The Top of the Hill
Every afternoon, Sean walks to the top of the hill, which is his favorite place near his house. The hill is surrounded by trees. It isn’t big, but it isn’t small either—it’s just the right size for a daily walk. There is a narrow path, nicely bordered by trees, that leads to the top of the hill. The route he takes is always the same; the path crosses a crystal stream and passes in front of a small, dark cave. Eventually, he reaches a clearing at the top, where the view is incredible. He sits on a rock, watches the highway, and watches the sunset behind the city skyline. On this walk, Sean is always accompanied by HIM.
Sean lives in a small village away from the city, far enough from the noise, chaos, and danger, but not far enough to escape the smart city. He knows almost all the residents of the village; he is one of the few older residents and has seen the transformation of the area. Recently, new faces have appeared in the village, looking for a quiet place to live, and Sean has witnessed the village’s growth.
Years ago, a fatal accident left Sean alone. His wife died in a car crash on the highway. It happened as she was returning home—a failure in her car’s detection system (LiDAR) caused her vehicle to run off the road and crash into trees. She died instantly from the impact. He never saw her body; the law allowed only a couple of candles and a picture of the deceased at the funeral. He spent that sad moment alone in his house. Public gatherings have been prohibited since the new government took control after the day of the “Great Disengagement”.
The Sanity Unit of the Corporation takes the bodies of citizens who die and processes them according to the law. After that day, Sean felt devastated. He locked himself in his house for weeks and fell into a deep depression. His wife was the last link to the family they built together. His only son had died years earlier, and now his wife was gone. Everything had changed, and he blamed the new technology for his loneliness and grief.
Weeks before the accident, Sean’s wife requested a HIM unit from the local authorities. HIM is an acronym for “Humanoid Intelligence Mob”. Each HIM is a Mob unit: humanoid on the outside, controlled by Gray Mother like every other citizen device. The Corporation ran a friendly campaign encouraging residents to request a HIM unit. It is now mandatory.
Every household in the village must have one. Sean never knew about it until the unit was delivered on the same day as the accident. Since then, Sean stored HIM in the shed. He never thought about activating the unit, but one day he found a voice message on his phone from his wife, which she had left before the accident. In that message, she encouraged him to use the device and told him that staying away from the world would not bring back their son. A few days later, Sean decided to activate HIM.
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