The congress center lobby was a few yards from the hotel's dining room. Dax and Jarcy met at eleven in the morning after they each went back to their respective rooms and prepared. The hall was huge, the walls covered with silver and gold resin, on which were placed advertising screens touting the hotel's offerings and the congress center where the exhibition of new technologies and artificial intelligences was being held.
Holograms evolved at a height of about three yards above the ground. In each corner of the hall, there were robots of all kinds, mechanical arms operating in a surgical ward, others making children's electronic animals, arms hanging on a wall of a high-tech kitchen that made the dishes and then put the cutlery in a drawer, and a 4D printer that built a racing car that can run on one or two wheels. Hostesses and guests greeted the guests with a large, commercially frozen smile. Their eyes blank, they dutifully followed their engineered programs offering snacks and all sorts of information. Their hologram screens flashed several different bits of information. Dax and Jarcy politely thanked them for their suggestions, hurried through the airlock in order to have the minimum of interaction and to reach the next level as quickly as possible.
They walked the steps in weightlessness, heading for the first floor lounge, dedicated to robotic companies including the mastodon RoboFirst. Arriving on the landing, they advanced a few steps in the main alley. Then four aisles separated, each with a different colored floor. Spherical robots wandered and zigzagged between other machines of arachnid or humanoid appearance. A hubbub invaded the showroom. It was difficult to extract one conversation or another, even listening carefully. Jarcy and Dax looked around. Dax began to read on the lips of two women in full explanation of the latest innovations of their company. They discussed how their new patented rubidium battery allowed an incomparable power compared to what existed now. He then switched his attention to read the lips of three men standing in the main alley, debating the best program to detoxify bio-liquids. Jarcy nodded to tell his colleague they had to walk down the red carpeted walkway.
At the end of this aisle, a huge screen sported the logo of RoboFirst. It was surrounded by animation films of the latest inventions coming out from the group. It was essentially RoboFirst's latest child, spheroc, a technology ball that turned into an eight-legged creature. Moreover, from the end of the aisle, an orange sphere rolled towards them, it avoided two people as it approached by skirting them, then slaloming between several robots they came to a stop at their feet. It began to dissociate in two parts, separating the top from the bottom in a horizontal section. The upper part had risen, forming a head. Two eyes and one mouth lit up under the translucent cuirass. Jarcy and Dax observed the famous spheroc that came to meet them. This device was almost a yard in height.
The lower half-sphere was composed of eight quarters, like half-slices of orange. They separated from each other to form a crown, the tips downwards to form legs, articulated to move like a spider. The upper part took a turn on itself, while the feet moved from right to left and vice versa, like a crab. Then, the spheroc found itself on its head, waving its paws like an insect on its shell, struggling to regain its balance. Then it rebounded up to its feet, extended them to Dax and Jarcy and bowed to finish its nude charm.
"Funny this crab with its legs almond shaped." Dax observed.
"Yes, I find it cute," Jarcy replied, "I think I saw it at the airport. It looks like a toy, don't you think?"
"I'm not a toy, Doctor Cret! Replied the orange ball, in a childish and perfectly fluid voice. I am your servant! Hello, Dr. Mecrin."
"You are unmasked, my dear!" Dax joked.
"I did not mean to hide," Jarcy laughed. "But I am surprised. I did not expect that. Who are you pretty crab?"
"I am glad to meet you. I am Spheroc, RoboFirst's youngest creation, I am a messenger. I am able to move anywhere, to guide, to help anyone who needs it in a gas-poor environment, like Mars, where the drones are inoperative. May I have the pleasure of accompanying you to RoboFirst's booth? I would like to introduce our new director, Colonel Monarc. Do you have a few moments to meet him?"
YOU ARE READING
EVEN DEATH DIES
Science FictionEVEN DEATH DIES, women's thriller in a dystopia. Controlling all the minds makes Dax the perfect easy prey. She knows it and doesn't let anyone get too close to her family. One night, her twins are strangely blasted; Telio resurrected but needs a n...
