Lenora felt her mouth go dry. The robot looked serious and intelligent. Lenora wondered how she could ever be of assistance to such a sophisticated being. She took a deep breath, thought, One step at a time, and remembered what Malachi had told her to do.

“Hello,” said Lenora. “How may I help you?”

“Hello,” said the robot. It had a natural voice that didn’t sound robotic at all. “My name is Bendigeidfran. I was sent by the King of Starpoint Seventeen.”

“Never heard of it,” said Lenora.

“It is located in what is called the Great Rift Valley in your time,” the robot explained. “I come from the year 8000.”

“Interesting,” replied Lenora. She realized she ought to be taking notes. She found a box in one drawer that read NOTEBOOKS—WATERPROOF AND FIREPROOF. She removed one of the pads. In the year 8000, she wrote, the Kingdom of Starpoint Seventeen is located in Great Rift Valley.

“Ben-di-geid-fran,” she pronounced carefully. “That is a rather long name.”

“Thank you,” Bendigeidfran said. “It’s Welsh. Some things in Wales have quite long names.”

Lenora added this to her notes.

The robot continued, “I was sent here by my king, because the kingdom is in chaos, even more so than usual.”

“Why is the kingdom usually in chaos?”

“Because the people of the Kingdom of Starpoint Seventeen are a little…” The robot hesitated. “Well, you’ll see. We need a librarian, and the king says she must appear before him personally. He needs to appear to be in control of the situation.”

“I understand completely,” said Lenora. It was important to appear in control of the situation, but even more important to actually be in control of the situation, and to be in control of the situation you needed to know the facts. And Lenora knew the facts. Or at least some of them. She knew she had much to learn. But she remembered the words of her oath, her promise to venture forth bravely and find the answer to any question, and she knew it was time to put herself to the test.

“Take me to your king,” said Lenora. “I assume you’ve got a time machine somewhere.”

“Right here,” said Bendigeidfran, and he pointed at his wrist. There was a device there Lenora would have called a watch, but she supposed in 8000 those could double as time machines. “Ready?”

“One question before we go,” said Lenora. “Why did you come to me? Aren’t there libraries in 8000?”

“Of course,” said the robot. “But there was a bit of a line.”

He touched his time machine and they both vanished.

CHAPTER FOUR

Lenora Ventures Forth Bravely