Chapter 2

Ad-hocracy works well, for the most part. Lil’s folks had taken over therunning of Liberty Square with a group of other interested, compatiblesouls. They did a fine job, racked up gobs of Whuffie, and anyone whocame around and tried to take it over would be so reviled¹ by the gueststhey wouldn’t find a pot to piss in. Or they’d have such a wicked, radicalapproach that they’d ouster Lil’s parents and their pals², and do a betterjob.
It can break down, though. There were pretenders to the throne—agroup who’d worked with the original ad-hocracy and then had movedoff to other pursuits—some of them had gone to school, some of themhad made movies, written books, or gone off to Disneyland Beijing tohelp start things up. A few had deadheaded for a couple decades.
They came back to Liberty Square with a message: update the attractions.
The Liberty Square ad-hocs were the staunchest conservatives inthe Magic Kingdom, preserving the wheezing³ technology in the face of aPark that changed almost daily. The newcomer/old-timers were on-sidewith the rest of the Park, had their support, and looked like they mightmake a successful go of it.
So it fell to Lil to make sure that there were no bugs⁴ in the meager⁵ attractionsof Liberty Square: the Hall of the Presidents, the Liberty Belleriverboat, and the glorious Haunted Mansion⁶, arguably the coolest attractionto come from the fevered minds of the old-time DisneyImagineers.
I caught her backstage at the Hall of the Presidents, tinkering with LincolnII, the backup animatronic. Lil tried to keep two of everything runningat speed, just in case. She could swap⁷ out a dead bot for a backup infive minutes flat, which is all that crowd-control would permit.
It had been two weeks since Dan’s arrival, and though I’d barely seenhim in that time, his presence was vivid in our lives. Our little ranchhousehad a new smell, not unpleasant, of rejuve and hope and loss,23something barely noticeable over the tropical flowers nodding in front ofour porch. My phone rang three or four times a day, Dan checking infrom his rounds of the Park, seeking out some way to accumulate personalcapital. His excitement and dedication⁸ to the task were inspiring,pulling me into his over-the-top-and-damn-the-torpedoes mode of being.
“You just missed Dan,” she said. She had her head in Lincoln’s chest,working with an autosolder and a magnifier. Bent⁹ over, red hair tiedback in a neat bun, sweat sheening her wiry freckled¹⁰ arms, smelling ofgirl-sweat and machine lubricant, she made me wish there were a mattresssomewhere backstage. I settled for patting her behind affectionately,and she wriggled¹¹ appreciatively. “He’s looking better.”
His rejuve had taken him back to apparent 25, the way I rememberedhim. He was rawboned and leathery, but still had the defeated stoop thathad startled me when I saw him at the Adventurer’s Club. “What did hewant?”
“He’s been hanging out with Debra—he wanted to make sure I knewwhat she’s up to.”
Debra was one of the old guard, a former comrade of Lil’s parents.
She’d spent a decade in Disneyland Beijing, coding sim-rides. If she hadher way, we’d tear down every marvelous rube goldberg in the Park andreplace them with pristine¹² white sim boxes on giant, articulated servos.
The problem was that she was really good at coding sims. Her GreatMovie Ride rehab at MGM was breathtaking—the Star Wars sequencehad already inspired a hundred fan-sites that fielded millions of hits.
She’d leveraged¹³ her success into a deal with the Adventureland adhocsto rehab the Pirates of the Caribbean, and their backstage areaswere piled high with reference: treasure chests and cutlasses and bowsprits.
