The
Library of Erutan
On the planet of Erutan, an ancient race once lived
in peaceful coexistence with all creatures. They knew
nothing of technology until an exploration team from
Earth, determined to find a new planet to ruin,
happened upon them. They brought with them all the
staples of life in the universe as they knew it:
technology, corruption, lies, weapons, pollution,
greed, and self-absorption. They also brought some of
the better human possessions: curiosity,
inventiveness, independence, chocolate, and religion.
But the greatest thing they brought was knowledge. It
was knowledge that hooked the Erutans: knowledge and
a burning thirst for it that drove them from their
rural life. They searched the universe for centuries,
making copies of every book they found. They learned
all the languages of the galaxy. They translated text
after text. They even hunted down cultures with no
written language and recorded their tales. They were
so busy, in fact, they never created a written
language of their own. They were too busy learning
every one else's. Gradually, their library grew too
large. Huge chunks of the planet were devoted to it.
Scholars from all over the universe came, offering
new texts and studying the ones there. Mile after
mile of the planet slipped away, converted into
another wing of the library. Eventually, the entire
planet was taken over by the sprawling mass that was
the library. Entire families, the products of lost
scholars, were born, lived, and died amidst the
towering stacks and shelves, only knowing of the
outside world, from the passages in the books they
read. Katie
Dawson
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