Nisha opened her eyes to the sound of rain on the top of the tent. Even though the end of November approached, rain had fallen only four times this rainy season. She adjusted her eyes to the dim early light and spotted an unfamiliar shape on her worktable. The strange thing turned and scanned her.
“Rachel are you awake?” she whispered.
“Yeah,”
“Turn around slowly. What do you see on my worktable?”
Rachel laughed.
“Good one Neesh. Um, what is that thing?”
“I don’t know but it’s looking at me.”
“It reminds me of a praying mantis, but it’s mechanical,” Rachel said.
“Stay still, it’s moving,” Nisha said. “It’s flying through the slit in the tent.”
They opened the tent door to track where the artificial bug went.
“There it goes,” Rachel said. “It’s flying over towards Bok’s tower.”
“There’s another one on that rock,” Nisha said. “It’s also staring at me. There’s another one on our picnic table. It’s looking at me too.”
Rachel laughed.
“Really now. Paranoid, are we?”
“I’m serious. Watch when I walk. See?”
“Okay, I admit that one is watching you. What are these things?”
Nisha raised an eyebrow.
“Hmm, I don’t notice a needle sticking out so it’s not here to take a blood sample or inject us with anything. I don’t think it can build anything. It’s looking at me again. Let’s go down and watch what they do.”
“You’re being followed Nisha. That one is following me. They’re programmed to follow each of us. Let’s walk apart.”
Once they got about 50 meters apart, the little drones separated, and one followed each of them.
“Well, now we know,” Nisha said. “They’re following each of us. Let’s find out what Bok knows about this.”
She connected to Bok.
“Bok, are you there?”
“Yes. I’m walking to you now.”
“Flying things are following us. Do you know anything about them?”
“Let me check. One moment please. Thousands of them are following members of my colony and a few million follow those living in the big colony. My guess is someone in Gol’s colony is making them to watch us.”
“I’m on Twitter. Many humans are reporting that Gol built peeper drones,” Rachel said. “They’re too fast to swat or capture.”
“I know some friends who live over at Gol’s colony,” Bok said. “Let me find out what’s happening over there.”
Bok said nothing for a while.
“I found out; Gol is letting anyone make these drones. They’re autonomous, which violates one of our primary laws of technology. ‘Never create fully autonomous machines or life forms.’ There should always be several ways to stop them. One of our worst Ages of Entropy was caused by autonomous machines that decided to defend themselves.”
“Like this one here?” Nisha asked as one landed near Bok, watching him.
“Yes, this little thing looks innocent,” Bok said. “It watches and learns but it does nothing, but that’s how it looks now. If I were to try to destroy it. Well, watch this.”
Bok made a quick move to grab it, but it flew away. It landed on the tent and cut the support ropes. The canvas roof caved in.
“This is what I mean. What happened may seem harmless enough, but if this thing had greater capabilities, it could do anything to us. Even Omanji in the big colony couldn’t stop a swarm of them. Well, they can stop them by creating autonomous machines to kill them. However, those machines can cause bigger problems if not programmed perfectly.”
“We don’t need a drone against drone war,” Nisha said. “Does anyone know about these machines?”
Bok paused in silence.
“Zon does and he’s unhappy with Gol for allowing them,” Bok said. “One of Gol’s drones is following him. Fortunately, they can’t get inside of the towers since they changed the access frequency codes of the entrance and exit membranes. Zon paid Gol a visit an hour ago. Gol got angry and walked away.”
“How big is Gol’s colony now?” Rachel said. “He chose an old nuclear weapons test site in Nevada that’s off limits to humans. Hopefully, that won’t be an ironic choice. I can’t find any video or photos other than satellite photos of the area from before he formed the colony.”
“About 10 million are living in Gol’s colony,” Bok said. “Over 28 million live in my colony. That number is decreasing. I only want those here, who wish to be here. I doubt Zon will allow the collapse of the main colony, since the future of the Omanji civilization is the colony. Right now, it’s collapsing. Only a few percent of those in the Age of Dissonance are choosing to merge. Over time, the trend will cause a colony collapse.”
“This is getting unstable,” Nisha said. “Ever since you told me about your history I’ve been perspiring. How many live in the main colony now?”
“Over 18 billion. I’m not sure what’s happening but the number is stabilizing.”
“Stabilizing?” Rachel said. “That’s odd. How many spheres are in orbit?”
Bok paused to gather data.
“I’m glad I still can access the public databases. Over 25,000 are in orbit. That’s still increasing at the original pace. Therefore, almost 25 billion should be living in the colony. However, only 18 billion are there.”
Bok paused again for a minute.
“A decision must have been made to slow down the migration to the main colony. About seven billion Omanji are in orbit and they’re staying in orbit.”
“Strange,” Rachel said. “I wonder if you and Gol splitting into new colonies, has something to do with the slowing trend of migration.”
“Yes, that’s part of the reason,” Bok said. “But I think the biggest factor is colony collapse. Younglings like me don’t want to merge. If this continues, the colony will collapse. Before I left, I asked those a few years younger than me if they wanted to merge. Most said no. There’s something about being on Earth that makes us want to be free. Maybe it’s also because we hatched in space on the way here. As I mentioned, we’re the interstellar generation.”
Bok stopped talking.
“What?” Rachel said.
“I can still communicate with a few of my friends who merged, even though I’m not in the collective. They’re unhappy with the established system and that’s causing more unrest on the inside. It’s difficult to explain.”
“It’s like a meme,” Nisha said.
Bok didn’t reply.
“You know, like a virus or idea that gets transmitted from one individual to another,” Nisha said. “The difference is a meme is an idea spread by discussion. This is a neural infection. The idea of freedom is a meme that’s spreading in the Omanji collective awareness.”
“Yes, that’s accurate in many cases,” Bok said. “Okay, I need to solve some problems in my colony. Contact me at any time.”
Bok walked down the hill to his colony, shrinking in size compared to the nearest tower he entered.
Nisha and Rachel repaired their partially collapsed tent.
“So, Nisha, what do you think about all this?”
“It’s weird. I’m sad for the Omanji. As much as I’ve hated their arrogance and bullying, I admire what they’ve accomplished. Zon is in a difficult position. He claims to support the idea of freedom but when he allows it, things fall apart.”
“Yeah, they’ve spent thousands of years overcoming their violent past and making discoveries. I can’t imagine how much work has gone into what they are today. Conditions on Oma are deteriorating, so they move here, and their society falls apart. Maybe that’s why we cannot find advanced life in the galaxy besides the Omanji? Even the Omanji know of only one other advanced civilization in the galaxy, plus one AI singularity. That worries me.”
“I wonder if it’s possible to maintain an advanced society and enjoy freedom at the same time,” Nisha said.
“I’m not sure,” Rachel said. “You must give up something to get something. I mean, we know what happens when an advanced society is allowed to do what they want. One accident can turn a planet into a wasteland. I’m sure this is only the beginning of the problems we’ll face. What if the harmless peepers weren’t harmless?”
They spent the rest of the day fixing the tent while the small peeper drones watched them from a safe distance.