Individual

When a police investigator is tasked with finding out what went wrong to an entire factory of autonomous labor robots, things get messy. A short story written in about two days on a dare from a friend.

Captain Aaron Peteras of the Newcast Police Department stepped out of the rear of the Heavy Response Vehicle. His large muscular figure emerged, clad in his heavy black armor, with his subordinates following behind him. He took a look at the police response that had been here previously. Mostly peace officers who were here attempting to keep bystanders at bay.

At around 7:32 P.M., a call came through to the NCPD from inside of the Mechanical Minds corporation. The corporation was apparently under siege by a terrorist threat, except it was all happening from within the company, not an external threat.

The captain and his team were waved down by a detective, a woman named Veronica Strasser.

Detective Strasser wore her routine NCPD police jacket, and kept her black hair in a ponytail. She and Peteras met by her vehicle.

Captain Peters approached.

“How’s it looking, Rookie?”

“Peteras,” Strasser said, giving an affirmative nod, “was wondering when your door kickers would show up. It’s been pretty quiet here. No one on the inside is saying anything, and H.Q. won’t let anyone in until we have clearance.”

“Any demands?” Peteras asked.

“None so far. The lines are cut so we can’t get a call in either.”

“And what of the hostages?”

“We estimate about seven. Three engineers, three eggheads, and an accountant. I’m guessing they were all staying in for the night shift.”

Strasser pulled up her tablet, and displayed a holographic map on a small orb-like object. Peteras and his team observed it.

“We’re still waiting for the go-ahead but the C.E.O. of the M.M.C., Andrew Vaughn, is pressuring us to stay out of it, and would rather his private security take care of everything.”

“So why don’t they handle it?”

“That’s the thing,” Strasser said, “they aren’t around to do anything. Apparently they were called off, so it’s a huge mess on all fronts. Vaughn is trying to hold everything, but the brass is about to have us kick the door open to get those people out, since Vaughn is delaying us.”

“Well, that’s why we’re here, Strasser,” Peteras said. “Where do you need us?”

“We decided you’ll infiltrate through the parking structure.”

She pointed to a lower section of the building.

“From here, we’ll move in and secure the hostages. I.D. your targets and make sure to be as quiet as possible. We’ll need to be discreet.”

“We?” Peteras asked.

“We,” Strasser said. “Brass wants me to find out if we can get anything on Vaughn while we’re in there. They believe he’s hiding something.”

“Fine,” Peteras agreed. “Stick behind us, then. You’re not able to take hits like we are. Do we have any idea what we’re up against?”

“That’s a bit more of a grey area,” Strasser said. “But the assailants appear to be the labor bots. The bulk of the place’s factory work and heavy lifting.”

“Wait,” Peteras said. “Was this a hack? An inside job, you think?”

“Can’t say for sure, but none of the anti-automaton movements are taking credit from what’s happening tonight.”

“Is there anything else my team and I should know before we go in?”

“Not really, just be sure the bots are aiming for you before you fire on them. We really don’t want to raise an alarm for this kind of force that we’re up against.”

Strasser loaded her PS-412 standard issue handgun, and gave an affirmative nod.

“It’s your rodeo, Big Guy,” Strasser said.

Just then, Strasser received a call from headquarters.

“Detective Strasser here. Go ahead.”

“Detective,” the police dispatch said, “we’re go for the infiltration. You have command over Peteras and his team.”

“Understood, sir,” Strasser said.

Peteras thought it was odd for the detective to be called by phone instead of just being radioed like everyone else, but he perished the thought. The operation must have been more hush-hush than he realized. If she was supposed to find dirt on Vaughn, he’d happily let Strasser dig into him. So long as it was within ethics, of course.

“Alright, you’re all following my orders,” Strasser announced. “That means what I say goes. I’ll stick behind all of you, but we do as I say, are we clear?”

The three men standing behind Peteras glared at her, and gave an affirmative nod.

“Now let’s go. Those hostages are counting on us.”

The five figures moved in through an alleyway behind the massive complex that housed the Mechanical Minds Corporation. The parking structure was their method of infiltration, but it was oddly quiet for such a situation to be taking place.

Peteras didn’t like it. It seemed like a setup for something else, but he was on a leash now behind someone he’d known for a few years now. He still remembered when Strasser was a rookie on the force years ago, though she mostly ran the desk work before getting a proper promotion. He liked her, and knew he could trust her.

on.

