INTO THE VOID

CHAPTER 17: ZEROS AND ONES

Xaviere and Petrichor walked into The VOID Library. The library was not the conventional library; no, no it was far from that. This was not the university library Xaviere took his shifts. There were no alphanumerically arranged books in shelves, there was no computer system at the front desk; in fact there was no front desk at all. There was just a librarian; The Librarian.

The VOID Library like many rooms in The VOID was mainly empty space. The floor was covered in royal blue colored tiles. As they walked in, The Librarian was standing, facing a wall and staring intently at something only he could see.

“Desertwind, Agent X; please move two paces to the left.” The Librarian said still focused on the wall. He had a hand on his chin as he gently stroked his beard, while the other hand was in his pocket.

“What is he doing?” Xaviere asked Petrichor in a lowered whisper.

“Put up your library lenses.” Petrichor responded. At the sound of the words “Library Lenses” Xaviere used his index and middle fingers of his left hand to tap twice on his left temple. As he did this, the pupils of his eyes began to glow a light blue. He could now see what The Librarian saw. There were a bunch of holograms all over the room. These were various books; books containing knowledge from different eras, scientific theories, ancient literature on philosophy and science, old newspaper articles… there were a lot of holograms. Xaviere was amazed at the sight. In his life, he had never seen something so magnificent.

“So, what brings you to over to the library today?” The Librarian asked still concentrated on the holograms he was reading before their arrival. “You’re not here for more books on Astral Projection, now are you?” He asked. At these words, Xaviere immediately remembered his fascination with witchcraft and magic. Growing up with a purely African father, he was exposed to many superstitions about diabolism. When he first gained entry into The VOID, he would spend a lot of time in this library reading of African Magic.

“No sir, I am not.” Xaviere answered with a smile.

“What then brings you this way?” The Librarian asked. He had a condescending tone in his speech; one Xaviere imagined he developed as a result of being bothered with so much information, a curse of knowledge; an experience Xaviere knew all too well.

First of all, it begins with the realization that you know basically nothing compared to the ocean of knowledge available. Then, there is the desire to know what you prior did not know. Then, there is the intoxication by your new found knowledge and now you want to talk to everyone about what you know. Then, there is the urge to find people who know as much as you do. Then there is state where you find conversations ultimately disappointing as no one can measure up to you. It is at this level that one becomes condescending. Anything condescends before this is simply stupidity; a confidence in the little you know when in reality there is a lot to learn. Xaviere could relate well to him.

“We are here to learn about the origin of The VOID.” Petrichor said. The Librarian sighed. He brought his palms together and all the holograms disappeared.

“Very well then, this is the story of The VOID. Take your seats, this could take a while.” The Librarian said as he gestured to the chairs that sprung out of the floor.” He placed his palms together and slowly separated them. A hologram appeared as he began to speak.

“The story of The VOID is a very interesting one. All events have an origin in time; there is a reference time as an answer to the ‘when’ of an events origin. Well, with The VOID there is no exact when. Some theorize that The VOID is as old as human existence. A corps of highly intelligent and skilled humans tasked with the responsibility of protecting reality. Others believe that this theory is grossly incorrect. I belong to the latter. With the story of The VOID, I cannot begin with “Once Upon A Time. I will say this though.

The most accurate era to which we can track the origin of The VOID is the scientific boom of the late 18th century. There was quite an incredible amount of advancement in science. This period was characterized by rapid developments. In the space of about fifty years, the foundation of which the science of the world right was built upon was created. Discoveries, inventions in so many different fields; it was like a renaissance. It was in this period that a man whose name has been lost to time discovered something he called The Code. Many formulas have been postulated. Formulas that try to understand the gaps that scientists of old have left behind. The Pythagoras’ Theorem, the Almighty Formula, the Theory of Everything, Einstein’s Relativity Equation; this man, like many before him tried to understand the observable universe. He tried and tried, constructing different algorithms, different formulas and then after years of trying, he finally understood.

He said, the universe is like a program, it has been coded by someone; some highly intelligent being. Just like a stack of dominoes arranged in a pattern, the energy of the system moves from one piece of the system to another. All that is needed is a trigger; the trigger of the system is what we know as The Big Bang. Unlike the theory, according to this man, the Universe is not expanding without control, without direction or purpose. He claimed that every collision, every explosion has been predetermined, just like the pattern of the dominoes. He claimed to have discovered the code. With this algorithm, he could tell the future, give weather forecasts, tell when a natural disaster was to happen; he knew it all. He knew even the end of the universe.”

“So, he created The VOID.” Xaviere asked very eagerly like a child interrupting a bedtime story with intermittent questions. The Librarian took a brief pause with his hand still held up. He then looked at directly at Xaviere and said.

“Agent X, irrespective of the fact that it is my duty to provide VOID agents information about anything pertaining to this library, I will not hesitate to kick you out. One more interruption from you and I will kick you out; literally.”

“I am sorry.” Xaviere responded meekly to the reprimand. He then looked at Petrichor and they both smiled.

“Now, as I was saying before the rude interruption, the man discovered the code. This made him invincible. He used his knowledge to create gadgets, cures for diseases and many other things. He feared that if the knowledge he knew about the universe should go into the wrong hands, the reality of the world would be doomed. He trusted no one. He told no one except his closest friend. Little did the man know that he, the scientist, the discoverer of the code; he was “The Wrong Hand.”

With their new found knowledge, they helped people from the shadows. In their eyes, what they did was right; putting smiles on the faces of people, bringing joy to different communities, alleviating poverty. It was going good and fine. But then suddenly the friend of the scientist noticed something. The more they tried to help, the more challenges they faced. With a major discovery, they could be a natural disaster the next week; things that the code never even predicted. It was then, that they understood that some things are not to be tampered with. The scientists did not agree with his friend. He kept on doing his good deeds and suddenly the Second World War commenced.

As you both know, this era brought with it tremendous bloodshed and human suffering. It was laden with the invention of many weapons of destruction, machines with the ability to kill men in their hundreds. This was what the friend warned him about. But the scientist was adamant. He became fool-hardy, the knowledge he knew intoxicated him. He felt omniscient; he felt like some god. He said there were glitches in the code and it was his responsibility to fix it. This man, this momentary speck compared to the vastness of the universe, this flash of light in the radiation of the massive entity of reality was audacious enough to think that he could correct a non-existent mistake in something bigger than all of us. That is when he attempted the forbidden; time travel.

His friend warned him, kicked against the idea but the more he persuaded him, the more adamant he became. On the day he was to travel through time, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. This was the ultimate sign validating what his friend had suspected all along. Some thought are too dangerous to exist and some actions should never be carried out.

The remaining part of the story is vague from here on but in simple words, a battle ensued, the scientist was lost to time and his friend created the VOID. Their names were lost to time but there were documented as Zero and One; the friend being the former and the scientist the latter.”