Chap. 24 The Booklover

Chap. 24  The Booklover

"Hello, the weyr! K'ndar, are you home?"

K'ndar looked up from his slate tablet at the call. 

Someone is here calling for you Raventh said.

He stepped out of his weyr. The weyr's harper, Randel, stood outside.

"Come in, won't you? It's trying to rain," K'ndar said. "I'm sorry, but this weyr is fairly simple, I don’t have any klah for you."

"That's alright, I'm fine." The man nodded to Raventh, laying on his dragon couch in the foyer that separated K'ndar's quarters from the outside.

"Good evening, Raventh, isn't it?" 

Tell the harper I said Good evening

"Yes, sir. Raventh said 'Good evening, harper'.  That's amazing, how do you remember his name?"

"I'm the Weyr's harper. It's my job to know who lives here, what they do, and who their dragons are."

"What can I do for you?"

"I have some books for you, sent to you by Rahman, the star smith."

Joy filled K'ndar's face. He reached for the hard leather bundle in Randel's hands and opened it. Just as he'd promised, Rahman had sent four books, covering biology, astronomy, map making and a report on the discovery of Aivas and the innovations it had introduced.

He'd never held a book in his life. He opened the astronomy book, amazed at the texture of the paper, its brightness, the words were printed on it, how clear the type was, how easily they could be read. There were pictures of the colonists starships, pictures of Earth and Pern as seen from space, and a map of the Rukbat solar system. 

He looked up at Randel. "These are amazing. I've never seen such beautiful work. This is called what?" and he pointed at the letters.

"It's called "print". The letters are called "type."

He turned the book over and over, feeling as if he'd been given a treasure. Which, later on, he would realize was precisely what it was.

"I wish he were here, so I could thank him," K'ndar said. 

The harper laughed. "Judging by your reaction, I'm sure he already knows, but I will tell him, just the same. I must say, you've taken on quite a load of learning, here, seeing as to how you're still a Weyrling, but I am also glad that you are. Things are changing fast in our world, and it's going to take all of us working in different ways to increase everyone's knowledge."

"I…I wonder how these books make you harpers feel. Doesn't this make you feel as if, someday, you'll be in the same fix that dragonriders will be in when there's no more thread to fight?"

Randel paused, taking that in. "I suppose, eventually, it just may. Although I doubt it. Master Robinton…" they both paused, their hearts pained at the loss of the one man who probably pushed Pern further ahead than anyone else, and was universally loved and missed, "he was of the opinion that we harpers were the storehouses-and teachers for all knowledge. 

Even if computers reach into every corner of Pern,  which I sort of doubt, knowing how people resist change, still, people will need to know the songs, the history, that we keep. We still teach the children, not just songs, but will use books as well to teach science, math, and history. We'll still be responsible for day to day things like births and deaths, as well as higher level things such as the Council making decisions that affect all of Pern.

 You might not know this, but all us harpers are working hard just to keep a few steps ahead of the rest of Pern. You're not the only one who wants to read books.  The Printerhalls are working flat out to 'publish' as many books as they can.  I know I have my days full teaching and recording history, and like you, trying to read and learn at night."

"What does one do? To make a book?"

"Do you mean, how is the book made? Or how is one written?"

"Ummmm," K'ndar was stumped. He wanted both. "I guess the second. Where did this book come from, I mean, you said 'written'? But these letters…this 'type' is obviously not written."

"I know. What one does is 'compose', one 'writes'. For instance, right now, there are several people at Printerhalls who are reading old hides and copying what is on them onto paper. 

There is a machine called a copier that Aivas introduced that copies an entire page onto another piece of paper. But it can't copy hides, so that needs to be done by hand writing the information onto paper or, if they can, type it into a computer. I know, type and type..two different types of type…" 

He could see he was befuddling K'ndar, so he said, "Maybe someday you can go to a printerhall and see how it's done, better than I can explain. 

There are a few harpers who are doing the same thing with our teaching and history songs. They're writing them down for transferring onto paper and then into books. I think, someday, people will write stories, like harper songs, without it being sung or scored first. That means, I suppose, that eventually, we harpers WILL be out of our original job, that of using singing to teach. But we will probably be writing new songs instead of drawing on hides."

The concepts made K'ndar's eyes glaze over. He was not a technological kind of person. 

"I just wish there was an easier way to get books," K'ndar said, holding the books close to his chest. "They're precious, to me. I want to read and learn so much, and I don't know how to get more."

"Aivas told us about a thing called a 'library'. It was a place where books were kept and anyone could borrow them, like you are doing now. Rahman is 'loaning' them to you. In fact, if you open the front cover, you will see the words "This book loaned to ____________ on ___________. Returned on _____________."

Rahman wants you…and anyone else…to put their name down, there, and the date, there." 

He pointed to the lines, and handed K'ndar a crude pencil. 

"What is this?"

"It's a pencil. It's the same thing as a scriber or a brush, but works better on paper."

He printed his name on the line, entranced by the neat, dark mark the pencil made. He would have to get some 'pen sills' too, just to make lines. He handed it back to Randel.

"Why did I do this?"

"So that we can track who has this book. When I get back to my weyr, I will make a note on a board that says you have these four books. When you return them, I will remove your name from the board and note the date after the word "Returned" in the book. It's a way of keeping track of where the book is, who has it, when it is returned."

K'ndar felt dismay, and some resentment. "I can't keep them?"

"They're not free, K'ndar. They cost a lot of money to print."

"Oh. I guess I hadn't thought of that," he said, crestfallen.

"That, and a single book can teach many, many people. As often that we hear of people who don't want to change, or accept the new things that Aivas has taught us to make, still, there's many more people like you, who want to read books and learn as much as they can.

Besides, you're a dragon rider. You don't have the room to keep a lot of books, and by the way, you must protect them from getting wet, or moldy. Keep them covered in the leather bundle so that insects don't eat them. 

Once you are done with the books, return them to me. I will keep them safe in my stone storeroom, where we keep our instruments. Anyone in the weyr will be able to borrow a book. Don't worry. You can always come and borrow these books again, later on. We can all share them, the words don't fall off the pages once you're read them, and best of all, they don't wear out or rot,  like hides."

"I will be sure to return them to you, when I'm done." K'ndar promised. "Are you planning on getting more? On different subjects?"

"By the time you finish these and return them, I will probably have more that you can take out. I'm trying to get as many as I can on as many subjects as possible. For instance, the Healer Hall has written a book showing how to do things like set a broken leg or help a woman in childbirth."

Randel looked outside, hearing the pattering of rain beginning to fall on the weyr's thatched roof.

"It's what Aivas meant by 'library'. A place where there are many books, on all sorts of subjects, and anyone with an interest can come and borrow a book for a time. Eventually, I hope, there will be more books than we have shelves for. We will have to make a special weyr or room for the library."

He stretched his arms.

"I'd better head back to my weyr, before the rain gets heavy."

"Thank you again. If you see Rahman before I do, please tell him I said thank you."

"I will." Randel stepped out into the rain and was gone.

K'ndar uncovered a glow and opened the Aivas report. Within a page, he loved the entire concept of a book. It was so much easier than any hide.

Aren't you going to bed now? Raventh asked.

K'ndar?

K'ndar?

Sorry, my lizard. I think I'm going to be up for a while, reading