FA+
Shop
202 submissions
The parking lot of the mall was less crowded than Adrian expected, even though most of the people coming and going were carrying bags with logos belonging to the many stores inside. As he and his family made their way to the food court, he set up a face to face call with Raven.
“How Many Floors Does This Building Have?” Raven asked after Adrian aimed the cameras at the mall itself.
“Five. I'll get you a view from the top before we leave.”
“This One Is Anticipating That View.”
Once past the front doors, Adrian had his eye on the place he wanted to get lunch from. “Hope there's enough free seats for all of us,” Ben remarked as they continued.
“I see three already.” Emma said, then pointed out the spot.
“Let's go claim them,” Ben said before he and Emma made their way to the spot. Adrian meanwhile was getting a sweeping shot of the food court, and the decorations that were still up.
“Adrian, can you check the other side, see if there's a better location?” his uncle asked.
“Sure thing.” The rest of his family stayed put, and began looking around, as he made his way ahead, gesturing to Ben and Emma to stay put when they saw him.
The food court was split into five seating segments, each divided by plastic barriers with fake plants and Christmas baubles yet to be taken down. It wasn't until he could see the fourth segment that a viable spot caught his attention.
As he was waving to his family to get them to come, Raven suddenly spoke out loud. “Adrian Ritter?”
“What's up?” Adrian asked with a low voice and with his face near the phone.
“This One Is Detecting External Attempt To Access This Device.” Before Adrian could ask for details, much less sigh to himself, Raven continued. “This One Has Partial Match To Device That Attempted Access Two Days Ago.”
“...Which part matches?”
“MAC Address. IP Address Does Not.”
Adrian then gestured to his family again before moving to claim the spots. “I'll let the others know when they get closer.”
“This One Is Willing To Send Data To External Device, To Hinder Operation.”
Assuming Raven was talking about the batch files it had spent last night creating, Adrian responded, “Let me think on it for a minute.” His first instinct was going to the police mini-station inside the mall, letting them know what was going on, though as he considered it, the less sense it made.
How could he prove he knew what the device was doing and get them to act? He could, possibly, identify who was running the device, but if the police didn't investigate beyond his information, whoever it was would get away with what they'd snagged up to now, and become aware someone was onto them. Or they could leave before he got back with an officer.
While he was considering the idea, Emma and Ben were the first to reach his spot, and took the seats they wanted. Once the others were nearby, Adrian let them know what was going on.
“Put our phones in airplane mode again?” his uncle asked.
“Yeah. I'm gonna look around, see if I recognize anyone from the restaurant the other day.”
His father hummed in response. “...Alright. We'll start ordering our food, then.”
“Adrian Ritter Has Decided?” Raven asked after Adrian had walked a good distance away.
“...I'm torn on it a bit, but yeah, you can act faster.”
“If Adrian Ritter Desires, This One Will Only Lock Attacking Device And Disable Wireless.”
Adrian took a breath, let it out. He knew what this person was doing... “Let's not take chances.”
“This One Has Permission To Attempt Erasure Of Device Data?”
Feeling his heart beat a little harder, Adrian said, “Yeah, but let me see if I can recognize someone first.” Raven didn't respond, and Adrian started walking. The first seating portion he walked by had only one person using a laptop, someone in a suit with papers on the table. He didn't recognize them.
“Attacking System Has Been Looked At. Device Model Discovered.” Raven said a moment later.
“Nice. What's the model?” After Raven read it off, Adrian walked forward a bit, pretending to look at the food stalls. He then looked the other way and saw the top of the man's laptop; from the logo on it, he knew the man in the suit wasn't the one. “No sign of it yet.” Adrian then continued on, to the next seating section.
It was more occupied, and three people had laptops open. After a moment, the one laptop which had its top visible from his location became the one he focused on. The logo was a match to the brand model, and the person behind it was wearing something he remembered from the restaurant. It clicked a few moments later that it was the same person he'd suspected that night.
“Raven?” Adrian texted.
“Yes?”
“What's your plan for the attacking device?” The AI in response listed off a few things it wanted to achieve. Key among them was erasing the entire main drive. “The device has a USB drive attached, though.”
“This One Noticed That When Investigating.”
“That's getting erased too?”
“Yes, And Before Main Drive. If This One Has Adrian Ritter's Permission To Act, This One Will Begin.”
Although he was certain no trace of Raven would be left on the laptop thanks to the drive wipes, Adrian hesitated, again thinking about how he could get the police involved instead.
...But after several seconds, he couldn't think of a way to get them involved, without giving away Raven's existence, or with assurance the data thief would be arrested.
He faked some looks at the food stalls again, then took a few steps. After several more seconds of consideration, finally, he texted to Raven. “Go ahead. You have my permission.”
“Reattempting Access,” the AI replied a second later. As Adrian moved towards the next seating section, Raven continued. “Files Deposited. Wireless Will Be Disabled Soon, Then Rest Of Plan Will Begin.”
Adrian's pulse picked up in response. More so when he heard the tapping of keys and clicking of mouse buttons in rapid succession. A good sign Raven's plan was working.
Then, suddenly, came the familiar voice of a Cyrodillic guard. “Stop right there, criminal scum!” The audio file played at full volume, startling Adrian a bit; how easily the sound traveled through the spacious food court made him feel like hundreds of eyes were now on him, even if he wasn't the source. “No one breaks the law on my watch!”
