Drone Racer

by Andy Briggs

  Trix’s wet hair was plastered to her face as she looked between Carson and the fence. “How did you get over the fence?”

  “I just made it … I think the drone lifted me out.”

  Trix and Eddie exchanged a puzzled look. Eddie wiped raindrops from his glasses and knelt down to retrieve the small drone that lay on its side in the mud next to Carson.

  “You mean this little thing?”

  When Carson nodded, it felt as if his brain was loose in his skull. “Yeah. But … it’s small.”

  Eddie’s grin slowly melted away as he looked at Trix again. “Mate, I think you banged your head.” He stood up and examined the drone. “I mean, this is a wicked find, but you’re no Mary Poppins.” He held the drone up like Poppins’ umbrella. “It didn’t just hop you into the air.”

  Carson touched the back of his head. He hissed with pain. When he brought his hand back to see, Trix’s torch illuminated blood on his fingers.

  “You really did bang your head!” Eddie exclaimed in horror.

  Whatever he said next, Carson didn’t hear, as the world around him faded away and he blacked out.

  Chapter 6

  GROUNDED

  Carson had only passed out again for a few seconds, but it had been enough for his friends to decide to get him to the hospital, ASAP.

  Especially because he was babbling about the drone flying him over the scrapyard.

  Eddie shoved the small drone into Carson’s backpack and patted him on the arm. “It’d be a miracle if you had any brain to damage, mate. But we better check.”

  They sat him on his bike, and Trix, being the tallest, walked with it, while Eddie shoved the other two bikes along. Fortunately, A&E was only a mile away, just past the old derelict cinema that still had faded posters up for movies half a decade old. They were soaked to the skin by the time they reached it. Before stepping into the hospital, they decided it would be wise to avoid mentioning that they broke into the scrapyard and so created a cover story about falling off a swing in the local playground.

  They also agreed not to tell Carson’s dad.

  The first thing the nurses did was inject him with a tetanus shot before giving him a few stitches on the cut at the back of his head. After an X-ray, the doctor declared it was nothing more than a mild bump. Carson fingered his stiches, proud of his impressive wound, but less so when his dad turned up after the nurses had immediately contacted him.

  “What did I tell you about playing around on those swings? They’re a deathtrap!”

  Carson rubbed his head and avoided looking his father in the eye as he rolled his bike to the car. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”

  “I know how you are. The doctor’s told me nothing was broken and that thick skull of yours is in one piece.” He hesitated, searching for the right words. “Otherwise … I might have been worried.” He lifted Carson’s bike on to the roof rack. “But getting a call like that when I’m at work…”

  Carson opened the car door and climbed inside. “I didn’t ask them to call you,” he muttered, slamming the door closed.

  His dad opened his mouth as if to argue, but instead only a low, sad sigh came out. He nodded to Trix and Eddie, just about managing a whispered thank you, before he climbed in the car too. He slid the key into the ignition but didn’t turn it. Instead he and Carson listened to increasing rain drumming the vehicle.

  “Carson, you can’t take risks. I can’t afford to lose…” He stopped himself and took a deep breath. “If I can’t trust you while I’m working—”

  “You’ll what? Ground me?” Carson immediately regretted sounding so harsh, but the words were out. He glanced sidelong at his dad and couldn’t help but think he was looking thinner than usual, his hair a little greyer than last summer, and the dark bags under his eyes told Carson that he was getting the bare minimum of sleep, just like him.

  His dad’s voice softened. It almost sounded as if he was upset. “OK, fine. You’re grounded for the rest of the week.”

  It was a threat Carson had heard many times, but without his father being home much, it was impossible to enforce. Carson knew it wasn’t worth arguing. He sat in the car, clutching the backpack on his knees while his father tried to start the car. He stared defiantly straight ahead as the vehicle shuddered to life on the third attempt.

  The only sound on the way home was the screech of torn window wipers attempting to clear the driving rain. His father turned on the radio and didn’t ask any further questions.

