The Resisters

by Gish Jen

As for the immediate result: the Nickelhoffs lost so many Living Points that their phone links were shut off and their zone-heat, too. Gwen and Eleanor made them blankets and sweaters; I fashioned for them a kind of messenger pigeon out of a yard-sale photo drone. All of which was a help, since their trial did not go well. Indeed, the Nickelhoffs were, surreally, Cast Off—set to drift on the high seas, with every harbor closed against them, for a month. Did they blame us, as Gwen later said they did, for Ondi’s misconduct? Did they believe we’d led her astray and were finally responsible for their ordeal? Perhaps. Nonetheless, we worried and wondered about them. Silly as we’d always thought WishDrones, we even launched round after round of them into the atmosphere, with our heartfelt good wishes. The messenger drone I’d made for them having been immediately swept overboard, though, we heard nothing until the ordeal was over, and then the report was brief.

Contrast technoworld with medieval sweater knitting.