Amerigone

This was the day she had been waiting for all her life. This was the day she would find out her permanent service placement for the rest of her life. Charlie spent much of her youth service assisting members of Congress in Washington D.C. from the years 2192-2194 after the Amerigonian Revolution of 2176. She hoped to be selected as a member of Congress by the Chancellor, but was not sure what would happen on the notification day.

Charlie was called back by the receptionist at the placement office who showed her to a room where the officer sat behind a cold, silver desk.

“Charlie Butler. I see you have served in Congress. Very impressive. Did you ever accompany any of the members to the Library of Congress?” asked the man.

“No. Only members of Congress are allowed in the Library of Congress. Even staff were prohibited,” said Charlie.

“Well, you have been chosen to be the nation’s librarian.”

Librarian?, thought Charlie. I never imagined that. The position of librarian at the Library of Congress was a highly respected and extremely difficult job. Reading was not encouraged in Amerigone, which is why only members of Congress were allowed in the library. Most libraries were burned during the revolution, but they knew they could not eradicate every book from existence, so they began a campaign to choose one book each month to erase. The librarian was the person who chose the book each month. That meant that Charlie would have to read more books than anyone in Amerigone had ever read, except maybe members of Congress.

Unsure what to expect, Charlie stepped into the intimidating Library of Congress with its towering shelves of books as far as the eye could see. Sitting at a table was an elderly, disheveled looking man who seemed to be tormented by what he was reading. The man lifted his head and looked directly at Charlie.

“You. Come here girl. You’re the new librarian, aren’t you?” said the man.

Delighted, Charlie walked over to his table with a big smile. “Yes, sir. My name is Charlie. What’s your name?” asked Charlie.

“Senator Gilman. You, and you alone, have the potential to save this god forsaken place. Do you have any idea what they have done? Soon we won’t even have this library. We used to have…” he paused and stared off into the distance. Regaining his senses, “We were free once,” he said, rather curtly. “I’m sure I will see you again.” He packed up his books and left Charlie wondering what he meant.

The words, "we were free once", echoed in Charlie’s brain. Charlie quickly put it out of her mind and began the monumental task of reading to choose which book to burn. Amerigone burned books because they believed that too many voices of differing opinions made for a divided society. There could be only one voice in Amerigone and that voice belonged to the Chancellor. The Chancellor selected members of the Senate and the House to serve at her will. Dissent would not be tolerated.

Charlie spent the last few weeks reading and she was beginning to wonder why books were considered so dangerous. They taught her about things like love, humanity, and even humor. The people about which the authors wrote were not so different from the people of Amerigone. Why would they want to burn such stories and how am I going to select a book to burn, thought Charlie. She remembered that Senator Gilman said she was the only one who could save the place. What did he mean by that, she wondered.

One morning, as Charlie was getting off the metro, a scruffy looking man bumped into her and dropped and enveloped labeled, “Charlie”. In it was a vd (virtual download) port, like the old usb ports, with a note which read, “Find the virtual library room and download everything.” Charlie was familiar with the virtual library, but there were security guards round the clock at the entrance. Even the librarian was not allowed, and she could be severely punished for even thinking about copying everything in the Library of Congress. Everything in there was strictly prohibited to the vast majority of people in Amerigone, but the question that weighed heavily on Charlie’s mind was, should it be?

Over the next few days, Charlie paid close attention to the security guards surrounding the virtual library room. She could not figure out a way in, until staring right in front of her was a fire alarm. She wondered if she pulled the fire alarm would the security guards leave. That night she stayed until ten o’clock at night when the solo night guard began his shift. Soon after he settled in and all the other guards left, Charlie found a fire alarm directly around the corner from the virtual library. She pulled it and the alarm sounded. As she expected, the guard left his post, and she was able to get into the room. She put the vd port into the computer and began downloading. Suddenly, she heard voices, so she ducked behind the desk. It was the firemen.

“All clear in here,” said one of the firefighters, who did not notice the screen on the other side of the desk.

Charlie unplugged the vd port and quickly fled the room unnoticed. She hurriedly, rushed downstairs to the front door where she bumped into a firefighter.

“Ma’am, you need to evacuate the building,” said the firefighter.

“I’m going now. Thank you,” she said.

Charlie knew she could not go back. She would be discovered sooner or later. As she was leaving, the scruffy man who gave her the envelope walked past. She followed him on an hour-long metro ride, then to a parked car. He motioned to her to get in.

“Where are we going,” she asked.

“To the free world,” he said.

She knew she made the right decision.