Robot Awareness: The Inner Circle

by B. C. Kowalski

  -- "Well, you're seeing it on your holos now, watching the replay, but Alice is hurtling backward out of control and it doesn't seem she can right the ship. Antoinette, meanwhile, is now catching up to the back of the leading group."

  -- "Not so much of a group, but that's the best way to describe it. Allister Barkley has led since pretty much the beginning of this race, and Chipper Jones has been nipping at his heels for most of that time. Ghust LUX is up in there now after a surprise breakaway, Barnaby Crumbs, Nog Banton all challenging for that position. Now Antoinette is starting to close the gap between them, pulling ever closer as we reach the third ring."

  -- "Jeft, let's take another look at that maneuver — she gets near this huge cluster of field generators, starts getting sucked in and then — our analysts downstairs say she must have reversed polarity on her hull. If so, that's a handy little mod she introduced there."

  -- "Indeed Brill. We'll be back with more XR action as the racers enter the third ring, next, at the Xeno 750!"

  ***

  Celia and Rex were a blur, dodging all of the robot's attacks. The rest backed off to the edges of the sewer, giving them enough room to maneuver and to avoid taking a hit themselves. They moved so fast it was almost hard for Kenpur’s crew, trained as they were, to see anything. Kenpur saw it all though. And then he remembered something.

  “Get ready,” he whispered to the others. “When they move out of the way, we need to make a dash for the ladder. There might be more and maybe we can switch them off or destroy them before they are activated.”

  Dirk nodded, looking at Jeanna. “You got it, boss man.”

  Kenpur exchanged a look with Rex mid-swing, and Rex gave him the slightest of nods. He took a glance at the ladder, looked at how Kenpur’s feet were pointed, saw the others and how they seemed to be lined up to follow Kenpur, and understood exactly what to do.

  Rex whispered something to Celia that they couldn’t hear, but in the next instant, the robot took a swing at Rex, Celia charged. The robot evaded Celia’s charge but then Rex came crashing into the bot, sending it in the opposite direction of the ladder.

  Kenpur didn’t say a word, but charged toward the ladder. Rex had rolled as he hit the ground, landing past the robot and coming up on his feet. The robot quickly picked itself up but found Celia standing in its way between the bot and the others who scrambled up the ladder.

  “Sorry, but your fight is with us, knucklehead.”

  The robot straightened up and resumed a fighting posture. “Affirmative,” it said.

  ***

  The three of them reached the top of the ladder, stepping onto the floor of the warehouse. Dirk was the first up and he could see rows and rows of stacked boxes, shelving on either side of a long passsageway that stretched beyond the dim lights that hung over head. The warehouse appeared ot be dark and empty.

  “It be looking pretty empty,” Dirk said, pulling up Jeanna. Kenpur seemed to float up into the warehouse space behind Jeanna, landing on his feet next to them. “Jeez you a spry old man.”

  “I take my vitamins,” Kenpur said, smirking.

  The smirk was replaced by concern, however, as rows of lights stretching down the long corridor suddenly began flicking on down the long corridor with a click and a hum.

  At the end of the corridor was a robot identical to the one Rex and Celia fought with in the sewer. They were shaped similarly to Joey’s robot, but with shinier, brighter metal that was a light gray like an aluminum.

  ‘So much for that plan,” Dirk said, readying himself.

  ***

  The fighting continued, and now everyone was in the warehouse. At one point the robot in the sewer thought it saw an opening and made its way up the ladder, much faster than it had come down. It seemed to have re-analyzed the threat posed by Rex and Celia and decided that it would have better luck fighting alongside the other robot. Rex and Celia followed, managing only to slow the bot’s ascent as it stopped every so ofter to block a punch or a kick.

  Kenpur watched the ensuing battle.

  He watched while Rex swung and missed the robot. He watched Celia's kick, impossibly fast, deflected by a robot's leg. He watched the two of them twist and bend as they avoided the robot's strikes, as they jockeyed for position, blending with the robot's strikes as it easily dodged theirs.

