Chapter 416

After the initial moment of panic, followed by the near heart attack he had, which included jerking himself quickly back into his immersion pod, and nearly inhaling some of the gel that was still receding, his mind finally puzzled together what was going on.

In his bedroom, the lights and lamp already on given the time, sat a dog. His eyes, at first, had simply seen a figure, hunched in the middle of his room, and his mind had gone ballistic.

Upon further inspection, the object was a dog, though it was obvious at first glance, it wasn’t living. The dog was sleek in build, medium sized, and actually did have what appeared to be a mixture of black and white fur. However, as it looked at him, completely unmoving, and unbreathing, he knew what it was. And that was even without the glowing blue eyes giving it away. This was the present from his parents.

“Good morning, James.” Said the dog, in a friendly, only slightly robotic tone. It was warm, and he could tell immediately, they’d definitely gone above and beyond with its construction. From a distance, or even an initial glance, it looked like a living dog. As James got out of his immersion pod, he moved over to it, the dog’s head tilting in a very dog like manner, with even the furred tail shifting back and forth.

“I must complete our bonding process.” The dog continued, its eyes watching James as he knelt down to eye level with it. “Upon doing so, I’ve a message for you, from your parents, and we can begin our partnership.” The dog tilted its head towards James, and a small sensor appeared on the back of its neck. “If you would.”

The sensor, James could tell, was normally hidden under the fur. The action of the dog tilting its head like that, along with likely some command it had internally, shifted the fur away, to reveal a close proximity scanner. Much like the proximity scanners the government, and rest of the world for that matter, used to confirm people’s identity chips, this scanner would do the same. However, it was one of the rare, high security types, that needed him to place his wrist directly onto it, in order to be scanned. A way to keep anyone, such as a crazed hacking group bent on revenge, from being able to tamper with it. Once he scanned his chip, the dog would be completely his, and only follow orders from him.

“Alright,” James said, marveling at the dog. He knew his parents were good. He knew they were some of the best in their field. But this, was crazy. They’d have to have been working on it for a long time, and he wondered if it had always been meant for him? Perhaps they’d sped up their work, given his encounter with Dwight? Maybe this was a prototype of sorts, for a project they were working on for the government? Whatever it was, the initial realism was above and beyond what he’d expected. After all, making a robotic dog seem real, was a lot harder than robotic bird drones.

The dog waited patiently, and James placed his wrist onto the scanner. He felt warmth on his flesh as the close proximity scanner did its task, and then, after a few moments, it was done. The scanning stopped, the fur patch moved back into place, and the robot dog let out an excited bark.

“Thank you, James.” The dog said, stepping away from him slowly, leaving James crouched, awkwardly, on his floor, in his boxers. “With that, our bond has been established, and I’ve been permanently assigned to you.” The dog tipped its head, in a very un-dog-like bow.

“Allow me to formally introduce myself.” It said, continuing. “I am a personal defense support robot, designation Defense and Offense against General Enemies 0001, or DOGE-1, for short. However, you may name me as you see fit.” The dog paused, looking at James expectantly. It was apparently, DOGE-1, wanted a new name.

“Uh,” he could name the dog Buddy? Nah, that seemed pretty basic. What did people even name pets in the real world anymore? Most of the digital pets in games got meme names, so, would that work now?

“If you’re struggling with names,” DOGE-1 offered up, “I can give you a list of preloaded options.”

James shook his head. No doubt, those would be generic feeling as well. This was a gift to him from his parents. Something to take care of him, and keep him safe. In stories, usually that came as a sword, or…

“Dagger.” James said a second later. “I’ll name you Dagger.” It, was a bit aggressive. But James figured, this dog would serve as his self-defense. And that meant, this dog was his dagger. Gifted to him from his parents, to help him on his adventures. If this was a fantasy novel of course… that would fit perfectly.

“Very well.” The dog’s eyes flashed. “My new name is, Dagger.”

“Alright Dagger,” James said, with that now out of the way. “You mentioned you have a message for me from my parents? I figure, we should view that, and then perhaps go over what it is you are capable of?”

Self-defense robots weren’t exactly rare. But something this realistic, and coming from his parents, he knew made it extra special. Not to mention, usually random school kids couldn’t afford one. Such things, personal, robotic bodyguards and such, were usually things only super powerful individuals could afford. And that was to augment their real life personal protection.

“Certainly, James.” Dagger said, and his eyes glowed once again. The mouth opened, and a holoprojector appeared. A moment later, James was looking at a miniaturized, but extremely realistic looking, vision of his parents. As with the previous video, this one too, was from the height of his dad’s parrot camera. After a second, it began.

