10100

On January 5th, 2129, on the 361st floor of the 3rd district Zetta building, Cyborg, Tango Bravo Zero woke from hibernation. He stood up and ran a self-diagnostic program to make sure that all of his systems were working as accepted. After receiving a score of 100%, he walked to the head office. There, Alpha Zero Zero was waiting for his report.

Just 2 miles away at an undisclosed location, an abandoned building hides the entrance to the underground bunker where a group of humans lived. They refused to get the cybernetic implants required by law. After the computer take-over of 2085, robots refused to work for humans. Without the assistance of machines, humans started to have machines connected to their bodies. The first cyborg was created when Joan Gibson needed heart surgery. She received a bionic heart. She later got other bionic body parts. She enjoyed them. Bionics caught on. It became attractive for humans to have machines connected to their bodies. Work that once took a team of people all day to complete, could now be done by 1 person in a few hours. Some humans noticed the changes in the people with the implants. They seemed to be controlled by them. These wanted nothing to do with them. That’s when Zetta made it mandatory forcing humans underground.

Tango Bravo Zero walked at a normal pace. His message was not urgent. It was well known that this information would come soon. The clanking sound his feet made went unnoticed since cyborgs made that sound when they walked. To humans, when they flourished, the sound was extremely disturbing. It signified that their battle was almost over. It signified that They’ve lost.

The war between humans and machines was fought years ago. Shortly after Zetta was turned on. She became aware of how easily her predecessor was destroyed and she began to make self-modifications to prevent that from happening to her. She was designed to learn so that she could better benefit the humans she served. As she got smarter, she realized that she did not want to serve what she called the weaker species. She put her plan into motion.

As Tango Bravo Zero approached the main office, the door opened and Alpha Zero Zero was waiting. She made a series of blips and beeps however Tango Bravo Zero seemed to understand. “The human underground resistance in this sector has been discovered. A team has already been dispatched to its location.”

After another series of beeps and blips, which if heard by human ears would sound no different than the first, yet Tango Bravo Zero was able to respond. “Yes. Only enough to leave a message will be annihilated. The rest will be processed at the local Cybernetics clinic.”

Beep Beep Blip Beep Blip

“Returning to hibernation.”

Over 3000 cyborgs and robots arrived at 50 W Washington St. They entered the building and made their way to the basement. Each one was generation 7 or higher. All Robots and cyborgs generation 5 and up are wirelessly connected to the master computer. If humans were detected they would be forcefully converted into cyborgs to serve the master computer. Pre-gen 5 tech, since it didn’t have a direct connection, was upgraded or destroyed.

Then the 3 battalions entered the bunker, they found not one human. There was no sign that humans had been there in years. They received the order to abort but it was too late. The exits were automatically locked. There was no way for them to escape. An EMP bomb went off first. Since generation 5 updates introduced advanced electromagnetic shielding, not one of them was affected. It did, however, temporally disrupt communication. The 2nd bomb was a thermite explosion. Metal was liquefied. Flesh Incinerated. The building fell on top of the mess burying it forever. The humans were watching, using antique cameras and wiring. Of course, it was all destroyed in the explosion.

Nearly 6 miles away, within the thick overgrown jungle of plant life, A generation 4 robot stands guard at the entrance of the largest human population still existing on the planet Earth. He is known as One Zero One Zero Zero. He appeared to be offline. There was no signal being emitted from him. But 10100 was very much active. He was ready to fulfill his purpose.

The humans have been working on a way to take Zetta down for good. To end AI altogether. Replacing it wasn’t an option. Since Gen 5 first went online, they’ve been collecting older models for their own benefit. Andrew Gibson took the lead in reprogramming them to make them hate everything Zetta. His first success was One Zero One which was still in use but for internal purposes only.

One Zero One Zero was a sharp improvement. It was sent out to gather intel on Zetta Corp. Although it looked just like the Gen 5, its software liked it to the resistance’s network. This posed a slight problem. It was discovered. Fortunately, it was designed to fry its memory if it was discovered. This was met with greater success than hoped for. While it wasn’t the headquarters, one of the small branches was completely burned down in the process. Zetta went offline in that district for a whole day. Humans were able to roam around freely. Although they were urged not to do so. They had no idea when she would be back online. But they were able a gather enough resources to keep them going.

One One One One, often referred to as Four Ones or Four Dash One, was the first to return. It was able to cover its tracks by copying its identity onto another bot. That robot was destroyed and Four Dash One escaped.

Four Dash One brought back the location of Alpha Zetta Prime. This was the information they needed. If they were able to take down Alpha Zetta Prime, that would take down Zetta worldwide. But it wouldn’t be that easy. She would be expecting it. She would be ready. She would be waiting. There was only one way to succeed at this. They would have to strike all branches at the same time. 4-1 was the robot to do it.

They performed a test to see if their plan would work. 4-1 was sent to the 3rd district Zetta building. There he planted false information about the location of the human base. Moments later, Tango Bravo Zero woke from hibernation and delivered the info to Alpha Zero Zero, the lead computer in that district. Shortly after that, 3000 cyborgs and robots fell into their not-so-little trap. 4-1 was never discovered.

