City of Robots

by George Ivanoff

  About the Book

  A chance encounter with an escaped mini-bot leads you to a military science facility. The place is filled with giant robots ready to unleash destruction upon the city. Unless you can stop them, a mechanical future with cyborg slaves awaits!

  Can you overpower the mighty machines, or will you be crushed beneath their marching feet?

  You Choose …

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  You Choose 12: City of Robots

  Collect them all

  Copyright Notice

  For my friend Mitchell Screen, robot enthusiast and You Choose fan. – G. I.

  ZIP!

  You see something scoot across the pavement from the corner of your eye. You whip around.

  There’s just a large bin against the wall of the electronics shop. There are a few people walking along the pavement in the distance, but no one nearby.

  You’re about to turn away when …

  Something pops up behind the bin. It’s a little camera on a metal pole. It moves one way and then the other. It stops to look at you, then disappears down again.

  ‘Stay together, please,’ your teacher calls.

  Mr Krup is counting the kids in your school group.

  Something zips out from behind the bin and along the small side street.

  It looks kind of like a robot – short and box-like, metallic and covered in flashing lights, and speeding around on oversized ball bearings.

  You’re curious. But Mr Krup and the other students are heading off towards the Science and Technology Museum, the first stop on your excursion to the city.

  To continue with your school group, go here.

  But if you would like to investigate and follow the robot, go here.

  Despite your curiosity, you don’t want to leave your school group and risk getting into trouble.

  As you walk up towards the Science and Technology Museum, you glance over your shoulder to see a drone fly around the corner and into the street where the robot went.

  You wonder what’s going on. As you continue walking, your mind runs through various possible scenarios …

  A secret military training exercise?

  Robots escaping from a research facility?

  Spy-bots working for a foreign power?

  You’re startled out of your daydreaming by an unmarked white van speeding past you, its tyres screeching as it takes the same corner as the drone.

  You stop to look back. It’s not long before the van zooms onto the main street again, followed by the drone. You watch them disappear into the distance.

  Then you realise your school group is way ahead.

  Go here.

  The opportunity of following a robot is just too exciting to ignore. You can always catch up with your school group at the museum.

  You race to the corner and peer around into the quiet side street. You make it in time to see the metal creature zoom around another corner into an alley.

  You run forward and look. The robot crashes into a stack of cardboard boxes, which tumbles down on top of it.

  BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

  You turn around at the noise. A drone is flying along the side street towards you. It is curved, sleek and made of grey metal with a large lens on the front. Two propellers jut from its undercarriage.

  The drone hovers close to the alleyway entrance, turning this way and that. It focuses on you before rising higher into the air and zooming off.

  Was it searching for the robot?

  You look back down the alley. The robot is still beneath the cardboard boxes. Should you check it out?

  To investigate, go here.

  To hang back and watch, go here.

  You stay back and watch as the boxes shudder. One of them topples forward and you duck down behind a cluster of bins.

  You remain hidden for some time before the robot finally emerges from the boxes. It rolls forward slowly.

  It is the cutest little thing you’ve ever seen. The robot looks as if it’s just wandered off the set of some comedy sci-fi film. On the front of its metallic cube is a screen with a computer graphic face. The cube sits atop a rectangular mechanical frame, which is filled with wires, circuitry and flashing lights. The robot’s ‘head’ moves up and down on hydraulics.

  You are about to come out of hiding when the drone returns. You stay hidden.

  The drone zooms through the air, a small antenna extending from its undercarriage. Electricity arcs from the drone to the robot.

  ZAP!

  Sparks fly! Smoke billows! The robot sits motionless.

  Minutes later an unmarked white van backs into the alley. The doors swing open, and two robots jump out. They are like larger versions of the first, except they have squat mechanical legs, allowing them to spring about.

  The fugitive robot is grabbed and shoved into the van. With a screech of tyres, the van speeds off.

  What should you do?

  If you want to follow the vehicle, go here.

  But how likely are you to keep up with a van? To return to your school group, go here.

  You run to catch up with your school group at the entrance to the Science and Technology Museum.

  Inside, Mr Krup takes you all on a tour, going from display to display, talking continuously in a monotonous drawl.

  You lose track of time.

  Eventually you end up in the robot exhibit. Here, you get to listen to the museum’s robotics expert, Dr Harrison Deckard. He’s tall and slim. His dark hair is short and perfectly in place. You’re not sure how old he is, as his face is strangely smooth and symmetrical. He’s dressed in a light blue jumpsuit. Very stylish … not!

  During his presentation an alarm goes off. It sounds like an air-raid siren. The expert cocks his head to one side and holds a hand to his ear, as if listening to something. Then he’s speaking to the group again:

  ‘Attention, please! A city-wide state of emergency has just been declared. There has been an incident at the Kettlewell Robotics Institute. The robots are revolting. They have broken out of the building and are attacking the city. You are all advised to evacuate.’

