Combat programmed reconnaissance drone - ljidol week 12
Jones was the complainer of the unit, “Who packed this kit, and why in hell do we need all of this crap for a simple recon job?” He was standing in front of a large banded crate labelled: General Robotics Company: Combat programmed reconnaissance drone, ground based - 4.
“Give us all a break, Jones! Team, move this gear out!” Sergeant Atwater ran a tight unit and didn’t take any crap from his lowest ranking member. They picked up the handles on the crate and scrambled off the drop ship and out of the clearing into the brush, covering a quarter mile before stopping under an overhanging cliff to check their map displays and set up a perimeter.
The sergeant snagged Jones before he could take an outer post, “Since you love our gear so much, you get to unpack the recon units.”
“Damn Sarge! These things creep me out. Can’t you tag someone else for this?” Jones’ complaints were falling on deaf ears though since the sergeant was already moving to check on his other troops.
Jones couldn’t help muttering to himself as he popped the straps on the crate, “Stupid barrel of robo-monkeys. Couldn’t give us the sparrow drones, had to be monkeys…” Once the crate was open he grabbed the wrist computer from its holder on the side of the lead unit and keyed in the warm-up command as he strapped it to his arm.
When the robots came online Jones gave a shudder. The eyes on the four units in the crate glowed a faint orange in the shade of their crate as they straightened one by one and stepped out, moving very much like the apes they were designed to mimic.
The sergeant’s voice came over Jones’ headset, “get those units out and on patrol, we have a weather system moving in fast, and I don’t want to get my ass fried by all the lightning I’m seeing on the display!”
“You got it Sarge, they’re moving out now.” Jones keyed in the command that would get the robots into motion. Even without the weather display on his helmet screen he could feel the pressure change and the winds pick up. The troop of robo-simians immediately swarmed up the nearest of the giant trees as Jones’ helmet screen replaced the radar map with the view from the robots’ cameras.
The concussion was immense and Jones thought he might go blind from the flash as lightning struck the tree the robots had just climbed. Monkeys rained from the skies as Jones landed on his ass half way across the clearing. “Hey Sarge, we just had a lightning hit on the monkeys.”
Static crackled in the soldier’s headset, “Jones, they’re rated to take that shit! Reset ‘em and get ‘em back to work!” The sergeant sounded annoyed over the radio.
Jones tried to reset the robots with the wrist unit and got no response from them. “Crap, I hate these things.” He cautiously began opening them one at a time and reset them manually, causing his wrist unit to ping in response as they reconnected. As each unit came back online they stood ready in a row waiting for the signal to move out. He got to unit #1 last and saw that it must have taken a direct strike. The unit had a black streak running from the top of its head half way down its back.
He keyed in the commands to send the rest of the units out and set to work on unit #1 and called over the radio, “hey Sarge, monkey one is down, but I got the other three moving, you should have them on the head’s up display.” The three operational units scurried back up the tree and began their scouting pattern while Jones worked on the remaining unit. Opening the back revealed that the main processor board had taken a hit, and the crossover to the backup was jammed. It took some extra effort to remove the burnt component and engage the crossover, but once done the indicator lights on the terminal board lit up.
Once closed up and cycled back online Jones stepped back as he ordered the unit out on patrol.
Robotic reconnaissance Unit #1 stood perfectly still for thirty seconds and then began to vibrate. The damage from the electrical strike had been worse than anyone could have anticipated, wiping out all but the basic combat routines stored in its BIOS. Jones stood back keying commands into the wrist controller trying to get this one monkey moving. The robot stopped vibrating and its eyes flared brighter as it quickly identified hostile targets, including Private Jones.
Jones didn’t even get a warning out to the rest of the recon team before the robot removed his head from his shoulders.
This is an entry for LJ Idol week 12 ..
“Give us all a break, Jones! Team, move this gear out!” Sergeant Atwater ran a tight unit and didn’t take any crap from his lowest ranking member. They picked up the handles on the crate and scrambled off the drop ship and out of the clearing into the brush, covering a quarter mile before stopping under an overhanging cliff to check their map displays and set up a perimeter.
The sergeant snagged Jones before he could take an outer post, “Since you love our gear so much, you get to unpack the recon units.”
“Damn Sarge! These things creep me out. Can’t you tag someone else for this?” Jones’ complaints were falling on deaf ears though since the sergeant was already moving to check on his other troops.
Jones couldn’t help muttering to himself as he popped the straps on the crate, “Stupid barrel of robo-monkeys. Couldn’t give us the sparrow drones, had to be monkeys…” Once the crate was open he grabbed the wrist computer from its holder on the side of the lead unit and keyed in the warm-up command as he strapped it to his arm.
When the robots came online Jones gave a shudder. The eyes on the four units in the crate glowed a faint orange in the shade of their crate as they straightened one by one and stepped out, moving very much like the apes they were designed to mimic.
The sergeant’s voice came over Jones’ headset, “get those units out and on patrol, we have a weather system moving in fast, and I don’t want to get my ass fried by all the lightning I’m seeing on the display!”
“You got it Sarge, they’re moving out now.” Jones keyed in the command that would get the robots into motion. Even without the weather display on his helmet screen he could feel the pressure change and the winds pick up. The troop of robo-simians immediately swarmed up the nearest of the giant trees as Jones’ helmet screen replaced the radar map with the view from the robots’ cameras.
The concussion was immense and Jones thought he might go blind from the flash as lightning struck the tree the robots had just climbed. Monkeys rained from the skies as Jones landed on his ass half way across the clearing. “Hey Sarge, we just had a lightning hit on the monkeys.”
Static crackled in the soldier’s headset, “Jones, they’re rated to take that shit! Reset ‘em and get ‘em back to work!” The sergeant sounded annoyed over the radio.
Jones tried to reset the robots with the wrist unit and got no response from them. “Crap, I hate these things.” He cautiously began opening them one at a time and reset them manually, causing his wrist unit to ping in response as they reconnected. As each unit came back online they stood ready in a row waiting for the signal to move out. He got to unit #1 last and saw that it must have taken a direct strike. The unit had a black streak running from the top of its head half way down its back.
He keyed in the commands to send the rest of the units out and set to work on unit #1 and called over the radio, “hey Sarge, monkey one is down, but I got the other three moving, you should have them on the head’s up display.” The three operational units scurried back up the tree and began their scouting pattern while Jones worked on the remaining unit. Opening the back revealed that the main processor board had taken a hit, and the crossover to the backup was jammed. It took some extra effort to remove the burnt component and engage the crossover, but once done the indicator lights on the terminal board lit up.
Once closed up and cycled back online Jones stepped back as he ordered the unit out on patrol.
Robotic reconnaissance Unit #1 stood perfectly still for thirty seconds and then began to vibrate. The damage from the electrical strike had been worse than anyone could have anticipated, wiping out all but the basic combat routines stored in its BIOS. Jones stood back keying commands into the wrist controller trying to get this one monkey moving. The robot stopped vibrating and its eyes flared brighter as it quickly identified hostile targets, including Private Jones.
Jones didn’t even get a warning out to the rest of the recon team before the robot removed his head from his shoulders.
This is an entry for LJ Idol week 12 ..