Deter, Sam, and Deter's son Malik live in the 2030s, where an oppressive government has classified all people of color as infected with melanin. This classification has led to severe oppression — people of color have effectively been forced into poverty. Deter and Sam, with the help of Malik, run a secret free library for people of color out of an old GameStop. One day, while they inject the microchip for the book Othello into a teenager, two Shields, who are a type of police force, visit their shop. Malik quickly takes the teenager into the break room and locks the door while the two men stay in the front and pretend to be high. Drugs have been legalized in order to pacify people of color and to make it easier for the Shields to control them. One of the Shields enters the GameStop while the other stays outside. The Shield questions the two men, who do their best to seem stoned. The Shield looks at the syringe where the men hide the microchip for the library, but he thinks that the syringe is for drug use. The Shield isn't very interested in the job; he waits for his shift to end so that he can take care of his secret adopted daughter, a person of color. All infected females were supposed to be assassinated at birth as a form of eugenics, but when the Shield found the girl five years ago, he couldn't bring himself to kill her. When the Shields leave, Deter goes to find Malik so that they can finish injecting Othello into the boy. Sam starts to follow, but he finds a crumpled note on the floor that the Shield must have left. He reads it and asks Deter if they have any Dr. Seuss, because a little girl will be coming in later that afternoon.