The Earth is our mother she gives and she takes,
She puts us to sleep in her light we'll awake,
We'll all be forgotten there's no endless fame,
But everything we do, it's never in vain…
Chapter 14) Projections
(Gazelle's PoV)
"Alright here we are!" Moe called as her limo came to a stop near the Base Entrance.
She looked up from her phone as she was texting her friend about the dress she was having him custom make for her. Her friend had decided that, since she was making a custom design, he would add a spin on it himself and 'razzle dazzle' her with his skills. She didn't mind but she only asked that he finished it before the premier party, she also asked him to prepare a suit for Jeremy as she doubted that the clothes he currently had would suffice for such a party.
"Thanks Moe!" She said, getting out and grabbing her purse to go pick up Jeremy.
"You sure you want to walk down there alone and not just tell him we're here?" He asked politely.
"Oh, don't worry Moe, it will only be a short while." She called as she made her way down the entrance.
Truth be told she was a 'little' nervous going down the shaft and to the human base by herself, but after her last experience she wanted to surprise Jeremy and pick him up herself, and also figure out what it was the human was doing in the base by himself.
Aelita had told her in a text that he was doing a 'special project', inspired to do so when a few of the scientists that were reading history logs and looking up fascinating technology asked how the drones were made. What this 'special project' was, she didn't know, but apparently it had gotten all of the drones excited, including Aelita, or at least as excited as machines with the social skills and emotional expression of rocks could get. Only Aelita seemed truly excited as she had been spamming smiley faces to her phone.
She walked down the dirt path lit by multiple lights, and toward a trio of RAPTOR drones scanning the tunnel.
Upon seeing her they readied weapons, before putting them away upon recognizing her.
[Unit Gazelle… access is granted… welcome to Eden Facility Seventeen!] One said, before stepping aside and letting her pass through the door as it opened with a hiss.
She walked inside and looked around to find where she had to go to find Jeremy, having never done this before without Jeremy to guide her. However, an answer came in the form of MUTT, who trotted up to her and barked to get her attention in the metal hallway.
[Bark bark, this way… bark bark!] It said, before trotting off.
"Okay." She giggled.
Onward the little drone marched, it's metal feet clanking with each step. She walked past the command center where several mammals in white lab coats and writing furiously as they read holographic books and papers, examined diagrams and looked at texts covering topics she had no idea about. Yet the one thing she noted was the lack of 'security' in the room, as she left it behind, she only saw a single FOX drone watching them all, sitting on a lone chair off to the side. Even as she looked around while passing through the empty, yet still lit corridors, there was not a single drone to be found.
Though she did giggle as she spotted a troop of ANT drones marching off in single file formation, carrying some wires as they did, no doubt off to perform some fix or something.
After a while they made their way to the elevators and went down, and again, saw not a single drone as she did. They exited out into a hallway, and MUTT lead the way to a large room with the label 'Drone Parts Storage Room Zeta Four'.
MUTT opened the door and she gaped as she saw where all of the drones had gone now, seeing hundred and hundreds of drones cramped and stuffed into the huge room. She saw DOG drones and FOX drones all sitting and clambering over RAPTOR drones, watching as in the center, a lone Human was welding pieces of metal together, with wires and circuits, gismos and gadgets and a slew of other assortment of parts that she had no clue were called scattered around him.
Next to him was Aelita in her glowing Holosphere, sitting atop a FOX drone as she used it as a means of transportation.
The AI in question looked over and waved eagerly at her, before her phone rang, and she saw the AI had messaged her.
{Come closer, Jeremy is working on something amazing!}
Taking the hint, she waded through the crowd of machines, all of their glowing blue eyes fixated on Jeremy, who was so wrapped up in his work that he failed to notice she had entered.
Eventually she knelt down next to Aelita and looked as Jeremy grabbed a circular piece and began welding it to one of the metal pieces he had.
"What's he doing?" She asked.
[The Creator Species is 'Creating Artificial Life'.] A FOX drone muttered quietly.
She was impressed that the tone the drone used to describe what Jeremy was doing, almost as if it couldn't believe that Jeremy was doing something.
"Uh, 'artificial life'?" She asked quietly.
Her phone beeped and she saw Aelita had answered the question.
{He's creating a new line of Drones, when completed it will use a Category Two AI.}
"That's wonderful, but what is it going to be?" She asked.
[These units don't know…] A DOG drone replied.
Not wanting to interrupt, she just sat and looked at the scene, and was simply amazed at how the drones reacted to Jeremy as he silently worked. They watched his every movement, his every action, with silent rapture. Each time he picked up so much as a wire, slowly welded two pieces of metal together, or even screwed in something as trivial as a bolt, the drones watched as if it were the most important and wonderful thing in the world. It was amusing to her, but as Aelita explained in a text, his actions had significant importance to them all.
{The last line of drones to be constructed by humans was an upgraded version of a 'SPIDER' class medical drone, referred to as the Nursery Class 'Black Widow Spider Drone', or B.W.S. Drone. Since then humans have ceased construction of any new drones or improved upon any old drones, aside from the slight modified versions Jeremy worked on. And Drones with AI's of category 5 and 6, view humans as the 'Creator Species', and hold them in extremely high regard, as their programming dictates to.}
{The reason why the drones are all watching, is for them, this is an important moment. It has been over three hundred and fifty thousand years since a drone line was last constructed. Even if it uses an 'Inferior Category AI' compared to them.}
"Is that why you were so happy when you texted me?" She whispered.
The AI nodded with a smile, before replying, {Jeremy just decided he wanted to create something of his own, and I encouraged him to make a new drone line! Though I don't know what he's planning to make, I want to be surprised!}
A few more minutes passed before eventually Jeremy looked up and finally noticed her sitting with Aelita. "Gazelle, when did you get here?" He asked in surprise.
"A while ago, about ten minutes I think?" She said, looking at Aelita who held up nine fingers. "Okay nine minutes ago. So, what is it your making?"
