Get ready for a thrilling ride into a future where robots and humans clash for control in RoboNomics, the updated and refreshed version of the 2013 sci-fi classic.
In Toronto, elementary school teacher Andrea Anderson's world crumbles when she's rep...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Life can go on so peacefully for so long. And then in the blink of an eye, everything changes.
The thought echoes through my mind as I stare at the sun-dappled ceiling of Elizabeth's bedroom. It's been a week since the incident at city hall: a week of laying low and straining at every sound outside the wide window of her apartment, shouts of "get down" at every siren warble. A week of fear.
But they still haven't found us, and slowly the atmosphere in this cramped, crowded apartment becomes less strained and anxious. We speak louder. We plan, we scavenge, and return with meals made of scraps from the dumpsters of shrinking, gated rich enclaves in town.
One topic dominates every conversation: How can we take down the bot that looks like Chris and how can we locate the real person.
"RoboNomics has got to have him, right?" Oz suggests one afternoon while we gather around the wood table that dominates the living space.
"Sure," agrees Elizabeth. "But where?"
We have no answer. I have no answer. I've remained relatively quiet throughout these planning session, even when Elizabeth suggested that I might know, having been closer to him than anyone.
I shrug, I look away. I hope more than trust that Austin won't pick up on the insinuation. Even so, I wish I did have insight into where he is. If I did know, I'd run to him. I'd tear down any wall, destroy any bot to get to him.
The reminder, scalding every thought as I lay in a cot now, listening to Austin's slow breath beside me, makes my stomach plummet. I glance over at Elizabeth's bed and am startled to see a crumpled bunch of sheets in its center. Early as it is, she's already up.
I slide my feet out from under my own covers as quietly as I can. I step over Austin's legs, trying my best to not touch him. It's still so early, but the mid-summer sun's strength is speedily growing.
The door slides open silently, and I'm thankful. Elizabeth, seated at the table with a mug of coffee in one hand and an old paper map spread out in front of her, spots me and mouths, "morning".
"Where is everyone?" I ask in a low voice as I slide into the seat across from her. Usually, the couches and the floor would be covered with sleeping bodies.
"Early raid," she says back quietly. "We're running low on supplies."
I nod. It's amazing how fast I became accustomed to illegality. This is just how we live now, how we have to survive. Once I was a teacher. But I was told that I was no longer required - no longer needed to participate in society. Human civilization no longer needs teachers. And so I don't bother to contribute to the luxury that is civilization.
"Couldn't sleep?" I ask her.
"Nah, there's too much to do."
I wonder at this. "And you're going to do it all?"
