Charging

‘Hang on a minute,’ said Joe. ‘Yesterday - so that would have been, what, last night - you got the signal?’

‘Yes. Initially I had some problems with the storm disrupting things through the night. But this morning, when I made a better connection, I could activate the communication signal with Delphine and we had two-way contact.’

‘That must have been the crackling noises we heard,’ Joe said to Kim.

‘The static was louder than usual this morning. My node was getting interference from another device in the area. It may have been a radio, or a telefonino charging, but until I run some diagnostics I cannot be sure. I have not yet had time to do that. I am sorry if the sound disturbed you.’

‘It’s not a problem Xavier,’ said Kim, her head buzzing with everything he had said. ‘What happened when you found Delphine?’

‘I guided her out of that room using the remote cameras, as I said-’

‘He told me to make my way to a set of co-ordinates without interacting with anyone. Walking is tiring and I had to rest often.’  Delphine looked at Xavier. ‘You said you would arrange my collection, but I did not realise how long that would take. When I arrived here, I had to avoid a man who kept coming out of a house. He would light a small fire under his nose and walk about for a little while and then throw the fire away and return inside. What was he doing?’