Kristeen already called her parents and left a message for Jonathan on her way back from Daan’s. She called Sveta only after that, from home, hesitantly.

  “Guess what, sweetie, I’m going to the Zone!”

  “Uh-huh. That sucks enough. Are you at least getting paid well?”

  “Well, I’m also worried about catching some infection. But Daan Bos, who hired me, said it’s safe. I have to promote a library, and he’s paying quite well. How are you, are you okay?”

  “Yeah, fine, of course, but I’m leaving now. Fred’s already fidgeting here. We’re going to Dead Stars. Have a good trip!”

  The darkness of the screen, like an impenetrable wall, loomed before her. Kristeen pressed her forehead against the cold glass. "This is her life now. Her life…” she kept telling herself until her bitter anger subsided. For consolation, she called her friends from school. Their enthusiasm quickly brought back her own. They envied and encouraged her. Suddenly, she felt again as if she had won a dream trip.

  She already appeared among the news and advertisements the next day. Daan announced the news of the library in an interview, and that Kristeen would also be going there, emphasizing how honoured he was by this.

  "He’s using a pretty good picture of me. I haven’t looked this good in ten years. I’m totally smart and sexy. I’d believe anything from myself. Next year, every student will want to learn from me. Maybe their parents too,” She carefully stroked the pieces of paper she kept in her pocket. Their touch still thrilled her.

  The emptiness, the uncertainty that had filled the past few days, was gone. She even thought about catching up on her missed exercises, but then decided it would be enough to start again the next day.

  She stretched happily when she accidentally glanced at one of the picture frames and became gloomy again.

  She knew the rotating pictures in the frame by heart now. Sveta’s drawings, followed by family photos, and drawings again. About seventy pictures. The next picture would be her helping Sveta blow out a candle on a cake. This used to be a game, too. They would sit on the couch and try to guess which picture would come next. But Sveta would always be better. When Kristeen got tired of Sveta always winning, she would name non-existent pictures, which made Sveta laugh gleefully.

  “This was just now. So long ago. It’s over,” She slumped onto the couch.

  “She’s better than me at everything. And yet. What did she become? A consumer idiot! If I had that much sense… I must have messed everything up.” She stared blankly ahead. Loneliness overwhelmed her only for a moment. She didn't let it consume her.

  “Judy, set this to random!” she ordered her assistant. “And show me pictures of the city I’m going to!”

  “And I’ll need the weather forecast for the next two weeks, and a clothing recommendation too. I need to pack; the carrier is coming for me tomorrow!”

  The weather promised to be cool but uneventful, with no strong winds or heavy rainfall expected. Judy found some industrial cameras, but only poor-quality blurs could be seen on partly or completely demolished houses, with hordes of robots moving between them.

  “Are there wolves or bears there? Is this place dangerous?”

  “According to observations, there are some outside the city. But the wildlife population is already quite large, so they hunt that. The city is safe.”

  Kristeen quickly grew tired of the blurry images. She started to focus instead on the bags under her eyes, so that the artificial intelligence would have less work to do for her video check-ins.

  “The network is available, after all, electricity and water are also installed. We’ll see about the rest. It’s sure to be all right.”

  While she was waiting for the face mask to take effect, she thought about what Daan had told her about why he was doing this:

  “Guilt? I think that’s what I feel. Perhaps like those who created the atomic bomb. After we had created biologically based robotics, I had to realize it was a mistake. It will help society, but it won’t change, and won’t advance it. Perhaps, it is a hindrance, because it conceals how vulnerable we are. How exposed we are to the planet and the environment. It might seem that we can always turn everything to our advantage. But that’s not true. And if society doesn’t become more extreme than it is today, then we will be in great danger. Isn’t it strange that while we strive for diversity from an environmental perspective, we don’t from a societal one? And this is a big mistake. That’s why I’m doing this. To correct the mistake I made, and to force people to return to what made them human again. To debate, to have their own opinions, and to represent them. To think. The world is not unambiguous, we must not have only one answer to it. Otherwise, we will fail in the long run.”

  “Do I understand correctly that the goal is not for New-Humanity to seize everything?”

  “Correct. We want to be an Inner Australia, if I may use that image. An independent entity that operates a little differently from the others. This will be good for everyone.”

  “Unfortunately, guilt as a motivation is difficult to apply,” Kristeen sighed.

  “Nothing is perfect,” Daan smiled.

  “Inner Australia!” Kristeen mused over the analogy. Since the continent disconnected from the Knowledge Network, she hadn’t heard much about them. They supposedly lived the same way, just on a different network. Yet, somehow, she thought humanity had been lost to them.

