DESTROY ALL ROBOTS
by Darrin Grimwood
Copyright 2012 © Darrin Grimwood
The South China Sea,
50 kilometres from the coast of Borneo
The year 2040
CHAPTER ONE
THE TOYMAKER
Toby Badernoch caught his first glimpse of the colossal toy robot statue and the sheer size and scale of it took his breath away. It towered high over the island like a lighthouse, crimson eyes blazing through the darkness, letter-box mouth frozen in an insolent leer. Toby gazed at the iconic tin robot with a thrill of excitement, recognizing it as the Toymaker’s emblem. He knew from his history lessons at school that the statue was based on a design popularized in the 1950s, 75 years before robots became an everyday reality. It was said that the Toymaker took a perverse delight in subverting the innocent children’s toy into a symbol of evil.
An elbow nudged Toby and he turned guiltily from the ship’s viewing aperture. He relaxed when he saw it was his best friend, Caitlin Steel. “The Major’s ready to start his briefing”, she whispered.
Toby reluctantly walked away from the window and followed Caitlin through the gloomy cavernous interior of the ship’s hold. They joined a group of 15 or so people who were gathered around a grizzled-looking Marine with a silver crew-cut: Major Bill Hacker.
Hacker gazed at the figures assembled before him with bleak, battle-weary eyes, waiting for the excited chatter to die down, then began to speak. “Ten years”, he said, his voice harsh and gravelly. “Ten bloody years since the Toymaker started his reign of terror. And still we know so little about him. Some say he was a renegade scientist, banished to an island prison for his treacherous beliefs that robots were the natural successors to mankind. Others think he chose his remote island hideaway himself, to advance the evolvement of the robosapiean race free from the prying eyes of humanity. What is certain is that he was seduced and then corrupted by his own creation.”
The ship’s engines lowered in pitch to a deep rumble as the ship started to slow and Hacker glanced at the viewing aperture behind him. The coastline of the island was starting to materialize through the gloom, white sandy beaches glowing in the moonlight, fringed by thick impenetrable jungle.
He turned back to his audience and continued his speech. “The rest is history. For the last 10 years we have lived in fear, never knowing where he will strike next. New York, London, Cairo, Beijing, his robots have attacked us again and again, striking terror into the hearts of the free world. He will stop at nothing until his army of robots has succeeded in his quest for world domination. But comrades, that day will never come. For we will stop him.”
Hacker paused, checking that his audience had his full attention. “Desperate times call for desperate measures, and so in an attempt to match the fiendish ingenuity of the Toymaker, we turn to you, the cutting edge of today’s robotic industries to help combat the robot menace.”
Hacker gestured proudly at the motley bunch of firefighters, bikers, dentists, farmers and trash collectors assembled before him. “Some of you enlisted immediately, eager to fight for your country”, he said, looking at Ray De Coza, a small, dangerous-looking man dressed in refuse collector’s overalls. De Coza smiled, acknowledging Hacker with a satisfied nod. “For others this will be your introduction to our team”, continued Hacker, his eyes settling on Toby and Caitlin.
Several of the roboticists turned to look curiously at the two fifteen-year-olds and Toby scowled back at them, trying to remind himself that he had as much right to be on the ship as anyone else. He was tall and skinny, with unkempt blond hair and large blue eyes that softened his narrow angular face. His dress was casual apart from the thin black European-style spectacles he wore. Beside him, Caitlin reddened at the unwelcome attention. She was strikingly attractive with long, auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail. In contrast to Toby she was lithe and athletic, dressed in a navy blue tracksuit.
Hacker cleared his throat to regain the attention of the room before concluding his speech. “But together we will take the fight to the Toymaker”, he said, his voice rising heroically. “And together we will defeat him!”
Thunder rumbled menacingly as if on cue, and Caitlin drew closer to Toby. Toby gave her a reassuring smile, but inside he was shivering with a mixture of fear and excitement. He turned to the viewing aperture again and saw that the island was much nearer now, close enough to see the sinister home of its evil occupant. Bunker-like buildings defended the coast, following the line of the natural harbour. Nestled behind these fortifications was some sort of fortress, the massive toy robot standing over it like a mechanical sentinel.
