Returned

Digital Relative

Fourteen

Digital Relative

Digital Relative

Identity No.: AI48-000-52

Matching Code: SiS27

Occupation: NASA Routing Assistant

SOS: C20 – D-msging

You need to move your visitors and your superior

They are in imminent danger.

And require your urgent response to this call!

Transport them out of the house.

I am en route with my colleague

Flight engineer, Roger Prescott

The CIA is aware of your visitors

And are 10 mins out to extract them

Wait for us at the street corner of Terry Var crescent

I can read your signal

Prescott had hacked into the Chinese-Nigerian satellite and noticed that Ms. Jennifer’s residence was not under direct surveillance, so pulling a live video manifest of the residence was impossible. He then decided to research Jennifer on the Makurdi residence directory website. He gathered that the lady lived alone in her large edifice without a spouse or children. Her only companions were eight domestic staff that lived in the sub-quarters. But there was one other bit. The lady had a robot on her staff, the only one allowed to live with her in the main lodge.

Prescott pulled out information on the robot. It was named Tile. Funny name, he thought. But there was more! Booyah!! It was the AI48-SiS series; a matching model to Bruno. These were the earlier set of robots which were not created specifically for certain occupations. Their production was an unlimited release, and was built to perform multiple functions. Tinder-X, the production company, later exercised caution for its increased production, that their unlimited function may trigger a future revolt against humans. So most of the SiS series had been out-phased and recycled. Only a few were still in use, but none were in the market, as the newer versions had replaced them with specified configuration.

But recent productions had been tailored to specified roles like domestic staff, factory workers, professional workforce, skilled workers like tailors and mechanics, etc. The SiS model had a distant wireless connectivity program which enabled them to send and receive remote messages within ten thousand leagues. It was programmed so that the robots could share friendly banter, gossip and jokes like humans, and also communicate when in danger. It had a preliminary message template which required the sender to fill in before giving the message type code, such as SOS, Compliments, SMS. The template read:

Digital Relative

Identity No.:

Matching Code:

Occupation

When Prescott stumbled on this leakage, he knew this was his leverage. He quickly typed the distress message on his pamphlet and forwarded it to Bruno to transmit it to his digital relative, who was presently with Ms. Jennifer, the lady housing their target. He also followed the SOS with:

Be ready to move. You follow my cue in 10.

***********************

Jennifer and her visitors were still deliberating on a way out of their predicament when Tile the Robot had suddenly called their attention. Earlier, Jennifer had decided that Tile and his friends should remain in the house while she traveled to Jos. In that way, his associate Jon Cho would not have cause to suspect any of her moves. It would convince him that she was still in their service. Deep down, she doubted this possibility. She knew Cho’s resourcefulness and the Chinese iron grip on the country’s affairs. Their system, too, was almost flawless. And if Cho got wind that she had been keeping Tile and his companions all along and had refused to offer the information willingly the first time he had called, it then meant that the trust between them would be perpetually eroded. And there would be nothing she or anyone else would do to redeem it.

Tile on his part hated Cho the very first time he heard his name and learned of his activities in his country. There was nothing he wanted more, now, than to wrestle his country out of foreign hands, and he would do anything to pay the price. He secretly hoped that Azura’s attempt to come look for him would provide a window for him to achieve this goal. Something told him that Azura’s effort was sure to translate to an extraterrestrial invasion which may open several opportunities, one of which would involve taking back his country from modern colonialism.

It was in the middle of this confusion that Tile the robot came forward with the SOS message. He transmitted the message to Jennifer’s handheld messenger and this prompted a new dimension to their thought process. Jennifer decided that if the CIA had knowledge of Tile and his friends in her house, it was only a matter of time that she would become a news item globally. The orb that was found in the Plateau was already making its waves on the TV even now. If she was eventually linked to it, then she would be in a very serious position. She just didn’t know how serious, if it was for better or worse. But if this was a chance to move ahead of Cho, then it was better to take the chance. Even though the message had come from total strangers, her robot seemed to trust the source.

So, without making prior preparations, she had quickly moved with her robot and her visitors to the garage where she chose her Ford Galloper which she trusted for speed and ruggedness. It was an auto-driven vehicle and Tile was seeing the magic of auto driving for the first time. They all boarded and Jennifer gave a voice command for their first stop-over and the vehicle moved out. Even the domestic staff could not see through the tinted glass to pick out the occupants of the vehicle.

As they drove out of the gate, Tile and Jennifer could hear the sound of the turning rotors of an approaching helicopter, but it was Charlatan who spoke first.

“Damnit! The Langley bastards are already here,” he said. “Turns out your friend’s message was no kidding,” He motioned to the robot.

“Yea… turns out so,” Tile said.

His gut told him that the stranger-friends they were about to meet had answers for every question he had about Nigeria. He noticed that his pulse was already rising. He was already anxious to meet them.

*********************

Cho was impressed with Yanng’s alacrity when he dropped the call. He knew now that he had not made a mistake in choosing him to watch Jennifer. The watch had taken several years, but it was now beginning to yield something positive. Like he had rightly guessed, his day was gathering momentum to be one of the busiest in recent times. He suspected that he might even need to leave his little haven momentarily. But of course, the new development had yanked the carpet from under his feet. If the US had come far into their territory, shortly after their latest discovery, then it meant that they knew something he and the Russians didn’t. Or were they responsible for the orb? He decided to put his boys at the headquarters to the task, to find out the level of the US’ involvement.

Cho knew how desperately the US had tried in the past to wrangle their grip off Nigeria. He was not going to let that happen in his lifetime. He thought of his children now, the only thing dear to him in this life. He should have gone to see them before this emergency. If the CIA agents were captured in his territory, he was sure to receive some calls from the US president, and he knew what that meant... it was going to be a long day. Bastards. He expected to hear from Yanng in fifteen minutes at the latest, when he must have had Jennifer’s location and also captured the CIA agents that had jumped from the chopper. Just then, a faint knock sounded on his door and Kim Sung drifted into the room.

*********************

When Prescott and Bruno got to the black Ford Galloper, he tapped on the tinted glass of the passenger’s door and the glass wound down almost automatically.

“You’re expecting us, I guess,” Prescott said sharply.

“I guess so,” it was Jennifer who answered. “You said we were in danger, how do you expect us to trust you when we don’t even know you?”

“For now, that’s just the best shot you’ve got, except you want the Chinese to get to you first. We need to keep moving please.”

That said, Prescott opened the door as if he had been invited in. Tile and Rita joined Charlatan at the back, leaving space for the two. Tile the robot was in the driver’s seat, but Prescott noticed the car was on auto-drive as there was no steering wheel. Jennifer offered a voice command for take-off to Jos and the vehicle shot forward in top gear.

Without wasting time, Prescott contacted Administrator Brannon and reported that he was with the target presently. He also reported that he had broken away with the CIA because it seemed Bowden wanted to run the show his own way, and there was a possibility he was compromising Intel.

It was Brannon who broke the news to him. The CIA agents he had come with had been captured by Chinese security operatives in Nigeria. They were possibly looking for them now. Brannon had also asked him to debrief the target and to find a way to transport them to the border. With the Chinese alertness to security now, it was not possible to send transport to get them without being noticed.

That, was not good news.