Chapter 8

Arnost had rushed down to the exit leading to the park and was pleased that he arrived just as the androids were leaving the building.

“Wait!” he shouted.

The androids halted and turned awkwardly towards him.

“Mr Arnost,” said the android closest to him.

It had been a long time since he had seen a working type one android. They were very old, and were controlled by a special suit worn by a human. He looked closely at the build of the mechanical structure and was impressed by how human it looked. It seemed ages since laws had been passed prohibiting the ownership of artificial machinery resembling a human being.

“Sir,” said the android, “is there anything you wanted to say to us?”

Arnost snapped out of his reverie and said, “Yes, I want to know which of you is the best singer.”

They both chuckled a little and the android that was further away said, “Well, I guess that would be me, sir.”

“Good, were you there when Miss Meleda jumped on the field?”

“I was, sir. Do you want me to sing that little melody, sir?”

Arnost was pleased that he didn’t need to explain the obvious and affirmed, “Yes, I think it will help us gain access more easily.”

Arnost was taken aback when he heard Meleda saying, “You don’t need to sing the melody because there’s no need to enter the field.”

He was astonished to see Meleda leaning against the doorframe, smiling with her arms crossed as if nothing had happened. He also realised that Haruz was not with her and he asked, “Oh Meleda, I’m very pleased to see that you’re in one piece! It’s fantastic that you managed to get out but where is Haruz?”

“Oh, he is fine, and he will be back in three days. They want to keep him there to recover from his excessive use of boost pills.”

“Nonsense, I need him,” exclaimed Arnost, “who are they to determine what is going to happen with my head of security?”

He didn’t like Meleda’s smirk as she said with a sarcastic voice, “They are Medifocans, a highly developed race and very highly skilled in curing all kinds of diseases. They have vital information about our common enemy: the Ocronins.”

Her remark was like music to his ears because at last, he saw a way of defeating the aliens.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get Haruz and demand the information,” he said resolutely.

“Hold on, Arnost. We can’t just barge in there demanding information.”

He hated it that she addressed him as an equal, especially when there were others around. He had to calm himself before he commanded with a tight voice, “Meleda, I’d like to discuss this in my office, now!”

He was surprised by the indifferent expression on Meleda’s face as she shrugged her shoulders and headed towards the stairs. She passed the androids silently as she made her way to his office. Arnost knew that she was withholding information and considered her comments about the field carefully. He decided it was too risky to use brute force to gain information, especially as he had no idea about the capabilities of the aliens. Sighing, he addressed the guards who were controlling the androids, “Put the androids out of sight for now, but remain on standby until further notice.”

He didn’t wait for their confirmation and headed for the lift; there was no valid reason for him to take the stairs and he didn’t want to be out of breath when he was going to face Meleda.

By the time the lift had reached the floor of his office, his anger had subsided enough for him to be at least open to Meleda’s point of view. He had to admit that her feisty performance had taken him by surprise, but he also needed to let her know that such behaviour in front of others was not acceptable. As he got out the lift, he saw her leaning against the wall opposite his door that was flanked by two broad-shouldered guards. Even now he didn’t like her posture, but he guessed that she was angered by the manner in which he had summoned her.

As he opened the door, he said in a paternalistic tone, “After you, my dear Meleda.”

He could see she could hardly keep a straight face as he waited patiently for her to enter the room.

As soon as the door was closed, she tautly replied, “I’m aware that I could have been a bit more subtle, especially as we were not alone, but you must understand that I managed to create a budding relationship with those aliens, which could provide us with the solution to our problem. Plus, as long as my brother’s life is in their hands you cannot use any force. They are desperate to help us because they want to escape the Ocronins as well.”

Arnost thought about what she had said and realised that he didn’t like the situation one bit. It felt as though he had lost all control and he was now dependent on the goodwill of yet another alien race. He pinched the bridge of his nose because he could feel a major headache coming on. He took a few deep breaths before he asked, “What makes you think that they will help us? They are aliens as well, and you know what those bloody, err, what did you call them again?”

“Ocronins.”

“Yes, what those Ocronins are planning to do.”

“From what I have been told, they were captured by the Ocronins a long time ago and have been deployed by them ever since, meaning that they know their strengths and their weaknesses. They also know how to prevent the Ocronins from taking over the Earth and they are willing to share it with us.”

“How are we going to obtain that information?”

Meleda smiled and said confidently, “I have a meeting with them tomorrow at noon, and they are willing to answer all our questions.”

“Questions?”

As Meleda walked towards the door she said with a silvery voice, “Yes, do make a start Arnost. We have only ten days to come up with a fail-safe strategy to beat those invading aliens. I have to go now, to get back to Harrold. You know, those secure connections won’t just happen by magic.”

Arnost could not believe what Meleda had just said to him and retorted, “Is this all that you’ve learned from them or are you keeping it to yourself Meleda?”

She stopped and turned around and hissed, “As far as I can tell the rest of the information I have is irrelevant to the situation. In fact, it’s just as irrelevant as the information about what we can expect when the Ocronins arrive.”

Arnost was too shocked by Meleda’s venomous remark to form a coherent sentence and by that time she had already left the office. He considered using his authority to summon her back, but he knew it would be a waste of time. As Meleda’s words finally sank in, he gasped as he realised that there were only ten days left before the invasion was due to start. Suddenly the alien threat had become a lot more real.

