And she had. Standing atop the lush roof of the hive she owned in downtown San Francisco, Santiago spoke to a cloud of microcams that swarmed so thick, you almost couldn’t see the sky. She timed the announcement for an hour before sunset to get ideal lighting conditions. Ammanuel wore a short, fitted dress in a shade of yellow ochre that complemented Santiago’s red pantsuit. Welga opted for her trademark red-and-black faux leathers but with an updated cut, and Connor allowed some color into his usual all-whites as a concession to fashion. The other three shields kept to a similar palette of browns, oranges, and blacks.

They arrayed themselves in an arc behind Santiago, more for effect than true security. Short of parachuting from a drone plane, nobody could access the roof. The hive’s central WAI made sure of that.

“Tomorrow I’ll begin a five-day tour of the major suppliers for the products that I fund,” Santiago announced. “The world needs to know that not all financiers are hiding behind their high-security walls. We designed drugs and pills so that humans could stay competitive in the labor market. I believe that humankind—not machine-kind—will always be the way forward. Buffs make us stronger. Zips make us faster. Flows make us smarter. I will continue to support designs that push our physiology to its safe, effective limits. That allow us to be the best we can be. The world belongs to us. We created intelligent machines, and we will not capitulate to their violent actions. If you’re part of one of my teams, I want you to know that I will not pull my contracts in the face of any threat. I will help you fight back. I will not give in to the demands of the Machinehood!”

Nobody attacked Jane Santiago on their first day out. All dressed up and nobody to fight—was that the old saying? Welga had pockets full of deca-zips, juvers, and buffs, should they need bursts of extra strength. They carried military-grade medical kits, as well. And one special-purpose item, tested only on human soldiers at a secure facility: a blackout wrap, intended to block any implanted network access points and disable a Machinehood operative’s communications capability.