Welcome to the Hellmouth (Book One, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Dedicated 2 ckent7

chapter 8 - I, Robot . . . You, Jane

At school, in the library, with several other people, for a book scanning project, Buffy opened a crate to look at the giant book with a demon looking guy on it with horns. "Oh, great! A book!"

Willow and a few other computer science students were seated at the table, scanning the books into the library's computer system.

Buffy pulled the book out of the box and blew some of the dust off of it.

"Oh, uh, I, uh... haven't gone through the new arrivals," Giles told her. He used his book to point at a book pile. "Uh, put it in, uh, in that pile."

"Here, I'll get it," Dave said, standing from his computer, walking toward her.

"Oh, thanks, Dave," Buffy told him. "The Willow pile."

Dave took the book from her, walking over to the pile of books next to Willow.

"Uh, when I've examined it, you can, uh, skim it," Giles told them.

"Scan it, Rupert," Ms. Calender, the computer science teacher, told him. "That's scan it."

Giles gave her a sarcastic look. "Of course."

"Oh, I know, our ways are strange to you, but soon you will join us in the 20th century," Ms. Calendar told him. "With three whole years to spare!"

Ms. Calendar grinned.

"Ms. Calendar, I'm sure your computer science class is fascinating, but I happen to believe that one can survive in modern society without being a slave to the, um, idiot box," Giles told her.

"That's TV," Ms. Calender told him in annoyance. "The idiot box is TV." She gestured to a computer. "This is the good box."

"I still prefer a good book," Giles told her.

"The printed page is obsolete," Fritz said self-righteously. He stood. "Information isn't bound up anymore. It's an entity. The only reality is virtual. If you're not jacked in, you're not alive."

Fritz grabbed his books, walking away.

"Thank you, Fritz, for making us all sound like crazy people," I told him sarcastically. I looked at Ms. Calender. "Why did you have me paired with him for this project?"

Giles smirked in amusement.

Ms. Calender looked at Giles. "Fritz, Fritz comes on a little strong, but he does have a point. You know, for the last two years more e-mail was sent than regular mail."

"Oh..." Giles trailed off.

"More digitized information went across phone lines than conversation," Ms. Calender told him.

"That is a fact that I regard with genuine horror," Giles told her.

"I'll bet it is," Ms. Calender said teasingly. She turned her attention to us students. "All right, guys, let's wrap it up for today."

"I've just got a few more," Willow told her. "I'll hang for a bit."

"Cool," Ms. Calender said. "Thanks."

Xander grabbed his bag and pulled it onto his shoulder.

"Xander, Zoey, you wanna stay and help me?" Willow asked.

"Are you kidding?" Xander asked in disbelief.

"Yes, it was a joke I made up," Willow told him, taken aback.

"Willow, I love you, but bye!" I told her.

Xander and I walked away, leaving.

"See you tomorrow!" Willow told us.