The library was truly impressive in its size. A spacious bright room with high white cabinets up to the ceiling, in order to see the top of which you had to lift your head. But most of all I was delighted with a huge blue sphere, so large that about a dozen people could easily fit inside it. It hung low over the snow-white floor, shimmering with blue and gold sparks.

Oddly enough, there was no smell of dust or old books at all. The air was fresh and cool, as if the room was regularly ventilated, and there were no people here at all, and it seemed that even...