The image on the Vid changed to what looked very much like a riot. Civilians, many of them wearing bandanas or even gas masks, carried signs and marched on a line of riot police. The picture changed to what was evidently another demonstration of some kind, then another.

…Demonstrations turned to riots in six major cities today as various factions protested apparent government inaction, or at least government failure to respond as those factions demand. These different groups, united only in their distrust of the official releases…

Wow. New York, Athens, Geneva, Berlin… These weren’t third-world cities.

Pausing the picture periodically, Ivan was able to zoom in and read some of the signs and placards. It appeared to be about a third religious-themed, a third government-conspiracy-themed, and a third everything else.

He let the Vid reset to real-time as he pondered. There didn’t seem to be anything new out there, in terms of the public knowing something they shouldn’t. At least not anything that could be put into a few words. But the level of panic was being being fed by something. And it would continue to spread.

Ivan hoped his family had found a new, safer location.

35.Screaming

35.Screaming

Ivan sat up with a start. If he had still been capable, he would have broken out into a sweat. He was sure he’d just heard a scream of fear or pain. Or both. And the really odd thing was that it had sounded like his voice. Had it been a nightmare? But he couldn’t even fall asleep.

He glanced up at the security camera, then stood and looked down the hallway through the observation window. No one was coming. So no one else had heard the scream.

Ivan sat down, shaking his head. This probably came under the heading of things not to mention.

This hadn’t felt like whoever was looking over his shoulder, though. So did Ivan have multiple guests in his head? I am Legion. Great.

Well, one upside at least. This kept his mind off his family and his future. Assuming he had one.

So, items. One, he had an invisible friend looking over his shoulder. One who possibly moved Ivan’s limbs for him occasionally. Two, he had another tenant who was a screamer and sounded a lot like Ivan. Three, he’d developed an unexplainable hate for dishwasher mechs. Maybe it was professional jealousy, since he seemed to be a mech now. Sort of.