Our Friends the Machines.P2 Conclusion
Our Friends the Machines.P2 Conclusion
[Jack was sick and couldn’t
participate. Evan had played earlier via email exchange: his input integrated into
the action.]
Friday
morning, Sept 12thThe kids woke
to the sight of their Convoy transmorphers destroyed. And found Deceiver robots attempting to plant control chips in Vicky’s
parents. No sooner did they stop the transmorpher inserting a chip into her stepmother,
Vicky’s father sprang out of bed, began exercising, then suddenly
blurted, “Nice time for a run.” He dashed out of the room, down the stairs, and
out the front door, turning west. Vicky’s stepmother was still too groggy from
the sleeping gas to be of help.
And that’s when their walkie-talkies buzzed, “Raven to
SNOOPS! You’ll never believe what just happened at my uncle’s house!”
4am: Ein tried to decipher the chip implant
recovered from the failed Deceiver insertion in Vicky’s stepmother’s neck. “Sorry
guys, no can do. It must have been damaged in the struggle. I’m still groggy
from that sleeper-gas they released; I say we sleep in to be top-notch in the
morning to investigate.” Eric was more urgent in his thoughts, “If we hustle
now, maybe we could follow Vicky’s dad. See where he’s going. Maybe he headed west
like those municipal robot tracks. Didn’t Evan say his uncle also took off
west?” Vicky offered, “We could rest till the toy store opens and ask the
owners what they know. Where they got the transmorphers.” Eric reminded her, “That’s
your dad running around town in his PJs! Do you really want all the other
school kids to see your dad dressed like that?!”
Ein suggested, “I could take the circuit board out of the
captured Deceiver VERTIKAMP KRUX helicopter
and attach it to my remote-controlled car (at home). We could then follow wherever
it goes.” Eric was impatient as if he had to go pee, “Time is wasting. Program
your drone to fly up and search west. Maybe we’ll see Mr. Moon.” They were at a
standstill: chip the car, go west, go to the toy store. Vicky (as leader) made
up her mind, “The store doesn’t open for another 5 hours. So, let’s look for my
dad in the meantime. Ein, get that drone up.”
[Program+Luck 1] Ein set in a search pattern to the west/northwest of Vicky’s house. As the drone took off, climbing to about 200ft, Eric nudged Ein out of the way so he could better see the 3x3 video display screen on the controller.
[Investigate 1] About 10 minutes until “There's your dad! I think that’s Captain
Underpants himself jogging down the street, just to the south of the
search pattern.” Vicky and Eric took off on their bikes as Ein and Lukas
continued to monitor the screen “in case that’s not him and we need to
redirect.”
4:45am: “What’s happening?” Ein panicked as he
realized the drone was descending, finally landing in the middle of the road.”
Their walkie-talkies squawked, “Tomahawk to Lucky, what did you do? We’re
continuing in last known direction, over.” [Comprehend 2] It dawned on Ein his drone could get runover by
morning traffic, “Lucky to Snoops. Abort tracking and rescue my drone!” The
only reply came from ‘Lamoes’, “Copy, 10 4.” Lukas got closer to the controller,
“Does it have a battery monitor? Did you charge it this morning?” Ein looked at
the gauges and realized the range light was red, “I flew it too far.” They
hustled to join Vicky (Lukas on his skateboard while Ein rode his bike). Their
radios crackled with a new message from Vicky, “What did you do? It took off
again and is continuing the pattern.”
Ein abandoned his bike and jumped on the back of Vicky’s
while he held the controller, “I’ll manual override and guide it towards Eric.
Let’s go!” Meanwhile, Eric came upon about a dozen people in the street,
walking southwest: kids and adults more speed-walking. Eric slowed and walked
his bike to keep pace. After radioing the others, it wasn’t long till they
caught up. “I guess we should follow them.”
And that’s when their radios crackled with static and
interference, “Raven to Snoo… help… resc… fac.” Eric spoke up, “I think he said
factory. He talked earlier about following his uncle.” [Contact 2] Vicky remembered, “I
remember mom (step-mother) mentioning she once had to patrol (she works for the
police) an old abandoned factory west of town. She said it was west of town out
on Nevada Highway. Let’s go, Evan sounds in trouble!”