Jeremy took a second to take off the visor and held up the piece he was working on. "It's the main body of the drone I'm making, as to what it is, I don't know yet." He said with a chuckle. "I'm just going with an idea in my head and as soon as its finished, I'll show it to everyone outside and see what they think of it."
"Well you certainly seemed to be happy working on it from what I saw." She said with a smile as he put the tools to the side.
"Well it does feel good to be doing 'something' aside from working on the base, I just needed to do something…" He said quietly.
"You'll find something to do Jeremy, I know it, and until then your free to live with me and stay as long as you like." She said warmly. "And speaking of that, Moe is waiting for us outside to take us home."
"I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting Gazelle." He said, quickly removing his tools and picking up Aelita's holosphere. "Uh, all drones return to your normal duties."
As one all the drones declared, [Order Received!] and began to march out of the room using the nearest doors they could, while also clearing a path for her and Jeremy.
They left the room amid the many drones all walking this way and that way, some crowding the down elevator and others heading for the stairs, leaving the up elevator clear for them.
"So, what 'are' the drones doing down here?"
"Most of them are going to return to the charging bays to repower and sit in stand-bye mode until they are called for duties by Sentinel. Others are off to Drone Storage Units to sit and power down until, like the others, assigned a duty by Sentinel. The rest are going to be doing whatever strange task has gotten into them." He explained as they went up.
"Strange task?" She asked as they left.
"It's a strange issue with the drones' programming, mostly in their logic pathways that deal with what 'they' perceive to be logical or of importance. Without routine memory wipes, meaningful orders, or a change in their routines, strange quirks begin to appear. For example, a group of Category Six drones have begun scouring the entire base looking for what they call the last roll of the 'Sacred Duct Tape'."
"Sacred Duct Tape?" She asked with a giggle as they headed to the command center.
"It's just an old utility tool from my time, it was an ingenious creation of humans, its essentially just a roll of tape but because of its makeup and how strong it was, it had a ton of uses. I believe in the year 2000 or so, someone actually made a boat out of nothing but duct tape." He said. "I myself haven't seen the roll of duct tape, but they told me that only one roll remained and are now dedicating their time scouring every inch of the base to find it."
"How much of the base have they searched?" She asked.
"About ten percent, not bad considering they've been at it for days now and there's only about twenty of them searching." He explained. "I've decided to just let them have at it, until their logic pathways begin to get out of hand, they're so far harmless."
"They can get worse?" She asked curiously as they left and were promptly followed by the three RAPTOR drones.
While the drones still scared her, she realized they were just following them to ensure Jeremy was kept safe, and of course with Jeremy there they would not harm her.
"Only the category six drones are my concern, category five drones will just get stuck in their logic pathways, but a simple memory wipe fixes that problem. However, the category six drones like this one…" He said, pointing at the lead RAPTOR behind them. "Run the risk of having their AIs self-upgrade from category six to category seven. Their programming isn't capable of handling the transition easily, and it's a fifty-fifty shot if they remain stable when it happens, if they don't remain stable, they end up crashing and shutting down."
"Can you fix them if that happens?"
Aelita glowed to get their attention and shook her head, before changing her hologram to show a happy RAPTOR drone face, slowly changing to a sick one, before showing it as 'dead' by giving it X's for each eye.
"As Aelita says, once that happens the only way to help them is to wipe their memory and reset their AI to the base AI settings stored in their Backup Memory Cores that they were programmed with upon activation."
(Jeremy's PoV)
As the elevator lifted them up to street level and they got out, he thought about the new drone he was planning to build. It had been an inspiration from Aelita to build it, and he decided that if he was going to build any drone, it would be one that could 'help' not only him but mammals. Since he was the one building it, he could show schematics of how its built afterwards to the mammals, so they could learn how it was constructed.
As for the 'animal' it would be based on, he had chosen an old earth animal that had gone extinct during the Final War. The animal being one that had served alongside humans since practically the beginning of documented human history.
Though the one downside with creating a drone from scratch on his own, was that he had no guidelines on how to build it, so he was basically building it blindfolded.
"So, Jeremy, what do you feel like having for dinner today?" Gazelle asked warmly as they left the building.
"I honestly don't mind what we eat Gaz-" He began saying, before he was suddenly shoved down to the ground.
"Outa the way!" A snide voice cackled.
"Jeremy are you okay?" Gazelle managed to say before the three RAPTORs stormed out, weapons primed and teeth bared, their optics red and laser sights swerving every direction possible.
[Hyeeeeeear!] They each hissed, causing Gazelle to back away in fear as they circled him, looking for a threat.
"Will you calm down I'm fine!" He yelled angrily as he slowly rose to his feet, using both hands to push himself up.
[Threats detected… zero… standing down…] The lead Raptor stated as they retracted their weapons.
"I'm sorry Gazelle, they can't help it, it's the 'Human Protection Protocol', I have no control over how they act when…" He said before he realized that something was missing.
He Looked around for Aelita's holosphere and saw that she wasn't there anymore. Frantically he turned around and tried to find her, thinking maybe she'd rolled away, but no she was nowhere.
"Aelita!" He screamed as the drones took up formation.
That was when he saw a small mammal, a weasel by the looks of it, running off with a small duffel bag under its arm as fast as it could away from them.
*Brnnnnng*
Gazelle's phone went off and she answered the call, suddenly the words (Sending out an SOS, sending out an SOS!) sang out of her phone before it cut off.
"That mammal stole Aelita!" He yelled, before he ran to give chase. "COME BACK HERE YOU THIEF!"
Right behind him the three RAPTOR drones followed in formation, matching his speed.
"I'll call the police!" Gazelle yelled as they ran away.
Meanwhile he ran to try and catch up to the weasel, however the weasel was far faster than he was, and soon he was losing sight of him. That's when he got the idea to use the RAPTOR drones that were following behind, who naturally out-sped him because of their high mobile design.
"RAPTOR, give me a lift!" He ordered.
[As you command.] It stated, before stopping and letting him climb onto it's back,
"Now after that mammal!" He ordered, pointing at said weasel who was nearly out of sight.
[Target assigned, assuming pursuit formation!] It stated, before it started screeching, "Gaaaawk, gaaaaaaawk!"