  Your classmates stare in shocked silence.

  ‘We’ve got to get out of here,’ yells Mr Krup. ‘Come this way!’

  Your teacher runs for the exit, not bothering to check if his students are close behind. Your panicking classmates run after him in a frenzied turmoil.

  You notice that Deckard has gone to a corner of the exhibition room, and behind a glass cabinet with a display of central processing units. Part of the wall slides away revealing stairs going down. He enters.

  If you want to follow the robotics expert, go here.

  If you want to follow your hysterical teacher, go here.

  You cautiously creep down the alley to the mountain of boxes. They begin to shake as you approach.

  You reach out and move a box aside. The others fall off, revealing …

  The cutest little robot you’ve ever seen. The robot looks as if it’s just wandered off the set of some comedy sci-fi film. On the front of its metallic cube is a screen with a computer graphic face. The cube sits atop a rectangular mechanical frame, which is filled with wires, circuitry and flashing lights.

  The robot is jittering, as if it is quaking with fear, a worried expression on its face. You assure the robot that you are a friend and that you won’t hurt it.

  ‘Friend?’ it says in a funny voice that’s halfway between an electronic quaver and a cartoon chipmunk.

  You nod your head and introduce yourself.

  ‘I am Pi!’ the robot declares, its head cube rising up on hydraulics.

  Pie?

&
nbsp; ‘Not a pie that you eat,’ explains the robot. ‘Pi is a mathematical constant. It is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It can be approximated as 3.14159.’

  You ask the robot what it’s doing here.

  ‘I have escaped,’ Pi announces. ‘Scientists made me. They taught me to think. They showed me how to feel. But then they wanted me to do bad things. Shoot with a laser. Fight other robots. I did not want to.’ It frowns sadly. ‘So I ran away.’ It smiles. ‘I want to see the city. Will you show me?’

  But what about that drone?

  ‘It is from the Kettlewell Robotics Institute,’ says Pi. ‘It must not find me.’

  You look around the alley. It is full of junk and rubbish … including an old shopping trolley. You lift the robot into the trolley and cover it with a mouldy old blanket.

  You hide behind the trolley as the drone passes by the alleyway entrance again. As it disappears from view Pi says, ‘We better go.’

  But where will you take Pi?

  To take Pi on your school tour of the Science and Technology Museum, go here.

  But maybe the games arcade would be more fun? go here.

  You push the trolley out of the alley and run to catch up with your school group. They are heading into the museum. You move to follow.

  ‘Stop!’ demands Mr Krup. ‘What the blazes are you doing with that trolley? You can’t take it inside!’

  You shrug.

  ‘Just leave it out here,’ instructs Mr Krup, ‘and get a move on.’

  You hesitate, unsure of what to do.

  You could follow what your teacher says, and leave the trolley with the hidden robot outside. Go here.

  Or perhaps you could tell Mr Krup about Pi? Go here.

  You decide to leave the trolley outside and collect it on your way out.

  ‘Wait here,’ you whisper to Pi before heading into the museum.

  You are in the museum for AGES! You hardly take any notice of the displays – not even the robots – because all you can think about is your own robot waiting for you.

  When it’s time to leave, you are first out the door. You race to the trolley and pull back the blanket.

  Pi is gone! All that remains are some wires and a broken circuit board. What happened to the robot? Did the drones find it?

  You will never know.

  And because you didn’t pay any attention during the museum tour, you fail the test Mr Krup gives the class the next day.

  You push the trolley out of the alley and straight to the TIME TO PLAY games arcade.

  As you enter, Pi’s camera on a stick pops up from under the blanket. It spins around watching the players on the various games you pass, while the robot makes excited squeaking noises.

  You push the camera down as the owner comes stalking towards you. He’s a weird-looking guy – large and chunky, but squeezed into shorts and a shirt that are about three sizes too small. Covering his bald head is a backwards baseball cap with a propeller on top. The man is carrying what looks like a cattle prod. His appearance is completed by a long, bushy, black beard with a white, skunk-like stripe down the centre.

  ‘What are you doing, bringing that trolley in here?’ the owner demands, his voice deep and gruff.

  You explain that you can’t leave it outside, and quickly take some coins from your pocket to show that you’ve got enough money to play.

  He grunts at you. It seems as if he’s about to say something when he glares over your shoulder at a man shaking a pinball machine.

  ‘Oi!’ he shouts, striding away. ‘Here’s what happens when you shake one of my machines!’

  The owner pokes the player with the cattle prod. There’s a loud zap and the player screams. The owner then chases him out of the building.

  You hurry down to the back of the arcade where you hope you won’t be noticed.

  Pi’s camera pops up again.

  ‘What’s this?’ asks the robot, turning to a machine.

