Murchy was a lot of things, but succinct was not one of them. It took quite some time before he finished telling the team about the were-pigs and the Tommy gun, which served mostly to further Sofya’s theory that universes with shifter-type characters were the one being targeted by whoever was doing the targeting. Niles, at least, made an excellent audience for Murchy’s stories, reacting appropriately at the feats of derring-do that Sofya was sure were played up just a bit. Still, it was good information, eventually.
“Well, fine,” Nuereddin said grumpily. “Obviously somebody has it in for the universes where people turn into animals, for whatever reason. I can’t say as I blame them for finding it odd, but I don’t think that’s a reason to try to kill them or destroy the universe or anything.” He met Sofya’s scowl and put his hands up defensively. “I’m just saying! I’d rather not have them in my universe, but to each their own. So it seems like there’s something actively targeting the universes, but who? And why?”
Murchy had finished his shepherd’s pie, and was eyeing the piece of cake he’d grabbed at the end of the line, but stopped when he saw that everyone was staring at him again. “Oh! Well, I don’t know about who, but it isn’t the first time something like this has happened. I’m sure Veronica discovered something about the last time in her research, if she knew where to look.” He sighed dramatically, and Sofya had to wonder if he ever breathed normally. “If only she had asked me before she went haring off into the reports room!”
Nuereddin looked at the other two members of his team and sighed, only slightly less dramatically than Murchy. “All right, I’ll bite. What do you mean, this isn’t the first time this has happened? When did it happen before?”
Sofya leaned forward with interest. “Yes, I’d be very intrigued to find out the history of this particular issue myself. I’ve been an agent in the Library for quite some time now, and I don’t recall anything like this before - I feel I would have remembered someone trying to destroy a universe.”
Murchy nodded. “Yes, this happened just before you joined the Library, my dear Sofya.” He casually pulled the cake closer to himself and picked up a fork. “It was one of the first big cases my team ever worked, in fact, and it went so poorly that we never really spoke of it again. It left a couple of the people in my team scarred enough that they left their work in the Library and went back to their own universes - something that no agent does lightly.” He took a large bite of cake and rolled his eyes in ecstasy. “I simply must compliment the chef! They have been doing such marvelous things in this kitchen since they opened up the jobs to the cookbooks.”
Sofya snapped her fingers. “Focus, Murchy.” She pressed her lips together, physically forcing herself not to start yelling at him. She had to remember that he was helping them, even if it was like pulling teeth. Beside her, she could hear Nuereddin grinding his teeth in frustration. She patted the dwarf on his shoulder, trying to convey a level of calm she didn’t feel herself, and continued to watch Murchy as he polished off the cake.
“Oh, of course, of course,” the earl said, wiping the crumbs away from his mouth. “It is important to savor the, aha, sweet things in life, though, don’t you think?” When he realized that he was not going to get the kind of reaction he wanted, he cleared his throat and put down his napkin. “Yes, this has happened before. Last time, it was not quite as dramatic as this - there were no bombs tied to protagonists or anything - but it ended up with greater long-term effects. How often do you travel the transit tunnels, friends?”
The sudden shift in topic threw Sofya for a loop. She took a deep breath and paused, contemplating the question. “Well, I really only spend time in the tunnels when coming and going from my own universe,” she said slowly, and she saw Nuereddin nod next to her. “I don’t go exploring in the tunnels or anything. Usually, when I’m in them, I’m already starting to feel more pain, so I try to get through as quickly as possible.”
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Niles shrugged a bit sheepishly. “I, on the other hand, do try to delay my return to my home universe for as long as possible, so I have spent some time detouring through the tunnels as I try to get back into the proper mindset for my home.” He looked self-conscious at the confession, and Sofya reached over to squeeze his arm (as much of it as she could, considering his arm was like a tree trunk). He gave her a small smile in return, then turned back to the earl. “I have spent some time walking the tunnels around the Fantasy branch, and a little bit around the general Fiction hub. Should I have seen anything in particular?”
Murchy nodded, his eyes glittering with excitement now that he was getting to tell another story. “Yes, of course! Have you ever seen that some of the tunnels appear blocked, or that they simply end without going into a specific universe?”
Niles pursed his lips, thinking. “Yes, I have seen one or two like that,” he said slowly. “I thought that they were construction for new universes that had been abandoned after they had gotten on far enough to merit a framework.” He looked at Sofya and Nuereddin and gave another small smile. “Veronica and I spoke at length once about how universes come into being in the Library, and she explained that there are authors who start something and then, for one reason or another, never finish it, so it never takes its place in the Library. I understand there is the Shadow Library that contains the bits and pieces of universes that were abandoned, but that’s not something I know much about.”
Murchy held up his hands as if warding away the words Niles was saying. “Oh, don’t mention the Shadow Library, don’t! It’s a simply awful place. At any rate, yes, some of those tunnels that are incomplete are because the universe was abandoned, or it’s still under construction in Prime and is simply taking a long time. Poor things, authors, sometimes it takes them simply ages to finish a universe, and their characters are left in limbo for so long!” He sniffled theatrically, and Sofya again fought the urge to roll her eyes. “At any rate, that’s why most tunnels are blocked. However, there are at least two that have been blocked deliberately, because the universes that branched from them have been cut off from the Library entirely.
“My team was involved with one of those branches - it contained several universes, none of which were particularly popular in Prime individually but together they were starting to gain momentum. Like in your case, they all had similar elements that brought them together in a specific way. I believe that the theory behind the link between the current universes that are being targeted is that they all include human characters that transform into animals of some sort, is that correct?” Sofya nodded, while Niles took a sneaky bite of the biscuit that he’d been holding since they sat down. His face indicated that he agreed with Murchy regarding the quality of the cooks in the commissary, and Sofya felt her stomach grumble.
“Well, it was somewhat similar in this case - instead of human characters that turned into animals, the universes contained only animals who behaved like humans, with no humans whatsoever.” Murchy shook his head in disbelief. “If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it, but all of the animals had human-like characteristics and personalities, but there wasn’t a single human to be found in any of the universes that were linked by this trope. And these weren’t children’s books, either - it’s somewhat expected to have a book peopled, aha, by animals, when the book is meant for a child. These were novels meant for adults, using a full range of narrative styles to tell stories that simply didn’t include humans.”
Sofya frowned in thought. “I don’t know that I’ve ever encountered that kind of universe, outside of children’s books, like you say,” she said slowly, and she saw Niles nod as well. Nuereddin was scowling, but she didn’t have the time to figure out what that was about just yet. “What happened to them?”
“Why, they are no more, my dear Sofya. The universes were destroyed. Completely, utterly, cut off from the Library for eternity, destroyed.” Murchy looked more serious than he had in the entire time Sofya had known him, and it chilled her to the bone. “I’m afraid the same thing may be happening here, if we aren’t careful, and the consequences may be even more dire than before.”
