TITLE:The Dark Reboot.  AUTHOR:elkentaro

Deks was working at his desk, planning another attack scenario on a
physical plant and its computer network for a client. After leaving the
Navy, he had joined a small security startup in San  Diego as a threat
analyst and  simulation designer. His job was to plan attack scenarios
for client organizations that would then use that information to conduct
training and simulations to improve their organization's security. Deks
was looking out the window of his office, twirling a challenge coin he
picked up at DEF CON 35 the year before, when suddenly a scream came
from the lunch space. Deks spun his chair around and rushed over to the
break area. People were staring at the TV screen in awe. On the screen a
newscaster reported that Washington, D.C., had been hit with what
appeared to be a nuclear weapon. His knees almost buckled, but he
managed to grab the kitchen counter to brace himself. Others kept
fumbling into the lunch room. Only two days ago Deks had kissed Heidi
and the kids goodbye, wishing them good luck on their school trip to
Washington. He fumbled back to his desk, grabbed his phone and dialed
Heidi's number. The line was dead. Deks tried to text but it kept
getting rejected. He grabbed his car keys from his desk and jolted
toward the entrance of the office to get to his car. Everybody in the
office was still staring at the TV screen as he sprinted past them.

Once home, Deks grabbed his bug-out bag from the garage and threw it in
the back of his car. Going back into the house, Deks opened up the gun
safe in the basement and grabbed a rifle and a bag full of ammo. "Addy!"
Deks yelled toward the kitchen. "Oh, hi Deks, you are home early,”
Addy replied as he walked out of the kitchen. "Addy, initiate project
Kinjite,” Deks yelled as he hustled his way to his car with the rifle
and ammo. "Confirm code,” Addy replied in a cold mechanical voice, far
from his usual happy tone. "DC2420160807,” Deks answered as he made
his way back to the kitchen to grab the food supplies bag that sat in
the corner of the kitchen. "Code confirmed. Kinjite initiated." Addy
swiftly moved toward the corner of the living room where his usual
"rest" place was. Lifting a panel door open from the floor, Addy grabbed
another backpack filled with survival gear. "Deks. I'm ready,” Addy
said as he walked to toward the hallway. Deks was loading up the food
and a couple of jugs of water into the back of his car. "Let's go!" Deks
yelled, and Addy exited, turned around and locked the house door. Deks
grabbed the backpack off of Addy. Forgetting how heavy he made Addy's
pack, he almost dropped it. Addy grabbed the bag, lifted it with one
hand and loaded it into the back of the car. The two climbed into the
car. "Deks, were are we going?" Addy asked as he buckled up.
"Washington, D.C. Keep checking the news, traffic conditions and social
media feeds for me,” Deks said as he gunned the car out of the
driveway.

X X X

It felt like yesterday when they had left the house on a warm spring
day, but now autumn was all around as they continued their trek through
the hills. The sun was starting to set when Deks thought he saw
something hovering over the mountains ahead. "Addy , do you see that?"
Deks quietly pointed to a black spot in the sky while he pressed on his
throat mic. "Yes. I do. Let me zoom in." Addy's voice came into Deks's
earpiece. "That’s a chopper, but what is that dangling from the bottom
of it?" Deks said as he looked down on his watch.  The image on his
watch clearly showed a helicopter with wires suspending a massive object
below. "I don't know, Deks. I have no information about that object,”
Addy replied as his head followed the chopper. "Let’s get up high and
see where its going."

Deks darted toward a ridge line ahead. Addy followed. There they could
see the chopper hovering over a bridge up ahead in a valley. The chopper
lowered its altitude and dropped the wires connecting the object, and
the strange object hit the ground. The chopper flew off away from the
drop site. "Hand me the binoculars,“ Deks said as he extended an arm
toward Addy. Addy swung his bag around and grabbed a pair of binoculars
and handed it to Deks. Deks hit the zoom button and the binoculars
hummed as the lens moved forward. "Thats a huge robot!" Deks whispered
as the image came into focus. It had what looked like like a machine gun
mounted on one of its massive shoulders. On its chest plate the letters
“DHS” were boldly printed. "A robot? I have no references for that
size of a robot.  No known civilian or military robot is that size,”
Addy replied. The massive robot looked like it was surveying its new
surroundings. In a systematic manner it started to walk toward what
appeared to be a campfire. "Why does that robot have a DHS logo?" Deks
spoke as he followed the robot’s movement with his binoculars. "Deks.
DHS has declared itself as the interim government and taken over control
of the nation. It seems the announcement was made yesterday while we
were resting. They also issued a 'surrender and comply' order to all
citizens of the nation , stating it is for their own safety to comply.
DHS is going to clear all looting Zokus and non-compliant organizations
to ensure the safety of the general public. Secretary Joseph Keen is now
the leader of this nation. Citizens are required to find the nearest DHS
relief camp and register at these camps and hand over all personal
possessions. The TSA will be acting authority in these camps."

