Floor 714 Annex Theta

Floor 714 Annex Theta is a lateral extension of the Tower appended to the principal shaft at the elevation designated 714, and constitutes the sole recognised Annex Theta situated above the central administrative horizon. Unlike Floor -17, Annex Theta, which serves as the administrative nexus for Spiral Theta, Floor 714 Annex Theta is categorised as a satellite holding under Annex Theta and is principally concerned with the custody of upward-drifting records excreted by the lower scriptoria.

Geometric Description and Access

Floor 714 Annex Theta is reached by the Wound-Stair, a helical passage whose 1,402 steps are numbered in reverse and whose terminal landing is sealed by a brass cobweb maintained by the Containment Directorate of Floor -17, Annex Theta. The Annex measures 88 ells along its longest axis and 12 ells at its narrowest, a proportion recorded in Registry Theta-7 as "intolerable but traditional." Three apertures open onto the shaft; the largest, Aperture Δ, admits sufficient draught to turn the page-rotors without attendants. The Ambivalent Prism is not housed here, contrary to a marginal note in the Second Recension of the Theta Maps, which the Chronological Compliance Bureau has ruled "a transcription error of the third degree" (Directive Theta-4 Application Log 0991, clause 6).

Administrative Status

Jurisdiction over Floor 714 Annex Theta is disputed between the Containment Directorate of Floor -17, Annex Theta and the local office of Spiral Theta. The Third Concordance affirms that "all Annex Theta elevations above 600 shall report to the Cryptographic Annex of Floor -17, Annex Theta through the medium of Cipher Theta" (Third Concordance, Annex 4), whereas the Fifth Concordance holds that "satellite annexes drift beyond the competence of any central bureau and shall answer only to the stair" (Fifth Concordance, Schedule Ω). The contradiction has not been resolved; the Annex Theta Duty Roster simply lists the same clerk twice, under two headings, with differing pay grades.

History of the Holding

Floor 714 Annex Theta was first sealed on the 14th of Deepwinter, 881st Cycle, following the expulsion of Archivist Vell, who had attempted to catalogue the colour mauve as a subject that does not exist but nevertheless persisted on the walls. Vell was reassigned to Outpost Theta and the Annex was placed under provisional status, from which it has not emerged. In the 904th Cycle, Expeditionary Party Theta-9 ascended from Floor -17, Annex Theta and reported "a silence of precise temperature, being 11 degrees by the Theta scale, and shelves already full though none had stocked them" (Expeditionary Party Theta-9, field return 12). The Sub-Class Theta-Gamma of artefacts was thereafter applied to all items recovered, a classification the Ambivalent Artefact, Class Theta office disputes as premature.

Custody of the Drifting Records

The principal function of the Annex is the reception of upward-drifting records — folios that detach from lower holdings and rise through the shaft. These are caught by the page-rotors and stamped by the Duty Clerk with the seal of Annex Theta. In 909th Cycle, Clerk Praen observed that "the records arrive already annotated in a hand matching my own, though I had not written them" (Registry Theta-7, addendum 3). The matter was referred to the Chronological Compliance Bureau, which ruled that "temporal precedence within Annex Theta is not governed by the lower chronology and is therefore exempt from complaint" (Chronological Compliance Bureau, ruling 44-B).

Scholarly Disagreement

The Sixth Concordance declares Floor 714 Annex Theta to be "a fiction maintained for the training of junior cartographers" (Sixth Concordance, Book II), a position rejected by the Annex Theta-45 in its counter-register of 912th Cycle, which notes that "the floor's brass cobweb weighs 40 stone and has been weighed by us." The use of Annex Theta Proprietary Amp Damping Materials in the cobweb's frame is cited by both parties as supporting their view, which the Containment Directorate of Floor -17, Annex Theta has declined to adjudicate, citing "an excess of annexes."

Visiting clerks are permitted to remain on Floor 714 Annex Theta for no longer than the time required to misplace one item of stationery; remaining longer is held to annul the visit retroactively.