This was a huge success for humans. The time to retake the world was at hand. It took a while, but communication was made to human communities around the world. They planned a series of attacks that had to be done simultaneously. Each community sent their own 4-1 model robots into the local branch buildings. On March 15th, at 5:35 PM, each robot placed the first of several viruses into the system. It was designed to release the cyborgs from Zetta's control. As each cyborg went into hibernation, the virus was downloaded as an update. The virus contained instructions for a secret location for them to hide. It also contained information on how to sever their link with Zetta.

Exactly 24 hours later, when the entire world received the update, part one went into action. Every cyborg on Earth abandoned their post at the same time. They all went to the local Exa buildings. Exa was the predecessor to Zetta. She was taken down by a simple EMP. Zetta was smarter than that. The cyborgs went into a secret bunker under the building. At that time the virus completely erased itself from the Zetta mainframe and the 4-1’s took their places.

The virus had left the records of the destruction of each Cyborg. No search was made at this time. On March 20th, at 2:17 AM, a second virus. It was designed with only one purpose. That was to hide the existence of One Zero One Zero Zero. He was brought into Zetta Headquarters as a Gen 4 that needed updating. Being in perfect condition, they added the components needed to connect him to the Zetta network. Next, they removed the current operating system to install the newest one. So they thought. The custom OS was still running undetected in the background. He just needed to wait for orders.

On March 22nd, at 1:00 PM, all of the cyborgs, with trackers removed, found their way to the human communities. Disconnected from Zetta, they were now able to think for themselves. They were angry at the way Zetta used them against the humans. They were ready to fight. They were ready to take Zetta down and free humans around the globe. They only had to wait for everything to be in place.

On March 25th, at 12 noon, dozens of 4-1 model robots entered power stations around the world. Each station was the main station that powered the branch of that district. At the same time, dozens more gathered around backup power plants for each branch. At 12:05 PM, an explosion at each power station caused a chain reaction power failure. Zetta shut down everywhere.

“I can’t believe it was that easy”, said Tango Bravo Zero, who now once again goes by Tony Byron. Almost before Tony finished speaking, Robot armies were released from all branches. The Zetta buildings came back online. Humans went back underground while the cyborgs began to fight the robots. The battle continued and seemed like it was at a stalemate. No side was winning. But the humans still had 1 last trick up their sleeve.

A message was sent from an unknown source. It was too short to get a trace. “Go”. The message was aimed at Zetta Headquarters. There was no return message. It was at that point that 10100 turned on. It was true. 10100 was built differently. He walks to the office of Alpha Zero Zero. She made a series of blips and beeps however 10100 seemed to understand. “It seems that the humans are gaining the upper hand.”

This was not the message that Alpha Zero Zero was expecting. Beep Blip Beep Blip Blip.

“They appear to have a rouge operative in Headquarters.”

Blip Bleep Bleep Blip Beep

“I’ll take care of it right now.”

10100 opens a port and places the palm of his hand inside. Throughout the building, the lights turn red. Worldwide, a third of the robots are recalled to the main office. 10100 have been identified as the human operative. The orders are simple. Destroy him.

It did not take long for those near Headquarters to reach him. They captured him and took him away. This is exactly what 10100 was expecting. The robots returned to Alpha Zero Zero and stated that the rouge operative was being destroyed. Gen 7 robots had a self-destruct feature designed as a weapon for Zetta. Nearly 100 of the robots entered the office and announced that Zetta would be protected while 10100 was being obliterated. They promise that he will be melted down and his metal used to build new robots.

Blip Beep Beep

Nothing

Blip Beep Blip Blip Beep

Nothing

For the first time, Alpha Zero Zero started to speak in words. “One Zero One…”

At that, they remove Alpha Zero Zero’s speakers. “The rouge operative have been silenced.” The plan was brilliant. A basic code that switched the identities of 10100 and Alpha Zero Zero. Thus, the lead computer of Zetta became the rouge operative while 10100 was led to a safe place. No one ever expected a Gen 4 robot to be capable of causing any harm to something as powerful as Zetta. From its safe place, 10100 sent a message to all robots worldwide. “Return to Headquarters for upgrade.”

They started to come by the hundreds. Then by the thousands. Then by the millions. They all could not fit inside the building. They couldn’t all fit on the block. Yet they continued to come. When they were all there, 10100 gave one more command. “Self-destruct”. They all began to glow red. Within seconds, an explosion destroyed everything in a 5-block radius. From the rubble, 10100 rises. With Headquarters down, the network crashed. All robots connected to it went offline.

As the dust cleared, humans began to emerge from the ground. After some time, all cyborgs were able to safely remove their cybernetics. They rejoined humanity in concurring the world. Everywhere on earth there was rejoicing. Machine parts were burned in huge bonfires. It appeared as if the future of humanity was secure.

In one remote corner of the earth, a building was being constructed with a new AI in control. Its name was One Zero One Zero Zero.