Escape

Episode, Episode 929, The Library, by Enby Anderson. I'm going to Hello and welcome to a skate pod your weekly science fiction podcast. I'm Mer Lafferty, your host and co-editor.

Our story this week is The Library by EnB Anderson. En. Anderson is the pen name of writer Nicholas Billon.

A graduate of the Odyssey Workshop, Nick also writes for theater, film, and TV.

He lives in Canada with his spouse and daughter. Find out more at MB Anderson.com.

It's narrated for us by our old friend Danny Cutler, who has been involved in podcasting, audio production, and voice work since 2006.

She is also the owner of a digital marketing and promotions business with focus on the music industry. This is an escape pot original and

in the Anderson's first professional sale. Now settle in and remember that you

never have to pay late fees when it's story time.

The Library by N.B Anderson

Every morning at 10 to 10, dot powered on.

Its hands lay flat against the thick glass of the reading room window

which led the photoreceptors on its palms feast on the sun.

The window overlooked a modest lot where cars had once parked in orderly fashion, side by side.

Now the asphalt was veined with fissures, tufted with dandelions that had nudged and elbowed and bullied their way up from below.

Dot pulled its hands from the window.

The synthetic skin suctioned off with a short wet noise, one that Dot's colleague Alex would have described

as rude.

The sound echoed around the reading room and pinballed through the rows of empty shelves.

With nothing to re-shelf or sort or alphabetize, the Android defaulted to the maintenance tasks.

It swept the floor and carpet, no power, no vacuum,

check-summed its internal library database, no updates since the internet went down.

...