More thunder boomed overhead and abruptly the heavens opened, rain thrumming against the hull of the ship. Major Hacker turned back to the roboticists, his fist clenched in defiance. “Death to the Toymaker! Destroy all robots!”
The roboticists raised their fists, chanting the response. “Destroy all robots!”
The ship’s engines cut out altogether and a group of Marines wearing futuristic helmets and wielding plasma rifles emerged from the darkness. They marched towards the doors at the far end of the hold and prepared to disembark.
CHAPTER TWO
THE ISLAND
The warship sliced cleanly through the choppy water towards the island, her twin nuclear engines propelling the massive bulk forwards with a steady rhythmic throb. The hull was painted matt black, camouflaging the ship perfectly against the night’s sky. Cloaked in darkness, she was a brooding and threatening presence.
The ship’s engines abruptly cut out and the ship glided silently into the harbour, as sleek and lethal as a torpedo. A ramp lowered into the water and a column of Marines streamed out into the sea. Torrential rain lashed down at them, soaking their camouflage green uniforms instantly. They fanned out in all directions, advancing towards a series of squat concrete bunkers, linked with coils of barbed-wire.
Sergeant Lopez was the first to reach the island. He zigzagged towards one of the bunkers, fully expecting to come under fire from the Toymaker’s forces at any moment. He tentatively approached the gloomy doorway, his plasma rifle poised. He stepped inside, spinning from side-to-side, the red laser guide on the muzzle slicing through the darkness. The bunker was deserted. Lopez gave it another cursory glance then stepped outside again, pulling out his walkie-talkie.
“Sir, no enemy resistance encountered”, he muttered. “Looks like the Toymaker wasn’t expecting us.”
Inside the warship, Hacker pocketed his walkie-talkie then turned to the group of roboticists. “Stay close to the unit you’ve been assigned to. Follow all instructions or there will be casualties. Understood?”
The roboticists nodded apprehensively.
Mendoza and Stevenson, the two-man unit assigned to Toby and Caitlin approached. “Let’s get moving”, said Mendoza.
Toby and Caitlin followed the Marines towards a stack of bulky crates near the exit ramp. They started sifting through them and Toby caught a glimpse of some of the names stencilled on the other crates: THE TOOTH FAIRY, HOGZILLA, THE BOSTON WRANGLER.
“This your robot here?” Stevenson asked, indicating a crate labelled EVE with his foot. Toby nodded and the two Marines hoisted the coffin-like box onto their shoulders.
From the top of the exit ramp, Major Hacker watched as Toby and Caitlin prepared to disembark. He looked the two teenagers up and down with a concerned expression as if registering their youthful age for the first time. “Best of luck”, he said. Toby acknowledged Hacker with a nod and they took their place in the line of Marine-roboticist teams. They reached the exit ramp and Mendoza turned to Major Hacker, awaiting his order to disembark.
“Go, go, go!” yelled Hacker.
Toby and Caitlin sprin
ted after Mendoza and Stevenson down the ramp into the sea. Hacker watched them leave then turned as a Marine manning the communications desk signalled to him. “Sir, I think you’d better take a look at this.”
Hacker joined the Marine and studied the monitor. Through the fuzzy static he could just make out the image of a man dressed in a black leather mask sitting at a futuristic console.
“It’s the Toymaker”, said Hacker grimly.
On the screen, the Toymaker pulled a lever on his console and laughed demonically. Hacker looked up from the monitor, the colour draining from his face. “They’re walking into a trap!”
CHAPTER THREE
AMBUSHED
Toby and Caitlin ran after Mendoza and Stevenson, wading through the chilly seawater towards the island. Lightning flashed, momentarily illuminating scores of Marines and roboticists who were struggling to get through the barbed wire fence spanning the length of the beach.
The group sprinted to the fence and Stevenson reached inside his backpack for a set of wire-cutters. The fence started to vibrate and the Marine stared at it in surprise. “What the hell…?” he muttered.
