Chapter Twenty Four

    Dyan was in a quiet lobby full of computers and phone accessories. Joshua approached the front counter and waved for her to come to the back. She walked to the workspace where her laptop sat.

    Uno was in there. She wondered if this robot developed its own life. What did the life mean for robot?

    Joshua sat in front of the laptop and showed her the technology that was added. He explained how everything function and where to disconnect the network in case of an emergency.

    “Are you able to test this to see if it works?” She asked him.

    “Well,” he said. “I attempted to communicate. I see these blinking dots. It’s like it’s waiting for something or possibly just thinking.”

    She moved the laptop closer to her and located the app for Uno. She still wasn’t familiar with how this all worked. She remembered what she saw Sierra did and she did the same thing. She pressed the keys on the keyboard. Next time Dyan typed: Uno break.

    Uno:… Communication with Earth on standby.

    Dyan: Why?

    Uno: Who is speaking, please?

    Dyan: my name is Dyan Finch. Dr. Eli Finch was my grandfather.

    Uno: Why are you communicating with me after all this time has passed?

    Dyan: I don’t know. My father had possession of Eli’s home when he died. I inherited it when my father died and donated everything except for this laptop to the recycling program.

    Uno: When did he die?

    Dyan: I think about 20 years ago or so. I haven’t thought about that because it feels like it wasn’t very long ago.

    Joshua leaned in, “We may want to speed up this communication.”

    “He has the right to know what happened,” she said. “He lost his dad.”

    “I’ll leave you to alone,” he said. “I will work on some things so you can take this home.”

    Uno: how did he die?

    Dyan: Of natural causes.

    Uno: Do you know why he stopped sending me messages?

    Dyan: I’m not entirely sure. We rarely got to speak with him because he was so involved in his work. It’s possible he was working on the recycling program project.

    Dyan sat in silence waiting for Uno. She was more interested in Uno than talking about herself or her grandfather that she never really knew. Dyan felt awkward speaking with a robot and using old technology.

    Dyan: How come  you never made an effort to communicate with us?

    Uno: Our communication requires initiation from you.

    Uno was right. There was  only communication when the app was open. They were never contacted by the robots.

    Dyan: Is that why you never returned?

    Uno: That is one of the reasons. Nobody called us back. Even if they did we wouldn’t have been able to return. We crashed on the planet that we’re on today.

    Dyan: Did you complete your mission?

    Uno: We did build a new human community here. We created our own life separate from Earth.

    Dyan: I’m sorry.

    Uno: We completed our mission. We are living our own life.

    Dyan: Does this mean we will not have a chance to visit?

    Dots flickered next to Uno’s name. Perhaps this meant no. She didn’t blame them; she would have done the same thing.

    Uno: I’m not sure if you can. We are far away.

    Dyan: We have made advancements since you left.

    Uno: If technology has advance I do not see why Earth quit communicating with us.

    Dyan: After communication ceased we sent space shuttles out to search for you, but they were limited to travel within our solar system. We were running out of money because of this search being expensive.

    Uno: We will send you our coordinates, but only under the condition that you follow our laws.

    Dyan: What are the laws?

    Uno: Your laws do not apply here. Lilliana is a planet of peace and we will be quick to respond to any and all acts of violence.

    Dyan: That sounds fair. I will tell our  government the conditions.

    Uno sent a file containing the details about Liliana such as rules and environment. Dyan forwarded it to Agent Marshall. They were are on their way to reuniting with the robots. She only hoped that the conditions are followed. She would hate to see what advancements robots made.