"Don't remember me, do you kid? Suppose you were only a little thing back then," he said distractedly as he cleared a space on a nearby workbench. "I was on N2390 about seventeen years ago, decided to take a small sabbatical after my divorce."
"I’m sorry but no, I don't remember you," I said, furrowing my brows as I tried to recall the man. "What made you pick N2390?"
"Random chance. I put in my requirements for distance and population, then let my AI pick at random," Xavier said, as he pulled out a small device and waved it over my drone. "Spent almost nine months on N2390, and it was there that I created my prototype for the Minu9 propulsion engine from the scrap I found."
I stared at the man in shock at his statement. The Minu9 was currently the most advanced propulsion engine on the public market. It was that technological advancement that saw Altairin corp rise to the top as one of the leading tech companies in the Federation. Opening my mouth, I tried to formulate a response, but was cut short as Xavier turned to me with a frown.
"That’s—I—"
"Kid, where did your old man get this drone?"
Xavier was frowning as he looked at the screen. Looking at his expression, I felt confused and a little worried. Was something wrong with my drone?
"He said he got it from old Pete, is everything okay? I've used it with my implant a few times and it worked fine," I told him, biting my lip as he set the drone down and grabbed a small tool before beginning to dismantle the drone.
"Kid, go use that vid screen over there. Call Jon, I need to find out where the drone came from," he said, his voice harsh, not looking up at all as he worked on pulling my drone to pieces.
"Sir? Please, can you tell me what's wrong? That's meant to be my birthday present you are pulling apart," I said, fighting back tears. I knew I was overreacting, but I had been so looking forward to being able to have my own AI drone. I had dreamed about having one or building one of my own for years.
"Kid, this isn’t a production model of the Begleiter IX. This is a pre-production demo model, that was found to have a defective power source during testing. We made major changes to the Begleiter IX after that, and this is a counterfeit built using the pre-production specifications. I need to know where Jon got it. You are lucky you only used it for short intervals without an AI chip. The bloody thing would have overheated and blown up if you had a chip in it and it was in use for more than a few hours," he said, running a hand through his hair as he looked at me.
I cringed and stared in horror at the remains of my drone on the bench. If it had been near me and exploded, I could have died. I swallowed the bile in my throat and moved to the vid screen. Xavier was right. I needed to call my dad. If other drones were being sold and exploded, people could get severely hurt. As I connected to the screen and used my implant to call my dad, PO Lewis moved closer to Xavier, and I could hear them talking in low, quick voices.
Chapter 8
The call rang for several minutes, and I prayed my dad was home. If he were at work, he likely wouldn't answer. Thankfully luck was on my side and my father accepted the call, appearing before me, looking like he had just rolled out of bed. I had probably woken him. His hair was a mess, and he smothered a yawn as he looked at me through the screen.
"Hey, Ris. You made it to Xavier's. Did he show you the board?" he asked, voice gravelly with sleep, and I felt a pang of regret for waking him.
"Dad, Xavier wants to know where you got the drone. He said it's a pre-production model that is faulty. Dad, that thing was dangerous. Xavier said it could have exploded if I added an AI and it overheated," I told him, scrubbing my hand across my face to wipe away the errant tears that managed to fall down my cheeks.
The last two days had been more stressful than any in my life. Taking several shaky breaths, I tried to calm myself down. I needed to pull myself together. I shouldn't start sobbing like a child just because things hadn't been going perfectly to plan. If I was going to be a fleet pilot, I couldn't lose my composure over a few little bumps in the road.
"Where's Xavier now?" my father demanded, his face filled with concern.
"Here, Jon. Where in the blazing suns did you get that thing? It could have killed the kid! If there are any more, it could still kill people!" Xavier said, his voice rough with anger.
"I got old One-Armed Pete to get it for me. He picked it up from a freighter for a pretty good price, he said it was one of the pre-release models sent to retailers for advertising," my father said, slumping down onto the lounge and staring at the ground. He looked upset, and when he looked up, I could see the anguish and pain on his face.
