A Gateway Roadhouse Story
By J.A. Marlow
Exclusively Published By: Star Catcher Publishing at Smashwords
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Gateway Roadhouse Titles
Dark Circus
The Great Libraries
"The Great Libraries" Description
Emmie Kirkwood is delighted at the prospect of spending her day off at the ancient fabled Library of Alexandria, until she sees a fire rising in the distance…
A 10200 Egyptian science fiction novelette by J.A. Marlow.
This book is dedicated to my family, who have been supportive of all my writing since I can remember. All my stories are for you.
It is also dedicated to all those who love to daydream.
Star Catcher Publishing Appendum
Emmie Kirkwood came down the stairs to the main level of the Gateway Roadhouse feeling like a princess.
A room to call her own with such lavishness as hot and cold running water included. A large bathing tub for only her use. A bed softer than that of a feather mattress. New clothing provided to her by the Gateway Roadhouse itself with skirts so full they twisted and turned around her legs as she moved. From a woman on the lines of automated weavers at the mill to this? She loved it.
Even the job. No more working the skin off her fingers. Now she worked as a waitress, but not like one of the coarse girls at the waterfront. The Roadhouse was different, a place of repute and civility.
Even if those who frequented it came in the shape of monsters.
Despite the early hour, Gilray Pickett already worked behind the bar. He poured a green liquid into one of the sparkling clean fluted crystal glasses for a creature with a long nose like that of an elephant and sharp tusks pointing out from each side of its mouth.
Her old friends would have screamed and run. She would have, as well, a short time ago.
A large creature in the shape of a cockroach sitting in the end seat of the bar lifted a glass towards her as she came down the last step. "And so the lily of the tables brings us her smile. Will it now switch off with the turn of the dial?"
"A dial?" Emmie asked.
But, Clik was already waving one of his multi-jointed arms in the air while another one scribbled frantically on a piece of paper. "No, no. No emotion. I shall rework the wording."
Another attempt at poetry. The rhyme might be bad, but it filled her heart that he thought her worthy of a few stanzas. Where once she'd been one small face among so many workers, she was now greeted each morning by name.
She smiled pleasantly at the other customers, and said to Gilray as she passed him on the way around the bar, "Good morn. What visitors are we to expect today?"
Gilray glanced up at her as she came around to the back of the bar. "The Roadhouse is traveling. Do you have plans?"
Emmie pulled out a serving tray, studying the customers at the tables. Everyone looked as if they'd been taken care of. One table could be cleared of perhaps one plate. A few creatures sat along the length of the bar, but Gilray would take care of them.
"Perhaps I can clean a few of the tables. To get ready once we arrive at our destination and the doors open."
Gilray frowned down at her, making her wonder what she'd done wrong. She quickly put a hand up to her white cap, but found her hair still wrapped securely in a knot under it. Her dark blue dress and white apron also passed inspection. Perhaps she had something on her face?
"Why are you down here this early?" Gilray asked.
"It is time for my shift, of course." She glanced up at the clock above the bar, afraid she'd come down late. But, no, she was in fact early, as usual so she could eat a spot of breakfast in the nicely apportioned employee break room. Why did he frown so?
Gilray put one of the bottles of alcohol back in its precise place on a shelf. "Today is your day off."
Emmie found herself frowning back at him. She schooled her features back into a nondescript smile. "Sir? I have been employed here only six days."
"Which means it is past your time to have a day off. Yesterday was unusual," Gilray said.
Oh yes, quite unusual. A flock of giant creatures like that of dragonflies who had roosted on the backs of chairs while humming at each other and sharing many gallons of flavored water. Like so many who passed through the Gateway Roadhouse, the group had been a part of a flock in peril. She'd not understood exactly what it was, but from the translated words the Roadhouse provided her she thought it might be a territorial dispute.
The Roadhouse had stopped in a new place Gilray described as a new location on the same planet. In the meantime, both of them had been kept busy serving the creatures as they sucked the flavored sugar water down.
Such were the days in the Gateway Roadhouse. One never knew what manner of creature would come through the front doors.
"Perhaps we should speak of the terms of my employment," Emmie said, turning her attention back to the matter at hand. "What days are my services expected?"
"The typical. Five days on, two days off."
Emmie stared at him in shock, not believing she'd heard him correctly. "Two days in every seven days?"
"Yes. Will that be a problem?"
She must still be asleep, dreaming of yet more comfort of the sort only those well moneyed enjoyed. Really, the Roadhouse was spoiling her, even in this short time.
"I say out with you both," came Jarvis's voice from the kitchen. The brass and silvery-colored metallic many-armed cook peered out of the opening between the bar and the kitchen. "Out. Explore. Don't need you in here."
Jarvis's head ducked down while one of his arms set a plate of hot food on the counter in the opening. From out of the door leading to the break room and rear storage rooms came a metal waiter with wheels where feet should be. The key on the back of its head slowly turned as it picked up the meal.
