Bot Smashers

[Simplehead]

Ognom sat on a hill in borealis picking his nose overlooking the city. A noise broke the silence as he ripped a huge bronto burger fart. "Doh!" He exclaimed as he kept on looking growing ambigious to the enviornment and everything around him.

Ognom then reached into his packpack. ::Incoming come to RUR robotics:: Hey I haven't seen a sign of these Neo Ludites... Why do they not speak out? Perhaps a meeting is neccessary to figure out the true intent behind these Techno Terrorists and there plot to take over the planet.

Ognom goes pack to to his nose picking, a butterfly swoops by, crickets chirp...

[_________YumYum Crow]

It wasn't a big cave, and the creeping roots that burst through the roof made it even more claustrophobic. That, and the number of men and materials that crowded the available space.

The sound of frenzied activity, of preparing weapons and armor, of confused and muted talking, of comraderie, was drowned out by the huge exclamations and roars of annoyance coming from the big old Atrox.

Miner Bill, in one last roar of rage, hurled the old comm unit across the cavern. It missed a tubby opifex and shattered against the irregular rock wall. "She has gone! The bloody wench! After all the money...!"

Silence. Silence as the Atrox stalked across the room and inspected the small array of weapons left unused. The tension rose.

It was a long haired solitus who first spoke. "Bill, we can still go on without a mercenary. We have the guns you know... we can still make a go of it."

Bill grunted. "Perhaps. And what would you strike? The programme has cascaded into a virus like you said. No one is listening to us!"

"They are, Bill? Change takes time..." The Solitus drifted off, unable to stare down the hulking Atrox who continued to smoulder like a slow burning fuse.

"The mercenary has buggered off! And my little criminal chit has vanished!" Bill hissed and began fiddling with a pistol. He looked like he was about to use it on someone.

"Actually, Bill..." it was the tubby opifex, rubbing the back of his neck carefully. "I did manage to hack her comm. I downloaded the info she pilfered for you... thought you might need it." He gulped as with three swift strides, Bill ambled otwards him with the subtlety of an avalanche. Whimpering slightly, the opifex pulled out the documents he had retrieved. They were snatched from his grasp.

"Good man!" Bill lay out the documents -plans of buildings. "Now we have something achievable. Gather round..." He sighed heavily. "I had hoped to gas the bastards while they lectured the next generation -but that option is dead now. So this is what we will do... we will sting them in their temple, and we will raze it to the ground!"

It was with quiet interest that the small gathering crowded round the Atrox and his detailed blueprints. His heavy, thick voice took on a hypnotic quality as he outlined his proposal. My God, Miner Bill thought to himself, I feel like I'm back being the foreman again. Smiling inwardly, he forged his few followers into a work gang with a mission.

[Dabblez]

"Computer: stop simulation." Dabz orders the Multivac Budget Mainframe. The computer promptly complies. "So what do you think, Noholds?"

The atrox programmer pages through the results on the screen. "Looks good to me."

"What looks good?" asks Crattyjack. "Other than me of course."

Dabblez explain "We've been working on a software upgrade that to protect our bots from the NLM. I think with this program we can finally prevent those darn Luddites from taking control of our bots. Looks like we may have cracked it, but how can we be sure?"

"Only one way to be sure. We need to test our program against the real thing." replies Noholds. "We need to catch a Luddite and get him to try to reprogram our upgraded bot. Better yet, catch one of those wandering rogue bots the NLM have already reprogrammed."

"Erm, Noholds, those bots are dangerous." says Crattyjack. "Dangerous like they've out there been killing people."

The Atrox shrugs. "Based on my examination of the bots the NLM had reprogrammed, including the last one Ognom brought in, these bot are not just being programmed by the NLM to randomly attack people, they have also instruction to reprogram other bots they meet. That is how the RAFTE base was taken over."

Dabblez fronws. "So what you are saying is..."

"What I am saying is, if we can expose one of our 'vaccinated' robots to one of these 'infected' robots, we should soon know if it works."

"And if it doesn't?" asks Cratty.

"Then we will have two angry robots to contend with rather than just one."

"Oh." remarks Cratty. "I wish I hadn't asked now."

"Okay, so we need to find a rogue bot. Cratty, Noholds, scan through the Herald, Omega News site.. heck even the Enquirer. I want the time and location of all the robot attack incidents in the last 48 hours. Let's see if we can find ourselves a nice infected bot to play with."

[rheena]

''Right oh , i have the current edition of ONN with me so
i will start there,''replies Noholds. ''Hmm lets see hey NL or
never mind ,its the Nanomage Liberation Front.'' He looks over the article concerning NLF but sees no bots mentioned
there. Then he looks at the bomb incident story . ''Hey , theres a bomb reported at Rompa bar and several citizens
questioned. Some of them look like you Dabz and Cratty..''

Dabz replies , ''Thats because they are us!"
''Oh?!"'
''Have found anything about bots yet?"
''Oh wait what this , on the last page ... a small article
about Omni people complaining about the robots in mission
being to hard ,'' replies Noholds.

[Lyricia]

Lyricia released the last batch of nanobots into the air of the Tir School of Engineering's central courtyard. They glowed briefly as they floated toward every centimeter of wall, floor, and overhang in the area. The glow faded as they settled in place. The new coating of nanobots was now invisible to the naked eye, as intended.

