The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide to Disillusionment

Capitol

"I want to remind you," said Vanessa, recovering her composure with rapidity, "that the Memoria are guests of the Reynolds Family here in Pittsburgh. I speak for my entire clan when I say we do not appreciate being spied upon."

Bingham looked astonished. Helen couldn't tell if he feigned it. Regardless of his polished appearance, her first impression of him was that he lacked guile. She could have been wrong.

"I wasn't spying on you. Mrs. Reynolds let me know through a member of my chamber that I was granted permission to come here and look through the bookshelves. I confess to not plugging my ears with my fingers when I heard you out here arguing, but I wasn't trying to hide myself. I was only looking through the books. Your mother has quite a collection of them."

"My mom didn't read them. She only liked the way they looked," said Helen.

"As do I," replied Bing. "I also like to read them. Do you realize how important it is now to preserve these last books? It's not like anyone is making more of them. There are no printing presses running anywhere among the families, unless I'm mistaken, and among the Interconnected tribes, well, who really cares about books there?"

"You'd be surprised," said Helen. "There are multiple efforts among the tribes to protect extensive collections of books. The Interconnected enjoy cataloguing the contents of the crumbling libraries. It's become a source of entertainment for some just to watch the books come off the shelves."

"Well, that's good to know," replied Bing. "What happens to the physical books after they are all digitized and put in the virtual domain?"

"There are massive automated libraries being constructed. I got news about a particular one through a friend of mine. The Interconnected are not only interested in the virtual. Many of them like the physicality of books as well."

"Yes," Bingham said, "but for how long? What happens when they lose interest? What happens when the effort to maintain these new libraries isn't supported by popular acclaim? This is the weakness of the tribes." Bing could see Helen roll her eyes. "Oh, don't get me wrong, great things are accomplished among the upgraded peoples, but what's missing is continuity. Everything is at the whim of mass attention."

Vanessa scowled. "Mr. Bradley Washington, if you don't mind, my sister and I came here to have a private conversation, if that's even possible in this city anymore. You say you weren't purposefully eavesdropping, but you appear before us with a military spy robot. I don't wish to call you a liar, but is that standard gear for a trip to our library?"

Bingham laughed. "Oh, this is Doug." He stepped out into the garden to allow the grey spider centaur to creep out after him. "He only looks creepy. He's just like a dog, except that he's way smarter. I'm pretty sure he's even smarter than I am, aren't you, Doug?"

"Considerably, in many regards," came a voice from the monster of a robot as it crept out in front of the two sisters.

"I take Doug with me on walks," said Bingham. "That way I can keep up to date with news of Congress, and our work here to rebuild the Republic. You see, I haven't had the modifications you've had, Helen. It's Helen now, isn't it?"

"That's right," said Helen.

"Hold on," Vanessa injected. "Did you just say you're rebuilding the Republic? Here, in Pittsburgh?"

"That's always been our plan, though we only just settled on the location. We needed to scout it out first and kick the tires. Originally, we were thinking the best place was the geographic center of the former lower forty-eight, like Saint Louis or Kansas City. So long as we are building back again, why not build it better? The former District of Columbia has become even more of a swampy mess and was never the perfect location for a capital to begin with. We still have the remnant of the Supreme Court there along with her retinue, but Pittsburgh has become the new capital for us now.