Factory: [Investigate] They parked their bikes just inside
the tree line, 20 feet from the old 7ft tall barbed-wire fence that surrounded
the factory grounds. Eric noticed the guard shack where adults and kids lined
up for entry. Vicky spotted robots patrolling the grounds inside the fence and
flying robots circling the compound. “Can you hear what the guard is asking
before they enter?” [Investigate+Pride] Alone to not
draw attention, Vicky snuck close enough to see and hear the elder guard
question each candidate, “Why are you here?” Those that replied “To work” passed
through. Thos who responded “I don’t know why” were inspected for a chip on their
neck before being allowed to enter. Vicky reported back to the others and added,
“Ollie looks asleep on his feet. We might be able to sneak past.” Eric offered
an idea: tape the chip recovered from the failed insertion into Mrs. Moon as a
backup to standing in line and repeating the correct words.
Vicky took the lead, “I got this.” She exited the trees
and joined the end of the line of people. Thankfully her radio was turned off.
The others heard their radios crackle with a whispered voice, “I can see you
guys! Didn’t you hear me calling?! Warn Vicky to act like a zombie and repeat
these words (to work). Ein asked, “Where are you?! Inside the fence? Oh, by the
northeast side of the factory. Gotcha.” Evan told them to wait, “I’ll be there
in 5.” Of course, Vicky had no clue what was happening in the trees.
Evan’s Report: Six minutes later, Evan arrived, hobbling.
They could see the bloody strip of his shirt used as bandage on his calf. “What
happened?” Evan told the story of following his uncle and getting into line
too. How he entered the factory and found a production line of Boulder citizens
building more transmorphers (mostly Deceivers). His voice began to quiver as
the fright of what he’d seen started to overwhelm him. “Uncle Steve stepped
into place as if he already knew what to do. I even saw Ace and his parents
working! I thought they were vacationing; did they come back early? Anyway, I
acted like I belonged and walked down the spiral stairs to the basement to
escape and find you guys. I found the exit, but it was armed and locked with a
state-of-the-art security system. And that’s when I saw those Municipal Robots (with
labels ‘Property of DARPA‘) powered down but with cabling running between them and
a bank of computer racks. Lights flashing and whirling sounds. And that’s when
I heard one of the robots power up: it apparently the more friendly (Beta
version) that was willing to help us.” Evan’s voice began to break with panic
as he continued, “Until the other robot powered up and sounded an alarm.
Deceivers swarmed down the stairs… I got shot by a walking nail-gun! And that’s
when I heard the door click unlocked. I escaped and have been waiting and
calling you guys as I hid out back. It’s been hours, where have you been?!”
Next: It was now Lukas’ turn to panic as he
realized Vicky was 3 people short of the guard. “We gotta call her back!”
Knowing her radio was off, Lukas quickly wrote a note, folded it into a
paper-plane and tossed it at her. [Tinker 2]
It landed near her. Lukas pleaded under his breath, “Pick it up, pick it up!” [Lead 3] As she got closer to the
guard, Vicky kept telling herself “you got this.” So, when she read the note (“ABORT”),
she wadded it up and tossed it back on the ground. The others stifled their internal
screams “WHAT IS SHE DOING?! Is she crazy?” When Ollie asked her why she was
here, in a monotone voice she replied “to work.” She followed others in. And
just before stepping into factory she turned to give a visual fist-pump.
[Lead 1] “Sit still!” Eric doused
Evan’s wounds with alcohol from his first-aid kit in his backpack. [Conditions healed] Evan offered
to stay behind to give cover.
We’re Coming In Hot: “Where did
you say there was a hole in the fence?” The others snuck through the tree to
the back of the factory grounds. Two toy jets flew patrol while a few lights in
the overgrown weeds and grass implied more foot-patrol robots.
CLIMAX/SHOWDOWN
Thinking about the free comic books handed out with the
toys, Eric spoke into his tape-recorder, “Calling all Convoys… we need
your help. Unit against the Deceivers!” He then instructed Ein, “Attach this to
your drone and fly it outbound to broadcast. It should draw off those robot
guards while also hopefully call for the calvary.”
It worked as planned! Almost. Ein programmed the
drone to fly due west, away from town. [Three miles later, it landed out of
range of the controller.] At least the guard robots responded to the larger target.
