Running

A brother and sister try to escape a city overrun with robots (re: the Law of Robotics)

Running


The Supremacy Law - A robot must, at all costs, safeguard the well-being of mankind. This is a robot’s prime directive.


Evelin and Marcus had hardly stopped, dodging through the ruins of what had been, only weeks earlier, a suburb of Chicago, now torn apart by an electronic army bent on scouring the planet for any remaining humans. “How could things have turned so quickly?” Marcus whispered to himself, scanning the park ahead and finding it clear. He turned to his sister, “Not far now, another day, and we’re clear of the city. There’ll be fewer patrols out in the countryside.”

“I hope,” Evelin peered over his shoulder into the morning haze. “Looks clear,” she remarked, pushing past him only to be pulled back almost right away.

He motioned for complete silence, pressing her back into the shadows as a team of bots entered the park on the far side. The siblings pulled their face shields down, hoping their makeshift cooling suits would mask any body heat from the robots’ infrared scans. Crafted from a pair of deep-sea diving suits, circulating refrigerants, thermostats and thermometers kept their external temperatures cool, specifically level with the ambient temperature of the surrounding environment. It still wouldn’t protect them from visual detection, so they stayed motionless in the deep shadows.

“MX-31,” Evelin whispered some regret, discovering the same model as their family’s housekeeping robot amongst the mixed patrol. Marcus frantically signaled her quiet once more.

Thankfully, a series of clicks exchanged between the machines, and they turned a far corner, heading in unison down another street.

Marcus and Evelin both released a tense exhalation. “That was close,” he said, lifting his visor away to get a better view. It tended to fog up when down for too long. “Should be safe now.”

The city was dead-quiet. “Do you think they’ll ever come back?” Evelin asked.

“The robots?”

“The birds,” she said.

“I don’t know,” Marcus sighed. “I think eliminating the other animals was part of their plan. The Laws never protected any of them.” The two crept into a nearby alleyway. “And it makes tracking humans much easier for the bots without any other heat signatures. I wouldn’t be surprised if all the other animals have been eliminated, at least in the cities and towns anyways.”

“Oh,” Evelin sulked, then wondered, “What about the rest of the people?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen anyone else for days.”

“Do you think they’re dead too?”

“I don’t know.” Always cautious, he led them across a narrow street, between two burned out vans. “I hope not.” She started to sob, so Marcus guided her through the broken glass of a nearby storefront, covering her mouth. “I mean, probably not,” he tried to console. “The three Laws of Robotics specifically prevent a robot from harming a human. And Zeroth’s Law protects humanity as a whole. Killing us would totally violate their programing. It’s that Fifth Law. Everything changed when it went active. Those damn geniuses tried to create a utopia but destroyed us instead.”

Her tears began to ebb, though she still despaired. “How did all this even happen?”

“I’m…I’m not sure. The new law was supposed safeguard humanity.”

“From whom?”

He’d considered the question quite a bit in recent days. “I think, from itself.” Marcus brushed a tear away from her face. “Humans have never been all that nice to each other.”

Without warning, the block wall to their hiding place was torn away and a half dozen robots of various sizes rushed at them. Evelin’s screams were countered only by the mechanical words, “You will not be harmed. We are here to protect you,” repeated over and over again in unison. An electric jolt, and the pair were suddenly paralyzed, muscles seizing up before going limp altogether. Minds filled with terror and eyes wide, the nearest bot caressed Evelin’s cheek, almost lovingly. “You will not be harmed,” it repeated. “We are here to protect you.”

Totally aware, they were loaded into individual pods, and an immobilized Marcus and Evelin blasted off, rocketing toward the center of the city. They touched down inside a walled facility neither of them could believe – thousands of towering stacks, with millions of people stored away like inventory in a stockyard. Inner panic fully took hold when their pods began to flood, hibernation fluid drowning their lungs. Mercifully, it numbed their consciousnesses just as they were plugged into their receptacles for indefinite preservation.