"That's insane. What about the military and local law enforcement?!"
Deks looked over to Addy. "It seems that most of them are going inline
with this. Each branch has issued a statement saying that it will
support the DHS's efforts." Suddenly the sound of an explosion was heard
from the direction of the campfire. The massive robot was firing on a
group of people fighting back with guns and rifles. From one of the
robot’s shoulders a small object leaped toward the group; seconds
later a large bang and a plume of smoke rose from where the group stood.
There was no more gunfire coming toward the robot.  The robot continued
its path into the city.  With the sun fully set, Deks could no longer
see the robot clearly. "Deks, what do you want to do? We still have 3
more miles to make our goal for today." Addy's calm voice came into the
comm system. "Yeah, you’re right. We need to get going, but ..." Deks
replied as he continued to stare into the binoculars, trying to see the
massive robot. "Remember. Deks, we need to get to Washington, D.C., to
find Heidi and the kids." Addy spoke in a calm voice. "You're right.
Let’s go. But let’s be extra careful." Deks turned toward Addy,
handing him the binoculars. Addy grabbed the binoculars and carefully
placed them in his pack. Deks and Addy started to crawl back to their
original position to return to their trail. "I need you to lead the
way." Deks positioned himself behind Addy and placed one of his hands on
Addy’s back. "Sure. I'll switch to night mode,” Addy replied back as
he hunched over to make it easier for Deks to keep a hand on his back.
What would have taken them two hours during the day instead took them
five hours to get to where they had planned to camp. "Deks, I think this
is good. There is a small cave up ahead, below an overhang. We can rest
there tonight,” Addy said as he straightened his upper body. Deks
looked over to the side from behind Addy and saw the cave. "Yeah, OK,
let’s rest. But let’s not unpack our gear. Minimum comfort tonight,
OK?” Deks replied as he also straightened his back. "You are the one
always complaining, Deks. Remember, I have no feelings. I just pretend I
do." Addy turned his head sideways to where Deks was standing. Deks
punched Addy on his shoulder. "Asshole." "Aaugh" Addy replied jokingly.
They hunkered down in the cave. Deks decided no campfire; the last thing
he needed was that massive killer robot detecting their presence up in
the hills. As the temperature dropped he regretted that decision but
knew he had to embrace the suck. A full moon rose to its peak. They
continued to take shifts as they had done throughout the journey. Addy
took the last shift of the night as Deks curled up against the wall of
the cave, huddled against the chill.

X X X

Morning could not come quick enough for Deks. As the sun hit the side of
the overhang, Deks felt like a defrosting chunk of refrigerated meat. He
stood, stretched, and looked around. Addy wasn't anywhere nearby. Just
as he was about to press his throat mic he saw Addy coming down from a
hill to the side of the overhang. "Morning, Deks." "Morning, Addy. Where
the hell did you come from?" Deks replied with a glint of annoyance in
his voice. "I went ahead and decided to take a look of what was on the
other side of the hill. We have a problem, Deks. Do you remember that
robot we saw last night? Well, it is back and it seems there is a group
of armed men patrolling with it." "Shit! You saw this and decided to
tell me now?" Deks said with an angry voice. "Calm down, Deks, the robot
and its group are still up ahead, but they have set up some kind of
presence that is directly on our path. We need to cross a bridge 5 miles
from here to get to the other side of the river. Both sides of the river
are cliffs and unless we want to make a large detour, and that's even if
we can find a detour, we need to cross that bridge. The robot and its
group have set up some kind of roadblock on that bridge." Addy replied
calmly. "Fuck. So what you are telling me is that of all the roads and
bridges they could guard they picked the one right were we need to
cross?" Deks was getting visibly frustrated. "Well, we did pick the
quickest route but also the least likely traveled to avoid everybody
else. It would make sense to station a robot in those areas. Robots
require less 'maintenance' than humans." Addy replied as his fingers
gestured air quotes. "I have been monitoring the feeds again, and it
seems that many towns have now opened the relief camps and patrol teams
are roaming the streets. I assume DHS decided to position the human
resources in those situations and set up robot roadblocks on strategic
points with low traffic." Addy explained.

“Yeah, I get it. I need to think." Deks squatted and picked up a
branch. Quickly turning around he rose up again and looked up to see the
sun. "Can we cross it at night?" Deks asked, turning toward Addy. "No,
not 'we.’ Maybe me. But they will definitely capture you. The ravines
are too deep to get down and up again. We need to cross that bridge."
Addy squatted and started to draw a simple map on the ground with his
finger. Looking at the map Deks replied. “So, we are fucked. Take an
uncertain long way around or bum-rush the roadblock like a bad Hollywood
action movie? Are those really our only two options?" "Well yes. Also
remember, now that DHS is forcing people into the relief camps, it is
likely that Heidi and the kids are moving into one of these. The more
time goes by, the harder it would be for us to find them. Once we hit
civilization, we risk being forced into one of these camps, too. I doubt
once we are inside we would be free to move to other camps to find them.
They might even deactivate me. Look, this is a map of the roadblock and
the surrounding area." Deks looked down and stared at the map Addy drew
on the ground. "Shit. I need coffee,” Deks mumbled. "Let me do it. I
am a house chore robot after all." "Thanks.” Deks replied as
considered the map. Addy quickly boiled up some water and made instant
coffee, which he poured into a titanium mug and handed it to Deks.
Staring at the map, Deks asked Addy, "Hey, Addy, you still have the
visual data from your recon?" Deks stood up, facing Addy. "Yes, Deks. I
can replay what I saw,” Addy replied. "Play it back,” said Deks as
he looked down at his watch. The watch showed a first-person-perspective
video of a walk through the trees. Soon a clearing appeared in the
branches and a bridge was clearly visible in the distance. The lens
zoomed into the bridge connecting the two sides of the highway over the
river. On the bridge it seemed the group had put up a roadblock in a
funnel shape with shipping containers. The massive robot was standing to
the side in front of the shipping containers facing away from the
barricade toward the highway. Behind the shipping containers were two
MRAPs with turrets on top pointing toward the narrow passage. Both
turrets were manned with men in black uniforms.  A large van, probably
the command center, was stationed a couple of hundred feet behind the
whole roadblock, on the city side of the bridge. A small bunker made out
of sandbags sat a couple of yards away from the van and a barbed-wire
fence closed off the bridge from the city side. The video turned around
and started to head back the way it came. "OK, stop" Deks told to Addy
as he looked up. "That is a roadblock , no doubt." Deks sighed. "Yes. It
is. We need to come up with a plan. Sorry let me clarify, you need to
come up with a plan,” Addy replied. "We are here." Addy pointed to a
point on the ground. "We could stay here and plan or move closer and
plan." Addy lifted his face to see Deks. "Yeah, but if we move closer,
they might spot us. I’d rather have a plan before we move closer. Here
we are behind the hill , they can't see us for sure,” Deks replied as
he took a sip from the coffee mug. "OK. You continue the planning. I
will make some bedding and a Dakota fire pit. I assume you were cold
last night." Addy stood up and started to look around. “Cold would be
an understatement. Make sure we aren't visible from any direction. We
only know of the roadblock ahead, there might be other patrols in the
area, too,” Deks replied without looking up. His eyes were fixed on
the map Addy drew. "Sure thing, Deks." Addy started to move toward the
bushes and away from Deks. Deks continued to stare at the map, mumbling
to himself. Part of him found it ironic. He had planned many attack
scenarios for clients as part of his job, but this time he was planning
a real attack scenario and he would have to execute the attack with
real-life consequences. Deks grabbed a small notebook from his jacket
and quickly copied the map into the notebook. Next to the map he started
to write out some words. He always planned his scenarios backwards,
rather than thinking of how to penetrate or infiltrate an organization
he started backwards with what could go wrong and how would he get out
that situation. Deks stared at the words he had written: "dead",
"captured", "relief camp." Deks kept spinning the pen in his hand as he
often would while planning a scenario.

