This is another portion of later in the first chapter.

'...The transport, a ground-based vehicle, levitated silently outside. John glanced at his chronometer as he boarded. Jeg er ked af det, he thought, I'm late. The doors hissed shut, and the vehicle computer announced, “Destination: University. Estimated arrival: 25 minutes.” With a gentle hum, the vehicle glided smoothly along the elevated guideway. The air inside was cool and faintly metallic. Outside, the landscape was a patchwork of green fields, managed forests, and gleaming white research facilities. The transport’s progress was slow; the gentle sway and hum of the engines were a constant reminder of the NAU’s strict energy policies. John sighed, thinking about the upcoming lecture. How could he convey the importance of the Bit Rot Era when so many were focused on the pressing needs of the present?

At the University, John rushed into the classroom, three students already waiting. “Jeg er ked af det, I’m late,” John said, a slight Danish accent coloring his Danglish. The classroom was intimate, a very different design from the great lecture halls of antiquity, designed for perhaps twenty students, with a central platform surrounded by holographic cameras for remote attendees. Historical maps and timelines adorned the interactive displays lining the walls.

John quickly moved to the lectern and carefully removed six artifacts from his bag. “Velkommen to Ancient North America 1,” he began. “Welcome to Ancient North America 1. This is the class where you are going to learn about the past that was and the present that may yet be.” He gestured to a holographic timeline that appeared above the lectern. “In broad strokes, we consider the history of Ancient North America to consist of four periods: the pre-colonial, the rise of the nations – of Canada, the United States of America, and Mexico – the pre-Collapse, and the post-Collapse periods. You can take in-depth courses on most of these. Dr. Jones’ ‘Rise of the Nations’ is well worth your study to learn about the United States, its Constitution, and Canada. This very university is located in a place that was once called Newfoundland, Canada, and in ancient times the climate was quite harsh. Meget forskelligt from the lush green farmland, forests, and even nice beaches we have today. You can also take Dr. Pech’s history of the pre-colonial tribes and empires. That will teach you a great deal about the people who first inhabited the continent and learn about their history, culture, foodstuffs, many of which are still considered extinct. Desværre.

“However,” John continued, his tone shifting, “the class you cannot take is for what we call the Bit Rot Era. A ‘bit’… imagine a light switch. On or off. That’s a bit. One or zero. The basic unit of digital information. The Bit Rot Era, from roughly the 20th to the 25th century, is a complete black box. En sort boks. What we do know comes from fragments of writing on paper. Millions of books were printed, but even those are often lost to time. We have fragments of ancient texts that talk about computers in every home and the ‘digitization’ of information and libraries. Digitization was the process of scanning physical media into computers. We’ve recovered millions of artifacts – disintegrated polycarbonates, silica, and bits of rare metals that were once these computers. But nothing within survived. Then something happened. The books vanished. The period from about the 21st to the 25th centuries was, as it were, expunged from history. Research indicates they went entirely digital, depending on system administrators to maintain the data… until the administrators stopped.”...'