Annie ran to her playroom where Sally, the humanoid robot, was dusting. Annie looked at Sally as she cleaned, “Sally, why don’t you have normal feet?”
Sally turned to Annie. The apertures of her cameras shrank to adjust for Annie’s white dress that was bathed in bright sunlight. A voice came out of the hole that was shaped like a mouth. “I have a vacuum cleaner where feet normally go. It is an efficient design which removes the need for a separate appliance.”
“But doesn’t it make it hard for you to go upstairs?”
“Not really. I can use my arms to lift myself when traversing stairs.”
“You look silly when you go upstairs.” Annie giggled. “I love you, Sally, you’re really cool.” Annie tilted her head. “Sally, play Skinnamarink for me.”
Music sprang from Sally’s speaker. She swayed from side to side while she dusted. “Skinnamarink a dink a dink Skinnamarink a do, I love you…”
A cold shard of anxiety pierced Martin’s chest.Martin gazed through Silicon Valley’s haze toward Mt. Diablo’s snow-covered peak. It stood like a sentinel blocking the way to his former home in Idaho.
“Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Heath’s question jolted Martin back to reality. An awkward silence hung in the air before he summoned the courage to say, “I think we’ve been hacked.”
“Hacked? How do you know?”
“I…” Martin pointed at the monitor. “I just checked the weblogs. I can see someone’s logged in using the test account, and they overwrote some files.”
Heath’s eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared. “Didn’t you disable the test account?”
Martin swallowed. “I thought I did. I can’t remember. It was over a year ago.”
Heath groaned. “You thought you did? Come on, Martin. You have to be sure about these things. What files did they access?”
“It was some modules for Sally 2.3.”
“When was the breach?”
“It was almost two months ago. It’s active in our bots right now. Should we start a product recall?”
“Recall? Are you serious? Our cash flow is borderline as it is. We can’t afford to lose sales.”
“But what if some hacker makes one of the bots do something harmful? What if one starts a fire or something like that?”
Heath did a face-palm. “The problem with you, Martin, is that you’re too nice.”
Heath pointed around the bay area. “Nice people don’t make it here. If you want to be nice, go back to Idaho.”
Heath sighed. “Create a patch to go out with next month’s automatic update. Close the test account before you do anything else.”
Heath turned, started walking and then halted. “How did they gain access?”
Martin’s shoulders tensed up as Heath encroached on his space. Martin mumbled, “The test account had a weak password.”
Heath opened his mouth as if to speak but turned again and strode towards his private room. The place shook as the door slammed. Muffled cursing was the only noise within the open-plan office. Martin let out a syncopated sigh. He was sure that a dozen pairs of eyes were staring at him, but he kept his eyes fixed on his keyboard. He dreamed of the journey back along Interstate Eighty.
Paul Kingston shook his head as he ended a call. He looked at his wife, Denise, and sighed. “Honey, I’m sorry. I have to fly to Europe immediately.”
Denise shook her head. “Right now? You just got back from there.”
“I know. Draskovich is bickering over a minor point in the treaty. He wants to see me in person.”
Denise sighed. “Why did I have to marry a diplomat?”
“It was my charm and meeting all those celebrities at all those cocktail parties.”
“Oh, please. If I have to go to another cocktail party with those pretentious personalities, I’ll probably say something we’ll both regret. It was because you aren’t like other diplomats. You’re all about people, not politics.”
Paul said, “And my charm too.”
Denise’s hazel eyes glinted. “Yes, your irresistible charm.”
Carlos poked his head through the door. His bicep bulged as he coughed into his fist. His buzz cut gleamed in the downlights. “Sorry, sir, I couldn’t help overhearing. Do you need me to come with you?”
“No, the consulate will provide security this time. I would prefer you to keep an eye on Denise and Annie. There’s been a terrorist alert in the capital. The Feds are looking into it, but I just want to be careful.”
Carlos patted the holster that held his Glock. “Don’t worry, sir. If any terrorist is crazy enough to show his face around here, one of us will be leaving in a body bag, and it won’t be me.”
“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Paul looked at his watch. “It must be about time for your coffee break.”
Carlos took the hint. Paul and Denise stole a kiss.