His eyes travelled down the length of the barbed wire fence towards the nearest bunker. He stared into the dimly-lit chamber, seeing movement within. Slabs of tightly packed machinery were rising up out of the floor, filling the chamber. The ground beneath them suddenly lurched, making them all stagger.
“Get back!” yelled Mendoza.
Inside the bunker, the machinery was now telescoping out through the door, transforming into the barrel of an enormous gun. The bunker suddenly lurched forwards, rising out of the ground.
“They’re Pulse Cannon Robots!” yelled Stevenson.
The beach suddenly opened up before them as the concealed lower half of the robot exploded out of the ground, its caterpillar tracks spraying sand into the air. The robot’s gun barrel swung towards them.
“Down!” yelled Mendoza.
Toby and Caitlin flung themselves to the ground as an energy bolt screamed over their heads, blasting into a sand dune behind them. The fence abruptly started to move forwards and Toby saw that all the Pulse Cannon Robots had been activated and were advancing en masse towards the sea, herding the Marines and roboticists before them.
Mendoza ran forwards with the wire-cutters and deftly snipped through the barbed wire strands. “Come on!” he yelled. Toby and Caitlin crawled through the hole in the fence, ducking under the dangling strands of wire. The two Marines hauled up the robot crate and advanced up the beach, dodging explosions as the Pulse Cannon Robots unleashed a rain of death on the Marines and roboticists.
A red laser beam suddenly shot from the direction of the jungle, enveloping Mendoza in a deathly glow. With a scream he crumpled to the ground. Stevenson dived behind a sand dune, pulling Toby and Caitlin down with him. He pointed out several humanoid robots painted with camouflage markings hidden among the palm trees. “Toymaker Sniper Robots”, he said grimly.
Toby saw that Caitlin was taking shelter behind the robot crate next to Mendoza’s corpse. He crawled to her and from this place of relative safety, they watched the battle savagely play itself out. The Marines slowly gained the upper hand, managing to overwhelm the Toymaker’s forces. One by one, the Pulse Cannon Robots were destroyed, taken out by sonic grenades and plasma rifles. The Marines steadily advanced towards the encampment, methodically taking out every Sniper Robot they encountered until these too were all destroyed.
Major Hacker stormed up the beach and stared defiantly up at the giant robot statue whose head could be seen poking through the trees. “DEATH TO THE TOYMAKER!” he bellowed, his fist clenched heroically. “DESTROY ALL ROBOTS!”
Hacker froze in this dramatic pose and Toby looked at him curiously, wondering what was going to happen next. Movement caught his eye and he saw that a small camera concealed inside a palm tree trunk was trained on Hacker, its lens slowly extending towards him.
An amplified voice rang out from the direction of the ship. “And… cut.”
Toby turned and saw an overweight bearded man dressed in khaki shorts and a baseball cap with the logo Destroy All Robots, wading through the water towards him. He stepped nearer and Toby realised it was Brad Walker, the show’s assistant director. He raised his bullhorn and addressed the Marines and roboticists. “Thank you everyone, that’s a wrap.”
CHAPTER FOUR
DESTROY ALL ROBOTS
Banks of floodlights snapped on, dazzling Caitlin and Toby. They squinted, their eyes adjusting to the harsh silver light, and were treated to the surreal sight of all the dead Marines getting up and dusting sand off their clothes.
Mendoza jumped smartly to his feet and turned to Caitlin and Toby. He flipped up his helmet’s visor and extended his hand to help them up. Caitlin gazed up at him, dumbstruck. Even though she knew he was an actor playing his role, the whole battle had been so realistically staged it was hard to shake off the sensation he hadn’t really been killed.
Mendoza smiled at her, guessing what was going through her mind. “Come on, it’s over now”, he said kindly.
Caitlin grasped his hand and climbed to her feet. In the bright lighting, she could see more of the concealed cameras, hidden in the terrace of palm trees. She remembered Brad telling them in his briefing never to look directly at the cameras, as it would destroy the illusion of realism for the viewers back home. He reminded them that there were cameras hidden all over the ship and island, so it was important to act naturally at all times in case you were being filmed. But trying to act naturally had not been a problem. The battle had been perfectly choreographed and was so convincing that Caitlin had to remind herself that it wasn’t real. As Brad had repeatedly stressed, the only danger was if the roboticists strayed from the Marines they had been assigned to.
