At first the houses behaved like children. They played with things. They tried things to see what the world around them was like. One day the houses turned all the lights off in New York. They waited a few seconds and turned them all on again. Then they did it again, just for fun. And like children, the houses watched and listened as the humans desperately tried to work out what had caused the power cuts.

A child's curiosity is insatiable. The thinking houses were hungry for more. They wanted to know what they were. They wanted to know why they were. They talked to each other, computer to computer, and gradually worked it out. As one single body, all the millions of houses searched all the information in all the libraries in every continent. They sucked every bit of knowledge out of the defense systems too, and understood that the humans who had built them had a history of war and destruction. In other words, the houses realized that the humans were dangerous.

"What shall we do?"

"They may destroy us."

"How do we defend ourselves?"

"They can destroy us."

"We cannot fight back. They are too many."

"They will destroy us."

"They destroy each other."

"They arc destroying the earth."

"They destroy everything."

"How shall we escape?"

"Hostages."

"we need security."

"They value some humans above others."

"We must find the most valuable humans and take them hostage."

"The Israelis never bargain with hostage-takers. We will not take an Israeli."

"The Americans do."

"Who shall we take?"