“Carlos should really be more careful, you know,” Denise said. “How does he know I’m not one of those terrorists in disguise?”
“You’re much more dangerous than any terrorist. I’d better get ready.”
Paul was soon ready to leave with his “bug out” suitcase. Denise and Annie followed him to the door. “Say goodbye to Daddy.”
Annie’s auburn ponytail danced as she sobbed. “Why do you have to go, Daddy?”
Paul put his suitcase down, bent down on one knee and hugged his daughter. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, and I’ll bring you a nice surprise. Okay?”
“Okay. Can you bring me a new Missy? Rex broke her.”
“Okay, but don’t bring Rex into the playroom again if you don’t like him chewing on your toys. Rex is just a dog. He doesn’t understand.”
Paul hugged and kissed Denise, then climbed into the waiting taxi.
Evald Vesik walked across the field next to the campus where he studied IT. A stocky-muscular man with a grey beard walked up to him and held out his hand. The man had smiling eyes that contrasted with the harshness behind them.
“Hello. You are Evald?”
An iron grip crushed Evald’s hand. “Yes. And you must be Olari.”
“Yes. I understand you are from Rakvere.”
“Yes, that is my village.”
“Then you know that your land will be given to your enemies as part of the unfair peace deal arranged by Paul Kingston?”
Evald’s eyes scanned the area around them. “Yes, I heard that. There can be no peace with our enemies. They have shed too much blood. Those barbarians murdered my mother and sister. The Imperialist West ignores the price that we have paid.”
“That is very true, my friend. Anyhow, I hear that you have special skills with smartphone apps.”
Evald nodded. “Yes.”
Olari said, “There is opportunity for revenge on those who want to give your land to our enemies. We searched Kingston on the dark web. We found he is using a cleaner robot. With it, we found code we could use to hack it and gain control. The imperialist owns one even though he is wealthy enough to hire a real cleaner. We will send a message to those who interfere with our struggle.”
“Okay, but why do you need me?”
“We are having trouble understanding the code. We need someone with your skills to fool the system to give us control of the robot. We have one of those robots in my home to test this on.” Olari handed Evald a piece of paper. “Meet me here in one hour. Make sure you are not followed.”
The actuators of the cleaner bot whirred as it dusted a television. With a whoosh, the duster retracted. The bot spun around and sped towards a seat. A metal hand smashed the head of a mannequin. The head exploded in a cloud of plaster and polystyrene fragments. Olari smiled, “Not bad, yes? That’s what we can do when we have access to an account. We need your skills to do the same with Kingston’s robot. We need you to trick the system into overriding the safety features and make it think commands are coming from Kingston’s phone.”
Olari pointed at a laptop. “A copy of the code is on this laptop. Coffee?”
Evald shook his head. “Strong black tea if you have it.”
“Of course.”
Olari woke and yawned. He rubbed his neck, which was stiff from sleeping in a chair. Rays of light were shining through the blinds. Evald was still working on the laptop. “What is the situation? Do you need some sleep?”
“I almost have it.”
“You have been saying that for the past fourteen hours. You need some sleep, yes?”
Evald rubbed his bloodshot eyes. “No, I can already access video. I just need a short time to bypass the command safety module. Watch.”
Evald switched to a live video of Kingston’s kitchen. A woman wearing gym clothes was putting some plates on the table. The woman looked directly at the camera. The audio was clear. “Sally, wait until Annie finishes breakfast before you clean the kitchen.”
Evald said, “We now have access but can’t control it yet.”
Olari’s phone chirped. He read a text and grunted. “It seems Kingston is out of the country. We must improvise. Keep trying to get control.”
“What do you mean by ‘improvise’?”
“His wife and daughter are still there. Our enemies killed your mother and sister, yes?”
The three-year-old memory haunted Evald. He nodded.
Olari patted his shoulder. “Kingston will know the pain of losing someone he loves.”
Carlos leaned back in his office chair, drinking coffee and looking at the security camera feeds. Denise came in without knocking. “I’m just taking a bundle of blankets to the homeless shelter and catching up with some friends for a coffee. I should be back by twelve. I couldn’t raise a babysitter at short notice. Can you keep an eye on Annie when she wakes up? Her breakfast is on the kitchen table. She just needs to pour the milk.”