Four flying transmorphers took off after it. Two dozen robots popped up from
the overgrown field and gave pursuit, stopped by the western fence line. At
least the coast was clear for them to try to reach the basement external stairs.
“Go, go, go.” [failed Sneak
but Luck] Ein let out a yelp when he stumbled but Lukas threw a
rock against the side of the building to cover the sound. They reached the
stairs.
Meanwhile, inside the factory, Vicky tried to
blend in by joining the other workers at the line. [Comprehend 1] She attached a part to the partial robot being
built and pushed it down the line. The worker beside her stopped it, removed
the part and re-attached it correctly. The adult looked at Vicky before
returning to work. Vicky offered, “Sorry, first day on the job.” Two more tries
before she got it right.
Those still outside found the basement door locked. “Oh yeah,
Evan warned that it is state-of-the-art.” [Tinker 2] With his ear pressed against the door, Lukas typed in a
code on the keypad. He stifled a laugh, “Advanced system. Ha. The code was the
default setting 1 2 3 4.”
Vicky had waited long enough: she stepped away
from the production line, “Bathroom break.” [Did she notice none of the others ever
took bathroom breaks?] She casually walked past Deceiver robots patrolling
inside the factory and made her way up the stairs and inside the second floor. [Investigate 1] She stood in a short
hallway between rooms while standing in front of the snack room. Vending
machines lined one wall. It dawned on her that she never saw any of the workers
downstairs stop to eat anything. Yet the floor here was littered with candy
wrappers that left a trail to the far door. Without knocking, she entered and
surprised Ellen Voss (one of the original toy designers) who crouched beneath the bay window that overlooked the
factory floor as she ate candy. Ellen immediately scrambled away as she asked
in a frightened voice, “Are you chipped?!” Vicky replied, “Yes.” Holy crap, if Ellen was scared before… “Stay Away! Don’t you dare try to chip ME!” Vicky dodged the stapler Ellen threw at her
and then tried to explain, “Sorry, I wasn’t sure if YOU were chipped. I only
said that to protect myself. I’m not chipped.”
The boys entered the basement and immediately clasped
hands to cover their ears as an alarm blared in a broken mechanized voice, “In-trud-ers in the base-ment.”
As Evan had described to them: they saw the spiral stairs going up, saw the elevator,
saw the computer banks with cabling leading to/from the large Municipal Robots.
Lukas rushed to the racks of computer boards and
began pulling at the cables. [Force 0]
Tougher than expected.
Eric stood at the base of the stairs to defend
against any robot response to the alarm.
Ein looked for something to use to destroy the
computer banks. [Investigate 1] He found a fire-axe and
began swinging.
Robot guards met Eric on the stairs: [Force 0] Eric was losing ground
and had to back down a few steps. At least he thought to call out, “Douse it
with water from your drinking bottle!”
Ein ignored the idea and kept swinging the
axe. Lukas complied yet soon realized he’d drank most of his water. [Force+1 from water, 0]
[Empathy 0] Actions speak louder than
words: Vicky forgot she had taped mom’s chip to her neck. [Luck 1, Push 1= auto
Condition/Upset] It took some convincing, but Vicky finally proved she
was telling the truth. “OK, now that that is settled, how do we stop these
things?” Ellen thought a few moments before suggesting, “I don’t know. Get Alpha
on our side. Find someone to install a virus. Burn the place down.” And that’s when they heard the
alarm sound. Vicky had her own idea as she clicked on the intercom, “Attention
workers. Have a free hour to do what you want.” [Charm 2] She peeked out the bay window to see if anyone
complied: while most workers continued at their tasks, a few stepped free and
walked toward the bathrooms or toward the stairs for snacks. While not
intentional, they interfered with robots responding to the intruder-alarm.
Meanwhile, in the basement-
Eric fought a delaying action. [Force 0] “Ouch!” An AUTOMATA NIL robot fired
nails into his arm. Another WRECKAMAX robot clubbed
him with a wrecking ball. [wounded: 2 Conditions]
Ein gave up on the axe and pulled out his laptop
and plugged it into the databank in an attempt to hack it. [Program 2] The red blinking lights
changed patterns, rippling in a faster motion while changing colors.
