“I’ll put it real simple,” she says. “We hacked our way into the surveillance system. We’re going to take it over today or, well, tomorrow, and transmit the images from the biggest crossroads in the city onto the screens.”

Don doesn’t yet understand what that’s good for. “What’s that supposed to be good for?” she asks. Rachel looks at Don the way you would examine an insect. “They’ll get it, the people. They’ll see themselves, their data, the information. They’ll realize what every moronic member of the private police sees through their data glasses, they will finally catch on.

“Okay, I’ll sketch it out for you.” Rachel sketches it out. “The government—or better yet: the intelligence agencies, who are directly connected to the private police—control all the surveillance and the screens in the city. All of it is connected to the network. That is, the screens where adverts, news, and official announcements are beamed at the citizens. Everything. Video surveillance data runs into this platform (circle) here, where, after identification of a citizen, everything that’s saved in the data bank is added to the video stream, so the screens of administrators display various citizens’ characteristics—like their age, gender, criminal history, or sexual inclinations. Do you understand?” Don looks at Hannah’s neck from behind. Hannah is allowing herself to be told some boring nonsense by Ben at the moment. Rachel is stuttering. She always stutters when she is excited. “If we put ourselves in the main console, the one used by the administrators to switch between the thousands of cameras in the city. Then—