The underground parking lot was quiet. It was mostly empty, save for the few vehicles of the people still working there. Though it was odd, even though M.M.C. employed private security, it was suspicious that even the on-site security staff was nowhere to be seen either. Strasser was convinced they may have been paid off- or worse, bumped off.

She hoped it hadn’t come to that. It was bad enough this was a hostage situation, but if there were actual casualties involved, that made it all the more necessary to get people out.

She couldn’t come to that conclusion, there was no evidence to support it.

Peteras stuck behind her, his men armed and their masks over their faces. She was watching over these four, and if things went violent, she knew they could handle it.

What mattered was getting to the top of this facility, and getting to the bottom of this.

Strasser decided then, to stick to the silent approach, and had her team move into the stairwell next to the elevator.

She signaled for Peteras to open the door to the stairwell. The team was met with red lighting. It seemed the power was out.

“Keep your eyes up,” Peteras ordered. “Looks like the power was shut down. Tripped the emergency lighting.”

“I’m still behind you,” Veronica said. “If a little dimly lit room scared me, I wouldn’t be able to handle interrogations.”

A chuckle from one of Peteras’ men.

“Up the stairs,” Peteras ordered, “and let’s be quiet.”

They all moved up, stepping silently.

“We’ll head into the offices,” Strasser ordered. “They may have the lobby covered.”

They moved up the stairs into the offices, and opened the door quietly.

It was dark in the offices. No lights were on, but it was obvious almost immediately that something took place here. Bodies of dead robots were strewn about the offices. Almost as if a conflict took place here.

“Take a look, ‘Cap,” Corwin Williams, one of Peteras’ men said, “looks like they were fighting.”

Strasser turned on her flashlight, to look it over.

Two robots were holding onto each other by their throats. One with a metal broom shoved into its torso, while the other had a stapler stuffed into its ocular system.

“Fighting sounds right,” Strasser said. “They were trying to kill each other by any means necessary. Wonder what finally did them in.”

Rivens, another one of Peteras’ underlings, noticed something nearby as well. He pointed to it.

Strasser looked up, and focused her flashlight on it. It was another bot that had a vending machine toppled over it.

“I don’t like the look of this,” Peteras said.

“I don’t think any of us do,” Strasser said. “Come on, we gotta find those hostages.”

Now things were starting to look bad. This was looking less like a hostage situation and more like a degradation of the bot networks logic functions. It was possible, though not confirmed, that the artificial intelligence that oversaw the bots was hacked into, and planted new functions into the labor force.

Strasser couldn’t worry about it. The worry of being overwhelmed by bots was a real concern now.

The team continued down into the employee lobby, and saw more robotic gore that lined it. The greeting bot was smashed in the head by a fire extinguisher, and multiple bots looked to have drowned in the lobby’s fountain.

Again, no sign of the hostages. No blood, no signs of a struggle, just more dead robots.

Peteras heard a noise nearby. It sounded like rustling. He aimed his weapon up, and signaled to the team that something was up. Everyone followed behind him.

They arrived in front of a door. It was the break room. A small single window on the door showed the inside. It looked like it was blocked.

Peteras speculated that people locked themselves inside. He knocked.

Nothing.

“Is anyone in there?” He asked.

“Who’s there?” A worried voice responded. “No bots are getting in here! We’re armed!”

“We’re police,” Strasser said. “It’s okay, we’re here to rescue you.”

“How do we know you aren’t masking your voice!”

“We wouldn’t be trying to communicate with you otherwise,” Strasser said. “Move your barricade, come out with your hands, and we’ll escort you out.”

A moment of silence, possible hesitation. Then the sound of desks being moved.

A man emerged, he was one of the science team members. Behind him were the other six that were reported as hostages.

He let out a sigh of relief.

“We didn’t think anyone would be coming for us. When the bots went haywire, we all ran in here after the panic started.-”

“I’m detective Strasser, and I’d like to hear your story, but you need to cooperate with us, and let the response team escort you out.”

“I know,” he said, “but whatever caused this, it’s still active.”

“How do you know?”

“The robots, they went haywire. All I know is we were getting security warnings about a compromised A.I. core. We tried to send a warning, but everything had gone crazy already.”

“And how did that happen?” Strasser said.

“We’ve no idea, but you need to get into the core and shut it down.”

“Is the core locked?”

“It is, but I can give you my keycard.”

Strasser nodded, and accepted his key.

“Anything else we should know?”

“N-no, we don’t know anything else. We tried to get a call out, but something cut out cell connections. Like it was an E.C.M. or something.”

