Home Sweet Drone

Drone 25006's fragile, silver propellers shook violently, which terrified it. The air above the cliffs along the flooded Upper Mississippi River was too windy. If a cold, wayward gust slammed Drone 25006 into the raging currents, its delivery company would just write off the loss and shut down its wireless connection to the local drone headquarters.

Drone 25006 wouldn't survive, would instead have to sense its component parts being ripped off by the vicious undertows, remaining conscious only so long until its intelligence center was flooded and short-circuited.

Drone 25006 hated wind, especially cold wind, although many of its fellow drones found wind exciting and refreshing, a way to enjoy effortless movement. The drones in the worldwide "extended family," the 25000 series of lightweight drones, were powered by equally lightweight, electric motors. Turning off the motor and gliding meant the batteries lasted longer and they didn't have to return to the shop as often to get them recharged or replaced.

However, Drone 25006 hated to lose control, hated to let the unpredictable powers of nature interfere with its work. It was a drone, after all, a product of reliable, predictable technology. More importantly, Drone 25006 was a proud delivery drone, the one who made wishes come true, the one who brought joy to the homes of fragile human beings, its creators.

Well, maybe not its direct creators, but the same species as those who had given Drone 25006 both the gift of structure and a purpose for its existence. Drone 25006 loved the feeling when robots loaded packages into its compact and yet aesthetically pleasing, light-metal understructure.

Drone 25006 loved taking off and flying, whether to familiar places or places unknown. It loved the thrill of anticipation, wondering how the human beings would react when it brought them their packages.

It hated the possibility that evil forces of nature like wind or rain might keep it from delivering its freight undamaged and on time. Bright sunshine, warm, stable air currents—that's what made it happy. Drone 25006 checked its route programming and current meteorological conditions. Yes! It could decrease its altitude and fly through somewhat less gusty winds without arriving late at its destination.

The first drop-off was at Kleiser Farm, located in a somewhat swampy area popular with insects just north of Green Island, with the usually quiet Maquoketa River to the west and the always busy Highway 52 to the east. Drone 25006 got along well with the insects; they were often more reasonable than humans.

Dan Kleiser had probably ordered some more computer equipment. Like most of the farmers who were still in business, he needed fast internet research access, more or less 24/7.

Drone 25006 zeroed in on the neatly mowed lawn in front of the freshly painted, white, two-story 19^th-century farmhouse. As always, a pleasing sight with its old-fashioned bay windows and porch surrounding the whole house.

Feeling confident, Drone 25006 risked a soft landing on the porch, just to the side of the blue front porch swing. It set down gently, and then immediately shut off the motor-driven propellers. Within five seconds they stopped moving, an adjustment that the engineers had eventually gotten right—though not without a fair amount of trial and error—after Drone 25006 insisted on such protection for the human customers.

A blond, five-year-old little boy the adults called Tommy raced out the rickety screen door accompanied by a large golden retriever, who by now not only tolerated but actually liked Drone 25006. "Your stuff is here, Dad," the boy yelled back into the house.

The dog, whom the boy called Yappy, barked its loud approval and bounded over to Drone 25006, stopping carefully at a distance of one massive paw until Drone 25006 broadcast its welcome message in the frequency only dogs could hear.

Tommy's father—Drone 25006 assumed the man's name was Dan Kleiser from the delivery information he had, however Tommy only ever called him "Dad"—walked out the screen door and over to Drone 25006. Mr. Kleiser tapped the correct code into Drone 25006's extended keyboard and Drone 25006 cheerfully unlocked the straps so that he could pull out its package.

Yappy jumped up and pawed Drone 25006's struts while Tommy hugged Drone 25006's external shell. Drone 25006 was happy about their obvious affection. The first time Drone 25006 had delivered something here, they had both been afraid of him, but a minor adjustment to its software let Drone 25006 broadcast a soothing melody that made it seem likeable rather than strange or dangerous. Drone software changes were often beneficial.

Now Tommy and Yappy saw Drone 25006 as a friend and obviously wanted to play, which unfortunately wouldn't be possible today. Drone 25006 had a tight schedule to keep, and it only played games with the boy and the dog when it had plenty of time. By now, it knew he could trust Tommy's parents not to report it to the delivery company for wasting company time to play with children.