After receiving an architectural overview of the School, Lyricia suspected that the NLM planned to bomb the School. Her plea for help to the Sentinels fell on deaf ears. The Sentinels had no sympathy for the School after Lyricia denied them an opportunity to build a barracks by purchasing the property. A bomb in Tir would also give the Sentinels the perfect platform to rally the Clan's around their cause.

This didn't stop Lyricia. "Most people look at a problem as something to avoid or struggle to overcome" She had always explained to new students "An Engineer looks at a problem as a playground for the mind. A chance to let your ingenuity and imagination run wild". She had decided to solve this problem by building something and she did. By lunchtime she had programmed and released nanobots that would coat all the surfaces of the School. These nanobots would pulse out from the walls occasionally and search for the chemical components of 55 known explosives. The nanobots were also programmed to recognize an antimatter bomb, Lyricia didn't want a repeat of the Dust Brigade bombing of Omni-1. These nanobots could even spot other nanobots assembling explosives from nearby components. This was a concern after the infamous "Nano-bombing" incident on Omni Prime in 28717 in which nanobots pulled molecules from nearby buildings, the air, and even people to create and detonate cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine (C3H6N6O6). "I hope I didn't miss anything" Lyricia thought to herself.

There was one final thing to do. Lyricia needed to test the system. She held up a Rubirango-sized can containing an explosive called Tetrytol. She paused a moment and thought about crossing her fingers. "Superstitions are for Atroxs and children" She thought and broke the seal on the container. In less then a second a synthesized voice in her comm said "Explosive compound: Tetrytol detected in central courtyard". She smiled and put the container away.

With the system in place it was time to warn Dabblez. "Dabblez, please contact me once you receive this" She spoke "I've discovered something about the NLM. They may be monitoring our comms so I will tell you more in person."

[_________YumYum Crow]

Keep Moving... one foot... other foot... keep moving...
The twin suns burned the sky a pastel hue of red and orange, while the air itself was grained yellow with the blasted sands of the Wailing Waste. In sand storms like this, even the great Prowlers that hunted in these parts looked for shelter.

A man struggled over the dunes, tumbling, bumping, crashing into the low scrub and with sobbing breaths. He is a stranger here; alone and without support or aid. He doesn't even ware any desert survival gear.

Tall and lean he is, this man bracing against the biting storm. His grey hued skin is blotched and broken with cuts, sores, abrassions and bruises. He staggers on, numbly; he staggers south across the dunes, blind to the camps nearby that offer sanctuary from the storm -blind to the river so close by.

Why is he here? He forgets for the moment. He must make for the south. South is safety. Away from his pursuers. He has information against them -but what was it?

His head hurts; his body aches.
A lone man, marching south through the sand storm. No one sees him pass by.
Maybe that is for the best?

[Simplehead]

NLM spotted in borealis! ::Ognom stumbles past the whompa coming from a gsp party:: Oh boy, I better write this down... sleepy so sleepy... ::Ognom hits the grid for Omni-Ent and promptly crashes next to the mogul meat vendor outside the arena. ::Ognom mumbles, robots, bad robot, no chase Ognom, robot smash. Grunt-shake-awake:: Hey cut out that racket I'm trying to sleep over here! /flip noisy guns

[Dabblez]

The wild-eyed luddite scurries down the deserted streets of Tir in the wee hours of the night with a manic grin fixed on his face.

"Soon, my little one," he says tapping the Newton-Howe thermal device he carries. "Soon."

[rheena]

The wild eye Luddite was joined by another wild eye neoluddite.
This one was patienlty waiting at the Tir whompa for the other one to meet up with him. He was a trader with a nick ''Neoluddite"".

[Dabblez]

Dabz listens on to the news while working on soon to be launch Logitronix robot range.

".. moving on to other news, reports of reached us regarding the lastet terrorist attack by the Neo-Luddite Movement. Reports indicate that on Friday a group of New-Luddite Movement terroritsts broke into the Tir School of Engineering with the intention of destroying the facility. An annonymous tip to Lyricia Fuchs, the founder of the TSE, allowed her to quickly assemble a rescue team comprising mostly of members for First Light, Unity of the Rose and Whisper's Edge.

The rescue team were able to secure the facility minimal casualties, though one of the Luddites died in the ensuing struggle. They found in the NLM's possesion a Newton-Howe thermal device powerful enough to reduce the entire institution to ashes. The Tir School of Engineering will remian closed to students until further notice will while the investigation into the attack is being conducted (though all TSE grid based services will remain online).

Sports new. In a exciting re-match, the Galway Brontos beat the Clon**** Raiders by narrowest of marigns..."

Dabz raises her visor. "Radio - stop. Reply the news item regarding the NLM." Obiediently, the radio complies This time Dabblez pays close attention and grins. "Score one for the good guys, its about time someone gave those Luddite maniacs a bloody nose."

[Dabblez]

It worked. The anti-virus RUR had engineered to stop the spread of NLM's robot virus was a success. They had tested it late last night, exposed a clean bot to a rogue, infected brontocatcher bot known to roam in Galway County. The RUR robot had not even sneezed.

Back at the office, Dabblez uploaded the anti-virus program on to RUR's grid site, and made it available to all as a FREE DOWNLOAD

************************************************** ***********************************************
/ooc

This concludes this tale. The Neo-Luddites are, of course, not completely licked yet and no doubt they will come back to threaten robots all over Rubi-Ka someday. Many thanks to all those people in and out of RUR who contributed to this little adventure, especially Lyricia, for allowing us to almost blow up her Tir School of Engineering (we came within 30 seconds from pulling it off!).