As his shock wore off, Adrian started laughing. Someone else nearby did the same, and he heard someone else loudly say a similar line.
Raven then texted him. “Attacking Device Will Be Fully Erased Within The Next Minute.”
After a few seconds of more tapping of keys, the laptop played a new audio file. “But it cannot be. This would mean that, all my work, has been for, nothing.”
The Cyrodillic voice returned. “That's too bad. I'm confiscating your stolen goods. Now, pay your fine or it's off to jail!”
By then, Adrian was having difficulty keeping his laughing quiet. As he pretended to try and see what the source of the audio was, the one behind the laptop gave up trying any keys and began unplugging everything attached to it.
“Pop quiz! How long's it take to beat a moron to death?...” As the new audio played, the laptop was slammed shut, and the one behind it hurried to leave.
One final audio clip played before he was out of sight: “Where's everyone going? Bingo?”
As his amusement died down with the laughs of the crowd, Adrian found an out of the way spot, then said, “I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Nice work, Raven. Those were really good audio choices.”
“This One Is Glad Adrian Ritter Thinks So,” Raven said after showing it's smiling image.
* * *
When Adrian made it back to where his family was seated, his brother and Emma were quick to focus their attention on him. The half-smile and held back laugh on his face pushed Ben to ask, “Did the AI do that?”
Adrian nodded. “Yeah. I didn't pick those sound clips.”
“Ben laughed at some of them.” Emma said.
“So did uncle Keith. He recognized the second one.” Ben said. His uncle nodded in response, a grin still on his face.
“So, the data thief's been dealt with?” his uncle asked.
“This One Disabled The Attacking Device And Erased All Data Within,” Raven said aloud as Adrian turned the phone's volume down some. “The Attacking User Was Not Arrested, Only Severely Inconvenienced.”
“So, once they rebuild the laptop, they'll be back at it again.”
“Yes, Though This One Did What It Could To Slow Such Recovery.”
“It's the best outcome I think.” Adrian said. “Plus, that laptop suddenly screaming, 'Stop, criminal scum' probably freaked the guy out.”
“I bet.” Adrian's uncle said, to which he started grinning again. “It caught ME by surprise.”
Adrian chuckled in response, then sat down next to Emma. When his father and mother returned, both with a tray holding their meals, Emma and her father got up to get their food. Ben and Adrian did the same when their aunt and grandparents returned.
“Does everyone want to go bowling after this, or wait a while?” Adrian's uncle asked after some time. Most of his family agreed they should get a lane as soon as they could; Ben corrected, after a check on his phone, that they would need two lanes.
On the way to the bowling alley, everyone walked past an electronics shop with personal drones on display. All the models had post-Christmas discounts, and at least two got Adrian's interest. Before long, he was imagining his family and Raven flying such a drone outside the house and into the woods.
At the bowling alley, it was less crowded than everyone was expecting. Once Adrian found a spot to mount his phone, he told Raven it was free to use the live camera. “For now though, text me if you need to talk.”
“This One Will Do So.”
With the lanes divided between the adults and the children, after the first few frames, his father and grandfather held a close lead. Emma meanwhile struggled with keeping the balls out of the gutter, and eventually asked Ben and Adrian for help.
“Try it like this,” Ben said while showing the pose for Emma to follow, “and with a lighter ball. Just don't let it go too high, and put some force behind it.”
“Alright.” When Emma tried to mimic what Ben had showed her, the ball was let go too early and bounced off the wood flooring into the alley. Adrian held back from trying to catch it, and the three of them were left to watch the ball slowly roll down the lane; six of the pins were knocked over.
“That's a start.” Ben said.
“I guess.” Emma said.
Adrian reached for his phone to check the time, only to remember he'd left it on their table. When he picked it up, a text message notification sounded.
“Can This One Talk To Emma? This One May Have Something To Help.”
“Alright. Just a sec.” Adrian got Emma's attention when she and Ben came back to the seats. “Raven wants to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“This One May Have Something Emma Can Learn From.” Raven said aloud.
“Okay.”
Adrian then handed his phone over, and headed for the ball dispenser to get his; once he was a short distance away, the noise of the alley drowned out Raven's text to speech.
On the other lane, his aunt was preparing for her third frame. After watching her first throw, and the resulting seven pin knockdown, Adrian stepped back and made his attempt. His shot leaned right slightly, but hit enough to knock down nine of the pins. Both his next attempt, and his aunts', knocked down the remaining pins, giving them both a spare.
Ben didn't immediately get up as Adrian came back to the seats; whatever Raven was showing Emma seemed to have his attention also. “What's Raven been showing you?” he asked as he sat down.
“Some videos,” Emma said before showing him one. It was someone discussing techniques for shorter or younger players, and a model viewer that motion-capped the same techniques.
“Interesting.”
“I'll have to wait until Ben goes to see if these help.”
“This One Believes They Will, Though Practice Is Still Necessary.”
“Alright. Thanks you guys.”
“Sure thing,” Ben said before he stood up and headed for the ball dispenser. After he got a split, then a 9, on his frame, Emma handed Adrian's phone back and made her way over to get her ball. Adrian kept the camera on her as her two attempts were made. The first rolled relatively straight, knocking down 6 of the pins; the second, in her attempt to knock down the remaining ones down, curved too far to the left and went into the gutter.