"I'm sorry, Aristeia, I had no idea. Moons above, if you had put a high-grade chip in that thing…" He took a shuddering breath and rubbed a hand across his face. "Pete got it the day before you left. The only vessel docked was the Stargazer II, the freighter you flew to Xi'anu on."
"PO Lewis, can I request your assistance in detaining the Stargazer II? Kid, where's the ship docked? Do you know when it was due to depart? We need to search it for any more drones. No one should have these models, and I need to know where they got them," Xavier said quickly, looking between PO Lewis and me.
"It was docked on deck F, and I think the wall outside the access tunnel said ‘FD45,’" I said to Xavier, watching as PO Lewis moved away from us slightly and started calling someone on her datapad. I turned back to the screen and looked at my father's anguished face.
"Dad, it's okay. I wasn't hurt, and now we know about the drones. Hopefully they can stop anyone else from being hurt," I said, doing my best to sound reassuring.
"Jon, I'm sorry, but I need my vid screen to call my father. He needs to be aware of this as well, and we need to prepare an emergency statement to warn people about possible counterfeit drones that may be bought from unauthorized retailers," Xavier said, and my father nodded before looking at me.
"I'm sorry, Ris. Message me later, okay? I gotta go have a word with that bastard Pete," he said, and before I could protest, he cut the connection.
I groaned slightly, hoping my father didn't end up hurting the older man too much. I didn't blame old Pete. He likely wouldn't have known the drone was counterfeit. My dad and Pete had been friends for a long time, and it had been my dad who saved his life in the accident that he lost his arm in.
Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I turned my head to see Xavier looking at me with a reassuring expression.
"Don't worry, kid. Jon will be fine. I need to make a few calls. Do you mind waiting over there for a bit? I'd like to talk to you more once I'm done," he said, and I nodded, moving away from him as he connected to the vid screen.
PO Lewis was still in the corner, talking on her datapad, so I moved further away from where they were both making their calls. Walking to the bench, I looked down at my former drone’s pieces. The drone was scattered across the desk, almost a perfect reflection of my scattered thoughts.
Life away from N2390 wasn't quite like I thought it would be, I thought as I wandered further into the workshop. I had left N2390 because I wanted excitement and to explore the stars, but it seemed that the stars were far more dangerous than I had thought. Strolling around the workshop, I looked at all the different components and parts scattered across the various benches and shelves. I stopped at a desk on the far side of the workshop and stared down at three fluffy orbs. Each ball was a different mixture of colors.
The one on the left was a mixture of blues and greens, the middle was purple and white, and the last one was black and silver. The balls had big, wide ears and long tails. They also had large, round eyes with colored optics. Picking the purple one up, I realized what they were. They were drone skins that could be added to a companion drone to customize their appearance.
There were many skin styles that people liked to use. The most popular styles were the animal type skins like the ones before me. However, some people preferred to use skins that had a more robotic appearance. These looked to be made to fit with the Begleiter mode
l drones. I hadn't thought about what skin I would have chosen for my drone, but I guess it didn't matter anymore.
Looking the drone skin over, I could feel the hard shell beneath the fur, and the tail looked like it was articulated. The animal-based skins generally had some programming that added specific characteristics to the AI's movements to make them appear more realistic, swishing tails and twitching ears. It was those small motions that made the skins so much more than just a cosmetic costume.
"It is based on a small creature in the Marlu system called a Fizmo. These will be going on sale in the next few months, I just finished working on the vocal reactions," Xavier said, as he came to stand beside me.
I nodded, placing the small fluffy ball back on the desk. It was cute, and if I still had my drone, I might buy one just because of its cuteness.
"They will sell well, you should think about doing a model with color changing fibers for the fur. That way, it can change to match a girl’s outfit or mood," I said, thinking about how popular color-changing accessories were these days.