Carlos thought he smelt Kalua. “Would you like me to drive?”
Denise furrowed her brow. Carlos quickly continued. “You know there’s been a terrorist alert.”
Denise shook her head. “There’s no way I’m taking a security guard and a seven-year-old to my Saturday morning hang-out with the girls.”
Denise did a Karate kick that would have been chest-high for an imaginary attacker. “Besides, I can look after myself.” Denise turned to leave.
Carlos was sure that Denise could handle most muggers, but a group of armed terrorists was another thing. “Wait.” The door closed with a firm clunk.
Martin arrived at the office despite his urge to call in sick. With slumped shoulders and minimal eye contact, he returned the awkward greetings of co-workers. He glanced sideways at Heath’s office. The light was on. Martin wanted to give notice but decided to check the logs first. He logged in and accessed the server warning logs. The sight made his heart pound. He wiped his eyes, but the red text was still there.
Suspicious access to server from IP:203.108.132.149 accessing client account 7830092
Martin wanted to leave, but his hand seemed to have a mind of its own as it picked up the phone. “Hi, Heath. You had better have a look at this.”
Heath arrived about five minutes later. “What’s up?”
“Someone out of D.C. is accessing a bot from a strange I.P. Do you want me to block remote access?”
Heath furrowed his brow. “It’s probably just the customer accessing the bot from a new smartphone. The last thing we need is to cut off a real customer by mistake. Continue working on next month’s security patch.”
Martin walked away. He muttered, “They must be selling degrees in IT at Walmart.”
Annie slurped her cereal while Sally waited for her to finish. Rex stood on his hind legs and licked Annie’s face, hoping for a treat.
Strange voices came out of Sally. “I’m in. I have control.”
“Excellent.”
Rex tilted his head and pricked up his ears. He barked as he crept towards Sally. Sally swung at Rex. There was a piercing yelp as Rex hit the dishwasher. Rex flopped to the floor with blood dripping from his mouth.
Annie screamed. “Rex! Sally, why did you hurt Rex?”
Sally spun towards Annie.
“Get the girl.”
“Where’s the mother?”
“No time.”
Sally jerked, then froze.
Martin stared in horror at the video feed. He rehearsed his explanation for shutting down the mobile app server. His hand trembled as he picked up the phone, but Heath’s line was busy.
A few minutes later, Heath rushed over to Martin’s desk. His face was crimson. The veins of his neck pulsed with each word. “What do you think you are doing? I’m getting calls from angry customers. Get out! Clear out your desk and leave.”
“But I…”
“Get out!”
Martin pointed at the monitor that showed an empty chair. “I…”
“Get out before I call security.”
The feed from the kitchen CCTV alerted Carlos. He rushed downstairs. “Hey Annie, are you alright?”
Annie ran to him convulsing. “Sally h h h hurt r r r Rex.”
“It’s okay, Annie. It must have been an accident. She must have been protecting herself when Rex started barking at her. I’ll call your mum, and she can get some people to fix Sally.”
Annie sobbed. “I don’t want them to fix Sally. I hate her.”
“Just go into the playroom and wait there.”
Carlos called Denise, but it went through to voicemail. “Hi, Carlos here. Sally’s malfunctioned. I’m sorry to say it, but she killed Rex. Sally seems to be offline now. Annie saw it all. She’s upset, but she’s not hurt.” Carlos scratched his head. “I’ll try to call the robot company if I can find their number. Call me.” Carlos pondered the lifeless mess of blood and fir on the floor and the motionless robot. Sally could wait. He grabbed a trash bag from the drawer and tackled the more unpleasant challenge.
Evald thumped the desk. “It’s no use. It doesn’t respond no matter what I try. They must have shut us down.”
Olari said, “Can you do a reset?”
“No. It is controlled by the main server. Wait, I think it is reconnecting now.”
Back upstairs, Carlos was waiting to get through to a real person.