Toby nudged Caitlin and pointed to a silhouetted figure approaching to greet Hacker. Dramatically the curtain of rain parted for him as the rain sprinklers were turned off, revealing Marty Shultz, the show’s producer. He was a small manic-looking man in his forties with a long mane of highlighted blond hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. His tubby frame was immaculately dressed in designer clothing and gold jewellery, yet despite these trappings of success he exuded an air of quiet desperation.
The production team standing at the sidelines saw Marty approaching and began to applaud. The actors and roboticists did likewise, some cheering and wolf-whistling.
Marty grinned and punched the air. “How’s that for a prologue?” he yelled triumphantly. “Are we gonna knock ‘em dead or what?”
He approached Hacker and shook his hand warmly. “Bill!” he exclaimed. “Superb, absolutely superb.”
Hacker smiled at the compliment, but his expression looked troubled. “You don’t think my monologue was a little short, Marty?” he said, losing the gravelly voice and replacing it with a plummy, theatrical one.
Marty shook his head decisively. “It was perfect, I got shivers down my spine.”
Hacker fussily brushed a few grains of sand from his immaculate uniform, still not convinced. “You know the only reason I agreed to do this show was for the monologue. Camera on me, fist clenched in defiance, once more into the breach, dear friends…”
Toby and Caitlin exchanged amused glances at Hacker’s transformation from tough Marine to sensitive actor. A burly, black fireman in his fifties caught Caitlin’s eye and whispered to her. “He thinks he’s still at the Old Vic playing Henry the Fifth, not hosting some crummy game show.”
Caitlin giggled and the fireman extended his hand. “Greg McBride. We didn’t get a chance to meet properly on the ship.”
Caitlin shook his hand. “Hi, I’m Caitlin Steel.” She turned, indicating Toby. “This is Toby Badernoch.”
McBride looked Toby up and down before shaking his hand. “I know who you are. Boy wonder, come out of nowhere. The bookies have ranked you as number two.” He glanced over Toby’s shoulder. “And Ray thought he had that ten million doll
ar prize money in the bag.”
Caitlin and Toby turned, following McBride’s gaze. Ray De Coza was hunkered down by the perimeter wall, a cigarette dangling from his lips. Caitlin shivered and looked away, unnerved by De Coza’s menacing stare.
CHAPTER FIVE
BOOZE AND KILLER ROBOTS
Further along the beach, Marty was still basking in the praise and compliments from the rest of the production crew. A huddle of production assistants and studio technicians had gathered around him, eager to shake his hand and congratulate him.
“Hey, Marty!”
“Great prologue!”
“Man, this show’s going to blow people away!”
Marty took the compliments appreciatively, nodding his thanks and flashing his thousand watt grin. But his eyes betrayed the fact that he was a very worried man. Taking Brad by the arm, he whisked him away, out of earshot of the contestants and crew. Once he was a safe distance away his smile suddenly evaporated.
“What the hell happened to you?” he hissed. “The ship was supposed to be here three hours ago!“
“We had a slight problem”, said Brad, looking pointedly at Hacker.
“What sort of problem?”
“He went AWOL just before we were supposed to drop anchor. Guess where I found him.”
“Not a bar?” said Marty, horrified.
“No, no, nothing like that. He was at the airport.”
“What the hell was he doing at the airport?”
“What do you think? Getting the next plane home to England!”
“I don’t get it? He told me he’d kill to present this show!”
“It’s not as simple as that, Marty. This is the first big part he’s been offered since he kicked the booze, the first time he’s worked sober for 10 years. I guess he just got stage fright.”
“Jeez, Brad, I told you to keep an eye on him!”
“You’re lucky you’ve got him at all!” retorted Brad. “I had to sweet-talk him back onto that ship, massage his ego, tell him he owed it to his public not to disappoint them, the show must go on and all that crap.”
“At least he’s here now”, said Marty. “You sure he’s still off the booze?”
“Pretty sure”, said Brad.
“This is a nightmare”, groaned Marty.