It was terrifying to walk through; the Pirates was the last rideWalt personally supervised, and we’d thought it was sacrosanct¹⁴. ButDebra had built a Pirates sim in Beijing, based on Chend I Sao, the XIXthcentury Chinese pirate queen, which was credited with rescuing the Parkfrom obscurity and ruin. The Florida iteration would incorporate the bestaspects of its Chinese cousin—the AI-driven sims that communicatedwith each other and with the guests, greeting them by name each timethey rode and spinning age-appropriate tales of piracy¹⁵ on the high seas;the spectacular fly-through of the aquatic¹⁶ necropolis of rotting junks onthe sea-floor; the thrilling pitch and yaw of the sim as it weathered aviolent, breath-taking storm—but with Western themes: wafts¹⁷ of Jamaicanpepper sauce crackling through the air; liquid Afro-Caribbean24accents; and swordfights conducted in the manner of the pirates whoplied the blue waters of the New World. Identical sims would stack likecordwood in the space currently occupied by the bulky ride-apparatusand dioramas, quintupling capacity and halving¹⁸ load-time.
“So, what’s she up to?”
Lil extracted herself from the Rail-Splitter’s mechanical guts¹⁹ and madea comical moue of worry. “She’s rehabbing the Pirates—and doing an incrediblejob. They’re ahead of schedule, they’ve got good net-buzz, thefocus groups are cumming themselves.” The comedy went out of her expression,baring genuine worry.
She turned away and closed up Honest Abe, then fired her finger athim. Smoothly²⁰, he began to run through his spiel, silent but for the softhum and whine²¹ of his servos. Lil mimed²² twiddling a knob and his audiotrackkicked in low: “All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combinedcould not, by force, make a track on the Blue Ridge²³, nor take adrink from the Ohio. If destruction be our lot, then we ourselves must beits author—and its finisher.” She mimed turning down the gain and hefell silent again.
“You said it, Mr. President,” she said, and fired her finger at himagain, powering him down. She bent and adjusted his hand-sewn periodtopcoat, then carefully wound and set the turnip-watch in his vestpocket.
I put my arm around her shoulders. “You’re doing all you can—andit’s good work,” I said. I’d fallen into the easy castmember mode ofspeaking, voicing bland²⁴ affirmations. Hearing the words, I felt a flush ofembarrassment. I pulled her into a long, hard hug and fumbled²⁵ for betterreassurance. Finding no words that would do, I gave her a final squeezeand let her go.
She looked at me sidelong and nodded her head. “It’ll be fine, ofcourse,” she said. “I mean, the worst possible scenario²⁶ is that Debra willdo her job very, very well, and make things even better than they arenow. That’s not so bad.”
This was a 180-degree reversal of her position on the subject the lasttime we’d talked, but you don’t live more than a century without learningwhen to point out that sort of thing and when not to.
My cochlea struck twelve noon and a HUD appeared with my weeklybackup reminder²⁷. Lil was maneuvering²⁸ Ben Franklin II out of his niche²⁹. Iwaved good-bye at her back and walked away, to an uplink terminal.
25Once I was close enough for secure broadband communications, I gotready to back up. My cochlea chimed again and I answered it.
“Yes,” I subvocalized, impatiently. I hated getting distracted from abackup—one of my enduring fears was that I’d forget the backup altogetherand leave myself vulnerable for an entire week until the next reminder.
I’d lost the knack³⁰ of getting into habits in my adolescence³¹, givingin completely to machine-generated reminders³² over consciouschoice.
“It’s Dan.” I heard the sound of the Park in full swing behindhim—children’s laughter; bright, recorded animatronic spiels; the trompof thousands of feet. “Can you meet me at the Tiki Room? It’s prettyimportant.”
“Can it wait for fifteen?” I asked.
“Sure—see you in fifteen.”
I rung off and initiated³³ the backup. A status-bar zipped across a HUD,dumping the parts of my memory that were purely³⁴ digital; then it finishedand started in on organic memory. My eyes rolled back in my headand my life flashed before my eyes.

