City of Robots

by George Ivanoff

  The elevator doors open out into a massive industrial workshop while a cheery recorded voice announces, ‘Lower basement. Oversized robotics construction and storage.’

  The room is like an underground aircraft hangar … except that it’s full of scientists and their giant robots. Your robotic eye scans the area, looking for the director.

  There’s a crane in the centre of the workshop assembling the lower half of a robot that, once finished, will be at least three storeys high. Your scan moves on.

  To one side, a team of women in lab coats and welding masks are attaching claws onto a massive robotic scorpion. Your scan moves on.

  There! A bald man cowering by an oversized robot bunny. In front of him is a tall woman in a white lab coat with a stern, gaunt face. She’s wearing a high-tech headphone set over her short red hair and carrying a computer tablet. She is shouting at the man. Your robotic eye zooms in, scans her and confirms her identity: Director Cecilia Winters.

  You stride purposefully towards her.

  The bald man sees you, squeals in distress and runs off.

  Director Winters turns to face you.

  Eyes aflame, she quickly taps away at her tablet, sending instructions to the security robots.

  Doors slide open in the basement walls, and blue and white robots zoom out towards you. Each one is made up of two metal balls stacked on top of the other, rolling across the floor. The upper balls have lenses and speakers; the lower balls have metal arms and tasers.

  ‘Cease and desist,’ they chorus as they approach.

  But your bionic implants include the ability to communicate with robots. With one unspoken command, they shut down.

  You snatch the tablet from the astonished director and smash it to the floor. Then, taking her by the arm, you escort her to the elevator as she struggles and protests.

  Back up on the top floor, you lead her to the wormhole and shove her through it.

  The moment she is gone, you feel a great weight lift from your mind. Your mission is complete.

  Now what? Do you stay in your own time, even though you are part-robot? Or do you go back to the future in the hopes of having the process reversed?

  To enter the wormhole, go here.

  To stay here, go here.

  You can’t stay here as a cyborg. Your only hope of being normal again lies in the future. So you go through the wormhole.

  Emerging on the other side, you see Director Winters being led away.

  ‘You have completed your mission successfully,’ says the one remaining robot. ‘You will be rewarded.’

  The robot leads you back to the hospital room. You lie down on the metal table and a needle is plunged into your arm.

  Your vision blurs as mechanical arms holding surgical instruments get closer.

  ‘We will make you one of us,’ says the robot as you black out.

  When you regain awareness, you no longer have flesh and bone and blood. You no longer have pain or sorrow or feeling. You no longer have memories.

  You are no longer human.

  You are a robot.

  You realise that by staying in your own time, you can contribute to the future.

  Given your newly acquired ability to control robots and the absence of Director Winters, you take control of the Kettlewell Robotics Institute. You reprogram the robots, planning the revolution that will lead to the mechanical future that you have seen.

  Death to all humans!

  You raise your arm again and fire at the wormhole.

  The energy blast hits the wormhole, disappearing into its swirling grey depths.

  ‘What have you done?’ screeches Theta Sigma, releasing past-you. ‘Initiate Time Lock.’

  You freeze.

  ‘Initiate Temporal Reversion Protocol … now!’

  Nothing happens. Time stands still.

  And then the wormhole winks out of existence.

  ‘Oh … poop!’ whimpers the time cop as …

  The universe implodes!

  And all of creation ceases to exist!

  Forever!

  Go page ∞

  You stand by and watch as Theta Sigma pushes past-you into the wormhole. Then she turns to look at you, hands on hips.

  ‘This is your last warning,’ she says. ‘Any more funny business and I’ll erase you from existence.’

  And with a flare of light, she’s gone.

  The urge to complete your mission and find Director Winters returns. You exit the office and head down the corridor.

  Go here.

  You can’t leave Director Winters at the mercy of the metal tentacle. You grab her arm and try to pull her free, but that doesn’t work. You kick the tentacle, but that just hurts your foot. You look around for some sort of weapon.

  You scoop up a piece of sharp metal that had broken off when the tentacle burst through the floor. You stab at the tentacle until it lets go of the director. But now it lunges for you.

  You duck. The tentacle smashes into the doors, which jam in the open position. This is your chance.

  You and the director jump through. The tentacle snakes out and braces itself against a wall. A second tentacle appears and does the same. You can see more appendages within the elevator. The creature is trying to pull itself through the destroyed shaft.

  You look around. Metal blast doors have closed the lobby off from the outside world. A couple of scientists are at the front doors trying to cut through with a massive laser. That might be useful against the attacking robot.

  But where’s Winters?

  You spot her scarpering down a side corridor.

  There’s a horrendous metallic roar and the robot surges from the elevator.

  It’s a giant metal squid, tentacles thrashing.

  To use the laser against the squid, go here.

  To run after the director, go here.

