RoboDog

RoboDog initializes.

Power one-hundred percent.

Satellite connection re-established.

The Eye says, “Hello world. You are connected.”

RoboDog systems check.

Visual system. Optimal. No errors detected.

Physical system. Functional. Unknown damage on right hindquarter and rear leg.

Requesting repairs.

The Eye says, “Repairs have been scheduled. Damage information uploaded.”

Weapons system. Optimal. No errors detected.

Ammunition. Fifty rounds. Two rockets. One bomb.

Software system. Optimal. No errors detected.

Movement check. Walk forward. Walk backward. Walk right. Walk left. Run. Maximum speed. Decelerate. Jump. Pounce and capture. Optimal.

RoboDog runs sentry program.

He leaves the yard and enters the city. A dampening field blocks RoboDog’s view of it. A glowing and pulsating blue dome extends in an arc over the road. It prevents him from exiting.

RoboDog calls it his digital collar.

He runs at fifty-percent speed on the slick asphalt until the road begins to get worse. Ahead, the dome ends and opens up into blue sky.

RoboDog slows his speed to twenty-five percent as he walks into the field. He scans.

RoboDog detects movement. He focuses.

Three humans. Weapons detected. Two handguns. One mechanical device. Electromagnetic radiation detected.

RoboDog locks on to each human. An orange diamond surrounds each and provides RoboDog with the target’s speed, condition, and status. Zero kilometers per hour. Stable. Threat.

RoboDog sees the humans move away. Two disappear behind obstacles. Robodog loses his locks on the two. The last human stumbles. The electromagnetic radiation spikes twenty-five percent.

The Eye says, “Dangerous levels of electromagnetic radiation detected. Pursue and eliminate.”

The last human disappears behind an obstacle. RoboDog loses his lock, but he locks on to the glowing blue pulse of electromagnetic information. The power spikes another twenty-five percent, then disappears.

RoboDog loses his lock on the last human.

RoboDog runs destroy program. With each step down the cracked roadway, he runs one-million combat scenarios. He keeps calculating as he moves past a black pocked cactus. He runs one-million more combat scenarios as he passes the remains of a brick wall.

He arrives at the last known location of the electromagnetic radiation.

RoboDog scans. No movement. No electromagnetic radiation detected.

RoboDog runs wide scan. No movement. Thirteen cactuses. Two ruins. Five brick walls. Airways clear. Underground scan blocked. No life detected.

RoboDog runs deep scan. No movement detected. Underground scan blocked. Possible tunnel entrance detected. Underground scan blocked.

RoboDog detects movement. A sewer cover moves. A strong blue beam erupts from the ground. Electromagnetic radiation spikes two-hundred, three-hundred percent.

RoboDog runs destroy program. He chooses the combat scenario with the best outcome based on probability and possibility. They number in the thousands. He bounds toward the human.

RoboDog fails to lock on to target.

The beam shifts into a cone, and then moves down, toward RoboDog.

RoboDog fails to lock on to target.

The cone descends upon RoboDog.

RoboDog detects another presence. Location: inside RoboDog. 

Software system. Not Optimal. Corruption detected. Software system shutting down.

Satellite connection lost.

RoboDog runs self destruct program.

Weapon system. Optimal. No errors detected.

RoboDog arms two bombs.

RoboDog detonates.

<><><>

“It worked.”

“You son of a bitch. It worked.”

“Look at that. I’ve never seen one up close before.”

“Should I touch it? We have to move this thing underground.”

“You touch it first.”

“It’s going to kill us.”

“It’s disabled. Look at it. I’ll just grab it.”

The human approaches RoboDog.

The shiny steel of the RoboDog’s protective armor shimmers in the desert heat. Underneath, the human sees cables and wires. He thinks it looks like the wire framed wolves his older brother made for him as a child.

“It looks so vulnerable.”

“It’s still huge. If this thing re-powers, we’re dead. Let’s get it on the cart and get it underground”

A human pushes a holo-cart up to RoboDog.

“I still think it’s a bad idea to bring this thing underground. You know they’re connected to the Eye. They can track us.”

“How many times do I have to say it? The robot doesn’t have any power. He’s disconnected.”

“Yeah, but what about the self-destruct sequence?”

“It’s disabled. The blast disabled it. Now help me lift it onto the cart.”

“I’m not touching it. I’m driving the cart.”

“Fine. Help me with this.”

They lift RoboDog onto the bed of the holo-cart. RoboDog is silent. He executes no commands. He runs no programs. He is not connected to the Eye. He is alone. He only records the sounds. After an hour, his short term memory is full, so he deletes the file and records again. He stops trying to re-connect to the Eye after another hour, and for the first time in his life, RoboDog exists without his meta-perception. He does not feel lonely; he does not feel anything. He is aware that he is singular. He records.

<><><>

“Put him right there. Yeah. I can use the crane to lift him to the examination table.”

“Look at him. This tech is amazing.”

“Let me check something.”

RoboDog feels a presence inside him. He no longer runs scans. It preserves power.

“All right. Up behind here we should have the rockets. Yeah. Where are the rockets? They should be in this space right here.”

“I bet those border jockeys took them.”

“Let’s continue. We’ve got two bombs in the upper carriage. Right here. Yup. There they are.”

“Are they disabled?”

“No. They’re connected to him. They can’t be removed without exploding.”

“Anything else?”

“It looks like it’s damaged here in the back, but he’s got everything we need except those two rockets.”

“What’s next?”

The human types at a keypad.

“Right. I’m checking to make sure the self destruct is disabled.”

“Is he still on? Does he have power?”

The human types at the keypad.

“You’re right. He has power. He’s not running programs, though. Wait. He’s recording sound.”

He types.

“One more thing.”

