Led by Nick, Bill Ferguson and the group made their way to the general lab on the second floor of Research Building No. 1. This lab mainly handled comprehensive testing on research projects and products, though it doubled as a showcase space when the company wanted to demo something to outsiders.
To host Bill Ferguson's visit, Zack had already had the place tidied up ahead of time. Aside from a few pieces meant for display, everything else had been tucked away.
Since the company hit it big, officials had come through for inspections a handful of times already, so the lab had a well-rehearsed reception routine down by now.
The whole lab was bright and open, no glass partitions carving it into little rooms since it was a general-purpose space. Instead, a ring of lab equipment lined the perimeter, giving the whole place a sleek, sci-fi vibe.
Once everyone was inside, Nick signaled the staff to kick off the demo. In the center of the lab, a glass-walled section held a black quadcopter drone, roughly thirty inches across and weighing somewhere north of forty pounds, sitting on the floor.
Under staff control, the drone lifted off, hovered in place, adjusted its orientation, and angled its underside camera toward the group.
Outside the glass room, a row of big screens showed the live feed from the drone's camera.
On screen, the system quickly boxed everyone in red and started running identification. A second screen showed a live comparison against the profiles captured when everyone passed through the turnstiles earlier. As each match confirmed, the red box on the first screen flipped to green.
Seeing the interest on everyone's faces, Nick smiled. "This is part of the intelligent security system we built — the security patrol drone."
"We developed this with support from relevant departments. Main use is civilian security work, and special-case scenarios.
It can fly in tight indoor spaces, and its real-time feed system can identify and verify targets on sight. If it flags something suspicious, it doesn't just issue a warning and drive them off — it alerts security and can even loop in police remotely."
"The live feed also streams back to our monitoring staff. And the duty officer can even talk to the person directly through the drone — ask for ID, ask what they're doing, that kind of thing."
Nick pulled up another screen. "It can also coordinate multiple units at once. Based on the number of drones, the size of the space, timing, and task load, it can plan its own patrol schedules and routes.
Basically the system manages the whole fleet — which drone patrols when, which route it flies, which ones are charging or under maintenance. If something suspicious pops up, it can pull in nearby drones for backup, and escalate its response depending on how serious the situation looks."
"Oh?" Bill Ferguson nodded, watching the demo on-screen, curious. "This is all fully autonomous?"
Nick smiled and nodded. "That's right, fully autonomous. Though a human operator can take over manually whenever needed."
"How safe is it? Could it operate in crowded areas?" Bill Ferguson's interest was piqued now.
Nick glanced around the group and nodded. "We've always led globally in drone-swarm control tech, and we've made real progress on high-speed autonomous flight too.
We've also built multiple safety and crisis-response layers into this drone. If something goes wrong, it picks the best response in real time — steering clear of crowds and obstacles, finding open ground to land, that kind of thing. Testing so far's looked really promising. Real-world field testing will tell us more, obviously."
Bill Ferguson nodded, eyeing the drone through the glass. "Sounds like this system and the drone could cover a lot of ground — not just site security, but police patrols and traffic management too."
Hearing that, the police officer standing behind him — white shirt, two stars on the shoulder — nodded eagerly. "Definitely. With a system like this, we could run continuous aerial patrols across the whole city — huge boost for cracking down on crime and keeping order. Could handle traffic control in congested areas too, help direct vehicles and ease up gridlock on the busy roads."
Bill Ferguson turned to him, nodded, and smiled. "Great opportunity for your department — you have my support. Seize this, work closely with Nicholas's team, and let's push to make this one of the first truly safe cities in the country."
"Yes, sir!"
Once he'd given his instructions, Bill Ferguson looked back at Nick. "Nicholas, doesn't your system still need real-world testing? What if I find you a test subject?"
*Uh...* Nick was momentarily at a loss. This wasn't help, this was basically a headache in disguise. But he couldn't deny — it was an opportunity, a rare one. Still, he couldn't shake the nerves — running trials in a complicated urban environment carried real risk.
Maybe catching the hesitation on Nick's face, Bill Ferguson smiled. "It's fine, we'll take it step by step. Don't overthink it, just go for it. I believe in you."
*We don't believe in us, though,* Nick thought, but said with a smile, "Thank you, Secretary Ferguson. We'll definitely keep pushing and get this system serving the people of Texas as soon as we can."
"Good. Your word's enough for me. Don't worry, we'll back this all the way — it's a security project that benefits the whole city." Bill Ferguson nodded, satisfied.
Then he waved a hand. "Alright, let's go see what else you've got."
"Sure thing, this way." Nick said with a smile.
"Secretary Ferguson, this next one's our smart home system — includes the home hub, plus..."