...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 5-9: Newt

It was Newt's turn to blush. He said, "Um, thanks, I think. Should I apologize?"

"Don't bother. I could switch off the visio if you like. So you can inspect the drone, I mean."

"Oh no, don't do that!" Newt's blush deepened. "I mean, I can turn off the visio for myself. If I want to. Inspect the drone, that is." 

Bear and Sedna were both grinning broadly. Newt knew he was sinking deeper into whatever he'd put his foot in. He tried to rescue himself by asking, "Does the drone have a voice?"

"Not this model. Although I'm beginning to think it would be good if it did."

Bear said, "Mom and Dad are coming out. We don't think people are ready to see a stealth drone walk through the lobby, even here." He led them toward a shaded area a little farther from the entrance road.

Newt started to turn back, but Sedna said, "Come on, Newt. Join us please. I'm sure I'll have questions, and you may be the only native I get to meet."

He smiled and tagged along. They found a spot where there were a couple of curved benches in a small alcove next to the path. Newt was politely waiting for Sedna to sit first. She said, "Don't be silly! I'm already sitting down."

With this reminder, he lifted the lenses away from his eyes so he could see the drone directly. Sedna turned to Bear. "Link with me. We can make this easier."

She sat the drone on the bench. Then using Bear's viewpoint she moved her own virtual image so it was sitting next to it. Newt immediately walked up to the drone and started inspecting it closely. "Bear told me about this, and I checked it out on line. This really is one of the originals, isn't it."

"Yes. With mods for the QAR link and flight capability."

Bear said, "Do I get to try it now?"

"Of course."

Bear sat on the bench and closed his eyes. Back on the island, Sedna kept the QAR link to the drone's visio, but shared it with Bear through his lenses and relinquished motor control to him. Bear tentatively moved the head and arms, then tried standing it up. It responded smoothly to his QAR commands.

"Oh, wow." He took a few steps around the alcove. "Pretty smooth."

The drone couldn't see Sedna's avatar, so he switched back to his own viewpoint to talk to her. "Can you teach me how to fly it?"

"Sure. If you promise not to get too exuberant."

Bear nodded, then realized that since he'd left the drone facing the other way, she probably couldn't see him now. So he said, "Promise," and went back to the drone.

"The power unit is located in the chest, right at the center of gravity. When it's in maintenance mode, like now, the thrust is pushing straight down, so it just adds a little to the apparent weight. If you bounce on your toes a couple of times, the power unit will shut down and rotate to point straight up. You'll feel lighter. Then pointing your toes will control the thrust. Go ahead, try it. Gently, please."

Bear tilted the drone's head back and looked at the tree branches overhead. "Gently, yeah. I don't want to break your toy." Then he bounced on the toes a few time. On the third bounce the drone left the ground a bit. He quickly unpointed the toes and it came back down. Then he found that if he merely flexed the feet it would start to rise, and by relaxing the flex a bit he could make it hover.

"Wow."

Dema and Cern had shown up while Bear was bouncing. They were both wearing their lenses. Bear released control of the drone back to Sedna. She overlayed it with her personal avatar again and said, "Hi Mom, hi Dad. It's so good to see you and Bear." She waved to the benches and said, "Have a seat and link up. I'll take you on a demo flight. You too, Newt."

When they were all linked up so they were seeing and feeling with her and the drone, she hopped out from under the tree and shot into the sky. Spiraling around the dome in ever-widening circles, she climbed higher and higher until cars and people on the ground were mere dots. Then she did a turn around the 610 highway loop, dove back to the dome doing a few loops and rolls of her own on the way, and landed again in the alcove.

It took a few seconds for everyone to switch back to their own viewpoints. Bear said, "Oh, yeah. I've got to get me one of these!"

Dema and Cern smiled at him, then turned their smiles in the direction of the drone. Sedna's avatar was back in jeans and shirt again, but Newt said, "I'm pretty sure we were wearing your Supergirl outfit up there. You gave us a few glimpses of hands and feet."

"That's just so anyone who happens to look up with lenses on won't be too weirded out. Can't much help the ones who see the black drone, but that's harder to spot."

Newt wasn't buying it, but he didn't say so.