The year is 2100. Kamchatka, a girl named Viana.
- Apppchihhii!! Viana sneezed.
It was a 16-year-old girl. She was very interested in the history of mankind, she was inspired by ancient books. But there were almost no places in her city where you could buy books. There was almost no development in Vilyuchinsk: in the city, as in the whole world, there was devastation. How can there be development if we have to fight the death of civilization?
In one of her collectible old history books, she found an outdated map that said "Central Library". For several days in a row, she did not dare to go there. The building was located in an abandoned part of the city. Adults were never allowed to go there and warned about the boundless danger waiting for children in these frightening places. However, today Viana decided on this dangerous adventure and went to an abandoned library in search of interesting books.
She didn't have a clear understanding of what she was looking for, but she was sure that she would find something very important for her collection today and replenish her knowledge of history with invaluable information. She dug through dusty shelves, made her way through dangerous passages, raked rubble from destroyed shelves and searched for books whose pages had survived through many years. Soon she found several books, but she was not happy with the result. It seemed to her that her premonition was not deceiving her, that she would still find today what would become the highlight of her collection.
Viana sat down on an old, dilapidated chair near a wooden table, like those she had seen in museums. To the right of the place for the high chair there were pull-out shelves that could be locked. The girl decided to open them to see what she could find there. Opening the topmost of the shelves, she was afraid that the table would collapse, because it was barely standing on its legs, which were bent from time to time.
Holding her breath, she slowly, slowly opened the only shelf of the three-the lowest one. How glad she was when she found the notebook there! She began frantically flipping through the pages in the hope of seeing there understandable notes to her. Viana was so focused that she jumped in fright when she heard the sound of a message coming to her phone. It was her mom. The girl quickly put all the books and the notebook she found in her bag and ran out of the library.
Late evening, at Viana's house.
- Viana, good night! – her mother, Agnes, came into Viana's room. She was very surprised by the scene she saw: her daughter was sitting staring at the books in front of her with wide-open eyes, as if she was not just surprised, but even a little scared.
Agnes has long been accustomed to the fact that her daughter loves old books very much. She knew that some information about their past might frighten Viana. It's not for nothing that Vilyuchinsk is the only city in the world in which life remains. Many wanted to know why this happened, but they lacked the courage. And Viana didn't want to find out why there wasn't a single soul left around Vilyuchinsk. She just really loved history. It was because of this that Agnes believed that Viana would bypass the stories about the causes of the disaster that led to the current circumstances in the world.
- Viana! What happened? Agnes asked with a hint of panic in her voice. Viana came to her senses abruptly and began to close the books that were lying in front of her.
- Nothing, Mom, everything is fine, I was just thinking. Good night," she escorted her mother out of the room and closed the door behind her.
In fact, she was stupefied by the notes from a notebook she found in the library. On the last page was the date "14.07.2022".
"24.04.2018. Vasiliev Ivan, Professor of Environmental Sciences.
Well, once upon a time I was actually a natural scientist. And now I'm sitting here in the old library, giving out books. I do not express my thoughts in scientific papers, but write them down in a notebook..."
"05.07.2022. Imagine what the current chemists have come up with! They decided to use some kind of chemical poison of their own to save the ocean. But they will poison all the water! And it won't be long before the human disappearance! It's worse than the flood. At least there was water there, and if we have to live without water?"
«14.07.2022. This is probably my last entry here. They tell us all to take shelter in bunkers. Everything is as I expected. There is no usable water in the whole world. Thank God, ecology has been well developed in Vilyuchinsk for a long time. Here in Kamchatka, the ecology was developed throughout 2022, seals were rescued, they tried to abandon plastic. We have some kind of water."
Viana could not digest what was written in the notebook for a long time. She couldn't believe that these recordings were authentic. There were doubts in her head about the truthfulness of some Ivan's words. What if he made it all up? But her subconscious immediately suggested that Ivan's story converged with reality. There is actually no water left outside the city. There were really no people around Vilyuchinsk, and the residents of Vilyuchinsk were proud of their achievements in the field of ecology.
It turns out that Viana found out the cause of a huge disaster. But why her? She is only 16 years old, she could not have helped either the residents of the city or the whole world in the past. It's probably a sign from above that she has to do something. For the next few days, the girl combined her studies with the study of information on this issue. She reread Ivan's diary several times, each time surprised by the description of nature no less than before.
Nature in the 21st century was very bright, there was a lot of grass and greenery. But due to the fact that people did not try too hard to preserve nature, by the 22nd century almost all this beauty was gone. Beyond the borders of the city, it was possible to observe the dried-up earth, which acquired a red hue due to the incessant acid rain. There was almost no life outside Vilyuchinsk. The most prominent environmental scientists tried to spread the "living zone" beyond the borders, but it required huge efforts. Perhaps, after a huge amount of time, people would be able to save at least some part of the Earth. But it would be possible to alleviate the situation differently. If scientists had not made a huge mistake in the past, there would not have been a catastrophe that now needs to be corrected.
In Innes's office.
Innes is Agnes' younger sister. Innes and Viana were very close because Viana spent her entire childhood with Innes. Viana has never hidden anything from her beloved aunt. That's why Viana turned to her for help. Innes is one of the leading scientists dealing with the issue of time travel. The fact is that a time machine has already been created, but everyone was afraid to use it.
- No, Viana! You're not going back in time! We don't know what can happen to you, - Innes refused to help her niece in such a rash act, - If you are stubborn, I will inform your parents and pass all the information about the case to scientists who specialize in ecology.
- Please! I feel like this is my life's work. After all, I have studied history for a reason since childhood. So this is my destiny. I have to help people in the past!
- You're 16. What kind of fate are we talking about? At the moment, your destiny is to study. You can study history, or you can delve into the study of time travel. But you won't practice them until we're sure it's safe!
The woman took her folders, slammed the door and left her office, leaving the young girl alone with her plan of action. Viana immediately found a pen and a piece of paper in the desktop, wrote an explanation for her parents on it. Leaving the sheet on Innes's desk, she ran into the room where the time machine was stored. They didn't even try to stop her, because no one would have thought that there would be a person in Vilyuchinsk who would risk his life like that.
Making her way into the room, she pressed the button that triggers the mechanism. Through the glass door she saw Innes. Viana only managed to wave her hand.