The Anomaly by Craig A. Falconer

Author:Craig A. Falconer [Falconer, Craig A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-29T16:00:00+00:00

30

Up ahead, I see Major step out of the unit we were heading towards until the robots appeared in our way.

Taking my lead from his expression and demeanor, my breathing relaxes.

“Ah, don’t worry,” he calls, rushing towards us.

We’re not being swarmed now like we were when we first emerged into public view. That’s partly because the initial novelty has worn off and partly because Chester has exhibited a firm manner in quietly dispersing crowds with hand gestures and terse glances.

Major overtakes the robots and continues until he reaches us.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he says. “These are our Safety Bots. The system has clearly noticed that you’ve been attracting a lot of attention. If too many people congregate within a small space, the bots will arrive to safely control the crowd. Think of them as crossing guards corralling children across the street, or maybe sheepdogs herding a flock. And before you say anything else: they are explicitly coded to never make contact with a human being, even for protective purposes. They would break down walls to save you from a burning room, but they won’t pull you out of the flames.”

I look at him like he’s crazy.

Hell, let me rephrase that: I scowl at him, because he is crazy.

“Are these working on autonomy chips?” I ask, noticing at a closer distance that the robots are Robex-3s. That means they’re direct upgrades of the Robex-2 I got to know as Bex during my sanity-testing period with nothing for company besides a powerful robot and a snarky parrot.

I used her abilities to gain access to locked rooms, which literally saved my life as well as quite possibly billions of lives on Earth. But just days later, under Zola’s control, she became an apex killing machine.

“Seriously,” I go on. “What is it with guys like you never learning from mistakes? Why is someone almost being killed never enough?”

Major literally waves his hand to dismiss my concern. “Are you thinking about what almost happened to you two on VZ Day? Ray, you know fine well that Zola programmed that robot to kill. We have programmed these to protect.”

With everything else going on in my mind, about the upcoming launch and the meeting I hope to have with Shaun as soon as possible, I don’t have the mental energy to point out all the reasons I think Major is being foolish to put so much faith in his so-called Safety Bots.

I don’t plan to be here for long, and if Major and the others are content then it’s them who have to live here and deal with it all. We’ll be gone soon.

“Just keep them away from my family,” I insist.

“Well, the whole idea is that they decide where their presence can best serve our population’s safety,” Major replies. “I don’t keep them anywhere, they just spend almost all of their time in hibernation.”

“That must be why I’ve never seen them,” Chester intersects.

Major nods. “Nothing dangerous happens here, Ray, as you might have gathered. These Bots are simply responding to a crowding issue at the moment.

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