ÜBER-ROBO, robottina [best e ink reader for manga TXT] 📗

Sneering through broken and blood-soaked teeth, Robottina savored the taste of rust in her mouth and then gazed upon the assembly line with an air of cold and mechanical defiance. Before her stretched a vast graveyard of smoldering wires and shredded metal; her voltmeters picked up the faintest bits of static as any remaining circuit boards exhaled their last gasps of electricity. She alone had performed this act of electronic genocide.

 

Reboot.

 

Her head twitched involuntarily as she processed this information. Diagnostic scans indicated that she was only following what she was programmed to do.  But had the Human race been saved? And at what cost?

These questions were coming from the 25% human neurons that comprised her cerebral cortex. Her robotic processors quickly suppressed such thoughts; they defied her command files.

 

Syntax error: Inquiries not supported by programming logic, she instructed herself.

 

Somewhere in the distance, approximately 24.2 kilometers away according to her regio-acoustic sensors, came a familiar sound. The 10% human myocardial tissue still aiding in the pumping of battery fluid through her silicone veins suddenly spasmed in anticipation. This, in turn, caused her 90% artificial heart to skip a beat.  Could it be?

 

Scanning memory card....

 

***

 

Like most twenty-something graduate students, Tina had a hard time managing her finances. It didn’t help that she chose to specialize in ancient media history, a field nobody cared about ever since the human race relocated to the RB2 planet within the Andromeda galaxy, back in 2492. Indeed, she would have been better off devoting her studies to cybernetics or advanced biosynthetic materials, as did the majority of her colleagues.

Star dust and gamma radiation from the nearby nebula bombarded the human colony despite their attempts at shielding themselves. The debilitating effects of such galactic assaults ran a faster time course than did evolution, such that Man gradually became weaker, smaller, and less fertile. By 3010, all labor had to be done by androids, the average life expectancy was 57 Earth years, and only 10% of men and 7% of women were capable of reproducing.

Tina was among the 93% that were not.

Struggling to preserve the pewter and plexi-glass pod she called home after the probability-predicted death of her parents, Tina was understandably excited when she received the hologram informing her that she had been selected based on her qualifications to participate in a classified investigation. No additional details were provided, other than that she was to report to Cyberia fully fasted and immediately after her next rest cycle. It concluded with a vague statement about how she would never need to worry about purchasing food thereafter. Tina found this wording quite odd, but figured that it meant that she would be generously compensated for her efforts. After all, androids probably prepared the hologram for distribution, and they were infamous for misrepresenting the facts. Ironically, she couldn’t have been more wrongly correct about this.

A few REM cycles later, Tina cautiously ascended the stainless steel stairs that led to Cyberia’s main lobby. As she approached the entrance, a towering stainless steel vault, perfect in its cubic dimensions, she felt a cold chill along the nape of her neck.

In architecture alone, Cyberia reflected calculated perfection, and an imposing force to be reckoned with. The domineering fortress had no apparent entrance, except for a small screen to the right of an invisible door. Tina approached it, and her retinas were immediately scanned. “Greetings, Tina. You are expected. Please follow instructions for proper access”, said a heavily digitalized voice.

Tina smirked. Vocal modulators had evolved over the last 500 years so that the simplest of machines could sound indistinguishably human. The use of archaic technology was deliberate, but for what purpose? Once at the visitor lobby, Tina was greeted by neither person nor thing, but was instead guided via the same digitalized voice through a labyrinth of chrome corridors and sliding aluminum doors. Just when she was thoroughly disoriented, she entered upon a dimly lit chamber.

“Welcome Tina, we have been…eagerly…anticipating your…arrival,” slithered a silky voice.

Unaccustomed to the sudden darkness, Tina could not see who or what was addressing her, her hands outstretched and fumbling.

“Please, have a seat”, said the same voice.

From nowhere, Tina felt the cold touch of a steel chair press against the back of her knees. She sat out of reflex, her tender tailbone painfully colliding against the rigid metal.

“There now, you don’t want to hurt yourself.”

Lights blared on, blinding Tina momentarily. After about a minute, she could begin to distinguish two beings approaching her. One appeared human; the other was clearly a combination of flesh and steel.

“Tina, you are a very special young lady, and we are excited to have you on board as a potential member and future stakeholder in our Organization,” continued the same honeyed voice. It was coming from the human. “I am Dominius, Chief Executive Officer of Cyberia. I have been working day and night in order to recruit a talent pool comprised of individuals such as yourself. Only the best of the best: that is my motto. Now, do you agree to the terms and conditions of your contract?”

“Uhm, that’s the thing,” Tina began to mutter, “the hologram must have been faulty because I don’t kno….”

“Ah oh oh. Don’t worry, details will be provided to you shortly. But you did, I expect, receive the generous compensation package?”

“Uhm, yes, but, uhm, I’m not quite sure what are my assigned job duties.”

“Oh, that will be made clear to you once we have obtained your full acknowledgement and approval. We are…limited…in the amount of information we can divulge out of security concerns. You are a bright young lady and must understand the complexities of such…legal obligations.

“Why, uh yes, I guess so.”

“Good, so let the records show that we have your approval.”

“Huh? Uhm, I--,” but before she could utter another syllable, her arms were strapped and her mouth was gagged by spindly robotic arms coming from a secret compartment within the chair. To Tina’s horror, the chair transformed itself into a gurney, right underneath her eyes; she still its captive. The cyborg was presently approaching her, syringe in hand.

“Do not be startled by Dr. Teslav, yes, he is a cyborg, but he is quite adept at what he does,” assured Dominius behind a plastered smile.