1 reviled   

v.辱骂，痛斥( revile的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The tramp reviled the man who drove him off. 流浪汉辱骂那位赶他走开的人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The old man reviled against corruption. 那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 pals   

n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙

参考例句：

• We've been pals for years. 我们是多年的哥们儿了。
• CD 8 positive cells remarkably increased in PALS and RP(P CD8+细胞在再生脾PALS和RP内均明显增加(P 来自互联网

3 wheezing   

v.喘息，发出呼哧呼哧的喘息声( wheeze的现在分词 )；哮鸣

参考例句：

• He was coughing and wheezing all night. 他整夜又咳嗽又喘。
• A barrel-organ was wheezing out an old tune. 一架手摇风琴正在呼哧呼哧地奏着一首古老的曲子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 meager   

adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的

参考例句：

• He could not support his family on his meager salary.他靠微薄的工资无法养家。
• The two men and the woman grouped about the fire and began their meager meal.两个男人同一个女人围着火，开始吃起少得可怜的午饭。

6 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

7 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

8 dedication   

n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞

参考例句：

• We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
• Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。

9 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

10 freckled   

adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her face was freckled all over. 她的脸长满雀斑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Her freckled skin glowed with health again. 她长有雀斑的皮肤又泛出了健康的红光。 来自辞典例句

11 wriggled   

v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）

参考例句：

• He wriggled uncomfortably on the chair. 他坐在椅子上不舒服地扭动着身体。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A snake wriggled across the road. 一条蛇蜿蜒爬过道路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 pristine   

adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的

参考例句：

• He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

13 leveraged   

促使…改变( leverage的过去式和过去分词 )； [美国英语]杠杆式投机，（使）举债经营，（使）利用贷款进行投机

参考例句：

• Chrysler has traditionally been a highly leveraged company. 克莱斯勒一向是一家周转十分灵活的公司。
• Leveraged recaps have become popular for a number of reasons. 杠杆资本重组的大行其道有好几个原因。

14 sacrosanct   

adj.神圣不可侵犯的

参考例句：

• In India,the cow is a sacrosanct animal.牛在印度是神圣的动物。
• Philip Glass is ignorant of establishing an immutable, sacrosanct urtext.菲利普·格拉斯不屑于创立不变的、神圣的原始文本。

15 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

16 aquatic   

adj.水生的，水栖的

参考例句：

• Aquatic sports include swimming and rowing.水上运动包括游泳和划船。
• We visited an aquatic city in Italy.我们在意大利访问过一个水上城市。

17 wafts   

n.空中飘来的气味，一阵气味( waft的名词复数 )；摇转风扇v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A breeze wafts the sweet smell of roses. 微风吹来了玫瑰花的芬芳（香味）。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• A breeze wafts the smell of roses. 微风吹送玫瑰花香气。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 halving   

n.对分，二等分，减半[航空、航海]等分v.把…分成两半( halve的现在分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊

参考例句：

• You searched those halving your salary cut your enthusiasm. 你呈现，薪水减半降低了你的任务热情。 来自互联网
• Halving the repeater spacing made it possible to quadruple the bandwidth. 把增音机间隔缩小一半，就能使带宽增加三倍。 来自互联网

19 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

21 whine   

v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣

参考例句：

• You are getting paid to think,not to whine.支付给你工资是让你思考而不是哀怨的。
• The bullet hit a rock and rocketed with a sharp whine.子弹打在一块岩石上，一声尖厉的呼啸，跳飞开去。

22 mimed   

v.指手画脚地表演，用哑剧的形式表演( mime的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The man mimed the slaying of an enemy. 此人比手划脚地表演砍死一个敌人的情况。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The acting students mimed eating an apple. 这些学生正在用哑剧形式表演吃苹果。 来自互联网

23 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

24 bland   

adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的

参考例句：

• He eats bland food because of his stomach trouble.他因胃病而吃清淡的食物。
• This soup is too bland for me.这汤我喝起来偏淡。

25 fumbled   

（笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下

参考例句：

• She fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief. 她在她口袋里胡乱摸找手帕。
• He fumbled about in his pockets for the ticket. 他（瞎）摸着衣兜找票。

26 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

27 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

28 maneuvering   

v.移动，用策略( maneuver的现在分词 )；操纵

参考例句：

• This Manstein did, with some brilliant maneuvering under the worse winter conditions. 曼施坦因在最恶劣的严冬条件下，出色地施展了灵活机动的战术，终于完成了任务。 来自辞典例句
• In short, large goals required farsighted policies, not tactical maneuvering. 一句话，大的目标需要有高瞻远瞩的政策，玩弄策略是不行的。 来自辞典例句

29 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

30 knack   

n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法

参考例句：

• He has a knack of teaching arithmetic.他教算术有诀窍。
• Making omelettes isn't difficult,but there's a knack to it.做煎蛋饼并不难，但有窍门。

31 adolescence   

n.青春期，青少年

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the process of going from childhood to maturity.青春期是从少年到成年的过渡期。
• The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence.这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。

32 reminders   

n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 )；提醒…的东西；（告知该做某事的）通知单；提示信

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• The strike has delayed the mailing of tax reminders. 罢工耽搁了催税单的投寄。

33 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

34 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。