“You’re right. Sorry,” Courtney added quickly. “But the resemblance really is amazing.”
“Stop!” Mark scolded.
“Good to meet you, Mark,” Patrick said warmly. “I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m glad you’re not dead.”
“That’s pretty okay with me, too,” Mark agreed.
Patrick took another sip of water and surveyed the room, scrutinizing every ancient touch of Gunny’s life on First Earth.
“Weird, huh?” Courtney said, reading his thoughts. “You ever been away from Third Earth before?”
Patrick nodded. “I’ve been here before. With Gunny. It’s still disconcerting.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” Courtney added.
Mark and Courtney watched Patrick with curiosity. Mark thought the guy looked dazed. He’d obviously been through something traumatic. They didn’t press him for details. They wanted him to get his head back on straight first. Finally, Patrick took one last gulp of water, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and looked at Mark and Courtney.
“The future isn’t what it used to be,” he declared solemnly.
Courtney and Mark exchanged glances.
“I have no idea what that means,” Mark replied. “It means Third Earth has changed.”
“Yeah, I told him about the Mark-looking dados,” Courtney said.
Patrick laughed ironically. “I wish that were the biggest change.”
He went on to explain in detail what had happened to him since he woke up on a different Third Earth. From inside his shirt he pulled out the mysterious, torn book cover with the star symbol. He had been holding it next to his heart, protecting it. Mark and Courtney examined the cover with awe.
“It’s the symbol that marks the gates.” Mark gasped.
Patrick nodded. “When I couldn’t contact Pendragon, I went back inside the library. I needed to learn more. Richard, the librarian, was my only link to reality, if that’s what you can call it.”
Patrick wiped his eyes nervously. It was clear to both Mark and Courtney that what happened next wasn’t good.
“I heard shouting coming from the room where Richard had given me the book cover. I ran down the corridor and stopped short of the door when I heard a crash come from inside. It sounded like something had been knocked over.”
Patrick stopped talking, as if the memory choked him up. Mark and Courtney waited patiently. They knew Patrick would tell the tale as best he could.
“When I looked inside I saw that most of the books had been pulled down from the shelves. The floor was littered with them. There were four men wearing dark red clothes. I can’t tell you what any of them looked like other than they all had their hair cut very short. They were”-Patrick stopped again and took a gulp of water before continuing-”they were pushing Richard around, taking turns throwing him against the bookshelves. He was an old man. He couldn’t defend himself. I was about to jump in to help him when one of them got in Richard’s face and shouted, ‘Where is it?’”
Mark held up the book cover. “This what they were looking for?”
Patrick nodded. “The hidden panel where Richard kept the cover was open. I don’t know how they knew it existed, but they knew. What they didn’t know was that it was gone. Richard had given it to me. He wouldn’t tell them either. For that he took a horrible beating. I’d never seen anything like it. He was so frail. One of the men lashed out and hit him with the back of his hand. Richard’s glasses flew off and his nose bled, but he didn’t say a word. I–I wanted to help him but-“
“But they would have gotten the cover,” Courtney said, finishing Patrick’s thought.
“That’s what I thought, honestly,” Patrick concurred. “That cover was the only physical link to the past. I couldn’t let them have it. I hope I was right, because that brave man paid a terrible price.”
“So you took off?” Mark asked.
“No!” Patrick answered, anguished. “I couldn’t even do that! I stood there, paralyzed. I didn’t know what to do. I’m not a coward. I’m not. But I’d never seen anything like that before. I was just…stunned.”
“We get it,” Courtney said reassuringly.
“Do you? It was horrible! They threw Richard against the wall. The poor man crumpled like a rag doll. When he hit the floor, he looked up and saw me. One of the men noticed and followed his look. He saw me standing there like an idiot, but he didn’t react. The others turned to look at me too. None of them reacted. It was chilling.”
“Were they dados?” Courtney asked.
“I don’t think so. They weren’t identical. The one who spotted me pointed to Richard and said, This man is a criminal. It is forbidden to possess banned documents.’”
Patrick swallowed hard and continued. “When he pointed to
Richard, I saw something on his forearm. It looked like a green tattoo about two inches across.”
“A tattoo of what?” Courtney asked, her eyes wide.
Patrick pointed to the book cover on Mark’s lap.
“The star?” Mark gasped. “He had a tattoo of this star on his arm? The star from the g-gates?”
Patrick nodded.
Courtney exclaimed, “That must have been what Richard was looking for when he inspected your arm. He wanted to know if you were one of them… whoever they are.”
“He knew they were watching him, and he wanted to protect this book cover,” Patrick answered. “To protect history. Whoever these thugs are, they’re trying to erase that history. I couldn’t let that happen. So I ran.”
“To where?” Courtney demanded.
“Anywhere. Away. It didn’t matter so long as they didn’t get the cover. I ran deeper into the library, dodging broken tables and scattered books. I had no idea where I was going, but I couldn’t stop because they were right behind me. I jumped down a stairwell and ran through an emergency exit that led to the derelict park behind the library. I skirted decaying statues and huge chunks of fallen walls, playing cat and mouse with my pursuers. They weren’t smart. They didn’t divide up to chase me. I eventually lost them in the maze and hid under a slab of crumbling cement. I stayed there for at least an hour. I think I’d still be there if not for what happened next.”
“What was it?” Mark asked.
“When I finally got the nerve to peer out from my hiding place, I saw black smoke billowing from the library.”
“Fire.” Courtney gasped.
“It was coming from the same area where I’d left Richard. Seeing that put me over the edge. I didn’t care about the book cover anymore. I had to go back. I retraced my steps into the building and found the central corridor, thick with smoke. I could barely see, but I found the room. The four men were gone. Richard wasn’t. He lay there unconscious, surrounded by burning books. They’d left him to die. I dragged him out of the burning room and pulled him up onto my shoulder. It wasn’t hard. He was so light. I made my way back to the front entrance of the library and out onto the steps. A crowd of people had gathered, but nobody made a move to help me. They were far more interested in the burning building. I expected a fire truck to come and battle the blaze. It didn’t. I’m not even sure if fire trucks exist on Third Earth anymore.”
“What about Richard?” Mark asked with trepidation.
“He was battered, but alive. I sat beneath the stone lion, holding his head in my lap. He looked up at me with cloudy eyes and smiled. He actually smiled and said, ‘Find the truth, Teacher. It’s what they fear.’”
Patrick was doing all he could to control his emotions as he added, “He looked back at the library. Flames were leaping from every window. Richard looked pained, and it wasn’t because of the beating he took. He turned away, not wanting to see any more, and said, ‘Our history is all we have left. Don’t let them destroy it.’”
Patrick fell silent, letting the horror of his story sink in. Or maybe it was to take a break from having to relive it.
“Some people finally showed up who said they would take Richard to a hospital, but I didn’t have much confidence in that. Who knows what hospitals are like now on Third Earth? But I had to trust them, because I couldn’t take Richard with me. Not with what I had to do.”
“What was that?” Courtney asked.
Patrick sat up in bed and looked straight at her. “I had to find Pendragon. He had to know what happened. He still does. The last I heard he had gone to Ibara, but when I tried to contact him through my ring, it wouldn’t work. I