"Kryeeeaaaaaah!" The other two screeched in unison, before all three took off at maximum speed, catching a lot of nearby mammal's attentions as they stormed forward.
(Judy's PoV)
She slowly turned the corner in her squad car with Nick in the passenger seat as they neared Savanna Central Park.
"So how ya feeling dear?" She asked Nick.
"Oh, ya know carrots, same as always… same as always." He said quietly. "Just chugging along as usual."
"Nick, we both know that's not what I mean." She said politely. "I know your still not completely over what happened back in that base, but what happened happened and you have to put it behind you."
"I know carrots, but its not easy." He replied, looking out the window as they drove on.
"I can figure… I would be terrified… but you're a predator… I can't imagine how terrified you must have been." She said, remembering how he described the drones.
He had described them as emotionless predators, mammals without fear and without remorse, endlessly hunting their target not for the sake of satisfying their hunger or for territorial reasons, just for the sake of killing him. He had told her how 'helpless' he felt, as the human Jeremy did all the real work, getting them to safety, and even at the end it was not him who helped them out but a drone. Her husband-to-be had gone underground to try and help out a human, and all he did was end up being a burden, not even a minor distraction.
"You don't wanna know carrots, just be lucky you weren't there."
Just as they entered the square and she turned right the radio called out, [All units we have a robbery in progress near Savanna Central Park, repeat a robbery in progress near Savanna Central Park.]
She slowed to a crawl just as she saw a weasel running by them, duck underneath their car and toss a bag over the top and catch it on the other side screaming "Coming throooooough!"
"Weaselton?" Nick yelled as he got out of the car. "What's he doing running?"
"This is Officer Hopps responding to the robbery alert, we have a 10-31 repeat 10-31 in progress, Officer Wilde and I are in pursuit!"
[10-4 Hopps…] Clawhauser replied.
She got out of the car and was just about to join Nick when the crowd began gasping and screaming at something, and she had just enough time to turn around before she saw 'three' metallic RAPTORs storming toward her. Their metallic plate armor gleamed in the setting sun and glittering teeth bared, with eyes glowing red and red laser beams tracking Weaselton. Her instincts, some primal instinct in her screamed at her to run, but she was so scared at the sight of these things rushing her down that all she did was stare.
Then the drones, as scary and intimidating as they were, as fast as they appeared, simply ran around her, completely ignoring her as if she were object.
"Come back here you thief!" She heard someone yelling as the drones ran past, and she saw Jeremy riding on the back of the lead RAPTOR, while the other two followed in close formation behind them.
She watched the drones running away, clearing a swath as mammals ran to get out of their way while others watched in rapture as the machines from the human base ran in broad daylight.
"What did that mammal steal to warrant those 'things' to chase him?" Nick called out as he ran after them.
"Whatever it was, it better be worth his life!" Judy called out as she ran after.
They ran through the crowd as Weaselton ran this way and that, trying desperately to get away from the drones as they began to close the distance, unable to evade their pursuit. Then he turned toward Little Rodentia.
"Oh no, not again…" Hopps said as the weasel tossed the bag over, flung down to the ground and wiggled through the entrance as he did the last time while trying to evade her.
Only this time he was doing it while trying to evade three, highly advanced machines based on what could only be described as ancient predators, that according to Nick could not only track him forever but were among the most efficient killers that humanity had to offer from its past.
And he was leading them into the largest concentration of rodent species mammals in Zootopia!
(Jeremy's PoV)
"Sorry, excuse me… pardon me!" He yelled as mammals jumped and screamed out of the path of him and his drones. "Sorry about this!"
They had caught up to their thief and it was becoming evident that the thief knew it, as he was panicking and trying everything to lose them, trying to get the crowd to break line of sight yet it was impossible, as the drones very presence was causing every mammal to get out of their way, clearing a path and giving perfect view of him. Now as he ran through the square, he saw the weasel heading straight for a gated area that, as he rode atop his drone, looked to be a miniature residential area for very, very small mammals.
"Oh no… drone, activate bio scans, how many life signs are in that residential area in front of us?" He called out.
The drone replied instantly, using its optics to quickly scan before them. [Bio Scans indicate approximately eighty thousand six hundred based on quick scans.]
"Dammit, switch to stealth mode and maintain pursuit, I don't want any damage to that area, and I order you all to avoid ANY potential loss of life at all costs!"
[Warning, pursuit mode is in effect, stealth mode is not viable nor is it recommended for current operation.] It stated.
"JUST DO IT!" He yelled.
[Order received!] They all replied, jumping in unison and retracting their extremely sharp talons into their feet, and replacing them with highly specialized rubber toes.
The rubber toes were used only for stealth operations where silence was needed to help them slip behind their targets. However, he was having them swap to ensure that the pavement, which had been taking minor damage from their feet, would not happen any further. After a bit they landed and proceeded to continue to chase, no longer damaging the pavement as they ran.
Moments later the weasel threw the bag he was carrying and leapt through a tiny hole, scattering a few small mammals who were lingering outside.
"How wide are those streets?" He asked quickly.
[Quick analysis indicate pathways are between one and two meters.]
"Dammit there's no space for all of you. Assume hunting formation, separate, and bring him back here!"
[Roger!]
[Roger!]
The two drones behind veered away, one going left and the other right in perfect unison, while his drone reached the gated area, crouched and leapt high over, landing safely on the other side and beginning pursuit.
Before him he saw tiny cars that almost reminded him of toy vehicles from humanity's past, in what could only be seen as a miniature city that looked eerily similar to a human settlement that might have been seen in the 1900's. Yet he also saw hundreds and hundreds of rodent mammals of all kind going about their day, walking this way and that, getting in or out of cars and driving around.
At least they were before he and his drone, alongside the thieving weasel as they ran through the small street. At the sight of them panic erupted as every mammal ran for cover.
"STOOOOOOOP!" He screamed at the weasel.
Instead the weasel jumped onto a pair of parked cars and began using them as skates, ignoring the screaming rodents trying to get out of the way.