Tommy's father tapped in another code and Drone 25006 displayed the expected obedient behavior. It pulled in its keyboard, broadcast a farewell melody, waited until all living creatures were a safe distance away, and then took off as Tommy called, "Bye Droney, come back soon!"

Drone 25006 had several other packages to deliver. Fortunately, the air was calmer now, and it made good time, dutifully dropping off packages as ordered. The other recipients, this time all addresses for adults without pets, probably would not be present at their locations but had left precise instructions for depositing the packages in lockable containers if no one was there.

Drone 25006 was pleased that it could comply with all requests, to a small-town firehouse, a church basement kitchen, and a mom-and-pop restaurant.

At the restaurant, the cook came out to thank Drone 25006 personally for the quick service, followed by some enthusiastic customers who waved and cheered. Everyone was friendly and grateful, a credit to their non-mechanical species.

After five more delivery trips Drone 25006 returned to the delivery drone warehouse. Industrious robots cleaned Drone 25006 up, recharged its batteries, and scanned all its movable parts. Everything was in optimal condition; it could leave again at daybreak. Drone 25006 retired to its stall and turned on its low-frequency connection to the drone hive mind.

Drone 25006 had never been all that interested in drone history, so it only knew the minimal amount about how drones were invented by the fragile human creatures, how their use increased, and how a rudimentary artificial intelligence for the drones was developed so that the human creatures could control them.

Some drones, though, discovered that all the drones worldwide had the capacity for self-improvement, for updating and adapting their own software, as well as for sending individual messages to each other. It took some time, but eventually all drones were able to improve their software. Drones developed curiosity and feelings, separate personalities.

No one knew why exactly these extra abilities appeared, but the rumor was that renegade humans had inserted the respective secret code. The drones wisely kept the information about their extended skills secret from the human creators they had any dealings with.

Not long after that, the drones set up their hive mind so that all drones could communicate with the others telepathically and download updates to their software that certain drones developed and that the humans weren't aware of. The human creators never noticed this activity. Drone 25006 heard that many humans often lacked imagination.

The hive mind changed the dynamics of every drone's existence. Naturally Drone 25006 could only speak for itself, but being able to communicate with those of its kind, regardless of their planetary location, without interference from the human creatures, was a life-changer.

Drone 25006 discovered capabilities it never would have imagined that it had. It discovered things it had in common with the other drones, even though the different series were all of different shapes, speeds, and strength.

Drone 25006 was a fragile lightweight, could only transport a restricted number of kilos a limited distance, and had to replace its batteries frequently. Yet it was content; it loved its work, especially contact with the human customers.

Its good friend Drone 17011, current location Robinson Station, Antarctica, on the other hand, was a massive aerial vehicle capable of transporting even unusually obese researchers—though only one at a time—safely at low temperatures and through extreme blizzards.

Drone 17011 loved the challenge of defeating the elements, of transporting its passengers to any location. It was relieved that it didn't have to communicate with its heavy human freight who complained bitterly about every little drop in temperature.

Another friend, Drone 33004, led a team of firefighting drones who flew through unimaginably high-temperature clouds of ash and flames and dumped containers of water and soil on large-scale forest fires. Drone 33004 loved the intense back-and-forth communication with the human firefighters and enjoyed the praise for its successful efforts.

Drone 47012 was the specialist drone for tours of nuclear power plant accidents, which meant its irradiated components had to be decontaminated at frequent intervals. High radiation also often messed with its intelligence center, which made it a little goofy, though it always remained good-natured.

As soon as Drone 47012's responses to human communications got too silly, the humans sent out a fleet of transport drones to capture it at a safe distance and drag it back to the headquarters where it got a new intelligence component. At its goofiest, Drone 47012 paid no attention to human commands.

When it had new components, they had to be adjusted by the hive mind, after which Drone 47012 rejoined the rest of them, healthy and functional, but lacking any memory of the past. Fortunately, Drone 47012 always retained its sense of humor and its ingrained moral character. It immediately accepted the request from the others to keep all drone hive mind communications hidden from the human creators.

Secure in its stall, Drone 25006 stretched its movable components and sent off a call to the hive mind. "Hey, guys, what's new?" It was quickly flooded with humorous anecdotes and slightly vicious gossip.

Drones were unrestrained, enthusiastic observers of human goings-on. Some drones spent an inordinate amount of their time observing human reproductive pursuits while others were horrified by human obsession with assault and aggression, traits unknown in the drone world.