  Carson went straight to his room and closed the door. He felt like slamming it to annoy his dad, but the last thing he wanted was another pointless confrontation. He quickly towelled his hair dry, changed out of his wet clothes, and put on a baggy Blue Jays baseball top he’d once bought on a holiday in Toronto and a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms. Then he pulled his phone out, shoved the backpack in his wardrobe and lay on his bed to message his friends.

  After ten minutes he heard the front door close, followed by the croak of the car engine turning over. Carson listened as the vehicle pulled away, then he leapt from the bed and retrieved his backpack from the wardrobe.

  He carefully slid the drone from the backpack and placed it on his desk. He angled his table light to get a better look. The fuselage was a creamy white, with a blue stripe along both sides. The texture felt warm to the touch, and when he ran his finger along it, it felt like smooth scales, similar to a snake he had once handled in a petting zoo.

  “How’d you get me out?” he whispered.

  The drone failed to answer. The spherical orb that had lit up the cave was completely dark. He gently tapped it, hoping for a sign of life, but it remained off. For a moment he considered opening it up to tinker with the battery, but decided he’d only succeed in breaking it. Trix was far more qualified at fixing things.

  Instead, Carson drew up his chair to the desk and rested his chin on his folded arms as he peered at the drone. It was obviously impossible that it had lifted him out… In fact, perhaps he had climbed from the cave and over the fence on his own? But after hitting his head the moment had been wiped from his memory?

  Trix and Eddie certainly hadn’t seen him clamber, or even fly, over the fence. They had only been alerted to his escape when the dog ran against the chain-link, barking louder than ever.

  He touched the scar on the back of his head. No, the bump had caused him to imagine his grand escape. The more he convinced himself that’s what happened, the more it made sense.

  “Either that or I’m losing my mind,” he whispered aloud. “Imagine that. Waking up and finding out you’re somebody else. Or you’ve forgotten everything.”

  Part of him longed for that. Being able to forget.

  He gently blew on one of the quadcopter’s propellers. It easily spun around. “You’re making me go bonkers.”

  He picked up the drone and used a cloth to gently polish its oversized camera lens. He was so engrossed that he almost jumped from his skin when there was a loud and persistent knocking downstairs.

  *

  Trix had arrived with her tool belt. She’d taken time to change her T-shirt to something with Ninja Hamsters on it, and her damp hair was now flattened in a sort-of pixie cut that made her look smarter. Eddie still wore his wet hoodie, but came armed with a bag of chocolate and crisps he had found carelessly lying in his sister’s room. They were both out of breath after furiously pedalling over. Their bikes lay discarded in the drive as they thundered upstairs to examine the booty Carson had found.

  “Well, it looks cool,” Eddie said, cramming a whole chocolate bar in his mouth. “But did you find a radio controller too?”

  “I was sort of busy fighting a tribe of wild junk warriors defending the wasteland.”

  Eddie nudged the craft, leaving a chocolatey fingerprint on it. “It looks a bit too small to fly you through the scrapyard,” he tittered.

  “Shut up, Edward!” Carson grumbled.

  Eddie dropped back in his chair, pulling a face. “No ne
ed to be rude,” he muttered.

  Trix unrolled her tool belt, revealing an assortment of tools that included tiny spanners, wrenches, screwdrivers, a soldering iron and a multimeter. She selected a Torx screwdriver and carefully picked the drone up, turning it around as she searched for a way to open it.

  “It looks new. Camera lens isn’t smashed, can’t see any cracks, and the props aren’t broken either.”

  “Open it up and see if you can replace the battery,” said Carson. He was feeling impatient just to see the drone light up again.

  Trix’s reply was nothing more than a long, low, “Mmmm…” After almost a minute of scrutinizing the drone up close, she spoke again. “That might be tricky.”

  “Why?”

  “There aren’t any screws.” She held it upside down to show the boys. She tapped the casing with the screwdriver. “This is so well put together they’re all probably hidden under it.” She rubbed her finger along the fuselage. “And I’m not even sure this is plastic. Feels odd. Maybe carbon fibre? Or something else…”

  “Can’t you just pop it off?” asked Eddie.

