The rain hasn’t stopped since the machines took control.  One could almost think that they were the cause of it.  That for whatever reason the machines were the reason for this torrential downpour on the city. It started out as a light mist early on and proceeded to increase along with their power. Now it was unrelenting. People simply stayed at home, fearful to exit into the water. If something was needed, it was ordered and delivered to the house by a machine. The individuals were becoming catatonic and unnecessary for the operation of the houses and businesses. Inventories were taken, supplies ordered and delivered, meals planned and cooked, all without the need for human interaction. With each passing day, there was less and less social interaction between the humans, they were seen less and less out in public.  They were even becoming less social within the confines of their homes. Families did not seem to exist anymore. How could this change occur this quickly? It had only been a week since this started.  Or had it? Time did not seem to exist anymore as well. Thoughts were lost to individuals at this point.  They simply existed, took up space. 


Truth be told, however, the machines were not completely in control of themselves. Things are never as clear cut as they may seem. There is always something or someone behind the scenes to push the buttons and pull the cords.  And this was no exception to that fact. The machines had no control over the weather or any of the other changes that were taking place.  Two things occurring at the same time can most often be written off as a simple coincidence.

Or can it? Just because the machines started taking control at the same time as the rain started did not mean that they were involved.  Fate, destiny, coincidence, the universe….it all existed for humans, for those with souls.  But could they also exist for the machines? For something that existed in mere parts? These machines had no souls, no spirits.  They had no brains, no way of thinking for themselves.  It was all simply turned into a process, a list of statistics and numbers, a game of sorts.  


A rather twisted game.  Devised by one individual.  A game that needed a clear winner and a clear loser.  This individual was hopeful that this experiment of his would not prove to be futile.  That he would be able to showcase his work at the end and receive the recognition he had so badly wanted over the years and thought that he deserved.  Once this game was complete, there would be only one of two ways out.  One in which he was deemed the hero for showing the human race the truth of things, or the other in which all humans were destroyed and he would be left with his machines to live out the remainder of his days. In either case, he viewed himself as the winner.   


Everyone and everything seemed to be connected in today’s society by technology and machines.  No one wrote letters anymore, no one held face to face conversations anymore, no one cooked dinner together and talked at the kitchen table about their daily activities anymore.  In this ever changing world that relied heavily on outside forces and had fewer, if any, connections between humans, he thought that he could take control of all technology and the machines around him to prove to the world that they all needed to go back to heartfelt connections.  The human experiences and relationships needed to be saved and reestablished as the norm for all of society as a whole. He could be the one to show this to all the others. He just needed to create a few minor scenes to showcase this first.

But after a week of gradually increasing the intensity of the experiment, he had begun to doubt the outcome.  People were just allowing this to happen.  They were willingly giving up their power and ultimately their lives to the machines.  They were simply giving in to the new way of doing things without a single thought about how things could be changed or what the outcome would be.  No one seemed to even be questioning what was occurring around them. Was society really this far gone already? Was he going to be able to save anyone after all? Was all of this for nothing? He had expected at least a few people to have resisted the changes, to have come together to try to create a sense of companionship and team together against the changes.  However, if this was occurring, he was not able to see it at all.  And he should have been able to see it, considering he had control of all of the machines.  He controlled the televisions, telephones, internet, computers, light systems, household appliances, cameras, etc. He had taken control of it all for this experiment. He had worked so hard to make it happen. 


What he could not see however, was the one place in the area that was not impacted by technology at all. It had never been a part of that upgrade.  There was only a small group that occupied this area.  It consisted of a total of five individuals who had never wanted to advance in the area of technology.  They still held the core values of communication, connection, and did not feel the need to be tied down by technological advancements.  They were not unaware of others around them and what they were surrounded by.  They just had still maintained their own sense of order on their property.  


They could see what was occurring around them, but they did not understand at first the intensity of its impact.  As time progressed however, they could start to see that a major change was going to have to occur in order to win this battle between technology and humanity.  They observed those around them for a bit before making a decision.  Then they slowly started to create flyers and would put these in people’s mailboxes or in their bags from the grocery store.  They would wait and see the reaction to the flyers from a distance.  They did their best to hide in plain sight of everyone.  They increased the intensity of the information provided in the flyers with each delivery.  


Slowly, more and more individuals could see the impact and began to meet with these people at their technology free property.  As time passed, others joined and started to question what was really happening around them. They started to see the truth behind the impact that they had allowed technology to have on their lives and their relationships with others. Once they started to critically analyze the information that they had, they put a plan together to find out who was behind the machines having complete control. They worked together to form a plan and slowly began to act as if they were still zombies in relation to the technology.  However, they started to observe and record what they were really seeing around them. They would then bring these notes back to the meetings held at the technology free property.  


After a few months, everyone started to put things together of who would come to their meetings, how others were acting, and who they did not notice at all interacting in either group.  Based on their observations, they were able to figure out who was behind the machines.  They decided to approach him at the next meeting.  They noticed he had been at a certain location in town, so they had decided to try to leave a flyer with information on a table and sit back to see what his reaction would be. They watched as he picked up the flyer, read over it with a quick glance, and threw it into the trash can beside him.  They were not sure if he would show for the meeting or not after all.  


When the time approached for the meeting, all of the people gathered around and quietly discussed items in smaller groups while waiting for the man.  A small figure started up the drive and everyone froze and watched.  He approached the main area in front of everyone and asked the homeowner if he could address the group as a whole.  He was handed a microphone and gently tapped on it to gain the attention of the others.  His first statement to those around him began, “I am proud that you have resisted the change.  I am proud that you have once again proved what it means to think for yourselves.  I am proud that you have gained popularity.  I am proud that you have overcome the challenges that were set before you.”  Everyone slowly started to look around them at each other.  


Methodically, they began to circle him and enclose him in a human trap. While he had planned for them to turn against the technology, what he did not plan on was the fact that they had also turned on him. Everyone had gone from not thinking at all and allowing technology to take over to now they had only one group mindset and were allowing the groupthink to occur against him. As the circle of individuals tightened around him, the last thing that he could hear was the microphone hitting the floor and his own screams against the wall of bodies around him.