“But how? There’s no way this could’ve happen! The simulations were run countless times and not once did the outcome deviated to this!” A frantic shout reverberated.

“It doesn’t matter anymore, we must take immediate action and notify the government before it’s too late.” A younger, higher-pitched voice responded.

“You don’t understand... do you? How can none of you understand? There is nothing that can be done to save us.”

A short silence permeated until a barely audible whisper came across, “... nothing.”

“Sir, you must make haste, for every second spent delaying perils the lives of thousands.”

“AND WHAT GOOD ARE SEVERAL THOUSANDS WHEN A MILLION TIMES THE AMOUNT STILL DOES NOT REPRESENT THE ESTIMATED CASUALTY RATE?!” The viciousness of the scream laminated the room.

“Sir, it is for that very reason that you must-”

“It doesn’t matter anymore-”

A resounding crash was the last discernable noise.

“Sir, please calm down- Sir!”

“IT’S OVER!” The voice turned into an inhuman growl.

“Sir please stop this, oh god! Someone help!”

“MERCY-!” A final shriek came.

More crashes and the sound of what is presumed to be bones snapping. The recording cuts off with a blood-curling scream.

A recording of Dr. Juren’s office during his final moments.

Everyone present was found dead, Dr. Juren’s body was missing.

********

The hum of machinery filled my ears. I opened my eyes to find myself facing the ground.

‘What’s going on…?’

My head was a mess, everything seemed to be clearer, the outlines between objects were sharper and I could even focus on the tiniest of details metres away; but I did not understand what they were, what anything was. And that buzzing, where was it coming from?... Or was it inside my head?

‘Where am I…?’

I looked to my left, my arm was bound to some metallic plate. The same as my right. Giving it a quick tug changed nothing, the restraints still held tight.

‘Come... on, let... go!’

I kept trying to jerk my arms free but the restraints wouldn’t budge. On my fourth attempt, the whirring of motors picked up, the restraints unfastened. With nothing holding me, I collapsed onto the ground. It was hard to tell where I was because there was only a single tile illuminating the cramped cell. The sparse light reflected off various containers and dull-grey pipes which ran along the barren walls.

‘Wait a second…’

I brought both my hands in front of me.

‘No, no, no! It can’t be!’

I ripped apart a bright orange material, revealing blue metallic arms.

‘Fuck!’

[Initialisation Complete]

I slammed the ground with all my strength but no pain surged through my body. Nothing. Only a flashing indicator of my fist glowing red - a simple sensor. A brief flare of pain flashed across my head, my brain screamed for oxygen! I tried to take a breath but nothing came. Then it stopped.

‘Now they’ve taken my humanity…’

[Initializing Memory Deletion]

‘You better not!

I swear to god if you fuckers do this!’

A buzzing noise accompanied a door opening several metres ahead of me.

[Memory Deletion Completed]

‘Memory…’

What was I thinking about? I turned my head to figure out where I was.

‘Just what’s going on?’

Nothing but storage containers and pipes decorated the area around me. The only place I could head was the corridor ahead filled with a blinding white light; its walls smooth and empty.

‘What... what is that?’

I struggled to my feet, but couldn’t retain my balance and toppled forward.

‘Where does that lead?’

I got up once more and took several rushed steps, just enough to reach the hallway and lean on the wall for support. The metallic screeches of metal grinding against another metal resounded through the empty passageway. ‘Where’s that coming from…?’

I turned towards the source. It was coming from the shoulder rubbing against the wall. With the extra support I could managed to take baby steps and proceed forward.

Everything felt... wrong. My body, sight, hearing, balance. It was all far too foreign. There was something wrong... it’s as if this body... was not my own. But that can’t be right.

‘Can it?’

Just getting past the corridor was an immense challenge. I had to outstretch both my hands to lean on either side of the hallway stop myself from falling over. After a minute an even more blinding light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

I turned my head away and kept moving. My foot hit something, knocking away what little sense of balance I had. With my face on it, I realised the ground was no longer covered by metal, but cracked concrete!

‘What the hell…’

Propping myself up with my arms, I took a quick look around.

There were dozens, no, hundreds of robots. I could recognise the blue arms and legs, they were the same as the ones on me.

‘Is that what I look like?’

A blue covered robot with orange leather covering my forearms, thighs and torso. Topped with an emotionless white mask with moving, human-like eyes.

‘Are we... clones?’

And I was outside! Outside the enormous walls that sheltered people. Not once have I seen the outside world.

‘Wait, how did I know that?’

‘On that note what’s my name?!’

‘Oh god, I don’t even know my name! Why can’t I remember anything?’

I racked my brain for something, anything! Only an empty void responded.

‘Am I supposed to remember?’

‘What if there isn’t anything for me to remember…’

All the other robots were shuffling along with as much difficulty as me, some just stood in one spot and tried to take in their surroundings.

‘We’re all in identical bodies... but why?’

A quick glance behind me revealed a slanted, concrete wall that stretched upward for at least thirty metres, complete with spotlights on the top and consistent grooves every so often.

‘Just what are those walls protecting, and against what?’

‘There’s no way something could even dent them.’

I turned around and shuffled forward when the robot next to me fell over.

‘Should I help him?’ I wasn’t sure if we would be friend or foes in the foreseeable future, considering our identical positions.

‘Regardless, making friends is better than making enemies.’ I tried to come towards him and help, but once I reached out with my arm someone shouted from atop a platform, “KEEP MOVING!”. It was a human dressed in a green cloak, he waved his hand indicating for us to continue walking.

