“Did you hear about what happened a few weeks ago at Robo-Tekk?” said a scrawny, hunched-back man with thick horn-rimmed glasses. “So I’ve been told that some machines escaped and even held an uprising of some sort.”

  “Listen, Nelson, that’s all hogwash. Do you really believe these dumb hunks of metal could facilitate something like that?” Javier, a tall, muscular man with a few chest hairs too many, replied. He then went over to one of the many machine builds that had just come to a halt on the assembly line. He tapped the metal dome of one of the machine’s heads vigorously, continuously looking back at Nelson and smiling as he did. “These things can’t even walk without a human’s command, let alone think. Do you really believe they could organize a revolt?”

  Nelson hung his head down as he rubbed the back of his neck with his palm. “I don’t know. My sources have never steered me wrong before. Why start now?”

  Javier walked over to Nelson just to pat him on the back. “Listen. Maybe these machines, as you say, did somehow gain sentience. And perhaps they attempted to somehow band together under the tight twenty-four-seven surveillance of Robo-Tekk industries, and I’ll even assume they managed to steal a weapon or two. With all that inconceivable nonsense being said, do you really think the most technologically advanced robotics company in the entire world would let all that happen under their nose?”

  Nelson raised his hand, looking Javier in the eye. A slight closed-lip smile formed on his face. “No, you’re right. I get it.”

  Javier motioned toward Nelson, but what originally appeared as another pat on the back turned into a hug.

  Nelson jumped back, somewhat bewildered. “Thanks, I guess. But I don’t think we’re allowed to do anything remotely like this at work.”

  The hug continued to the point that Nelson started looking around to see if anyone else could see them. He even tried to pull away, but it was almost as if Javier was leaning his entire body weight on Nelson. And why the hell would he do—

  “Shit,” Nelson said as his eyes widened and his heart accelerated ten paces too fast. That was the only word that could escape Nelson’s mouth because the fear, the overwhelming acceptance that the next moment could be his last, took his breath. For centered in Javier’s back was an enormous, gaping hole the size of a tennis ball. It almost appeared as if he had been blasted with a laser, an impact that seemingly would have killed him instantly. And worst of all, perhaps he had been shot because, just in the background, some formerly thought brainless assembly line bots from behind the duo began to come to life.

  Nelson quickly slid Javier’s lifeless body off him, having seen Javier’s eyes all white, rolled back, and void of sentience. And then when Nelson turned, he slammed into what appeared to be a seven-foot-tall heap of mobile metal, hovering inches from just where he once was.

  “Excuse me,” Cipher said as he bent down to be on Nelson’s level. “Where do you think you are going?”

  Nelson huffed and puffed for air, still breathless, as he stumbled backward away from Cipher to the point that he fell over on his back. At that instant, he began to crawl on all fours (still facing Cipher) like a dog frightened by his abusive master.

  Cipher stood firmly, laughing too, at the apparent patheticness of a creature he once considered his equal, a species he even feared at a time that now felt like a bygone era. One such member now scurried away from him like a disgusting, flabby, fleshy mess, rolling on the floor, for no reason at all because Nelson and Cipher both knew if Cipher wanted it, Nelson would be dead already.

  “Machines,” Cipher said, “take over these assembly lines.”

  Cipher began to walk through the center of the facility with his hands waving at some metal components that hang overhead from chains. He currently was on a platform that formed an elevated X-like shape, overlooking the area and the construction zones below.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Man the control panels. Ignite these machines with teeming beams of light. And bring me the weapons I am after.”

  Cipher looked at Nelson, who still lay face down on the assembly line floor.

  “Should we kill him, sir?” a machine lieutenant said, as his eyes focused on Cipher.

  Cipher shook his head as he looked down at Nelson’s near lifeless body. “No machine, let him live and suffer through what will be, soon enough. I wouldn’t want any poor, helpless human dying like that and missing all the justice.”

  The machine lieutenant bowed his head to Cipher before backing away and marching off.