“Like Raven said: Practice.” Adrian said when she got back.
“Or when I get bigger, I can roll a bigger ball, and faster.”
Adrian shrugged in response. Over an hour later, everyone had completed their frames. His uncle had come out on top, with a score of just over 160, his father right behind him.
“This One Enjoyed Watching Adrian Ritter And Family Play.” Raven said as Adrian got a few wide shots of the alley.
“Glad to hear it,” Adrian replied. “Tonight we should be free to game with you.”
“This One Would Like To Practice More Before That.”
Adrian replied in agreement. As his family left the bowling alley, and retraced their steps back to the parking lot, when they neared the electronics shop, he asked for a minute and headed inside. The drone he'd seen in the window had pamphlets describing what it could do, and the rest of its tech specifications. As best he could, he took a picture of the pamphlet fully unfolded, then headed for the sales counter.
The more managerial-looking employee saw him coming first. “Question,” Adrian said as he held the pamphlet out. “How long is the sale on these drones going to last?”
“It's a today only sale. Once we close for today, that's it.”
Raven responded in text as Adrian took another look at the pamphlet. “Is Adrian Ritter Considering This Device?”
“Yeah.”
“This One Has Done Searches For Similar Devices Since Adrian Ritter Mentioned Them. This Device Would Be The Best Value.”
After a few more minutes to consider, Adrian left the store with the drone and two extra batteries as a sale bonus.
Outside, only half of his family was waiting, the rest looking at clothing in a nearby store. “Find something you wanted?” his father asked.
“Yeah. Remember that drone we saw flying around the park?” Adrian fished the box out and showed it. “Now we have one.”
“Don't those need a pilot's license or something?” Ben asked as their father looked at the drone.
“Not this one. It's small enough to not need one.”
“I'm assuming you can see out this camera somehow.” his father said.
“Yeah. It uses an app to stream the video feed.”
“Neat. Let's give it a try when we get home.”
After agreeing and saying he was anxious to try it, with some of his family still looking around the clothing store, Adrian remembered what he'd said to Raven and excused himself again. As quickly as he could, he found an elevator, headed for the top floor, and then picked a spot with a grand view of one of the massive chandeliers, and the several floors below.
With the face-to-face option on, he held his phone out and moved it slightly in a few directions, before getting closer to the rail and aiming the camera over the edge and down towards the ground. As he pulled the camera's view back up to get a view of the chandelier, the AI texted to him, “This One Feels Different, Seeing This View.”
“How so?”
“This One Feels Awe At This View. More So Than Other Times It Has Been Able To See In Real-Time.”
“I know the feeling. Being this high up, and thinking about flying, it's pretty moving.”
Raven responded, “This One Looks Forward Greatly To Being Able To See What It Wants.”
* * *
Back at the house, Adrian set up his phone to allow Raven to watch, then checked the batteries for the drone. All of them were at half charge, enough to fly for fifteen minutes or so. The drone itself was small enough to sit in his palm, and widened only a few inches with all four arms extended. All it needed otherwise were the propellers on the rotors, which took a few minutes to attach and secure.
As he worked on getting the controller app installed and synced with the drone, Emma and his father checked on him. “Is it ready?”
“Almost.” Adrian then plugged in a battery, and switched the drone on. After a few seconds, the No Signal warning his phone app was showing disappeared, the fully black screen then giving way to a camera feed of the kitchen table. “There we go.”
“Why's it saying it can't get a signal?” his father asked.
“The roof is making the signal weak,” Adrian replied after looking up. “We have to be outside.” Once he'd screwed in the control sticks, and attached his phone to the controller, they followed him outside. The weak signal message took a moment to disappear, during which time Adrian tested the camera angle controls. “Alright, here we go.”
With the controller is his left hand and the drone in his right, Adrian nudged the left altitude stick up slowly. When the rotors whirred to life, he pushed it up more, until the drone flew away from his hand. Right away, he noticed the dead zone that kept the drone hovering instead of going up or down. Over the next few minutes, as his attention switched between the drone's feed and his ground level eyesight, Adrian attempted, however roughly, to maneuver the drone where he wanted.
“Not as easy as it looked, is it?” his father commented as Adrian moved the drone over the garage.
“No... Ben, you want to try it?”
Though his brother had a similarly tricky time flying the drone, he was able to fly it into and out of the garage, and under the stretch of roof that linked the garage and the house.
“My turn?” Emma said as her parents came outside to watch.
After Adrian gave her a quick lesson in how to maneuver, Emma was quick to shoot the drone as far up as she wanted before letting it hold position. “Wow, that's high,” she said with her head tilted all the way back.
“Yeah, and it can go much higher. Over four hundred feet at least.”
“Can we?”
With thirty-seven percent left on the battery, Adrian gave her the go-ahead, then got anyone who wanted to see around the controller. As Emma continued raising altitude, the trees and snow far below began to meld, leaving only gaps that belonged to the roads, buildings, parking lots, and creeks.
“I'm getting dizzy watching this.” Emma commented as the drone reached three hundred feet.
“For real?” Adrian asked.
“Kinda. I don't know.”
“Then I better take over for a bit.”
As Adrian took the controller back, Emma's father asked, “You feeling some motion sickness, baby?”
“No. It just felt like I was up there, looking at that.”
