“Head for Victoria Park,” Liz said. “We’ll lose them there.”
They zipped along over the streets of Bethnal Green, and cut along Old Ford Road, heading towards Regent’s Canal. Traffic was light, but they bounced off a few car roofs and Olly could hear the motors straining. Drones were sturdy, but there were limits.
“We’re too heavy, we need to put down somewhere,” he began, but was interrupted by the thunderous growl of an engine. On his display a flashing threat marker appeared. “Bagley, what the hell is that?”
Tidis brand APVs – armoured pursuit vehicles. Like a cross between a tank and a four-by-four. Albion aren’t supposed to deploy them in the city. Oh well…
“I thought you were scrambling communications,” Liz snapped.
I was. Unfortunately, they unscrambled them.
Olly’s display pinged. Someone was trying to get a GPS lock on the drone. “Shit, shit, shit – they’re triangulating on us, innit?” He urged the drone to greater speed, and it began to veer wildly as it skidded over the trees. Liz leaned towards him.
“Slow down,” she shouted.
“Are you mental? They’re right on our arse!” The thought of being shot wasn’t one he’d ever seriously considered before today. Right now it was all he could think about.
“Just do it,” she snarled. He glanced back, and saw that she had her Optik out.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting a cab. What does it look like?” A proximity alert flashed, seconded from the drone’s sensors. He spied a second drone closing in, and he realised what Liz was planning.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked, as he tried to hold their ride steady.
“I’m improvising. You remember the rally point?”
Olly nodded convulsively. They’d arranged a rally point before coming out – a place to meet up if the worst happened and they got separated. Liz caught his shoulder and squeezed. “Good. Lead them around a bit and head straight there when you lose them, understand? No dilly-dallying, Olly. And whatever you do, don’t lose that damn Optik.”
“I won’t,” he said, but she was already jumping onto the newly arrived drone. Liz peeled away from him as the first of their pursuers burst through the treeline, scattering civilians. The vehicle was boxy, built to withstand the rigours of terrain and roadside explosives alike. It gunned towards them, and Olly swooped away. The drone was faster now, with some of the weight off – but was it fast enough?
He hurtled over the park, arrowing past the boating lake. The air lashed him as he crouched low atop the drone, trying to keep his balance. “Bagley, I need a route out of here,” he said, hoping the AI would have good news for him. A moment later, an overlay map of the park appeared on his display, with a flashing yellow line stretching ahead of him.
Ask and ye shall receive, but I warn you – it’s going to be bumpy…
“Whatever, so long as it gets me out of here quick.” Head down, he guided the drone along the yellow line, towards the eastern end of the park. Groups of people scattered, yelling, snapping pics – he could almost feel the CCTV breathing down his neck, even as his app made to erase him from the cloud. The APV gunned its engines, and stayed on his tail.
Bagley’s trail sent him out over the East Lake and he skidded across the surface, leaving waves in his wake, and a number of cursing fishermen. The APV was angling on a parallel course, keeping him in sight as it tore up a walking trail with its wheels, lights flashing.
An alert flashed – someone was trying to break his hold on the drone. Forced to split his attentions, he almost fell off when he sped past the Hub Building, but managed to right himself at the last moment.
“Two can play at that game,” he said, aiming his Optik at the APV. He tapped the screen and was rewarded by the APV suddenly slewing to the side as its wheels locked up and its engine went dead. Momentum carried the heavy vehicle down a shallow incline and into the model boating lake with a loud splash. Olly gave a shout of glee and punched the air.
I wouldn’t celebrate just yet, Oliver. Bogies on your six, as they say.
Olly risked a glance. Three drones with yellow chasses and widely spaced motors. They were moving on an intercept course, and fast.
Tidis AV-50 Pursuit Drones. Designed to fly at high speed, on autonomous pursuit courses. Capable of disabling networked machinery – including other drones, I might add – via short-range override transmitter.
“Wonderful. Suggestions?”
Try to land somewhere soft, when they catch you.
“That’s not helpful, Bagley!”
Oh very well – calculating a new route for optimum evasion…
The yellow route marker vanished, replaced by a red one. Olly veered after it. Very quickly, he realised it was guiding him towards the street. “Bagley, you sure about this?”
Feel free to disregard, Oliver. After all, I am only a highly advanced AI, designed for rapid calculation and computation. I’m sure your meat brain will get you out of this sticky wicket in one piece, if you ask it nicely.
“Point taken,” Olly said, through gritted teeth. The pursuit drones were closing the distance now. They were coming in on all sides, trying to hem him in – or maybe herd him back into the park. Whatever they were trying, it didn’t work. He burst out of the park and banked out over the traffic, heading towards Hackney.
But even as he did so, a new alert flashed. A fourth pursuit drone swung towards him, as if out of nowhere.
