Ramona sat in her armchair, upside down of course, while reading the paper. “So we’re calling these System bombers ‘anti-bytes’ now,” I heard her say as I wiped down the kitchen counters. I wasn’t entirely sure if she was talking to me or herself.
“Tjotjlkhetioajelkfmalkdjits that hated the System that much.” She scoffed. “Aejflkajlskdjfoiadd about how my movement would turn out awejflakmdlkfjioajdlfjadsuhid. The byte ancestors who went in there willingly never would’ve thought things would turn out like this.”
I froze. Had I heard her right? I glanced over my shoulder. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Hm?” Ramona replied, looking my way as if she just noticed I was there. So she was talking to herself.
I turned around fully to face her. “Did you say byte ancestors went in willingly?!”
She blinked. “Yes,” she replied slowly.
“Where-? How-?” I started. “What do you mean?”
Ramona twisted around to sit upright in her chair, the newspaper folded neatly in her lap, her face scrunched up in confusion. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“It’s just…,” I trailed off, unsure of how to explain that I could never see someone becoming part of the System intentionally. I sighed. “Why would the first bytes have done that?” I asked finally.
“There are historical records from before the System was founded,” she explained. “People were excited it was being built. There’s even evidence of people fighting for the chance to get inside once it was finished.”
All I could do was give her a blank stare.
“I can show you,” she said.
Ramona took me to the library where she walked up to a a woman sitting at a counter and stamping through a stack of books.
“Hello, Olivia,” Ramona called.
The woman, Olivia, looked up, blinking in surprise. “Ramona, I wasn’t expecting you today.”
“I want to show my friend Dax the journals,” Ramona replied.
At that, Olivia immediately led us to a back room where she carefully laid out several dusty books onto a table. Ramona, now with gloves on, turned the pages of the books to where she wanted.
The entries Ramona showed me were written strangely with odd spellings and outdated grammar. But they were understandable enough that I could see what Ramona had told me was true. People of the past had been excited to be part of the System. They referred to her as a safe haven, an escape. Several entries mentioned the System would protect them from a war. Other entries talked about being glad that magic would be banned in the System.
I looked up at Ramona in shock. “None of what they hoped for is what the System’s like,” I said.
“So I’ve heard,” Ramona replied. “Even so, this is part of why I think bytes still inside should be left in peace.”
I didn’t say anything. I stared down at the journal entries, still skeptical that any byte would be excited to be part of the System. Was the System different in the past?
“I’m starting to think I’m wrong though,” Ramona whispered.
I glanced up, unsure if I’d heard her right. But she simply smiled at me and said, “I wasn’t expecting to give a history lesson, but my job here is done. Y[MW4] eojfalkdjfiaujflmaldn from checking out history books here. Or even take one of my classes.”
Then she carefully closed the journals.
I glanced at Olivia, who was closely watching Ramona as she put the journals away. Since I was already there, it couldn’t hurt to see if there were books on what I was actually interested in.
“Do you have any books on magic?” I asked Olivia.
She turned to me with a shining smile. “Plenty.”
To be continued…