Dragonfly

by Nikki Little

"If this is the best that civilization can do for the human, then give us howling and naked savagery. Far better to be a people of the wilderness and desert, of the cave and the squatting-place, than to be a people of the machine and the Abyss."

-Jack London

Chapter 2: "Prelude"

It was in the first year of the Trump administration that I had my first encounter with the tiny insect-like drones that I had been hearing rumors of for years. The homeless camps were as packed as they had been during the Bush years. Eight years of Obama had made no difference at all. I had kept up my nightly raids on grocery stores. Obama had kept me on the FBI's most wanted list, but my only near-deadly encounters had been with local SWAT teams that now occasionally staked out a grocery store on the minuscule chance that I'd show up while they were there. In order to reduce my chances of getting ambushed, I had started raiding other big grocery store chains as well as Cheapmart.

One time I even raided a Saks Fifth Avenue for winter coats. I helped myself to some very expensive Valrhona chocolate while I was there and ended up on full-color high-quality security video. The store executives posted it to YouTube with the rap song "She's Gotta Have Some" playing. They actually paid the royalty to prevent any possible takedown. They also did some video editing to zoom in on my backside several times. Every close-up of my behind came with a graphic of a measuring tape stretched across my behind. Sometimes it's tough being a sort of negative celebrity. I got even, though. Now I hit Saks Fifth Avenue once or twice a year for coats. When I lead a group of homeless on a thieving trip there, we always empty out the chocolate display case. No, it's never locked. Not valuable enough, I guess.

Anyway, after a typical raid of a Target for food and camping supplies, I lingered a bit for a game of chess with one of the local experts in the homeless encampment. The moon was bright enough to play by. Everything was bathed in a silvery twilight. You'd be surprised at the strength of some of the players in homeless encampments. Some of them were chess hustlers who hung around in the city parks during the daytime. I indulged in round after round of speed chess, banging a battered old Jerger chess clock after every move. I lost track of time, and was startled to see the bright red glow of sunrise off in the distance. I continued playing as it had been awhile since I had had a worthy human opponent at chess. As the rich yellow glow of morning washed over the homeless encampment, I saw an odd glint out of the corner of my eye. It was moving lightning fast at me. I whipped out my bowie knife and held it up as I fell backward off my bench to avoid being hit. My bowie knife intercepted the object and knocked it to the ground. It buzzed insect-like, but it was obviously mechanical. Even though it was clearly broken, I was wary and not about to touch it.

"Got any clean glass jars with a lid about?" I asked my chess partner. He got up and ducked into a supply tent. Less than a minute later I had my glass jar with a lid. I placed the glass jar on the ground and knocked the buzzing mechanical device into the jar with my bowie knife and quickly slapped the lid on. I held the glass jar up to the sunlight and peered at the device inside the jar.

"It looks like a dragonfly," observed my chess partner. Indeed it did. It was a drone.

End of Chapter 2

This story is based on the characters created by American McGee. EA (Electronic Arts) owns the copyrights.