Arron was in a happy mood and had come to work early so that he could work on his pet project, the broken-down prototype Hover-cycle.
The hover-cycle was taking up precious space in one of the corners of the cramped garage in which their APC was parked.
With all the work he had done in his spare time it was now getting to the point where all the minor problems that could be fixed with his limited set of tools and parts had already been finished. All that was left was to find a place that sold spare parts to replace all the broken parts that were beyond saving. When that was done he would have to go through the torture of updating the software of the hover-cycle and all its vulnerable components to stop any random hacker from causing him more problems.
This prototype was used as a test model for the current top-of-the-line model that had become a popular brand on the 4th level. Since it was like this he was having a hard time finding spare parts, not only was it hard to find the specific parts he needed but it also cost a lot of credits. So all he could do during the time he had owned it so far was work on the small issues and polish it until it shined brightly.
It also did not help that he had to go through several hoops and other requirements to buy the heavily controlled high oil and premium gas which the Hover-cycle used. Even after being given the okay to purchase a limited amount, he had to scan his face and cloud chip before being allowed to pay for it.
This was all to combat the violent crimes of the Separatists who made firebombs and other explosives with it.
Arron wiped his hands on a rag as he inspected his handiwork. The white hover-cycle was far larger, heavier, and more armored than his small portable hover-bike.
Comparing every part between the two was like looking at a tree trunk and a twig. He really wanted to test it out on patrols in the future.
Arron looked at the time projected on the garage wall and decided it was time to head back to the locker room to clean up for the day’s shift.
When Kix met up with a cleaned-up Arron he looked at Arron with a weird expression.
“What are you staring at me for? I already took a shower so I shouldn’t have anything on my face.”
“Last night was… interesting.”
“What was so interesting? Yumi and I are dating now, that’s not anything crazy,” said Arron with a shrug.
“I’m just surprised you managed to catch her eye and start dating. What high-tech wizardry did you use? She seems far out of our league and we don’t even know who she really is or what she does for a living.”
“And I tend to leave it like that for now. We both have decided it is better to not talk about work or other personal stuff for now.”
Kix raised his eyebrow at that.
Ding! Both of their NerViz systems notified them of a new message.
“What’s this?” asked Kix as he read the message.
[Go to the Chief’s office immediately!]
“Did the Chief find out about your new girlfriend and when he did a background check to find out who she was it turned out she is a secret separatist queen that is controlling everything from the background?” asked Kix in one go.
“Stop joking around, how could it be something like that? We only started dating last night and why would the chief even know or care about this?” said Arron as they walked to the Mag-shoot.
The two straightened their uniform and wiped down their body armor to look as presentable as they could before stepping onto the mag-shoot that was connected to the chief’s office.
Arron held his helmet in one hand as he combed his wild hair with the other.
When they stepped out of the mag-shoot the secretary just pointed to the closed door and said, “He’s waiting for you.”
Arron and Kix nodded their heads and walked to the armored door that slid open as soon as they walked forward.
Chief Chesty Puller was not the only one inside the office waiting for them.
A group of three men and one woman, all in white lab coats, stood to the side near the front of the office next to two large square metal crates.
“Good. You two troublemakers are here,” said Chief Chesty.
Both Arron and Kix wanted to protest, but the chief put up his hand stopping them.
“With all that has been going on you haven’t been given a major project to test out yet. You have only been testing the regular equipment that all ERF units are testing. I had planned to put you on a major project that the research department’s [A team] is working on, but they have had some major delays. So I am now putting you in charge of testing [D teams] new prototypes for now.”
“Thank you Chief Puller for choosing our team’s prototype to test! With this testing, we might be able to receive more funding! We are sure that it will help not only the M1 but also the police in their daily jobs!” said the female researcher.
“Please explain to them what your prototype is and what you need them to test to get it into a final product ready for mass production,” said Chief Chesty.