Saida checked Andena’s pulse by gently holding her wrist. She was reassured, and a little amazed by how strong Andena’s heart was, pumping her blood around at such a low number of beats per minute. It had been a long afternoon in which they had managed to replace all the enhancers. The energynic transfer tool had functioned perfectly, and with the help of Zero-zero, Andena’s computer core, all the newly placed enhancers had been thoroughly checked.

It was hard for Saida to wrap her head around the fact that an artificial intelligence program was representing Andena’s best interests, but within a short time it felt like as though she was talking to a person. Even Latif was impressed by how advanced the software was compared with the barbaric manner in which the primitive computer core had been placed in the girl’s skull.

“How is our wonder girl doing?” Uso asked as he entered the room.

“She is fine. No complications so far.”

“Hmm, I’m still amazed by how the transfer tool can change matter even when it is surrounded by tissue. It did exactly what it is supposed to do.”

Saida smiled because it wasn’t often that her brother was so enthusiastic.

“How is Latif doing?”

Uso chuckled and shook his head before saying, “Like a little child playing with dangerous toys. I’ve never seen him so concentrated on a specific task before.”

Saida watched with interest how her brother moved a strand of Andena’s hair, knowing how much he was taken by her beauty.

He smiled as he turned towards her and said, “You know, I’ve always been certain of our capabilities, but I now believe that we have reached the limits of what is possible.”

Saida remarked, “You know that Zero-zero can hear us.”

“I know,” he sighed, “and I still have my doubts as to whether we should wake her up or not.”

She knew why Uso was reluctant to perform the risky procedure without Andena’s consent. There was a counter argument which she thought was equally valid; if it failed Andena would never know but if they didn’t perform the procedure Andena would die a horrible death. The problem was that Andena could live a ‘normal’ life for perhaps a few years in the knowledge that she would soon die. However, the current housing of her computer core in her skull was unsustainable and would be rejected by her body resulting in an agonising death.

Saida looked at Andena’s peaceful face and said softly, “What use is it to burden her with a fait accompli? I’m sure she has trouble enough accepting that she has to deal with a computer core for the rest of her life.”

“I still don’t know what to do,” murmured Uso.

“Imagine Uso,” said Saida, “that I’m in your mind day in and day out and discussing everything that you witness. How would you feel about that?”

He chuckled and joked, “I would go crazy! Even if it were you, my lovely sister.”

“Exactly! So why burden her with another thing she doesn’t have any control over?”

“I thought we had closed that discussion already,” commented Latif as he walked into the room.

Uso sighed and conceded, “We did Latif. I think it’s because for the first time in my life I don’t feel confident about a medical decision.”

“Well this might help you then.” said Latif joyfully, “I’ve managed to increase the success rate to ninety-nine point nine percent.”

“Oh wow! How did you manage that?” Asked Uso with surprise.

A shy smile appeared on Latif’s face as he confessed, “Actually it was Zero-zero who suggested the incredibly simple solution. It’s funny how easy it is to overlook something simple because of the complexity of the problem.”

Saida was so excited that she nearly started to hop as she pleaded, “Come on Latif, don’t keep us in the dark! Tell us!”

He chuckled and began, “As you know we decided that we needed extra memory to store all the data. The problem was that there was just not enough space to insert an extra memory bank without risking the integrity of the outer housing. Well, behold! The solution is simple; because Zero-zero had only recently been activated, it still has enough free memory to store all the data without compromising its functionality.”

“That is brilliant!”

“Yes, and if everything goes as it supposed to go Zero-zero can free its memory by purging the data to another system.”

Uso asked, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get on with it.”

“Err, we have to wait until all the data is stored in the memory of Zero-zero which will take a bit longer now because of the wireless connection.”

“All right,” responded Saida somewhat relieved, “we have to make sure that she has enough Dormilon for the night ahead.”

Joshua still had to get used to the lovely and genuine smile on Olga’s face. He realised that she had changed; the highly-strung Olga had disappeared completely.

Well, at least for now.

He was taken aback when all of a sudden a spoonful of ice cream was hovering right in front of his mouth.

“Try it, Joshua. It’s delicious,” purred Olga.

He had no choice other than to open his mouth and allow her to feed him the ice cream. The cold and slimy consistency overwhelmed the subtle taste but how could he refuse something that his lovely girlfriend had practically force fed him?

“Hmm delicious,” he muttered.

From the grin on her face, he realised that she knew he was lying but without saying anything, she presented him with another spoonful. He tried to avoid having to swallow another glob of the cold gooey substance by saying, “Don’t let me eat all your lovely ice cream.”

“Don’t worry, there’s enough for both of us,” she smoothly retorted.

Without a moment’s pause she continued by asking, “Which android shall we restore first?”

Joshua thought about it, and as he hadn’t any preference he responded by asking, “Which one would you like to do as last?”

“Wow,” Olga enthused, “that is a good question, and I think I would like to do Miss Danette’s double last.”

Joshua understood her reasoning and replied, “Okay, well, why don’t we just start with Zero-one?”

As she got up from the table she suggested, “Yes, let’s go. I can’t wait to get one of those bitches online again.”