Disclaimer: 3, 4, 7 and 9 and all related characters belong to Shane Acker. I, however, own the new character who will appear later in the story. Teehee.

Review After reading, or the Cat-Beast will...eat your slippers.



4 watched her brother struggle with one of their books. She giggled in silence. Sometimes it was useful not having a voice box. Or else 3 already had found out she was laughing at him, for seeing the piece of wood that blocked the book into his place. She decided to tease him a little more.

"having trouble with the book, dear brother?" she said in their code-language.

"Stop teasing and help me, 4. It's stuck." 3 flashed back. He pulled the book as hard as he could, but it wouldn't budge.

4 casually walked over to the book and pulled a piece of wood out that was blocking 3's attempt to drag the book out. With nothing blocking the book and 3 pulling as hard as he can, the book flew off his place, right on 3. 4 Gasped and ran to the book.

She knocked on the book. From underneath she heard flashing and clicking sounds. She smiled, grabbed the bottom of the book and pulled. 3 crept from under the book as fast as he could. While 4 was laughing in silence, he brushed the dust of his body.

"Very funny, sis." 3 said, yet smiling.

"It was. You should've seen the look on your face, brother." 4 laughed.

3 first looked frustrated at his sister, but then smiled and laughed with her. 4 walked over to the book. 'Peter Pan', she read. She sighed.

"This book again, 3?" she asked. "We've read it at least a dozen times already."

"I know. And we've read all the other too." 3 said, tapping his fingers on the cover of the book.

"All of them? Are you sure we didn't skip one?" 4 asked. "Not even one?"

"We've cataloged every book we could find in the Library from A to Z." 3 said. A devilish smile came on his face. "Unless..."

"Unless what?" 4 asked eagerly.

"We could go to the Scientist's house." 3 said. He sighed when he noticed 4's confused expression. "Don't you remember? When we first awoke, we found our love for books there. I'm sure we'll be some new books there"

4 smiled when the memories of the good old past, before their struggle for survival, flashed before her eyes. Her smile faded and gave her brother a scared look. "We can't do that, 3. You know what 9 said. The house is almost completely destroyed. Mom will never let us go there."

3 waved her comment away. They he noticed she had said something strange. "What did you say?" He asked.

"7 will never let us go." she said.

"no, you said 'mom' , not '7'."

"did I?" 4 asked. She thought about it for a moment. "Maybe...because she is...our mother...like 9 is our father."

silence. The Twins thought about what they just said. 3 shook his head.

"They don't have to find out." he said, putting an arm around his sister. "7 will be fixing your doll and 9's probably making something useful. And besides, they think we're busy cataloging. We'll be back before they realize we're gone.

4 thought about it for a moment and then smiled. "okay, but if something goes wrong, I blame you."

"wouldn't have it otherwise, sis." 3 said, while they ran toward the exit.


7 hummed while she finished sewing the doll back together. It had taken her less time then thought She looked around in search of the stuffing 9 had brought earlier. She filled the doll with the soft material and sewed the hole together. She looked at the result.. 4 had made the doll in a way that the humans had made their dolls. It looked like on of them, only very small. When she looked at it a bit closer, she noticed some similarities. It kinda looked like...herself. Although it wasn't a copy, it clearly looked like 4 had made the doll with 7 as model. 7 smiled.

"4!...fou-our!" she shouted to the higher shelves. "I finished with your doll!"

No answer, off course. She waited for some response, but after a minute waiting she grew impatient. She sighed. The twins were probably reading, or they were in one of the furthest sections of the library. She decided to put the doll away. She would give it to the girl later. 7 walked to the workshop, where 9 was making some plans.

"9, have you seen the Twins?" 7 asked.

"No, haven't seen them since they ran off." 9 said, not turning from his plans.

7 watched over 9's shoulders, trying to see what he's drawing. "What are you making?"

9 turned around and smiled. "Something for the twins."

"Oh? And what would that be?" 7 asked curiously.

"Someplace they can play and be children." 9 said, while showing 7 the plans.

7 gasped. "They'll love it." she said. "You spoil those two. First the bunk and now this."

"Like I said, they need time to be the kids they are." 9 said "When was the last time the acted like their age?"

"A few hours ago, during their fight." 7 chuckled. "Speaking of them, I really wonder where they went."


3 and 4 climbed the crumbling stairs of the house they once ran around in. It seemed so long ago for them. Awakening Day, the day they first opened their eyes and saw the friendly face of the Scientist.

"This certainly brings back memories, doesn't it?" 4 said. She felt sentimental all of the sudden. She hasn't been here in...she can't remember how many years.

"It does, sister, it does." 3 said. "Race you to the library!" He started to run.

"No fair 3, you had a head start." 4 said. She started to hurry up as well..

"Can you go any slower?" 3 asked.

"Can you be any more annoying?" 4 counterattacked. She stopped a moment and leaned against one of the steps to catch her breath.

"you alright?" 3 asked "We're almost there, sis."

4 smiled and continued climbing.

Soon the Twins arrived at the Scientist's library, where they first found their love for books and cataloging. 4 tapped her brother's shoulder and pointed at the bookcase. There they saw it. The first book they ever read, 'Alice in Wonderland'. Although the Great Library had some copies, they usually were incomplete or partially destroyed, so they never found a complete version and never bothered to read one then.

"I haven't read that book in years." 4 said with dreamy eyes. "Can we...?"

"I'll go fetch that book for you, 4" 3 said with a smile. "Search the room for other books, will you?"

4 jokingly saluted and ran off. She started moving loose pages and other stuff in search for literature. 3 started climbing the bookcase toward the top shelf, where the book was.

4 moved another old magazine away when her eye dropped on something interesting. An old book, looking like the 'annuls of Peracelsus' they had in the Library. It wasn't really the kind of literature they were looking for, but maybe it would be useful someday. 4 turned around, wanting to signal 3, but then realized she can't yell or anything. So she took a small rock, aimed it and threw it. It hit something copper, which made a loud clanging sound. 3, obviously didn't expecting that, gave a silent yelp, and in his startle, kicked something. The shelf 3 was climbing came loose, making the books shift from their place. One hit 3, who was trying to hang on. 4 could only watch as her brother, together with many heavy books fell down. When the books hit the ground she yelled his name, but no sound was heard. She ran to the pile where her brother lay and started pushing books. What could she do? Yelling for help wasn't an option and she wouldn't leave her brother behind to get help. So, she kept moving books.

After 10 minutes of pushing and moving books, she found her unconscious brother.

"3? 3, wake up!" she said, shaking her brother's shoulder. "I have to get you out of here."

First she tried to lift 3 on her back, but it seemed to heavy for her. It would take more than an hour before they would be down, and then she still had to move him to the Library. What could she do?

She slapped her forehead. That she didn't thought of it before. She and her brother were used of building things with scraps, so building something now would be easy. She started to scavenge things she could use. She didn't find much. Some rope she could use and other things. But nothing more.

"The book." She said, running over to the old book that caused this to happened. The books was thin, so it wasn't really that difficult to move it. In no time, she had made some sort of sleigh. She moved it to the stairs, took place on it and grabbed her brother tightly to her.

"one, two,..." she started, closing her eyes. "...T...three!" She pushed off, and the self-made sleigh rushed down the stairs. If 4 had a voice box, she would have screamed out of fear and amusement. Once the rough ride had ended, 4 placed her brother on the book and started pulling the rope, heading towards the Library.



So, whadaya think of it?

Review after reading please.