The rain hasn’t stopped since the machines took control. The urge to kill the disease of time consumes us all. But fear is a very powerful emotion. It holds us back. We were warned. My god how we were warned.

It started slowly almost unnoticeable. Little things like self service tills at the supermarket. Then before we could even bat an eye lid it was the unemployment line for the lot of us. My position in a production line. I found myself duly relieved of replaced by a robot.

Eventually you got to seeing less people about. It was either a hologram service or a robot. I found I soon became starved of human contact.

I find myself imprisoned again. The room was hot as I struggled to catch my breath. My mouth plagued by a dry a rough lining, covering the surface. He had been asking me questions for what felt like hours. In fact this was only the start. The light was placed unapologetically low towards my eyes. I squint as I try to hide from it. Everyone is looking for answers but no one is asking the right questions.

The problem is no one’s even got a glimpse of the machines. It’s all smoke and mirror like something out of the wizard of Oz. You get to being scared of your own shadow. Lifting is becoming a common occurrence. Lifting is people disappearing off the street in broad daylight. When it first started lampposts were papered in missing posters. The police were inundated with crying mothers. No one had any answer ls. They’d simply gone.

There was a global blackout. Completely out of the blue any and all electronic devices displayed the same message. The same haunting message “Now is our time. We shall bring you to your knees. Complete control”. Surely a joke. A masterstroke of hacking.

In near seconds all would change. All devices mobiles, watches, TV screens laptops. No longer able to be controlled through human touch. The technology great minds developed had gone beyond intelligence our minds could comprehend. It started raining each drop dulled the minds of the human it reached.

We didn’t realise that was it’s power. Not until managing to get to cover. It’s effects wore off in time like a drug. The problem was you got to craving that numbness. It was a hard habit to kick. With sober minds a group of us in the early days tried to get the message out to others to always stay under cover. The rain was dangerous. But the minds of others were hard to untangle from control. Everyone moving like zombies on a production line.

It started to become dangerous being in a group. We had to work secretly pretend that we were a part of this cult like mentality. The machines they were smarter than we could imagine. As if they preempted our thoughts. Something had to be done we needed a way back. Before we lost all concept of humanity. Before we became a cog in the machine.

People didn’t really look at how robotic life was in the old days. How artificial people were. We made it so easy for them. Faces all blurred together. The problem was we all wanted to look different. Though with all the filler and make up, I guess we all looked pretty much the same.

Conforming in clothing already like a uniform. Our consumer minds like sponges. The desire for an easy life in every aspect how we played into the hands of the machines. How people feared the idea of a phone running out of charge. Living life through one tiny little box. Conversation in a face to face capacity was a skill that was evading us. Faces glued to a tiny screen. Living for the adoration of others, finding an interpretation of love from unknown faces behind a screen. Able to buy followers. How easily we allowed ourselves to be removed from basic human interactions.

As aforementioned I find myself a captive in a room. Another soul looking for a way out. Or someone looking for a little power. I wait for them to play their hand. My calmness seems to unnerve my captor.

“Are you the one?”

Finding this question vague I await further questioning.

“The one with the answers.”

“That would of course depend on the questions you were asking.”

“Do you know how to stop the machines?”

Rather a bold question I’d thought. Unfortunately not a one I’d found myself unfamiliar with. How could we possibly undo years or shall we say decades. Dare I say centuries of careful planning. All at the unknowing hands of the world’s greatest minds. Each playing a role in developing the silent monster of the machine.

“That’s quite a question. It’s not a simple case of unplugging something. A factory reset or turning it off and on again. Our minds are simply not our own anymore. The mindless zombies we became made it easy for them to take control. I’d hazard there is no way to stop them. Surely no human mind would seek to undo the years of growth technology has afforded us. It’s not as if we can pick and chose the finer parts. Generations have come and gone, each bemoaning the lives of the previous. Striving for more always more. Now the sooner the better no desire to wait.

We are in short the creators of our own demise. It was inevitable our creations would outgrow us.

Stop the machines how could we when we gave them all the power. We are a society striving for an easy living. No one wants to work, no one wants to talk. Our humanity was dying before our very eyes. Do we deserve life on our terms?”

The sorrowful eyes fill with tears. My answers fall short to the owner of a once hopeful heart.

“We were given such a beautiful gift. Life, how we turned our noses up at it.”

“They say you were the one that noticed it’s the rain that puts us in that zombie state.”

“Yes, for that I admit I am willing to take credit. But what use is it to deaf ears and blind eyes. They’ve followed so obligingly, to the wants of the machine and it’s ways. I feel the only true way back to break it’s hold over us is a complete rebellion. Look outside and I’m sure you’ll agree, it won’t be easy to break the chains technology holds us with.”

“We can try surely we can try.” Pleading the way I once had. It had been many years since I had found another with passion to live again. I find strength through his words.

“Yes I believe we can.” My words bring a light to his eyes that burns brighter than the lamp placed upon the table before me.

“We must plan it. It needs to be water tight the machines have knowledge it would take us decades to understand.”