RoboNomics

Chapter 12 - 2016

"Nope. Still just fighting about it. Threatening, I guess. But the teachers have stopped doing extracurricular activities."

"Do you think that will do anything?" 

She sheds her coat and flops it over the back on her chair. Her boots, wet from the year's first snowfall, leave puddles on the gray floor.

"I don't know. I guess it depends on how much the I.I.U.s can take over."

"Well, there is still only one in each school, right?" 

She takes a FlexScreen out of her bag and unfolds it. She places it on the desk and examines it.

"Hey, Miriam," I say in a rapid stream. "I have an idea."

"Yeah?" 

She looks over at me eagerly. It strikes me how young she is. I'm not sure how to proceed. It is now not only my career on the line but her career as well. Her whole life will be decided before she even had a chance to live it.

"Yeah, I just think...well, look, it seems like there's another article about all this union stuff every few days. What if we, like...organized around it or something?"

"Isn't that what we're doing here?" She glances around the office.

"No, I mean, like...online," I feel myself stumble over my words. "Like we could get an account for email or whatever and call it...I don't know, 'Toronto workers unite' or maybe something a little flashier."

"Okay?"

"And then we could, you know...comment on all these articles and have some central link to direct people. Like the Protest Group's website. Where they could find more information?"

"Hm."

"What? What is it?"

"That's...kind of an amazing idea," she says. "There's only one problem, remember? Chris."

"Does he have to know about it?"

"He'll find out sooner or later." 

I follow her gaze and catch Bill giving us a sidelong glance from he sits at the group of four desks beside ours.

I've bitten my tongue about Chris ever since I joined the Group. I've only seen him a handful of times. I barely speak to him. 

I believe in what Miriam and I and the others are trying to accomplish so I try to push Chris and his firecracker boorishness from my mind. When I do see him at the loft, he usually speeds past me in a rush of self-importance.

I can't help wondering what he and the other garbage collectors do all day. Even though I prefer that he keep his distance, I want to ask Miriam about him. 

I want her to bring him up in conversation. Every time we speak I wait for her to say his name. I've been waiting for this moment for weeks. And now I have a reason to talk about him.

"I guess we have no choice," I agree. "If we ever see him, right?"

"He's probably just busy."

"Miriam, can I ask you something? What...where does he go all the time? With Joe and the others?" 

Joe was the tall man who convinced me to come back to the Group. He was the one who'd cornered me in the elevator the first day I showed up.

"I dunno. I guess to go talk to the union bosses. Or maybe to talk to politicians. All I know is he thinks it's important."

I'm not satisfied by her answer. I want to know more about what goes on when Chris leaves these four walls.

#