As the metal waiter, complete with a black metal tailcoat, moved past them to deliver the meal to the proper table, Emmie asked the question she'd been wondering ever since she'd arrived. "If the Roadhouse has machines such as these to serve, why am I here?"
"Not all creatures are comfortable being served by robots," Gilray said. He shouted at the kitchen, "Does this mean we have no new parties coming in?"
"Out! Go! Get some color to your skin," Jarvis's booming voice shouted back.
Another metal waiter appeared, coming to a halt next to Gilray. It took another clean cloth from where they were stored under the bar and went to work polishing the crystal.
Gilray dropped his white cloth to the counter. "Looks like I'm getting booted out, too."
Emmie swallowed hard. "Only for the day, correct?"
Gilray smiled at her. Such a small expression, but it transformed his rugged face into something much more approachable and friendly. She much preferred him smiling. "Yes, only for the day. So, tell me Emmie Kirkwood, what do you do on your days off work?"
"I do not have many," Emmie mused, trying to think. "With no funds, it is difficult to do much of anything. A walk in the park if I can find companionship. Mostly I stay home to catch up on the cleaning, and if possible take the time to enjoy the escape of a book."
"Books?" Gilray repeated.
"Oh yes. I love books," Emmie said with a quick nod. "I will admit to spending far too much coin on them. It is my weakness."
"No amusement parks, no games, no adventures. Books," Gilray said with a shake of his head.
"I went to a circus once, but it did not end so well," Emmie said. In fact, it nearly ended with her death. Would have, if not for the Gateway Roadhouse. "While the tricks were amusing, I much preferred good books."
"The fog lightens," Clik said. One hand continued to scribble away at the paper while another lifted his drink to the small mouth in his small head. "Rising and swirling in its many turns."
He made several clicks, waving another arm in annoyance. "No, no. What is wrong with my words today?"
"He is correct." Gilray left the bar to go through the door into the back of the roadhouse.
Both Clik and Gilray were correct. The dense fog, usually quite consistent in color and consistency while traveling, was showing light from above. As if a bright sun were trying to pierce the gray.
Gilray returned, handing her a coat of black of such volume that it could be mistaken for a robe if not for the sleeves for her arms. He slipped on a coat of brown leather, and motioned towards the door. "Time to see where the Roadhouse has chosen for us."
A door. Such a simple thing, the most ordinary thing. Yet, she did not see 'ordinary' in the door of the Gateway Roadhouse. On the other side might be a new city or continent, a new world, perhaps even a new time. She'd come through it only once, when she'd first arrived in the Roadhouse. The idea of leaving through the fog filled her with concern. Would it let her back in?"
"Are you wearing your bracelet?" Gilray asked as he guided her towards the front door, his big hand firm in pushing her in the direction.
"Oh yes. I wear it always," Emmie said. She peered out the ornate window in the middle the door, still seeing only swirling fog beyond. "Where are we?"
"We'll know soon enough." He opened the door and stepped out, then turned back to gesture for her to follow. "Time to find out where the Roadhouse thought we should be."
Seeing as her boss was insisting, Emmie really didn't have any choice. Taking a deep breath, she stepped past the threshold of the door and out into the world beyond.
The first thing she noticed beyond the moisture laden foggy air was the small hint of saltwater and smoke. Then came the other smells that typically accompanied the dirtier inner streets of any city. Along with perfume?
Gilray took her arm and put her hand on his forearm as he guided her off the small porch. "All the smells of an early Earth. Good place for you to start."
"Early? We have gone back in time?" Emmie asked, wondering if a more barbaric London awaited her. She'd read of the time period, and wasn't sure she wanted to literally step into one. Reading about it, and personally visiting were two drastically different things.
"I believe so." Gilray smiled down at her. "After a while you get an instinct about this sort of thing."
The ground under her feet was paved with stones, fitted together quite nicely. Sunlight started filtering through the slowly dissipating fog, illuminating other curious shapes. Buildings were on both sides, surely, but what were the shapes in front of them?
In an instant, they were beyond the fog and in the open. The buildings were not made of wood or brick like that of the London she knew. If not for one corner of a nearby wall having the outer coating broke off, she would have thought the smooth walls all one piece instead of bricks with an overlay of some sort of plaster-like material.
Other buildings did consist of stone, of varying shades of white, gray, and even tinted blue. She found astounding the size of the base pieces, marveling at how they could have been put in place. Then there was the height. Columns supported wide and tall porches and second levels.
Bright decorations covered the walls and statues. The statues were what gave her a hint of where she might be. The designs were distinctive. She'd seen the like before, in the Times newspaper and in the fancier books she'd only seen from afar but never been allowed to touch personally.
She came to a stop, her eyes wide as she stared at the tall human figures with the heads of animals. "Are we in Egypt?"
Gilray glanced up at the statues. "Could be. Might be. One of the cities along the coast to judge from the salt in the air."
A chariot pulled by a single horse ran by, the linen costume of the man who rode it superb in detail, right down to the kilt with a wide waist-band.
