“You said Orbona was a sleeping planet, a dead planet, when King Ojo brought everyone here, right?” Eva looked up at Rovender, her face lit by the pulsing glow of the desk’s screen.

“Yes, but . . .” Rovender furrowed his narrow brow as he put the final pieces together.

Eva rolled up her left sleeve, showing him the mark she’d received from Arius. “Zin told me what this means. Do you know?”

Rovender shook his head.

“It means,” Eva said as she traced the two circles, “a world within a world. A planet within a planet.”

“Orbona was Earth,” Rovender whispered.

“Earth is Orbona.” Eva nodded in agreement.

“Oeeah!” Rovender was amazed. “This explains a lot.”

Eva sat down on the cold marble floor. She drew her knees up and leaned her head back against the desk. “It doesn’t explain what happened to all of humankind, or why I am the only one left here.”

“Does it matter?” Rovender sat next to her and leaned his staff against the desk.

“What do you mean?” Eva sniffed.

“Are you alone, Eva Nine?”

“Well, Muthr’s gone . . . and Otto had to leave to be with his herd.” She wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

“But?”

“But what? I mean, you’re here with me,” she said, looking over at the lanky creature.

Rovender Kitt put his arms around her. “And I will always be here for you, Eva. I’ll take care of you and teach you everything I know.”

“You promise?” she snuffled. “You . . . you won’t leave?”

“I promise.” Rovender held her tightly.

The two got up from the marble floor behind the desk. Eva looked around at the great vault of books.

“Well”—she took a deep breath—“I guess I’ve got a lot of books I could read . . . and a lot of history to learn. Where should we start?”

“Let’s start with this.” Rovender pulled out the charred WondLa from his pocket. He set it down on the desktop and slid it over to Eva.

Before she could pick it up, the desk chimed and stated, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz pffft L. Frank Baum. Published pffft 1900. Child-pffft Literature, second pffft.”

The actual cover, in perfect undamaged condition, was displayed on the screen. Eva slid the WondLa over it, lining it up to view the missing letters and words. She stared at the picture of the little girl, arm in arm with a robot and a man with a wide-brimmed hat, walking about in the wondrous world. They were smiling. They were happy.

Eva tapped an icon in the corner of the screen and the desk displayed a diagram of the library, showing exactly where the book was shelved. Eva left the WondLa lying on the desk and looked over at Rovender.

“Well, Eva Nine,” he said, “what are you waiting for?”