Astra Chronicles

Chapter 10: Stuck Within Pages

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"Good writing is remembering detail. Most people want to forget. Don't forget things that were painful or embarrassing or silly. Turn them into a story that tells the truth," ―Paula Danzinger

Year 2113. Central Library, Academia Astra. A City.

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The smell of wood and old paper enveloped me.

I had loved books ever since I was a child. They take me to travels I had never been. Each an offer to an adventure that I couldn't experience.

Today, the initial impact of being there was a teleportation to an old memory in my home town.

I recalled our humble public library. A lot smaller than this one. Nevertheless, it didn't fall short in the promise of worlds beyond my imagination.

There was an air of comfort and tranquility inside the four walls that housed the quiet library.

I was alone in Academia Astra's Central Library. Not another soul graced it, I guess ever since the dawn of computer and WiFi technology.

Aside from the electronic key access at the front door, the only other communicative thing there would be the yocto software at the reception. A computerized hologram of a life-sized librarian.

"Good afternoon, Ava," I greeted the artificial intelligence.

Her image flickered as she turned to me and replied in a mechanical voice, "Hello, Skyler, what may I do for you today?"

I smiled and wondered if it was because I was her only visitor that she could recognize me instantaneously. Or if it was simply that the technology was faster than a human brain.

"I want to visit the history collections," I answered, already extending my wrist to the scanner installed on her right hand.

"Let me check your yoctochip for permissions," Ava instructed.

She ran a brief scan on my wrist. The crisscross of green rays from her eyes and the faint glow of light on her skin were telltale signs of her being nothing alive. She could have passed for a pretty woman if she weren't using those rays.

"You are free to search through the first and second level. May I remind you that the Archives are not for students?"

I watched as small flickers disrupted the image of her hand when she withdrew it and stored my data.

Such beauty of an invention as her. The Academia must have been proud to launch her software.

I reminded myself that Ava wasn't a person but an advanced programming codes created by one of the alumni.

I smiled, "Of course."

I turned on my heel and began trotting between lined shelves which were heavily coated in brown varnish. Perhaps the Academia had one of the best collections of books in the whole of Gaea.

I thought about how, in every week, new anthologies arrive in the library despite the lack of enthusiasm from the students. Maybe the Whites were fond of books too.

I strode to the automated escalator to the second level. It creaked and began moving the moment my weight registered on the first step.

History books were supposed to be at the right side, near the spiral staircases.