He turned down a street into a smaller residential area and leapt over homes and other rodents, going down this way and that, anything to avoid the drone pursuing him. Yet Jeremy riding atop his RAPTOR easily kept pursuit, the drone never once losing sight or track of their thief, despite his best efforts. He ducked, he weaved, he even tried running through a 'train' area that ran along some colored pipes.
Each attempt failed because the drone used the clearest path it could take while avoiding any damage to the area and alerting all mammals to its presence by emitting a growling call that constantly called out its location. As they ran rodents jumped and fled out of the path of both weasel and RAPTOR, some out of fear and others because they didn't want to get hurt, yet they also watched in wonder and awe as the drone ran past, moving with fluid grace despite its mechanical engineering.
Then his drone finally caught up to the weasel and caused them to panic and leapt onto a building and into another area of the town, a shopping district based on what he saw, and landed near a building with a large donut with the words 'The Big Donut' on it.
Rodents began screaming and clearing the area as they saw him land, and even more so as his drone turned a corner and raced toward him.
"STOP, JUST STOP RUNNING!" He screamed.
The weasel however looked at the donut and grinned, screaming "Have a donut 'Human'!" before kicking it at him.
"Incoming!" He told the drone, which stopped instantly and leaned to the side to avoid the projectile.
He turned around to see where the donut would go and was shocked to see that a clothing store was directly in its path.
(Fru Fru's PoV)
"Now Judy, when we get home, remember to give grandad a big hug and a happy birthday okay sweetie." She said warmly to her daughter.
"Okay mama…" Her sweet little ray of sunshine said as they walked out of the store.
"Now let's get over to Mousy's, they're having a wonderful sale on those cotton wool pants you like!"
-Boing, Boing, Boing-
She looked up and saw a huge donut flying toward her and her daughter, causing her to scream and grab her daughter in fear, pushing her behind her to shield her. Just as the donut bounced again and aimed straight for her, she closed her eyes and waited for it to hit, only to hear something slide and feel a shadow fall over her.
After a few seconds she opened her eyes and looked up to see…
"The human?" She asked in amazement, recognizing the human from the news and the big funeral she attended with her friends and daughter.
Said human was currently clutching the donut with his hands and breathing heavily, while behind him a giant 'scary metal mammal' stood watching him.
"Hi… I am so sorry about all of this…" He muttered apologetically. "Oh, you have such a lovely child, what's their name?"
"Wh… why thank you…" She said sweetly. "This is my daughter, her name's Judy!"
"Hi mister human!" Judy said warmly.
"Nice to meet you Judy, names Jeremy." He replied. "If you'll excuse me…"
(Jeremy's PoV)
"Drone, go after him, you know where to bring him!" He ordered as he turned around and hoisted the donut into a better position to hold.
The drone nodded and jumped to perform a full one-eighty, before resuming pursuit to chase after the weasel, who had taken the chance to run away.
He sighed as he walked to where the donut was supposed to go, and as he did rodents began to slowly emerge from hiding to look at him.
"Hi everyone… I'm really sorry about all of this!" He called as he walked by. "Really sorry, I apologize for everything, I'm soooo sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen."
As he made his way to the donut shop he heard two mammals running up behind him and turned to see Judy and Nick, the rabbit and fox officers whom he met before who helped him at the base.
"Jeremy, what in the blazes is going on?" Judy yelled as she caught up.
"Why is Weaselton running from you and what did he do, and where are those drones?" Nick asked.
"I'll explain in a bit… just let me… fix this!" He replied as he got to the shop and looked down at the shop owner who was watching him carry the donut. "I am really sorry that happened, will you permit me to fix it for you?"
"Uh sure… I don't mind, saves me money having to pay to get it replaced again." The shrew squeaked.
Jeremy nodded and slowly lowered the donut onto the shop's roof and looked to the shop keeper for direction.
"Uh… little more to the right…"
He nodded and shifted it.
"Little more please…"
He nodded again and shifted it again.
"A… bit more to the… rear…"
He nodded and slowly edged it.
"Right there!"
Jeremy nodded and planted the donut where the shop keeper told him. "Again, I apologize for 'any' inconvenience or trouble I or my drones caused. That mammal kidnapped a friend of mine and I panicked and ran after him with the drones that were with me."
"Oh, don't worry, if something like that happened to me, I would have reacted just the same… besides my shop's sign is fixed and nomammal got hurt so all's forgiven!" The shopkeeper said happily, and around them all the other rodent mammals squeaked and agreed. "Would you like a free donut? It's the least I can do for you fixing my shop and saving me money on getting it repaired and replaced!"
"Well I can't say no to that can I?" He chuckled. "Uhm… do you have… 'chocolate' by the way?"
"One jumbo Chocolate coming right up!" He called out before running inside. "Hooooney, we need a jumbo on the rocks stat!"
All the rodent mammals chuckled and began to slowly disperse while a few continued to look at him with wonder and even a few others began taking snapshots.
"Alright now that that's out of the way, explanation please?" Judy asked. "And where did that weasel head off to, did you see him?"
"No, he got away, but fortunately the drones have his location and are in pursuit." He explained.
"The drones are following him, isn't that dangerous?" Nick asked. "What if they kill him?"
"They won't, they've been reprogrammed not to kill any creature unless the three conditions required to authorize the use of lethal force are met." He explained as the shop keeper walked out with his donut. "Oh, thank you."
"Your welcome!" The shop keeper said as he went back inside.
He looked at the 'tiny' donut to him and put the whole thing in his mouth and ate it. "Mmm, delicious…"
"Jeremy, what do you mean by 'unless the three conditions required to authorize use of lethal force are met'?" Judy asked quickly. "And how do you know the drones are still following Weaselton?"
"The three laws programmed and hardwired into them are designed to ensure that no living human is ever killed unless absolutely necessary. They are very specific, unbreakable, uninterpretable rules that 'must all' be met before a drone is permitted to use any form of lethal force. The first is that a human's life must be present alongside the drone and that human's life must be 'threatened', the second is that the drone's own existence is threatened 'because' the human's life is threatened, and the third is that unless the drone takes 'lethal action' that is required in order to ensure the human's life is not threatened and no further loss of life is incurred because of the drone's actions, a drone cannot use any form of lethal response."
