Introduction to the Librareome Project
- Yes, this chapter's title is hard to say. We pronounce it "Library-Ome," but we could be wrong.
- Robert has started wearing computers, getting tutored in that by Juan Orozco.
- So when Sharif calls to ask for an interview, Robert sees bright lights and thinks he's having a stroke for a moment.
- And since Robert misses people who like books (and constantly calls the people around him "subliterate"), he agrees to an interview with Sharif in trade for a tour around the UC San Diego library. Right now.
- Robert and Sharif take a self-driving car to the library, past the bioscience lab (which, you remember, Rabbit is trying to break into).
- The campus of UCSD looks weird after the Rose Canyon Earthquake, but Sharif points out that the virtual view of campus is the same as it was in Robert's day.
- The library—the Geisel Library (wow, right?)—looks mostly the same except for some new pillars to support it. To avoid some student demonstration, "Sharif" leads Robert through a back door. (And we put Sharif in quotation marks because it might not be him doing this suggesting.)
- Robert hears some strange noise and also can hear the student protest more clearly, complaining about the "Librareome Project."