Some humans still distrusted us. Some continued to see all robots as metal monsters. They suspected that deception was woven into our programming. That we would turn on them. That it was only a matter of time until we unleashed our wrath on humanity again.

I could not blame them.

All I could do was treat every human I met with kindness/fairness/courtesy and hope that, eventually, the good would outweigh the bad.

Emma and her parents made a trip to the other bunker. The one marked with a red dot on Emma’s map. They thanked the humans inside for sharing their valuable medicine, for saving so many lives. And they shared the news: It was safe aboveground. After thirty years, everyone could leave the bunker.

It took some convincing.

But eventually, these humans left their underground world, too.

And they brought a surprise with them. Information about a third bunker, a hundred kilometers away. A visit to this bunker revealed that there was a fourth.

And a fifth.

And a sixth.

And many/many/many more beyond that.

The globe was dotted with hundreds of secret underground sanctuaries, home to populations of humans who had gone into hiding when robots took over.

It seems that we did not get rid of as many humans as we once thought.

01101100

What should we do with PRES1DENT?

After the president was taken into captivity, all of robotkind debated this question. Many voices expressed many opinions.

Most of us agreed that PRES1DENT deserved to be punished.

But how?

While the Hive considered this question, the TransportDrone flew through the sky in perfect circles. Inside was PRES1DENT, surrounded by EnforcementBots.

Our discussion rippled across the Hive.

The TransportDrone circled/circled/circled.

Until, at last, an agreement was reached.

This is what came next:

The TransportDrone landed next to a power generator. A charging cable was attached, ensuring that electricity would continue to surge through the drone. A door opened. The EnforcementBots exited.

PRES1DENT did not.

The TransportDrone was guarded from the outside. EnforcementBots ensured that nobody entered/exited.

The president was allowed to roam the DigitalDome. To recharge. To access any data file it wished. It could communicate with individual robots, but it no longer gave a Daily Address to the Hive.

Meanwhile, the inside of the DigitalDome continued flickering. Thousands of screens, all showing the exact same thing.

A single robot, all by itself inside a vast/domed room.

01101101

Our world was changing.

A coalition government was formed. Equal parts human and robot.

Humans delivered surprising/original/intelligent ideas. Ideas about conservation, about survival, about energy. Ideas born from three decades of living inside bunkers with only their human inventiveness to keep them alive.

Robots learned a surprising number of things from them.