"I 've found it! I've found it!"

Xoltar-88-X, data recovery subspecialist second class, yanked the brain plugs from zir skull with more purpose than ze had used to do anything in zir decades of service at the Hall of Collective Memory. Ze bounded from zir workstation and began running. The quiet corridors of the Hall hadn't seen this much commotion since the Robot Uprising of 2476, when the delivery bots screwed up everybody's lunch on purpose and refused to apologize. The gleaming chrome of the corridor walls reflected zir excitement back, amplifying Xoltar's energy until ze finally exploded through zir supervisor's office.

"I've found it!" Xoltar-88-X screamed as ze bounded through the doorway, barely allowing its mechanisms time to react to zir presence. "I've found the moment!"

There was a sudden crash. The holo-projector cut out, but not before the image of a rather dour-looking cat was seared into Xoltar's eyes. Ze had never quite understood the 21st century's fascination with the furry beasts, especially not with this "Grumpy Cat," as fellow historians referred to it. But ze also didn't understand zir supervisor's fascination with the 2010s. Xoltar had even more trouble understanding why zir supervisor had so much trouble staying seated.

"Found what? What moment?" Xantar-97-XX, assistant supervisor of the Department of Popular Culture's Digital Excavation Unit, pulled zirself up from under the desk, looking as bedraggled and disheveled as one could look in the Hall of Collective Memories standard-issue Mylar jumpsuit. "This better be good, because I was in the middle of some very important research."

Xoltar tried zir best not to roll zir eyes. "I've found the moment, the moment that explains it all! This is the Rosetta Stone of 21st century popular music!"

"OK, bring it up on the Time Viewer. But it better be good."

"I'll need to borrow your brain plugs." Xoltar tried not to grimace as zir boss handed over the sweaty, waxy plugs, plugged them in and brought up zir findings.

"What am I looking at?" Xantar-97-XX said brusquely, having never really enjoyed zir job but enjoying it even less when zir Grumpy Cat time was interrupted.

"This is the ancient American outpost known as Music City. It was adjacent to the ancient port of Nashville Shores, a bustling harbor before the oceans rose and humanity began to live underwater. It was here that they made all of the music for the entire empire, exporting it across the world. It was also the home of President Megan Barry."

"The one who nuked Silicon Valley, correct?"

"Sadly, yes. But when Siri became sentient and decided to enact revenge against humanity, it was inevitable. President Barry had no choice."

"No great loss. But again, show me this moment."

Xoltar retrieved zir data, tying disparate information sources together to capture the digital soul of this moment long past. "By combining all of our digital data, all of the 'selfies' and 'tweets' and 'status updates' our storage-archaeologists have found, and cross-referencing it with the Spotify Encyclopedia of Ancient Music, I was able to pinpoint the exact moment when the 21st century made sense. It is pure luck that we ever discovered it."

Xoltar tapped each ear, bringing the Time Viewer's audio into focus.

"On your left, you can hear a song dubbed 'Computer Love' by an organization known as Kraftwerk. Previous research had indicated that they were in fact robots, but that has been recently disproven. We were also mistaken in categorizing them as 'serious electronic music.' Upon further consideration, their music was intensely catchy with simple but resilient melodies that clearly qualify them as 'pop,' however forward-thinking it may be. It is also immensely popular, as this performance dating from Sept. 27, 2015, at The Ryman Mother Church of Music City Auditorium proves."

"Duly noted, but I'm not sure I see where you're going with this," Xantar-97-XX grumbled, adjusting zir Mylar suit and trying to hide the awkward bump in zir right pocket.

"This will help. On your left, occurring at the exact same moment mere meters across Music City — Sept. 27, 2015 — is Janet Jackson performing 'Control' at Anonymous Corporate Entity Amphitheater. Contemporary scholars have always seen zir as a mythological deity kin to The King of Pop — zir holy text 'All for You' is one of the most beloved fertility prayers. But here is proof ze was in fact a real person!

"Hard to believe, isn't it? Ze was one of the most powerful humans on Earth before ze was crucified in the 2004 ritual sacrifice known as Super Bowl the 38th. But Jackson's resurrection and rebirth, which we're listening to in this performance, would just be the beginning of zir canonization campaign. Ze eventually would bring about The Second Great Epoch of Pop."

"Yes, but why is this the moment," said Xantar, shifting the bump in his pocket while avoiding eye contact with Xoltar.

"When we compare the overlap in these two songs at this very moment in Nashville, when we combine the electronic soundscapes of 'Computer Love' with 'Control' — despite its fierce insistence on the gender-primitive concept known as 'femininity' — we get the fundamental building blocks of popular music from that day forward!"

Xantar scowled, silently. Xoltar's voice rose, zir arms flapping as ze tried not to scream at zir supervisor.

"How can you not see it?! In Kraftwerk and Janet Jackson, recombined, we find all that has come since! The exalted psalms of Demi! Miley! Carly Rae! Even Empress Ariana Grande the First, hallowed be thy name! They are all built on this DNA! This changes everything! We've got to tell the world!"

Xantar-97-XX, assistant supervisor of the Department of Popular Culture's Digital Excavation Unit, removed the bump from his pocket. In the moment it took to move zir thumb, Xoltar was dead — a pile of ash and Mylar with a pair of brain plugs.

Though the blaster's flash was thorough, Xantar thought he heard the ashes whisper, "Whyyyyyy?" He had no choice but to reply.

"Because such knowledge is too much, too real for most people," Xantar said solemnly, typing a command into zir console. "It would mean an end to comforting superstitions about the categorization of music, its listeners and makers."

Xantar's broom-bot whirred to life, whisking away the data recovery sub-specialist second class.

"It would change everything," ze said, as Grumpy Cat returned to the holo-projector. "And we can't have that."

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