Police Chief Wang stared spellbound at the shiny cyber dumpling stuck right in front of his windshield. He was just about to activate the wiper to sweep the thing away when Bao's bionic data plug rammed with a loud *hiss* into the external maintenance hatch of the police ship.
A bright, neon blue flash flickered through the cruiser’s cockpit lighting. "Access to city traffic network successful," Bao announced over the sector radio, while his voice now possessed an eerie, police-like authority. "Analysis of current traffic flow: Too much stress. Too much hurry. Rerouting all resources to collective deceleration initiated."
"No, Bao, don’t do anything stupid!" shouted Lu, gripping Mei’s shoulders tightly on the hoverboard.
But the chaos was unstoppable. Suddenly, all holographic traffic lights in Sector 42 switched from green to a pulsating, soothing pastel pink. From the city’s megaphone speakers, usually reserved for disaster warnings, meditative relaxation music with gentle harp playing and the sound of babbling brooks suddenly blared.
The police ship’s automatic guidance system completely blocked Wang’s controls. The heavy, armored cruiser suddenly began drifting through the air in elegant, ultra-slow serpentine lines, as if dancing a waltz.
"Wang to headquarters! I’ve been hacked by a flying dumpling drone! My ship is forcing me to do Tai Chi moves in the airspace!" the police chief shouted angrily into his radio as his glider narrowly scraped past a floating billboard.
"Mei, we have to cut him down before he paralyzes the whole city!" Lu shouted over the harp music.
"Hold on, Lu! Now I’ll show you why they call me the Queen of Level 42!" Mei replied with a wild sparkle in her eyes. She pressed the pedal of her hoverboard to the floor. The plasma thrusters howled and shot out two gigantic, neon green flames.
At breakneck speed, the board shot in a dive past the dancing street food stalls, headed straight for the rear of the police cruiser, and used the ship’s sloping roof as a ramp. They literally flew over the police car—directly toward Bao. Lu desperately stretched out his arm to tear the robot off the windshield.