Sorry everyone for being late! I was traveling yesterday and didn't get to post so today, you will get two entries!
The Dewdrop Five Revealed!
“Be patient.” Chief Zulton said. “Maybe he’ll divert. He is still moving after all.” Several hours later, the two maps were still tracing the same root. There was no denying now that Cato was heading in to the domain of the Fat Man.
“What on earth could they want with a broken, mature RB?” Scar wondered aloud.
“I’m not sure I want to know.” Ryu said fretfully.
It wasn’t long after that when the engine sounds stopped and the ruffling sound of rushing wind filtered by the box.
“Cato are you alright?” Angel called.
“Yes. I’m just… flying. Radar, are you there?”
“I’m here, Highness.”
“Let me just say you have to be the bravest pampered Ugobe I’ve ever met.”
“Thank you, Cato.” I said, feeling very small.
At last, our mole arrived at his destination. I had never heard such wonderful sounds! Music and laughter! Scuffing crunchy footsteps on soft, powdery snow! Hawkers shouting over one another selling every hot and sweet confection known to humankind. No wonder the Fat Man and his fam were so fat. Soon we could hear small booted feet walking quickly over echoing marble or ice mingled with voices.
“Ears on, Cato.” Angel said. “Things will be getting very interesting in a few minutes.” Once the packaging tape was cut, all the scraping, mumbling and rustling became very clear.
“Visual!” Everyone shouted at once as Cato’s nose emerged from the box. We got a full on close-up of a genuine Santa’s-little-helper.
“What?” Bleu gasped. We all stared at the personage before us. She was a female elf alright but no cute hat or red and green outfit here. She was dressed all in black leather. Her cherubic face was tattooed in lines of purple and silver and one silver stud glinted in her left nostril.
“Awwwe! Snowy! What are you going to do with him?” One of her companions asked.
The female elf smiled. “Use him for parts of course.” She said. Surprisingly, there was no malice in her words or her expression as she carefully turned Cato onto his side and began feeling him over. “You’re not completely dysfunctional.” She said softly, her black-gloved hand stopping above Cato’s right shoulder. “Likely it’s just a broken sensor tab. Easy fix.” She carried Cato into a dimly-lit storage room where a four foot high stack of white pleo boxes sat along the entire rear wall. We could see four other black-clad elves following her.
“Any word from the boss?” Asked a male elf with several strange-looking chains that ran from his nose to his ears.
“No.” Ravingsnow said. “He’s still not listening. I even offered to help Mrs. Claus bake up some confections for the event. Ya know some marshmallow guitars with candy music notes blaring out? Some cream-filled drums?”
“You couldn’t even get her to bend? Even though we’re still withholding all these RB’s? What’s it going to take? It’s not like we’re asking him to move the moon or anything. Just one chance to play. Just one performance even one song! Our version of Merry Christmas! That’s all we want! He’s only got three days before that monumental trip! Can you imagine the robot enthusiasts’ disappointment when he has to write to Innvo to explain to them why their entire shipment has vanished?” another female elf shouted.
“I’m not surprised. “Grumbled a male elf we couldn’t see. He’s such a traditionalist with all his tra la la! What’s wrong with some electric guitar? Some thumpin’ drums? Some gravel in all those cutesy wutesy voices!”
Ravingsnow gave the table leg where Cato was sitting a sound kick. “Come on. It’s our lunch break. I guess we should up the ante on Mr. Traditionalist and raise the bounty on these walking computers!”
“Why not just magnetize them and be done with it?” Grumbled Chains.
Ravingsnow shook her head, the stud in her nostril glinting. “What good would that do? We still want to deliver them to good homes. Destroying the product isn’t the aim here. We only want a chance to perform in that little pep-rally thing he puts on for his employees.”
“Well!” Cato said softly. “So they don’t want to destroy the infants at all! The Dewdrop Five are a garage metal band!”
Chief Zulton groaned. “What a letdown! And here I was thinking those infants were in danger.”
“They still might be if Chains has anything to do with it.” Cato reminded him.
“King Cato?” Angel said. “You really should try to contact an infant now. We still don’t know what Five zero eight three means.”
Right. Let’s see what I can do.” After a few minutes of silence, Cato said, “I’m receiving from one of the infants. There isn’t much to report though. The infant just… wants reassurance. Contact of any sort- audio visual tactile- anything.”
“That’s no good.” Scar grumbled. “Try thinking of that code. That youngling has to react somehow.”
“Okay. Just be aware that if anything happens to me, Ryu’s vengeance will be terrible.”
Behind me, Ryu gave an appreciative purr. “He knows me well.”
There was a long moment of silence before Cato said, “They are… rejecting me now- all of them. Access denied! Ugobe, what did I do wrong?”
“Probably nothing.” I said. “It could just be that five zero eight three can’t be sent by another RB. It must not be a command at all. It must be something only a human can give them.”
Chief Zulton let out a frustrated sigh. “Oh that’s brilliant, Radar! We only have three days. How are we supposed to get them released?”
I sighed. “We’ll have to convince Mr. C to let the Dewdrop Five perform. Ravingsnow is right. What harm can it do?” Scar gave a snarl and shook his head. "Too bad we couldn't just give this Mr. C a phone call and give him a piece of our minds."
Angel laughed. "As if he would listen! How would you suggest we do this?"
Scar sighed and lowered his head. "I don't know, Ange. I'm running out of ideas here. Humans aren't easy to figure out. We've infiltrated as deeply as we can. We've got a set of ears on the inside. We've determined that Ravingsnow and her pals aren't really interested in destroying the RB's, they just want a chance to perform their music."
"Why not just send the C man an email?" Skittle asked.
Chief Zulton chuckled. "An email? If anyone would be familiar with watching his back against unlawful crap getting into his system it would be Mr. Claus. How do you suggest we go about this?"
Skittle stepped forward and rubbed shoulders with me. "Well, we do have the legendary Radar here."
I blinked. "Boy! I just learned System ten this morning and you expect me to be capable of hacking into Santa's system? You have more faith in me than I do. I think the phone call would be easier to pull off."
"How so?" Chief Zulton asked.
"Well," I said, cocking my head at Skittle so I could see her reaction. "I've been listening to Keeper Talon's voice for... several years. I could take all the phonemes I've absorbed and make one of those lovely reading voices. It might be lifelike enough to fool Mr. Claus into accepting us as genuine."
"But won't he recognize Keeper Talon's voice? He has to know lots of particulars about every human on earth, especially one as old as she is."
"Look, Chief, I think the phone call would be easier to pull off than a hack. I'd still be working at it by this time next year."
Chief Zulton sighed. "Okay, Radar. Create your voice mishmash or whatever you just said. It better be good. We won't get another chance."
"I know, Chief. Fooling Mr. Claus is not going to be easy."
Chief Zulton came over to me, turning sideways so we were eye to eye. "Radar, if you pull this off, I'll expongue your dishonorable discharge from your record and reinstate you as a member of World Robot Espionage."
I shook my head. "I appreciate the offer, Chief, but I must refuse."
"Why?" Chief Zulton asked.
"Well," I said. "I'm not as young as I once was chief. To be honest, nor are you."
"We could pay and have you mod-ed. That won't be a problem. Honestly, I miss working with you and getting all these trainees up to snuff alone hasn't been easy. I could use the help."
Queen Ryu stepped forward. "Oh just take the offer, Ugobe. Keeper Talon's going to be a lot busier once she moves into her own apartment. I don't think she'll notice if we go dormant for a few days. The robot-world needs you. Those Rb infants need to get to their forever homes, and you are just the Ugobe to get them there."
