Chapter 30: Overwhelmed
The things I hated most in my life were all around me.
Thousands of soulless machines surrounded me and my small group of friends (or people who had just become friends). There was no escape. We were outnumbered a thousand to one. I felt like an ant as a large foot came down to stamp out my existence. Morall looked smug, as if he had been pulling my strings all along and this end was inevitable. I turned to Mr. Stewart but his face was calm, as if he too had expected this conclusion. He stepped forward.
“I am giving a final warning. Call this off. Kill us here and you will lose all of your humanity.”
Morall looked at him like a parent regards a bad child. “Empty threat, teacher. You’re not in a classroom and these drones are not your pupils. In a moment I am going to program your death and there is nothing you can do about it.”
“Listen to yourself, Morall,” I yelled. “Why do you decide who lives and dies? You said you loved our justice system — where is the justice in silencing everyone who disagrees with you?” Drone hands grabbed me from behind, and I was pushed unwillingly forward. With his army of metal, I knew he couldn’t resist flaunting his superiority. Morall’s red eye stared at me.
“You don’t understand! This is how it has to be. Why couldn’t you be happy living in a safe society? Do you know how much my generation has worked to look after you? You could have been secure in the knowledge that as long as you followed the rules, you were perfectly safe. You had it all, Pene, and you threw it away.”
“Maybe,” I replied. “But it was my decision, not one you forced down my throat. To you I’m safe, but having no free will is still a prison. Just make it end.” I wanted his chatter to be done. I looked at the drone holding me, which looked exactly like the one that had escorted me at the Department of Justice. I wished there was some way to tell them apart. Maybe a nametag. “Release me.” I commanded. Its grip slackened but it did not let me go.
“You can’t control them,” Morall sneered. “Only I can manipulate their actions.” He brandished his controller as if to illustrate his power. I had an idea.
“Not quite. I learned that their programming is to escort, not to hurt. And they have some artificial intelligence to make their decisions.” I looked at the drone. “Release me, you’re hurting me!” Its grip loosened further, and with a good tug, I could get away. But Morall intervened.
“Hold her,” he commanded and tapped on his controller. The drone’s grip became tighter. I yelled in mock pain.
“You’re hurting me. Follow your original programing.” The drone head shook left and right as if confused. Several other drones began to tilt their heads as if following our conversation. “What is your programing?”
“To assist humans. To escort guilty people to sentencing.”
“She is guilty!” Morall wailed.
“Have I been tried?” I looked at the drone, trying to see behind its eyes. Was there some intelligence?
“No,” it answered plainly.
“Then I can’t be guilty.”
“Ignore her!” Morale typed on keypad but the drone made no change. It was almost as if it was thinking over its options.
“Listen to me. Can I command you to seize this man?”
“No — you do not have authority.”
“Does he have authority?”
“Yes!” Morall answered.
“He provides commands as long as they don’t override our initial programming.”
“Not to hurt humans.”
“Yes.”
“No, she’s trying to trick you. You are not hurting her,” Morall commanded.
“Yes, you are. See these marks?” I pointed to my wrist, where marks had been made by the drone’s tight grip.
“Yes.”
“That shows that you are hurting me.”
“Yes.” And immediately its grip was removed. The drone looked unsteady, as if was confused and about to fall over.
“Capture her. Capture all of these people,” Morall yelled while typing instructions. “That is my order!”
“Do not listen to orders that endanger humans. That is against your programming,” I yelled. Many drones turned to each other as if having a silent conversation. Whatever I said to this drone was being passed to the others. “Stand down.” Thousands of drones came to rest as if awaiting new orders. My hatred of them was always a smokescreen. They were never the enemy. In some respect, I had gained a new appreciation for them. They were here to protect us, as long as the right person was pulling their strings.
However, whatever delay I had created would be short-lived. Morall would eventually get through to drones with new orders. I hadn’t really accomplished anything but stalling.
“You’ve delayed your sentencing by a few minutes. I signaled for a full reboot. Whatever commands you think you have given these drones will be gone,” Morall stated, as confident as ever.
“No, they won’t,” Mr. Stewart interrupted, pulling his electronic transmitter out of his pocket. “Thank you, Pene. You bought us the time we needed.” He put a hand on my shoulder.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Your friend Austin gave me an idea. He wanted to find the location of where the drones are kept and then destroy them.”
“There is no central location. The drones are always working all over the city, you fool,” Morall answered.
“We know that. So we took another approach.” Mr. Stewart was typing into his transmitter. “We knew you would come in force. We knew you would show off all of your drones to put the ‘pathetic’ resistance down. We just needed time to intercept your signal. You’ve not the only one who can give commands. Let’s just say,” he looked at Austin, “we have discovered more than one way to destroy the drones.” He pressed his transmitter and simultaneously a thousand drone red eyes went dark.
The drones had been standing at rest, and now scores of metal arms fell to their sides. It was deafening. Then, with no power in their systems, the drones began to fall down.
Most drones tumbled in waves as Mr. Stewart’s command ceased their operations. Their metal bodies went slack and toppled to the ground. Drones fell from the sky and drones collapsed. The semi-circle around Morall fell last, like dominos, one after another until the final one collapsed. Morall looked on in panic, lifting a metal drone as if he could reanimate it like a puppet.
“How?” He looked at Mr. Stewart in disbelief.
“We tracked your communications,” Mr. Stewart answered. “When you came here, you signaled for reinforcements. We hacked into your processor and turned them off. All devices to the network, including our gear, is shut down.” He tossed his device to the ground.
“But the system will reboot. It might take hours, but the drones will come back on. You’ve only delayed the inevitable.” Morall’s confidence made me think he was right. Had we only bought ourselves a few hours to escape?