  As he watched, a frown grew across Kenpur’s face. The fighting continued, neither human nor robot able to gain an advantage.

  Or was that actually true?

  He turned his attention to Dirk and Jeanna, who fought the other robot between narrow stacks of plastic shipping crates. He could only see glimpses of them between rows of plastic stacks, but the fight seemed to be similar to Celia and Rex’s.

  A thought that troubled him began to take form. Of course no one was winning — the robots were only fighting as hard as they needed to. Which means ...

  "Celia! Rex! Disengage, now!" Kenpur shouted.

  The two quickly dodged the robot's attacks and used the momentum to roll away toward Kenpur, who stood in a ready posture with his fists curled at his sides. His eyes were closed and his chest heaved slowly, rhythmically, as if he were gathering energy. The robot stopped, facing Kenpur, gathering data. It only paused for a second before charging at the old man.

  "Stay back," Kenpur muttered, his fists starting to shake at his side. His breathing took on a hollow sound, as if coming through a wind tunnel. The robot got a few feet away — and that was as far as it would go. Kenpur brought his fists out into open palms facing the robot. Neither Celia nor Rex could see anything leave Kenpur's hands, but the robot jolted upright and froze as if shot through with ice.

  The two stared at the frozen robot a second, the silence only broken by the occasional rattle of shipping crates being hit by either the second robot or Dirk and Jeanna. Kenpur stood opposite the robot, breathing heavily and slumped.

  Celia and Rex ran to him. "Are you OK?"

  Kenpur nodded. "No big deal. I am drawing on the server's power. It takes a lot of work."

  "Have to teach me that," Rex muttered, trying not to show his awe.

  "You’re not ready for it, young man,” Kenpur said, still struggling to gasp in air. “Trust me.”

  They turned to see Dirk flying across the open aisle between the two stacks of shelves. He clutched his side as he slid past the open section, coming to a stop in the start of the other side of shelves. Jeanna came running out of the stacks behind him.

  "We need to help them!" Celia said as Jeanna dragged Dirk out of the way just in time to miss the robot's floor punch, which cracked the concrete floor.

  "We need to avoid it,” Kenpur said. “You can't beat it. And you can't fight it. They're gathering data. They don't want to kill us as much as build up the info. We can't give it data, and I don't have the energy to draw on the server again."

  "So what, we're supposed to just play tag with this thing?"

  "Just buy us some time," Kenpur said, breathing slowly to gather energy.

  ***

  Yardley stood in the corner of the crowded holo viewing room, lost behind its noise and bustle as the race continued. The din grew louder as Chipper Jones took the lead momentarily, and several who had placed him to win waved their tickets in the air as they talked. Yardley's pensive expression served as a stark contrast to the general mood of the room. He tapped his comm device impatiently.

  Then it buzzed, and he quickly flipped it open, then caught himself, slowly raising it to his ear.

  "Yardley," he said calmly, turning his head away from the room.

  "Yes sir, plan B is in place, just like you asked me. One-Lung’s failure will be our success. I’m in the main room now, to ensure I blend in." Yardley looked around to see if anyone was watching him, but most were engaged in their conversations and bragging.

  Yardley hung up the phone. He pitied those who had bet on Chipper Jones. The race was about to take a drastically different turn.

  ***

  Isellia
raced behind Allister Barkley toward the third ring, both of them trailing Chipper Jones. She pulled herself back from the urge to plow ahead, push the weathered vinyl-covered throttle into the floor and blast past the two of them, head into the third ring with the some separation. Far more advantageous to cruise in second or third place, take a draft off the other racers, conserve energy. It wasn't really Isellia's style but since her usual method of blasting ahead at full speed whenever possible hadn't exactly yielded the results she'd hoped for, perhaps it was time to try something different: Patience.

  She really was only biding her time, however, waiting for the right moment. Then she would pounce. She would win this race.

  Her hand rested on the throttle lever, and the urge remained to simply slam it to the floor, blasting past these two old veterans. She liked the idea of impressing Barkley in particular. Her other hand steadied the steering column, keeping her level with Jones and Barkley. Ghust did the same behind her.

