Free Junk by Josephine Myles

the lurid cover of a Mills & Boon bodice ripper. “It has a certain kitsch value, don’t you think? And there was something about the hero.” The hero in question was a blond hunk, but he could see the passing resemblance to Lewis. “He has your eyes.” Shocked at his own boldness, Jasper led the way to the bedroom. He shoved the door open and stood aside. “There isn’t room for two,” he mumbled as Lewis edged past him.
    As he leaned back against the books and watched the light of Lewis’s camera flash reflected in the gloss paint of the open door, he wondered how he’d explain having blocked all the other rooms off up here. Mind you, Lewis hadn’t batted an eyelid at his inaccessible living and dining rooms. Jasper was no closer to coming up with a plausible reason when Lewis appeared at the doorway again.
    “So, this wing of the house is out of bounds, I see.” Lewis gazed around the cramped landing as if trying to calculate where the doors were behind all the books.
    “You can still get into the bathroom,” Jasper said, pointing the way.
    Lewis reappeared after a few more camera flashes. “No books in there, I see. Plenty of other stuff, but no books.”
    “Paper doesn’t like damp.”
    “No.” Lewis stared at him for what felt like an eternity. “It’s interesting. The way you’ve categorised your hoard. You’re pretty organised, you know.”
    Jasper shrugged it off. “I’m a librarian. It’s second nature.”
    “Hmm. So how would you feel if I were to take one of these books from here… May I?” Jasper nodded, and Lewis picked up a book from the pile next to him. “And put it on top of one of the downstairs piles?”
    Jasper took a deep breath. His palms sweated. “You can’t do that.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because…” Oh God, this was going to sound ridiculous. “Because these are the ones I plan to read myself one day, and the ones downstairs aren’t.”
    Lewis’s cheeks dimpled, even as his expression stayed mostly serious. “You’re keeping books you don’t intend to read?”
    “It’s not so strange. I don’t plan to read every book at the library either.”
    “No… But most people don’t give up substantial amounts of living space to something they don’t intend to ever make use of. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not criticising. I’m just trying to understand what your motivation is. What are you keeping all those books for, Jasper?”
    Okay. This was the point where Lewis abandoned him as a hopeless crackpot. But he wasn’t going to lie. Not about this, anyway. “It’s insurance,” he muttered.
    “Insurance against what?”
    Jasper fingered the spines of the books, looking at them to avoid the intensity in Lewis’s eyes. “Insurance against the collapse of Western civilisation. Someone needs to archive all our information, our culture. There’s knowledge there that could be lost forever if I don’t save it. Knowledge that could be useful to people. Help them rebuild society, you know?”
    “But there’s the Internet and proper libraries out there for all of that. Why do you need to archive things in your own home?”
    “Libraries can burn! They’re targets for rioters. The Internet, that’s only good as long as we have functioning servers and electricity to run our PCs. It’s not a stable form of data storage. Not really. Hard copies are safer. That’s what I’m doing. I’m saving the hard copies. For the future.” There. He’d said it, and now Lewis really would think he was nuts. He’d probably call the men in white coats to take him away.
    “Why not keep them in a rented storage unit, though? Why here, in your home?”
    “I need to look after them. I’m their…custodian.” That was much better than admitting they were his only real friends, wasn’t it?
    “I see.”
    Jasper almost didn’t look up, afraid of what he’d see on Lewis’s face. But when he stacked up his courage and did so, Lewis’s smile surprised him. “You are