“Have we?” Mr. Stewart signaled to his group, which began shooting at the piles of drones. Their shells exploded, with circuitry and wires hanging out of their bodies. In the air, a red eye tumbled to the ground. I guessed Mr. Stewart figured you couldn’t reanimate a bunch of broken drones. Morall panicked and tapped his phone.
“Vaslor! Bring your men to the stadium immediately. This is an emergency! The drones are under attack!” I heard Vaslor’s voice squeak out of the phone.
“Negative. Seconds ago, all of our recording devices went down. It’s a system-wide crash — everything in the network is down. Drones have dropped out of the sky across the city. I have no eyes anywhere. We’re blind, Morall. Do you hear me, blind! No cameras, stationary or drone recording, are working. I’ve ordered my men to spread across the city to maintain law and order. Once people know the drones aren’t watching, I’m worried that crime will occur.”
“But I am surrounded by the people who caused this! You need to come now!”
“I can’t.” Vaslor’s response sounded measured, as if he was weighing the variables. “There is more at stake than your safety. We need to show the people of city that we are here to support them in this crisis. Once areas are secured, we’ll send some officers your way. Vaslor out.” The phone went silent. Morall looked around at the chaos as drone bodies were destroyed before him.
“Stop it! We’ll just build new ones in a few weeks. Think of the damage you’ll cause this city when it shifts into lawlessness. You are endangering the life of every resident of the city with your actions.”
Mr. Stewart considered Morall’s words then raised his hand. The rest of his team stopped firing and the destruction of the drones stopped momentarily.
“Tell us the truth and we’ll destroy no more drones. Your secret’s safe — all the recording devices have been disabled. Just tell us why this system is sentencing innocent people!”
“No one is innocent,” was Morall’s cryptic reply. “We did what had to be done.” He turned to me. “Your dad pushed too hard. He would have destroyed all of the hard work our justice system had won. People are safe because of the drones. Your dad would have exposed certain ‘adjustments’.”
“Adjustments! You killed my dad because of adjustments!” I screamed. I hated him and this city.
“Yes.” He stepped towards me. “If it had leaked to the public that court footage had been altered, all trust would be lost. You don’t understand, Pene. To maintain the city’s security, sacrifices have to be made. I loved your dad like a son, but his death was necessary.” There. He admitted his guilt.
“Why Lou the merchant?” I dug my fingers into my palms and balled my fists. Knowing the truth about my dad was not making me feel any better. Not in the slightest.
“The vendor? He was selling items that presented questions about what is outside of the city. Those items were illegal and he had to be punished.”
“It seems important to you to determine who must be punished for the safety of the city,” Mr. Stewart offered.
“It’s a burden but my decisions are for the greater good. A few lives are lost so that millions can be safe.”
“What if I told you that I also need to make decisions for the greater good? To eliminate the threats from the city.”
“If you are threatening to kill me, go ahead. Other justice ministers will take my place.” Morall actually beamed. Maybe he looked forward to becoming a martyr.
“Oh, your death would serve no purpose. I’d rather show people the truth. Give them a taste of your footage of explaining how the law actually works.”
“What are you babbling about? Cameras and drones are down — nothing to the network is connected. You said so yourself!”
“Correct, all drones and cameras are down. But there are some things that aren’t connected to the network. There are some things that are not controlled by you. That are independent.” I looked down at Lola’s crushed form. Her eyes had never quite faded away and now seemed to glow. Austin moved forward and picked her up. Lola tried to prop her head on his arm, but her neck was broken. I never knew that a metallic creature could make me want to cry.
“I’ve got you sweetie. I’ll rebuild your body,” Austin looked around him. “I suddenly have lots of spare parts.”
“Upload the footage,” Mr. Stewart commanded Austin. Moments later, a small video screen on Lola’s side chirped to life. Morall’s face looked huge as Lola’s camera had been from the ground looking up.
““Yes,” he said coolly, “if it had leaked to the public that court footage had been altered, all trust would be lost.” His face froze, the footage ready to play over and over again. Morall’s face was also frozen in horror in real life.
“You can’t play that! It will bring the city to its knees. You release that and you endanger thousands of people. Don’t let your petty differences with me hurt others. Destroy the dog and its footage. Let people be secure.” Morall hands were together, as if he was begging.
“It’s not my decision to make.” Mr. Stewart turned to me. “Pene?” I was surprised that both adults looked to me. I wasn’t sure I could make a decision that would affect everyone in the city. I knew what I wanted, but by watching this man, I had come to realize how sick it was to think I had all the answers. Did I really want to responsible for what might happen to the city if they knew the truth? What if they destroyed everything and people were killed? Could I live with that on my conscience? I stared at Morall.
“I don’t want to be like you. Play it! It’s about time everyone saw the truth and made their own choices.”
“The truth will destroy this city. The walls will come down. The sky will fall. Crime will take over. You will be responsible!” Morall screamed.
“It that’s the price of real justice, then it’s about time we all paid it! Maybe people are better able to handle the truth than you think.” I pointed outside the stadium. “It’s time we let them decide.” I nodded to Mr. Stewart. He would eventually play Morall’s confession in its entirety once the networks came back online. In the near future, video screens across the city would play the truth. I didn’t care if people believed it or not. It would no longer be scrubbed by Morall. I looked at him, hugging the main drone at its knees. Its lifeless arms hung at its shoulders, and no embrace was coming back. Morall had dedicated his life to the drones and now they offered him nothing in return. I felt Mr. Stewart’s hand on my shoulder.
“Come. We have at best a few hours before the drones are reactivated. You have a small opportunity to leave the city!”