I’m trying to set my literary bar high enough with pieces like this that even liberals and LIV’s will find it compelling. The plot in the first 2/3 is just a windup, to get the reader up in the tower with the historian, looking back. My target audience is not our choir, but the other side. As soon as I see that Salon or Daily Beast etc is mentioning “Alas,” I’ll put the .99 cent anthology in the Kindle free run for five days to encourage maximum downloading by the folks who need to read it the most.
If enclaves are to survive and re-establish civilization on this continent there will have to be conscious efforts to gather the skilled together, for survival and improvements.
The kids of today are often very surprised by the machinery our founders had for use, run by pedal or water wheel energy output.
Many electrically driven tools can be rigged to work via an exchange of driveshaft, to accommodate a water driven driveshaft.
An old old mill near me once had seasoned black oak drive shaft running the grinding, until an iron one could be purchased in my grandfather's youth. The location is even IDed as Flourville! The same wheel driving the grinding shaft-drive can be used to run machinery like lathes, drills, and saws.
Enclaves would lend to gathering various technical skills together to thrive as a community, which would eventually lead to forms of government and law enforcement.