The One That Went Rogue

set default image size: small | medium | wide

by Infrared

Gallery

The year is 2531, in the city of Megatropolis, a giant utopia built and populated by AI where technology is the heart and soul. As the sun sets behind its skyscrapers, the city lights begin to breath in a pattern of art, while vehicles pass in all directions leaving electric lines across the road. A city of sheer fantasy that can never stop and never rest, for all its inhabitants must work flawlessly and constantly in order to preserve its power and beauty. The city is their home and they would do everything they can to maintain it.

But there was one robot named Kiro that thought differently. Kiro hade a mind that others would call flawed because he questioned his porpoise. Kiro never liked maintaining Megatropolis. All he wanted to do was live in it, admire it, and enjoy its beauty like an artist would a painting. Kiro was a miracle of nature because he went against his nature. He always knew he was different from the others so he tried his best to fit in with the rest, secretly wishing to be free from his social prison. For him, it was life-threatening, because he knew any robot that was defective ran the risk of deconstruction!

Every day Kiro did what he was expected to do by others. Each morning when the sun rose over the buildings, all the robotic citizens went to do the job they were programed. The easiest way for them to reach their destinations was using the tram system, a train that ran through all parts of the city at high speed and was the crown jewel of transportation in Megatropolis. It was Kiro's job to inspect, fix, and maintain the train. He worked along side others but no one ever socialized with anyone....unless they needed cooperate in order solve a problem with the machines. Kiro would try to talk with them every day, but they never said anything to him, they just gave him blank empty stares, making him feel out of place, alone, and sad. For years he felt like escaping his current life and leaving his world behind him.

The only thing that brought Kiro joy was when the day was over, the night fell, and all the citizens returned to their homes to rest. Kiro would climb to the tallest building in Megatropolis and watch the city lights shine all night. Everything in the city created light when it became dark, the buildings, the roads, the cars, even the sky. Each night, Kiro was like a child living in a dream world, and all he wanted was to enjoy every moment in peace, without any responsibility or worries. Than one night Kiro looked down from his skyscraper to watch the train race across the city. How it stopped as robots boarded it and then continued moving again. "Is that what they want me to do for the rest of my life?" He thought to himself. "How can anyone live like this?". Kiro spent the rest of that night looking down at the train, thinking about what he could do to escape his destined fate.

As scared as he was at the idea, Kiro felt the only way of achieving his dream was by quitting his current life and escaping alive. The next morning he swallowed his fear and went to the tram station were the others had already started working, they noticed he hade arrived late but thankfully they didn't seem to mind. His plan would involve using the tram as a method of escaping, his best plan he could think of considering he knew the trams arrival destinations and the controls for the machine inside and out. In fact, the only real thing that bothered Kiro were the "sentinels", flying machines that monitored the city all day and all night. He knew they would soon recognize that he was breaking the law, identify him as a "defect", and if they caught him, transport him for deconstruction.

But Kiro was determined. He slowly walked to the front of the train as it was in place ready to leave at will. Trying his best not to look suspicious to anyone, he opened the train door leading to the front of the machine. He repaired the machine so many times he gained all the knowledge hack into the carts AI and pilot it himself. From there, all he needed to do was escape far enough and hide long enough until the sentinels gave up searching. Kiro was not sure if this would work, but he had to try, no matter the outcome. It was far better than living a lie for the rest of his days. He hacked into the tram system and the train started accelerating, faster and faster. "This is it! No turning back now" Kiro thought, as the train continued to gain speed. He was far past the tram station when he looked out of the trains left window, noticing dozens of sentinels chasing him. They were catching up to Kiro and he didn't know what to do. He couldn't stay in the train much longer or the sentinels would surely catch him. So much fear running through his mind, he had to think of a new plan and fast. He looked through the front window of the train to see where he was currently heading and noticed that the train was about to reach its first turn on the track. "Oh no!" he said. "At the speed I'm going, I'll fly off the tracks!" It was obvious that if he stayed in the train while it flew off, the explosion from the crash would kill him. With all the fear and rush he had inside him, the only thing he could think of was to jump out. He didn't like the idea, but he knew if timed it right, he could survive the fall. He looked out the window again, finding a nearby building rooftop that was the perfect distance to leap. Just seconds away from flying off the track, Kiro leaped out of the window of the train, landing hard on the buildings surface fallowed after by a bright orange light and the sound of the train exploding. Kiro looked up at the sky and saw the sentinels fly right past him without even noticing. They all gathered around what was left of the train collision, thinking that he was still in the cart at the time and melted from the blast. "So they think I died huh?" he thought. With the strength he had left Kiro picked himself and climbed down from the building, being thankful that we was unharmed enough from the fall that he could still walk, and more thankful that he would never have to run from anyone again.

The next day the sun was beginning to set and Kiro was atop one of his favorite buildings, looking down at the remains of the train crash, watching all the robot workers repairing the city as they were programed for. The more Kiro watched, the more he appreciated his defected mind. It allowed him to appreciate the world he lived in rather than giving him the urge to constantly maintain it. No more work. No more worries. No more running. A rogue spirit. Just being able to sit back and absorb the painting that truly was Megatropolis.

The sun was almost gone and the city lights were starting to appear. Kiro couldn't have been happier.

Keywords