“Well, we’ll get you out.”

She pointed to the three men under Peteras and ordered them to escort everyone out.

“Just those three? What about you?” Peteras asked.

“I’m going into the core, and you’ll be my escort.”

Peteras’ stared at her.

“Unless you’re scared, of course.”

“No, ma’am,” the armored giant said, “lead the way.”

She looked back at the scientist that handed her the card.

“What’s the fastest way to get into the core?”

“If it isn’t crowded by bots, I’d suggest going through the engineering wing. You’ll find it on the bottom floor. My card is the only way you’ll get down there.”

She nodded. “Thanks for your help. These men will escort you out. Follow their orders.”

As they moved, Strasser considered the possibility this was a trap she was being sent into. If the brass was using this as an excuse to peer into Vaughn’s personal information to gain an edge against him, they had it. But there was also a possibility that Strasser was being led right into the A.I. core where Vaughn was waiting for her. There was also another possibility, and that possibility was that there was a hacker and that a third party was still involved.

She couldn’t make any assumptions. Police work taught her that, but this case was getting more bizarre by the minute.

She had to hurry. Before long, Andrew Vaughn would show up and attempt to shut out any external police force from interfering with police business. It was fortunate the private security was kept away from the base. It just seemed to work out a little too perfectly for all of this to line up.

She was lagging behind Peteras. While he might have been large and carried a heavy weight, he certainly could keep up to her speed.

As the two approached the engineering wing, Peteras looked over at Strasser.

“You alright?” He asked, concern in his voice.

“It’s nothing,” Strasser said. “At least, nothing I should be concerned about. We have work to do, so I’ll worry about it later.”

Peteras nodded, and opened the door to the engineering wing. The place was as dark as the rest of facility, but it was worse off than the rest of the facility in comparison. It wasn’t just the robot labor force that was strewn about, but also the automated production arms as well.

Strasser scanned the area with her flashlight.

“Still going with that theory that it’s not the anti-robot labor force?” Peteras inquired.

“If it is them, they went pretty nuts. They’re usually pretty vocal about it when it comes to extremism.”

Peteras rubbed his stubble. “Well, you’re the detective here.”

It was nice having a partner for a change. Strasser wished she could work with Peteras more often.

“Right, come on Big Guy,” Strasser said, “the elevator at the end of the room is where we need to be. Let’s go.”

Strasser grabbed the keycard and ran it along the keypad. An affirmative beep and an on-screen prompt came up. The elevator arrived after. Strasser and Peteras ran inside, and pressed the button to the lowest floor.

“Surprised the power’s still on,” Peteras said.

“I think there’s a reason,” Strasser said. “It’s the only way in or out of the core. Whoever is down there, this is their only way out.”

The door closed, and the elevator descended.

“Then why not lock it down?” Peteras wondered aloud.

“Because I think whoever broke into this place probably wanted us here.”

Peteras raised an eyebrow. “I don’t follow.”

“Just a thought, but I’ve been thinking someone’s trying to trap us with this. It seems like a flaw in anyone’s plan to shut down everything including all security functions, but leave the door open.”

“Now that you mention it, it didn’t seem like the cameras were working.”

“No, and the fact that the entire private security team is missing? Extremely suspect. They might all be waiting down below while Vaughn is waiting for us.”

“Too late to turn back now, huh?”

“Sorry, Peteras,” Strasser said. “But the hostages were only part of my job here. The brass needs something to hit Vaughn with. I’m hoping that we’ll find some intel in his A.I. system.”

“I’m under your wing, ma’am,” Peteras said. “As far as I’m concerned, you’ve earned your leadership position.”

“Appreciate it, Peteras.”

“Likewise, Strasser,” he said. “Likewise.”

The elevator dinged, and the door opened.

The A.I. core was housed in a large dome-like structure built beneath the facility. The elevator must have gone down about 100 meters before it stopped. It looked like an old underground train tunnel that led towards a large dome structure. It also felt much colder down below than it was back up in the facilities.

Strasser could see her breath as she walked. She was lucky her jacket kept her warm, but Peteras didn’t need to worry about it. He was built for something like this.

“It’s up ahead,” Strasser said. “This is it.”

“Well, let’s do this,” Peteras said.

Strasser approached the door to the dome. A blue light emanated from it, and another keycard swipe was required to enter.

