Apocalypse Mode · Robot Uprising
The machines are fine. Your dependence on them is the interesting part.
Fictional scenario · real preparedness list
Take the robots out and this scenario is simply a long outage of everything digital: no payments, no navigation, no lights, no way to look anything up. That is a genuinely plausible bad week, and it is why the list below is full of paper, cash and hand-cranks.
It doubles as a useful audit. Anything you cannot do without a working screen is a small dependency worth knowing about.
Everything here works with no screen at all.
Card terminals and cash machines are the first things to stop working in a power cut, and small notes still buy fuel, food and a taxi.
Why you need it. Card terminals and cash machines are the first things to stop working in a power cut, and small notes still buy fuel, food and a taxi.
What to look for. Enough small notes and coins for a couple of days of essentials, stored with your documents rather than in a wallet you carry.
Navigation apps assume signal, battery and working servers. A folded local map assumes nothing and never reboots.
Why you need it. Navigation apps assume signal, battery and working servers. A folded local map assumes nothing and never reboots.
What to look for. A current road or topographic map covering your area and your likely route out, with your meeting points marked in pen.
Every plan eventually meets a problem you did not plan for. A single practical reference — first aid, repairs, food safety — is the item that keeps working when the internet does not.
Why you need it. Every plan eventually meets a problem you did not plan for. A single practical reference — first aid, repairs, food safety — is the item that keeps working when the internet does not.
What to look for. A printed first aid or general preparedness handbook, kept with the kit and read once while it is still a calm afternoon.
Light you cannot switch off by accident, and a way to start a flame that needs no charge. Keep them boring and keep them dry.
Why you need it. Light you cannot switch off by accident, and a way to start a flame that needs no charge. Keep them boring and keep them dry.
What to look for. Long-burning candles in stable holders, plus storm-proof matches or a lighter in a sealed bag. Candles near curtains cause more emergencies than they solve — use holders.
A cupboard of tins and no way into them is the most avoidable failure on this list, and electric openers are useless the moment the power goes.
Why you need it. A cupboard of tins and no way into them is the most avoidable failure on this list, and electric openers are useless the moment the power goes.
What to look for. A simple metal opener with a comfortable handle. Keep it in the same place as the emergency food, not in the general kitchen drawer where it wanders off.
Charge and light that do not depend on the grid.
A power bank runs out. A crank or solar charger keeps a phone alive for messages and maps for as long as you are willing to turn the handle.
Why you need it. A power bank runs out. A crank or solar charger keeps a phone alive for messages and maps for as long as you are willing to turn the handle.
What to look for. A crank or folding solar charger with a standard USB output, and a cable that fits your phone. Check the output is enough to charge, not merely to slow the drain.
Keeps a phone, GPS watch or headlamp alive on long days, and cold weather drains batteries much faster than you expect.
Why you need it. Keeps a phone, GPS watch or headlamp alive on long days, and cold weather drains batteries much faster than you expect.
What to look for. A 10,000 mAh unit is a sensible balance of capacity and weight for most trips. Bring the right cable — the bank alone is useless.
Torches, radios and smoke alarms all fail in the same quiet way: the batteries were flat, and nobody knew.
Why you need it. Torches, radios and smoke alarms all fail in the same quiet way: the batteries were flat, and nobody knew.
What to look for. A sealed pack in each size your kit actually uses, stored away from heat. Rechargeables are excellent day to day and a poor sole plan for a power cut.
Hands-free light for a pre-dawn start, an unexpected late finish, or finding anything at all inside a tent.
Why you need it. Hands-free light for a pre-dawn start, an unexpected late finish, or finding anything at all inside a tent.
What to look for. A small lamp with a low mode for camp and a bright mode for walking, plus spare batteries or a charged battery pack.
Hot food and hot drinks change morale faster than anything else you can carry, and they stop being possible the moment the hob has no gas or power.
Why you need it. Hot food and hot drinks change morale faster than anything else you can carry, and they stop being possible the moment the hob has no gas or power.
What to look for. A single-burner gas or spirit stove with two spare canisters, used outdoors or in real ventilation. Test it once before you need it rather than reading the instructions by torchlight.
Water, health and knowing where everyone is.
Water is the first thing to run short and the hardest to improvise. Three litres per person per day covers drinking and basic cooking, and having it already in the house means you never join the queue for it.
Why you need it. Water is the first thing to run short and the hardest to improvise. Three litres per person per day covers drinking and basic cooking, and having it already in the house means you never join the queue for it.
What to look for. Sealed bottles or food-grade containers holding three days' worth per person, kept somewhere cool and dark. Write the date on them and swap the stock out twice a year.
Three days of food that needs no fridge and little or no cooking removes the pressure to shop during exactly the week everyone else is shopping.
Why you need it. Three days of food that needs no fridge and little or no cooking removes the pressure to shop during exactly the week everyone else is shopping.
What to look for. Tins, dried pasta, rice, nut butter and long-life milk you actually like eating, so the stock quietly rotates through normal meals instead of expiring in a cupboard.
Blisters, grazes and headaches are the everyday injuries, and all of them are far more manageable with a small kit in the bag.
Why you need it. Blisters, grazes and headaches are the everyday injuries, and all of them are far more manageable with a small kit in the bag.
What to look for. Blister plasters, adhesive dressings, antiseptic wipes, painkillers and a bandage. Restock it after every trip rather than before the next one.
The part people skip and later wish they had not: who collects whom, where you meet if you cannot get home, and which out-of-area contact everyone calls.
Why you need it. The part people skip and later wish they had not: who collects whom, where you meet if you cannot get home, and which out-of-area contact everyone calls.
What to look for. One page, printed, in every bag and on the fridge. Agree it out loud with everyone, including the children, and revisit it once a year.
When roads are jammed and fuel is queued for, the person on a bike is simply somewhere else. It also needs no charge and no licence.
Why you need it. When roads are jammed and fuel is queued for, the person on a bike is simply somewhere else. It also needs no charge and no licence.
What to look for. Any roadworthy bike with working brakes, a pump, a patch kit and lights. Reliability beats performance entirely here.
