50 in 50

"Not exactly — though the English have thought so from time to time. It's another island, just next to ours. Very industrialized they used to be, right up to the end of the twentieth century. That ended when the oil ran out and the economy collapsed completely. Been well on its way for years, right up to the Second Civil War. North against the south they say, really the rich against the poor. The UNO^ refused to intervene the way they did in North Ireland, sending in the Swedish troops when the Brits pulled out early one rainy morning. Now Britain is pretty much like Ireland, except for the ruins of the cities of course. Mostly agricultural, though manufacturing still goes on in the Midlands. After all, they did win the war. You're the lucky ones here. The Quick Wars never crossed the Atlantic. Though you did have your troubles. At least that's what the history books say."

"Communist propaganda," Kriket said in firm tones, the way one corrects a child. "We know all about that. Jealousy on their part with the world falling apart and America staying strong and secure."

"I'm sorry. But I am of the opinion that your books have it wrong," he said, all too blandly. "We were always taught that the States sealed their borders tight. An armed wall…"

"We had no choice. It was the only thing possible to protect us against the starving Third Worlders."

"Didn't you add slightly to those Third Worlders?"

This was treacherous ground — and every word of it being recorded.

There was nothing I could say, but I hoped he would show more discretion.

"That's nonsense, criminal nonsense. I majored in history and I know. Of course there were some illegal immigrants and they had to be ejected.”

"What about the inner-city deportations? The Detroit and Harlem transshipments?"

Kriket was angry now, her words sharp. "I don't know what kind of Communist propaganda they feed you on your little cow-shit-covered island but—"

"Kriket, Cormac is our guest. And the events he mentioned did happen." I had to watch my words now or I would be in trouble myself. "Well before you were born I taught history at Harvard. Of course, that was before it was computerized and closed. You'll find all of the Congressional investigations on the record. Those were hard times, hungry times, and there were excesses. General Schultz, you will remember, died in jail for his part in the Harlem shipments. There were excesses and they were punished. Justice was not only done but seen to be done." That for the record and now to get back on safer ground. "Ireland has one of the oldest and best-known universities in the world, Trinity College. Is it still open?"

"TCD? Who would dare close it? I went to Bellfield myself, one year studying law. Then the brother went down with the Flying Cloud and the money ran out and I went back to the shipyard then to sea like the others. But you said 'closed/ Harvard closed? I can't believe it — in Ireland we've heard of Harvard. Was it a fire or like disaster?"

I smiled at that and shook my head. "Not really closed, Cormac, I said, 'computerized/ Here, I'll show you." I went into the house and accessed my files, took the black disc from the hopper, and returned. Handed it to Cormac.

"You've got it there," I said.

He turned it over and over in his hands, rubbed the gold terminals with his fingers, then looked up. "Sure and I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Mass storage. When computer memories went to a molecular level it wasn't long before they could store ten to the sixteenth bytes on a wafer that size. A significant figure."

He shook his head, puzzled.

"The memory capacity of the human brain," Kriket said smugly. "That wafer holds infinitely more than that."

"It contains Harvard University," I said. "All the libraries, the professors, lecturers, lectures, and laboratories. Everyone goes to university now — everyone who can afford the twenty-five dollars that a university costs. I'm in there, I'm proud to say. All of my best lectures and tutorials. I'm even there in an RS on the early-nineteenth-century slave trade. That's what I did my doctorate on."

"An RS?"

"Response Simulation. All the responses are cross-indexed by key words and relationships, and the answers are speaker-simulated. Put simply, it means you sit and talk with me on the screen, and I answer all your questions. In great detail."

"Holy Mother…" he said, staring wide-eyed at Harvard University. Then passed it back quickly as though it were burning his fingers.

"What was it you said about boat building?" Kriket asked, politics thankfully forgotten for the moment.

"I worked at it, there in the yard in Arklow. Prime oak forest all around the Wicklow hills. Build fine boats, they do."

"Do you mean wooden ships?" she asked, laughing. Cormac was a hard man to anger; he nodded and smiled in return. "Really? It's like something out of prehistory. Dads, can I use your terminal for a moment?"

"Help yourself. Do you remember the access code?"