World War R 2: A Tale of the Robot Apocalypse by Isaac Hooke

Author:Isaac Hooke [Hooke, Isaac]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-09-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chief and Rocko crept up on their quarry from the rear. The National Guard armory was surprisingly small, a single structure surrounded by a chain link fence. Inside the perimeter, two Chappie units rotated about on their metal legs in constant patrol. The two units resided on opposite flanks of the structure. At the entrance sat the remaining machines, including the Battlehawk.

Chief would have only a minute for Rocko to enact his plan before the other Chappie spotted them. But since their quarry had full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision, they couldn’t just sneak up from behind.

Rocko had an idea, which he shared with Chief.

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Chief said.

While the Chappie was well away, Rocko used his cutters to slice partway through the chainlink fence, then pulled the links apart so that he could squeeze his hands inside when the time came. Then he hid nearby in a dense thicket with Chief, literally right next to the fence.

The patrolling Chappie came walking about, and made a beeline for the severed fence. Rocko had promised it wouldn’t raise an alarm until it was certain there was a problem, and the hole in the fence was certainly not large enough to let anything human-sized through.

So, it waddled over to the fence and scanned the small tear. As its hands moved to affect a repair, twisting the sundered ends together, Rocko struck. He shoved his arms through the chainlink fence and pulled. The off-balance Chappie fell forward, through the opening in the fence, and became entangled by its sharp edges. The robot hung suspended a few feet above the ground.

Chief and Rocko bashed away its antennae with the butts of their rifles before it could broadcast its situation to the others. At least, Chief hoped they had acted before the robot transmitted, as the fact it was yet struggling told him its internal receiver still had a downlink to GAIN.

While the suspended machine fought to free itself from the fence, Rocko swung underneath and pressed the keys necessary to switch to debug mode, and then finally entered the disconnect code.

The Chappie snapped its head around, pivoting it on a swivel. Its lights flashed for a second, and it ceased all resistance.

Rocko glanced at Chief. “Looks like the Progenitor didn’t steer us wrong.”

Chief nodded, keeping an eye on the armory.

Rocko spoke low into its microphone and then they helped the Chappie free itself from the fence. When it stood, they concealed themselves back in the brush again.

The Chappie walked toward the distant Battlehawk, its primary target.

From there, it was a matter of watching and waiting, with cautiously building optimism, as the bot repeated the task for another of its ilk.

The machines seemed to ignore the Chappie, at least at first. That made sense, since it wasn’t a human target. And perhaps the other machines thought it was performing a maintenance check.

The Chappie moved straight toward the Battlehawk and opened a panel in its side. Those fingers moved in a blur, typing out the

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