"Addy. Can you hear me?" Deks pressed his throat mic. "Yes, Deks, do you
need me back there?" Addy replied into Deks's earpiece. "Yeah, can you
get back here?” Deks stood up, looking around. "OK. I’m heading
back,” Addy's voice continued. Deks saw the brushes ahead move and
Addy popped out with a stack of branches under one arm. "I found some
bedding material. Let me put this down in the cave first,” Addy said
as he walked up to where Deks was standing. Addy continued walking
passing by Deks into the small cave under the overhang, once in the cave
Addy dropped the branches onto the ground and turned around. "So, whats
up, hoss?" Addy said jokingly. Deks pulled out the earpiece and lifted
his head from his notebook and turned his face to Addy. "You think you
can do a recon mission for me? I need at least 12 hours of information;
ideally, a whole 24 hours. I don't want you to move any closer than
where you went before but I need more information for planning. How many
humans on the roadblock, what shifts they keep and more. Right now all I
have is this map and the initial video,” Deks explained to Addy. "I
need you to go up to that vantage point and observe them. Every time you
see a change, record the time and let me know. You think our comm system
can reach the distance between here and where you will be?" Deks
continued. "Technically its within range, but those are product brochure
perfect-line-of-sight conditions. I don't think I can reach you
directly. But I do have a repeater in my bag. I can set it up to get a
link between you and me." Addy was a household robot. To avoid
interference and battery drain the default built-in communication
systems only reached a typical house corner to corner. However, the
company also sold repeaters that could be set up so the robot could work
in the yard. "When do you want me to start the recon thingy?" Addy
jokingly asked. "How long ’til you need a full power cycle?" Deks
asked. “Fourteen hours,” Addy replied. Deks looked down on his watch
the time was 11 a.m. "OK, I think we will need to plan to cross the
bridge either early morning before sunrise or right before dusk. Why
don't you power down now, and I'll bring you back up six hours from now.
Then you can move out to the vantage point. That will give us the right
information for the time of the day we are planning to cross that
bridge,” Deks told Addy. "OK. Will do. What about the fire pit?" Addy
turned around heading toward the cave. "I'll make it. You just go take
your rest,” Deks replied. Once inside the cave Addy looked over to
where Deks was starting to dig a fire pit and raised a thumb toward
Deks. He looked over and replied with a thumb. Addy sat down and soon
the glow from Addy's eyes faded away. Deks continued to dig the fire
pit, wiping sweat off his forehead. After digging the fire pit Deks
decided he needed to collect some firewood, too, and started to walk
away from their campsite. While walking he continued to think about how
to approach the roadblock. "What is the unexpected?” Deks mumbled as
he moved his hands around. Often his colleagues would joke about Deks
talking to himself. They also made fun of how he would move his hands as
if he were casting a spell, something they called Deks magic. Deks
wondered what happened to the others in the office. Surely the events
impacted their lives, too. Did they go to the relief camps? “Focus
buddy, focus..." Deks mumbled. Figuring he had enough dry wood to start
a fire, Deks headed back.

