Twenty Six, 21 April
Pandoke does dronikus
Dronikus, a novel set on a burning planet called Earth.
Zola, you are family
Dronikus filled the black velvety space, dreamlike, moving like large fish idling in water, so close one could touch them – as if they were tangible. The music trembled and quivered, saturating the audioscape, when, to a trilling, freewheeling music track, the perspective changed, pulling back to show masses of dronikus flying in intricate formation, performing dazzling tricks in breath-taking swarm behaviour.
No walls, no ceiling, no floor were visible in the darkened auditorium. An audience of about 50 senior Pandoke executives, shareholders, and scientists and their partners sat bathed in full-immersion holographic image and sound – a transcendent and ethereal three dimensional experience.
A voice broke through the guitars, ‘Pandoke does dronikus – we’ve always done dronikus. Before the world knew they needed them, we were building them, putting them to work, solving problems, using the power of technology for the good of mankind.’
High-pitched guitars riffed and drums rolled. The swarm segued into spectacular montaged video of dronikus in action, taking the audience viscerally into vertiginous flights over cliffs, swooping down to a few inches above ploughed fields, a minute dronikus entering a blossom on a fruit tree, a camera-dronikus entering a patient’s nostril, transport-dronikus settling wind turbines in place, formations of large military dronikus attacking a battleship – all edited to rousing rhythms and flighty strings.
‘Leading in the fields of education, health, transport, agriculture, industry, law enforcement, and defence, Pandoke does dronikus and does it better for you.’
The last image was of dronikus rising up into the sky leaving burning battleships littered across the oceans. As it faded the audience came up from its sensory jacuzzi to take a breath, aware of semi-transparent ‘slices’ of image ‘hung suspended’ on every side – full-size images waiting in the wings to be called to life.
‘Pandoke is about people, people getting ahead in their lives, moving, connecting, communicating. Pandoke has always been about people.’
One, two, five, ten of these ‘slices’ floated into the holographic space and spectacular fluid imagery sprang to life: beautiful young people doing amazing things, flying, jumping, running, dancing, sliding through the space, some even stopping to greet audience members as they passed, so real did they seem.
‘Pandoke is now so very proud to launch a sensational new product – a product for the people, a must-have product that enhances and surpasses even the most sophisticated Eyeto.’ The music ramped up. Then: ‘We present DroniMate.’
Out of nowhere cute-looking dronikus materialised in the open hand of each young person. They all smiled and held their hands forward as a way of introducing the DroniMate.
Cut to a young woman talking to the DroniMate in her hand, ‘Hello Mabeline.’
‘Hello Samantha, I’m so proud to be your DroniMate.’
‘I’m so happy to have you, Mabeline.’ Smiling.
‘Making life happier for us all,’ said the voiceover.
Cut to a DroniMate bringing a soft drink to a young man lounging next to a pool. ‘Thanks Bilal.’
‘The pleasure’s mine, Thomo. Don’t forget your 2pm dentist appointment.’
‘Simplifying our lives,’ said the voiceover.
Cut to kids running out of the school front gate at final bell, happy that classes are over. As they run the camera picks up a DroniMate flying next to each girl and boy.
‘Keeping an eye on those valuable young lives,’ said the voiceover.
Cut to a kid on a couch in front of a large monitor: ‘What should I watch, Kenzi?’
The DroniMate replies, ‘here’s a movie that you’ve been wanting to watch for a while.’ The monitor springs to life. ‘Also your mother says that you should do your chores before dinner. Shall I reply?’
‘Tell her I’ve already done it all,’ says the kid, pulling a fun, joyful face.
‘Harmonising our lives,’ said the voiceover.
Two hooded men confront a woman in a dark alley. The woman’s DroniMate sounds an alarm and calls emergency services. The men turn and flee.
‘Making life safer and more secure,’ said the voiceover. ‘Your own personal dronikus, customised to your life, to your needs, to your desires. For every move, every step, every question, every event in your life, it’s there for you, there to ease and smooth the way. DroniMate.’
A powerful voice came booming from the darkness as the hologram voiceover faded. ‘Just as we say Pandoke does dronikus, Pandoke does rators, Pandoke does medical, Pandoke does military. Today we proudly announce to the world “Pandoke does DroniMate”.’
Meriti appeared from the soft black beyond the hologram space, his arms raised, his head held high, his face beaming. ‘Welcome everyone to this wonderful day.’ He came to the centre and stood in a pool of soft blue light, before the applauding audience.
Zola sat next to Enrike. On the other side of his brother was a stout woman with voluminous curly hair and beyond her, two pre-teenage children. Zola did not recognise any of them but by their position next to Enrike he imagined they would be his family. At the end of his row sat an old man who had long grey hair and a beard. Zola realised that this was his uncle Azvedo, whom he had last seen when they were both a lot younger. In the rows behind were men and women, the inner core of the Pandoke corporation. Off to the side in the shadows he saw a line of rators, including Arno. Standing next to them was the security chief, Petros Jordaan.
