Chapter 7: The Library

CONTROL. This anonymous group's story began thirty years ago. Out of nowhere, a group of hackers emerged invisible to the system. They would hijack data, sell it, and steal stock of the businesses that the administration of the city managed. Soon after, people started spreading rumors about the group and their followers started growing. More and more people who were cast aside from the ones that were at the top, the ones that lived in misery while the chosen ones were living in luxury in the best sectors, wanted their voices to be heard. A change in the system. That was the goal of CONTROL. To change the rules of the city.

CONTROL knew how powerful K.A.O.S. was, so they kept their distance. That is why K.A.O.S. didn't take them very seriously. Until he came. ShiruEto. A hacker that was stealing enormous amounts of classified data, stealing goods, and ruining many important businesses of the administration. He quickly caught the public eye and ranked number one in CONTROL's user contribution ranking. K.A.O.S. started losing its influence on people and their perfect system was slowly breaking apart. ShiruEto was seen as a savior for those living in misery. The one who would bring light to those in the shadows.

Arthur of course didn't think that deeply about those things. Especially now, when he had to make up a whole story in front of the teachers and Liam about his absence these two days. He was just about the open the door to his dorm.

- Arthur Ashford! - someone shouted in the endless corridor with countless doors. - Where have you been for the past two days?

*Great, my computer science teacher. Me and my luck!*

- Hello miss! - said, Arthur. His face wasn't hiding the annoyance he was feeling.

- You were absent for two days! - said the teacher with a firm tone. She was looking directly into his eyes waiting for an answer.

- I was feeling sick, so I skipped classes. I'm sorry for not letting you know, but I tried to give myself the rest I needed.

- Your roommate Liam told us you weren't here the evenings too. Where did you sleep?

- At my uncle's house. As I said, I was feeling very sick and I was a bit afraid.

- Your uncle? Why didn't he contact us?

- You have to ask him.

- Well anyway, what matters is that you finally came back. - the teacher softened her voice and her face showed a sign of relief for a moment, but quickly became strict as it was before.

- Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you. I have to go now...

- Wait! - loudly said the teacher just before Arthur could open the front door. - You know the rules. You will spend two hours after classes helping me order the books in the library this week.

- Two hours?! This week?!

- It's the least you could do. I was assigned to look for you these days and I haven't slept at all.

- But I was sick! How am I in the wrong here?

- No buts! Get in your room and prepare yourself for tomorrow.

Arthur very annoyed entered his room. Liam was sleeping. It was almost eleven o'clock in the evening. Arthur quietly sat on his desk chair and took out the capsule he had in his backpack. The fluid inside it was slowly moving and changing colors - from purple to blue to orange. It looked like it was alive since it moved on its own mixing itself, creating colors one can't imagine.

*Well I should go to bed. I have to hide this very well. I don't want Liam to find it.*

Arthur opened the window and reached for a box just above it. It was part of the ventilation system of the building. He opened it and the air stopped coming out. He left the capsule there and closed the box. In the ventilation shack, small robots appeared from the top and took the capsule just before the ventilation system started working again. The robots carried it on top of the air tunnel. It was very cramped, there was no space above them until they reached a very large open place where all tunnels led. There was a big tube, in which the air was moving - the central air tube. Many air tunnels were connected to it and took the oxygen all around the school. The whole open area hidden between the walls of the school was a giant complex system working nonstop. It was dark, only some small yellow lights were left so that people could navigate through this giant dark maze. This tube basically was wrapped around the school. The robots went through a hole in the tube and the air flew them away, just like they were in a fast-flowing-warp-tube they were flying with the air inside it. Four little spider robots were on the capsule which was moving crazily fast in the tube, going left and right, up and down. Then, one of the robots shot a small hook on a hatch on the tube. The robot spiders crawled on it and opened it leaving the airflow. They continued crawling on one air tunnel until they reached the wall in which the air vent continued its way to the outside world. They crawled onto the wall and at the top, they went through a small window entering a long-forgotten room. Here before a lot of time, someone stood to watch over the vents and act in a crisis. Now since robots maintained the place there was no need for anyone, so this place was abandoned and left to dust. The small robots left the capsule next to many other things which the boy had stored there.

