“The ‘Outdoors’ setting on your Climate Control Panel will make you feel as if you are out in the wild, roaming free.”

- Excerpt from a user manual for the Climate Module installed in many personal living quarters

*

The main elevator from Eli’s 3rd floor apartment led to the communal ground level of the building, where the neighbors would mill around and mingle between whatever activities they had been assigned to during the day. Evenings were when the largest crowds gathered, and the mornings were full of quick greetings as the workers dispersed to the city. Pretty much everyone knew everyone’s name, since it was printed right on the badges on their chests. Having diverse neighbors was one of the perks of living in a large communal building, since straying too far from home or work (without good reason) could lead to being investigated by the Law. Large communal housing also seemed to keep the inhabitants happier, but that was an afterthought to whoever had planned out the living quarters.

The city itself was a spread of buildings, much like cities had been for years. Unlike the skyscrapers of the past, most buildings were 10 stories tall. Some were a few less, some a few more, but not by much. The taller buildings had been destroyed long ago by wars and city planners, and few people could say for sure which buildings had fallen for which reasons. Setting up cities this way was proven to provide two things: easy navigation and easy surveillance.

The Govs didn’t need to survey the cities from screens or cameras. They watched from the thick of things, from the eyes and ears of the people. Through the Tappers, they were able to see everything and anything, at any time. Of course, there were restrictions and rules written into the Tapping manuals. And, of course, they were often ignored.

*

Strung around the walls of the city’s Gov building were giant screens, showing any and all readouts the people might be interested in. The walls of the rooms inside were covered with smaller monitors. These were set up in groups, with each group connected to a control hub and each hub manned by a Tapper.

Walking into a Tap room for the first time was an overwhelming experience. Monitors were constantly flickering to different viewpoints, sounds blurring into waves of volume. The computers were set to automatically move from one Wirenet to another, and if they detected anomalies in the input from a certain source they would hone in on other Nets in the area to figure out what was going on. Other monitors showed a constant stream of vital signs, flashing in different patterns as the viewpoints changed.

The Tappers watched. They were trained to spot suspicious activity, like loud or muffled sounds or blurry screens, in case the computers didn’t pick them up. Orders often came down from a Gov or a Law to keep tabs on a certain viewpoint. Some took control of their hubs and kept their monitors on their favorite Nets, and as long as they weren’t reported they could tap the same Net all day, or longer. The more well-behaved cities were full of bored Tappers, so they found ways to entertain themselves. Whenever a fight broke out it was common to set up monitors to watch from each perspective, slowing down and replaying the interesting bits of the match. When something interesting happened, a full floor of Tappers could gather around the same hub and watch the scene unfold, leaving some monitors to flicker around on their own and the computers to decide which Nets would be shown or ignored.

*

Librarians, especially low-ranking ones who ended up shelving and re-shelving books all day, didn’t attract much attention from computers or Tappers. When Hub 22 received an order to tap the city library, he thought it was strange. A few days later, a stranger order came in.