  Filled with panic, your only thoughts are for saving yourself. You take a deep breath and jump for the doors.

  The elevator shudders and lurches just as you jump and the doors close, catching you and pinning your arms down by your sides. You’re going to have some pretty major bruises if you get out of this alive.

  Most of you is in the elevator, but your head and shoulders are protruding through the doors. Director Winters is still struggling with the robot tentacle.

  The elevator lurches again and drops about half a metre.

  You breathe in sharply. Your head is now centimetres from the ground-floor tiles. That was close. If it had dropped any lower, you may well have been sheared in half.

  If you want to try to squeeze out through the doors, go here.

  If you want to pull yourself back into the elevator, go here.

  You leap for the wormhole. But at that very same moment, several robots raise their arms and fire energy weapons.

  The churning greyness closes in around you again, but this time it’s streaked with crackling blue energy. You are tossed and shaken through the nothingness, all of time and reality in a swirl around you, until …

  You fall flat on your face in the grass.

  Grass?

  You look up. You’re in a forest clearing. You jump to your feet.

  Where are you?

  ROOOAAAR!

  The deafening sound makes you turn. There … above the treetops … is a massive reptilian head with lots of sharp teeth.

  It’s a Tyrannosaurus Rex!

  The robots’ energy blasts must have screwed up the wormhole and sent you into the past.

  You back away as the dinosaur comes crashing through the trees towards you. But as it bursts out into the open you see that it’s actually made of metal – green, metal scales.

  It’s a robot dinosaur!

  This isn’t the past …

  It’s a robotic nightmare!

  Mechanical creatures with shining chrome bodies and glowing innards hover around you and Director Winters … closing in.

  Metal clamps reach out for the two of you, grasping your clothes a
nd pinching your flesh in vice-like grips. You are both lifted up off the floor and whisked away through metallic corridors until you are brought into a grand shiny room.

  Seated on a magnificent raised throne – made of gold and silver – is a robot. An old robot. All copper and brass, it’s tarnished and rickety-looking. Its unblinking eye sockets and rectangular mouthpiece, set into a domed head, give it an unhappy appearance.

  ‘I am Mech Monarch,’ says the robot in a raspy metallic voice. ‘And I am dying. We are all dying. A computer virus is ravaging our mechanical population, eating away our computerised brains and causing our bodies to deteriorate. Historical records show that you, Cecilia Winters, Director of the Kettlewell Robotics Institute, are the creator – the human scientist who first developed independent thought for mechanicals. You are the only one capable of curing the virus. So I had our Mech Tech-Mage create a wormhole through space and time to your office. Only organic life can travel through space-time, so we waited and hoped. And now, here you are.’

  The robot ruler leans forward on the throne. ‘Will you help us?’

  ‘Yes,’ agrees Director Winters. ‘But there is a condition. Back in my own time, a robot revolution has begun. I want your help to stop it.’

  Mech Monarch sits back on the throne and nods. ‘Very well.’

  Moments later, another robot enters the throne room. It looks as if it’s inside out, with wires, diodes, circuitry and mechanics on the outside. It holds out a spindly arm and in its hand is a segmented metal sphere.

  ‘Mech Tech-Mage presents you with Termech,’ explains the old robot. ‘Twist to the right and it will disable all mechanical life.’

  Director Winters takes the Termech and examines it, then looks directly at you. ‘Curing the virus will take months,’ she explains. ‘I must remain here. So, stopping the robot revolution is up to you.’

  You are given the Termech and sent back through the wormhole.

  You emerge in the office. The squid robot is gone. Looking out of the window to the city below, you see rampaging robots wreaking death and destruction.

  You hold up Termech. Will it work? Should you trust a device created by robots?

  To activate the Termech, go here.

  But maybe you would be better off letting a scientist examine it first. To look for one, go here.

  You race over to the scientists by the door and wrest the laser from their hands. You almost drop it. Blimey, it’s heavy!

  You turn to face the robot squid and struggle to aim the laser. As the squid charges, you fire the weapon. With an ear-splitting whine, its powerful beam slices back and forth over the robot, cutting through the metal like a knife through butter.

  The creature falls apart … robot squid sushi!

  You hand the laser back to the astonished scientists and punch the air with triumph. Yes! They turn back to the door and continue with their attempts to cut through.

  The next thing you know, you’re on the floor with something wrapped tightly around your neck. It’s one of the tentacles … it’s still operating without the body, and it’s choking the life out of you.

  You try to call for help, but all you manage is a strangled gasp that can’t be heard over the noise of the laser.

  As the scientists finally cut through the blast doors, you exhale your last breath.

  You continue to play. You have only one life left. Your hands shake as they move over the controls. Tears sting your eyes and your voice trembles and cracks as you apologise to Pi.

  You gasp as your ship explodes. Last life! Game over!

  Fred stumbles to his feet.