  You explain the game, which is called Alien Invaders. You pop in some money and show the robot how to play it.

  After you’ve finished, Pi’s head rises up, the blanket falling away. Clamps stretch from the robot’s hidden hatch, attaching themselves to the game controls. Pi begins to play without putting coins in.

  ‘Don’t need money,’ says Pi. ‘I just talk to the game and ask permission.’

  Really? Does that mean you can get free games as well?

  ‘Sure thing,’ says Pi.

  But before you can get your free game, you see the owner striding towards you. His nostrils are flaring, his cattle prod is extended and he’s glaring at you.

  Perhaps it’s time to go? ‘No,’ says Pi. ‘I haven’t finished my game.’

  Do you let Pi continue while you deal with the owner? Go here.

  Or do you grab the trolley and run? Go here.

  You run after Mr Krup, out of the museum.

  The city is in chaos. People are screaming and running around. Drones are zooming through the air. And there are robots everywhere!

  You look up as a giant robot stomps towards you. Massive mechanical arms extend from its body set upon a rotating platform with legs. The arms smash through the sides of buildings as it advances.

  STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! SQUISH!

  OMG! It just stepped on your teacher.

  And now it’s coming at you.

  You look around in panic. Where can you hide?

  You see a drain with a broken cement topping. You race over to it and haul the cover off. You jump in.

  SPLASH!

  You land in waist-deep water. Immediately you gag and lift a hand to your nose. Your eyes sting. The stench is overpowering. You look around the dim, gloomy sewer. All sorts of rubbish are floating around you – bits of decomposing food, wrappers and cans, dead rats … even poo! Was that an eyeball?

  SMASH!

  Something comes crashing into the water from above. Sunlight, streaming through the gaping hole, illuminates the creature as it rises from the revolting sewage.

  It’s a massive robot squid!

  It moves towards you, its tentacles thrashing about. You back away, but the stinking water slows your progress.

  One of the squid’s tentacles slams into a wall, breaking through.

  More disgusting sewage surges out. A wave of repulsive water hits you, splashing into your eyes and gushing down your throat.

  Coughing, spluttering and choking, you are flushed away with the poo in a torrent of horrid, stinking refuse.

  You sprint after the van.

  Traffic on the main road is heavy, so you’re able to keep up with the vehicle as it heads off. It’s not long before it turns into another street, towards a massive skyscraper. A sign out the front reads: KETTLEWELL ROBOTICS INSTITUTE.

  The van goes around the side of the building where a large roller door opens. You sneak in and conceal yourself behind crates of electronic equipment.

  You’re in a massive storage and delivery area. There are crates and shelving units everywhere, with a loading area near the entrance.

  A tall woman in a white lab coat approaches as the captured robot is brought forward by the other two robots. She’s wearing a high-tech headphone set over her short red hair and carrying a computer tablet. She does not look friendly.

  As the van drives back out, the woman examines the robot, tapping away on her tablet as she does so. Finally, she shakes her head and says, ‘I think we can assume the Pi Project is a failure. Disassemble it!’

  She turns and walks off.

  ‘No disassemble.’ The plaintive voice is coming from the robot.

  The other robots take the protesting smaller robot and shove it through a metal door at the far end of the storage area. As they head off, you sneak forward and look through the window into the room.

  There are a dozen robotic arms extending from the walls, each holding a tool of some description – screwdrivers, blow-torch, hammer and other various things you can’t identify.
Within seconds, the robot is reduced to a pile of scrap and spare parts.

  You’re about to leave when you notice movement. From under all the parts emerges a tiny robot. Its cuboid screen-head is on a matchbox-sized circuit board with minuscule arms and legs. It scurries around the room, then throws itself against the door, banging its fists.

  It’s trying to get out. Should you help?

  To open the door, go here.

  But it might be better to just leave this place. Go here.

  You decide it’s time to get out and rejoin your school group. But …

  The roller door has been lowered and locked. You need to find another way to escape.

  There doesn’t seem to be anyone around. There are doors on either side of the storage area, so you pick one and go through.

  You are in a sterile, white-walled corridor, with doors on either side. You walk along trying each of them, but they are locked.

  At the end of the corridor is an elevator. The doors slide open as you approach. There’s nowhere else to go, so you enter.

  Inside is a panel with a series of buttons lined up in rows. They are all unmarked. Which one should you press?

  To press the top button on the last row, go here.

  To close your eyes and press a random button, go here.

  You open the door and the mini-bot scampers out, sprinting across the floor to the far corner of the storage area. You follow it onto a metal platform.

  The platform lurches and begins to descend. It’s a service lift.

  Down, down, down you go. Floor after floor of robots, equipment and workshops pass by as you plunge into the bowels of the Earth beneath the Kettlewell Robotics Institute.