Only here it wasn't a costume of someone in a play. It was real. Along with the couple hurrying down the street on the other side, in an odd combination of a tunic and decoration of Egyptian design and the wrapped robe of Greek or Roman source.
"Hello there. What city might we be in?" Gilray called out to the couple.
"Forgo the wine, my friend," the man called out while the woman giggled. "You are in Alexandria itself. With Caesar at the gates you should keep your wits about you."
With the name of the city, her breath caught, her mind thinking of only one thing. "Books. Oh, Gilray, we must find it."
"Find what? A bookstore? Would they have one in a place like this?" Gilray asked, shoving a hand in a pocket. He pulled it out and when he opened his hand it was to show a gold coin. "Only one. That may not buy you many books."
"Here they would have scrolls, made of papyrus," Emmie said, pulling him faster down the street. "And not a bookstore. The Library of Alexandria. I must see it!"
Gilray laughed. "Of course. The one that burned down. We may be too late for that."
The words did not deter Emmie in the least. To have the chance to see the largest library of antiquity with her own eyes? The fabled Library of Alexandria? She wouldn't stop until she found it or discovered they arrived at the wrong time period.
They came out on a wider street, the buildings lining it bigger, but less ornate. It was also busier, with not only pedestrians moving along the fairway with burdens on their back, balanced on their heads, or carried with a yoke, but also with carts and more chariots.
She could see no markings to guide them on their way. Nor did any of the buildings have the appearance similar to what she'd always envisioned the library to look like.
"You should ask. Surely, someone can point it out, if it still stands," Emmie said as Gilray joined her, her excitement still growing. What a wonderful thought. Simple Emmie Kirkwood might stand in the grand library itself. She might not be able to read the languages of the scrolls, but by the heat of the great sun above them, she was going to enjoy every moment just standing in their presence.
"Odd," Gilray said, holding her back from rushing down the street.
"Many people love books, even women," she said, impatiently tugging at his arm. She didn't know how long the Roadhouse would give them to enjoy the library, and she wanted every precious second.
He pulled her closer to a stone building. "No, I mean the soldiers."
"So there are many chariots." And then added slowly as she watched the movement, "In full battle gear, tearing down the street."
She stopped. Far too many of them. The area looked as if it were a place of commerce. Why would soldiers be here, and all rushing in one direction?
Gilray paused to allow another chariot to go by before he led her across the street and on to another street. The street curved to the left and then dropped away down a hill. In the distance they could see the ocean, sparkling in the sunlight.
It also brought into view rising flames consuming the ships in the harbor with other ships stationed further out. Not only were the ships in the harbor burning, but so was the dock.
They stepped aside as a cart driven by an ox hurried in the opposite direction.
"A fire? Here?" Gilray looked back the way they'd come. "Why did the Roadhouse bring us to this place?"
She gripped his arm hard, realizing what she'd seen. "The cart. It was full of scrolls."
He looked down at her. "And that means what?"
"The great fire!"
Emmie picked up the front of her skirts and started running in the direction the cart had come from. No, this couldn't be the time and place for such a horrible event. Yet, another cart raced by her as she ran, also loaded with scrolls, the driver yelling and whipping at the animal to move faster. An empty cart moved in the other direction.
She tried to run even faster to keep the other cart in sight. Her skirts kept slowing her down, the petticoats tangling in her legs. It was almost enough to make her want to try out the men-type pants Gilray insisted were appropriate attire for the women he knew. Almost.
All the while Gilray chased after her, yelling, "We should be running away from it, not towards it!"
The smell of smoke grew stronger, causing animals to shuffle uncertainly, braying out their nervousness. The empty cart slowed, before pulling off to the side of the street near a flurry of activity from both men and women alike.
One of them stopped to shout, pointing down the street. A shaft of flame erupted into the sky followed by a dark cloud of smoke. "It's hit the stables!"
"Then move faster," a woman shouted from inside the building.
Gilray caught up with her just as Emmie arrived at the building with the carts in front of it. One left, fully laden, while another took its place. Both men and women ran in and out of the ornate building, their movements growing more frantic as they piled armful after armful of scrolls into the carts.
"I said, we should be going in the opposite direction," Gilray said, his face red and angry. "This is not a time of heroics."
"Historical accounts say the Library of Alexandria burned down after a fire in the harbor." Emmie pointed towards the flames. "It's heading here."
Gilray looked up at the structure. Still not the kind of building Emmie had envisioned. Yet, it might be only two stories high, but it extended up and down the street for a good length. Decorations of scrolls and papyrus surrounded the wide doors and open windows, painted with bright colors.
"I also know the great library was only one part of the larger museum. This is not big enough to be the central library," Gilray said.
"This is only the waterfront copying station," a young man said, getting on the front of the cart and pulling out a whip. "Now, help or get out of the way."
"Of course," Gilray said, stepping out of the way. He leaned towards Emmie to add, "To expand the library every visitor was required to hand over their scrolls so they could be copied, or so goes the story. This must be one of the off-shoots of the library to do so. Some say this is the only part of the collection that was lost."