Alcantaran 1: Alien Abduction (36 page)

Suddenly Gus spotted some robots and pointed them out to the others.
 
They walked over to examine them.
 
Two of them were some sort of agriculture workers.
 
They had arms that were detachable and there was a bunch of arms lying on the grass beside them.
 
Gus examined the different arms and asked about their uses.
 
Neither Fu nor the driver was sure what they were used for.
 
Fu went to find someone from the family to give an explanation.
 
He returned shortly with the man of the house.
 
The man explained that these were agriculture helpers.
 
The interchangeable arms allowed the robots to till the soil, plant things, tend to them, and harvest the vegetables.
 
There were also arms there for working with fruit trees and they could keep the grass down in the orchards.
 
He had just bought two newer models and the dealer wouldn't give him even scrap prices for these.
 
Tik asked for a demonstration and the man said it would have to be limited because they had removed most of the fuel.
 
He did show them how to change arms and said the robots could change their own arms if they were programmed right.
 
Tik asked several technical questions and then looked at Gus.
 
They both broadcast to Ron, "BUY THESE!
 
We need them in the conservatory."
 
Ron was grinning because he could also see the possibilities.

There was another robot standing beside the Ag workers and they asked about it.
 
This robot was six and a half feet tall and sat on a set of tracks.
 
The body could rotate 360 degrees on the tracks.
 
The man said that the body would also pivot on the tracks to keep it vertical, even if going up stairs or an incline.
 
The lower body was cone shaped and tapered to a cylinder shape about where the waist should be.
 
The bottom of the cone was around three feet in diameter and tapered to two feet in diameter at the cylinder.
 
The cone was 3 1/2 feet high and the cylinder was about 18 inches high.
 
There was storage space in the cone where the robot kept a short broom and mop.
 
There was also storage for kitchen utensils like spatulas, spoons, measuring cups and knives.
 
The upper cylinder was flexible, allowing the robot to twist and bend.
 
The robot had four arms, two of which were telescopic.
 
They could extend out to reach things in high or low places and were used with the short broom and mop.
 
The body was topped with a very small head that sat on a short neck.
 
This allowed the head to swivel just like a human head.
 
The robot had two eyes and a mouth.
 
The man of the house explained that this robot was a chef and housekeeper.
 
He explained about the meals the robot could cook and the trio's mouths started watering at just the description of the meals.
 
The man said that the robot could even make up its own menus and would purchase all the ingredients.
 
The man talked at length so long about all of the robot's qualities and abilities that the trio started to suspect all was not right with the robot.
 
Finally the man got around to that part.
 
The robot was fairly new but had one glaring flaw.
 
It would be talking and then, all of the sudden, it would start talking gibberish.
 
As soon as it was through with the gibberish, it would continue the conversation.
 
He had taken it back to the dealer until the dealer refused to do any more with it.
 
The man said they had finally bought another used chef, because they needed help around the house when they got busy with the farm and the gibberish was driving them crazy.
 
He said the local stores sometimes got upset because the robot would start talking gibberish when it was purchasing food.
 
Tik asked if he had all of the manuals for this robot and the two Ag workers.
 
He said he did and Tik asked how much he wanted for the three robots.
 
He said he wanted 200 rudia for each of the Ag workers and would like to get 100 rudia for the chef.
 
They thanked the man and said they needed to talk to their consultant.
 
The man walked away and the trio turned to Fu.

The trio looked at him and asked, "Are these prices within reason?"

Fu replied, "I really don't know.
 
I've never invested in anything like this."

The driver piped up, "I have a friend that sometimes deals in used robots.
 
I'll call him to check."

He called his friend and described the three robots.
 
He told him about the defect and waited while his friend did some figuring.
 
He listened for a little bit and then told them that his friend said all three together were only worth about 350 rudia.
 
He said the chef model was one that had a history of problems.
 
Not all of that model had problems but when they did, the factory had not figured out how to fix it.
 
One of the other problems they had was that the robot became overly protective.
 
Sometimes the robot would not let what it considered 'questionable characters' near the owners.

The trio was in unison when they broadcast, "BUY".
 
They asked Fu to bargain for them and said they would pay the suggested 350 rudia.
 
Fu asked how they were going to get the robots back to the space ship.
 
Ron asked him if they could fly a small fliter out here to pick them up.
 
Fu asked what a fliter was and Ron explained.
 
Fu said it would be acceptable.
 
He called the man back over and they haggled for a few minutes.
 
The man finally accepted their offer and Tik paid out of her money since she hadn't bought anything yet.
 
The man gave her the manuals and the trio arranged to pick up the robots later that afternoon.
 
Ron broadcast to Auntie to see if she could hear and she answered loud and clear.
 
He told her to mark the coordinates where they were currently at because they needed to return there later today.
 
Auntie said it was done.

They walked around a little more but didn't see anything they wanted so they decided to move on.
 
They climbed into the vehicle and headed into the city.
 
They hadn't traveled very far before it hit Ron that they were a lot further than 10 miles from the space port.