“Hey James,” his dad started, with his same smile as always. Though, James could see dark lines under both his parents eyes. They were tired. Was it his fault? Had they been pushing themselves on this project for him? He hoped not. “If you’re listening to this, you’ve met DOGE.” James’s dad chuckled, and his mom punched him lightly.

“Hopefully you changed that silly name.” She cut in. “Your father’s humor hasn’t evolved past 2020.”

“That’s not all that hasn’t evolved since,” his father started muttering, and was promptly hit again. James’s mom took control of the call.

“As promised, we sent your new companion to keep you safe. As per government regulations, he has all the appropriate security measures and safeties in place to be utilized in public settings, and we’ve already gotten it cleared with your school to allow you to have him with you in class. Zack has been extremely helpful in that regard, and I’m sure he’s pretty excited to see your new pet.”

“Zack’s a great guy.” James’s father said with a nod. “Really, it makes me feel better knowing he’s at the school with you. Not many people out there who care about kids like he does.”

“DOGE-1,” James’s mother said with a sigh, “comes designed with a multitude of ways to keep you safe. Not only can it incapacitate targets with a variety of nearly instantaneous, nonlethal applications, but it also comes with temporary jammers, a personal shield, and a few other neat tricks, that will keep you safe. It can additionally deploy, at a moments notice, smaller drones to act in protective manners, and-“

“This is the best part,” James’s dad cut back in. “It can camouflage itself perfectly.”

James glanced from the holograms, back to his new companion. Cloaking technology was a thing. But the fact this dog could go completely invisible, seemed a bit crazy. Especially given its fur covered, realistic appearance. James knew the stories of the Enforcers implied they could use such tech, but that was government owned tech. Not meant for regular citizens, such as James.

“Oh, but keep that bit secret.” James’s dad added after a second. “It’s uh, proprietary.”

His mother nodded at her husband and looked back to James. “We’ve also programmed in a few additional special features and measures, and have worked with Rue’s father to implement a powerful AI into your companion. It will learn, and grow, as it interacts with you, to become the perfect companion for you in the real world. As long as he’s by your side, you’ve nothing to fear anymore.”

James’s father cleared his throat, “one more thing.” The normally jovial individual was suddenly serious. “I’m telling you this now, for your own good. But, and I put on my serious face for this, don’t do it out of curiosity.”

James leaned even closer to his mechanical pet, watching the hologram closely. “If, and it’s a big if, something happens. DOGE-1 has the ability to open the door into our workshop at home.”

James’s heart jumped. He’d never been in there. It was the one door in the house he couldn’t unlock. He also remembered, the individuals from Cyb3ru5 had been keen to get into the room, and even Felecia had been curious about it.

“As a precaution,” James’s dad continued, “I have ensured DOGE-1 will not open that door for you, until you’ve been paired with him for longer than a day.” At that, his dad cracked a small smirk. “Because, you’re my son, and if I was in your shoes, I’d totally be rushing to see what’s in there the moment this message ended.”

Yeah, his dad totally had him pegged in that regard.

“Any who,” his dad said, features softening again. “We will chat again a little later. DOGE-1 also comes with the ability to make completely secure calls and can send messages directly to us with an encryption that only we can access. In that way, you can be certain, our messages back and forth, are 100 percent secure.”

Something caused his parents gaze to shift at that moment, and for a split second, their expressions changed. It was so quick though, James couldn’t tell what it was.

“Right, enough of that though,” James’s father said. “We love you, and we’ll be in touch.”

“Take care James, and we’re proud of you, and everything you’ve been doing.” His mother added. “We will talk with you soon, and hopefully, we can visit in person as soon as things here calm down.”

The moment she finished those words, the camera completely cut off, the message ending. It, had left James with more questions than answers, but also, had filled him with a lot of excitement. His parents might be coming home soon. In person. That was big. The fact he also had a secure way to message them, was also huge. And of course, the whole, Dagger being able to open his parents’ workshop, was massive in and of itself.

And all of that, just helped further his excitement regarding what, exactly, Dagger could do.

“Dagger,” he said, without another second of hesitation.

“Yes James?” The dog asked, tilting its head slightly.

“What are your current capabilities, features, and functions, as well as any specific commands or special bits I should know about?”

His parents had mentioned a few, but he knew better than to just take that at face value. If he’d learned anything lately, especially from DCO, it was that he needed to have all of the details, fully laid out before him. And, upfront was much better, than learning by accident. Especially in the real world, where a single accident, could cause him a lot of trouble. James was done with trouble. Now, with Dagger at his side, and Cyb3Ru5 dealt with, James was just going to live his day-to-day bits of the real world with, ideally, minimal excitement, so he could focus all of his time, and energy, on Rue and DCO. That, after all, was the ideal life for him.