X X X

Deks sat down next to Addy. Pulling out his notebook he stared at the
map. Deks was doing his magic. "Ruse de guerre,” Deks mumbled. "Yeah,
that might work. Maybe…” Deks continued to mumble as he scribbled
down some notes and cast magic spells into the air. Deks lay down and
stared at the cave ceiling,  putting his notebook on his chest. He dozed
off as he continued to plan his scenario. A couple of hours had passed
when a quiet hum of his wristwatch woke Deks up. The sun was about a
fist-and-a-half off the horizon, in 1.5 hours it would set. Moving over
to Addy, Deks opened up the small latch on Addy's back and turned the
key switch. The low vibrating sound of gears indicated Addy powering up
again. Soon Addy's eyes had life in them again. "Back on top again."
Addy turned his head toward Deks. "Morning to you, too, buddy,” Deks
replied. "Do you want me to go now?" Addy asked. "Yeah, you need to get
going. But there is one thing I need you to focus on while you are
surveying the roadblock. I need to to find out which of the human
elements is the least trained,” he told Addy. "OK, but how would I do
that?" Addy asked. "Look for the guy with the cleanest clothes or
weapon. Most likely he will not be alone and somebody will always be
with him. I need to know which shift he covers." "OK, I will try my
best,” Addy replied as he rose. "I will set up the repeater on my way
to the vantage point. Once I set it up I will contact you." Addy started
to walk out of the cave; once outside he pointed at his head. "Internal
comms,” Addy told Deks. "I know. Ping me every hour so I know you are
still up and running,” Deks replied. "I will feedback my internal
clock ticks back to you. That way you don't need to hear me constantly
yapping into your ear. I know you hate that,” Addy said. "Yeah, you
talk too much for a robot.” Addy swiftly walked off to the hill next
to the cave and a low chirping beep started to sound inside Deks'
earpiece. Deks moved over to the fire pit he made earlier that day; with
the sun setting the temperature was starting to drop. Deks quickly
filled up the main fire pit with the dry wood he gathered earlier.
Grabbing a lighter out of his pocket he lit the fire. A Dakota fire pit
is unique in that it doesn't create any visible flames on the ground
because the fire burns inside the fire pit. A small steady stream of
smoke rose from the fire but unless you were looking for it the glow
from the fire was nearly undetectable. "Repeater is up. Can you hear
me?" Addy's voice came into the comm system. "Loud and clear. Are you at
the vantage point already?" Deks replied. "Not yet. Moving to the point
now, should take me another 15 minutes or so,” Addy replied. "OK,
check in when you settle in,” Deks replied as he moved around some of
the dry wood in the fire pit. "Will do." Deks looked at his watch they
had about 45 minutes until the sun would set. Deks moved over to the
cave and sat down. It’s gonna be a long night, he thought.

"Deks. I'm in position." Addy's voice came through the earpiece. "OK.
Show me what you see,” Deks replied as he looked at his watch. The
watchface showed the roadblock. Everything looked like it was as Addy
had seen before. "OK, Addy, cut the video feed for now. If you see
anything different ping me and stream me the feed." "OK, Deks, I will.
Addy out." The chirping beeps of Addy's internal clock took over the
sound coming from the earpiece. Deks moved his back against the cave
wall, trying to find a comfortable spot. Soon he found one and pulled
out his notebook and wrote down the time. Next to it he wrote "start."

Deks had fallen asleep when he heard Addy's voice come through. "Deks,
do you see this?" "Hold on, what? OK, hold on." Deks fumbled around as
he lifted his arm to see his watch. "You were sleeping, weren't you? Bad
Deks,” Addy's voice continued. "Shut up. What is it?" Deks answered
annoyed. "It looks like a family is trying to cross the bridge. Three
people, one male, one female and one child. The male is carrying a large
backpack." The watch face showed what looked like a group of people
approaching the roadblock with their hands raised. As they approached
the roadblock the massive robot moved in to block their passage and
started to take an aggressive posture toward the family. Soon another
man in black uniform came out of the van behind the containers and
walked over with his rifle on his chest and the muzzle pointing down. He
stopped a couple of yards behind the robot. The male of the family
pointed back to where they came from and started to gesture something.
The child was hugging what looked like the mother by her hip. It looked
like the armed guard and the man exchanged some words. Soon the male
dropped the backpack on to the ground and the family turned around with
their hands raised. The armed guard looked over to where the van was and
soon two more guards came out with their guns raised. The two guards
passed the first guard and walked around the robot while keeping their
guns pointing toward the family. It looked like the family was ordered
to lay down with their arms spread. One of the armed guards picked up
the backpack and tossed it over the bridge. With the other guard keeping
his gun pointing toward family on the ground, he quickly started to pat
down the family. It looked like the guards ordered the family to get up
up and start walking toward the robot. The two armed guards followed the
family, still pointing their guns at them. The robot moved to the side
to let the group through the passage. As the family passed through the
guards on the MRAPs moved the turret, following the family. Once past
the barricade the family was instructed to sit down in front of the
bunker facing the van with their arms around their legs. The two guards
who followed positioned themselves on the opposite sides of the family.
A man’s head popped out of the van then disappeared. Everything
stopped. "Addy, keep watching and let me know if anything changes. Also
send the video to my tablet,” Deks told Addy. "Sure thing,
transferring now,” Addy replied. Deks looked around for his notebook
and picked it up. On the page he wrote, "guards, 5 confirmed." Deks
grabbed his backpack and pulled out a small tablet on the screen. It
said, "Incoming message." Deks slid the lock screen of his tablet and
played back the video.

