He stepped out of the bustle and heat of the plaza into the
cool air of the restaurant. The maître d’ raised his hands in protest.
“I’m terribly sorry, sir,” sighed the maître d’, with a
plausible attempt at an expression of genuine regret on his face, “Reservations
only today. It’s terribly busy, today’s ceremony, you know.”
The man smiled. “I’m sure it is,” he said. “But I have a
reservation. Name of Calvi. Table for two.”
“Aha!” the maître d’ said, accompanied by a small clap of
his hands. “Say no more, sir! Please, follow me.”
In moments, Calvi was at his table. “A window seat,” purred
the maître d’, “you’ll have a perfect view of the ceremony. Would you like some
water now or would you rather wait for your companion?”
“I’ll take a glass,” said Calvi, with a nod of thanks, and
the maître d’ was away. The glass arrived, the cool water soothing his dry
throat, and he placed his phone on the table, his fingers gently tapping as he
waited.
It was a few minutes before he picked up the phone. He
swooshed through the applications, and tapped a logo with four letters under
it. BOTS.
The bots appeared on the screen. A collection of tiny robot
creatures nestled in a box. With a single tap of his finger, Calvi stirred them
into life. Up they rose, forming a chain as they helped one another out of the
container. Their new surroundings appeared on the screen, huge walls, giant
cobblestones. Calvi’s little bots were lost in the land of the giants, awaiting
his instructions.
He paused for a moment and flagged down a passing waiter,
asking for a coffee while he waited but declining the menu for the moment.
Order made, he returned to his screen. Killing time, while
his companion’s chair remained undisturbed.
The coffee arrived as he was busily steering his bots into
the opening at the bottom of a drain pipe. He nodded thanks to the server as he
swiped the screen, instructing the little creatures to form a bot pyramid,
bracing themselves against one another and the inside of the pipe to climb
their way upwards. It got trickier partway up, with part of the pipe crumbled
away, but some careful tapping got his bots stacked neatly on top of one
another across the missing section, then firmly putting themselves back in
place when safely back in the pipe once more.
Calvi paused for a moment to take a sip of his coffee. It
was excellent, rich and almost strong enough to make him gasp. He glanced out
of the window, at the crowds gathered outside, then set the cup down again to
concentrate on his bots.
It wasn’t long until they had reached the top of the pipe,
and he navigated them into the gutter that ran along the side of the building
they were climbing. From there, it was a simple piece of navigation to the
rooftop itself.
“Would you like to see the menu while you wait?” asked a
helpful waiter. Calvi set the phone down, furrowing his brow as he looked at
the empty chair next to him.
“Sure,” he said, with a slight tone of annoyance. The waiter
smiled at him sympathetically. Not the
first person he’ll have seen stood up on a date, thought Calvi.
He drummed his fingers for a moment, his attention caught
again by the activity outside the window. The crowd was cheering now. It must
be getting closer to the time for the ceremony to begin.
Calvi picked up his phone again. The bots were sitting
patiently where he’d left them, waiting for his instructions. He tapped them
back into life, and off they marched, a tiny convoy of miniature machines,
across the rooftop. Each had a slightly different shape, but all followed his
instructions neatly and with ease. It
really was a very well-designed app, Calvi thought.
They reached the far edge of the roof, and the bots quickly
swarmed up the parapet there. Once there, he opened up a sub-menu. A range of
actions were available there, and he tapped the “Assemble” button.
First, a quartet of bots at the front braced themselves
against the parapet, while a group at the back formed a pillar for the others
to rest on. Then, one by one, the rest formed a bridge, clicking into place
until they started to form a familiar shape. A long tube formed, with a single
bot inside, and another bot clambered on top, before lying in place with a
click.
A pop-up appeared on his phone screen, but Calvi set the
phone to one side for a moment as the waiter arrived with the menu. He leafed
through it for a moment, then ordered a steak, and a glass of red wine to go
with it. He smiled and handed back the menu.
Outside, the cheering had quieted a moment, as the crowd
stilled enough for the speakers at the ceremony to be heard. Calvi returned to
his app and tapped the pop-up.
The bot at the top provided a camera view. Calvi found
himself looking down on a square. A joystick control at the bottom allowed him
to move the view around. With each movement, the pillar of bots at the back
shifted position accordingly. Finally, Calvi was happy with the location. He
was looking down at a stage, and as he watched, a man stepped onto the central
platform, waving to the audience gathered there. With a tap of the button, the
camera view became crosshairs. Calvi took another sip of his coffee and then,
with the man located in the centre of the crosshairs, he tapped a red button on
the screen.
Outside the restaurant, the sounds of cheers turned into the
sound of screams. Calvi glanced out of the window at the panic and horror as
people ran, or pointed in shock at the ceremony platform. Satisfied, Calvi
clicked the disassemble button. The bots slowly took themselves apart, breaking
up the rifle they had been moments before. They would retrace their path, and
later Calvi would pick up the box they had been placed in at the bottom of an
old drainpipe. All but one, the one from the rifle barrel, which was now nestled
in the heart of the president, where he lay on the stage outside. That bot was
following its own programming, moving inside its target to maximize damage.
Smiling, Calvi turned off the app, and finished the rest of his cup. It really was excellent coffee.
Smiling, Calvi turned off the app, and finished the rest of his cup. It really was excellent coffee.
THE END
I really enjoyed this and the POV being from such a calm and disinterested perspective. It was really well laid out, the scene set with enough hints but still surprising and even though there's little characterization he's very well thought out. I'd love to read something else by you.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Glad you enjoyed it. There are a number of other free stories on the website - or take the dive in on Amazon, where you'll find me as Leo McBride in a number of anthologies. Thank you for the feedback!
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