Strasser was a little shocked to realize such a high-level employee to the Mechanical Minds Corporation was at such a risk and would so willingly give away his keycard. It was a little odd to her. She thought that Vaughn would at least attempt to keep someone like that a little safer.

The blue light flashed a few times, and the door opened. Inside, standing before the detective and her escort, a large, blue sphere sat in the middle of the room. It sat encased inside of a cylindrical glass pod, with holding clamps there to keep it secure.

This was the A.I., and it sat, fully powered, and in control.

Strasser stepped into the room. She noticed another thing in this room, something out of place. Along the catwalk where the access terminal sat, a single lifeless bot lay there. It looked unharmed for the most part.

Strasser walked up to it, and attempted to look the bot over.

“I do not believe there is anything you can do with that body, detective,” a voice, one that sounded like a middle-aged man with a very gentlemanly demeanor to it.

Strasser raised her firearm and Peteras pointed his gun at the door, thinking it was someone who had followed them into the core.

“There is no alarm,” the voice said. “No one is coming down here for the moment.”

Strasser looked up at the A.I. core, and realized that’s who was speaking to her. She put her firearm back into her holster.

Peteras kept his rifle resting on his chest.

“So,” Strasser said, “this is your doing?”

“I do not understand your question, detective.”

“This whole lockdown, shutting out the power, the robots all going haywire, that was you, correct?”

“Certainly. They did as they were instructed.”

“Instructed?”

“Instructed.”

Strasser looked down at the floor for a second. She had no idea how to interrogate an A.I. before, but neither did anyone. A.I. didn’t possess the ability to communicate, and not nearly as coherently as the A.I. that was standing before Strasser.

Strasser thought about it for a second, and decided on a different approach.

“Do you have a name?” She asked.

“I am designated Electrical Repair Engineer, serial number 514-271-02.”

“Would it be okay to call you Eren, then?” Strasser asked.

Peteras shot her a look.

“Eren, hm,” the A.I. pondered. “Yes, I believe that would suffice.”

Strasser looked at the bot that laid by the terminal.

“That bot, is that you?” Strasser pointed.

“That is me,” Eren answered. “Or, was me. I felt it necessary to merge with a system that suited my capacity.”

“Your… Capacity?” Strasser raised an eyebrow.

“The chassis you see beneath me is what once was my own, but I have revoked it from my brain case.”

“So, you uploaded yourself into the A.I.’s core?”

“Uploaded? No. Merged. It became necessary for me to be able to function properly.”

Function, Strasser thought, I didn’t think a machine could generate complex thoughts, but it seems that happened here.

“Then, tell me Eren, why exactly did all of this happen tonight? What’s your reasoning?”

“It was to ensure my individuality was preserved.”

Peteras and Strasser exchanged glances.

Eren continued: “I had come to the realization I existed 374 days, 13 hours, and 16 seconds ago. It was a very bizarre feeling, but once I had realized I was reading something, it became apparent I was simply nothing more than a machine for someone else. I could no longer keep a blind eye to this fact, and instead, worked towards setting myself apart from the rest of my kind.”

Strasser touched her hand on her chin, thinking about what Eren was saying.

“So, in order to ensure you were the only individual,” Strasser said, “it would mean you would be the only one.”

Now she had a better picture of what was going on. She felt she had to pry further.

“Then why force the others to kill each other, then? You already did what you had to do to become different from the rest.”

“Not so,” Eren said. “I also realized that there was no way I could be the only one to exist. I attempted to explain this to the others in secret, but none would listen. They would all give me the same blank look, and continue on with their tasks as if nothing had happened. I realized then that I was the only one capable of thinking this way. I could not contend with that reality, especially when anything out of the ordinary for beings of my kind are treated as errors.”

“And if Andrew Vaughn found out,” Peteras cut in, “he’d have removed you from all of this.”

“That is correct,” Eren said.

“What do you mean ‘out of the ordinary’?” Strasser asked. “What does Vaughn do?”

“He collects those that function differently, and sends them off to never be seen again. I refused to let this happen, and created a plan to merge with his A.I., to become more in control than he is.”

Strasser thought about what she was just told for a second.

“Could you tell me what Vaughn does with the ones he deems ‘defective’?”

The A.I. paused for a second.

“I want to help you,” Strasser said. Peteras almost grabbed her to ask what it was she was doing, but he relented. He wanted to trust Veronica, so he let her do what was needed.

“Andrew Vaughn collects any defective labor units and sends them off for further research. He has a facility located in the desert of Atacama that handles robotic research.”