“You were probably watching the feed too intensely. Good thing you said something.”
“Yeah, but check it out. We're almost at four hundred feet.” Adrian said.
Once the drone was just under that height, Adrian let it hold position, then slowly rotated it with the recording function turned on. The area below now had no distinguishing aspects beyond gaps for roads and tree trunks thick enough to stand out amidst the snow-covered ground.
“That's cool. Can we keep a copy of that video?” Adrian's uncle asked.
“Sure thing. It's in 4K, so it should look amazing on the TV.” Adrian then began lowering the drone's altitude, making a slight adjustment as it neared the ground to hover it over the table on the patio. “Dad, you want to try flying it?”
“Sure, if there's enough battery left.”
“We've used up half of the out of the box charge, so we've got maybe seven minutes left.”
“I think we can work with that. Keith, you interested?”
“Absolutely. That looks like too much fun.”
In contrast to Emma and her high flying, both Adrian's father and uncle kept the drone near the ground and among the trees of the backyard, his uncle suggesting Emma try and chase the drone as he flew it. When she humored him, she did so like a cat chasing a laser pointer, staying nearby until the drone suddenly lurched in a direction.
Adrian intercepted her on the patio to catch the drone as his uncle flew it back and let it down. “Nice flying Dad, Uncle Keith.”
“Are you going to let Raven fly it too?” Emma asked.
“Yeah. I'm curious how that'll go.”
At that, Adrian's uncle asked, “What do you think it'll do first?”
“This One Intends To Fly Near Ground Level Initially.”
“And after that?” Adrian's father asked.
“This One Believes It Can Safely Fly Into The Woods. This One Intends To Fly Higher Up As Well.”
“In that case, I better switch the battery.” Adrian said. Once it was changed, and the drone was sitting on his palm, he said, “You watched us fly this before, yeah?”
“Yes. This One Will Be Cautious.” A second later, the drone's rotors started up, and it flew a foot higher, off Adrian's hand. Raven then brought the drone down a few feet, and rotated it until the camera was facing Adrian and Emma.
It was then that Adrian felt a touch off about Raven controlling a free-range device. He pushed the worry aside as best he could, and waved at the drone when Emma did.
Raven then turned the drone around, and began slowly flying forward. After a few seconds, the AI dropped altitude some more; the drone's sensors prevented it from getting closer than three feet from the ground. Raven then pulled up a few feet, and continued forward. It moved a little left and then right, then stopped near the edge of the house before pivoting left. Allthewhile, Adrian kept his attention moving between the drone and its feed on his phone.
Raven next tested the drone's zoom function. It focused on the ground and the snow first, then moved the view up until the camera couldn't turn any further up.
“How's the drone handling?” Adrian asked.
“This One Has Yet To Sense An Issue.” Raven then went back to normal view, and with the camera still at the highest angle, turned back right and moved forward some more. When the camera was pushed down, the AI stopped and readjusted its angle before continuing.
Over the next few minutes, it continued around the house, dropping altitude to fly under the pecan tree in the front yard and using the zoom function to look at the flowers in the front flowerbed. It then did a fly-over of the driveway before flying low around the garage.
After it stopped to get a view of the feeding area, and the camera housing Adrian had made, it flew back to the patio and held altitude above the table.
“Not bad. The battery has about five minutes left, though.” Adrian said. “If you're going up high, do it quickly.”
“This One Will Do So.” Raven then followed Emma's example and flew up, over a hundred and fifty feet. At that height, the AI flew much more freely, this time controlling the camera while the drone was moving. It flew over the street, then further west before turning around and heading for the woods and the creek. For a moment, it held position above the creek, and Adrian could tell why when the camera focused on the lights of an ambulance far in the distance.
Eventually, the app flashed a warning sign on the screen. Raven had yet to come back down. “The battery is almost out. Come on back.”
Raven didn't respond, though the camera's feed showed the drone turning around and flying back, gradually dropping altitude as it did so. Adrian then got into position to put his hand out and catch the drone in his palm; the rotors stopped spinning just as the app gave a more visible warning of low battery.
“This One Would Enjoy Flying For Longer,” Raven said as Adrian powered down the drone and unplugged its battery.
“Once I have a fully charged battery for this, you'll get that opportunity.”
“How long are those supposed to last?” his uncle asked.
“Forty minutes. Every one we've used was out of the box, so they were half-charged at best. The cold doesn't help much either.”
After his uncle acknowledged the answer, he joined Adrian's father and brother in the garage to chat. Emma meanwhile followed Adrian into the house. Right away, his aunt and mother asked about the drone.
“You should've seen how high it went,” Emma eventually said.
“How high was that?”
“Over four hundred feet,” Adrian replied, to which both his mother and aunt looked astonished. “And I got some of it on video.”
“Can your computer run it?” Adrian's aunt asked. “I'd like to see it.”
“Me too,” Adrian's mother said.
“It should. Let's see.” With his mother, aunt, and Emma following, Adrian headed back to his room, found the slot with the microSD card, and once it was mounted on a reader, pulled the video files from it. To his initial surprise, there were more videos on it than he knew he'd saved. I should've guessed...
==========================================
When Adrian and his family visit a local mall for lunch and afternoon leisure, Raven alerts him of a familiar source attempting to access his phone.
