CHAPTER SEVEN
Lenora and 〇
Lenora tried to spin around and look everywhere for the source of the voice, which was somewhat difficult, as Lucy was clinging to her and shrieking her head off. For a moment she thought this might be another invisible memory, like the spectral girl she’d met in the Library of Forgotten Knowledge. But then she saw it—a slight shimmering, hardly visible, floating in the air beside them.
“Shh, shh,” Lenora said to Lucy, patting her on the back. “It’s just a librarian.” Though she had no idea what kind of librarian this was, she simply knew it was, just like she knew a member of the Forces on the spot.
Lucy stopped shrieking and sniffed. “Where?”
Lenora pointed to the shimmering. “Right there.”
Lucy looked. “I don’t see anything.”
“Hmm,” said Lenora. “Well, you’ll have to trust me.” And then, to the shimmering, she said, “It’s nice to meet you. May I ask your name?” For this librarian had no visible badge.
“I am 〇,” said the shimmering, and Lucy yelped again at what Lenora supposed must seem like a voice coming from absolutely nothing.
“Excuse me?” said Lenora, for she could not quite understand the name the shimmering had used.
“〇,” said the voice again. “But I suppose that might be difficult for you to say. I am one of the new Chinese characters introduced by Empress Wu Zetian, the only woman ever to reign over China, in 689. Originally, I meant ‘star,’ but nowadays people mostly use me to mean ‘zero,’ which is rather disappointing.”
“Perhaps we can just call you Star, then?” inquired Lenora.
“That would be lovely,” sighed Star.
Lenora could see that Lucy was still trembling. Poor thing, thought Lenora. Obviously this type of experience was quite new to her. “Star,” she asked, “is it possible you could make yourself visible to my friend?”
“Oh, yes,” replied Star, and immediately an 〇 the size of a large dinner plate was floating in front of them.
“Wow!” yelped Lucy, dropping Lenora’s hand immediately. “Who … what … how?!?”
“It is rather complicated,” replied Star. “Perhaps if we had a few months, I could explain.”
“Unfortunately, we actually have very little time at the moment,” said Lenora.
“Well, maybe later,” said Lucy, her voice full of longing.
Lenora wanted to ask Star questions about what had happened to the Library, but knew she should not, when listening devices could be all around. Since Star had been invisible to Lucy, though, Lenora supposed Star could hide from anyone who wasn’t a real librarian, including the Forces. Lenora wished greatly that she had this power. She resolved to return here and learn more, after matters with the Library were straightened out.
For now, Lenora decided it was best to stick with the topic at hand. “Star, I have a patron who is looking for the world’s largest number. Can you tell me what it is?”
Surprisingly, a tremble rippled through Star, and Lenora sensed fear. “I can tell you many things about large numbers,” said Star. “But that … I am afraid I cannot help you with. As a number myself, there are realms into which I dare not venture.” And Star turned to face the deep darkness at the very far end of the hall. “Perhaps you and your friend could enter them, if you are brave.”
Lenora worried about Lucy, for the girl had not sworn the librarian’s oath to venture forth bravely, as Lenora had. But then she noticed Lucy was no longer clinging to her, and had in fact wandered over to the books on the long shelf. Perhaps she could adjust more quickly than it had seemed at first. Lenora went over to have a look.
Lucy pointed to the title of what was one of the thinnest books on the shelf. “Googol,” she said, pronouncing the name on the cover. “What’s that?”
Lenora turned the cover. Inside the book was only a single page of paper, and on it was nothing but a one followed by a very long string of zeros.
Star floated over. “A googol is simply one followed by a hundred zeros. A nine-year-old named Milton Sirotta invented the term.”
Lenora already had her notebook out, and wrote quickly: googol—word invented by ambitious nine-year-old.
Star went on. “It is a rather famous and interesting number, but it is certainly not the longest, and has little use in mathematics. We keep it here only for historical interest.” Star dipped to indicate another thin book nearby, titled Avogadro’s Number. Lenora opened it to find a single page on which was written 602,214,150,000,000,000,000,000. “Avogadro’s number,” Star explained, “which is used to count up atoms and molecules for certain measurements, has a meaningful purpose in chemistry. That is what we mean by ‘large numbers’ in Googology. Numbers that mean something in the real world can be used to form equations and learn new truths, and can be counted up using one, two, three, four, and so on. And I suspect that is the very question your patron is asking. What is the largest number that has a meaning and purpose?”
Lenora looked down the long shelf, at books that were hundreds of feet high, and wondered what those books contained if they didn’t contain the world’s largest number.
She was just about to ask Star, when Lucy spoke up. “Oh great. More creeps.”
Lenora whipped around. Three people were sliding down the slide.
No, not people, and not sliding, either. They were gliding, all three in a row, two men and one woman, all staring straight at Lenora. These were the Forces, and she was sure they were coming for her.
Star saw them, too. “I must hide. You two, quickly, run. Run as far as you can, all the way to…” But Star’s words faded as the 〇 became only a shimmering once more. Lenora knew the Forces could not see it, but if Star spoke, they would know it was there. And so she grabbed Lucy’s hand and tried to run.
But Lucy wouldn’t move. “Don’t be afraid, Lenora! Watch.” She turned to the three Forces, who were nearly to the bottom of the slide. “You get out of here right now! You are scaring my friend.”
The Forces did not stop. If anything, having now reached the bottom of the slide, they were gliding even faster, straight at the girls.
Lucy went very, very pale. “Run,” Lenora said firmly, and this time Lucy ran.
The girls raced down the long, long shelf toward the deep darkness at its end. The Forces came on swiftly. Lenora risked a glance over her shoulder and saw they were gaining. Then she and Lucy came to a complete stop, for now they had reached a wall of darkness, covering the entire end of the room.
Both girls whipped around, their backs to the dark. And Lenora saw something strange. The Forces had stopped coming for them, and were now drifting back and forth, casting anxious glances up at the dark wall.
“They’re scared of it,” murmured Lenora in astonishment. She had never seen them show fear before. She could feel Lucy gripping her hand harder than ever.
Lenora could hear something now, something coming out of the dark. A whispering, a very faraway whispering, and then more and more, until there were dozens of whisperings coming from what seemed like an unimaginable distance.
The Forces appeared to have come to a decision, and resumed their advance toward Lenora and Lucy, slowly and deliberately this time. Lenora came to a decision, too. To escape these three, there was no other choice.