Drone!
Hi friends, kia ora!
I have something new today! My work on the Tabitha story I talked about last week has kind of stagnated a bit at the moment, so it might be a little bit longer than I originally thought before I can really share anything more on that. But I have good news, I have an even newer bit of writing to share.
As with an embarrassingly high amount of my work to date, this is based on something I had a dream about. Most of the context was lost because, like a bloody fool, I forgot to put my notebook next to my bed before I went to sleep last night, so all I had to go on was this text I sent myself when I woke up right after the dream and before I passed out again.
I’m relatively certain that what I’ve written here wasn’t what I dreamed about, but this text message still served as a pretty great prompt, I reckon, and I thought I should make use of it before I forget. So I did. And I ended up with half a page of exposition, followed by two and a half pages of character introductions and interactions, my first non-binary character (Kennedy; they’re like me!) and y’all, it’s kind of rough. But I still really wanted to share some of it (not all three pages lol), so without further ado, I give you roughly the first half of a half of a chapter I guess?
Here we go.
Chapter One
“Let’s Just Get Through Today”
In 2054, the common honey bee and the bumble bee were on the verge of extinction. Crops were left to rot as there weren’t enough bees of any kind to fertilise them, even when farmers attempted to carefully cultivate bee hives on or near their farms. The future of humanity we knew it was looking dire, until a small group of dedicated scientists and technicians at the Cawthron Institute in Whakatū Nelson, Aotearoa New Zealand, in cooperation with the New Zealand Industrial Micro-Robotics Group, or NZIMRG, successfully developed a synthetic bee. With on-board AI modelled on real-world bee behaviour, and synthetic systems capable of processing pollen and honey that identical to that of a real bee, in tests both in the lab and in the field, this artificial bee worked flawlessly. The working group dubbed the project; Bee-2.
Bee-2 was designed to be able to procreate as well, but it was limited to a maximum of 75,000 Bee-2 units per square kilometre in order to keep them controlled, but also to keep them from overrunning the biological bees in those areas – after all, it was designed to be a supplement, a support for the real bees to keep them from going extinct. While it was always a goal of the group to get it working, Bee-2 could not cross-procreate with real bees. They found that any larvae produced by procreation between the real and synthetic bees would either be stillborn or malformed and unable to metamorphose into an adult bee, so ultimately that part of the project was scrapped. Still, otherwise the project was a complete success, and the group was given the go ahead to release their first small batch of Bee-2’s into the local environment. They would release a meagre 4,000 Bee-2’s in one of the sunniest places, with the most flowers, in the city, so that the public could come and watch them take flight for the very first time.
Today is launch day, the first day of spring. The first step to a cataclysmic event that would change the course of history forever. Unfortunately, our protagonists are blissfully unaware, as they make preparations to unleash their dangerous creation on the world.
Mikey was in charge of life support for Bee-2 when they were being stored in the lab, so it fell to him to also be the one to drive the cage containing the drones to the release site. He had only just got his drivers license a few weeks earlier and was still on his learners, so on top of being anxious about making sure the drones made it safely to the site, he was also very anxious about his driving skill and he hoped that he could make it to the site without getting pulled over by a cop; all of the other people in the lab who had full licenses were busy with other preparations for the release and weren’t able to sit in the car with Mikey in case that happened. “Just play it cool, Mikey. Just watch the road, pay attention to the other cars. You’ll be fine,” he whispered to himself as he secured the cage in the back of his van and slid the door closed. Mikey climbed into the cab, shut the door, fastened his seat belt, put his hands on the wheel, and let out a long sigh. “You got this,” he said out loud, before reaching for the key and turning the ignition. The old diesel engine turned over a few times before roaring into life. Mikey put it into gear and began slowly and carefully moving driveway and out onto the street. He had driven plenty before, even before he got his license, he would often help his dad doing things like backing the family boat down the ramp at the lakes, or driving his parents home from the pub when they’d had too much to drink. He was no novice. But this day was important for so, so many people. And it was important to the ecosystems of the world. There was a lot riding on the release today, and even though Mikey’s part today was small, he wanted nothing more in the world right now than for his part to go smoothly.
As the van reached the end of the driveway, Mikey looked both ways to check for other vehicles and as he turned his head to the right, he almost had a heart attack. A police car was parked on the side of the road, facing in the direction he would be heading. A cop stood on the road, talking to the driver of an old Cortina he had obviously pulled over. Mikey calmed down as he realised the cop was busy and probably wouldn’t notice him. Probably checking the car’s paperwork to make sure it was upgraded to electric, and that the engine sounds were just digital audio recordings. A car that old would be illegal and would need its starter motor removed if it wasn’t electric. Mikey’s own van, while cheap and crappy, had been fitted with carbon filters and a fuel purification system by the sales yard before he had even purchased it, making it legal for use only in urban and suburban areas. He had wanted it to be able to travel the country in it, but by the time he realised it wouldn’t be allowed to drive outside of the city limits, he had already had his heart set on it, so he decided to buy it anyway and save up until he could afford a full electric conversion or maybe another van that had already been converted. It wasn’t crazy expensive, but it would take a while since he already spent most of his savings on this van.
Slowly and calmly, Mikey pulled out into the street and turned in the direction of the Cortina and the cop car and the cop. He didn’t look at them though. “Cool as a cucumber. Didn’t even see him there. Wait, yes, I did. Keep an eye on the traffic Mikey,” he thought to himself as he drove past them and reached the intersection. Turning left, Mikey gave a quick glance to make sure the cop was still standing there, and he was. He gave a small sigh of relief. “Keep your eyes on the road, Mikey.”
After a short, uneventful drive, Mikey arrived at the site. As he drove up, he noted how the workers setting up the stage and PA system etcetera kind of looked like bees themselves, working hard and moving quickly to ensure everything was ready on time. He pulled in behind the stage and honked the horn, startling one of the scientists. “Oh god damnit Mikey!” they cried out as Kennedy spotted him in the cab with a huge grin on his face. They threw an empty cardboard box in his direction, but it just crumpled and fell to the ground. “Nice one,” Mikey said, still grinning as he climbed out of the van. “I made it!” “Great,” Kennedy replied, sarcastically. “Please don’t pull shit like that today, I really don’t need any more stress,” they said as they went back to the device they were adjusting.
That’s it! There’s a ton more to come, and I had a lot of fun writing these new characters (and one you might recognise when I come back to this later!) so I hope you all had fun reading this. If you have any comments or questions, or just want to say hi, please feel free to hit me up at any of the links at the bottom of the page. And if you like this, maybe tell a friend? Just hit that share button right here!
As always, thank you SO much for reading! I really hope you are all keeping safe and dry and warm, and any readers in Ikaroa-a-Māui North Island in the flood and rain affected areas, kia kaha! Here’s hoping this has all been a wakeup call to the politicians in this country who have been dragging their feet on climate change policy and we finally start to see some real change.
I’ll talk to you all again soon. Ka kite anō au i a koe. 💚