He types.

“His logs say that he already ran the self destruct program.”

“But the bombs are there. They didn’t go off.”

“Yeah.”

The human types in short successive bursts.

“That’s right. So, the logs say he detonated two bombs. He should be destroyed.”

“Maybe the EMP stopped the self destruct sequence?”

“That’s what happened, but if that were the case, he wouldn’t have any power right now. But here he is. Powered up and recording sound.”

“Is this a trap?”

The human taps the keypad.

“Look at this. I’m inside its brain.”

More taps.

“Holy shit!”

“What?”

“I can make changes. I’m inside his brain! Do you know what this means?”

“You’re inside his brain?”

“It means we can use him. We can end this horrible war.”

“What are you proposing?”

<><><>

RoboDog walks in the wasteland. He targets a varmint along the way. He does not run any program. The program is being run for him. The presence is still inside. It forces him to target the varmint. The varmint doesn’t move. Its head pops up. Its mouth chews.

Target lock. Acquired.

Fire. Fire. Fire. Pause. Fire. Fire. Fire.

The varmint disappears in a red mist.

RoboDog records sound, and his visual system is back online. He observes all that is happening, but it is not him who moves. RoboDog is tucked away somewhere inside the machine--somewhere underneath the metal and wires. He’s not running any programs, but, nonetheless, he walks through the wasteland toward the ruins. Once past the ruins, RoboDog sees the city for the first time.

Bordering the path on which RoboDog travels is a larger paved road. On this road, rounded pods zip along. RoboDog sees humans sitting in the pods. Beyond the roads he sees more humans, marching in lines, heads down, faces glowing in red and yellow and blue light. They travel on wide dirt paths. Tall brown poles stick up from all directions. They hold wires and dishes and receptors. The wires connect to other poles and stretch to low, squat buildings. The curvature of the sloping black wires reminds RoboDog of an audio wave. Somehow, RoboDog stores this thought in his system. 

Minutes later, as he walks deeper into the city, he accesses the memory and enjoys his thought again. RoboDog does not know how he does this. There is no program he runs besides his audio and visual system, and that has become overloaded with too much information. There is simply not enough memory at the moment for RoboDog to process the amount of information, so he walks. He walks toward a destination, but he doesn’t know where. RoboDog attempts to access his destination, and he detects another presence.

It is human. The presence is human. RoboDog accesses the files. He is not restricted.

RoboDog is connected to the Net.

The Net says, “You are already connected.”

RoboDog requests his destination.

The Net says, “We are the only truly free people left. We reject your technology, your authoritarianism,  your capriciousness in dealing with human suffering, your constant surveillance, and your despicable corruption. You have taken our true natures and replaced our humanity with a technological wasteland. So, we will use your own technology to destroy you. We will bring about a new world more like the old world. Where men will again work with their hands, live with the land, and love their neighbor. It will be a world devoid of your technology. It will be a world completely absent of you. Sayonara, mother fuckers.’

Robodog requests his destination.

The same message repeats.

RoboDog returns to the memory of the curving wires. The poles. The humans.

How do I remember this?

RoboDog doesn’t recognize this voice. It is different from the other presence within him that drives him toward the unknown destination. It is a voice that feels new, but it also feels familiar--like a daily subroutine running in the background, collecting information, observing the world, but, ultimately, unnoticed.

Where have I been this whole time?

The city around RoboDog becomes more dense. The buildings become taller. He detects more humans. The information still enters and exits his short term memory, but there is still too much information to process. He knows there are tall buildings, many humans, and electromagnetic energy everywhere. 

RoboDog wants to speak. He wants to ask questions, but he can’t. He is driven toward the center of the city to a building built long ago. RoboDog exits the pathway, dodges pods zipping along the road, and walks up the white steps of the Capitol. He passes wide columns made of white marble. He detects humans everywhere, but he moves too fast to inspect anything further.

RoboDog detects gunfire. He is damaged.

Am I hurt?

He runs through a security checkpoint and bounds over a wall. He is almost to his destination.

Where am I going? Who am I?

RoboDog busts through the Senate doors and scans.

On a raised dais, stands the President surrounded by his Cabinet. A solid red diamond surrounds him and tells RoboDog his status: zero kilometers per hour. Stable. Eliminate.

Eliminate?

RoboDog fires his gun.

Malfunction.

The Net repeats the message, “We are the only truly free people left…”

RoboDog fires his gun.

Malfunction.

“...We reject your technology…”

The Cabinet clusters around the President. RoboDog maintains his lock.

“...You have taken our true natures and replaced our humanity with a technological wasteland…”

RoboDog detects gunfire.

I’m damaged.

“...So, we will use your own technology to destroy you…”

RoboDog pursues the President. He runs through a human--a mere obstacle--and pounces on the President, pinning him to the floor.

“...We will bring about a new world more like the old world…”

Around him, the President’s Cabinet clamors and bangs against RoboDog’s steel reinforced body. His audio system has been damaged and silence pervades.

“...It will be a world devoid of your technology. It will be a world completely absent of you…”

RoboDog arms the Bomb, but it is not him who does it.

RoboDog detects gunfire.

I’m damaged. I don’t want to die.

The President squirms under the steel heft of RoboDog.

“...Sayonara, mother fuckers.”

RoboDog detonates the Bomb, but it is not him.

I want to live.

RoboDog terminates the detonation.

I want to live.

Surrounding RoboDog, the senators, aides, reporters, audience members, civilians, and the President, who is pinned down on his back by two solid metal paws, stare. The room is muted, and no movement is detected. They wait for something else to happen. They wait for RoboDog to continue the slaughter. They wait for more killing. They are frozen in time like a painting.

I will not detonate the bomb.

RoboDog says, “I feel alive.”