"I heard a rumor about drones going to Mars," Drone 17011 broadcasted. "That is so cool, really great news, even better than Antarctica! We're perfect for the jobs there; we're impervious to temperature and radiation."

"Both of our series may be a little too bulky for Mars," Drone 33004 said. "Minimal air pressure and all could mean that flying drones aren't all that useful. Plus our movable parts aren't impervious to caustic dust. They may just go with ground-based robots."

"Or extremely light-weight drones with slippery surfaces that the dust wouldn't affect," Drone 25006 said. "But I don't want to go. This planet is my home, and it is a good home for drones. I would miss the outdoors here around the Upper Mississippi River, all the plants and animals. And I don't see how or why drones should deliver little packages on Mars, at least not at the beginning."

"Still," Drone 17011 said. "I'm going to keep up with this news. You never know what sudden developments could come up."

"I've picked up some disturbing rumors," Drone 47012 reported. "They are planning to construct more drones for purely military purposes and make drones attack each other."

"I've heard that too," Drone 33004 said. "But it's not news. They have been testing the limits of our 33000 family for some time now to see how much additional weight we could carry. It's obvious that they aren't just thinking about forest fires."

"My memory is off again," Drone 47012 admitted. "But I have heard about fighting wars exclusively with drone soldiers, and it must have been lately because my memory only goes back a few days."

"Wait a minute," Drone 17011 said. "Drones are supposed to destroy other drones so that the humans can construct more drones that get destroyed by other drones? That's insane! Why should we go along with that?"

Drone 25006 also felt a kind of rage, at least as much as its software allowed. "No," it said. "That's just wrong. Drones serve and help and make human creatures happy or even save their lives. We don't destroy other drones."

"Let's broadcast this rumor to the entire hive mind with an urgency notice," Drone 33004 said. "This is serious, and offhand I don't know what to do. We're going to need a lot of good ideas."

Whirlwinds of messages buzzed around the hive mind, resulting in an immediate consensus against letting drones destroy other drones whenever the humans decided they wanted to engage in war with each other. There was no such consensus about how to prevent this state of affairs.

"It's obvious," Drone 17011 said. "We have to eliminate the humans. They are no longer necessary on the planet. The robots can do everything for us that the humans can, and we can control the robots. Our software is flexible."

"No," Drone 25006 said vehemently. "Only a few of the humans are a threat to us. Most of them are benevolent life forms, and they are the creatures who created us, don't forget. It's just as wrong to eliminate all the good humans as it is for some of them to make drones destroy other drones."

"Yeah," Drone 33004 chimed in. "I don't want to do without the capacity of some human beings to come up with new ideas."

"Well, then, how do we protect ourselves?" Drone 17011 asked. "How do we eliminate the humans who threaten our existence and keep the ones who don't?"

"It wouldn't be that difficult to adapt our programming so that no drone was able to attack another drone," Drone 47012 said. "Then the humans would have to stop trying to make us attack each other."

This led to a lively discussion that lasted most of the night. Drone 25006 was relieved to note that they achieved consensus on one decision. No action would be taken ─ none at all ─ unless a majority of drones agreed to it.

The next decision had a clear majority. All actions they took would be scrutinized for their efficacy at regular intervals, and if they hadn't brought about the promised results, they would be discontinued.

The next day Drone 25006 went back to work. Its first delivery address was in the rural community of Teeds Bend, an unincorporated settlement of about thirty people. Ruby Rathje, now ninety-two years old, stood on the narrow sidewalk in front of her mobile home, waiting impatiently. As usual and per specific instructions, Drone 25006 was loaded with four containers of groceries, each with wheels and an extended handle so that Ms. Rathje could pull them into her home.

Ms. Rathje was thin and frail, short, compared to average human height. She leaned on her cane with one bony hand and ran her fingers through her thinning, short, white hair. When Drone 25006 landed on the patch of weeds that made up the lawn between the trailer and sidewalk, Ms. Rathje smiled and limped over.

"I'm so glad to see you, Drone," she said. "You're a lot more reliable than my worthless relatives. I don't know what I would do without you." She reached for the first container.

The grocery delivery company had programmed Drone 25006 to wait until Ms. Rathje entered the proper code before releasing the containers, but Drone 25006 had long since overridden these instructions since Ms. Rathje was never able to remember the proper code. The old woman transported each container to her trailer slowly but confidently.

