The thing that awaited Kirk in his study was the blinking light of his answering machine. It had belonged to his father, and was so ancient it actually used a cassette tape to record messages. Kirk had been fascinated by it as a child. The beep and the disembodied voices that spoke following the beep were mesmerizing. It was like something out from a science fiction movie.
Following the total and irreversible death of all electronic equipment with a processor chip, Kirk dug out the answering machine from the basement and to his amazement, found that the cassette tape hadn't become demagnetized in the meantime. The answering machine still worked the way it was supposed to; it had been made at a time when people made and bought products that would last for many years. It was a Panasonic Easa-Phone made at a time when Japan was still trying to prove to the world that it made quality products. It wasn't exactly bulletproof, but it came close.