  “I could, if I knew how it came apart.” Trix gently tried to move the edges of the protective casing but it didn’t budge. “If I pull too hard I might break something.” She gently placed the drone down on the desk and turned to Carson. “Check on your iPad for any others like this.” She sat on the bed next to him so she could see the screen. “There may be instructions on how to open it.”

  A loud thud from behind made Carson and Trix whirl around. Eddie stood over the desk looking guilty. In his hand he held a small hammer from Trix’s belt.

  “What are you doing?” screamed Carson. He darted over and snatched the hammer from Eddie’s grasp.

  “I thought I’d try and crack the case open!”

  “You idiot!” huffed Trix as she joined them. “You’ve probably broken the electrics inside!”

  “I doubt it. I didn’t even scratch it!” Eddie pointed to the case. Sure enough, there wasn’t a mark on it. “And I hit it hard. See?”

  Without pausing, he snatched the hammer back from Carson and slammed it against the drone.

  This time both Carson and Trix grabbed Eddie’s arms and pulled him back.

  “Stop it!” Carson snapped.

  Trix took back her hammer. “Don’t touch my stuff!”

  “But look!” Eddie said, nodding towards the drone. There was no sign of impact. They had crashed enough drones to have seen protective cases smash apart.

  The orb on the back of the drone suddenly lit up, spilling bright neon-blue light across the room. But only for a few seconds before fading.

  “What did you do?” Trix snapped.

  “Nothing!” Eddie exclaimed.

  “It still has a little juice left.” Trix fished a charging pack from her pack. She plugged it into the wall and held the small pad that usually clipped to the battery. “There must be a power port somewhere…”

  “Let me try.” Carson took the charging pad from her hand and pressed it against the glass sphere. To his surprise it glowed green and the pad was sucked into the glass, leaving only the wires trailing out. Carson jumped back, fearing losing his fingers.

  “What the heck…?” Trix couldn’t believe what she saw. The orb pulsed rhythmically and the LEDs on the charger indicated the drone was sucking up electricity.

  “I reckon it’s, like, Japanese tech,” said Eddie. “I think I saw something like this on YouTube…”

  He trailed off when the drone began to tremble. At first they thought it was a trick of the light … but then the table began to shake and the lights in the room flickered.

  Carson took a wary step backwards. “What’s happening…?”

  “I think it might be about to explode,” said Eddie, shoving his glasses further up his nose and standing behind Carson for protection.

  The sound of a high-pitched whine took Carson straight back to the junk cave. He saw the four propellers start to turn at varying speeds, causing the drone to rock on the desk. The noise rose in pitch, sounding like a squadron of mosquitos. Then they fell silent but continued to turn rapidly. Without a noise, the drone gracefully rose from the table, trailing the power lead behind it.

  Trix shouted at the boys. “Stop it!”

  Eddie instinctively reached out to grab it, but Carson stopped him. “Watch your fingers!” They both knew the gory dangers of jamming fingers in spinning blades.

  The drone shot forward, still trailing the charging cable behind it. It bounced from the wall, switched direction and whooshed at Trix and Carson – forcing them to duck. Then the drone sharply angled towards the ceiling and the light bulb shattered as it flew through it.

  Eddie flinched as the drone flew past him so close that it ruffled his hair. There was a bang as the drone bounced off Carson’s bookshelf, spilling dozens of novels to the floor.

  With a yelp, Eddie found the charging cable had somehow wrapped around his foot – and he tripped over with a thud. The cable yanked free from the drone and whipped across Eddie’s backside, causing him to howl in pain.

  Carson threw his arms over his head as the drone bounced from wall to wall, floor to ceiling in the darkness. Then, with a final thud, the chaos stopped.

  He risked a peek under his arm to see one of the wardrobe doors fall from its hinges. The drone had landed back on the table, the orb brightly glowing in its tail.

  “Well … that was weird,” said Eddie, breaking the silence.

  “It’s looking at us.” Even as Carson spoke, the drone’s tiny camera flicked between them.