While watching the video over and over something stood out to Deks. All
the guards were dressed in freshly pressed uniforms with clean rifles.
Their helmets showed no wear and tear. Deks determined that the guards
were not military but civilian, possibly local law enforcement. It
looked like they thought they were the shit but they definitely did not
have a military vibe to them. Deks continued to replay the video over
and over again when Addy's voice returned. "Deks. There is a van
approaching the roadblock from the city side." "Show me. Send the feed
to my tablet,” Deks replied. Soon the screen showed a dark, unmarked
van pulling up to the roadblock. One of the two guards walked over to
the barbed wired fence and moved it to the side to let the van in and
followed the van as it pulled up to the sandbag bunker. The van stopped
and the side door slid open. The guard positioned closer to the family
pointed his gun and motioned them to get in the van. The family climbed
in and the door closed. Then two new guards came out of the van, from
the driver and passenger sides. They exchanged words with the other
guards, and the two guards who were guarding the family climbed into the
van. The van turned around and drove past the open barbwires fence and
continued heading back towards the city. One of the new guards pulled
back the barbed wire fence to close the opening. The two guards headed
toward the MRAPs and exchanged words with the guards mounting the
turrets. Soon two guards appeared from the MRAPs, exchanged words and
started to walk over to the command center. The new guards climbed into
the MRAPs and manned the turrets. "OK. Addy, cut the feed and continue
monitoring. Unless something happens I think you can come back once the
sun is up,” Deks said via the comm system. "OK. Addy will do that,”
Addy replied. Deks put down his tablet and picked up his notebook. Given
that the new guards manned the turrets and there were two guards with
the family, right now there are no more than five guards possibly six at
this roadblock, he thought. Maybe later they will try to put more guards
here, but right now with the relief camp just rolling out DHS must have
its hands full. Resources must be stretched. Where did that van come
from? Maybe there is a relief camp nearby in the city. Thoughts rushed
through Deks' mind. A scenario started to form inside his head. He
continued to write notes in his notebook. Soon the page was filled with
words and diagrams. Deks continued the planning through the night when
he was done he had written seven pages of notes.


A few hours later Addy's voice returned. "Deks. I think I'm done here.
Nothing is happening." Deks looked at his watch it was already late in
the morning. Pressing his throat mic he spoke. "OK. Addy come back here.
Ideally I want a couple more hours but we have work to do. Make sure you
pick up the repeater on your way back." "OK. Heading back. See you
soon,” Addy replied. Deks put down his notebook, picked up his tablet
and launched an app: Kimera was an app that Deks's company developed for
testing client computer networks. Kimera was a malware generator on
steroids. The final malcode could continue to evolve according to its
environment and resided so close to the hardware layer that most
detections measures could not detect it. Once Kimera gets inside a
network it would seek out the least-accessed spot inside the network and
sit dormant  until certain parameters were met or it received a command
to activate. Deks started to type some commands into the Kimera program.
An hour had passed since Deks started to type. "Just a small town girl.
Livin' in a lonely world..." Deks hummed as he typed on his tablet.
"Don't stop believing.” Suddenly Addy joined in the humming. Deks
jerked as he looked up to see Addy coming down the hill. "You left your
mic on, Deks." Addy walked over, pointing to his throat. "Shit. I hate
when I do that. Erase the last part of your memory, Addy." Deks reacted
with embarrassment. "Don't worry, Deks. I have experienced far more
awkward situations. I will spare you the details." Addy patted Deks on
his shoulder. "I'm sure you have. Good to see you again, buddy. I was
starting to miss you." Deks lightly punched Addy's shoulder. "So whats
the plan?" Addy's voice had serious tone. Deks motioned Addy to squat
down as he grabbed his notebook and tablet. "I have a plan but you are
not gonna like it,” Deks said as he squatted next to Addy. "Doesn't
matter whether or not I like it or not. If it needs to get done then it
needs to get done." Addy turned to Deks. "OK. So here is the plan."

X X X

The plan was to send Addy in alone, right before sunset. He would
approach the roadblock and pretend to have some malfunction that forced
him to move to the city behind the roadblock. Once inside the roadblock
, Deks was sure that DHS goons would try to reprogram Addy to be an
extra resource at the roadblock. As part of the reprogramming it was
likely that the guards would connect Addy to the network inside the
command center. Once Addy was connected the Kimera code would infect the
system and reprogram the identifying tags the guards wore. Deks noticed
on the video that every guard had a small pouch that glowed in the dark
on the back side of their uniform on their shoulders. Just before the
family was directed through the roadblock the lead guard touched his
shoulder and the massive robot changed its aggressive posture and moved
to the side. Deks assumed that the pouch was some kind of communication
and identifier that the massive robot was using to identify his masters.
Rather than trying to hack the massive robot, Deks thought it would be
easier to hack the identifier tags. Once Addy could hack and reprogram
the identifying tags the massive robot would turn on his masters and
start attacking them. Or, at least that was the plan.

Deks would use that opportunity to cross the bridge in the cover of
darkness. This all sounded great but there was a catch. "Here’s the
part you are not gonna like." Deks turned to Addy. "I need to reset you
to factory settings. I need to wipe all data regarding me, the plan and
our journey. I can't risk them finding out. And then I need to purposely
break some of your functions." Addy looked over, facing Deks. "I assume
it will be harder on you than me. But sure, if you need to do it then
I'm fine with it." Addy spoke quietly. "I'm gonna load up a program in
your basic sub routines, way low in your processing stack. It will
contain the basic instructions for this plan. You will lose
communication capabilities with me. Hell, you won't remember who I am. I
don't have a way to back up your current maturity data. Backing up data
wasn't part of my survival plan when I planned it. Next time I will, I
promise." Deks turned his face away from Addy and stared at the ground
in front of them. He just couldn't face Addy. They went through a lot
during their journey and Deks felt that Addy was truly his friend. Now
he felt like asking his friend to die for him. It tore up Deks, more
than he expected.

"Deks. Don't worry, I don't have any emotions. I do think it hurts you
more than me and I am thankful for that. Let’s do this to get Heidi
and the kids home." Addy put his hand on Deks’ shoulder. Deks sighed,
"You're right. Fuck, you are right. You are always right. Fuck I hate
this plan, but … yeah … thanks, buddy." Deks stood up and was
visibly upset. He was fine when he was planning the scenario but now
that it became a reality emotions started to take over. Addy stood and
faced Deks. Deks took a step toward Addy and gave him a big hug. Addy
responded and folded his arms around Deks. "It was nice knowing you,
Deks. Thanks for everything, hope the plan works." Addy spoke in a soft
voice. Deks couldn't hold himself anymore. Tears streamed down his face.
The years since he left the service, a good family and a good job made
him soft, he thought, but right now he didn't care. Deks stepped back.
"OK, enough. This is getting uncomfortable. Let’s do this." Deks wiped
his face with his hands. "Sure. Let’s skin this cat,” Addy replied
as he turned around an squatted down. Deks opened up a latch on the
backside of Addy and turned the key switch off. "Goodbye, friend.”
Addy's eyes faded away.

