DRONE REPORT
by Daniel Amenero
The city was fresh. It’s citizens had all been sheltering in their homes for months now. With the one thing essential to a thriving and combusting metropolis missing, air was clean again. No one was forced to stay home, some didn’t, but most stayed inside out of fear that they would catch a fever. Across the once busy streets you could occasionally spot a person walking briskly, like an ant scurrying to get back to its colony. These days no one wants to be caught outside with a high temperature. Every step a person takes is liable to get them scanned.
Richard was in his home office smiling with perfect teeth and dull glazed eyes. He awoke his brand new computer from sleep mode. He had recently upgraded all the furnishing and technology in his workspace. Everything was sleek and top of the line. The glass desk, white computer, white speakers and bright walls made the room look like a laboratory. In harsh contrast, Richard slumped in front of his monitor like a garbage bag, smelly and with poor posture. Black sweatpants that were 5 days old and without a wash covered his scrawny legs. To him they didn’t smell and there was no need to change them; his wife, however, was constantly spraying air freshener on the living room couch.
The walls in his home vibrated slightly as a helicopter flew by. He smudged his hand across the white desk and placed his fingers on the keyboard. 2 windows were open on his internet browser at the same time, one was a street fight video and the other was surveillance footage from the drone he was assigned.
Working from home Richard made a decent living, even before factoring in his fat monthly bonuses, he was what most would consider rich. His wealth did come at a cost of course. His eyes, once filled with bright creativity, were now bloodshot red from staring at the computer screen all day. His hands had become weak from the constant clicking and his brain was eternally cooking in the blue light.
Since the Citizen Temperature Protection Act was passed in 2021 every Zeal Drone in the U.S.A. had to be manned by a living breathing human being. There was nothing special about Richard that made him extra qualified to operate a drone, except that he was a US citizen, he had no criminal record, and his previous job required him to work with large video files. A very well connected uncle may have also pulled a string or two.
“Hey Dick,” his wife said as she walked into his office, flaring her nostrils at the musky smell. “I’m off to work.”
Richard hated being called Dick. His wife did not have the luxury of staying home during the pandemic, so he understood her attitude. She worked at the local hospital and lately they had been very busy. She was too beautiful for Richard, but when he was younger and full of dreams he managed to charm her. They didn’t need the extra money from her job, but she knew the world was hurting and she wanted to help. He checked her temperature before she left and said,
“I love you jerk, be careful out there. I would give you a ride, but I signed in early and you know I can’t leave my position.” Richard hated and feared going outside.
“Yeah, sure dick. I love you.”
As soon as his wife left Richard was back in front of the screen. His job was to operate the drone and make sure people were socially distancing. He would type commands into the program and the drone would blast them out of a speaker to say things like,
“YOU ARE TOO CLOSE AND AT RISK OF INFECTION, PLEASE STAY 6 FEET AWAY FROM EACH OTHER. “
If the citizens still didn’t separate the drone would let out an inaudible sonic wave that would agitate their eardrums until they moved. The Zeal Drone’s primary purpose however, was to use infrared scanning to check citizens’ temperature. Anytime they scanned someone who was at a temperature of 100 degrees or higher, it was his job to review their vitals and recommend whether Homeland Security should put them into quarantine. Whenever the drone was in infrared mode it was nearly impossible to distinguish any kind of facial detail, this made it easy for Richard to to deal with sending people away.
Most of the time however he just checked out women. He learned to use the drone to follow women he thought were attractive and he got pretty good at manipulating the angels to get the most revealing view. Most days he didn’t even look at the footage, sometimes he would just sit in his office and watch old boxing matches or browse social media.
Violators who are running a fever never get a chance to run, they used to, but the officers had gotten very effective at apprehending them. No one knew what happened to the people who were quarantined. A few months ago Richard used his drone to follow one of the people he reported.
First the drone shot a magnetic mask at the violator from over 200 yards away. As if he had gotten hit with a sniper bullet to the head, he dropped to the floor, completely unconscious, but still alive. Helicopters arrived bulldozing through the air with speed and power. Once the mask was on it was safe for the officers to repel down from their helicopters in their stealthy refracting hazmat suits. The jumpsuits covered their entire body and would change color to blend with their surroundings. Masks covered their entire face and the hood of the jumpsuit covered their heads, leaving no skin exposed. No natural human aspect of their faces were shown though the masks. 4 camera lenses placed at the center served as eyes and created a single augmented video. The feed was streamed live inside the face mask onto tiny screens covering the officers eyes. A speaker that looked like a single line across the mouth projected the officer’s voice. Gill-like air filters tiered down the sides of the chin allowing the officers to breath clean air.
One of the officers grabbed the incapacitated man’s arms and lifted him, while another officer slid a plastic bag under him. Pulling him completely on top of the bag, they folded over the excess material and sealed it. They attached a hose to a socket in the bag and vacuumed all the air out of it. After the culprit was in custody and stored like dehydrated meat in a freezer, they took him to a facility near the border.
The facility was previously used to house undocumented immigrants, but since the virus hit, it had been repurposed and revamped. They added about 3,000 acres and built what looked like a giant corporate office, nothing fancy, just a giant glass and steel box. It stretched out for miles, it was actually the largest 3 story building in the world. The windows were all blacked out. He tried getting a closer look, but the drone automatically rerouted when it got too close to the facility.
Richard had a report log and at the end of every night he was supposed to update all the social distance warnings and temperature violations he cited. When he first got hired he would report about 2 temperature violations a week. His supervisor communicated to him that most other drone operators were reporting 2 temperature violations a day! In the following weeks Richard was very vigilant about checking vitals and sending 3 temperature violations a day, but only if the vitals called for it.
Since that surge in productivity, Rich had relaxed his efforts. He had recently taken up playing the guitar while he was supposed to be working, and was actually getting pretty good. He seldom checked vitals anymore and figured that if the people were dumb enough to go out with a temperature, they should be quarantined.
On this day Richard had lost track of time and 5pm was fast approaching. His wife would be home soon and he was supposed to have dinner ready when she got there. Scrambling to review the footage and find someone with a temperature, he failed to notice when the drone entered his neighborhood. The drone was in infrared mode as he desperately scanned for someone to report. If he was gonna get another bonus, he needed to meet his quota. Miraculously, he found a woman who was running hot, he didn’t bother to check her vitals and approved the quarantine. Quickly he typed in: WOMAN in the gender field, and: 101 in the temperature field. The log was keyed in and the computer was told to go to sleep. The monitor blacked out like a child shutting his eyelids and falling into slumber. As he ran to the kitchen to start dinner he failed to notice the small vibration that shook his walls. A block away from his home, officers were being deployed.
In less than 20 minutes he had the poorly put together meal waiting on the table for he and his wife to enjoy. He waited and passed the time by scrolling through his phone and looking at memes, picking at the food as his appetite called for it. Little by little Richard ate his entire meal. He finished 2 glasses of wine and it wasn’t till around 7pm that he noticed his wife was over 2 hours late. He called her phone, her job, her family, and her friends, but nobody had seen or heard from her since she left work.
***
Excerpt from the Intercepted Private Email of Dr. Whump
Hello Mother,
Life out here is good. Zeal industries has granted us unlimited resources in looking for this new vaccine. I had to go into the cave on my first day, trying to find viable bats that hosted viruses. It’s amazing how fast disease can spread in the bat colonies, they are breeding grounds for new viruses. The people of the city love me, I have been able to employ so many people.
Just wanted to let you know I am doing well,
Dr. Whump
Daniel Amenero 