Though such fabrics were extremely costly, and not something I could afford. Xavier looked down at the little balls of fluff with a thoughtful expression. Mumbling to himself softly, he walked distractedly over to a desk and grabbed a datapad.
"Hmm, it might work. Would need to—yes, if I…" he muttered as he worked.
Seeing the man get lost in his thoughts, I looked around the room looking for PO Lewis and frowned when I couldn't see her. Checking my wrist display, I saw it was noon by galactic standard time. Which meant I had two hours left before I had to be back on the ship.
"Mr. Xavier? Do you know where PO Lewis went?" I asked worriedly as I moved to where the man was now standing before a device that looked similar to a food processor. It was humming softly, and I realized to my shock it was a material processor.
It looked like it was building a miniature version of the Fizmo skin. The fur on this one looked to be a transparent fiber. Was he already making one? I guess all he needed to do was change the fiber type.
"Oh, yes, she had to go back to the ship to make a formal report to her captain. She said she would return to collect you later and that departure will be delayed while the fleet helps investigate the drones aboard the freighter. As it is an issue of public safety, the fleet has decided to take charge of the matter. Exploding drones could cause chaos if it were to happen in a populated area," he informed me in a somewhat distracted tone.
I nodded, watching as the small Fizmo inside the processor finished taking shape. The machine turned off and Xavier pulled it out. Moving over to a counter, he placed it on top of a rectangular device and downloaded the basic programming.
"I will need to rewrite the program a little, but I should be able to modify the base program used to change color of the digital eyes."
"Is the tail purely cosmetic, or is it functional beyond the basic swish and flick?" I asked, watching him with interest.
"Hmm? Just swish and flick, why?"
"Don't creatures with tails like this normally use them as a limb? For gripping and balance? The Fizmo doesn't have any arms or legs, so does it use its tail like a limb?" I was curious about the small creatures. "How do they get around on their planet?"
"Hmm, the Fizmo use their tails like a spring to bounce around the forest. They can bounce extremely high and use their tails to grab onto branches and swing to other trees. They eat small fruits using their tails to pick them up," he told me, looking up from his work with a thoughtful expression.
"They aren't programmed to bounce, and will fly and hover as a drone normally would. Though, perhaps we could program them to bounce slightly in the air. I also hadn't thought of the tail being used further, but it could be used to pick up items and carry things. We have several helper drone skins that can pick up and carry things. I could modify the programming for that into the Fizmo, but I would need to strengthen the skin's base. It was only designed as a cosmetic, so I used a lightweight composition," he muttered, picking up his datapad again.
Leaving the man to his work, I found myself wandering over the bench that my dismantled drone laid upon. As I stared down at the pieces, I unconsciously started sorting them into piles, separating the different parts. Finding the power source, I examined it closely before putting it aside. While Mr. Xavier had said that the power source was defective, it was possible the remaining parts would still be useable. So long as I was able to find or buy a new power source, I could hopefully rebuild my drone. With a glance around the cluttered room, I saw a box containing a mixture of what appeared to be discarded drone parts and wondered over to take a look.
"Mr. Xavier? Are you using these parts for anything?" I asked, picking through the box with interest.
"Hmm? Those? No," he responded distractedly as he tinkered with one of the Fizmo skins.
The box was too heavy to lift, so I inelegantly dragged it across the workshop floor towards the bench where my drone laid. Gathering some nearby tools, I set to work reconstructing the drone. The box had contained a mixture of parts from the Begleiter IX models and another model drone. After a quick check of the serial numbers, I saw it was the Kelvan-S1. The Kelvan-S1 drone bases were a few inches larger than the Begleiter, and were more commonly used as commercial delivery drones. Near the bottom of the box was a Kelvan-S1 power source, and while the connection points were different, it was the right size to fit the Begleiter, with some minor modifications.