"Uh, short version?" Nick asked.
"Unless my life is threatened and unless the drone is 'required' to kill something or someone in order to ensure my life isn't threatened anymore, and if it doesn't kill anyone else, the drone cannot take a life. It will pursue any other possible avenue available to it before it pursues a lethal response." He simplified. "When we programmed it, we went through seven hundred and fifty thousand variable tests to ensure the three requirements couldn't be misinterpreted or broken, before hardwiring and reprogramming every drone to follow them."
"Okay, so at least we know Weaselton won't get murdered now, now what about the part that explains how you know the drones are still following him?" Judy asked.
"If I know the drones, which I do… they probably are following their pursuit programming and are currently maneuvering him to where I ordered them to bring him." He said, leading the way as he beckoned them to follow him. "RAPTOR class drones as I explained in the base to Nick, will 'never' lose sight of a target once they've sighted it. They use their heightened smell sensors and hearing to detect heartbeats and sweat glands. Obviously that Weasel will be in full panic and sweating up a storm from running while getting tired and in fear of the drones chasing him."
(Weaselton's PoV)
"Geheheahahah…" He grunted as he ran through the streets, trying to avoid the metal monster behind him, screeching and clanging after him. His heart was beating really fast as he ran full tilt to get away with his prize, and his tank top was super sweaty, in particular the armpit areas.
"The drones can communicate with each other far better than even the creature they are based on, able to transmit data and information in nanoseconds, relaying location, probable pathways, and take the best courses of action to ensure they carry out their mission."
He turned and saw the drone catching up on his right, attempting to cut him off from going right, so he ran left to try and catch it off guard, sliding under a car. It worked as the drone screeched and ran past, going the wrong direction.
He giggled at his genius before another screech caused him to run faster, as another metal monster jumped down an alley and followed him.
"Since the drones operate in a pack mentality they act as one, each one performing an action to achieve their overall goal, and they also operate using the same hunting method my species theorized that the ancient species used when they hunted creatures in their time."
He ducked down another side corner and slid through a small alleyway hoping it was too small for the machine to run through, and sure enough he saw it run past unable to get through.
"Hah ha!" He yelled triumphantly before.
"Keeeeryaaaaaar!"
He jumped and screamed in fear as in front of him a machine appeared and caused him to turn around, running for his life. It pursued him without hesitation, maintaining a set distance as he ran in terror.
"Since they almost all look the same, unless you knew their identities or were one of them, you'd never guess which drone is the one following you. Because of this they use it to their advantage and ensure that you only ever see one of them if they are pursuing you. At the same time that one is following you constantly the other two are maneuvering either in front or to the side, cutting off your escapes and luring you into a trap."
"Ghehehahahah…" He panted heavily as he ran back into Savanna Central Park and went to the square again, hoping to get lost in the crowd, but the machine behind him was now closing in.
It got up on his left and snapped, causing him to run right.
"You will never see the second or third one until its too late, when the time comes the second will appear and corner you into the area the third is waiting."
"Gaaaawk, Gaaaaaaawk!"
He looked ahead and saw a second machine snapping and snarling at him, cutting him off from the street, and making him turn to the left, the only other way he could run. He smiled as he saw 'Little Rodentia' ahead of him. If he could just get there, he could lose them again like last time among all the rodents and little buildings.
"Once you get to where they want you, you have no choice but to confront the pack as a whole, and by that time it is too late to have any hope of escape."
"Hreeeaaaaaaaarg!"
A third machine ran in front of him, right where he was going, causing him to skid to a stop and try to turn around, only to find that the other two were on either side, both stopping just short of him and snarling and glaring at him, preventing any hope of escape.
"Hnnnng…" He muttered as he backed away into a corner, the only corner they would let him.
"And because I told them to bring you here, here you are." A voice chided behind him, causing him to look around and see the human with both Officer Hopps and Wilde looking at him from the other side of the fence of Little Rodentia.
"If it isn't the Duke of Bootleg himself, Weaselton, got tired of selling bootleg movies and now decided to steal from an ancient species?" Nick asked with a smirk.
"Uh heheeey Nick… how can I help you?" Duke asked with a nervous cackle.
"Hyeeeeeeees…" The three metal monsters hissed in unison.
(Jeremy's PoV)
"Drones, hop over here please and give us a lift back over." He asked politely. "And one of you stay over there to keep your eye on that thief. As for you…" He pointed at the weasel, "Don't even think of running, as you saw those drones can track you with precision and ease, and unlike you they can keep running for nearly three days 'straight'. So, you just stand right there for me."
"Yea Weaselton, just save us the trouble and sit there." Judy stated as two of the drones crouched and leapt over the fence to land behind them, while the third stayed with the thief.
"Y-yes officer!" He answered nervously.
As he, Nick and Judy all climbed onto the two drones the many, many rodent mammals of Little Rodentia ooh'd and aah'd as the drones stood proud and tall, before leaping over the fence to land perfectly on either side of the thief, locking him in place so he had no escape again.
"Alright Weaselton, hand over what you stole from Jeremy." Judy said before taking her cuffs out.
"Uh what are you talking about?" He said nervously.
Instantly a guitar began playing from his duffel bag, causing him to jump. (I got my first real six string, bought it at the five an dime, played till my fingers bled, was the summer of sixty nine!)
"You can hand her over to me, or the drones can do it for me, take your pick." He said coldly.
"Okay okay okay!" He said nervously as the drones eyed him.
He opened the bag and pulled out Aelita's holosphere, and quickly handed it to him. The AI was swaying around in her sphere and acting dizzy, before she settled and leaned against the side with both her hands and smiled happily as he held her sphere.
"I'm sorry Aelita, are you okay?" He said softly to the AI.
She looked up and nodded, before turning around and glaring at the weasel and shaking disapprovingly at him.
"Apologize to Aelita." He asked 'Duke' as the weasel was being cuffed.
"Why should I?"