He looked at his pals and asked, "How far do you think we are from the space port?"

Gus guessed, "I'd say about 60 or 70 miles.
 
Why?"

"I just talked to Auntie and I could hear her loud and clear.
 
When she first started communicating with us, she told me her range was 5 or 6 miles with an occasional 10 miles if everything was just right.
 
Sixty or seventy miles is way beyond that range.
 
How in the world is she doing it?"

Tik suggested, "Why don't you just ask?"

Ron broadcast to Auntie and the other two, "Auntie, by the way, we're 60 or 70 miles from the space port…"

"67.8 miles to be exact and you're moving closer," Auntie interrupted.

"If it's that far, how in the world are we communicating?" Ron demanded.

"I just followed standard procedure with my former crew and launched a couple of remote sensors when you left yesterday and again this morning.
 
I can use them for relays to extend my range.
 
It also gives me a real-time position if you should run into trouble," Auntie responded to the trio.

"Thanks, Auntie," Ron said as he looked at the other two.
 
What had her former crew been up to that they wanted someone to know where they were all the time?

They didn't have much time to delve into the question as they were approaching the area of the space port.
 
They were concentrating on the different businesses and what they dealt in.
 
Some of them were bars and neither Fu nor the driver had any good thing to say about them.
 
It seems a lot of the space travelers frequented those places when they landed.
 
Tik noticed a grocery store and made a comment about it.
 
Fu and the driver responded that most of their merchandise was all right but, since they dealt with the space travelers so much, their prices were higher than most of the other grocery stores in town.
 
They continued on to the business district and the trio sent messages back for Auntie to make note about the different opportunities they saw.
 
Later, when they were back in the ship, they would check those items against items traded to other planets.
 
They drove by the driver's friend's place and saw that he had several used robots at the present time.
 
By the time they reached the end of the business district, the trio was getting antsy.
 
They had several ideas and they kept thinking about the robots they had purchased.
 
They were getting more and more anxious to get back there to bring them to the space ship.
 
Finally, they told Fu and the driver they should go pick up the robots.
 
They thanked them for the wonderful day and said they would continue tomorrow.
 
The driver dropped Fu and the trio off at the space port.
 
He was anxious to get home to tell his family that he now had a six month fuel supply and he was chauffeuring space travelers around the countryside.
 
Fu was anxious to get home to tell his family how much he would be making for his week of consulting.
 
He was also going to tell the story of the space travelers buying the broken robot.

The trio rushed through the space port terminal and into Auntie.
 
They told Auntie to be ready to open the rear door as soon as they had the fliter fueled up.
 
It didn't take Gus long to get the fuel in and Ron jumped into the pilot's seat.
 
The other two climbed onto the platform in the rear and hung on.
 
Ron lifted off and flew out the door.
 
Gus glanced back and saw that Auntie had closed the door as soon as they were clear.
 
They were almost at the farm house when the alarm came.

Auntie let them know that the remote detector had picked up a space ship on the way in to the planet.
 
It was still too far away to identify any details so she would keep them informed.
 
Tik asked how long before the space ship would reach the planet.
 
Auntie told her that it would be about seven days at the present speed.

The trio was kicking ideas around the entire time that it took to complete the trip and land.
 
They dropped the discussion as they concentrated on loading the robots and accessories.
 
The man of the house came out to give them a hand.
 
He was eyeing the fliter because he had never seen anything like it.
 
He asked how much it would haul and what it would cost.
 
The trio got the distinct feeling that he would buy it if it were for sale and in his price range.
 
They told him that the fliter came with the space ship and they really didn't know how much it would cost.
 
They told him the fliter would lift more than they could stack on the platform.
 
They explained that it was mainly used to move cargo between space ships while they were in space.
 
The man of the house apologized for not leaving more fuel in the robots but Ron assured him that they would get by.
 
The man told them that the housekeeper robot was a Dolores model.
 
He said the Ag workers were FarmerDell types.
 
He told them some tips on maintaining the Ag workers but said the Dolores model was pretty self-sufficient.
 
The trio thanked him and piled onto the fliter.
 
They were more anxious than ever to get back to the ship and to get these robots refueled.
 
In a short while they were flying in the rear door of Auntie.
 
For the time being, they secured the fliter and accessories where they were.
 
Auntie had reminded them to secure everything as they flew in.
 
Her warning brought back the threat that was coming.
 
They asked if she had any new updates and Auntie replied, "No."
 
There was just enough fuel to get the robots to the fueling station on that level.
 
Gus fueled them and Tik started checking out their programming.
 
She was concentrating on Dolores first.
 
She found out it was pretty simple and with Auntie's help she soon had Dolores turned on.
 
Gus secured the Ag workers while Ron and Tik took Dolores to the upper galley.
 
Tik walked her through the workings of the kitchen and showed her their store of supplies.
 
Dolores used one of her hands to reach inside each container and put a little of the ingredients in her mouth.
 
She would hum for just a little bit and then go to the next container.
 
When she had sampled everything they had, she stopped and quietly hummed for several minutes.