Centuries hence, some unfortunate families will pass down the hereditary role of guarding nuclear waste burial sites to protect the unwary; others will become the custodians of the last libraries of the old world. Visiting pilgrims will wander those dusty stacks, marveling at Icelandic sagas and National Geographic coffee-table books, noting how printing quality dropped toward the end of the industrial era, and wondering about the terrible cataclysm implied by the historical record breaking off around 2024.
