In moments Lenora was back to her normal size. And the room was filling up with human-size ants. They raced out into the corridor to make room as one after another unshrank. (Was it really unshrinking if they were small to begin with? Lenora decided to leave that question for another day.) Soon the ants were all rushing through the halls as startled patrons leapt out of the way.

“Sorry!” cried Lenora over and over. “Important library business!”

Traveling by ant was proving to be even faster than by Tube. In hardly any time at all, Lenora was back in her Unknown section. She installed herself near the desk and continued giving orders. Ants dashed around in all directions, stacking and shelving and organizing and straightening. They brought Lenora books and she told them where to put them. And it was exactly as she had suspected—with books on space travel and tardigrades and radiation and extreme cold, there was no doubt that she was in the Tardigrades section. She ran into the hallway and confirmed that TARDIGRADES now appeared above the entrance.

When everything was done and the Tardigrades section was looking thoroughly professional and organized, Lenora asked the helpful ants to gather books on orbital mechanics and features of the solar system and beyond. “Oh, and bring the MOOSE, too,” she told them. She never knew what might come in handy.

She climbed aboard Cinnamon for the journey back to the Shrinking Room. Lenora soon found herself standing in front of the tardigrade. “Will these do?” she asked, showing her the books.

“Oh yes!” said the tardigrade, clapping six claws together. “Precisely what I need. And just in time, as my spaceship is complete.” The tardigrade gathered up all the books and clambered up into her ship. “Bon voyage! And do get some distance away, if you don’t mind. When these rockets go off, it will get quite hot in here.”

The ants hurried away. And then it hit Lenora:

The multiple star system of Alpha Centauri was more than four light-years away.

However would the library get those books back?

Lenora ran to the ship, up the ladder, and through the open door. There in the control room squatted the tardigrade in front of a control panel. Lenora’s eyes widened as one of the tardigrade’s claws pushed a button labeled LAUNCH.

The hatch behind her slammed shut and the floor shuddered and trembled. The words ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY ENABLED flashed on a computer screen.

“No!” shouted Lenora. But it was too late. Outside the windows, Lenora could see the dome’s ceiling rushing past, then open sky. They were headed for outer space.

“Abort!” Lenora cried. “Abort!”