So focused was I on my attempt to revive my drone, that I did not notice the hours slowly passing or the interested gaze of the man who had been observing me as I worked. As I finished modifying the connection points of the K-S1 power core, I felt a sense of accomplishment when I saw the Begleiter start to power up. I had needed to swap out several of its internal components so it would be able to handle the higher power output of the K-S1 core, but it all appeared to be functional as far as I could tell. I just needed to re-install the drone’s base coding onto its drives and perform a few tests to be sure.
I stared down at my drone, brows furrowed, as it failed to power up fully. Why was it not working? The power core I had installed was fully functional, and I was sure I had managed to properly modify the output connections. There should be nothing stopping it from working, so why was it not booting up?
"Did you modify the software coding for the higher power output?"
Jerking my head up in shock at the voice that had sounded from directly behind me, I saw Xavier looking down at my drone with interest and felt my cheeks flush red.
"No," I said, feeling like a fool. I should have known the software would not be compatible with the modifications.
Nodding, the man tapped a finger on my motionless drone with a thoughtful expression before picking up a datapad. Several moments later, my drone whirred to life. Smiling in thanks to the man, I attempted to connect to the drone with my implant in order to test its functionality, only to frown in confusion as I was unable to connect. I then attempted to run a diagnostic, but found my implant completely unresponsive.
"Mr. Xavier!" I called out, panicking slightly, and moved my hand to the back of my neck, placing it over the implant connection there. "I think there is something wrong with my implant, I can't connect to the drone or my wrist display."
"What? Have you run a self-diagnostic?"
"I tried, but it isnt responding."
Pushing me into a chair, Xavier grabbed a black device that looked similar to what the station official had used to scan my implant. I waited anxiously as Xavier checked the data on my implant. I’d never had my implant not respond to me before, I’d heard of it happening on rare occasions when people had brought non Federation standard implants that were not certified, but my implant was the standard issue given to all children.
"Blazing suns, the whole damned thing is corrupted. I don't think we can even just wipe and reboot it, you're going to need a new one installed," he said, frowning down at me.
Tears filling
my eyes, I looked up at him, feeling dizzy and more than a little worried. "But how?"
"Have you installed any unsecured data or given anyone full access to your implant?"
"No, the station officer only did an ID scan and the last thing I installed was the drone’s software chip. It was acting strangely earlier, but I thought it was just a slow connection to the station network," I said, voice growing softer as I said the last part.
"Kid, Xi'anu has one of the fastest network connections in the Federation. Do you still have the drone’s datachip?"
"It's in the case," I mumbled, jerking my chin in the direction of my drone’s case as I pulled my knees up to my chest, curling up tightly on the chair. Tears burned in my eyes as I watched the man scanning the drone’s data chip with a concerned frown, my heart jolting in my chest as the sound of a buzzer filled the room.
PO Lewis soon entered the room, shooting me a concerned glance before turning her attention to Xaiver, who was still staring down at datapad.
"Mr. Altair, we have detained the Stargazer crew and begun searching the ship. So far, we have located a dozen drones matching the Begleiter IX drone’s specifications. We will need you to examine them to confirm if they are the pre-production counterfeits. We would also like a report on the drones so that the fleet may identify any counterfeits in other systems. Someone will be bringing the drones to this location and will supervise the investigation," she said to Xavier before turning to me.
"Miss Kelras, we will need to return to the ship. Captain Mua has made a report to Admiral Harra, and she wishes to speak with you."
Silently, I rose from my chair, my mind dominated by the thoughts of my implant being corrupted. “I hope everything goes well for you with the counterfeits," I said, before quickly leaving the room whilst trying to rub away the tear still insistently falling.
PO Lewis followed several moments later with a concerned expression as she looked down at me. Not wanting to talk about what I had learnt just yet, I silently started walking back to the transport hub. My mind was in turmoil as I tried to keep myself calm. My implant had been corrupted. The technology that directly connected to my brain was corrupted. I felt dizzy and my chest was tight. Stumbling to a stop, I leaned against a nearby wall, trying to regain my breath. A hand softly touched my back, rubbing it in small circular motion.
Striving for the stars (The Kelras Chronicles Book 1) Page 6