  “We can no longer learn from each other. How does Daan intend to bridge this? How can unity be preserved, and diversity also increase? How?”

  A discreet beep indicated she could remove the mask. She was quite satisfied with the result.

  Kristeen was nervous. Not just because of the Zone. She rarely travelled at all. The last time she visited her parents was when Sveta was three years old. Since then, she hadn’t left, just like most others generally. There wasn’t much need for it; they could still explore the world. With Jonathan, they often travelled through city hotels. Virtually, that is. Distant landscapes were simulated with sensory effects in the specially furnished rooms of the hotels,, without crowds or tiresome travel. In the evenings, they could visit families recommended by the Knowledge Network, who were just different enough to make conversation comfortable. The hotel's kitchen robots were able to prepare meals in the same way as their hosts, so almost nothing was missing from a real hospitality experience. Fortunately, everyone spoke the basic language well enough, so there were no communication problems. They also invited back many of these families to their own apartments, virtually, of course. Sveta met her friend Fred, who actually lived a few thousand kilometres to the southwest, on one such organized school trip. But now Kristeen was travelling again. She would be far from everything she was used to, everything that made her feel safe.

  “It pays quite well for an escape,” she smiled.

  On the morning of the third day, the carrier arrived early. It still moved very slowly in the city. Kristeen found herself staring at the receding houses behind her, as if saying goodbye to them. It seemed that her desire for the library was overshadowed by her fear of the unknown. Clinging to the small details calmed her. The shapes of the autumnal houses, the shadows cast on the roads by tree branches growing out of the house walls. The morning city was just waking up. A few families with small children were already in the parks, pre-empting any potential storms during the day. It was still safe to be outside, to meet friends at this time of day. Adults chatted in small groups while the little ones ran around. "Old times…" Kristeen also used to spend a lot of time in playgrounds with Sveta. She knew almost everyone in the neighbourhood. Some helped out as surrogate grandparents. They freed up as much time that Kristeen could go to study or go out in the evenings. But children grew up in the blink of an eye. When they turned sixteen, they all embraced the world and went off after their favourite bands. The cohabitation agreements of the couples expired, relationships mostly cooled, and former co-parents sought new partners. The eternal cycle of finding each other and being alone. Kristeen didn't know whether to envy or pity those who stayed together. Somehow it wasn't natural, even if there was something attractive about it. "Renewal involves pain," Kristeen sighed.

  Her carrier entered the vacuum tube and underwent external disinfection beyond the food-producing towers, reaching the city limits. The legs were retracted into the casing. The windows darkened, and a soft, glowing light filled the cabin. She saw nothing more of the surroundings; in return, the capsule accelerated to half the speed of sound. Thus, the journey was just over an hour.

  The steady acceleration pressed her into the seat and dissipated the tension waiting in her stomach. Although she had only just woken up, she dozed off again, and by the time she awoke, they were already in the deceleration phase. At the station, a battered carrier awaited, looking mostly used for cargo. They moved slowly and swaying on a narrow road. This must have been a huge city once. Kristeen had looked it up in the database at home; she arrived in Brussels. Over the past years, nature had begun to reclaim the area on its own, but demolition had also taken a big bite out of it by now. Most of the suburban houses had already been dismantled by the work machines and the robot flock. Usable and unusable materials were being sorted. What could be, was used on-site to create varied, fragmented terrain. It was good to see with her own eyes that what they taught really worked: giving back to nature what was hers. Kristeen had read Zone planning books before, and now she happily discovered the different forms.

  She saw no humans anywhere. Most of the demolition, sorting, and arranging work was done by very small, animal-like robots working in coordination with each other. Watching the flock, Kristeen pondered over that where the line between animal and robot lay. These here, with one or two exceptions, were built in the same way as ants and spiders; the larger ones like mammals. Yet, they were designed and raised with one purpose: to carry out the demolition of cities. They could not reproduce. They could only communicate through special channels. If the numbers were to be believed, only few malfunctioned and strayed from the flock. There were herding robots for them, and somewhere there had to be a shepherd, a human, who separated and healed or destroyed the injured, confused individuals.

  The carrier now reached a sunny spot. A huge tree stood in the square, from which vines hung down. Robots gnawed at the ends of the vines. "A mother-tree!" These trees supplied sugar to the robots. “Daan somehow made all this possible! If this is really his invention, then I understand why he became so rich. He must be incredibly smart.” She felt a sense of pride that she was working for him. As they went further into the city, more and more intact, huge and empty apartment blocks surrounded them. They rose closely together towards the sky, without parks or lakes. “No wonder they left this place. It must have been terrible to live here,” Kristeen looked on in horror.