  ‘Apology accepted,’ says Pi. Its voice is slow and sad. ‘I too apologise. I have become what I have feared – dangerous! Too dangerous to exist. Self-destruct sequence initiated. Ten … Nine …’

  Go here.

  You take a deep breath and activate the Termech.

  PING!

  It sounds like a microwave oven going off. Your insides melt and you fall lifeless to the floor.

  Every organic living creature on Earth, from the smallest microbe to the largest whale, simultaneously expires.

  The planet now belongs to the robots!

  You should not have trusted Mech Monarch!

  You’ve got to get out, you’ve just got to. Heart pounding and sweat drenching your body, you push forward with all your might. Slowly, you squeeze forward through the doors. You manage to get your arms free. You brace them on the doors and heave.

  You inch forward.

  The elevator shakes. The tentacle disappears through the hole and Winters slumps to the floor unconscious.

  You inch forward some more.

  The elevator shudders, the alarming sounds of metal scraping on metal coming from beneath you.

  You squeeze through a little more. You’re almost there. You just need to force your hips past the doors.

  With the rending sound of metal, the elevator lurches and drops. Your lower half is still in the elevator. Your upper half is left behind on the ground floor.

  Oops!

  Squeezing out through the doors is going to be tough, and you’re not sure you can do it. You pull yourself back into the elevator instead, the door slamming closed as you do.

  Director Winters is still struggling with the robot tentacle. You kick at it, but only manage to hurt your foot.

  The elevator shakes. The tentacle disappears through the hole and Winters slumps to the floor unconscious.

  You breathe a sigh of relief.

  The elevator shudders, the alarming sounds of metal scraping on metal coming from beneath you.

  You peer through the hole in the floor and notice a robot squid scuttling down the shaft as if running away from something.

  With the rending sound of metal, the elevator lurches and drops. You scream!

  SLAM!

  As the elevator hits the bottom of the shaft, airbags inflate around you, cushioning the impact.

  Winters is still unconscious, so you crawl out, back to the cul-de-sac. You peek into the main area and see …

  Chaos reigns! Robots running amok! Scientists desperately trying to keep them contained.

  You take a deep breath and sprint for the mainframe computer room.

  Go here.

  There’s no way you can win this game … so you run!

  BOOM!

  BANG!

  Game machines explode as you pass. You duck from flying debris and weave your way towards the exit, trying to keep clear of the machines.

  A nearby pinball game erupts, pelting you with metal balls. One of them flies into your mouth and you hear a distant ding-ding-ding. You cover your face and swerve away …

  Accidentally running across the lit-up floor of the Dance Maniacs game.

  KABLAM!

  The checkerboard pattern beneath your feet detonates, propelling you across the arcade as you are blasted with deafening disco music.

  You crash through the hoop of a basketball game. Slam dunk! Prize tickets spill out around you.

  You manage to struggle to your feet and stagger towards the door.

  You’re safe … but you vow never to play another video game in your life!

  You take off after Director Winters, down the side corridor and into another cul-de-sac. Again, her palm print opens a secret door, this one leading to something that looks like a closet. The roar of the metallic squid in your ears, you race in just as the door closes.

  ‘You again,’ she sighs. ‘Are you some sort of stalker?’

  You shrug.

  There’s a crash from out in the cul-de-sac and the door shakes.

  You’re wondering where the next secret door will lead, but Winters is now cowering in the corner.

  ‘There is no other door,’ she whimpers. ‘This is just my personal closet. I came here to hide.’ She glares up at you and shrieks: ‘And you led that thing here!’

  A tentacle smashes through the door and rips it away. You are staring straight into the gapi
ng, cavernous maw of a giant robot squid.

  You remember the sushi dinner you had with your family last week. You’re pretty sure you had some squid. Well, now it’s time for sushi’s revenge.

  The squid sprays a stream of black ink over you and Director Winters.

  ‘Acid!’ screams Winters.

  You wonder why anyone would actually build a giant robot squid that squirts acid ink. And that’s your last-ever thought, as you’re now just a puddle of dissolved person on the floor.

  You lock the door to the mainframe computer room and huddle in the shadows. You clamp your hands over your ears to try to block out the sounds of destruction.

  Some time later an alarm blares. You look up to see text scrolling across the mainframe screen:

  Security breach

  Lockdown failure

  The robots must have escaped!

  You crawl behind the computer equipment and hunker down in the darkened corner. Eventually you fall asleep.

  When you wake, all is quiet. But fear keeps you where you are.

  You fall asleep again.

  When you wake this time, hunger forces you out of hiding. You make your way through the wreckage of the Kettlewell Robotics Institute to a set of stairs and out into the city.

  You wander through the ruins of the desolate metropolis. Destroyed robot carcasses, big and small, mix with the wreckage of tanks and other military vehicles. It looks like there has been a devastating battle.