"Hyeeeeear!" All three drones growled menacingly.
[Unit Jeremy has made a request of you, respond immediately!] The leader of the trio declared loudly.
"Okay okay okay!" He yelled fearfully while trying to get behind Judy and failing. "I'm sorry… okay I'm sorry!"
Aelita nodded in acceptance before she returned to leaning on Jeremy again.
"Officers, I am so sorry for all of the trouble I caused." He said as Judy and Nick led Weaselton to their squad car.
"Normally I'd forgive you and say it's understandable, but sadly Jeremy I also have to ask you to come in with us as well." Judy said. "Chief Bogo wants to talk to you, we got our orders to bring you in as well."
"Something about 'running around rampaging with metal monsters' and demanding to talk to you about them." Nick chuckled. "Oh, I can't wait to see how he reacts to this story."
"I'm not in trouble, am I?" He asked nervously.
"Don't know, I think Bogo wants to hear your story before he yells at us." Judy explained as she clipped Weaselton in the backseat. "Hop in."
Jeremy was a bit nervous but, seeing as he 'had' to explain why he and three RAPTOR class drones were running around Zootopia causing a panic, he got in the rear next to Weaselton, before looking at the drones as they followed him to the door of the car.
"Uh, what do you want me to do about the drones?" He asked.
"Can you make them go home?" Nick asked.
"Drones, return to base, resume standard sentry duty." He ordered.
As one all three drones shook their heads. [Unable to comply, Human Protection Protocols remain in effect!]
"Ugh, great… they detected my jump in heart rate when I got nervous about being in trouble and now, they think they need to protect me…" He complained to Aelita who shrugged. "They are ganna keep following me until they are sure I'm safe, I can't make them go back."
"Oh, this is ganna be fun…" Judy groaned as she started the car and they began to took off toward ZPD HQ, with all three drones following close behind in formation, causing quite a sight to the mammals as they watched.
Ten minutes later they were at ZPD, and after causing quite a scene at the front office in which every officer stared as Judy and Nick led Weaselton in cuffs, Jeremy holding Aelita behind them, and the three RAPTOR drones in formation behind him, all the way up to Bogo's office.
"Mr. Jeremy, I can accept a lot of things about you, first and foremost that you are an endangered species and being one that affords you certain immunities from the law." The bull said to him as he paced back and forth behind his desk. "What I cannot condone, and please forgive my rudeness, is you and those 'things' parading and tramping about Zootopia, causing an uproar!"
He pulled out a stack of papers and reports and slammed them on the desk.
"Two hundred, 'two hundred' call ins about your drones causing panic in the streets, mammals left and right thinking they are under attack and calling for help! My officers have been running ragged the last hour because of you and your machines!" He snarled before sitting down. "An explanation… if you please."
He was keeping his heartbeat in check and his emotions calm, not for his sake but for Bogo's sake. The drones were still in the room, standing behind him, and they were still obeying the Human Protection Protocols, if they perceived Bogo as a threat who knows what they might do to protect 'him' from the Bull Chief of Police.
"Chief Bogo… I can understand your anger and frustration with me, frankly its warranted and if you need to arrest me in order to punish me for what happened I accept it." He stated. "However, in my defense… Weaselton knocked me down and stole Aelita… my friend… and ran off with her."
The AI nodded in agreement, before changing her form to take Weaselton's form and recreating the scene in her sphere.
"Aelita has within her database, her identity, over six hundred years of my species culture, knowledge, wisdom, history… everything. I cannot afford to let anything bad happen to her, if anything does then the only thing that remains of my species will be what little history and technology remains in the base and my memories of them… and that isn't much compared to what we'd lose if she is lost." He explained. "The drones, I cannot control entirely, if they perceive anything to be a threat to 'me' and my life, they will do whatever they feel is necessary to protect me. As for them running around, I 'told' them to bring Weaselton to me, but they are also programmed not to harm unless absolutely necessary, and even then they will pursue all other options before they consider hurting anything living. She is my species 'emissary' to you mammals if we died out, and she was meant to guide my species or whoever came after us to a better future and ensure the mistakes 'we' made were never repeated."
He then held her close to his heart and looked into Bogo's eyes. "Given that he tried to steal my species 'culture', and what was at stake, I feel I was within my rights to take whatever action necessary action to ensure her safe return to me."
There was a moment of silence before Bogo leaned into his chair and put on some reading glasses.
"Fortunately for you, I and the Mayor are in agreement." He said politely. "Therefore, you don't have to worry about being punished, and given your statement I can report to the public of what happened so this matter can be smoothed over by the mayor. However, next time keep your 'machines' in check!"
He breathed a sigh of relief at that.
"As for 'YOU' Mr. Weaselton!" Bogo growled as the weasel shrank nervously in Judy's custody. "Your going to be in for a bit longer for stealing 'Aelita' was it?" He asked the AI who nodded. "Stealing 'her' than stealing 'moldy onions' like the last time. Since she is considered alive, I am putting you down for 'kidnapping' and 'attempted theft' as well as 'reckless endangerment of mammals AND rodents', and at least 'two' counts of property damage!"
"Hopps, Wilde, process him!" He ordered.
"Got it chief." Nick saluted as Judy walked out with the weasel.
"Before you take him away may I talk to him for a moment?" He quickly asked the bull.
Chief Bogo nodded as he began pulling out paperwork.
He and Aelita walked out of the room, leading the drones as well and asked Judy and Nick to wait for a moment.
"What do you want?" He asked rudely.
The drone's optics turned red at his tone, but Jeremy silenced 'them' with a look.
"Duke was it, what do you do for a living?" He asked politely.
"I do nothing for a living, I sell dvds for discount price on the street!" He said.
"The Duke of Bootleg, Duke Weaselton." Nick chuckled.
"Right… and I guess you tried to steal Aelita to probably sell or ransom…" He said politely.
"Yea so what!"
