Laws of the Jungle

Ogowe stepped through the tangle of the Congo Basin. The whisper of her mesh suit was nearly silent. She heard the chorus of buzzing insects surrounding her. Overhead, like metallic dragonflies, her sentinel drones flitted between the trees. They fed her a constant stream of bio-data. Heart rates, infrared blooms, even the chemical composition of the air.

Before she was born, these lands were known as killing grounds. Poachers had all the power, using tech picked up from abandoned battlefields, stalking the jungle like predators. Rhinos were slaughtered just for their horns. Elephants died for their tusks.

“Heat signatures due east. Three of them,” crackled Latif’s voice, head of Central Ops.

Ogowe didn’t need the feed of data coming from her colleague. The heads-up display on her helmet had identified and outlined the figures in her vision. They were red-hot in contrast to the rainforest’s cool climate.

She was familiar with them. Rumors had been spreading in the forums of a new form of opportunist. They were high-wheeling merchants, trading in extinction.

“There’s a rhino in the area. Two females and a calf. They’re likely the target,” she reported.

Ogowe felt a knot in her gut. It wasn’t a simple anger. She felt a cold, calculating fury. These poachers were an algorithm to be solved, a flaw in their system that she had to patch.

“I’ll intercept,” she told them.

“Activate Dionysus protocol,” she commanded.

The Dionysus protocol was controversial, but one that had support at the highest levels of the conversation organizations. Thousands of tiny drones mimicked the swarm defense of a hornet’s nest.

With plenty of negotiating, they didn’t have the ability to kill. Yet each could sting with a powerful neurotoxin that gave the victim an unrelenting nausea and disorientation. It was a hell of a deterrent.

Overhead, the sun winked out as the swarm unfurled. Ogowe ran her hand over the adaptive camouflage of the suit. Her form blended into the ancient bark of a mahogany tree. All she had to do was wait for them to walk into their trap.

Very quickly they did. The first man screamed as drones engulfed him, dropping out of the sky from all directions in a whirlwind of buzzing wings and flashing lights.

The second tried to fight back, holding his rifle in the air and firing wildly. Yet as the nausea hit, he dropped his weapon and collapsed into the grass.

The third, the smartest, surrendered immediately.

Ogowe stepped out of the shadows and took her helmet off.

“It ends here,” she said succinctly. It wasn’t a boast, just a mere fact.

“Latif, lock onto their biosignatures. I’ll run facial rec back to Central,” she said. Even if these men squirmed free today, their days of hunting were numbered.

“Ogowe, have you seen their vitals?” Latif’s voice was laced with concern.

She hadn’t, but placed her helmet on again and performed that scan. The neurotoxin delivered by the swarm was serious. Their heart rates spiked. Blood pressure was plummeting. And the readings flickered on the verge of arrhythmia.

That was just the physical impact. It also manipulated the brain’s disgust centers as the poison seeped deeper through the body. The poachers would experience waves of terror and their senses would become overwhelmed. The forest would begin to smell like rotting meat and each leaf they touched would feel like crawling insects.

With every second they remained here, the idea of profit would be converted into a walking nightmare. Even if they were never arrested, Ogowe could be sure they’d never want to return.

“Ogowe, the rhino calf…” Latif cut through her thoughts. “Her vitals are spiking. I think the swarm is agitating her.”

Ogowe muttered a swear under her breath. The protocol had flaws, despite its many successes.

“Disengage the eastern segment,” she ordered. “Create a perimeter. herd the rhinos south towards the water.”

The swarm responded instantly, as each of the thousands of drones seamlessly negotiated their place in the system. Part of it broke off and disappeared into the canopy.

She continued to monitor the calf’s heart rate, feeling pleased as it slowly stabilized. The crisis was averted, but she couldn’t help but feel a slight pang of guilt at her forceful attempts to protect.

The report she filed would be endlessly read and dissected by the ethics council. There would be the regular hand-wringing, with them asking questions about escalation and the danger of tech mirroring the predators they fought.

Each time Ogowe sat in that room, she was quiet and let them talk. She had a forest to protect. Tomorrow, her drones would be sent back to check on the rhino calf, a bright symbol of forest rejuvenation. There was a balance to be restored and the forest, in its silent way, had given her the tools to do it.

Sometimes to heal a wound, you needed the sharpest scalpel.