Nano Modern Myth 1.3.1

I couldn't find a good place to end this so it just stops. Soz.

Exam Time

I

The sun shone brightly, stretching its rays across the verdant surroundings. Perched amid the greenery, the glass building soared upwards into the bright sky, the light glittering off it. The sun’s rays poured through the windows, refracting and playing over the figures moving about inside. There was a dull, feverish energy about their movements as they scoured about the maze of shelves. The student denizens, their faces flushed, were stalking amongst the books, clutching handfuls of stolen treasure to their chests.
“Do you have the last copy of ‘Fortran’?” a sinister voice asked a pale-faced man, clinging desperately to his text.
“No,” he replied, “This is ‘Meyser’.”
“Damn. Someone’s taken the last ‘Fortran’. Probably hidden it in the Foreign Languages section. That’s where I found this copy of ‘Howard and Roth’.”
The strangers parted and went about their business.
Nearby was a long row of tables pushed together, dozens of students lining all sides. The feverish scratching of their pens and the frantic turning of pages overwritten by the dull murmur of conversation. Occasionally, there was a half-hearted ‘shush’ from someone wanting silence. But silence was never to be found in the University Library.
Huddled together at the end of one such table were Euan and some of his friends. They were likewise surrounded by piles of books, some of which were necessary, flicking through their pages. Euan had not brought the manuscript with him. He did not trust it this near to so many exam-crazed students. Nor the librarians. But they were just scary.
Suddenly, Eurig popped out of one of the long lines of shelves, his hands laden with textbooks. He bounced across to the group and dropped his forage in front of the one empty chair. He glanced around the group, their faces overwritten by stress, especially Mike, who was looking very pale and anxious, with deep rings under his eyes.
“How’s it going?” Eurig asked.
“Don’t ask,” Mike mumbled, one hand propping up his head, bowed over an enormous tome.
“I’ve managed to find some more textbooks on lichenology!” Eurig exclaimed, a broad smile on his face.
“I thought your module was on fungi?” said Tom, flicking through the index of a book entitled “Meteorology; Climatology; Hydrology and Me.”
“Yes, but these are the only books left in that section that were published post 1950. Some of them even have pictures!”
“You should have put reserves on them last month,” said Felix, pausing through a half-written sentence.
“Ah, well!” Eurig replied breezily, waving his hands dismissively. “If I’d done that, I’d never have found this…” he held up a battered old textbook entitled ‘Functional Fungi.’
“Is it useful in any way?” Felix asked, resuming his writing.
“No. But that’s not the point!” Eurig enthused, “Look at this- it’s older than my parents! Combined! My granddad might have read a book like this. And it would still be considered old fashioned!”
“Great. Now all you need is to invent a time machine and travel back to a time when the research it discusses was relevant to your degree,” said Callum, briefly waking up from his torpor to join in.
“Where’s your sense of romance, guys?” Eurig demanded, with a roll of his eyes, “Come on Euan, you agree with me right? Old books are cool!”
Euan chuckled and rubbed his face with his hands.
“Yes. I suppose they are,” he replied with ill-concealed ironic intent. “Although I think I’ve seen too many books lately. God, I could do with a coffee.”
Euan got to his feet, stretching out his aching muscles, his lungs yawning with underuse.
“Anyone want to come?” he asked, picking up his wallet, but leaving the rest of his work where it was.
“I’ll come,” Mike replied, “I need a caffeine fix.”
He stood up shakily, leaning on the table for support. The others in the group muttered dissent, motioning that they would stay and work for a bit longer. Mike and Euan weaved their way out of the main library and down to the adjacent coffee shop. It was packed with noise and bustle, students snatching their caffeinated beverages in eager hands and drinking of their golden goodness. They joined the ragged queue, eventually being served their piping hot, drug-laced luxuries. Finding no space inside the café, they took their drinks outside, pushing through the clouds of smokers by the entrance. They stopped at a slightly secluded stretch of grass and sat down.
“That’s better!” said Euan, lightly smacking his lips and the coffee worked its way into his bloodstream.
“Tell me about it,” Mike replied, his hands curling around the paper cup shaking slightly.
“So how are things really going?” Euan asked Mike, suddenly more serious.
“Terrible,” Mike replied morosely. “I’m never going to be able to get through the sheer mind-numbing volume of work.”
“They do say that Physics is one of the most difficult subjects you could take here,”
“I know,” said Mike with a wry smile. “That’s why I applied here. More fool me.”