Andrei POV
March 1976
St. Botolph's settled into a rhythm, a system of bells, classes, and playground politics I was learning to navigate with detached efficiency. My alliance with Leo Dawson had solidified into a quiet, functional partnership. We traded knowledge—my grasp of historical context for his intuitive leaps in mathematics, my understanding of systemic pressure for his street-smart assessments of our classmates. He was the first person who looked at me not as a strange Stevens boy, but as a useful repository of oddly specific information.
The announcement of a field trip to the British Museum was met with the usual groans and muted excitement. For most, it was a day out of maths. For me, it was a mission.
The great hall of the museum felt like a secular cathedral to my archivist's soul. Sunlight streamed through the glass ceiling, illuminating the dust motes dancing above the Rosetta Stone. The class shuffled behind Mrs. Abernathy, her voice competing with the cavernous echoes. Tommy Finchley yawned theatrically. Arjun Patel took diligent notes. Leo's eyes were wide, drinking in the sheer scale of stolen history.
My focus, however, was pulled by a different imperative. The System interface, passive for weeks, glowed with a soft, persistent pulse.
[ SYSTEM NOTICE: PROXIMITY TO SIGNIFICANT PHYSICAL ARCHIVES. ]
[ Asset: The Library - OFFLINE SCAN READY. ]
[ Scanning enabled for pre-20th century manuscripts, historical maps, and public domain artifacts. ]
[ Objective: Augment foundational cultural database. ]
This was an unexpected function. The Library could not give me future tech patents here, but it could gorge on the past. As Mrs. Abernathy droned on about Egyptian dynasties, I let my fingers gently brush the glass case housing a fragment of cuneiform tablet. A faint, imperceptible hum vibrated through my senses.
[ OFFLINE SCAN INITIATED: Mesopotamian Legal Code (Fragment). ]
[ Cross-referencing with 2024 Library databases... ]
[ Context added: Societal structure, early concepts of justice. ]
It was a trickle of data, but a profound one. The Library wasn't just a cache of future pop culture; it was becoming a living, cross-referenced repository of human endeavor. I moved on, a ghost in the crowd of my classmates.
In the manuscript room, the air grew cool and hushed. Here, under dim lights, lay illuminated gospels, medieval maps with sea monsters prowling the edges, and the rough draft of a Dickens novel. This was the raw material of story, of worldview. I lingered by a 15th-century map of Britain, Mappa Mundi. Its inaccuracies were a window into the mind of its creator. As I scanned it, the System superimposed a perfect modern map in my mind's eye, the contrast a lesson in perspective itself.
Leo sidled up beside me, his voice a whisper. "You're not looking at it like the others."
"How are they looking at it?" I asked, my eyes not leaving the vellum.
"Like it's a picture. Like it's… dead." He paused. "You're looking at it like it's a report. Like it's telling you secrets."
He was more perceptive than I credited. "Every document is a report," I murmured. "This one reports fear of the unknown, dressed up as certainty. See how the edges crumble into myth? That's where the knowledge ran out."
He studied the map anew, a frown of concentration on his face. "So the blank spaces are more important than the drawings?"
"Always," I said. "The blank spaces are where the next person gets to define the truth."
The most significant moment came not in the grand galleries, but in a quieter alcove dedicated to the history of printing. There, behind glass, was a case tracing the evolution of the publishing industry. Pamphlets from the English Civil War, early Penguin paperbacks, a mock-up of a Victorian printing press. It was the tangible lineage of the very industry where Lionel the Cat now existed as a microscopic data point.
As I scanned a broadsheet from the 1720s, the System delivered not just the text, but an analysis.
[ SCAN COMPLETE: 'The Daily Courant', 1724. ]
[ Note: Early example of periodical publishing as a tool for shaping public opinion and commercial enterprise. ]
[ Connection Drawn: Foundational model for mass media. Direct precursor to film/television as cultural shapers. ]
[ Suggestion: Deeper study of media evolution may yield strategic insights for long-term goal. ]
This was the connection. The dry history in these cases wasn't separate from my dreams of Hollywood; it was the root system. Every film studio, every publishing house, every television network grew from this same impulse: to craft a narrative and distribute it for profit and influence. The British Museum wasn't a tomb; it was a blueprint.
On the coach ride back to St. Botolph's, the noise was deafening. Tommy Finchley bragged about touching a sarcophagus when no one was looking. Arjun Patel reviewed his notes. Leo sat quietly next to me, looking out the window.
"Did you get what you needed?" he asked suddenly, without turning his head.
I considered the question. I had added gigabytes of historical context to my internal Library. I had seen the direct line from Gutenberg to Getty. "Yes," I said. "More than I expected."
"Good," he said simply. "It's better than double maths."
That night, in my room, the System presented a new summary.
[ FIELD MISSION REPORT: BRITISH MUSEUM ]
[ Offline Scans Added: 127 historical documents/maps/artifacts. ]
[ Cultural Database Enrichment: +18%. ]
[ Key Strategic Insight Acquired: Media as a continuous evolutionary line from print to moving image. ]
[ Long-Term Goal Integration: Historical precedent analysis now available for future ventures. ]
The trip had been a resounding success. But more than the scans, I had confirmed a hypothesis about Leo. He had the mind of a natural analyst—curious, pattern-seeking, unimpressed by surface prestige. He was an asset. And in the economy I was quietly building, assets of his type—high-intellect, low-privilege—were the most undervalued.
The "First Rung" project was shelved until adulthood, a distant schematic. But the principle behind it—identifying and investing in raw potential—had just passed another field test. I wasn't just collecting future knowledge or historical artifacts anymore.
I was starting to collect people.
A/N
Andrei has enriched his Library with historical context and identified a key ally in Leo. The connection between historical media and his Hollywood ambitions is now clear. How will he begin to apply these "blueprint" lessons to his present, perhaps in how he guides the next Lionel the Cat book or interacts with his family's world