The air was stale and smelled musty. But that's what you'd expect if you had stepped into a library as old as this one.

The building itself was half collapsed. Overgrown trees and bushes hid its entrance. Some of the bricks were still fully intact, others had begun to crumble. It was a miracle Mari had stumbled across this place at all. A miracle and pure luck, she'd gathered. She wasn't allowed to be this far outside the Border. She certainly wasn't allowed to be out this late past curfew. Everyone else would be safely asleep in their compounds, dreaming of the same boring routine they engaged in every day. In just a few days Mari would be joining their ranks. As a scholar, that is. Soon she'd find herself stuck in a large room with a Learning Helmet attached to her head for eight hours a day.

She wanted one more adventure before her life was no longer her own. One more time outside before she had to leave her childhood behind and start contributing to Society.

Mari coughed as she walked between the tall bookshelves. Dust hung in the air like a thick wall, and any movement at all swept up new waves of the tiny particles into the open space. She stopped and ran her fingers over the volumes of old books. Some were dated back as far as the 1950s, which was over three thousand years ago. It was incredible that this place was still here and the books were intact. Nearly all others had been burned during the Great Purge.

She picked a dark brown book off the shelf and carefully held it in her hands. It smelled heavenly, the pages emitted a calming, musty odor. Mari opened the stiff cover and let the pages fall open. The yellowed pages felt soft in her hands, so unlike anything in the sterilized white compound.

Hand written words flowed across each page. Some were accompanied by pictures of tall buildings and expansive cities. Others contained lines upon lines of written words seemingly lost to time.

Mari fanned through the pages but stopped when she came across a picture of a four legged creature. It wasn't unlike the robots that roamed the halls, but then again, it was also completely different. The creature had piercing eyes, pointy ears, and long strings spread across its face. Its body was covered in some kind of blanket or cloth that looked soft to the touch. A fifth limb rose from its back, and its colors were vibrant shades of orange, brown, black, and white.

"What is this?" Mari whispered. She touched the page, following the lines that covered the creature's back.

"It's a cat, duh." Came a voice from behind.

Mari jumped, nearly dropping the book as she fell on her back. She scrambled to get to her feet, eager to put some distance between her and this unexpected visitor.