Page 49 of Booked for Theft

“Your eyes got quite wide. What are you reading, Janette?”

“Do we know what year was the last time daylight savings happened?”

“Sure, it happened in 127 MR.”

I handed over the scrap of newspaper. “Why would Senator Thaddens have a newspaper scrap mentioning the effective date in AD in these books? Or why would Emma put it in?”

“Because Senator Thaddens walked the path we’re trying to walk, and he was ahead of us. Do you know what this scrap of newspaper is?”

“A felony?” I guessed.

He nodded. “That’s exactly what it is. It’s the reference we need to understand when in AD history the government began its takeover in earnest. Also, this is disturbing. I hadn’t really thought about how long ago that was. I only know because my father used it as an example on how a major government regulation change can cause significant problems in the security business.”

“What was technology like back in 127 MR?”

Bradley narrowed his eyes. “Honestly, I don’t think it was much different. We have fancier phones now; the batteries can last a week. Back then, you’d be lucky to get a battery that lasted a day or two from my understanding. We haven’t made much progress in terms of technology. For the most part, we use magic instead.”

“Crippling technological developments would be a good way to prevent people from finding information like this.” I took the newspaper scrap, folded it, and returned it to the book I’d found it in before resuming my search. I found two more modern political pictures before the next newspaper scrap. A few more page flips revealed four more scraps.

When put together, it formed an entire article, which was dated as coming from January of 2125 AD.

It announced the abolishment of the original Supreme Court and the replacement of it with a similar entity with the same name. Under the new rules, the President of the United States selected all judges from any legal practitioner with a license to practice in any state.

Experience as a judge didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered other than the favor of the current president.

Worse, the changes meant that the Supreme Court judges would change without the people being aware of who made the most critical legal decisions in the country. “I guess our country died in 2125, didn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

I handed over the scraps of newspaper so he could read the article. He frowned, and after a few minutes, he sighed. “On the large scale, I think you’re right. This article is another felony. I’m pretty sure our government destroyed all evidence of this from our modern knowledge.”

“We’ve been frogs in cool water, except the water isn’t cool anymore. It’s boiling—and it’s been boiling for a long time,” I whispered.

“Several hundred years of boiling, yes. Worse, we’ve stagnated as a society. Perhaps we need to look at this from a different angle. How long has our society been like this?”

“It isn’t just us. It’s global. If it wasn’t global, Dr. Castor would have mentioned more differences. I don’t know about Senator Thaddens, but we should find out tomorrow night.”

“Everyone expects us to be engaging in bedroom activities. In reality, we’ll be huddled at our dining table, listening to the wishes of a dead man, who is leaving his last wishes in our hands. In some ways, that’s even more of a responsibility than what we’ve already sworn to do.” Bradley handed the newspaper scraps back. “We should hide all of this in the wall.”

I nodded, and I retrieved the other newspaper scrap before resuming my hunt. The book contained the pieces for three more articles, all of them somehow involving the timeline for the deterioration of the United States with the few events shared by both calendars. “But why would he keep this?”

“To be ignorant of the past is to be doomed to repeat it,” Bradley replied, taking his time reading over the articles. “I suspect Senator Thaddens wanted a better understanding of what the government does and why it’s doing it. And to do that, we need to go all the way to the beginning. What wasn’t destroyed by the government has been lost to time. Something that happened four hundred years ago just doesn’t feel relevant to us now.”

“Except it is.” I went back to the first of the articles, marveling over how a scrap of paper had survived for so long. “What sort of magic is preserving these?”

“That I can’t tell you. After so long, all of these should be nothing more than dust. Someone must have started preserving them long before they fell into Senator Thaddens’s hands. But who?”

“And why.” I resisted the urge to scream my frustration. “We’re never going to get around to stealing anything like Dr. Castor wants if we can’t make any actual progress.”

“But we are making progress. We’re getting a better understanding of what needs to change in order to help everyone get out of this alive. And that we’re worried about getting as many of our people out of this alive is all the reason I need to pursue this. And it’s selfish to worry about our friends and family first, but I can afford to get them overseas. I can’t afford to evacuate an entire nation of people.”

No, he couldn’t. Only the wealthiest could, and those people ran the government. “You’re among the wealthiest that isn’t involved in politics. Your parents, too.”

“And we’re the exact type of people the governments want to monitor because we are just wealthy enough to cause problems. But as long as we maintain the illusion that we’re growing our independent wealth without any actual aspirations for politics, I think we’ll be fine.”

“Bradley, you put your name in for the election. Your mother did the same to me.”