HISTORY

PURE HISTORY

Grampa! I found it!" Jen ran into the library, breathless with excitement. Ted looked up from his reading with a smile. He had not expected Jen to be so resourceful. He realized that he had a lot to learn about his "granddaughter".

Jen hopped into his lap and held up a large, worn book for his inspection. "Where did you find it?" he asked. Jen looked up at him slyly and said "Secret?". "Ok." he agreed. Jen spoke in a hushed voice. "I know a way into the rare book room of the library!" Seeing his dismay, she added "Don't worry. I know how valuable books are, and how to take care of them." Ted was more concerned about broken laws than about damaged books, and was surprised that she thought her statement would reassure him.

Ted had suggested she look for this particular book, but had expected her to look for the viewer version. It had not occurred to him that she would even know the difference between an electronic book and a "real" one. "What about Security? Don't they have sensors in that room?". Jen put on a pained expression. "Of course they do. They have a sensor on every book. But that's just computer stuff!" "What?" he asked, confused. Jen spoke as if addressing a small child. "Everything there is controlled by computer. Easy to fix."

Seeing that Ted was looking even more distressed, she continued "Look, I told you there is nothing to worry about. No one ever looks at real books anymore, except a few weird old bibliophiles. I always put them back before anyone ever looks for them." Ted gave her a crafty look. "You do this often?" "Sure." she said. "Doesn't that make you a weird old bibliophile?" Ted asked. "I'm not old!" she protested. "I'm only seven years old!". Ted pursued the tease with "That just makes you a young weird bibliophile." Jen tossed her head and replied "I am not weird. I like books because of the way they look and feel and smell, and because they are more fun to read than a viewer. They make me feel closer to the author and the stories seem more real." "That's a pretty good definition of a bibliophile." Ted said. "Why do you call other people who like real books weird?". Jen thought a minute then responded. "I guess bibliophiles aren't all weird. I was really just talking about the ones who aren't really interested in the books - they just like old things that were around before the changes."

"The changes" Ted thought. "So she knows something about my time after all." His daughter had made it clear to him that she was a fervent believer in the current "philosophy" regarding the young - that they should be protected from any knowledge of human nature before "the changes" - and that she had the support of the intervening five generations.

In the short time since his return, Ted had already deduced that most of the active support for this "philosophy" came from persons in his daughter's generation or their elders; few of the "post-change" generations had much interest one way of the other. Ted was also aware that his daughter perceived him as a danger to her efforts to "protect" Jen from knowledge of the past. Her perceptions were correct - Ted could not abide any doctrine which depended on enforced ignorance. He was uncertain just how he was going to deal with it, and was still playing things by ear. Jen had, of course, been full of questions about his life, and his attempted diversion of her attention to searching for an obscure history text hadn't worked for long.

He had been trained to cope with the effects of time dilation, but training was a long way from experience. It would take a long time before he became accustomed to the fact that Jen was actually seven generations younger than he.

A family reunion had been organized for his homecoming the day before. His daughter had been 24 when he left as chief navigator on the first interstellar exploration. She was now over 240 years old, and looked no different than when he had left. Ted, with his grey beard and lined face, and Jen were the only persons at the reunion that did not have the physical appearance of being in their early twenties. In less than two days he would begin the rejuvenation treatments, and within a week would no longer be the oldest looking person on Earth.

He looked forward to the treatments with some trepidation - they had not been performed on a person in his physical condition in over 200 years. He gained considerable reassurance from the fact that the entire rejuvenation would be controlled by computer with only incidental human involvement. But for now, Jen's curiosity was the more immediate problem.

He cautioned, "You know how Susan would feel about your having that book." Jen rolled her eyes. "If I can handle the library's security system, I ought to be able to handle your daughter!".

TO BE CONTINUED