, casting a pale light into the room. Icould see now that the walls were hung with prints of famous paintings, and that there were chairsaround the outside as if it were some kind of waiting room"Er, the dining room?" I tried again