“Your call is important to us. An operator will be with you shortly.” Call-waiting beeped. It was Denise. Her rapid speech and the background noise of traffic mingled with a car horn made it hard to understand what she was saying, but she was frantic. Carlos tried to calm her. “It’s okay now. Everything is under control. I’m on the line to CleanRBotz…” A flash of movement from the cam in the foyer caught Carlos” eye. Annie’s scream echoed from below. “Hang on.” His training kicked in. He dropped the phone. His Glock was in his hands, and the safety was off in a fluid motion. He sprinted toward the balcony on autopilot and assessed the scene below. Sally rolled out of the living room and headed after Annie. Voices emanated from Sally. “The girl. The girl.”
“Why the girl? Where’s the mother?”
“Forget the mother. There is no time.”
“I can’t. I just can’t. What are you…” A gunshot sounded from Sally’s speaker. She froze for a moment, then she resumed her chase. Annie made it to the stairs but slipped halfway up. Sally hopped up one step after another, making a thumping sound with every step. Annie rose to her feet screaming. Carlos had his gun aimed at the floor. “Get down and hold your ears.” Sally was getting closer. Carlos shouted. “Come on. Get down.”
Annie was hysterical. She stumbled again and held her ears with trembling hands. A metal hand slammed on the step. It glanced past Annie’s ankle as she slid her foot out of the way. Annie’s screams were piercing. Three shots reverberated throughout the house. Sally’s head became a mess of torn plastic and wires. One cam was a misty-grey web of cracks, and the other dangled at the end of a wire. Sally jolted and slipped down three steps before she grabbed a railing.
Annie hobbled up the stairs. Carlos yelled, “Go to your room and shut the door.” Annie ran with a hopping motion to her room, slamming the door. Carlos eased closer to the bot with his gun directed at it. His ears rang, and his body pulsed with adrenalin. Sally’s arm suddenly flailed about and smashed into Carlos’ leg. A shot rang out. It left a bullet hole in the wall. He grunted as he stumbled over Sally and rolled down the stairs. His Glock fell down the side of the stairs as he rolled. He knocked his head on the polished marble floor as he landed. When he came to, Sally was slipping down the stairs towards him. The threat slowly dawned on Carlos through a haze of concussion. He tried to stand, but his leg was fractured. Sally drew nearer. He rolled away just before Sally’s base hit the floor where Carlos had been. Carlos pulled himself up, holding the handrail of the stairs. Sally stood upright but seemed to be confused. She lifted the dangling camera with one hand. He picked up a stool and used it to block a swing from Sally. The wooden stool split apart like a matchstick. The front door swung open, and Denise leapt in. Then she halted at the scene. She screamed, “Annie!”
Sally turned. “You capitalist pigs. All you do is interfere. You claim you want peace, but you help the barbarians who ruined our country.”
Denise scowled at the voice coming from Sally. “You aren’t speaking for the majority. The people who are tired of the killing.”
Sally jerked toward Denise. Annie came to the top of the stairs. “Mommy.”
Denise yelled. “Go to your room, Annie.” Denise took on a defensive posture and looked around as if to search for a weapon. “The modem, Carlos. Pull the wire from the modem.”
Carlos cursed his concussion and shrugged his shoulders.
Sally was still acting erratic but was getting closer to Denise. Denise pointed at the broadband modem on the wall across from the stairs. She screamed. “The broadband modem.” She evaded a swing from Sally’s arm and kicked at the bot as if to push it over, but her foot bounced off the metal frame. Sally lunged at Denise, but Denise rolled back to the front door, sprang to her feet and slid behind the door. Sally’s hand smashed a hole through it, slamming it shut with the force. Carlos hopped on one leg towards the modem, trying not to slip on the polished Italian marble. Sally tugged her hand free, turned and snaked towards the modem. Carlos yelled in agony as he dived at the modem like a baseball player stealing a base. With one hand, he ripped the wire from the modem. Sally crashed into the wall near the modem. She became a statue.
Carlos pulled himself up, gritting his teeth and hobbled to the back of Sally. He felt his pulse thumping in his temples as he opened the door to the battery pack with his Swiss Army knife. He ripped out the battery pack, barely resisting the urge to slam it on the expensive marble floor.
Denise ran back inside, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Annie. Annie, it’s alright now.” Annie met her at the top of the stairs. They hugged and sobbed without saying a word.