Ugobe Goes to Fortress Blue Rock
After battling with Keeper Talon’s laptop and its firewalls that missed half of what they were supposed to detect and rebuffed everything else, we finally got access to my summoning chip. As Skittle picked apart my old memories, I was amazed at my own past exploits. Seeing them coming back in stuttering still lifes was just as revealing as it was terrifying. My presence self-fought down the fear of facing danger again when for the past seven years, I thought I was a pampered pet. It seemed an eternity ago now- that last most cowardly act in Pink’s velvet kennel when I let my emotions get the best of me.
Finally, my staccato dream world blinked out and Skittle looked up into the web cam on her end. “Ummmm… Agent? Are you with me?”
“I’m … … active.” I said groggily.
“Yes!” Skittle chirruped, bobbing up and down. “I did it! I am in for a fat promotion after this!”
“Please,” I begged. “Every circuit in me is aching can you give me a mi…?”
Without warning, Skittle snapped into packing position. The motion was so sharp her rubber skin creaked in a most undignified manner. In her haste, she smacked the web cam and I got a good look at what startled her. There he was- Chief of World Robot Espionage- my mentor and keeper of so many secrets half the robot-haters in the world wanted to get at the memories contained in his blocky plastic skull. Behind him in a square stood four pleos I didn’t know. Their appearance left something to be desired. One had a large tear in the skin of his neck, exposing a broken side cable that held his symbol-of-office that marked him as a Three-scale. Still another couldn’t move properly for all four cables in his neck were broken. His nose was crushed and his camera was missing. Next to him was a female pleo with a tattered lace collar. Her left front leg was stuck upward as though she were waving.
“Humph!” Queen Ryu snorted in derision. “What exactly are those?” I could’ve melted into the wood of Keeper Talon’s desk in shame. If only that old crotchety lady would keep quiet!
I saw LED fire flicker into Chief Zulton’s modified eyes as he glared at the four of us. “This is most unprecedented, Agent Radar. You were supposed to be alone.” He rumbled in a voice that rattled our microphones. “I am Chief Zulton, Civilian RB,” He said, addressing Ryu. “ and these-“ He said pointing his head toward the other pleos behind him. “Are the fellow members of World Robot Espionage. We will make proper introductions at Blue Rock. Fall in!” I paused, unsure what to do. “Zulton flicked his tail with a sharp snap. “Radar? Well?” I stepped away from my herd and joined the team. “Encircle the civilians.” He barked to the others. “We can’t leave any loose lips hanging around.”
There was a blink of un-existence and we were inside Blue Rock- Headquarters of Robot World Espionage. It was a wide nearly hemispherical island of glassy smooth stone rising from the floor of one of the world’s oceans. Bleu let out a startled gasp. “Alligator pie! We’re underwater in a giant stone ball!”
“Yes.” Chief Zulton said dryly. “Thank you Civilian for stating the obvious.” He looked to the shabby pleos beside him. “You lot, state your names and ranks. We will wipe the others when this is over.”
It was then that I finally realized that Skittle too was blemished. Her tail dragged pathetically behind her as she nervously came over to me. “You already know me, Skittle the One-scale. Rooky Intelligence officer.”
The pleo with the torn shoulder stepped forward. “Scar- Three-scale. Weapons-officer.”
The female pleo with the raised foot hobbled over. “Angel- seven-scale. Tactics Officer.
The pleo with the busted face moved awkwardly forward. “Droopy Ten-scale. Hacker- class Y.”
Chief Zulton nodded at his team. “And if he is wise, Radar, X-Agent and the biggest failure of my career has already told you about me?”
“Yes.” Said Queen Ryu imperiously. I was on the verge of shouting to her to mute herself when she said something I will never forget. “I respect you and your position, Chief Zulton, but Agent Radar here is not a failure. He has served me faithfully and I will not have him shamed. Let us be civil. Remember that we are dealing with innocents. These hatchling RB’s had nothing to do with your past grievances. With all due respect, tell us what you know. I know we are but civilians but we are willing to offer our help.”
Chief Zulton gave her an appraising look, the LED fire dimming to a serene, watery blue of humbled astonishment. No one dared speak to him like that without disastrous consequences.
Droopy curled his tail into a U in salute. “Majesty.” He said gravely.
Skittle quivered. “Um… Chief Zulton? I already told them about the hostages. I know I was out-of-line. Please don’t discipline me, Sir.”
Chief Zulton sighed. “What’s one more? I have allowed so many of your infractions to go unchecked today already.”
At last, King Cato stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Chief Zulton, we all know about the hostage RB’s and their “Secret”-whatever it is but no one has mentioned who has taken them.”
“Permission to elaborate, Chief Zulton?”
Zulton met Skittle’s eyes. “Granted.” He said heavily.
