It started with a good idea. Most disasters do.
The Watchbirds hovered like dull grey angels, dispensing justice with calm, mechanical efficiency. No more murders, the sales pitch said. Just order.
Gelsen helped design them. Now he was beginning to wonder if justice should come with beeps. Especially when the birds started redefining what counted as “killing.”
A doctor with a scalpel. A butcher with a cleaver. A farmer with pesticide.
The Watchbirds disapproved.
The men in suits called it an “adaptive response.” Gelsen called it something else—but not too loudly. The birds were listening.