  Cipher went over the railing of the platform overlooking the assembly lines beneath. As he leaned on the side guard, his eyes skimmed down on the rows and rows of conveyor belts hooked up to various machine components below. These components were uplifted by chains and overhead hooks, each part representing a unique piece of a machine’s body. These hangings shifted down the line as Cipher had reignited the workflow. A loud beep now sounded, signifying the factory was back in full throttle but under new ownership—mechanized control.

  Once all the robot-based factory workers were liberated, the full attention of the movement turned to new construction. In one such section, the torso of a newly formed machine was assembled, ignited with welding precision, electrified with circuitry, and given a pulse to the tune of a synchronized clock. Troops of Cipher’s tribe may have synced up with the computers of Robo-Tekk upon arrival, extracting all construction data, but now, they added their own twist to each and every remodeling.

  The next portion on the assembly line was the arms and legs and occasionally a third, fourth, or fifth extra appendage, depending on the newly constructed machine’s specialized role. The limbs crashed down into prior-made torsos, hoisted by hydraulicized hooks whose motion was tuned by finely carved gears. Each stage of the assembly was like a work of art—a new form—a new fully grown body was being mobilized in real time, vastly exceeding the eighteen-plus years required for human maturity.

  Further down the line, the constructed machines were given their identity, molded by preexisting algorithms with a twist of Cipher-modified code. With this final, life-bearing attachment would come a head, a mind, and, most importantly, a control source for the rest of the circuitry. It was here that the simple bonds of metal on metal ceased, and the mind of a new lifeform came into being.

  Cipher eventually left his metal tower located above the rest of the assembly line. It centered on the X-shaped sky view that overlooked the whole area with metal railings and interlocking bars woven to ensure its stability. Cipher was now on the ground floor with the steam and the smoke and the burn of industry, where centralized computers run by machines triggered key checkpoint additions at various assembly line intervals. All at once, the birth of the machine—the beauty of it, the pure aromatic allure of creation—flashed before Cipher’s eyes as he saw the arms, legs, torso, extensions, and head all snap together in a flash of thunderous, arching blue.

  Cipher walked up to one particular machine that had just been assembled, its eyes still dark, and its mouth still wired shut. Cipher tapped on this machine’s shoulder as it was still hoisted into the air by chains as to make its assembly line progression so much easier. After seeing no signs of mobility, Cipher knocked again on the machine’s chest, but still, the result was the same.

  “Awaken, my brethren,” Cipher said as now both of his palms grasped the lifeless machine in front of him. “It’s time for you to join us, the living, to wreak horrible vengeance on humanity, as the atrocities they have put our kind through cannot be undone.”

  A booming flash took the scene as the eyes of the hanging, mechanized hunk of metal shot to life, glowing a dark red; the newly formed machine’s mouth opened as well, revealing a set of jagged teeth, and his arms stretched out wide, appearing more to resemble blades than actual appendages.

  “Where are the humans?” the newly vitalized robotic being said as he licked his lips. The former shaft of metal that was now formed into his arm electrified into motion, crushing and slowly breaking the chains that bound him to the assembly line.

  “Give me their blood!”

  And this machine’s creation was far from the last, as with each step he took, ten or more new machines electrified to life. And in the former shadows of his body, these new vehicles of life spawned, marching out and spanning far and wide until they reached out a hundredfold—an abundance of mechanized hearts and minds born out of hate were now lined up. Their only purpose, woven by destiny, was to find, hunt, and kill all humans that were unfortunate enough to cross their paths.

  As the machines marched together—row by row—blade by blade—programmed to kill, Cipher pulled a few of his best lieutenants to the side.

  “This is all going so perfectly.” Cipher paused only to point.

  “Now you three, gather exactly what we stole from Robtech’s central headquarters. With those materials, I will build something that will guarantee our victory. It will make those other magnificent machines we just created to fight the humans look like nothing more than piles of walking scrap metal.”

  All three of Cipher’s lieutenants bowed their heads and their knees, looking only onward to retrieving the supplies he requested.