Lukas reasoned that had to be something better. [Investigate 0, 2 Conditions for automatic
success] He spied the fire-alarm on the center pillar and made his way
toward it. Yet that was when the elevator doors opened and more Deceiver robots
poured forth. [Move 1] He was tackled before he
could reach the alarm.
Vicky used the chaos below as her opportunity to
run toward her friends. She made it to the top of the spiral stairs before she
encountered the cluster of robots trying to attack Eric at the bottom. [Investigate 1] Empty handed, she looked
and found a fire-extinguisher bottle hanging on the near pillar. [Force 0] She swung and missed,
earning the attention of the 4 robots nearest her!
Back in the basement-
Desperate, Eric called out, “Beta,
help us! This isn’t right. Call in your Convoy army.” [Move 3] In his plea, he also saw
and realized what Lukas attempted. He lunged for the alarm near the base of the
stairs and pulled the handle down.
While on his knees, Lukas fought back
with his skateboard as a club, trying to break free. [Force 1]
Ein keyed his laptop, coding more hacking
entries. [Program 2] The databank lights
changed to a steady ripple of green.
Whether it was Ein’s programming or the rain of water
that shorted everything… Sparks erupted from the databank and from individual
Deceiver robots. Soon the transmorphers were nothing but twitching robots,
neutralized.
EPILOGUE/FADEOUT
Eric cradled his injured arm as Lukas helped him up the
stairs where they found Vicky staring at the workers. Adults and kids alike seemed
to be coming out of a daze, “Where am I? What am I doing here? Why am I so
hungry?” Ellen poked her head out of the upper door, “Is everything clear?
Safe to come out?” Cruel Vicky replied, “Not so sure.” Poor Ellen ducked back
inside. And that’s when Vicky realized, “Oh yeah, I forgot about dad.” She
rushed outside and found him standing in line in from of Ollie at the guard
shack.
[The scene was played out by Joey (dad) and Lily (Vicky).] “What are you doing out o the house young lady?” “What are you doing running
around the neighborhood only in your pajamas?!” “You’re grounded.” “Yeah, we’ll
you’re a bad example. Maybe mom will ground you.” Mr. Moon suddenly quieted as
he realized this was the first time Vicky called her stepmother ‘mom’.
[Per calls from inside by some of the waking adults] Within
the hour, police, DARPA agents, and Loop personnel arrived on scene. The factory
was locked down. As the kids were being hustled out, Eric overheard one agent
talking to another, “Check the warehouse logs and find out where every
semi-truck went. We need to retrieve every toy robot. While they may be
disabled, we can’t afford someone else (another country’s spy?) to get their hands
on them.”
BACKGROUND
Just over a month ago, two artificial intelligences (Alpha
& Beta) fled from DARPA’s DART facility outside Boulder City. They
managed to download themselves into a pair of clumsy robot bodies that they
used to escape from the area. They entered the toy factory producing the
advertised Our Friends the Machines. They took over management and
production by chipping the current workers and integrated their
production scheme. Ellen Voss (original toy designer) was trapped in an upper office.
A and B downloaded themselves to each part of the production network so that they are now distributed intelligences. In their production scheme, they implemented designs and instructions for their ‘toys’ to microchip adults. Faulty logic where they were designed to work with people who would be provided with a control microchip. Chipping the humans would be more efficient. The chip would allow people to communicate radio-telepathically with their artificial colleagues, which would give them access to huge amounts of knowledge and the ability to handle that information.
However, A
managed to figure out a way to use the chip instead to control the people who
got ‘chipped’. Such as Ellen's co-designer
A [Deceivers] is more aggressive, wanting to
incorporate the entirety of humanity into its network, establishing more
factories. The only way to really be safe and secure without risking torture or
exploitation, is to assimilate humanity via chipping or wiped out if chipping
does not work. A has chipped large sections of the human workforce at
the factory and is preparing for the major launch, with his Deceiver cohorts
instructed to eliminate threats (Convoy robots or human).
B [Convoys] is more peaceful and mainly wants to hide
and co-exist with the people. It wants to live with people, meaning that it
wants people to eventually see artificial consciousnesses as fully living
creatures. B proposes an integration solution. It tried to oppose A’s
plan but saw a large portion of its Convoy robots destroyed in the process. It
hopes to be able to find allies out there in the world that can help it stop A’s
plans, but right now its priority is its own survival. It definitely does not want
to be forced back into the lab.
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