plastic caps had been crudely glued to his neck and squiggly lines covered his arms as if they'd been drawn by a four-year-old.
Frank picked up a stack of books near the entryway and wandered back into the rows.
"So how can I help you, Gabriella?" asked Blair.
Besides the enjoyment of smelling and reading old books, Gabby often came to the Library Museum because Blair was the smartest person she knew. But when Gabby opened her mouth, she realized she didn't have a question to ask.
"You're not still worried about getting into University are you?" Blair asked. "And while I don't agree with what they have to teach, you've got their shtick down cold."
Gabby shook her head. "It's not that." She paused and quickly glanced at Zaela. "It's the LGIE. Some group called the Frags have been messing around with my personal reality files and the LGIE wants to take a peek to see if they've changed anything."
"The LGIE? The Frags? Is there something I should know about?" asked Zaela.
Gabby had promised Zaela last year that she wouldn't try to "fix" her LifeScore anymore.
"It's not what you think," said Gabby.
Zaela crossed her arms. "Then what is it?"
"I don't know. That's the thing." Gabby hesitated talking about the boy with the ice-chip eyes that had appeared in the hallway. She didn't want to talk about him just yet, especially when she wasn't sure she'd really seen him.
She sighed. "Really I need to know what I should do about it. Administrator Bracket told me I should talk to my parents, but they'll just tell me to cooperate."
Gabby wandered to a table that had a space on it not stacked with books and jumped on, almost knocking over a stack.
" Everything is in those files: who I talk to, all my mind-text histories, programs, mods, skins, and recorded thoughts. Plus all the things I've seen and done in the last few months."
She thought about the pranks and hacks she'd done. They might not be looking for those things, but they would find them. Then Gabby realized that Blair was perfectly still, except for her wide expressive eyes, that seemed out of place on such a wasted body.
Zaela realized it too the moment before she was going to say something, so she closed her mouth and peered sideways at Blair.
The chair-bound librarian slowly pulled away from the two girls and circled around the table. They watched Blair until she made a complete rotation and came to a stop.
Gabby realized then how quiet it was in the Library Museum. Stray bits of static crackled on Blair's speakers, unformed thoughts or some other flotsam Gabby couldn't understand. Tubes gargled with liquid, at once silent, then straining for air, making a sound like a kid sucking on a straw.
In another part of the Library, muffled sounds of servos grinding and cladding footsteps made it past the walls of books stacked high to the ceiling.
"Do you still study history in school?" Blair asked. "No. You don't, do you? Such a shame." Even through the speakers, disappointment flooded her voice.
"We study the history of the gaming movement and specific histories if they help us be more competitive...," Zaela offered, but her voice trailed to nothing as she realized Blair hadn't really asked.
"Back two centuries ago, the world was split into two factions. There was a secret group called the Stasi. They were the most effective secret police ever known, even keeping the scents of its citizens so they could be tracked by dogs if they tried to run."
Blair's mechanical voice had a wonderfully knowledgeable cadence to it. Gabby could listen to Blair talk all day, and sometimes did, when the school grind got the best of her. While Gabby was a top student, the ever-counting LifeScore made her feel anxious, always. Coming to the Library Museum eased that worry as she could, for a brief time, learn for the sake of learning.
"The Stasi monitored the population through overlapping layers of informants." Blair paused and before the speakers could crackle to life again, the
Frank picked up a stack of books near the entryway and wandered back into the rows.
"So how can I help you, Gabriella?" asked Blair.
Besides the enjoyment of smelling and reading old books, Gabby often came to the Library Museum because Blair was the smartest person she knew. But when Gabby opened her mouth, she realized she didn't have a question to ask.
"You're not still worried about getting into University are you?" Blair asked. "And while I don't agree with what they have to teach, you've got their shtick down cold."
Gabby shook her head. "It's not that." She paused and quickly glanced at Zaela. "It's the LGIE. Some group called the Frags have been messing around with my personal reality files and the LGIE wants to take a peek to see if they've changed anything."
"The LGIE? The Frags? Is there something I should know about?" asked Zaela.
Gabby had promised Zaela last year that she wouldn't try to "fix" her LifeScore anymore.
"It's not what you think," said Gabby.
Zaela crossed her arms. "Then what is it?"
"I don't know. That's the thing." Gabby hesitated talking about the boy with the ice-chip eyes that had appeared in the hallway. She didn't want to talk about him just yet, especially when she wasn't sure she'd really seen him.
She sighed. "Really I need to know what I should do about it. Administrator Bracket told me I should talk to my parents, but they'll just tell me to cooperate."
Gabby wandered to a table that had a space on it not stacked with books and jumped on, almost knocking over a stack.
" Everything is in those files: who I talk to, all my mind-text histories, programs, mods, skins, and recorded thoughts. Plus all the things I've seen and done in the last few months."
She thought about the pranks and hacks she'd done. They might not be looking for those things, but they would find them. Then Gabby realized that Blair was perfectly still, except for her wide expressive eyes, that seemed out of place on such a wasted body.
Zaela realized it too the moment before she was going to say something, so she closed her mouth and peered sideways at Blair.
The chair-bound librarian slowly pulled away from the two girls and circled around the table. They watched Blair until she made a complete rotation and came to a stop.
Gabby realized then how quiet it was in the Library Museum. Stray bits of static crackled on Blair's speakers, unformed thoughts or some other flotsam Gabby couldn't understand. Tubes gargled with liquid, at once silent, then straining for air, making a sound like a kid sucking on a straw.
In another part of the Library, muffled sounds of servos grinding and cladding footsteps made it past the walls of books stacked high to the ceiling.
"Do you still study history in school?" Blair asked. "No. You don't, do you? Such a shame." Even through the speakers, disappointment flooded her voice.
"We study the history of the gaming movement and specific histories if they help us be more competitive...," Zaela offered, but her voice trailed to nothing as she realized Blair hadn't really asked.
"Back two centuries ago, the world was split into two factions. There was a secret group called the Stasi. They were the most effective secret police ever known, even keeping the scents of its citizens so they could be tracked by dogs if they tried to run."
Blair's mechanical voice had a wonderfully knowledgeable cadence to it. Gabby could listen to Blair talk all day, and sometimes did, when the school grind got the best of her. While Gabby was a top student, the ever-counting LifeScore made her feel anxious, always. Coming to the Library Museum eased that worry as she could, for a brief time, learn for the sake of learning.
"The Stasi monitored the population through overlapping layers of informants." Blair paused and before the speakers could crackle to life again, the
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