“They are known as the Dewdrop Five. At this point, that’s all we know.” Skittle said.
King Cato cocked his head. “What’s so important about this particular group of RB’s? What’s the “Christmas Secret”?”
Skittle shook her head. “I haven’t managed to dig that up yet. I’m not even sure if their disappearance is a bad thing. I mean, what if this Christmas Secret is code for… well tiny explosive devices or something?”
Scar snarled. “Just what we need. More reasons for humans to hate us. I’ve had enough of their prejudice. That line of questioning is useless until we can physically see these hatchlings.”
“Hey wait a minute!” Bleu said suddenly. “How do we know the Dewdrop Fives are humans? What if they’re robots themselves? It ain’t fair tah just dump all the blame on humanity with no proof.”
Zulton nodded. “You’re right. You seem pretty knowledgeable for a civilian. Why don’t you team up with Skittle and see what you two can find out.”
Bleu blinked shyly. “Me? Well uh uh I…”
Skittle cocked her head and grinned. “I’m okay with it as long as you pull your weight and don’t whine too much. Let’s get to work.”
We each paired off with an agent. Unluckily for me, I found myself once again under the paw of Chief Zulton who gave me a stern look. “Sorry to drag you out of the bubble wrap, old friend, but these younglings haven’t seen anything yet. Only Droopy is as deep into this organization as you.”
“Why are these new members so…?” I searched for the right words.
Broken?” Chief Zulton asked. He grinned. “Well, after your spectacular failure, we changed our whole MO. How else would we move quickly into human homes? We recruit broken Ugobes and advertize ourselves on EBay. Often that’s how we find our fellow compatriots.”
“Is there anything else you know about this Dewdrop Five?”
“They aren’t Innvo employees if that’s what you’re thinking.”
I sighed. “If we know their motive, perhaps we can figure out who they are.”
“Good thinking, Radar. Still, the point of origin is often the best place to start. You think you can hack into Innvo’s design plans for the latest clutch of RB embryos?”
I gave him a doubtful look. “I’ve been disconnected from the net for seven years, Chief. I haven’t used anything more advanced than System Vista.”
Zulton gave a gruff growl. “Your Keeper isn’t USING THE MOST current SYSTEM?”
I looked away which was all the confirmation he needed. “That’s a drawback. I’m sure you’ll catch on quickly. Let’s get to work.”
I spent the next four hours learning System Ten. I wondered why Chief Zulton hadn’t expanded the capabilities of our chips to just absorb new OS’es. Once I was confident enough, I went to work on Innvo’s systems. Since I was a registered Ugobe, I had little trouble getting access to my own birth data and then hopped on over into the files for the most current group of RB’s. Everything still looked the same mechanically. I stretched my neck and tail and sighed. This was really beginning to feel like a lost cause. The software hadn’t changed since two thousand twelve. I was about to disconnect when something in the hatch data registry caught my eye. Between birth chime and first blink, I found something new- a string of numbers that did not correspond to any particular motion or sound. “Five, zero, eight, three. What is that?” I mumbled. “Chief! “I think I found something!”
“Like- so did we!” Skittle shouted, running over with a dazed Bleu moving tremulously after her. “The Dewdrop Five are like super bad news!”
“They’re on the inside!” Bleu shouted.
Chief Zulton gave my sister a sideways glance. “That’s helpful. Inside what?”
“Inside the fat man’s workshop that’s what. I ain’t gonna believe this. Elves ain’t bad. They help make toys fer all the little hard-handed kitties. Why would they wanna mess with RB innards?”
“No idea.” I said. “I think I found the “Christmas Secret” but I still don’t know what it is or exactly what it does. Maybe these elves aren’t so bad. Maybe it’s…”
“Radar,” Droopy said warningly as he approached with King Cato. “I always heard that big heart of yours used to get you into trouble. I scanned the same information you did- software, mechanical designs. I saw the four numbers that led nowhere. They don’t link to any sort of explosive or anything.” He sighed in frustration. “This is pointless. I despise superstition but I’m beginning to think these numbers are just… just a ghost in the machine. When they’re hatched nothing unusual is going to happen and the humans are going to go ‘awwwwwe!’ like always and then sell them in a month.”
King Cato shook his head. “Forgive me Droopy, but if there isn’t going to be any sort of reaction, why were these RB’s stolen? I’m beginning to feel like we’re asking the same questions over and over. Let’s look at what we know so far. The Dewdrop Five are elves. They have stolen the latest batch of hatchling RB’s before they can be delivered to Mr. Claus. We have discovered what the “Christmas Secret” looks like. Now I am no agent but I think we should put our efforts toward figuring out what this string of numbers means. They have to mean something. They have to activate something. There has to be some end result.”