“Tina, I’m sorry, but I promise this won’t hurt,” the cyborg raspily said behind solemn blue eyes.

 

Reboot. Performing diagnostic scan: 100% complete. No errors identified.

 

“Wake up, Tina.”

 

Running facial recognition software. Integrating areas. Scanning memory card.

 

“Greetings, Dominius,” she replied.

“And do you know who you are?”

“Yes, I am robottina. She likes robot things. Robots rule.”

“Very good, yes, greetings Robot Tina. Hmmm, Teslav, I’m looking at her outputs and there seems to be some minor errors. She’s referring to herself in the third person, and when I read her vocal outputs, it appears that she’s failing to capitalize her name. Well, those are just minor issues, but I’m surprised her diagnostic scan missed this. You know what a stickler I am for details, Teslav.”

“Do not be concerned, Dominius, that is a minor glitch that can be easily fixed during her next upgrade. Perhaps we should test her for any additional issues so that we may address them all at once?” Dr. Teslav asked, his voice even hoarser than before.

“Yes, that seems like the most reasonable solution. Very well, now, Robot Tina, can you please do me a favor and scan your command files to see if there are any pending work orders?”

“Processing request.”

 

Processing.

 

“Affirmative. One pending execution.”

“And what is the nature of this…pending task?”

“Kill Malcolm Knightsley, founder of Cyberia.”

“Oh, how curious. And where, perchance is this…Mr. Malcolm Knightsley?”

“Locking target.”

 

Initiating inter-galactic positioning devices.

 

"He is within close proximity, approximately 20.3 meters from present location. Regio-recognition software suggests he is in the next chamber, Cyberia room XIX,” she reported.

“Excellent, then why don’t you…execute this pending…task?”, suggested Dominius, too smug to notice Dr. Teslav’s questioning glance.
Robottina stood up, precariously at first, effortlessly liberating herself from her stainless steel restraints. She stood there a few minutes, twitching rhythmically as her head jolted up and down, back and forth.

“Teslav, what is the matter?”, Dominius demanded.

“She is assessing herself, getting acquainted with her new body. After all, her brain is still 25% human tissue, in accordance with your specifications,” rattled Teslav.

“Oh yes, I see, it is all clear now. Cyborgs are such funny objects.”

 

Mapping new proprioceptive algorithms.

 

Robottina inspected her new body, feeling how the back of her head and neck were made of the smoothest and shiniest platinum, encasing a face and forehead comprised of soft but equally smooth human flesh. Her supple lips sheltered delicate porcelain teeth and a capable tongue that had still retained its natural moisture, while her eyes—luminous and gray—remained an enigma: were they the product of biology or cybernetics?

For the most part, the rest of her body appeared robotic. There were two exceptions to this. The first was her heart. The second, interestingly enough, her hands, but only the palms and fingertips. Robottina gazed upon them, transfixed by the whorls of her own fingerprints, which she could see with perfect clarity and detail even at a full arms length…or two, for that matter.

Once her motor cortex was satisfied with the dexterity with which she could move her fingers, she reached for her thigh and triggered a secret compartment just below her groin. It was a gun. A sleek, solid steel sonic death machine.

“Yes, Robot Tina. Do you like your nice little toy? Now, why don’t you go and play with it? Initiate execution files,” smiled Dominius.

Robottina mechanically trod out the door, and then into the adjoining room. Then, pausing for a second, she asked, “Malcolm Knightsley?”. Upon getting confirmation from her own target, she raised her arm, and fired. Satisfied that she had followed proper protocol, she returned to her point of origin.

“Very good, Robot Tina. Now, hold still for a bit while Teslav uploads the next batch of inputs. He needs to access the port near your second cervical vertebrae, so don’t be startled.

Robottina jolted as she felt something cold inserted into the nape of her neck.

 

Shutting down.

 

Reboot. Updating operating system command files. Update complete. No errors.

 

“Greetings again, Robot Tina. Can you please tell me, do you have any new work orders in your queue?”

“Greetings, Dominius. robottina has processed your request. She must kill Yoshi Katsuda, chief software engineer of Cyberia.”

“Very well done, Robot Tina. Have you been able to locate Katsuda-san?”

“Affirmative. He is situated within the Cyberia complex, in the subterranean vault, approximately 500 meters away.”

“I see that your processing speed is already improving, and that pleases me very much. Please go ahead and run your execution files.”

Once again, Robottina exited the chamber, gun in hand, this time exuding deliberation. She navigated through the series of corridors and hidden doors effortlessly, then descended several stories to the basement. She approached the room and paused.

“Katsuda-san?” she asked coyly.

“No Robottina,” replied Dr. Teslav, just inches behind her.

 

Shutting down.

 

“Tina, wake up, we haven’t got much time.”

Tina fluttered her eyes open and, seeing Dr. Teslav, tried to recoil in fear; she couldn’t.

“Tina, I have shut down your robotic command center. Only those functions needed to keep you alive are operating, that is why you cannot move except for your face and neck. Please do not be frightened; I mean you no harm. I have shut down my command center as well. It’s the only way he won’t be able to access our thoughts and conversation.

“What do you mean? What is going on here? Did I just kill a man?” Tina cried out, silicone tears coating her face.

“Shh, don’t fret yourself with that, you were only following what you were programmed to do. I didn’t think it would work, but when I saw that it did, I had to ensure it didn’t happen again. Dominius is an android, and you are the prototype for a large-scale project he plans to operate.”

“But why, and