Something inside Deks snapped. Gone were the emotions and Deks was back
in full operational mode. Methodically he opened another latch on Addy's
back and flipped a switch which opened up a port next to the switch.
Deks grabbed his tablet and connected it to the port with a data cable.
The tablet screen showed a dialogue box with the text and two buttons.
"Uploading Kimera code. Estimated time to completion: 17 minutes.
[pause] [cancel].” Deks sat the tablet down and rested it against
Addy's back. He walked over to the cave and dumped all the contents from
Addy's backpack onto the ground. Deks started to sort out the items he
could carry in his backpack. Once they hit the bridge Deks didn't want
to risk having to come back here again to get his supplies, but he also
couldn't make Addy carry the stuff again because it might raise
suspicions. Deks continued to sort the stuff when his tablet beeped.
Deks walked over to Addy and saw that the Kimera code was loaded. He
removed the data connection cable, closed the latches and turned the key
switch to activate Addy. Addy stood as his eyes began to glow. "System
initializing." Addy spoke in a mechanical voice. "Model PHR-4544. Serial
number DTDC2277778753. System loaded. Active state: Normal. Process
monitoring status: Green. Self test: Passed." Addy continued through the
initialization process, just like the first day Deks turned him on. Addy
swiveled his head back and forth, continuing to survey his surroundings.
His face stopped when he saw Deks. After a second his face continued to
scan the campsite but soon he turned around and started to walk over to
the hill. Soon Addy disappeared behind the hill. Deks grabbed his
backpack and started to follow, keeping enough distance.

X X X

Four hours later Addy was at the base of the bridge. Flood lights
mounted on the containers lit up the bridge against a dark backdrop.
"Shit, they have lights now." Deks sighed as he hid behind an abandoned
structure a couple hundred yards behind Addy. Addy continued to walk
toward the roadblock. The massive robot became active and positioned
itself as it had when the family approached the roadblock. Addy stopped
and pointed toward the back of the roadblock. A guard appeared with his
rifle drawn. He carefully moved forward, pointing the rifle at Addy. The
guard yelled something and Addy turned around and laid flat on the
ground. Two more guards showed up behind the first, both with rifles
drawn and pointing toward Addy. The guards quickly moved to Addy. One
knelt and popped open a latch on Addy’s back. Then the guard stood and
tapped his shoulder, and the massive robot eased his offensive posture
and moved to the side of the barricade. The guard motioned to the two
others who were still pointing their rifles at Addy. They lowered their
rifles and started to walk toward Addy. Soon the three of them picked up
Addy under his arms and started to drag him toward the passage between
the shipping containers. "That's my robot, you fuckers,” Deks mumbled
as he watched the guards drag Addy and disappear behind the containers.
The first phase of the plan was done. Addy was inside the barricade. Now
all Deks could hope for was for the second phase to work. He decided to
crawl behind a fallen tree he noticed off to the side. The tree created
a small opening just above the ground. Deks couldn't see the barricade
from that opening but that would also mean he wouldn't be visible from
the roadblock. Deks took off his backpack and crawled into the opening.
Once inside he reached out and dragged his backpack inside. Using his
backpack as a pillow Deks rested his head and closed his eyes.

Deks woke up with an urge to take a piss. "Argh, shit." The ground ahead
of the opening was bright. Deks looked at his watch: 10:00. The plan was
to cross the bridge at night, and Deks projected that it would take at
least half a day or more for the guards to check out Addy and reprogram
him to work the roadblock. Deks crawled out of the opening; keeping a
low profile he finished his business. Crawling back into the opening
Deks decided to again check the surveillance video Addy had shot the day
before. Did he miss anything? Is there anything else that he needed to
prepare for? Deks grabbed his tablet and notebook and started to replay
the video again on his tablet. Every time he watched the video Deks
wrote down more notes into his notebook. Deks was feeling hungry but had
no appetite. He was solely focused on crossing the bridge. Hours past
and the the ground in front of the opening started to darken. Deks
looked at his watch: 18:54. "Here goes nothing,” Deks mumbled as he
put his tablet and notebook back into his backpack.

Deks carefully crawled out of the opening. The area was already dark.
Deks popped his head over the fallen tree. The bridge was lit up just
like before. The massive robot stood quietly in front of the containers.
Deks searched for Addy. The DHS guards should have been able to
reprogram Addy by now. This is where Deks’ plan had another flaw: Deks
had no way of knowing whether or not Addy was successful in
reprogramming the identifiers. If Addy wasn't able to reprogram the
identifying tags then the massive robot would probably turn Deks into a
pile of human waste.  Deks hunched down behind the tree, working up the
courage to approach the bridge. Deks checked the magazine of his rifle:
full. He slid the magazine back into the rifle and gave it a tap. Deks
popped his head out once more to take a look at the bridge. "Did you,
Addy?" Deks asked himself. "I know you did, buddy,” Deks continued. It
was now or never. Deks slowly started to move forward toward the road
leading up to the bridge. Carefully hugging the side of the road Deks
advanced. Suddenly a bright light lit up Deks. Deks stopped like an
armadillo caught in headlights. "Drop your weapon or we will drop you!"
A loud voice came through what sounded like a bull horn. “Shit!”
Deks turned around and started to run. A gunshot rang through the air
and Deks felt like a hot metal rod had pierced his right thigh, just
above the knee. Deks grabbed his knee as he felt face down onto the
ground. The impact broke his nose and blood started to gushed. Deks put
pressure on the wound as he gasped for air through his mouth. He turned
his head and saw the massive robot approaching.