  “It’s just glitching. I might have overloaded the power,” Trix said confidently. “I need to open it up.” As she reached for a set of wrenches next to the drone, the camera followed her hand – then the drone hopped backwards on the table with a little VROOM from its propellers. Trix froze. “OK, that was weird.”

  The camera twitched like the head of a nervous insect as it watched them.

  “Who’s controlling it?” Eddie whispered.

  Trix shook her head. “It might be picking up random signals. Wi-Fi, phones, that sort of thing.” Although from her tone she didn’t believe it, and she still hadn’t dared move.

  Carson stepped forward. “Can you understand me?” He felt silly talking to a toy.

  Eddie whispered into Trix’s ear. “That bump on the head must have really—”

  Then a girl’s soft voice cut through the air. “I can hear you.”

  There could be no doubt; the drone had spoken to them.

  Chapter 7

  POWER UP

  “Ha-ha, very funny,” said Eddie without humour. He pulled a face at Carson. “You’re doing this to wind us up, right?” He reached for the drone, but it leapt into the air and hovered out of reach.

  Carson took a step forward. “Who is doing that?”

  “I am,” said the drone as it circled around their heads like an inquisitive fairy. Carson held out his hand and the drone alighted on his palm. “I’m doing this all by myself.”

  “Are you … a robot?”

  The drone chuckled teasingly. “Do I look like one? I’m a drone. See?” With that it took off and zipped around the room so fast it became a blur, before coming to a halt and hovering in front of them.

  “But you can talk!” Eddie exclaimed. The drone zipped forward and bumped him on the head before retreating. He could feel the propellers buzz dangerously close to his cowlick. “OW!”

  “That’s for the hammer!”

  Trix and Carson laughed as Eddie rubbed his head and mumbled. “Sorry, I didn’t…” Then he pulled himself together and pointed at the drone. “I am not arguing with a flying whisk!”

  “You are,” chirped the drone.

  “No, I’m not!”

  “And you’re losing!” the drone added sassily. It gave a cocky wiggle that further infuriated Eddie.

  Carson wiped a tear from his eye as he chuckled. “How can you talk?”

&n
bsp; The drone rotated to face him. “You talk to your phones, don’t you?”

  “And we’ve got one of those home hubs,” said Trix. “It can turn the heat and lights on.”

  “Sounds rubbish,” muttered Eddie. “I don’t want to get into an argument with the flipping light switch.”

  Carson ignored him. “Yeah, but they don’t usually have proper conversations back. Not like this.”

  “They say I’m artificially intelligent.”

  “Who says?” asked Trix suspiciously.

  The light in the drone’s tail dimmed, and the little drone spiralled around the table before settling down.

  “I’m so tired.” It even managed to sound weary. “Could you charge me up again, please? I promise I won’t break anything else, but I was in sleep mode and you gave me an unexpected surge.”

  “Sure,” said Carson, switching on the desk lamp and taking a seat so he could study the drone closely. He marvelled at the way the camera was able to swivel around to look at him, a single unblinking eye that somehow managed to look friendly. “Do you have a name?”

  Trix paused as she gathered the cables. She looked expectantly at the drone as the light faded even more.

  “Huh! It’s a drone!” huffed Eddie, who was still rubbing his sore head. “You don’t name a bunch of metal and wires.”

  “My designation is AG-421 Vanta Hawk.”

  “Then I shall call you Vanta,” Carson said with a smile. “I’m Carson. That’s Trix, and the grumpy one is Eddie.” The drone didn’t do anything other than look at each of them in turn.

  Trix approached with the charging pad and held it over the dimming sphere. “Are you ready for this?”

  “Yes, please. I need a loooonnnng charge.”

  Trix gingerly attached the pad and, as before, it sank into the orb, leaving only the wires protruding.

  “Weird,” she muttered under her breath.

  Vanta didn’t reply. Instead the orb pulsed like a slow heartbeat.

  Carson stood up and motioned the others to quietly follow him out of the bedroom, down the hall and downstairs to the kitchen. Pouring beakers of fizzy Coke, they huddled around the table and spoke in low whispers.