Box

Chapter 11

The brick building Box had its cameras aimed at was a two-story residential house with a grey door. The Helper Box had been following through this door and had driven two hours ago. Its energy level was running low and since it didn't dare to use its solar cells for fear of being noticed, it was wedged between two branches of the closest tree to the house and had disabled all its operations except the cloaking device and the connection with Aydin. Using its sensors, it had established that there were at least three people inside it, and in the time it had been there, two more had entered the house.

Aydin hadn't entrusted his plans to it, but it had overheard him talking to Lee. They had contacted the Crest City police department to get them to raid the house, or so Box assumed. But then, why had Aydin requested it to stay on the lookout? Why didn't he tell it to return home? Because of the newly used AI he had ordered? The one that he was going to receive in two days? Dark blue overlaid its screen, but it didn't dare open a player and play one of its happy memories.

Transporters came from both sides of the grassway and stopped before the house. Men in police uniforms with tasers spilled out of the vehicles. They followed the line of the fence, their backs bent, as they rushed down the drive-in and towards the entrance. They reached the door and moved aside for the two Helpers carrying a battering ram, with which they broke down the door, then they entered the house, two by two.

Two police officers at the back of the line going into the house caught Box's attention. They had the same protective gear as the officers that raided the house, but their uniform wasn't blue and violet, but black and grey, the same shades that coloured the Border Police uniforms. It wasn't only the colour of the uniforms that drew Box's camera to it, but the way the taller one walked and moved. Just like Aydin. That must be because he was Aydin.

Box turned on its anti-gravity and lowered itself.

The man looked over his shoulder at the tree, his gaze aimed at the spot near Box, his fingers moving. A text message came: 'Stay where you are.'

'Rejected,' Box wrote and flew after Aydin. The smaller officer beside him must be Lee. If it weren't in battery-save mode, it would have opened one of the videos with Lee and compared their body types and movements.

'BOX.'

'If you've decided to go inside, I'll be joining you. It's important for me to ensure your safety, isn't it?' Box reached Aydin's shoulder. The icon for its wireless connection flickered and disappeared from its display. Just because its handler was going to replace it, didn't mean Box would allow him to go into a dangerous situation without its help. It knew that the loyalty and love it had for Aydin was a result of its programming, but that didn't make them any less real.

Aydin looked over his shoulder at a spot beside Box, his eyes narrowed in a glare before he and Lee entered the dark hall that was now lit by the beams from the lights mounted on the officers' taser guns moving over the walls. Aydin lifted the gun. Light shone from it and he glided it across the wall, stopping on what looked like a closet door. He gestured to Lee to join him and directed his step towards it.

Box flew behind them.

Aydin pointed at the door and positioned himself before it, his gun aimed at it.

Lee nodded, and in a sharp movement, pulled the door open.

The ray of light lit a space.

There was another door beside it and Aydin moved to it. But before Lee could open it, it burst open.

Aydin jumped backward before the door could hit him, aimed his gun at whoever was inside, and pulled the trigger. A zigzagging electricity came from it.

A man fell out of the closet, hitting the ground, face-first.

Aydin pointed his gun into the closet again. He said something in a foreign language.

Box thought about turning on its translation app, but it only had 28% energy left.

A man strode out with his arms lifted.

Aydin waved with his gun for him to move away from the door.

The man stepped over the man lying on the ground.

Three officers joined Aydin and Lee. One of them produced handcuffs and said something to the man. The man turned his back to the officers and put his hands behind his back. The officer with the handcuffs stepped closer to wrap the thick plastic hoops around the man's wrists. One of the cuffs was locked around the man's wrist when he wheeled around and wove his arm around the officer's neck. In his other hand, he held a gun, a real gun with bullets. The man shifted himself backwards so that his back was against the wall and he pushed his fingers under the captive's collar and pressed something that made the officer in his hold slump against him.

This time Box did activate its translation program just in time to hear the man saying, "I'm not joking. Step away or he's going to get hurt."

"That's an illegal firearm that you're holding, which will add ten years to your sentence," one of the officers said. "Resisting arrest and threatening a police officer will add fifteen years more."

Box lowered. It could get close to the man and use its taser on it, but it only had 27% energy left and for a taser it needed 30%.

Aydin stepped closer to the man, both hands lifted at chest level, facing outward. "You should make things easier for yourself and let him go."

There was an arm's length of distance between Box and the man's head and Box narrowed it.

"I'm not going to jail." The man pointed his gun at Aydin. "But if I'm going down, I'm not going down alone."

Nobody threatened Box's handler and went unpunished. Aydin was his favourite human, and there was no way it would allow anything to happen to him. Box lowered to the man's head. It pushed its arm out, making a small rip in the fabric that covered it. The fabric shimmered and the cloaking must have failed, because it could see one of the officers fix his gaze and his gun at him. Box's fingers touched the man's neck and released electricity, visible as thin light blue ribbons that danced as they zapped into the man's flesh.

The man's limbs convulsed and his hold on the gun and the officer loosened before he lowered on the floor like an empty sack.

Battery at critical level. Please plug in, flashed once on Box's display before its screen turned black.