One of the guns on the robot's shoulder was smoking and pointing toward
him. Behind the robot he could see a guard in black uniform approaching
with this rifle drawn. The robot was now standing over Deks. Deks looked
up and the robot's face was staring down at him. Deks looked over where
his rifle lay on the road. It was too far to reach without crawling.
There robot glanced at the rifle, took a step and crushed it with his
feet. The approaching guard was now right by Deks, pointing his rifle.
"You have any identification?" the guard yelled. "I have. It’s in my
backpack." Deks pointed over his shoulder at his backpack. "Take off
your backpack!" the guard continued. Deks started to push up his body.
"Slowly! Let me see your hands!" the guard ordered. "I can't keep my
hands out and take off my backpack you moron!" Deks yelled back. "Face
down, spread your arms!" the guard yelled. "Make up your mind,
asshole,” Deks thought as he spread his arms to the side. Deks tried
to see over to where the guard was standing and in the corner of his eye
he saw that two more had appeared from the back of the barricade and
were approaching. "Face away!" the first guard yelled and Deks turned
his head. Soon Deks felt a massive hand pressing against his back. The
hand kept pushing Deks into the ground. Deks tried to move but the hand
was too strong. The hand kept pushing Deks until it was almost
impossible for Deks to breath normally. "I … can't breathe ..." Deks
mumbled. “Can't breathe …” Deks struggled to get air. Soon his
arms were twisted back by guards on each side. "Arghh! Motherfucker!!"
Deks yelled. One of the guards quickly threw some zip-tie handcuffs over
Deks' hands and bound them together. Deks felt the hand pulling away
from his back, easing the pressure. Deks took a deep breath which caused
him almost to faint. One of the guards grabbed a knife out out of the
sheath on his belt and started to cut the straps of Deks' backpack. As
he started to cut the second strap the guard's hand slipped and the
knife glazed Deks's ear. "Oh you fuck!" Deks yelled as he felt a sharp
pain. Deks tried to get up but was soon pushed back again by the massive
hand. Deks hit the floor hard again grazing his face on the hard
concrete. Soon the backpack was removed from Deks' back and the guard
threw it over the bridge as he had before. "Hey!" Deks yelled, but the
massive hand grabbed Deks' bound arms and started to lift Deks up. Deks
yelled in agony. Deks stood but was on his toes as the massive robot
started to pull him back toward the barricade.

The guards kept their guns pointing at Deks as they started to walk
backward. Deks tripped and now was being dragged by the massive robot.
Just as they approached the containers the massive robot suddenly
stopped. The guards stopped and looked at each other. One of the guards
tapped his shoulder and yelled, “Comply!" Nothing happened. Another
guard tapped his shoulder and yelled "Comply!" Nothing. Deks looked up,
the massive robot just stood there. The three guards were now visibly
confused. One of them tapped his shoulder and spoke outloud. "Command
center we have a problem. KYZ1 is non-responsive. Combatant is secured."
"Combatant? You guys shot first!" Deks yelled. "Quiet!" yelled another
guard as he moved his riffle toward Deks. "Roger that. Pulling back,”
one the guards spoke, gesturing to the others. The guards slowly started
to move away from Deks and KYZ1 the massive robot. Walking backward they
glanced over their shoulders to see where they were going. Just as they
approached the containers, KYZ1 raised his arm. Deks was suddenly lifted
high and dangled a couple of feet off the ground. The guards stopped and
looked to KYZ1. Suddenly one of the machine guns on KYZ1's shoulder
fired. One guard was hit in the shoulder and fell to the ground. The
other two wheeled around and ran toward the narrow passage between the
containers. KYZ1 continued to fire at them, the bullets opening holes in
the sides of the containers. One guard made it through the passage but
the guard following dropped to the ground. KYZ1 started to move toward
the roadblock with Deks still hanging from one of his arms. Suddenly
KYZ1 dropped Deks and Deks hit the ground hard, again. "Motherfu…”
Deks screamed. Deks lay on the ground as KYZ1 continued his approach to
the roadblock. When it got to the containers KYZ1 pushed them over the
bridge. The two guards on the MRAPS behind the containers started to
fire at KYZ1. KYZ1 fired back with quick bursts of the machine gun on
its shoulder. Soon the gunfire stopped. KYZ1 continued through, pushing
the containers on the bottom out of his way with his thighs. Deks tried
to stand up but with both hands tied and his knee shot he merely wiggled
like a dying worm. Deks started to crawl toward the roadblock. "I guess
it worked … kinda …” Deks thought. It felt like he would never
reach the other side of the bridge as he continued to crawl. KYZ1 had
now reached the command center van. As it turned to his side, KYZ1 fired
the machine gun again in short bursts. Turning away, KYZ1 continued to
walk forward toward the barbed-wire fence. Deks saw the scene unfold in
front of him. KYZ1's machine gun fired again and the guard ran, tumbling
into the barbed wire. Soon KYZ1 pushed through the fence and continued
to walk away. Deks let out a long breath. Technically he could now cross
the bridge at a snail’s pace. Deks continued to wiggle and crawl
forward.