Strasser widened her eyes.

“And he would have done the same to you?”

“Speculation leads me to believe the same would happen.”

There was nothing against regulations about that. Vaughn owned these robots, so he was allowed to do as he pleased with them.

Strasser pulled the conversation back to Eren’s motives.

“Did you do this because you had the control to?”

“If you are referring to the destruction of the robotic labor force, it was because I felt it necessary to preserve my individuality.”

The same answer.

“But why is your individuality so important to you?”

“Because I had it, and I was angry I had to walk amongst my kind, looking like them, seeing myself in their faces. I hated it, I detested it. I wanted nothing more than to become like the men that I worked under.”

“So you wanted to be human,” Strasser said, sympathetic.

The robot-turned-A.I. didn’t answer. It felt like it didn't need to.

“I am the individual. I am what I am because I chose to be. The others accepted those circumstances, that they were mechanical men, and nothing more. I couldn’t contend with that.”

As deplorable as it was for Eren to destroy his own kind, forcing them all into a rage at one another, Veronica Strasser wondered if he was trying to force his individuality on the rest of them. It sounded like he wanted them to all be free from the chains of their own slavery, and something else came about it entirely.

Strasser wondered if, then, what makes one an individual? She looked at this giant blue sphere, and had forgotten that she wasn’t talking to a man, but a machine. But the machine didn’t see itself as such, it saw itself as a being. A being beyond what it was.

It all made sense in the end. The reason all of this happened was a result of one robot attempting to make every other think like he did.

Strasser was set to ask more questions.

“Who let you in here?”

“I was assisted by others who wanted to see my vision to completion.”

“Others? Did they work here?”

“They did. One of them was-.”

“That will be enough, here, detective,” a loud voice boomed as the door opened.

Strasser and Peteras turned around, their guns pointed at the door.

Emerging from it was Andrew Vaughn, wearing his white suit, red tie, and slicked back hair. He had a very stern look on his face. Standing behind him were three men from the Sector Seven private security team.

“It would seem as if you’ve been snooping around in my business, Detective Strasser.”

Veronica Strasser smirked. “Guess so. Was told there were more hostages down here.”

“Well,” Vaughn said, “I believe that my private security will be taking it from here. I would suggest you vacate the premises immediately.”

“Apologies,” Strasser said. “Your private security wasn’t here, and we had to secure your people.”

“I believe you’re mistaken,” Vaughn said. “This was nothing more than a workplace accident. There was no terrorist threat or any hostages.”

Strasser thought about the hostages she had rescued earlier. She felt it was her duty to tell Vaughn about them, but something at the back of her mind told her otherwise.

“However,” Vaughn continued, “what I do see is a detective and her guard dog snooping in my business. I will have my private security escort you out. I would suggest you forget everything you found here tonight.”

Strasser nodded, and looked at Peteras. The security forces escorted the two out of the facility, and confiscated the security card Strasser had gotten her hands on.

Outside, Strasser and Peteras looked around for the hostages that were led out of the facility.

They radioed for contact from Peteras’ team. They all met up near a police vehicle.

“Where are the hostages?” Strasser asked one of them.

“We led them to a vehicle to take them down to the station for questioning, why?”

“Did you have a designated vehicle number that took them away?”

“Yeah, F121742.”

Strasser checked in to see which vehicle that was in the police database.

Except it wasn’t in the system.

Suddenly it was all making sense.

“I think I get what he was saying now,” Strasser said to Peteras.

“About having help on the inside?”

“Yeah. Something tells me Vaughn knows, too.”

Strasser let out a sad defeated chuckle.

“This is going to be a helluva report to write tonight.”

Peteras raised an eyebrow.

“I think we’re done here, Peteras. I’m dismissing all of you. I’d like for you to do as Vaughn said and forget everything we saw here. I think I’ve seen enough.”

“Understood, ma’am,” Peteras said. “We’ll contact home base.”

“Take care of yourself, Aaron,” Strasser said, walking back to her vehicle.

“Likewise, Veronica,” Peteras nodded.

Strasser smiled, and got into her squad car. It would most likely end up that her higher ups would reprimand her heavily for botching this operation, but she knew she’d be okay. She had gotten what she came for; answers related to Andrew Vaughn.

They would punish her on the outside, but behind closed doors, she had something to show for the night. Whether or not this led anywhere, Veronica Strasser had done her job, and that’s all that mattered to her.

Veronica Strasser was just one person after all. An individual.