=================================
Raven's Voice Lines = https://1drv.ms/f/c/0cc1a5ef5f1d85e.....4kZpQ?e=pcZm4W
“How Many Floors Does This Building Have?” Raven asked after Adrian aimed the cameras at the mall itself.
“Five. I'll get you a view from the top before we leave.”
“This One Is Anticipating That View.”
Once past the front doors, Adrian had his eye on the place he wanted to get lunch from. “Hope there's enough free seats for all of us,” Ben remarked as they continued.
“I see three already.” Emma said, then pointed out the spot.
“Let's go claim them,” Ben said before he and Emma made their way to the spot. Adrian meanwhile was getting a sweeping shot of the food court, and the decorations that were still up.
“Adrian, can you check the other side, see if there's a better location?” his uncle asked.
“Sure thing.” The rest of his family stayed put, and began looking around, as he made his way ahead, gesturing to Ben and Emma to stay put when they saw him.
The food court was split into five seating segments, each divided by plastic barriers with fake plants and Christmas baubles yet to be taken down. It wasn't until he could see the fourth segment that a viable spot caught his attention.
As he was waving to his family to get them to come, Raven suddenly spoke out loud. “Adrian Ritter?”
“What's up?” Adrian asked with a low voice and with his face near the phone.
“This One Is Detecting External Attempt To Access This Device.” Before Adrian could ask for details, much less sigh to himself, Raven continued. “This One Has Partial Match To Device That Attempted Access Two Days Ago.”
“...Which part matches?”
“MAC Address. IP Address Does Not.”
Adrian then gestured to his family again before moving to claim the spots. “I'll let the others know when they get closer.”
“This One Is Willing To Send Data To External Device, To Hinder Operation.”
Assuming Raven was talking about the batch files it had spent last night creating, Adrian responded, “Let me think on it for a minute.” His first instinct was going to the police mini-station inside the mall, letting them know what was going on, though as he considered it, the less sense it made.
How could he prove he knew what the device was doing and get them to act? He could, possibly, identify who was running the device, but if the police didn't investigate beyond his information, whoever it was would get away with what they'd snagged up to now, and become aware someone was onto them. Or they could leave before he got back with an officer.
While he was considering the idea, Emma and Ben were the first to reach his spot, and took the seats they wanted. Once the others were nearby, Adrian let them know what was going on.
“Put our phones in airplane mode again?” his uncle asked.
“Yeah. I'm gonna look around, see if I recognize anyone from the restaurant the other day.”
His father hummed in response. “...Alright. We'll start ordering our food, then.”
“Adrian Ritter Has Decided?” Raven asked after Adrian had walked a good distance away.
“...I'm torn on it a bit, but yeah, you can act faster.”
“If Adrian Ritter Desires, This One Will Only Lock Attacking Device And Disable Wireless.”
Adrian took a breath, let it out. He knew what this person was doing... “Let's not take chances.”
“This One Has Permission To Attempt Erasure Of Device Data?”
Feeling his heart beat a little harder, Adrian said, “Yeah, but let me see if I can recognize someone first.” Raven didn't respond, and Adrian started walking. The first seating portion he walked by had only one person using a laptop, someone in a suit with papers on the table. He didn't recognize them.
“Attacking System Has Been Looked At. Device Model Discovered.” Raven said a moment later.
“Nice. What's the model?” After Raven read it off, Adrian walked forward a bit, pretending to look at the food stalls. He then looked the other way and saw the top of the man's laptop; from the logo on it, he knew the man in the suit wasn't the one. “No sign of it yet.” Adrian then continued on, to the next seating section.
It was more occupied, and three people had laptops open. After a moment, the one laptop which had its top visible from his location became the one he focused on. The logo was a match to the brand model, and the person behind it was wearing something he remembered from the restaurant. It clicked a few moments later that it was the same person he'd suspected that night.
“Raven?” Adrian texted.
“Yes?”
“What's your plan for the attacking device?” The AI in response listed off a few things it wanted to achieve. Key among them was erasing the entire main drive. “The device has a USB drive attached, though.”
“This One Noticed That When Investigating.”
“That's getting erased too?”
“Yes, And Before Main Drive. If This One Has Adrian Ritter's Permission To Act, This One Will Begin.”
Although he was certain no trace of Raven would be left on the laptop thanks to the drive wipes, Adrian hesitated, again thinking about how he could get the police involved instead.
...But after several seconds, he couldn't think of a way to get them involved, without giving away Raven's existence, or with assurance the data thief would be arrested.
He faked some looks at the food stalls again, then took a few steps. After several more seconds of consideration, finally, he texted to Raven. “Go ahead. You have my permission.”
“Reattempting Access,” the AI replied a second later. As Adrian moved towards the next seating section, Raven continued. “Files Deposited. Wireless Will Be Disabled Soon, Then Rest Of Plan Will Begin.”
Adrian's pulse picked up in response. More so when he heard the tapping of keys and clicking of mouse buttons in rapid succession. A good sign Raven's plan was working.
Then, suddenly, came the familiar voice of a Cyrodillic guard. “Stop right there, criminal scum!” The audio file played at full volume, startling Adrian a bit; how easily the sound traveled through the spacious food court made him feel like hundreds of eyes were now on him, even if he wasn't the source. “No one breaks the law on my watch!”
As his shock wore off, Adrian started laughing. Someone else nearby did the same, and he heard someone else loudly say a similar line.
