R9: Season 1

Chapter 00

Cronus' program continued to issue moves and tactics. Royce did his best to act as the spotter. "One minute left," Jolie boomed.

"Weakness located," Cronus' texted.

"Great, let's take it out," Royce ordered. His blood suddenly ran cold as Cronus' field of vision zoomed in on the red pit.

"No," Royce yelled, "that is not a weakness. Focus on your opponent."

"1oo% win guaranteed," the text flashed.

Royce saw the surprised on the six-man team as Cronus lunged into the clear wall. Before the robot could do more, Royce hit the emergency switch. A current of electricity surged through Cronus and fried its systems. The fighter collapsed against the wall and slid to the floor. The entire room went silent.

Royce scrolled through his code in search of errors he had missed. Next to him, Cronus was in parts. He looked through his notes, checked the simulation tests, and searched through his code several times.

Jolie, an old balding man in a gray jumpsuit, stepped into his station and surveyed the mess. Royce mumbled under his breath as he looked over the simulation data for the umpteenth time. "I warned you," Jolie's voice was rough from years of smoking and age, "Didn't I?" Royce looked over his shoulder. Jolie picked up one of the cameras. His frown deepened, "I said that it was unsafe to build a fighter with a sense of self."

"I built one with predictive reasoning," Royce defended, "the plans and program were approved by the board. I didn't break any rules."

"Explain how it works then."

"You've read the memo."

"Explain," Jolie looked down his bulbous nose.

"The program is simple," Royce started, "the robot observes its opponent and creates a strategy using a series of pre-programmed moves."

"How does it know who the opponent is?"

"What?"

"How does it know who the opponent is?" Jolie repeated, "is that knowledge pre-programmed as well?"

"No. It has a targeting system—"

"How does it know to target the other robot?"

"The program—"

"How does it know where the damage is?"

"There are sensors on the body," Royce's voice dropped low in frustration.

"Sensors on the body that allows the bot to know where it ends and its opponent begins. That is called awareness," Jolie said in a matter-of-fact tone. "The program you designed is based off what exactly?"

Royce remained quiet and glared at his feet.

"Fight or flight, wasn't it?"

Royce nodded.

"Which is the human survival instinct and another form of awareness. So explain how your program works?"

"The robot calculates the odds of survival and creates a strategy based on those percentages," Royce replied in a soft voice.

Jolie watched Royce for several seconds. The young man shook in frustration. His cheeks flushed red with anger, and his jaw noticeably tense from clenched teeth. Jolie sighed and leaned against the workbench. He waved a hand at another man, the company's senior programmer, to join them. "This isn't the first time this happened," Jolie said, "I saw the security footage from your first test run. Your last fighter attacked you."

"There was a flaw. I thought I had worked it out with Cronus, but it..."

"Overrode the program because its foremost function is?" Jolie paused. When Royce didn't answer, Jolie continued, "self-preservation."