Arthur was laying in his bed thinking about these past few days. His wound was slowly starting to get better, but it still hurt. He didn't find the one he was looking for in the SaiNDai building and even worse he got a lot of attention on himself.

*On top of that, who was this sky-rider guy? Why did he save me?*

He was left with only one thing valuable from these past few days. The capsule. For some reason, K.A.O.S were hiding them.

*The capsule is my only way of getting the attention of that man. If I find him then I might be able to escape from this city.*

The next morning Arthur woke up feeling refreshed. A night on his comfy bed was all he needed to regain his strength. Liam was already out. He had around ten minutes until the start of the first class, so Arthur quickly got dressed and rushed to the classroom.

Arthur opened the classroom's door breathing intensely:

- Good morning teacher. Sorry for being late. - said, Arthur.

- Good morning to you too Ashford. Quickly get to your seat.

He followed his orders and sat next to Liam. The teacher continued with his lecture.

- Where were you? - Asked Liam whispering. - I thought you were caught outside or something.

- I visited a family member that's why. I was also feeling ill, so I skipped the first two days.

Liam wasn't stupid, he knew that something happened and Arthur was hiding it. He also noticed how he was moving. As if he was holding the right side of his stomach.

All day they were studying the technologies used in the city and experimented with different microcontrollers. The classroom was total mayhem - electronic components everywhere, some small robots moving left and right while others were fighting and students watching them intensely. The teacher already gave up on trying to assert order in the room and just joined the students in betting on which robot would win. He even created his own, but it was soon demolished.

After classes, Arthur and Liam went to have lunch together.

- I came up with an idea for my project. - said, Liam. - I will make cybernetic arms with the ability to juggle more than fifteen balls.

- Well that is ambitious. You know that would take quite a long time to make, especially the part with the juggling, and the fact that you can't read or think...

- Very funny. And what did you decide to do, great know-it-all, with a big nose?

- Oh come on. My nose isn't that big! - said Arthur while touching his nose as if he was confirming to himself that indeed his nose wasn't above the average. - I was thinking of creating a conscious robot. One with the ability to think on its own.

- Artifical conciosness? And you tell me mine is ambitious. Even the best scientists haven't found the answer yet.

- Well that is the idea after all. To innovate, otherwise, I am copying other people's work.

- Do what suits you best. I have a whole arm to create.

- I have a brain to create.

Both of them let out a big sigh knowing they will have to spend all year developing their projects and continued eating their food. After the meal Liam went to his afterschool activities while Arthur was stuck in the library, helping the teachers with sorting the books.

The library was a giant sphere full of columns of books - some new, some from ages ago. It roughly had the size of an entire university, consisting of an unknown number of books. The ceiling was from glass through which could be seen the weather. When Arthur entered he looked at the size of one column and started counting its rows. He got to two hundred when he gave up. He wasn't even at half of it. Many robots were flying around while cleaning, many students were sitting in peacefulness studying. He got to the library's reception desk, which was full of documents and lists of books that the robots were coming and taking.

In front of him stood the teacher reading a list while holding her glasses just above her eyes.

- Hello miss.

- Ah Ashford. Nice to see you again. Unusual for you, but you are right on time. - said the teacher while handing him a white list. - This is a list of the books that you will be ordering. The numbers will guide on which column they should be and here are the books. - a robot carrier appeared. It was hovering slightly from the ground. - You have about five hundred books. The robot will follow you and give you the book you ask him to give you. If you prefer there is a seat on. You just give it its destination and it will ride you there.

At first, Arthur thought that it would be boring for him to be here, but now it was quite the opposite. He just wanted to get on the robot carrier and start exploring the endless maze. He got to the gate where all columns started. New students weren't allowed to go there by themselves since many got lost and truly no one knows how much time it would take a person to walk from one end to the other, so the school council put this gate restricting the area.

- Arthur! Before you go, give me your hand. - the teacher placed a bracelet on his wrist. It started shining in blue. - This bracelet is a tracker showing us where you are in case you get divided from your robot assistant.

