Free Unawakened by Trillian Anderson Page B

choice bits of business. Knowing about Earth’s current culture wasn’t important to me until now. A mistake, it seems. I had others who handled most of my affairs for me so I wouldn’t have to stay on Earth for long. I’m paying for my ignorance now. Still, the company is well worth it.” Rob grinned at me.
    I had a pretty good idea of what he wanted, and I’d probably indulge him when we returned to my apartment. He was right about the company, although I had no intentions of letting him know how grateful I was that his ignorance had thrown us together.
    Like the storage facility, the library was more of a warehouse than a work of art, but the presence of so many books filled me with childish delight. The vanilla scent of old pages was partnered with the smell of old leather, and I breathed in deep to savor it.
    “I love libraries,” I declared, setting the laptop bag down. “Welcome to one of my favorite places on Earth.”
    Hundreds of thousands of books filled the room. I could spend my entire life in the cavernous room with no hope of reading every title. In a month, I had barely scratched the surface of the history section, although I had blitzed through most of the place. A podium with a built-in tablet waited by the door, and I tapped in a query for the Bible.
    The vault’s library didn’t disappoint. While I expected one copy, I whistled at the assortment of versions. “Hell, there are hundreds of versions, Rob. Which one do you want?”
    Rob leaned over my shoulder to glance at the screen, reaching around me to scroll through the list. “This system is designed to let people take books?”
    “I didn’t take any with me, but I had noticed the functionality is there.”
    Clicking his tongue, Rob browsed through the selection. He tapped his finger on one of them, pulling up an image of a tattered volume. “This one.”
    The leather covering the book was so worn brown patches showed beneath the black, and the pages had long since yellowed with age. I frowned, tilting my head to the side as I considered the book.
    I’d seen copies like it in the hands of the faithful heading to or from one of the sanctioned services in the few operating churches in Baltimore. If Rob was hoping to avoid notice with his choice, he’d done a good job picking a volume that wouldn’t draw unwanted attention to himself. I tapped the screen to pull up the book’s location. While I was at it, I followed the prompts to register we were taking the book from the vault.
    The system pinged its acceptance of the withdrawal. I glanced at the numbers listed on the sides of the bookcases. “Looks like we have a bit of a hike to pick it up.”
    Rob chuckled and led me deep within the library.

    While the catalog had included many versions of the Bible, there were far more copies of the book present than I had thought. They took up an entire row of the library, and I whistled at the assortment and variation. Some were so old they were stored in protective glass cases. Others were bound in gold.
    Most were thick, heavy volumes. While Rob hunted for the specific one he wanted, I stared at a slender copy nestled between two worn leather copies. It was made of white leather with gold gilding, and its spine was embossed with golden decorative script. I eased it off the shelf.
    The odd script repeated on the cover of the book, and I was astonished I didn’t recognize the language. I opened the book to discover the pages were all blank. I had no idea what the book was, but it wasn’t a Bible. I made a thoughtful sound in my throat and tucked the volume under my arm, heading to where Rob was busy searching the shelves.
    “No luck?”
    “It’s not here,” Rob grumbled, pointing at the case where the book he wanted should have been. “Damn it.”
    “There are thousands of versions here, Rob. Will one of the others do?”
    “But I wanted that one,” the dae whined.
    I laughed at his childish tone, and while I was puzzled at his