THE blending of flora and electronics led to biotechnics, perhaps the greatest leap forward in development since the computer. Cities became green as the need for security and surveillance increased. Solar leaves enabled the powering of observation devices such as watchers and listeners, the predecessors of dragonflies and security-vines.
Our Watcher, plate 46, was over a hundred years old when the fire must have overcome him, too stiff and rooted to escape anything but a glacier.
Plate 47 (detail): note the solar leaves. Before the fully solar-plants that power our houses, there were only solar leaves, designed for the hordes of ‘spy flies’ which are now called ‘dragonflies’ in accordance with their appearance. These prototype spy flies couldn’t roam beyond a 2m square without getting confused, so they would stay close to the corner near their re-charge plant.
THE increase in security was naturally followed by new ‘insecurity’
devices such as pocket ninjas (plate 48). Though the original intention
was as a locust protection system for cereal crops, one could release a
handful of pre-programmed pocket-ninjas that would infiltrate and
disable security vines and other more insipid safety measures. 
Set to
default, they could be thrown in self-defence to attack anything with
warm blood. We, of course, kept ours enclosed in a translucent box for
safe viewing. Visitors would often be startled by the speed with which
the pocket-ninjas threw themselves against the glass when their sensors
felt them approach.
Comments