"Duke, please for your sake… don't do that anymore, stealing from others isn't right and it doesn't help you at all." He explained warmly, or as warmly as he could since he remembered this mammal tried to steal his 'friend'. "Where I came from… before my species died out… we were struggling just like you to get by every day. I heard of some people like you, stealing from others, because they 'needed' more than was available. I've heard of humans from before I was born stealing from families, they'd killed…"
At that the weasel looked curious at that. "What'd they steal, gold, jewels, diamonds?"
Jeremy pointed at a pair of rhino officers who were lounging near a pair of beverage dispensers, more specifically a bottle of water that one of them was drinking out of.
"Water… they killed a family… for 'water'?" The weasel asked.
"Back then there was so little water to drink, people would kill for even a sip." He said sadly. "And there was one human who chose to kill a family of five, two young girls a boy, their father and mother, for a single bottle of water he was hunted down by a RAPTOR class drone… this one to be precise."
He nodded at the lead drone.
Weaselton gulped as he looked at the drone.
"Only reason you weren't harmed by them, was because they are programmed not to harm mammals, or anything living, unless 'my' life is threatened. This drone saw that human as a threat to 'all' humans because of what they did, and so hunted them down." He explained. "So, learn from me, learn from my species… the more you take… the less you'll have. Give your life more meaning, if not for others than yourself. When you refuse to steal for greed and live life honestly, you show others that you are someone, and not another 'no one'."
With that he apologized again to Judy and Nick for taking so long and walked out of ZPD with the three drones following behind.
"Aelita, can you call Gazelle and ask her for pickup… I don't think I can find our way back to where we left her." He asked her.
Aelita nodded and held her hand to her ear, with her thumb and pinkie extended to mirror a phone, indicating she was already telling her.
"As for you three, go back to the base and resume your standard sentry duties!"
[Human Protection Protocols are still in effect, in order to obey this order, one of these units must remain until you are safely within Unit Gazelle's custody.] The Lead Drone stated.
"Fine, you two head on back to the base… and maintain 'Stealth Mode' until you get back to the facility, understood?" He asked.
[Order acknowledged.] It replied, before turning and marching off with one of the assisting RAPTOR drones.
He sighed as he sat on a bench nearby, getting attention from mammals who were staring at the drone and taking pictures.
While he waited some mammals, who were extremely curious and also slightly scared, got closer to him to ask him questions when they did.
"Mr. Human?" A pair of Tiger cubs asked him, watched over by their mother.
"Yes?" He replied sweetly to the two cubs.
"Uhm… what is that?" The younger of the two, a boy by the sounds of them asked, pointing at the RAPTOR which stared silently around.
He smiled as he replied, "That's a RAPTOR drone, a 'robot' my species created ages ago." He explained. "It's here protecting me until a mammal I'm living with comes to pick me and my friend up."
"Why does it look like that?" The other cub, a girl asked.
"Because my species based it on a creature that once lived but no longer does." He said.
"Was it from 'human times'?" They asked together as more mammals got over their fear and got closer to hear the story.
"No, actually it existed way… way… WAY before my species most distant ancestor was even on this planet!" He said proudly as Aelita smiled at him from the bench.
He got up and beckoned to the drone, pointing at various parts of it and began talking about them.
"This particular drone line, called RAPTOR, are based on Raptors, an ancient species of lizard like creatures called Dinosaurs. This particular drone and the other two that were with me earlier are based on Velociraptors, a species that once existed millions of years ago, over seventy million years to be exact! And they were among the most intelligent species of dinosaur that we knew of, extremely capable 'predators' that hunted in packs."
"Wow!" The little cubs said in awe as the drone looked around.
"Some species of Raptor were shorter than me, but far stronger and with extremely cunning intelligence. Able to outmaneuver and…"
Drone Chapter – Ancient Predator and Modern Prey
*Jeremy's Personal Log 246*
*During my time in the base after I woke up, I encountered several interesting accounts from my past regarding the drones that I didn't ever read about or learn about as a kid, or even as a teenager. Mostly regarding the drones of Category 6, and the weird if not somewhat risky transition they make when their AI's logic pathways and algorithms grow without intent, evolving from Category 6 to Category 7 class AIs.*
*Among these accounts is a drone unit that went from Category 6 to 7, and then from 7 to 8, when it's AI, unable to cope with the huge amount of 'data' it had to deal with because of its new category, crashed and had to be reset at the base AI program it was given, which was category 6. The reason for it, was because apparently the drone began interacting with a human female, and after constant interactions with the human over an extremely extensive period of time, grew in both 'personality' and 'knowledge', eventually growing in AI to become category 7 and then eventually 8.*
*What makes it weird, is that before it expired, it declared it 'loved' a human woman… and begged in its final moments, that we 'not' tell her. This begs the question, can these drones 'feel' emotions, and if so… how would they react to 'us' knowing what we have done with them?*
(Unit PT-173's PoV)
It marched off toward the drone, optics blue as it took the most direct course to the base waypoint. As it did 'flesh units', referred to by Unit Jeremy as 'Mammals' got out of their way, some out of fear. Others simply stared at them as they walked, observing their actions as they marched.
Behind it Unit ZG-242 marched behind, obeying the order to 'return to base' and following behind it, as that unit's AI was of Category 5, and therefore superseded it's authority to 'it's' authority, as it was of Category 6.
As they walked down an empty alley to go onto a street which would eventually lead them back to the base, it heard some shouting and detected a pair of heart beats up ahead, causing it to pause in its march as the tones caught its attention.
"Paulo you can't go spending our money on alcohol, we need it to pay rent!" A female voice said.
"Ah shutup Lula, I had a hard day I deserve some booze in my life!" A male voice replied.
"But we're behind in rent for 'two months', if we miss another month we'll be evicted!"
"And who's fault is that!?"
Detecting the voices and judging by the tones, it seemed to be a 'class seventy-seven domestic dispute' according to its database, so it moved on and chose to ignore it, marching onward to the street.
As it reached the street with Unit ZG-242 behind...
"I keep telling you, I can't work my job anymore because my job laid me off!" The female voice explained. "This means until I get a new job your income's all we have! We can't live off of beer and takeout Paulo."
