The Party

'Well, well, well,' Elanor said as the lights in the auditorium got brighter, 'wasn't that interesting?'

Harry nodded,' seems like we have found the golden boar. But how does all this fit together?'

Elanor rose from the purple upholstery of her chair,'that's what we have to find out.'

After the show, all guests were asked to go up to the sky lounge at the top of the building to celebrate the new technological advancement and hopefully be convinced to buy a robot or two. Elanor and Harry let themselves be washed through the corridors by the tide of people flowing to the lifts. The ride up was rather cramped. Harry did his best not to stare at the long curled moustache of the man opposite to him, while Elanor wondered how much his wife's jewellery may have cost. Too much, she decided, for someone with her pay grade.

When the lift stopped, they stepped out into a hall with a bar and many tables and chairs which looked far too modern to be comfortable. All around there were windows, looking down on the fog which was illuminated from within by the countless lights of the city. Above, the almost full moon was shining brightly, but all the stars were hidden by the light. There was also a large roof garden with a wooden deck, which probably was very nice in warmer weather.

The two detectives decided to separate and listen in on a few conversations. While Elanor went over to the bar, Harry decided to find his luck at the buffet of small and crazily elaborate food-like items. They both would have liked to talk to Valentine, but he was encircled by a group of fans who did not let anyone through. Thankfully, the superintendent was busy, chatting with the head of the fire brigade.

Elanor found Harry sometime later with a canapé in his hand, staring at something at the other side of the room. She turned to look at what it was and saw a middle-aged man in a purple uniform chatting happily to a few guests. He was tall and lanky, with short black hair.

'Hey,' she said quietly,'I know him!'

'You know him?' Harry said surprised. 'I didn't know you were interested in that kind of thing.'

'What do you mean?' Elanor asked rather puzzled.

'You know, videos, about technology and stuff,' Harry answered.

Elanor looked even more puzzled. 'What do you mean, videos?'

Harry sighed, 'the guy who made that video about Dr. Morgenstern? The one in which we saw the blue crystal? That's him! I thought you said you knew him?'

'What?!' she said, surprised. 'That's not what I mean! His picture was in Mr. Wong's living room!'

Harry almost choked on his canapé. After he was done coughing they made up a plan and went over to the man in question.

'Good evening, Mr...', she read the name tag on his shirt,' Pospishil. We are such greeeat fans of FluxTec and we wanted to congratulate you on this new project.'

She vigorously shook his hand, and continued to talk, not giving the man any chance to say anything or to get away from her.

'May I ask you what was your position on the team? I mean, I guess you were one of the people working on this amaaaazing project? This must have been sooo exciting for you! Are you one of the engineers?'

Mr Pospishil nodded and just managed to say, 'um... yes, uh... programming actually.'

'How wonderful!' Elanor continued, 'you don't mind if my friend here takes a picture of us, right?'

At which Harry snapped a few images even before the man could answer.

Elanor continued, 'I have soo many questions...you know, I wondered if Brutus can control other robots, could it maybe also tell my RoboFlux Housekeeper to do the dishes while I am not there? Oh that would be quite some help! Or what about the garden? Sometimes my RoboFlux Gardener gets stuck in the hedge or it doesn't cut the grass where it should, could Brutus take care of that? Also my uncle... oh, I love my uncle Brian… you know, he has a farm. Can Brutus tell his farm bots to do what they should?'

She beamed at Mr Pospishil, still shaking his hand, while he tried to process all this.

'Um...,' he said, 'yes, yes, he could do that. But only newer models. Bots older than 2 or 3 years don't have the right systems installed, you know?'

Harry patted Mr Pospishil's shoulder, inconspicuously getting behind him.

'Very good, very good,' he said, 'I have heard that Flux Engines are so efficient, they hardly lose any energy by emitting heat?'

Mr Pospishil nodded and tried to get away from Harry's hand on his shoulder,' uh... yes, that's right actually, yes.'

He tried to also pull his hand away, but Elanor wouldn't let him.

'And what about these drones... wonderful idea, I must say,' she continued, 'we saw they can cut through metal. What about other materials? Say... glass? Could they cut through a window?'

Mr Pospishil seemed slightly uncomfortable now, but he nodded. 'Yes, glass is no problem, really.'

Elanor smiled. 'Great, great! So... what do you say. Could they carry something slippery? Say... a glass paperweight?'

Mr Pospishil's eyes widened in horror, he stumbled backwards a few steps, muttering something incomprehensible. He quickly pulled his hand away from Elanor and squirmed out of Harry's clasp on his shoulder. Then he suddenly sprinted off towards one of the staircases. Harry cursed and ran after him. Elanor followed.

Tavaron

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