The gate opened and Arthur entered the unknown world. The more he went further the less noise could be heard. The library itself was a giant cosmos - no humans, only books covered in dust lying down on enormous wooden shelves, the sun was beaming through the glass ceiling, and the lonely boy was left alone between the giant bookshelves to explore. The passages in the library were wide as roads as if once thousands of people came there. After half an hour, in front of Arthur showed a sign "Old History Section", behind it was a big circle of bookshelves. The robot stopped in the center of the circle and Arthur looked up - the books kept ascending and ascending and Arthur realized how much larger the place was. Here little light entered making the place feel more melancholic, forgotten, yet full of mysteries. Different caricatures were drawn on the floor - Egyptians, Hellenes, Vikings, pyramids, mountains, villages, and the whole map of the Earth was beneath his feet. Arthur felt like the whole history of his predecessors was in the books around him, like he was watched over. The dust particles could be seen flying around in the light. Arthur took the books that needed to be placed there and started climbing one of the ladders lying on the shelves. He looked down and shivers made him tighten his grip on the ladder. Before leaving the books in their places he read a little from them. Many interesting names came upon, such as "Different Gods And Where To Find Them", "Atlantis", "Alexander the Great", which filled the boy with curiosity, the more he read the more he realized how different his world was from the one described in the books.

After some time Arthur finished placing all the books. Just as he was about to leave the Old History section he stumbled upon a book that got his attention - "From London to Zento'". The book was pretty big, its cover was green and it didn't have an author. Arthur decided to just take it with him and read it at home.

- Ashford, you finally finished. How was it? I see you found interest in reading a book.

- It was actually pretty relaxing, miss. I also found this book, it looked interesting, so I would like to ask if I could take it to myself.

- Of course, you can. Just don't forget to bring it back next week.

The teacher removed his blue shining bracelet and Arthur went home. Liam had just gotten back from his afterschool activities and was waiting for Arthur. They both packed their things and went out. At eight o'clock the city was bursting with life - the streets were cramped, all restaurants were full and every shop was being stormed by customers. The two boys ate a delicious slice of freshly baked pizza and went to their favorite place from their first night out. When they climbed the building Liam looked at the night city. He felt static, down on the streets everything was moving, changing. Up there everything remained the same, no cars or humans, just the magnificent view of the colorful night city. The two boys sat and admired it for hours while reading the book Arthur got from the library.

- You know about Sector 0, right? - asked Arthur.

- Well I only know that it was once where all humans lived until we started building these sectors here.

- Apparently, there was once the famous Egg Tower, which now could be seen laying on other buildings. Look, here are some photos. This book is so cool!

- Wooah - Liam was amazed. In school nobody told them about these things, London was a city a few people knew.

- And the Bazar.. - continued Arthur - ..was a structure our ancestors after the Cataclysm built as shelter, later becoming the first sector where many rich people lived. Can you imagine that?

- I know right? And look at it now. A dump.

- Hey come on man. It isn't that bad. Yeah, it isn't the friendliest place, but the people there are much more reliable than those here.

- Have you been there Arthur? - asked Liam.

- I have been, many times. A family friend who owns a bar lives there and I regularly visit him.

- This is so cool. I wish I had your freedom. - as soon as Liam said those words Arthur's eyes lit up. He felt something coming from his friend, a desire for change, but it was still too weak. Arthur knew that Liam was soon going to find out who he was, so he hoped that he could turn Liam on his side, to make him seek his freedom.

- I can take you there if you want. - said Arthur smilingly.

- Really? That would be awesome!

- Let's get back home and we will think of a plan.

The two boys returned and after some time around eleven in the evening, they were laying in their beds talking to each other. Liam fell asleep in no time, but Arthur couldn't. Despite his efforts, his insomnia didn't give him permission.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed below his pillow. He took it out. He had received a message from the CONTROL app about a TDR request(Take-Deliver-Recieve - meaning that the hacker is required to take a certain stock from somewhere and give it to the client.) He had to lay low, he knew it, but he couldn't just stay and do nothing. He was so close to finding HIM of all people. His wound was almost healed too.

It didn't take him long to get dressed and ready to get out. He put his hood and backpack on. Before leaving he clicked on his phone and accepted the TDR mission:

TDR Quest: Take and deliver the stock from the given address.

Note: The stock is highly protected and kept safe at all times!

Delivery Address: "Stockholm", Bazar.

Price: Plasma Tokamak vK.A.O.S.

Arthur put his phone in his pocket and jumped out of the window. Liam continued sleeping while the cold fresh air was slowly infiltrating the room.