After they had laboriously shut down the viral live stream from last night (Kiko had sulkily displayed a virtual mourning banner), Lukas and Amina sat the next morning in an open electric off-road vehicle. The destination: Nairobi National Park. It was fascinating – only a narrow barrier separated the gigantic glass palaces of the metropolis from the endless, golden savannah where zebras and giraffes grazed.
Lukas breathed in the fresh, earthy morning air. Wurst hovered just above the back seat, his OLED eyes colored deep green in "nature mode." He continuously scanned the horizon.
"Detection of large biological objects within a radius of 300 meters," the dachshund reported matter-of-factly. "Four antelopes, seven gazelles, and an unidentified gray mammal with an extremely high tusk factor. Recommend safety distance of 50 meters to avoid territorial conflicts."
"That's a rhinoceros, Wurst," laughed Amina, handing Lukas binoculars. "Do you see it over there by the acacia tree?"
Lukas looked through the lenses and held his breath. A real black rhinoceros stood majestically in the tall grass, while the city skyline shimmered in the morning haze in the background. "It is indescribable," he whispered. Kiko jumped onto the binoculars and applied a holographic night vision filter, even though it was broad daylight. "Kiko, thanks, but I see more without your cyber mode," Lukas smiled.
Suddenly, the vehicle came to a jolting stop. The guide pointed to a dense bush near a dried-up riverbed. "Up ahead... a lioness with her cubs. But they lie deep in the shade. From here, you can hardly see them."
Amina cursed softly. "Too bad. I really wanted to make some sketches of the anatomy of lion paws for my new design project."
Wurst's ears suddenly perked up. "Acute customer dissatisfaction registered. Solution: Tactical reconnaissance routine." Before Lukas could react, Wurst switched to silent "whisper mode." His rotors hummed barely audibly as he rose from the off-road vehicle and flew low over the grassland directly toward the lion bush.
"Wurst! Come back immediately!" Lukas hissed in panic. "If the lion eats my dog, I'll never get that written off on my taxes again!"
But Kiko had already tapped into the dachshund's camera interface. On Amina's tablet, a razor-sharp, stable live image from the air was built up. Wurst hovered exactly four meters above the sleeping big cats, zoomed in with his lenses, and sent the perfect reference images directly into Amina's design software.
The lioness opened one eye, looked lazily up at the hovering metallic thing that somehow looked like a fat sausage with ears, yawned heartily, and laid her head down again. After all, metal didn't taste good.
"I can't believe it," whispered Amina as her fingers enthusiastically flew over the perfect images on her tablet. She looked at Lukas with shining eyes. "Your dachshund is the best National Geographic drone in the world."