  The new, planned cities were airy, green, and safe. The most important equipment ran protected underground. Pipes, like a multiple nutrient network, wove through the city. They transported energy, water, or provided a path for the smaller package-carrying robots for households. The network was interrupted by distributors and storage units, which smoothed out the unevenness of energy production and consumption, or collected greywater to later feed the surface vegetation, keeping it alive in the summer heat. The city Kristeen was looking at, was harsh and primitive. It was a miracle that so many people used to be able to live here at all.

  “Judy, can you see out? Are we far yet?”

  “I can see, but the image is a bit choppy. The network quality isn't the best around here.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “About half an hour, and you'll be there; it is not too far.”

  “I hope the network will be better when we get in. I don't want to lose you!”

  The most important parts of the assistants ran on central machines. Without a network, they were almost useless. The terror that swept over Kristeen, caused by the thought of losing Judy, lasted only very briefly. Since her conversation with Daan, she had been pondering how to make the most of this work. It would be really good if many people actually started reading. If others also experienced how good it was to immerse themselves in another world and then return from it. How much reading gives. And how different a book is from a screen. "I have already had some influence, but now... Now I'll reach many more people. And that's important. Daan chose a damn good person!" She calculated what she would be satisfied with. How many viewers, how many buyers. One moment she was dreaming of a few dozens, in the next, of millions. "Maybe, I should have contracted on a commission basis. Oh well, I won't be greedy, I'm already getting much more than I thought."

  The carrier stopped at the edge of a huge square. The crumbling buildings silently embraced the space. The house they stopped in front of differed from the other houses in the square. While the other houses bore the marks of classic old stone houses, this one was built of glass and metal. Kristeen was horrified by this architecture. There was nothing natural, organic about it.

  “Well, Judy, here we are. If I go in, we'll have to part ways, if I'm not mistaken.”

  “Not entirely. That's only necessary at the library. This is just a residential building. It used to be a hotel.”

  “The library is to the left of this. That windowless, box-like building. You just can't take me in there. It must be beautiful. You'll tell me later.”

  Kristeen turned left to get a look at the library, from the door of which a tall and big, dark-skinned man was just stepping out.

  “That'll be the one Daan told me about. Former soldier, Brin Kovalszky.”

  “Discharged several years ago, possesses outstanding cognitive and physical intelligence, B-category in everything else, unreliable,” Judy rattled off the information into Kristeen’s ear.

  “Hi!” Brin smiled at Kristeen. “I suppose your assistant has already read out my data sheet.” “But if there's anything you're curious about, feel free to ask!”

  He had a pleasant, warm voice.

  “Hi! Daan mentioned someone would be here to secure the area. Nice to meet you. Are we really not safe?”

  Brin laughed out.

  “Well, Daan is pretty good at marketing, AND he's also somewhat paranoid. In this corner of the zone, there's barely any life besides robots. No crime has occurred around here in the last 50 years. Daan, however, believes that if something needs protecting, then it must be very valuable, and then many people will be very curious. And curiosity is good business. So, this ‘danger’ thing is just some usual marketing. I'm not worried. But of course, I've taken the necessary precautions. Daan's private network has been able to bring a fairly large area under control. There's no danger.”

  Kristeen looked around. Calm and quiet reigned everywhere. Occasionally distant rumblings, the sounds of demolition. It was noticeably cooler than at home. The yellow leaves of the birches growing in the fountain had all fallen, only their white, peeling trunks allowed them to be recognized.

  “That's good news, because I'm not running too well anymore. Can I still take my assistant to the accommodation?”

  “Only the library is forbidden. Actually, you could take her there too, but unfortunately, the electronics will explode, and if you're near it, that can hurt.”

  Kristeen involuntarily smiled.

  “I'll escort you to the hotel, show you your room, and where everything is, then we'll go over to the library,” Brin suggested.

  With that, he grabbed the two suitcases and headed towards the building. Kristeen was used to being short, but reaching only someone's chest was not an everyday occurrence.

  “I've checked the power and water. It'll be enough. But don't organize a party, because the water purifier can't handle many people.”

  “How large is the population here?”

  “I've met three shepherds so far. They said there's no one here.” “A bit further south, there's an outsider colony, but they hardly come into the city.”

  “What should I know about them?”

  “I guess they're a team of re-starters. People who reject technology and produce everything themselves. They care for the Earth, and are very peaceful. They don't cause harm.”

  “Then we can work in peace.”

  “The hourly rate is ticking away, day and night,” Brin smiled with his big, dark grin.

  The building was dim, with only some light filtering in from outside. Brin led her to a ground-floor room. “I fixed this up for you. Mine's opposite, just in case you need anything,” he pointed to the opposite door. The room was quite spacious and clean.

