Dronikus, a novel set on a burning planet called Earth.
‘Shhh, Abednigo. Just go!’
Abednigo turned onto a road winding up through the hills. As the car climbed Zola noticed a number of dronikus in the skies above, and a general increase in security fencing and electrified fortifications, leading up to a solid metal entrance portal, a gate house, and a boom. A group of security rators stood watching as they approached. Abednigo slowed to a crawl as it neared the gate. Being Meriti’s car, it was recognised by the system, and the rators stood aside and the boom swung up, allowing the vehicle to accelerate through and into the estate grounds.
‘This is Elatus. Do you remember it?’ said Nur.
‘I hardly recognise it. But why are we here? It’s crawling with dronikus.’
‘It is a risk, but one we’ve got to take. You’ll see.’
The hills in every direction were covered with orchards. Irrigation hoses fed water to row upon row of trees, producing a fine mist that rose up through the leaves. The early sunlight glinted off the fruit ripening on the branches as they passed. On every tree dozens of dronikus were at work – tending to the harvest.
‘Impressive,’ exclaimed Zola.
‘This is my personal project,’ said Nur. ‘In the last few years we have found that it is good business to diversify into climate disaster resource production. The dronikus and the pollinating dronisects are the key to the whole thing. Pandoke has refined the technology, making it a highly efficient system at every horticultural and industrial stage and thus very profitable.’
Abednigo turned away and up as the road followed a ridge and then dropped down into a secluded valley. Nestling among forest trees and surrounded by well-tended gardens was a building complex of modern structures clustered around an old-style villa.
‘This is my office and residence. It’s very stylish. I’m sure you’ll like it,’ said Nur. ‘We can come live here when this is all over.’ She smiled at him but he held his gaze out the window. ‘I’m sorry we won’t be able to visit.’
She guided Abednigo to a line of garages beyond the villa, working her Eyeto.
‘Ok, now we’ve got to be quick.’
One of the doors rolled open and after Abednigo had entered, it rolled down. Inside were a number of other vehicles. They transferred to one of these.
Nur switched Abednigo’s profile to the new vehicle. ‘Welcome Madame Nur and Mr Zola,’ said Abednigo, ‘I regret the reduction in comfort levels due to unforeseen circumstances…’
‘Shhh, Abednigo. Just go!’ ordered Nur.
The doors to all the sheds opened together and the vehicles – more than 20 of them, including Meriti’s vehicle that had brought them there – all exited and took off, some in the same direction as them, others along roads heading in directions away from them.
Theirs was the fourth vehicle in a convoy with two behind them, all moving at high speed. This version of Abednigo was a lot less stable on its wheels than its predecessor, and fishtailed through the corners and wobbled as it flew down the hills.
‘There are dronikus up ahead, Madame,’ reported Abednigo.
‘Don’t worry about them,’ said Nur. ‘They’re on their way to find Meriti’s car. Just keep going. You’re doing well.’
‘Thank you, Madame. I do try my best. As you know my motto is…’
‘Shhh… Abednigo!’
Zola watched as the dronikus formation headed off across the plantations. Up ahead in the distance they could see a gatehouse and boom. It was much smaller than the one by which they had entered. A number of rators stood by the boom, forming a defensive line as they heard the small convoy of vehicles approach.
‘Watch this,’ said Nur.
As the lead vehicle came speeding towards them, showing no sign of stopping, the rators opened fire. The car rammed into them, throwing rator bodies in all directions and came to rest on its side next to the boom, while the second vehicle drove directly into the gatehouse, which exploded in flames. Those rators still standing fired as the third car, which drove straight at the boom, smashed it, and continued through, followed closely by Abednigo. A few bullets hit Abednigo but no serious damage was done. The next two cars crashed into the rators where they stood, one of them making it back onto the road to join the somewhat shortened convoy, behind Abednigo.
‘Well done,’ said Zola.
‘I’ve been working on this kind of scenario – my own getaway – for some time now. It worked well.’
Abednigo and the two other cars moved fast, now on the highway, away from the Elatus estate. Nur said: ‘So, I’ve done my bit. Where are we headed next, my great leader?’
Zola gave her destination details for her to program Abednigo and then asked: ‘They can track this vehicle can’t they?’
‘Of course, but for the moment we’ve got them confused with all these cars going all over the place, attacking all the boom gates, and they’ll still be mainly focused on destroying Meriti’s car. If the dronikus stick to their standard dronikus style of massive overkill, it will take them a good moment to see that there are no human remains in the wreckage and to work out that we’ve left in one of the other vehicles. A simple ruse to gain us a bit of time, and so far it looks like that little sliver of time is ours.’
Nur gave instructions for the cars to space themselves out along the road, the first to go quite far ahead and the last to stay well behind.
They rode in silence, eating food Nur had magically produced from her bag.
The three cars passed over a low range of mountains and began to cross the open plains. The sun beat down.
Zola folded himself into the corner of the vehicle, pulled on his dark glasses and covered his face with his coat. Nur looked at him, buried in his internal world, and turned to her side of the vehicle, took a hit of the dispenser, put her head back and closed her eyes.
Dronikus is a novel published in 2023, now being serialised here on Substack. You can read a chapter every week for free.
Liking what you’re reading? Don’t want to wait to see what happens next? You can read the full book now by purchasing a digital or print copy of Dronikus from:
AndAlso Books (print edition)
Amazon (epub), Smashwords (epub), Apple Books (epub), Barnes&Noble (epub)
What’s New on markOnewmanOccasional
Over on markOnewmanOccasional is a new short piece of fiction, Lying Here.
To find it go to the Hey, What’s That Sound? homepage for a link. Please like and subscribe.
Please forward what you read on this site (Dronikus or the occasional writings) to anyone who you think may like this short writing. Suggest that if they like it they could subscribe to the weekly post. Emphasise that it is free and that one can unsubscribe with one click.
If you are on Substack please like and recommend Hey, what’s that sound? to other Substackers.
I’m keen to hear any comments or questions or thoughts you may have. My email is: markonewman@icloud.com
Cheers, Marko