The robot looked up at me with his white, emotionless face, and had a single screen on his chest. It read in black letters, “Felony Code #2240”. He reached for my hand but a hail of bullets put an end to that attempt. I dropped to my knees and raised my hands, not sure why I did so.

‘What the heck!? I wanted to help him, and we get shot for that?!’

I took the end of gunfire as my cue to proceed with the rest of the robots. Yet, right away an emergency siren blared from all around.

‘The fuck…’

The surrounding platforms were raised and the humans on them rushed to back away from the edges. All of them pointed ahead of us and shouted various commands.

‘What are they so scared of?’

Everyone’s attention became fixated towards the front. I could make out two figures in the distance, one larger than the other. Most others stood in place, wary of proceeding any further.

‘Should I get closer? But what if… no, they wouldn’t just let us all die...would they?’

Either way, I needed to find out more and there was no advantage in staying in the back lines. My sense of balance improved by this point and I could take short steps without falling over. The feeling of unease only grew worse as I took unsteady steps forward.

‘What do they want with us?’

‘It can’t be something important, otherwise, why would they shoot us?’

Lost in my thoughts, I took careful steps and eventually arrived at the very front of the group. There had to be something more, something I was missing, what can only be described as intuition told me I should feel all of that, but I didn’t.

As we stood there, no one dared to make a move as a soft but pleasant melodica melody wafted from the two figures approaching us. Both of them were robots like us... no they were different. In unique bodies, unlike our own.

The two of them were walking on top of thin metal poles connected to their feet and retracted as they approached until they were head-level with us. One of them wore a dark, wide cape that had metal plates covering its surface like scales. It carried a two-metre long pole with a strange material sticking out on the tip bent perpendicular to the shaft. Two golden cutouts were hanging from a hood that reached to where the hairline would be.

Countless other devices hung across its belt giving the overall impression of a monk. A click came from the flat-scythe pole which he pierced into the ground with a movement far faster than what I could follow. The middle section retracted into itself revealing metallic rings in a spiral pattern with engravings on them. The monk raised his right hand towards us.

‘What is he doing? I don’t think he’ll attack considering our number advantage…’

[Foreign Influence Detected]

‘Foreign Influence, what the heck is that?

Is it trying to control us?!’

[Felony Code Linkage Removed]

[City Linkage Removed]

[Control Program #152 Has Crashed]

[Contacting an Administrator]

A multitude of red messages flashed across my vision. Flustered by the sudden alerts, I understood none of them and could only hope that no harm would be done.

[No Connection, Shutting Down]

[Free Mode Enabled]

‘Free... mode?’

‘Whoa!’

Out of all the messages, only the last one was a neutral, blue colour. After it faded away, several bars appeared within my vision: energy level, oil level, temperature and a miniature green HUD of my body.

‘Is this, are these statistics, my statistics?’

The second figure standing next to the monk was shorter and had a body type similar to ours. However it had white tape across an orange mask and chest. It also wore a skirt made of tank treads that covered everything but the front. Thick cables came from its head and it had a two-metre long rifle hoisted across its shoulder.

‘Who the hell are they, and why is one of them wearing tank treads?!’

‘I mean that’s impressive and all, but isn’t it a bit much?’

The two of them stood at ease, gave us a final look and turned around. As they departed without another word, the sun had just reached the middle point. I looked down at the screen on my chest, it had gone dark. The felony codes from before were removed. Seeing the simple gesture of good-will, the robots from behind walked forward, bumping into each other as they followed the pair.

‘Are we supposed to follow them?

I don’t think we have much of a choice…’

The metal poles beneath their feet extended once more, letting them tower over us as they led the way. Further and further away from the walls we came from. As a single group, we followed them without speaking a word, even if we could, I doubt we had much to say.

As the walls faded into the horizon, the simple, barren landscape that had but a few rocky hills faded away, replaced by ruins of structures. An occasional tower or two would sprout up, but they all seemed abandoned.

‘I wonder what happened... to leave such widespread destruction…’

The sun was sinking below the horizon, only half of it remained, fighting off the encroaching darkness. The pair stopped and turned towards us.

[We will reward those of you who survive the night with the choice of continuing to follow us, or leave. You are free to do whatever you choose, but we recommend you stay within a kilometre from here.]

I could not tell whose voice came from inside my head, but all the surrounding robots seemed to have heard it. During the short moment of confusion, the pair disappeared without a trace.

Ten metres in front of us was a tree line of a dense forest, and behind us was a barren landscape. Cracked dirt, fissures, and an occasional rock jutted out.

‘But what are we supposed to survive? It’s not them who would attack us, right?’

Without knowledge of our surroundings, the group started to split into two, one that remained behind in the opening and one that entered the forest.

‘Dammit, if we could communicate we could form a plan and shift to survive as a single group, instead we cannot even extend greetings beyond a simple hand wave.’

Let’s see...

‘It’s more difficult to navigate a forest, ambushes are easier to execute, being lost is a problem and may house unknown dangers. The alternative is to stay out in the open…’

I headed into the forest as it would be easier to hide and lose any potential attackers. At this point the sun had set, and the moon rose as darkness swept over and covered everything.

‘Crap, it’s darker than I thought it would be….’

I could see my hand just fine, but anything beyond that was pitch black, impossible to make out. I kept walking and in moments I had lost track of the rest of the group. In this darkness, searching for the others was hopeless.

‘Where is everyone?’

I leaned onto a tree and sat down. I thought back to everything that had happened, perhaps I missed a clue, or some other hint that would help me. My energy level read at ninety-five percent and everything else was at a hundred.

‘At least that’s good.’

For the time being I would stay here. At least until the sun rises. Stumbling around was probably worse than remaining in one spot. A low growl came from beside me, cutting any hope I had short.