Meriti spoke, his voice, mellifluous. ‘We, gathered here at Shangdu, are Pandoke. We are the heart and the mind of this great enterprise, a company that has grown from humble beginnings to become a key player in the technologies that impact on virtually all aspects of peoples’ lives, here and around the world.
‘Today’s announcement of the launch of DroniMate, a product set to revolutionise the consumer tech accessory market, fills us with joy, and a humble pride in what we, as a company, what “we”,’ he held out his hands embracing the audience ‘have become. So, yes, let us celebrate that.’ The people applauded.
‘But as you all know,’ Meriti’s voice took on a more sincere and heartfelt tone, ‘we are here for another very special reason, something that speaks to the very core of our great company. It concerns the heart and mind of our family and the healing of wounds that were opened decades ago. You are all aware that sitting here in this room is our brother who was separated from us and lived alone, far away, for many years. To our absolute delight, some weeks ago, he came home, back to his family, back to Pandoke. Please join me in welcoming back our brother, Zola Pandoke.’
The people stood and applauded. Zola sat, head humbly bowed. After sustained applause he stood and turned, doing his best to smile and acknowledge them all.
‘Welcome Zola, my brother. It has been hard, all these years without you. They were years of much pain and uncertainty, but they were also years of healing. In the words of a great thinker from many, many years ago: “History is a road never to be untravelled. And should we not learn its lessons, we will continue to walk blindly in its fateful tracks”. Let me say that we have learnt our lessons. While we may still stumble on the rocky road, we are no longer blindfolded. Our past has taught us to see our responsibilities and our capabilities as we go forward.
‘I stand here as a Pandoke family member and as a member of the government of this country and I say that where people speak of problems, we answer in the language of opportunity and solutions. Zola, you have returned to us now and together we can take a new, better path, a path that opens to fresh horizons and a land of peace and prosperity that is our future. It is with great joy we welcome you back, my brother.’
Applause sounded again. Zola smiled and nodded. Inside he was frozen solid, all feeling, all thought, all sense of identity and his recent history, boxed, sealed, and hidden well away. He had no option but to smile and nod. Even though he found it excruciating, he was surprised and pleased that many in the organisation still valued him, despite what had been said and done.
Meriti gave way to Enrike, dressed in a tight formal suit.
‘I, too, welcome you all here on this occasion. I, too, am proud of the achievements of our company and am very excited with the launch of the DroniMate. I congratulate all on the team who have worked to make it such a success.
‘And I, too, am overjoyed to embrace the return of my young brother. I, too, do not deny or hide from the difficulties and obstacles we faced all those years ago and the pain and suffering that ensued. And, I, too, stand here wishing to build a new future, a stronger future, a future of opportunities and solutions – as Meriti has said.’ His voice was measured, a little ponderous, having little of the upbeat seductive tones of Meriti.
‘All of us can be proud of the achievements of Pandoke. In the face of the biggest challenges the world has ever known, we have been consistent in our choices, in fulfilling our commitments, and in playing a leading role in our country and the world.
‘We have our critics – who of those who stand up for what they believe doesn’t have critics? – critics who say: “You are making profits from this situation; you are not doing enough to mitigate effects; you are too close to the military; you are using technology instead of – or even against – people”. To these critics, I say: “We and other companies like us around the world, indeed human society as a whole, have no option at this point but to use technology and its inventiveness to try solve the huge issues in front of us”.
‘And this is where the return of our brother is so important. Zola, we welcome you back because you are family. Yes. But we welcome you back because we need you, we welcome you back because we need that wonderful mind of yours, we need someone with your strong ethical focus, someone who will take Pandoke beyond a commercial brand and connect us to the wider community – because this is where the future solutions and the opportunities lie; where people, our people, come together to tackle and solve the global and local issues. You are the one to make this happen. Welcome back.’
The audience applauded once more. Zola was shocked to hear these words coming from his brother who was implicated, if not directly responsible for, the deaths of the three people closest to him. He took a moment to register the enormity of this double-speak, but maintained his amiable disposition and raised his hand in acknowledgment of Enrike’s words.
‘Now, please join us in the foyer for refreshments and an opportunity to greet Zola in the flesh… When we return, we will be taking you on a voyage into the future… Strap yourselves in….’
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)
Note from Marko Newman: Hi Dronikus readers. I hope that you are liking what you are reading. There is still a fair way to go in the story with many twists and turns to come.
For those who are joining the story I highly recommend you take the time to peruse earlier chapters to give you a bit of a lead-in to the story.
I suggest:
Chapters 1 to 3, 7, 9 and 12:
I have a favour to ask all readers: please forward the story (any episode) to anyone who you think may like this short weekly hit of fiction reading. 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 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