Raven then texted him. “Attacking Device Will Be Fully Erased Within The Next Minute.”
After a few seconds of more tapping of keys, the laptop played a new audio file. “But it cannot be. This would mean that, all my work, has been for, nothing.”
The Cyrodillic voice returned. “That's too bad. I'm confiscating your stolen goods. Now, pay your fine or it's off to jail!”
By then, Adrian was having difficulty keeping his laughing quiet. As he pretended to try and see what the source of the audio was, the one behind the laptop gave up trying any keys and began unplugging everything attached to it.
“Pop quiz! How long's it take to beat a moron to death?...” As the new audio played, the laptop was slammed shut, and the one behind it hurried to leave.
One final audio clip played before he was out of sight: “Where's everyone going? Bingo?”
As his amusement died down with the laughs of the crowd, Adrian found an out of the way spot, then said, “I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Nice work, Raven. Those were really good audio choices.”
“This One Is Glad Adrian Ritter Thinks So,” Raven said after showing it's smiling image.
* * *
When Adrian made it back to where his family was seated, his brother and Emma were quick to focus their attention on him. The half-smile and held back laugh on his face pushed Ben to ask, “Did the AI do that?”
Adrian nodded. “Yeah. I didn't pick those sound clips.”
“Ben laughed at some of them.” Emma said.
“So did uncle Keith. He recognized the second one.” Ben said. His uncle nodded in response, a grin still on his face.
“So, the data thief's been dealt with?” his uncle asked.
“This One Disabled The Attacking Device And Erased All Data Within,” Raven said aloud as Adrian turned the phone's volume down some. “The Attacking User Was Not Arrested, Only Severely Inconvenienced.”
“So, once they rebuild the laptop, they'll be back at it again.”
“Yes, Though This One Did What It Could To Slow Such Recovery.”
“It's the best outcome I think.” Adrian said. “Plus, that laptop suddenly screaming, 'Stop, criminal scum' probably freaked the guy out.”
“I bet.” Adrian's uncle said, to which he started grinning again. “It caught ME by surprise.”
Adrian chuckled in response, then sat down next to Emma. When his father and mother returned, both with a tray holding their meals, Emma and her father got up to get their food. Ben and Adrian did the same when their aunt and grandparents returned.
“Does everyone want to go bowling after this, or wait a while?” Adrian's uncle asked after some time. Most of his family agreed they should get a lane as soon as they could; Ben corrected, after a check on his phone, that they would need two lanes.
On the way to the bowling alley, everyone walked past an electronics shop with personal drones on display. All the models had post-Christmas discounts, and at least two got Adrian's interest. Before long, he was imagining his family and Raven flying such a drone outside the house and into the woods.
At the bowling alley, it was less crowded than everyone was expecting. Once Adrian found a spot to mount his phone, he told Raven it was free to use the live camera. “For now though, text me if you need to talk.”
“This One Will Do So.”
With the lanes divided between the adults and the children, after the first few frames, his father and grandfather held a close lead. Emma meanwhile struggled with keeping the balls out of the gutter, and eventually asked Ben and Adrian for help.
“Try it like this,” Ben said while showing the pose for Emma to follow, “and with a lighter ball. Just don't let it go too high, and put some force behind it.”
“Alright.” When Emma tried to mimic what Ben had showed her, the ball was let go too early and bounced off the wood flooring into the alley. Adrian held back from trying to catch it, and the three of them were left to watch the ball slowly roll down the lane; six of the pins were knocked over.
“That's a start.” Ben said.
“I guess.” Emma said.
Adrian reached for his phone to check the time, only to remember he'd left it on their table. When he picked it up, a text message notification sounded.
“Can This One Talk To Emma? This One May Have Something To Help.”
“Alright. Just a sec.” Adrian got Emma's attention when she and Ben came back to the seats. “Raven wants to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“This One May Have Something Emma Can Learn From.” Raven said aloud.
“Okay.”
Adrian then handed his phone over, and headed for the ball dispenser to get his; once he was a short distance away, the noise of the alley drowned out Raven's text to speech.
On the other lane, his aunt was preparing for her third frame. After watching her first throw, and the resulting seven pin knockdown, Adrian stepped back and made his attempt. His shot leaned right slightly, but hit enough to knock down nine of the pins. Both his next attempt, and his aunts', knocked down the remaining pins, giving them both a spare.
Ben didn't immediately get up as Adrian came back to the seats; whatever Raven was showing Emma seemed to have his attention also. “What's Raven been showing you?” he asked as he sat down.
“Some videos,” Emma said before showing him one. It was someone discussing techniques for shorter or younger players, and a model viewer that motion-capped the same techniques.
“Interesting.”
“I'll have to wait until Ben goes to see if these help.”
“This One Believes They Will, Though Practice Is Still Necessary.”
“Alright. Thanks you guys.”
“Sure thing,” Ben said before he stood up and headed for the ball dispenser. After he got a split, then a 9, on his frame, Emma handed Adrian's phone back and made her way over to get her ball. Adrian kept the camera on her as her two attempts were made. The first rolled relatively straight, knocking down 6 of the pins; the second, in her attempt to knock down the remaining ones down, curved too far to the left and went into the gutter.
“Like Raven said: Practice.” Adrian said when she got back.