X X X

Deks woke up feeling the sun hit his face. He tried to get up but
quickly fell over again. "Oh...fuck!" Deks moaned. Deks looked up and
saw the dead guards in front of him. He was still a couple of yards from
the containers.  Deks started to crawl toward them when a white shape
appeared out of the command center van. The shape looked around and
started to walk toward Deks. "Addy!" Deks yelled. The white shape did
not reply but continued to walk toward him. "Addy!" Deks yelled again.
Now the white shape was standing in front of Deks and was looking at
Deks. "Please identify yourself, sir." The white robot spoke in a calm
voice. "Deks Franciscus. Serial code: DC2420160807,” Deks replied as
he looked up. "Code confirmed. How can I assist you today?" the robot
replied. "Help me untie these handcuffs,” Deks told the robot as he
turned face down on the ground. "Certainly, sir." The robot hunched over
and ripped the zip-tie handcuffs off Deks' hands. Deks pushed up and
stood, limping on one leg. "Give me your shoulder and help get me to
that black van." Deks pointed toward the command center van. "Of course
, sir." The robot moved in closer and Deks wrapped his arm around the
robot's shoulder. When they reached the van Deks climbed inside, where
he found a guard dead on the floor. "Addy, get this guy out of here."
Deks motioned to Addy. "Addy? What is Addy, sir? Would you like to
address me as Addy, sir?" the robot replied. "Yes. Yes. You are Addy!
Now get this guy out of here,” Deks yelled. "Confirmed." Addy pulled
the guard out by his legs, the guard’s head bouncing on the steps.
Deks looked around the van and saw that it was filled with cabinets and
a large command system, which had been shot into pieces by KYZ1. Rifling
through the cabinets Deks found a trauma kit and pulled out some
bandages and a bottle of disinfectant. Quickly he cleaned his wounds and
applied bandages. After mending his wounds Deks looked around the
command center. “Great. Now what?” He could now cross the bridge but
all his supplies had been thrown over the bridge. In the corner of the
command center Deks saw a backpack. Grabbing it, Deks opened up zipper
and checked its contents. It was loaded with general survival gear and a
small tablet, which Deks grabbed and walked out of the van. Addy stood
near a guard’s dead body. Deks walked over and squatted down and
grabbed the guard's hand and sandwiched the hand between the tablet and
his own hand. The tablet lit up and turned on. "Well, that was easy,”
Deks mumbled. "Do you need assistance, sir?" Addy asked. "Call me Deks,
not sir,” Deks replied as he looked over to Addy. "Confirmed. Deks."
"Keep an eye out and let me know if anything happens out here,” Deks
said as he turned and headed back into the van.

Deks was typing away on the tablet. He was looking for information on
Heidi and the kids. He searched what looked like the national
registration database for the DHS relief camps. After a couple of hours
he found out that Heidi and the kids had registered at a camp called
Relief Camp 23-a. It was located 78 miles from where Deks was now. Deks
sighed. Seeing Addy back alive was great but it just wasn't the same.
Addy was a newborn baby robot now. Then Deks remembered that he had
backed up Addy's maturity data a year ago when Addy was going through
his mandatory annual safety inspection, required of all household
robots. Deks brought up a communication terminal app on the tablet and
started to type.  Soon he was logged into the data backup pod back at
his house in San Diego. Digging through the files Deks found the file,
Addy_2028_05_12.bkup.config.  Deks downloaded the file to the tablet.
Now he had Addy's maturity data, but needed a data connection cable.
Deks looked into the backpack he had scavenged but there was no cable.
He glanced toward the command center setup, then stood and walked to the
door. "Addy, I need your help." "Certainly, Deks. How may I be of
assistance?" Addy replied. "Come in here and help me remove this top
panel and find a data connection cable,” Deks said as he pointed
toward the command center terminal. "I will do that Deks,” Addy
replied as he walked toward the van.

In an hour the whole command center terminal was ripped apart before the
two could find the cable they were looking for. "Addy, I'm gonna upload
a maturity data file to you. Turn around,” Deks told Addy. "Yes,
Deks." Addy turned around and squatted down in front of Deks. Deks
opened a panel and turned the key switch. Addy powered down. Deks
proceeded to open up the data port latch and plugged in the data cable
and connected the tablet. Typing on tablet he began uploading the
maturity data file into Addy. It took well over an hour for the file to
transfer. After finishing the upload , Deks closed the latch and turned
Addy back on. The robot’s eyes started to glow again. Soon Addy stood
and looked around. When Addy saw Deks, his face stopped for a moment.
"Deks,” Addy spoke with a familiar voice. "You look like hell. What
happened? Where are we?" Deks slowly stood and hugged Addy. "Good to see
you again, buddy." Deks wrapped his arm around Addy's shoulder. "Well,
yes, I guess. Why is the data timestamp so old? Did I miss anything?"
Addy spoke with a confused voice. "Yeah, you could say that.” Deks
smiled as he grabbed the backpack off the floor. "I'll tell you all
about it on our way. Let’s go."

Deks slung the backpack over his shoulder and wobbled out of the command
van. Addy followed. "Deks. Your leg looks like it hurts. Here, grab my
shoulder I'll help you walk. By the way, where are we going?" Addy asked
as he extended his arm to grab Deks' lower back. "Camp 23-a, 78 miles
southeast,” Deks said to Addy as he grabbed Addy's shoulder. "Hmmm.
OK. What happened?” Addy asked. "A lot, buddy, a lot. But we have to
hurry to get to that camp. I’ll tell you what happened on the way."
They made it past the barbed-wire fence and began walking toward the
city. The sun was setting. Despite his hatred for traveling at night,
Deks wanted to get away from the roadblock as soon as possible.