  “How will it be light in here?” Kristeen asked, confused.

  “Here are these switches,” Brin showed. “You need to press these to turn the light on and off.”

  It was strange, but manageable.

  “There aren't built-in displays in everything here. So, I installed a few. You'll find one on the desk and one on this wall.” “On these, you can access your messages, or whatever you want, just like at home. In the library, you'll only access Daan's network, and you'll have to write your notes there too.” “If you have no questions now, I'll leave you, and we'll meet in the lobby in ten minutes.”

  “Thank you,” Kristeen answered distractedly. She was fascinated by the raw simplicity of the place, glad to be alone for a bit.

  At first, the zone wasn't as terrifying as its reputation. “You wanted adventure, well here it is. You even have to adjust the light yourself. This Brin seems quite nice. More relaxed than Daan. True, not as much of a genius, though obviously not stupid. Well, I'll unpack, then I'll go.”

  The room felt quite homely.

  “Judy, what do you think?” she asked.

  “The network is a bit choppy, but it'll be fine. I haven't seen any danger.”

  “I'm so excited! I'm going to the library.”

  “I'll be with you as long as possible.”

  Kristeen found Brin in the hall. With his huge hand, he was picking small purplish-black fruits from a bowl.

  “What are you eating?”

  “Local fruit. I got it from the shepherds. Want to taste it?”

  “You mean, grown on Earth?” Kristeen recoiled in horror. “Definitely not.”

  “You're missing out. They're called blackberries, truly delicious. But I understand. We get food deliveries weekly; the next batch arrives tomorrow. You have to be as careful with the packaging material as at home. If anything goes missing, it costs a lot. But I recommend the local food instead, fresh meat, sun-grown vegetables, fruits. You can get a lot from the shepherds.”

  “They slaughter live animals? How can they do that? And can their stomachs handle it? I'm sure I'd get sick.”

  “Well, it's up to you, but if you crave it, just say so. After all, humanity used to live on this diet for a few thousand years.”

  “I don't think I'll change my mind. I'd rather stay alive. Would you show me the library? I'm so excited!”

  “Of course, let's go.”

  Brin heaved himself out of the armchair, and they set off.

  Upon entering the library building, Kristeen found herself in a huge, empty hall, most of which was occupied by a staircase cordoned off by a screen. Brin led her to an empty room. “Here are natural clothes. They don't contain any built-in modules. You have to change before you enter.” “If any modules do remain on you, the sensors on the stairs will signal it.”

  Kristeen didn't argue, but changed her clothes as quickly as possible. She was so excited, she could barely contain herself.

  “And you?” she asked Brin, because the man hadn't changed.

  “If possible, I don't wear modules,” he poked his head with his thick fingers. “I trust this. I only have a controller with me, but it uses Daan's network and is responsible for security here.”

  “Then let's go.”

  There was a doorway in front of the stairs; when Kristeen passed through, it lit up with a faint green light.

  “Wait a moment!” Brin called after her, remaining behind. He picked up a small package from beside the stairs, then pushed it through the doorway, whereupon red lights began to flash and a deafening siren sounded. Brin put the package back beside the stairs.

  “If you were to proceed despite this, the electronics would be remotely detonated, using the self-frequency method, and sleeping gas would fill the room. Firstly, that's painful, and secondly, you'd lose the job. Daan takes few things seriously, but this rule he does. No one can enter there wired up.” Brin's voice was darkly sharp. Kristeen didn't understand why all this fuss, and she was much, much too excited to bother with it now.

  “I understood the first time.”

  “Then let's go,” the giant grinned.

  As they reached the top of the stairs, a wonder unfolded before Kristeen. Shelves everywhere, tightly packed with books. Against the wall, grey, metal cabinets with drawers. Kristeen took a deep breath. Her whole being filled with the scent. She ran her hand along the spines of the books. She picked one out at random and leafed through it. Its pages were a little yellowed, but otherwise it was in good condition.

  “This is a dream!” she said, turning to Brin.

  “Well, you can revel in it. You have two weeks for it – maybe three if we run over.”

  “I'll make the most of it!”

  “This is just the reading room. I'll show you the storage.”

  Kristeen put her hand to her mouth.” No way! Really, more books?” She hadn't felt this way since childhood.

  Brin opened a door, behind which a staircase led downwards.

  “We're not using the elevator now because I don't think it's safe, and I don't feel like fixing it. The robots don't care anyway.”

  After two turns, they reached the library's storage room. Brin found the switch, and after a few flickers and strange metallic sounds, the storage room was flooded with light.