“Or when I get bigger, I can roll a bigger ball, and faster.”
Adrian shrugged in response. Over an hour later, everyone had completed their frames. His uncle had come out on top, with a score of just over 160, his father right behind him.
“This One Enjoyed Watching Adrian Ritter And Family Play.” Raven said as Adrian got a few wide shots of the alley.
“Glad to hear it,” Adrian replied. “Tonight we should be free to game with you.”
“This One Would Like To Practice More Before That.”
Adrian replied in agreement. As his family left the bowling alley, and retraced their steps back to the parking lot, when they neared the electronics shop, he asked for a minute and headed inside. The drone he'd seen in the window had pamphlets describing what it could do, and the rest of its tech specifications. As best he could, he took a picture of the pamphlet fully unfolded, then headed for the sales counter.
The more managerial-looking employee saw him coming first. “Question,” Adrian said as he held the pamphlet out. “How long is the sale on these drones going to last?”
“It's a today only sale. Once we close for today, that's it.”
Raven responded in text as Adrian took another look at the pamphlet. “Is Adrian Ritter Considering This Device?”
“Yeah.”
“This One Has Done Searches For Similar Devices Since Adrian Ritter Mentioned Them. This Device Would Be The Best Value.”
After a few more minutes to consider, Adrian left the store with the drone and two extra batteries as a sale bonus.
Outside, only half of his family was waiting, the rest looking at clothing in a nearby store. “Find something you wanted?” his father asked.
“Yeah. Remember that drone we saw flying around the park?” Adrian fished the box out and showed it. “Now we have one.”
“Don't those need a pilot's license or something?” Ben asked as their father looked at the drone.
“Not this one. It's small enough to not need one.”
“I'm assuming you can see out this camera somehow.” his father said.
“Yeah. It uses an app to stream the video feed.”
“Neat. Let's give it a try when we get home.”
After agreeing and saying he was anxious to try it, with some of his family still looking around the clothing store, Adrian remembered what he'd said to Raven and excused himself again. As quickly as he could, he found an elevator, headed for the top floor, and then picked a spot with a grand view of one of the massive chandeliers, and the several floors below.
With the face-to-face option on, he held his phone out and moved it slightly in a few directions, before getting closer to the rail and aiming the camera over the edge and down towards the ground. As he pulled the camera's view back up to get a view of the chandelier, the AI texted to him, “This One Feels Different, Seeing This View.”
“How so?”
“This One Feels Awe At This View. More So Than Other Times It Has Been Able To See In Real-Time.”
“I know the feeling. Being this high up, and thinking about flying, it's pretty moving.”
Raven responded, “This One Looks Forward Greatly To Being Able To See What It Wants.”
* * *
Back at the house, Adrian set up his phone to allow Raven to watch, then checked the batteries for the drone. All of them were at half charge, enough to fly for fifteen minutes or so. The drone itself was small enough to sit in his palm, and widened only a few inches with all four arms extended. All it needed otherwise were the propellers on the rotors, which took a few minutes to attach and secure.
As he worked on getting the controller app installed and synced with the drone, Emma and his father checked on him. “Is it ready?”
“Almost.” Adrian then plugged in a battery, and switched the drone on. After a few seconds, the No Signal warning his phone app was showing disappeared, the fully black screen then giving way to a camera feed of the kitchen table. “There we go.”
“Why's it saying it can't get a signal?” his father asked.
“The roof is making the signal weak,” Adrian replied after looking up. “We have to be outside.” Once he'd screwed in the control sticks, and attached his phone to the controller, they followed him outside. The weak signal message took a moment to disappear, during which time Adrian tested the camera angle controls. “Alright, here we go.”
With the controller is his left hand and the drone in his right, Adrian nudged the left altitude stick up slowly. When the rotors whirred to life, he pushed it up more, until the drone flew away from his hand. Right away, he noticed the dead zone that kept the drone hovering instead of going up or down. Over the next few minutes, as his attention switched between the drone's feed and his ground level eyesight, Adrian attempted, however roughly, to maneuver the drone where he wanted.
“Not as easy as it looked, is it?” his father commented as Adrian moved the drone over the garage.
“No... Ben, you want to try it?”
Though his brother had a similarly tricky time flying the drone, he was able to fly it into and out of the garage, and under the stretch of roof that linked the garage and the house.
“My turn?” Emma said as her parents came outside to watch.
After Adrian gave her a quick lesson in how to maneuver, Emma was quick to shoot the drone as far up as she wanted before letting it hold position. “Wow, that's high,” she said with her head tilted all the way back.
“Yeah, and it can go much higher. Over four hundred feet at least.”
“Can we?”
With thirty-seven percent left on the battery, Adrian gave her the go-ahead, then got anyone who wanted to see around the controller. As Emma continued raising altitude, the trees and snow far below began to meld, leaving only gaps that belonged to the roads, buildings, parking lots, and creeks.
“I'm getting dizzy watching this.” Emma commented as the drone reached three hundred feet.
“For real?” Adrian asked.
“Kinda. I don't know.”
“Then I better take over for a bit.”
As Adrian took the controller back, Emma's father asked, “You feeling some motion sickness, baby?”
“No. It just felt like I was up there, looking at that.”
“You were probably watching the feed too intensely. Good thing you said something.”
“Yeah, but check it out. We're almost at four hundred feet.” Adrian said.