  She'd make her move in the fourth ring.

  ***

  It disturbed Rex that between his and Celia's skills, with the strongest effort they could muster, their battle with the second robot seemed to only be a draw. Anything they threw at it was deflected. Joint manipulation was completely out of the question on a robot that didn't feel any pain or pressure or fear. Brute force was their only option as they spun, dodged and tried to combine their forces to pierce the robot's armor. That effort generally would have been enough to put a serious dent in most metals, but this robot's chassis held strong. The robot managed to swing at both of them, Celia and Rex dodging in a crouch on either side of it as the robot spun, its metal arm making enough of a whoosh through the air that they could feel its air pass their skin.

  "We can't beat this thing, master," Celia said, rolling beyond a robotic kick. Rex used the opening to attack, an open palm to the robot's cranial unit. Its head jerked forward, but the robot spun and countered with its own strike as if nothing had happened.

  "A little longer," Kenpur muttered, his face red and damp from effort. He was breathing deeply and controlled, his hands moving up and down in time with the rhythm of his breath.

  "This has been a great workout, master, but we're running out of steam," she said, engaging the robot as it started toward Kenpur. Celia high-kicked at its head, her pointed stilettoed foot narrowly missing its visual unit, while Rex bum-rushed the bot, nearly knocking it off balance as he collided into it. He promptly rolled away to avoid the robot’s grasp following the impact.

  "We don't have time, old man," Rex said, kicking at the bot's legs. Too late; it gained the balance it needed, righting itself. Rex's leg felt like it kicked a 100-year-old tree trunk, solid and immovable. The bruises were starting to add up on Rex’s leg, as tough as he was.

  "Then make more time," the old man growled.

  ***

  "You sure this is the way?" Nix said as he and Joey charged down the tunnel, the robot running behind them.

  "Calculation is correct.," the robot's green LED flashed, casting a green glow in the narrow tunnel.

  "I hope he's right. This isn't my territory. I'm not usually in this area at all. These tunnels all look the same to me."

  "Variation at 1.2 percent."

  "That ‘variation’ looks the same to us, robot," Joey said. "He's always like that."

  "How do you know he's a he?" Nix asked.

  Joey thought for a moment as they ran. "I don't know. Just seems like it."

  "Cool man," he said. "I guess it might as well be."

  "Robot is gender neutral."

  "Well, that's true man. You aren't really a he or she. But it makes it a little easier for us to talk about you."

  "Robot has no preference. Joey may select a gender for syntactic resonance."

  "Thanks Robot," Joey said through heavy breaths. He was used to sitting on the ship. The running felt good, until he had to do a lot of it.

  "There, isn't that the tunnel to the warehouse?" Nix pointed down the long, narrow dimly lit tunnel.

  "Nix is correct," robot said.

  "You brought that stick thing, right robot?"

  "Correct," robot said.

  "Good," Nix said. "You're gonna need it."

  ***

  She'd nearly entered the third ring when it happened. It didn't even register as it was happening. Only later, lying a hospital bed, would she begin to piece together the events that unfolded.

  Barkley and Jones entered the ring, and she'd been only moments away from joining in herself. She'd just watched the afterburners of Chipper Jones' XR slip into the ring when everything went white. She'd later remember a flash, a loud bang, and then nothing.

  ***

  -- "Brill, I'm speechless, I don't know what to —"

  -- "Jeft, we're getting word of a second explosion, farther back on the course, there's ... word now, it is confirmed, a second explosion at the Xeno 750, this is — "

  -- "If you're just joining us, we’re unfortunately in the midst of tragedy on the race course today. I am saddened to report an explosion has rocked the third ring, we don't yet know if it is a terrorist attack or if something went wrong with the ship. … Right, we shouldn't speculate. Sorry folks, bear with us, we're just race reporters, not news reporters —”

  -- "Race staff are now working on clearing those caught in the explosion — we're just going to tell you what we see, that's all we know, it's— Allister Barkley and Chipper Jones had just entered the third ring when the first explosion happened seemingly on the far side of the ring. It seemed to have caught Antoinette's and LUX's XRs too, though they appear to be intact from the force of the explosion."