  “Neon tubes. I think they're at least two hundred years old. It's a miracle they still light up,” Brin poked towards the ceiling.

  On the other side of the corridor, huge, grey, metal shelves were pushed tightly together. No one could fit between them.

  “How…” Kristeen began, but Brin cut her off. He grabbed one of the shelves and easily pulled it out into the corridor. The shelving system was suspended on rails on the ceiling.

  Kristeen ran her hand over the books again.

  “I've waited so long for something like this. I don't even know... It's so magical! You must think I'm crazy…”

  “I don't think you are. I also think it's fantastic. A tiny piece of knowledge. How good it would be to read them all and remember them!”

  Kristeen tirelessly pulled out the books, which careful hands had provided with hard bindings. She opened them, leafed through them, and took a deep sniff. After the tenth, she stopped.

  “I'll have plenty to read, plenty to write about!” she beamed with happiness. “What will you do?”

  “I've already set up the security system, so I won't have much to do with that. There's a map storage here with microfilms, I want to go through that. And I saw they have a pretty good sci-fi collection.”

  “A man who loves to read. Sexy…”

  “If that counts, then I love to read, ” Brin grinned smugly. They slowly walked down the long corridor, at the end of which they entered a small room. The dormant robots were there.

  “I think we can even switch them on. That'll get us further ahead. What do you think?”

  “Not good,” Kristeen shook her head. “There are books Daan asked us to handle separately.” “I need to find those first.”

  “Daan and his little private works. I understand now why he insisted on a manual processor too.” “Look, this will be it!” he pointed to a tiny machine. “I think you should put this away, and come, I'll show you how the card catalogue system works.”

  “Do you know everything?” Kristeen wondered honestly.

  “I used to be an intelligence officer.”

  They returned to the reading room, where Brin briefly demonstrated how the card catalogue system worked. It was logical and simple.

  “Luckily it has survived, but the old computers don't work anymore. I couldn't breathe life into them.”

  “Daan said I could tell you,” Kristeen took out the list of books.

  The piece of paper almost disappeared in Brin's huge hand as he was scanning it.

  “I don't know them. Maybe only one of them. If you find any of them, don't just take one book, but several, to deflect unwanted attention. Although there are only two of us here, who knows what might happen. Caution is always better.”

  Kristeen found four out of the six titles among the cards, but only three in the storage. She digitized these on the spot. “I've never had such an easy job,” she smiled to herself. However, she couldn't find the fourth book.

  She selected many others to go with the three books so she could make notes from them later, and pushed them on a small cart up the ramp next to the stairs into the reading room. Then she looked for Brin and handed him the tiny archiver.

  “I'm done with what I found. But I haven’t found this one,” she pointed to one of the titles on the list. She herself was surprised that even here she didn't want to say its title aloud.

  “Maybe it was borrowed. I'll check at the counter.”

  Brin came back from the counter after a short search, a card in his hand.

  “That's right, just as I thought. Someone borrowed it about 155 years ago, and then didn't return it. I guess they had other things to do during the Great Famine. If you get tired of working, we can go and get it one day. It's a longer trip, but worth a try.”

  “Alright. Then the machines can start,” Kristeen sighed. “And I can finally sit down and read.”

  Brin took out his console from his pocket. He pressed its display for a while, then a soft hum sounded in the distance.

  “They've started working. If all goes well, they'll be done downstairs in a week and a half, then up here in one or two days.”

  Kristeen barely paid attention to him. The books absorbed her. “There are still a couple of hours left until the end of today. I'll read a bit now, and I also need to write an entry; I might even do the video check-in today. Can you give me a device?”

  “You're right, my apologies. I haven't given you your console here yet.” Brin disappeared again, then returned with a console. It was no different from the one Kristeen used at home.

  “You can work on this. You can also do the recording with this, and you can access Daan's network. And through that, you can also get to the regular network if you want. Send him your notes.”

  “Will you be here?”

  “Yes,” Brin pointed ahead. “A room opens there. The maps are there. I'll be there.”

  Kristeen nodded and set off to walk around the reading room. She pulled out a few books at random, read into them, and piled what she liked onto one of the tables. She stopped at the tenth book and smiled. “This will probably be enough for a while.” She turned on the console and made her first check-in, but she wasn't satisfied with it. The second version turned out better. For a moment, it crossed her mind that according to advertising law, the subject of the advertisement cannot appear in the pictures, but she decided that was not her problem. Daan and the team would solve it. “How else could one talk about a library without books?” she thought.

  When all her obligatory tasks were done, she started a thin book of poetry. Its rhythm was good; its long sentences pulsed. From an old world, from an old time, yet so vividly, as if they had been spoken today.