“Our team’s prototype is on the cutting edge in almost all aspects! We made it in the hope that it can act like a third member of any team. The latest scanners for both x-rays and Odor sensing will allow you to easily find illegal contraband and illegal cybernetics without having to take the subject to some place to use the large cumbersome full body scans or other tools. With the updated odor detector we have added an experimental function that can allow you to lock onto a scent and track it. If it works as well as our lab test then it will definitely be a game changer when chasing down the Troubled suspects. And best of all, it is not weak in fights. It can easily protect itself as well as its partner. There is also a new learning function programmed into it.”
“Has the research department fixed the problem of using parts that can cause problems for its users?”
“Chief, we assure you we are not like the [B team] that used those cheap mass-produced data chips! Our project is so advanced that several of the research teams have stalled as they are waiting to see the results from our two prototypes to see if it is worth scrapping parts of their projects and updating to the new material. You could say that we are one of the main reasons that [A team] has been stalled.”
A male researcher held out two secure Data-pads and turned them on revealing two different floating prototypes.
“Allow me to introduce you to our project, the Digital Operating Genius Experiment. You will be testing out the D.O.G.E. prototype #1 code name Spike and #2 code name Chewy. They are both made out of our new B rank parasteel armor formula!” said the haughty woman pointing at the floating holographic images.
When the female researcher saw Kix and Arron look at their armor and back to the prototypes she smiled and said, “Yes they are far sturdier than all of the equipment you are currently wearing! If the formula truly works then even the standard full armor that the police use will become second-hand goods that even m1 can afford to buy and not have to resort to using such outdated prototype armor.”
“Toy robo-dogs?” said Kix.
“Don’t speak such nonsense! Our prototypes are nothing like those cheap imitations that only know how to bark and play fetch! Our prototypes have their own personality!” said a heated male researcher.
“Since we were unsure what type of personality would be best for the prototype, we created two versions. Spike has been given a more aggressive personality and will need someone with firm control, while Chewy is quite tame in comparison to Spike. You could say she is comparable to a regular dog. Each prototype has the benefit of not having the hassles that come with a biological dog. Along with their basic personality we added in the latest prototype learning A.I. Currently the two prototypes can be described as puppies,” said the female researcher full of pride.
“We didn’t want to pre-train them in tactics and other things as we know that M1, the police, and the office of reason all have different tasks and require different needs. With this new function we hope that we can create a blank slate that allows you to train them into whatever fits your organization’s need at the current moment,” said the heated male researcher.
“And what do you need them to test?” asked Chief Chesty.
“We need a massive amount of data on the prototype training A.I. So that is one of the main functions they should be testing. All this data will be recorded and sent back to us to further develop the learning A.I. They need to take it on their patrols and test out all its new functions in different circumstances. They will have to keep watch of the prototypes all day to monitor them for any software or mechanical malfunctions or errors that may show up so they can be fixed in the next version. If it is a software issue we can easily send out a patch every weekend to hot-fix any issue. The only major maintenance or upkeep they require is energy. With its wireless charging, it will be able to charge up during the night. The new system should be fully charged and ready for the next day even if you used 100% of its energy the day before! If by some chance it is damaged you must send it back to us to repair. You are not allowed to mess with it as most of the internals are currently classified.”
Chief Chesty looked at the two floating holographic projections for some time as he thought about the new prototypes.
“Kix, you will take charge of prototype #1. Arron, you’ll take prototype #2. Both of you will be in charge of taking care of the prototypes. You have 1 hour to familiarize yourself with the prototypes. After that you are to follow these new orders for your daily patrols,” said Chief Chesty as he swiped a document with their new orders to their wrist-datapads.
“… and how long will this assignment last?” asked Kix.
“Until the researchers are happy with the results or the project is canceled,” said Chief Chesty.
The researcher holding the two secure data-pads with the classified details of each prototype handed them over to Kix and Arron.
“Treat them like you would a regular police dog,” said the female researcher.
Chief Chesty pushed a button on his desk and two large drones appeared each with four claws that reached out to grab onto the four handholds on each side of the large metal boxes.
“You’re dismissed, take them with you,” said Chief Chesty, tapping in a few commands to make the drones carry the boxes behind Arron and Kix.
