RoboNomics

Chapter 20

"Really?" She looks at me with gritted teeth. "Because that sounds exactly like what the unions said when our schools got rid of us."

"Miriam," I usher her back to her seat with a hand on her shoulder. "It's all right. It'll be all right."

I barely believe it myself. Our whole lives have been decided for us, before we even had a chance to live.

I can't fall apart, I tell myself. Not yet.

"Uh, Andrea," Bill says, his eyes still flicking over the AR text. "There's something else."

The entire room is listening to him now. The members who were working at tables, contacting teachers who are still employed, and coordinating the attack on the I.I.Us., have turned their chairs and stools to watch. They've risen from their seats to get a better look at Bill's facial reactions.

"There can't be," I say flatly.

"It's something that was linked after the article. It's kinda unrelated, but I think we'd all want to know."

"Just rip the bandage off, Bill," calls Amit.

"Robert Newhouse, CEO of RoboNomics, seen glad-handing with federal politicians on both sides of the border. That's the headline."

I'm not sure how to react. But I don't have to – Henri gives words to the thought that's forming in my mind.

"Wouldn't that be expected, since he's about to roll out those machines in the states?"

"That's what I thought, too. But the article goes on to imply that he's making inroads. That he has his eyes on politics."

I suck in air rapidly. We've seen this before – the ugly, corrupt monster that's born of marrying corporations with governance. Education would only be the start. If the makers of androids and automation got their claws into lawmaking, there would be no fight over jobs. There would be no unions, no way to gainsay their ultimate end: saturating the market with machines. Every public common would be for sale. Every social good would be up for grabs.

Worse yet, a corporation would have complete control over the molding of young minds. They could feed any version of reality they want.

"What do we do?"

When I look up, I meet Henri's expectant gaze. My pulse flags and then speeds as I realize they're all looking at me. I don't know why they're looking to me for answers, but they are.

To calm myself, I decide to focus on one of them.

"Hey, Miriam," I say in a rapid stream as I turn from Henri's gaze to look at her. "I have an idea."

"Yeah?" She looks over at me eagerly.

"We have to hit back in any way that we can. The sabotage campaign, that's a start. But we need something else, something that will really make a splash, get media attention."

"What, like a day of action?" A voice calls from a clutch of new members.

"I was thinking, bigger. Like a string of protests. We need them to know that we are pro-human. That we're not obsolete, no matter how much Newhouse and the government want us to be. But to really pull this off, we need numbers."

"So we need another membership drive like the one we did before? Sharing with our networks?" Henri asks.

"Yeah," I agree. "But this time we have to target nurses. Maybe even U.S. teachers – they might be willing to talk to us."

Henri is sliding back into a seat, his fingers twitching, and his eyes already glazed over. "iVerse again?"

"Yeah."