Fools of us All - Chapter 33

I crouched by the door, the answer to one of my many questions about these underground tunnels finally answered. There was a small panel near the bottom of the door that could be moved aside and used to view the room beyond the door discretely. Given the extremely secret nature of the tunnels, I knew there had to be a way to avoid opening the door to a room full of people, so when I finally reached the door that I seemed to fit with the distance and the direction of the archives I spent a good long time examining the inside of the door in the dim light until I found what I was looking for.

Now I was looking into a room that was sparsely decorated. A thick carpet with an intricate pattern covered the floor from wall to wall. A small table was in the middle of the room flanked by two uncomfortable looking chairs on either side. The chairs were of archaic wooden design with high backs, arms, and a firm white cushioning on the seat. Two of the walls had objects hung on them, but I was at the wrong angle to see what exactly was there. The wall across from me was blank save for the door, a typical bronze metal slab that would slide into the wall when it sensed someone nearing the door. After waiting for a long time to make sure the room was not occupied, or a busy area of the archives, it suddenly occurred to me that I had never been in the archives and I had no way of knowing for sure that this was the building I was looking for. I sat back on my haunches, suddenly uncertain of myself.

Deciding that there was only one way to find out for sure, I pushed the latch to open the door, holding my breath and hoping that whatever had locked the previous door had not caused this door to freeze as well.

With a soft click, the door popped open a fraction of an inch. Cautiously I pushed on it, swinging it far enough on its hinges to allow me passage into the room. I closed the door behind me, mentally noting its location in case I needed to exit the way I came. Once again I was amazed at how seamless the doors were once they closed.

Turning, I spent a moment exploring the room more closely, though it was so small that it only took a few moments. On the wall there were pages from an ancient book sealed in glass cases, presumably to keep them from disintegrating or being destroyed some way. In the corner there was a stand with a book open to the middle. Something about it held my attention for what was probably longer than was safe, though I could not say why as I could not read the tiny script the was scrawled there. Finally tearing myself away from the book, I approached the door, stopping short of the sensor, keeping it closed. I glanced over my shoulder at the book one more time, suddenly convinced that I was in the right building.

I just wish I knew what I was supposed to do now.