"Yea well that's all I've 'got' since you sure aint giving me anything else!" The male voice chided back, his voice slurring every few words.
"What's that supposed to mean!"
It turned the corner to head to the base and saw the source of the two voices coming from a pair of Antelopes.
At first it was going to ignore them, as they were not a threat, nor was it ordered to interact with 'mammals' by the creator species, Unit Jeremy. Yet its optics scanned the faces of the two 'mammals' and its facial recognition program instantly identified the female as 'Savior One', a classification identity and number the drones had given the mammals who provided power to Unit Jeremy's pod before it expired, thus saving the last of the Creator Species.
"I'm saying you never give me any of 'this' after a hard day's work!" The male said, identified by vocal memory as 'Paulo', as they grabbed the female by her rear end.
"Get your hands off me Paulo!" She replied angrily. "You think I'm going to sleep with you when you come back home late reeking of beer and cigarettes?"
"You aint never sleep with me to begin with Lula!" He snarled back as she slapped his hand away.
[Unit PT-173, our orders are to return to the base and resume sentry duty, request reason for delay.]
[Unit ZG-242, this unit has delayed arrival time…] It began saying before the two mammals began shouting.
"Get away from me, I can't believe you would even 'accuse me' of sleeping with some other mammal!" Lula shouted.
"Shut up you bitch!" Paulo shouted back, slapping Lula to the ground heavily with the bottle in his hand. "You probably whoring yourself out to whoever looks at you and is willing to 'pay you' for an hour!"
At that it acted and marched up in 'stealth mode' behind them.
"You're living in 'my' apartment since it's MY MONEY paying the rent, so I decide what you 'do'… and if I say…"
Lula was looking behind Paulo in fear as Unit PT-173 stood up and glared at the back of the male antelope's skull.
"What do you want?!" He screamed as he turned around and wacked it with the bottle.
The bottle smashed on its duratanium plate armor, causing not even a scratch, or so much as the tiniest of scrape. What remained of the liquid inside of the bottle splashed around and onto the floor.
"Ah… h…ah… ha…." Paulo stuttered in fear.
PT-173 opened its mouth, revealed its diamond tipped teeth, extended its clawed hands and changed the color of its optics to red, before leaning forward in a sudden motion and 'screamed', "Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaer!"
"Aaaaaaaah!" He screamed as he ran away, leaving Lula behind on the ground still in fear.
It retracted its claws, closed its mouth, and turned to Lula who still laid on the ground.
"D… don't hurt me…" She begged in fear.
[This unit will not harm you.] It stated as it just stared at her before it leaned down and offered a claw. [Are you… damaged?]
"I… I'm okay…" She muttered, slowly taking the claw and carefully getting up. "Th… thank you for helping me."
[This Unit… had to intervene.] It stated. [You are 'Savior One'…]
"Savior One?" She asked in confusion.
[Savior One, first of the thirty-seven who provided power to Unit Jeremy's Cryostasis Pod… saving the last of the creator species.] It stated. [All Drones of Category Six… have recorded your images… our orders… treat as if they are the creator species… by order of Sentinel.]
"Oh… oh you mean the egg!" She said happily. "Yea, my phone died because of that egg, I'm happy that Jeremy is alive. Where is he living by the way?"
It scanned its memory and found that the information regarding Jeremy's location and residence was 'classified'. [This unit cannot respond, access to that information is denied…]
"Oh… I see…" She replied sounding disheartened.
It looked around the street before returning to her. [Where do you live… this unit will escort you to your home… before returning to Facility 17.]
She sighed and looked back at where the male antelope had been before he vanished. "Currently homeless now that my stupid 'boyfriend'… 'ex-boyfriend'… kicked me out after today it seemed." She growled. "All because I wouldn't sleep with him… I thought he wanted to wait until we got married…"
It contemplated that information before communicating with Sentinel, and from Sentinel Aelita. It transmitted a request, relaying the information, and then soon received the information.
[This unit has been authorized to offer you sanctuary at Eden Facility 17… until a time as you decide you wish to leave… by order of 'Unit Aelita'… and authorized by Unit Jeremy.]
At that she looked at it in surprise. "Wait… you will let me stay in your base… like 'really' stay?" She asked.
[Affirmative…] It replied. [If you wish… this unit will escort you to Facility 17… you have a room authorized to you… standard living quarters.]
It bent down and after a few moments of hesitation, Lula tentatively climbed onto its back and settled in. Once she was firmly in place Unit PT-173 stood and began marching at a slightly faster pace to Facility 17, gaining speed as the few mammals that were still out at the late hour stared and took snapshots of the three of them.
"Thank you… by the way… for helping me back there." She said to it.
[This unit does not require appreciation… it merely followed an order…] It replied.
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean you don't deserve 'some' gratitude for what you did."
Having no response to that, it just turned down a street and made the final beeline to the base entrance.
Drone Chapter – The Sacred Duct Tape Search Pt 2
(Fox Drone P8-44)
[Unit P8-44 reporting in, still no sign of subject Duct Tape.]
[Unit P8-44, status of level three search pattern completion?]
[Search pattern Alpha, Zeta, Gamma, Three two five… completion rate fifteen percent.]
It gained access to one of the living quarters and began examining every square inch for the Duct Tape roll. So far it has examined an empty Hydroponics Bay, an energy storage bay, fifteen living quarters, and an entire parts room with no sign of the last roll of the Duct Tape.
[Query… have any units examined the ANT Storage Bay?]
[Negative!]
[Negative.]
[Negative.]
[Why have no units examined the ANT Storage Bay?]
[Unit Jeremy has frequently been in that room, and unit Jeremy has not encountered the Last Roll of Duct Tape in it.]
[Has Unit Jeremy looked for the Duct Tape in the room?]
[Negative] All the other units declared in unison.
[Query, permission to deviate from the current search pattern to examine the Ant Storage Bay?]
[Denied, if search pattern is not completed on time search pattern will be delayed.]
With that it turned back to the floor and began looking around, opening up various compartments and drawers in the room. It may be Category Six and a FOX drone, but when it came to rank it was only P8, the drone leading the search was C2.