The Circle

threatening the delicate ecology of the Renaissance. Now all is worked out and Alistair
     and Mae are great friends and feel rejuvenated. All agree a fresh start is warranted
     and welcome.
    There was a line below the statement where Mae was to sign, and she used her fingernail
     to sign her name on the screen. She submitted it, and instantly received a thank you
     from Dan.
    That was great
, he wrote.
Alistair is obviously a little sensitive, but that’s only because he’s such a fiercely
     committed Circler. Just like you, right? Thank you for being so cooperative. You were
     great. Onward!
    Mae was late, and hoped Annie would still be waiting. The day was clear and warm,
     and Mae found Annie on the lawn, typing on her tablet with a granola bar dangling
     from her mouth. She squinted up at Mae. “Hey. You’re tardy.”
    “Sorry.”
    “How are you?”
    Mae made a face.
    “I know, I know. I followed the whole thing,” Annie said, chewing extravagantly.
    “Stop eating like that. Close your mouth. You did?”
    “I was just listening while I worked. They asked me to. And I’ve heard much worse.
     Everyone has a few of those early on. Eat fast, by the way. I want to show you something.”
    In quick succession, two waves passed over Mae. First, profound unease that Annie
     had been listening without her knowledge, followed by a wave of relief, knowing her
     friend had been with her, even if remotely, and could confirm that Mae would survive.
    “Did
you
?” she asked.
    “Did I what?”
    “Ever get called on the carpet like that? I’m still shaking.”
    “Of course. Once a month maybe. I still do. Chew fast.”
    Mae ate as quickly as she could, watching a game of croquet being played on the lawn.
     The players seemed to have made up their own rules. Mae finished her lunch.
    “Good, get up,” Annie said, and they made their way toward TomorrowTown. “What? Your
     face still has a question protruding from it.”
    “Did
you
go to that Portugal brunch?”
    Annie scoffed. “Me? No, why? I wasn’t invited.”
    “But why was
I
? I didn’t sign up for it. I’m not some Portugal freak.”
    “It’s on your profile, isn’t it? Didn’t you go there once?”
    “Sure, but I never mentioned it on my profile. I’ve been to Lisbon, but that’s it.
     That was five years ago.”
    They approached the TomorrowTown building, fronted by a wall of ironwork that looked
     vaguely Turkish. Annie waved her pass over a wall-mounted pad and the door opened.
    “Did you take pictures?” Annie asked.
    “In Lisbon? Sure.”
    “And they were on your laptop?”
    Mae had to think a second. “I guess so.”
    “Then that’s probably it. If they were on your laptop, now they’re in the cloud, and
     the cloud gets scanned for information like that. You don’t have to run around signing
     up for Portugal interest clubs or anything. When Alistair wanted to do his brunch,
     he probably just asked for a search of everyone on campus who had visited the country,
     took pictures or mentioned it in an email or whatever. So then heautomatically gets a list, and sends his invitation out. It saves about a hundred
     hours of nonsense. Over here.”
    They stopped in front of a long hallway. Annie’s eyes were alight with mischief. “Okay.
     You want to see something surreal?”
    “I’m still weirded out.”
    “Don’t be. Get in here.”
    Annie opened a door to a beautiful room, some cross between a buffet and a museum
     and a trade show.
    “How crazy is this?”
    The room looked vaguely familiar. Mae had seen something like this on TV.
    “It’s like one of those gift bag places for celebrities, right?”
    Mae scanned the room. There were products spread all over dozens of tables and platforms.
     But here, instead of jewelry and pumps there were sneakers and toothbrushes and a
     dozen types of chips and drinks and energy bars.
    Mae laughed. “I’m guessing this is free?”
    “For you, for very important people like you and me, yes.”
    “Jesus Christ. All of this?”
    “Yup, this is the free sample room. It’s always full, and this stuff needs to get
     used one way or the other. We invite rotating groups in—sometimes it’s programmers,
     sometimes CE people like you. Different group every day.”
    “And you just take whatever you want?”
    “Well, you have to zap your ID on anything you’re taking so they know who’s taken
     what. Otherwise some idiot takes home the whole room.”
    “I haven’t seen any of this