Ladybird W

 

It was 4 o’clock in the morning when Michael finally returned home. He had walked for five hours on the beach. It was low tide and pleasant. It was his birthday today. But he hadn’t had time or inclination to drink and celebrate. Those things will come later in the day. He had to polish off Ladybug W.  It was take-off time.

 

Ladybird W was a tiny object or rather computer created by Michael. She guzzled billions of data and analysed. It had the tiniest camera to take pictures, store them and act upon them as she deemed fit- which, by the way, Michael did it manually initially but over time she did it on her own. But every now and then, not often, she relied on Michael.  Thank you! - Michael mumbled. Well! What could he say? She was his baby, so - arrogance, attitude and creativity were in her genes. So, thank you, Michael. She smirked hearing Michael sigh. 

Ladybird W - It took exactly one year to create her. It coincided with Michael’s birthday. Or rather Michael made sure it should take exactly that much time. He didn’t believe in coincidences- one more trait passed onto Ladybird W. What a family tree it will be. 

This girl was built differently. Unlike other objects, she did not melt in extreme heat or cold, nor erode nor rust. It had no melting point. She was emotionless - as Michael liked to think. Michael had created her from the strongest metal, and again, she had outgrown very quickly and built her own armour. Michael wondered how? But he had eventually stopped asking these questions a long time back.  As long as she worked as per what Michael had in mind. 

Ladybird W did not require a plug or socket or any charger to get herself working.  She relied on fuel - any kind of petroleum product. And that too, very little to last her for a long time. Michael wondered how she would fuel herself once he released her. 

Ladybird W was already humming and buzzing- restless to take off. 

Final touches- polishing, caressing, some elaborate and unnecessary checking. And finally she took off. She made no sound. Michael watched her fly from his balcony.  He went to his laptop to monitor her journey. First time out, on her own, underage and all that stuff. 

She was flying at a breath taking speed. After five minutes or so Michael realised that she increased her speed even further. Almost 100 kph. every half a minute or so. Where did she get this energy from? This was certainly not from him. In no time or rather in Ladybird W time, she had reached Africa. When Michael looked closely at his monitor he realised that Ladybird W had already sent  five thousand photos of the places she had travelled and what she deemed fit to send. Now, do I have to send in a request  or ask for a code to open her secret files? Grumbled Michael. 

The photos were of amazing clarity. Ladybird W had sent photos of the jungles of Africa, jungles uninhabited. And the recorded videos. Michael stared at the screen. He punched in some numbers to go live.  And there she was - glued to the wall of a pyramid in Egypt.  As Michael watched, he realised ladybird W was sending some numbers which flashed on the screen. They were the dimensions of the pyramid, the stone structure, its make and all the paraphernalia regarding the pyramid on which she was resting. The fly on the wall was walling. The video went blurry as she flew off.  Michael realised that she had switched off the video. Hmmm. Michael decided  to get some sleep but he knew he was too excited to sleep.  

The  next picture she sent was of a cake with “ Happy Birthday M” written on it. Thank you!  

For an hour or so there was no activity and Michael almost dozed off till a tiny beep woke him up. It was a file with a caption “ please open the file, birthday boy “. Michael clicked and saw some pictures.  They were of an old dilapidated temple.  Now, why would Ladybird W send pictures of some random temple? Unlike her. On closer look Michael saw that she had made some signs as to where to look. When Michael zoomed in he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. There were mathematical equations as to how this old temple was built. And those formulae were not written by Ladybird W.  They were the originals written by someone who had built this temple at the time unknown. Michael typed in - “ Dated ? “ - half challenging, half  expecting no answer but out popped the answer from Ladybird W - 8000 BC-  

Interesting but please - can we now move on from Maths and geometry? 

Michael punched in to go live.  “Request granted “- came the reply. Seriously?  

She was in an oil rig. It was gigantic in size and an area never seen or heard before. And she had chosen this place for a refuel. But why here? She could easily quench her thirst from ordinary household cooking oil. All she needed was a drop or two to fly for a hundred hours. The oil rig had no company name, no logos, nothing written whatsoever anywhere. Illegal? Maybe. Ladybird W was showing off her find. These habits die hard. The moment Michael spotted her she took a holy dip in one of the open oil wells.  Drank some oil, swam, did some underwater scuba and out she flew. She flew zigzag as if she was inebriated. Yeah! yeah! Enough of your gimmicks. 

There were two people chatting idly. Ladybird W softly landed on one of the men’s shirt collars. Ever so softly. None  of them gave an indication as to whether something was amiss. Michael raised his eyebrows. Impressive. Those two people continued talking. It was a foreign language. And Michael couldn’t understand. But suddenly the conversation was translated and flashed on his monitor like movie subtitles. Ladybird W! But when Michael read what was being translated by Ladybird W, he couldn’t believe it. These guys were planning something  bad on a massive scale. Well! If Ladybird W can land here, she can land anywhere undetected. White House? Pentagon? Mossad ?Space? Nuclear site? She could go as close to the Sun as no one has ever been.  Deepest in the seas. Arctic.? She was made of that metal or rather she made herself of that metal over time so that she could withstand extreme heat or cold or whatever the future offered or challenged. The list turned endless and with that the temptation too. But the biggest question was - would Ladybird W ever return home?

Happy birthday, Michael.  Time to sleep….