  -- "Race crews and now city police and other rescue workers are on scene, trying to sort out this mess. Ships that are able to fly are being guided back to the launch pad. The race is of course cancelled. Don’t know what’s going to happen with it, but that’s hardly the concern right now, Brill."

  -- "We still don't know if it was a ship explosion or some kind of attack, sabotage — we just don't know, Jeft. … Wait, we're getting word that someone is in — sorry, police may have someone in custody, suspected of an attack. This is word we're getting from the ground. .. I'm concerned it might not be true, it seems police are pretty busy just keeping people safe."

  -- "Everyone is being told to remain calm — if you can get to an exit, you will be guided to a checkpoint and allowed to leave. You do have to go through a checkpoint, police are checking anyone for suspicion — at this point, no one knows whether this was a ship malfunction or some kind of attack."

  -- "It has happened before Jeft, about 10 years ago on the circuit, an explosion as the result of a ship malfunction, that was an absolute tragedy. We don't know know if that's what happened here yet, but — well, it just wouldn’t be wise to speculate folks."

  -- "Folks stay right here, we're not going to commercial, but will keep showing you scenes from this tragedy while we gather more information."

  ***

  Nix popped open the porthole, crawling up through it in time to see Celia and Rex attempting to take turns distracting the attacking robot. By causing it to defend on both sides, they narrowed down its opportunities to attack. They'd read the specs — they knew the bot would eventually adapt, and find a way to counter. But so far, their strategy was keeping them alive. Exhausted, panting for air, soaked in sweat, but alive.

  "Get that robot in here," Kenpur shouted. The guttural command came from a spot deep down in his belly, as he continued to breathe, to draw energy. His face, normally fairly pale, was bright red with effort. Kenpur continued to slowly draw in breath.

  Joey’s robot wasted no time. It sprang out of the manhole, flipping in the air before landing in front of the company bot, his charge stick at the ready. The Company bot stopped fighting and turned to analyze this new threat in front of it. Rex and Celia nearly collapsed, taking in deep gasps of air.

  "Enough with the fancy nonsense," Kenpur growled. "Just turn that b
ot into a garbage can."

  "Assessing threat. ... Level is low. Proceed with destruction," Joey’s robot said.

  "Is Robot talking smack?" Celia said, still breathing heavy.

  "Seems so," Rex muttered, attempting to hide his discomfort as much as possible.

  "Eliminate," the Company bot said. It charged for the robot, who easily dodged its attack and tripped it with the charge stick. It sent electrical sparks throughout its chassis as the Company bot crashed to the ground.

  The Company bot attempted to get up, but the robot thrust the charge stick's end into its cranial unit, sending it through the bot's visual sensor. The Company bot convulsed, sparks flying from its head, and it collapsed, still twitching on the warehouse floor. It burned black marks into the concrete floor, and the smell of burning electronics wafted through the air.

  "He made it ... look so easy," Celia said, shaking her head. The whole robot fight lasted a couple of seconds, and most of the action less than that. Even Rex and Celia could barely make out what happened; both machines were so fast.

  "No," Kenpur said. "Those were precise calculations. The robot moved at precisely the right nano-second. Had it gone sooner or later, the Company bot could have deflected or changed course. That's precision."

  "My robots!" a new voice yelled.

  ***

  Isellia blinked her eyes open, slowly trying to focus on various areas of her cockpit, eyes a watery blur. The dials on her XR's console were cast in double, and she had the groggy realization that she was still in the middle of a race. She felt a searing pain in her right side, but she ignored it, a minor matter she would attend to later, her foggy mind reasoned. She had to steer the ship. Steer the ship.

  Still seeing double, she looked up at the canopy. Bright light shined in through the top. Was another ship on a collision course? It seemed steady. She shook her head. It didn't yet occur to her that the ship wasn't making any noise, and she couldn't have focused enough on the tiny red dials inset into the half-cup-shaped insets to realize that her ship wasn't flying at all. She wasn't alert enough to realize the ship's engine made no noise.