Staying High

I live in a castle in the sky.

They freeze solid in the cold. They come back to life when they thaw.

I think they have nanobots in their heads. Someone's tried to make a resurrection machine, or a universal cure, or even a specific one. Never mind who and why.

I think we're all infected with benevolent nanobots, too stupid to realize they're not helping us by making our decaying bodies walk and eat. I cut myself and saw how fast it healed, and now I see minor scars have vanished and my appendix scar is almost gone. I've got little helpers in my body, and when I die they will try to save me.

I believe that they caused half of the deaths in the beginning, by making changes in human bodies. I suspect that they have corrected this, and the only reason I'm alive is that I'm infected with Version 1.1. Possibly they will correct the zombie-making flaw, but I bet not without outside intervention.

The bots are trying to keep us alive, and settling for keeping us moving. Someone didn't tell them how critical brain function is to full human life; they're happy if the mouth and legs work.

I got spam from a company saying they made nano-coatings. Ravings from a defective server, time-delayed email, deliberate taunting? Take your pick, or shovel, or machete.

I've fortified my fire tower and cut a fire break around it. I have a good tent up there, and about a hundred guns. There's a cage of barbed wire around the tent, and a big box of sand where I keep fires going.

While it's cold, I can hike back to the city for supplies. The second time I went, I got a hammer and smashed every revenant I saw. They shatter like rotten porcelain.

My heart is frozen and my body is full of nanobots.

It's our technology that sets us above the lower animals. How was your day?