Paper and Fire (The Great Library #2)(65)
“Maybe that Library, the one we all believed in, maybe that could exist after all,” Jess said. “It’s not the idea that’s bad; it’s thousands of years of bad decisions and desperation. We could change that, but we can’t do it from Alexandria.” He swallowed hard and glanced at Santi before he took the last step. The last risk. “The reason Thomas was taken was that he invented a machine to cheaply and easily reproduce books. If we can get him, if we can build it and start distributing private books, it will change everything.”
Glain, Khalila, and Dario all looked blank. “I can call up any book I like from the Codex,” Dario said. “What use is something to make them, except to benefit smugglers like . . . well, like you, who can sell them to hoarders?”
“Sounds like a Burner invention,” Glain added, frowning.
“It isn’t. And you think the Codex is your doorway into the Library? It’s a little box they hand you—a curated, careful selection. They tell you what you can read. The Library shows you a fraction of what they have—trust me, I’ve seen tens of thousands of books go through my family’s hands that never appeared on the Codex and never will. If we believe in the existence of the Black Archives, then we must believe that the Library hides what they think is dangerous—and it’s old and conservative, and it believes anything can be misused.”
Khalila stared at him, but her mind was flying; he could almost see the thoughts and connections colliding. “That explains a lot,” she said. “There are holes in the progress being made, the science, if you look hard enough. And I have been gently warned away from certain questions. It explains everything if that research disappears into the Black Archives.”
“That’s why Thomas is so dangerous. His invention inks print on paper, using precut letters. No alchemy, no Obscurists. It prints an entire page at a time. You can make your own books and no one—especially not the Library censors—can stop you from making more, spreading ideas, changing minds.”
He watched them think through that, and was impressed, again, by how quick Khalila was to grasp the implications. Pallor settled over her face. “It would destroy the Library’s power,” she said. “If everyone could print and keep their own . . .”
“Then the Library can’t choose what we learn, can’t decide which science can and can’t be pursued, and can’t place books above human lives, because books wouldn’t be irreplaceable,” he said. “Books could be reproduced in the hundreds of copies. Even in the thousands. Everyone could have them. It changes everything about what they do, from that one simple idea.”
She looked sick. “But, Jess . . . I don’t know what the world looks like once that’s done. Do you?”
“No,” he admitted. “But if the Library overcomes its fears and uses that invention first, it can still be a force for good. It’s been fighting the Burners for centuries, but Burners could be silenced simply by giving them what they want—the chance to freely own books without criminal penalties. Thomas’s press allows for that. It sets the Obscurists free from the Iron Tower, too; they would go back to being Scholars, not slaves, because the whole basis of the Library wouldn’t rest on them. The world . . . The world might be better in so many ways. If the Library agrees to change. But it won’t, if the Archivist has anything to say about it.”
“This is . . . Jess, this doesn’t just challenge the Library. It changes the entire world. What gives us the right to make that choice?” Dario asked.
“Nothing,” Jess admitted. “Except someone has to. The Library’s leaders made the choice for us again and again and again. It’s time someone else had a try.”
Santi had watched the discussion silently, with bleak, calm eyes. Finally, he said, “I don’t think less of any of you if you want to take your chances with the Artifex. He’s a powerful man, and behind him stands the Archivist, who makes the Artifex look as friendly as a pet. If you decide to rescue Thomas, if you even help rescue him, you forfeit everything you’ve worked toward. I won’t lie about that. They will do anything to keep this invention secret. They have already killed, and will kill again.”
“I’m in,” Glain said. “I’m a fighter at heart. I’ll fight for what the Library should be.”
“It’s the only logical way the Library itself can survive.” Khalila nodded. “I value the future. That means I must do it or live a lie. Dario?”
He looked sorely tempted to back away, but the young man sighed, shook his head, and said, “All right. But if you get me killed, I’ll never let any of you rest. My ghost will be very persistent.”
Jess looked at Santi. “You know where I stand. And yes. My family can hide us.” He didn’t know that, but he knew that he would make it happen somehow. No matter what it cost him. His father was cold, but he was not completely cruel. Promise him anything, anything at all. Promise him Thomas’s press. Just get him on our side.
“This is all well and good, but we still don’t know how to get to Thomas,” Glain said. Khalila, in answer, dug in a satchel that she wore over her shoulder and pulled out loose sheets of paper that she passed to Glain, Jess, and Santi.
“I may not be able to get you in, but I can help with the exit from the prison. You remember what we said to you before?”