What’s a Library?

I extended my arm out in front of me so that I could get the full look of the hand jewelry. Rotating my wrist once to see my palm I then flipped my hand back over so that I could once again examine the back of the hand and the chains that decorated my flesh.

What I did not expect was the fireball that shot out of my palm, encasing the wall opposite me in a blaze.

Oops.

Red strobe lights started to flash and Jun Li's voice came through the speaker in the ceiling. "Mei Xing! Mei Xing! Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I answered with a sigh. "Sorry about that. But you can note that the hand jewelry from planet S94872 shoots fire." I watched as a plastic sheet came up from the floor creating a barrier between me and the flames. There was a brief sound of a vacuum and then the flames vanished.

After a moment, the shield lowered itself back into the floor and the crisis was done. There wasn't even a burn mark or discoloration on the white walls.

"Handy," I said, talking about both the fire suppressor system and the chains on my hand. Did I have any idea how it did it? Nope. Did I care? Nope. It was mine now, finders' keepers and all that, and I was most definitely keeping this weapon.

I continued to explore the case that held the flame thrower bracelet and I saw a few more long delicate chains hanging the length of the cabinet. Pulling one of them down, I held the ends in each hand and straightened the silver chain so I could bring it up to eye level and study it.

As I brought it up, the links seemed to melt and become a single metal thread. It was so thin that I might have missed it if I was not looking right at it. I was tempted to run my finger over the strand to see if it was similar to a garrotte from Earth, but I was much too attached to them to risk losing one.

"Jun Li," I called out. I looked around the room for something that I could use to test out my theory.

"Yes?" came the response. He must be busy doing something else because it took him a few seconds to answer me and his voice was clearly distracted.

"Is there any way you can bring me a metal pipe of some kind with different strengths?" I asked. I wanted to know just how strong this thing was and if it could act as a garrotte.

There was no reply from Jun Li, but suddenly six robots came rolling into the room, each one carrying a metal pipe. I watched as they laid them down in front of me, but before I could touch one, they began installing it into the floor so they were standing upright. I raised an eyebrow. This was a lot better than what I had set up in my head.

Pulling out my tablet, I placed it on the only table in the middle and pulled up a blank notepad. If I was going to experiment, I might as well do it properly. I quickly typed what I could remember about the hand jewelry, including what I was doing with my wrists before it set the room on fire, as the bots continued to screw in the poles.

Once they were done, they quickly and quietly left me to my own devices and I could not be happier. "Starting at the left-hand side, the pipes have been installed in order of strength, the far left is the weakest while the far right is the strongest," came Jun Li's voice from the speaker. "And when you are done, I have created the earpiece that you wanted and it's ready to be installed. I would also like to have a conversation with you about what my human body should look like." The second half of his statement was said almost shyly causing me to smile.

"No worries. As soon as I am done this, I can meet you anywhere to have that implant inserted," I said as I walked over to the far left post. "Is there any way you can provide me with the strengths and materials of all of these pipes? Just for my records?"

"I've recorded them into the document you already have open," he quickly replied and I looked down at the tablet, and sure enough, there was all the information written in English. Or at least the words looked to be written in Roman letters, I was just clueless about what they actually meant.

Which led me to my next request. "Jun Li?" I waited until he acknowledged me before I continued. "Is there any type of library here?"

"What is a library?" came the confused response of a highly intelligent A.I.

"You don't have a library?" I asked shocked. I mean, I understood that once we determined what a library was, he would have one. But the very idea that there was no library was… upsetting. I would have to bring one from Earth. Maybe I would get the most extensive libraries from every major city around the planet so I had a record of everything in its original language.

As much as everything could be accessed online, and Jun Li had already assured me that he could download everything off the internet, there was something about a hard, tangible copy of books.

"A place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials such as books, manuscripts, recordings, or films are kept for use but not for sale," I explained, giving the standard definition of a library word for word.

"It is on your tablet. Is that a library?" asked Jun Li hesitantly.

"It is a form of a library, but it is not what I am looking for. Not to worry. I will create a working library on one of your levels for future use."

"Alright," he replied, not sounding too upset that I would be taking up a lot of room for books if I had my way.

"Oh yeah, you know the armor that I found? What planet is that from?"