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The final chapter to my story... The Universe (which others call
a library) is composed of an indefinite, perhaps infinite number of
hexagonal galleries. In the centre of each gallery is a ventilation
shaft, bounded by a low railing. From any hexagon, one can see the
floors above and below – one after another, endlessly.
The arrangement of the galleries is always the same. Twenty
bookshelves, five to each side, line four of the hexagons six
sides; the height of the bookshelves, floor to ceiling, is hardly
greater than the height of a normal librarian. One of the
hexagon’s free sides opens onto a narrow sort of vestibule,
which in turns opens onto another gallery, identical to the first -
identical in fact to all.
To the left and right of the vestibule are two tiny
compartments. One is for sleeping, upright; the other for
satisfying ones physical necessities. Through this space too, there
passes a spiral staircase, which winds upwards and downward into
the remotest distance. In the vestibule there is a mirror, which
faithfully duplicates appearances. Men often infer from this mirror
that the library is not infinite – if it were, what need
would there be for that illusory replication?
I prefer to dream that burnished surfaces are a figuration and
promise of the infinite…light is provided by certain
spherical fruits that bear the name ‘bulbs’. There are
two of these bulbs in each hexagon, set crosswise. The light they
give is insufficient, and unceasing.
Like all men of the Library, in my younger days I travelled. I
have journeyed in the quest for a book, perhaps the catalogue of
catalogues. Now that my eyes can barely make out what I myself have
written, I am preparing to die, a few leagues from the hexagon
where I was born. I declare that the library is endless…
I urge you to find the correct sequence for the magic numbers
you will have found thus far…when you have found the correct
sequence, add the sum of the next three numbers to the northings
..and the sum of the further three numbers in the sequence to the
westings...this will help you in your ultimate goal of finding the
‘Book of Sand’.
Good luck and hurry, my time is ending…