Chereads / Seven Nation Army / Chapter 26 - Academy Days V: ARIA

Chapter 26 - Academy Days V: ARIA

18:21

Runway-07, New Eden

Sohel and Jacob enter the runway and see a Kawasaki C-2 ready to take off waiting for them. Sohel had a small bag on his shoulder. In front of the Jet stairs stood a 22-year-old Russian man with blonde hair and a friendly smile. As Sohel and Jacob reached the man he shook Sohel's hand and introduced himself, "You must be Sohel Chowdhury. I'm Flight lt. Leonard Petrov. I've been assigned to take you to London."

Sohel said, "Let's go then."

The three of them board the Jet. Sohel and Jacob sit behind while Petrov takes the pilot seat. While flying over the sea Sohel takes out a tablet from his bag. Jacob asked, "What's that?"

"Uncle Rahat gave it to me. I can access the SNA servers using this."

As Sohel turned on the tablet a robotic female voice came from the tablet, "Welcome, Please state your rank, name, and ID." Jacob gets a little bit startled. Sohel sees four letters floating on the blue screen. A.R.I.A

Sohel started talking, "Recruit. Sohel Chowdhury. SCBD19"

ARIA replies, "ID authorized and saved voice for future recognition."

Sohel said, "ARIA, open the file on Annabelle Josephina Watson."

The voice replied, "Yes, sir."

Jacob asked Sohel, "Who are you talking to?"

Sohel looked at Jacob with disappointment and said, "Didn't you pay attention to the classes? This is ARIA. SNA's support AI."

Sohel looked back at the screen that now showed information about Annabelle.

"Now, who do we have here? Annabelle Josephina Watson, 2nd princess of the British Royal Family, problem child. Now that's interesting."

Jacob points somewhere on the screen and says, "Look here, Sohel. This girl has an IQ of 176. She's a genius."

Sohel replied, "That might be the reason Uncle accepted his Highness's recommendation. It worked for both parties. One got rid of their problem child while the other acquired a genius."

Jacob laughs. Sohel sits silently for a few seconds thinking something and says, 

"ARIA, open the file on flight lt. Leonard Petrov."

"Yes sir."

The screen showed Leon's Data file and Sohel was amazed by it. He asked Leon, 

"Mr. Petrov, do you want to join my squad? You have some pretty cool records. I'd love to have someone like you on my squad."

Petrov replied, "You can call me Leon. And no. I'm not joining your squad or any squad. Joining a squad means going to the frontlines, which I'm not very fond of. I'm happy transporting people right now. I'm not a fighter."

Sohel stayed silent for some time then said, "OK. I'll respect your decision."

Even though he said that there was a visible look of disappointment on his face. 

28th December 2029

10:14

SNAF(Seven Nation Air Force) Base Kingston, West London

The Kawasaki C-2 lands on the runway. The three of them get out of the jet and enter the main building of the base. After having breakfast they decide to take some rest and move after lunch.

13:15

SNAF(Seven Nation Air Force) Base Kingston, West London

Sohel and Jacob got out of the base and entered a Blue KIA K-5 parked for them. Sohel started driving. Sohel asked Jacob to take out the tablet from his bag and ask about Annabelle's whereabouts. Jacob took out the tablet and after turning it on ordered ARIA, "ARIA, Tell me the location of the princess."

ARIA replied, "User not recognized. Please state your ID."

Jacob gets a little bit startled but controls himself and says, "Recruit. Jacob Williams. JWI10"

ARIA replies, "User not authorized. Access denied."

Hearing this Jacob got surprised and Sohel started laughing. Jacob looked at him and said, "You knew about this, didn't you?"

Sohel controlled his laughter and said, "Yeah....Yeah, I did. But pranking you was worth it. Wish I could take a photo of you right now."

Jacob threw the tablet on top of the dashboard and started punching Sohel's right hand.

"Hey...hey, stop it. I'm trying to drive here. And this was revenge for the last time."

"The time I turned off your alarm so you'd be late? Or the time I mixed salt in your coffee?"

Sohel angrily replies, "Want me to punch you in the face?"

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry. You drive."

"Hold the tablet close to me."

Jacob does so and Sohel asks ARIA about Annabelle's whereabouts. ARIA shows her location at a farmhouse just outside Brentford.

Sohel speeds up and says, "OK. your highness. Here we come."

13:47

High Street, Brentford

The car stops in front of a lavish gate. Sohel looks at the gate and says, "That's a little overboard. Don't you think, Jacob?....Jacob?"

He looks to his right and sees Jacob sleeping as if he passed out. He gets irritated and slaps Jacob. Jacob frantically wakes up looking for his attacker. Sohel says in a harsh tone, "Wake up, Sleepy Jack. We're here. Let's go in and meet this Princess."

Jacob replies while rubbing his cheeks, "Let's go."

They get out of the car and approach the gate. Two royal guards stopped them and asked for their identity and the purpose of the visit. After giving them their IDs and telling them about the recruitment the two guards took them inside. They stopped in front of the gate and went back, leaving them behind. Sohel looked at Jacob and said, "Shall I knock?" Jacob nods. Sohel raises his hands to knock. The moment he was going to knock, the door opened by itself. Both of them were dumbfounded. They looked at each other. After a bit of hesitation, they went inside. It was a big house with many rooms. All of the rooms were well furnished. One by one they checked all of the rooms on the ground floor but found no one. Then they climbed up the stairs to the second floor. That's when weird stuff started happening. 10-12 humanoid robots appeared out of two compartments from the wall. Those robots started saying in a robotic voice, "Please, come with us. We'll show you the way out of this house." Sohel said subconsciously, "The Fuck are these junk?" Annabelle's voice came out of a speaker fitted to the ceiling, "Welcome to my home, people from SNA. I know why you are here. But sorry to say, I don't think you guys can work with me that well. So, you guys can leave. Goodbye, dumdums." Annabelle's words seemed to have hit both of their nerves. They look at each other and smirk. Sohel orders Jacob, "Hold them off for at least a few minutes. I have an idea." Jacob gives him a thumbs up and says, "You got it." Jacob runs forward and starts punching the robots while Sohel takes out the tablet and turns it on.

"ARIA, can you turn these hunks of metal off? I think they are being controlled by some sort of IR waves."

ARIA replies, "Checking for IR waves in the area...… Commencing interference..."

Annabelle's frantic voice comes out of the speaker, "HEY...WHAT ARE YOU DOING? HOW ARE YOU INTERFERING WITH MY REMOTE CONTROL. YOU SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO DO THAT. HEY. STOP IT."

ARIA says, "Wavelength copied. Commencing turn off."

All of the robots turn off simultaneously. Jacob was buried under 4 robots. He gets up after throwing them off of him. Sohel reaches him and says, "OK. then. Let's move." while keeping the tablet back in his bag. After searching a few rooms they find a room with a locked door. Annabell's voice comes from the speaker, "Huh! You can't unlock this door without my biometrics."

Sohel looks at Jacob with a smirk on his face. He asks Jacob, "please?" 

Jacob says, "With pleasure." He goes back a few steps, runs towards the door and kicks it.