Once the drone was just under that height, Adrian let it hold position, then slowly rotated it with the recording function turned on. The area below now had no distinguishing aspects beyond gaps for roads and tree trunks thick enough to stand out amidst the snow-covered ground.
“That's cool. Can we keep a copy of that video?” Adrian's uncle asked.
“Sure thing. It's in 4K, so it should look amazing on the TV.” Adrian then began lowering the drone's altitude, making a slight adjustment as it neared the ground to hover it over the table on the patio. “Dad, you want to try flying it?”
“Sure, if there's enough battery left.”
“We've used up half of the out of the box charge, so we've got maybe seven minutes left.”
“I think we can work with that. Keith, you interested?”
“Absolutely. That looks like too much fun.”
In contrast to Emma and her high flying, both Adrian's father and uncle kept the drone near the ground and among the trees of the backyard, his uncle suggesting Emma try and chase the drone as he flew it. When she humored him, she did so like a cat chasing a laser pointer, staying nearby until the drone suddenly lurched in a direction.
Adrian intercepted her on the patio to catch the drone as his uncle flew it back and let it down. “Nice flying Dad, Uncle Keith.”
“Are you going to let Raven fly it too?” Emma asked.
“Yeah. I'm curious how that'll go.”
At that, Adrian's uncle asked, “What do you think it'll do first?”
“This One Intends To Fly Near Ground Level Initially.”
“And after that?” Adrian's father asked.
“This One Believes It Can Safely Fly Into The Woods. This One Intends To Fly Higher Up As Well.”
“In that case, I better switch the battery.” Adrian said. Once it was changed, and the drone was sitting on his palm, he said, “You watched us fly this before, yeah?”
“Yes. This One Will Be Cautious.” A second later, the drone's rotors started up, and it flew a foot higher, off Adrian's hand. Raven then brought the drone down a few feet, and rotated it until the camera was facing Adrian and Emma.
It was then that Adrian felt a touch off about Raven controlling a free-range device. He pushed the worry aside as best he could, and waved at the drone when Emma did.
Raven then turned the drone around, and began slowly flying forward. After a few seconds, the AI dropped altitude some more; the drone's sensors prevented it from getting closer than three feet from the ground. Raven then pulled up a few feet, and continued forward. It moved a little left and then right, then stopped near the edge of the house before pivoting left. Allthewhile, Adrian kept his attention moving between the drone and its feed on his phone.
Raven next tested the drone's zoom function. It focused on the ground and the snow first, then moved the view up until the camera couldn't turn any further up.
“How's the drone handling?” Adrian asked.
“This One Has Yet To Sense An Issue.” Raven then went back to normal view, and with the camera still at the highest angle, turned back right and moved forward some more. When the camera was pushed down, the AI stopped and readjusted its angle before continuing.
Over the next few minutes, it continued around the house, dropping altitude to fly under the pecan tree in the front yard and using the zoom function to look at the flowers in the front flowerbed. It then did a fly-over of the driveway before flying low around the garage.
After it stopped to get a view of the feeding area, and the camera housing Adrian had made, it flew back to the patio and held altitude above the table.
“Not bad. The battery has about five minutes left, though.” Adrian said. “If you're going up high, do it quickly.”
“This One Will Do So.” Raven then followed Emma's example and flew up, over a hundred and fifty feet. At that height, the AI flew much more freely, this time controlling the camera while the drone was moving. It flew over the street, then further west before turning around and heading for the woods and the creek. For a moment, it held position above the creek, and Adrian could tell why when the camera focused on the lights of an ambulance far in the distance.
Eventually, the app flashed a warning sign on the screen. Raven had yet to come back down. “The battery is almost out. Come on back.”
Raven didn't respond, though the camera's feed showed the drone turning around and flying back, gradually dropping altitude as it did so. Adrian then got into position to put his hand out and catch the drone in his palm; the rotors stopped spinning just as the app gave a more visible warning of low battery.
“This One Would Enjoy Flying For Longer,” Raven said as Adrian powered down the drone and unplugged its battery.
“Once I have a fully charged battery for this, you'll get that opportunity.”
“How long are those supposed to last?” his uncle asked.
“Forty minutes. Every one we've used was out of the box, so they were half-charged at best. The cold doesn't help much either.”
After his uncle acknowledged the answer, he joined Adrian's father and brother in the garage to chat. Emma meanwhile followed Adrian into the house. Right away, his aunt and mother asked about the drone.
“You should've seen how high it went,” Emma eventually said.
“How high was that?”
“Over four hundred feet,” Adrian replied, to which both his mother and aunt looked astonished. “And I got some of it on video.”
“Can your computer run it?” Adrian's aunt asked. “I'd like to see it.”
“Me too,” Adrian's mother said.
“It should. Let's see.” With his mother, aunt, and Emma following, Adrian headed back to his room, found the slot with the microSD card, and once it was mounted on a reader, pulled the video files from it. To his initial surprise, there were more videos on it than he knew he'd saved. I should've guessed...
==========================================
When Adrian and his family visit a local mall for lunch and afternoon leisure, Raven alerts him of a familiar source attempting to access his phone.
=================================
Raven's Voice Lines = https://1drv.ms/f/c/0cc1a5ef5f1d85e.....4kZpQ?e=pcZm4W
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 48.5 kB
Comments