Four robot hands were clamped around the rifle. RECO 1 loomed above. Roz lay below, camouflaged in seaweed. For a moment, all was still. And then the hunter suddenly lurched and twisted as he tried to rip the rifle away from his target. But Roz held on. Seaweed fell from her body, as she was lifted right off the ground. Her legs dangled in the air until she pounded a foot and a stump against the hunter’s broad chest, leaned back, and pulled on the rifle with all her strength.
Waves crashed as the robots grappled for the weapon. But Roz was no match for RECO 1. The hunter was too big and too brutal. Roz could feel her body being pulled apart. But she could also feel the rifle being pulled apart. A faint glow appeared between her hands. The glow grew brighter and brighter, and then a blinding explosion launched the robots in opposite directions.
When the smoke cleared, shards of the rifle were everywhere. RECO 1’s body was pocked with holes, and one arm was charred and crippled. Roz’s arms and legs had been blown completely off. She was now just a torso and a head. Inside her computer brain, our robot’s Survival Instincts were blaring. Her battered body simply could not take any more damage. Clearly, Roz was not designed for combat. But the RECO was. He pulled himself to his feet and hobbled toward his target.
Roz wanted to get up and run away. But without arms and legs, our robot couldn’t move. She could only speak.
“Please do not deactivate me,” she said.
RECO 1 ignored her. His blocky hand reached past her face and touched the back of her head.
Click.