Hide and Seek

A woman, hiding from robots, to protect something precious.

There were no humans outside. Nobody was brave enough, or stupid enough. She saw them flying lazily down the street. The drones were sweeping left and right. She could feel their pervert mechanic minds probing through the walls, through the bodies of the inhabitants. She turned around, still paying attention to the humming. They were at her house’s level now, scanning her. She trembled as she poured a glass of water, fell on a chair, drank and spilled water on the floor. Jane needed to conform to a SHAP: Standard Human Activity Profile, that would not attract attention. She hated herself for acting for the drones. But she could not fail. The task was too important.

The humming decreased. They were at the next house. She stood up and rushed to the basement. They would be back in ten minutes and scan her again. Six times per hour. Twenty-four hours per day.

Downstairs, an old make-up table retrieved from a theater stood in the middle of an empty room. Golden chains hanging from the ceiling surrounded the desk in an approximate circle. They were made of copper, painted in gold. Jane liked the golden color. But the real purpose of the chains was to create a Faraday cage. She had spent many nights linking the chains with ultra-thin wires that cut into the tip of her fingers. This blocked low-frequency signals, making it impenetrable to the drones. They will not see what happens inside the cylinder. The golden chains created a space of privacy. That was invaluable. And it looked gorgeous.

Jane slid between the golden chains and sat at the makeup desk. She pushed two switches under the table, at the same time. The first sent electricity into the table, while the second switched off other appliances in the house, to keep electricity consumption at a usual household level. Putting on a show again, for the sake of these b******s.

She looked at her hands. She still had blisters from carving the wood to insert computer components. She had cuts on her palms from chiseling long, narrow paths for the wires. Drones would not detect isolated parts. At least she was telling this to herself to feel safer. Pressing the switches always tied her stomach in a knot and drew sweat from her brow. She had replaced the mirror on the desk with a monitor. When it was off, it looked like a regular mirror, but as soon as it came to life, the magic appeared on the screen.

The computer booted slowly, to limit electromagnetic pulses and energy consumption. The waiting was intolerable. But the data Jane was hiding was too valuable. Each file was the only remaining copy on the planet. She had to back up as many as possible today, at her life’s risk. She will only have time to make one copy, to give it to another person at the next gathering. Then she would stay quiet for a few weeks and make another copy.

A door crashed over her head. When she turned around, three drones were at the base of the stairs. She had no time to scream. She felt several stings on her body and the world went dark.

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