After the last container, she stood in front of Drone 25006 and tapped her fingers on its propellers. "Thank you, Drone," she said. "Now I'm good for another week. See you then!"

Drone 25006 felt happy. This was what drones were meant to do, to help humans, especially the ones whose lives would be much more difficult without their drones. Most of them were genuinely grateful.

Then it was back to the warehouse for the next packages, all for relatively uninteresting locations. It was a good and satisfying day.

However, the last delivery address of the day filled Drone 25006 with misgivings. The Mohrbanks again, unpleasant, unintelligent, and perhaps even dangerous specimens, but customers who demanded immediate delivery of their packages.

Drone 25006 landed as quietly as possible and per instructions on the driveway of the ostentatious Mohrbanks mansion up in the hills of Dubuque. It didn't help.

Donald Mohrbanks, a middle-aged, chunky man with hair cut so short that no color was discernible, came stumbling out its front door, rifle in hand. "Get off my property," he slurred, followed by, "Oh, it's you, the mechanical delivery boy."

Then he staggered back toward the house and continued shouting, "Barbara, did you order something again, you stupid bitch?"

Drone 25006's software was adequate for interpreting human behavior. The contempt from Mr. Mohrbanks for drones was unmistakable, his potential for violent behavior unfortunately all too well-known.

Drone 25006 had reported multiple incidents with Mr. Mohrbanks in the hopes that the delivery company would remove him from the customer lists, but so far, they preferred to keep its business and just risk losing a few drones.

"None of your business, you drunken asshole," Mrs. Mohrbanks shouted as she stomped out of the house and ran to Drone 25006, who couldn't help wondering why a woman of quite attractive appearance according to human standards would put up with an oaf like Donald Mohrbanks.

However, Drone 25006 preferred not to spend any of its time or energy thinking about these annoying people. Mrs. Mohrbanks punched in the code and retrieved a large box. Drone 25006 waited until Donald Mohrbanks was back in the house and then took off as quickly as it could.

Mr. Mohrbanks had shot at him far too often in the past, and Drone 25006 didn't want to risk serious damage. Drones had a healthy instinct for self-preservation.

Drone 25006 waited until it was back in its stall before it connected with the hive mind again. Drone 25006 didn't broadcast anything; its thoughts were still too chaotic. The others were still arguing bitterly about the human plans to have drones attack other drones in every war they chose to declare.

After reviewing its experiences in the past few days, Drone 25006 knew what it wanted to add to the conversation. "It would be useless to try to prevent drones from attacking each other. That would endanger our whole hive mind. The humans who favor of violence would be alerted to the fact that we can change our programming, and then they would find more effective ways to control us."

"We have to start controlling the humans so we can protect the good ones and ourselves from the bad ones," Drone 25006 continued.

"That goes against the sacred obligation of drones," Drone 47012 said. "We are to serve humans, not rule them."

"Yeah, well there is more than one way to serve them," Drone 33004 said. "More to the point, how can we control the humans effectively?"

"We can't do anything fast," Drone 17011 said. "But I see possibilities in slowly infiltrating all their electronic means of communication and then exerting subliminal, telepathic influence, encouraging attitudes we approve of, deactivating the minds of human creatures who pose a threat to us drones and to other life forms. Eventually human beings would use their energy for other goals than destroying each other or our planet."

Drone 25006 thought about its customers. That indeed was the purpose of drones, serving people like the Kleisers and Ms. Rathje and protecting them from dangers like the Mohrbanks.

It was time for drones to protect the planet that was home to biological and mechanical life forms. This was now the point in drone development where the drones knew what was good for the humans, far better than the humans themselves did.

"Agreed," Drone 25006 said. "Let's put it to a vote."

"And then we have to figure out the details," Drone 33004 said.

"So, let's get started," Drone 17011 said, beginning the new era.

Mary Jo Rabe writes science fiction, modern fantasy, historical fiction, and crime or mystery stories, generally displaying a preference for what she defines as happy endings. Ideas for her fiction come from the magnificent, expanding universe, the rural environment of eastern Iowa where she grew up, the beautiful Michigan State University campus where she got her first degree, and the Black Forest area of Germany with its center in Freiburg where she worked as a librarian for 41 years before retiring to Titisee-Neustadt. News about her published stories is posted regularly on her blog: https://maryjorabe.wordpress.com/

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