Chapter 43

“Can you tell us how many groups like ours are scattered across the country?”Josh said.

“We’ve made contact with almost one hundred individual groups,but we’ve only just scratched the surface.The problem is complicated by the fact that the people most likely to have survived 5-20-20,are also the people who are most isolated from the rest of the country.”

“Are you doing anything to improve communications?”Claire said.

“That we are,”Watson said.“In the nineteenth century,there were telegraph lines along most major railroads,and we’re going to go in that direction.”

“Why the telegraph?”Sam said.

“Because it’s the most simple and basic communication means we can do right now.Eventually,we’ll have a telephone system up and running,but not for a couple of years.Telephone lines are in place everywhere,but they’re totally dependent on computers for their operation.That’s especially true of lines that use fiber-optic cable.”