Star League 6 Read online

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Star League 6: Robot Reboot

  ePub ISBN 9781742754444

  A Random House book

  Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd

  Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060

  www.randomhouse.com.au

  First published by Random House Australia in 2011

  Copyright © H.J. Harper 2011

  Illustration copyright © Nahum Ziersch 2011

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia.

  Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at www.randomhouse.com.au/offices.

  National Library of Australia

  Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry

  Author: Harper, H.J.

  Title: Robot reboot / H.J. Harper; Nahum Ziersch

  ISBN: 978 1 86471 871 3 (pbk.)

  Series: Harper, H.J. Star league; 6

  Target Audience: For children

  Other Authors/Contributors: Ziersch, Nahum

  Dewey Number: A823.4

  Cover illustration and design by Nahum Ziersch

  To Demelza. – H.J.H.

  To Shane and Naomi. – N.Z.

  Contents

  Copyright Page

  Imprint Page

  Dedication

  Title Page

  Meet the Star League

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Collect them all

  About the author

  About the illustrator

  One of the first things I remember after being created in Pestilence Labs was watching a movie. It was an old black-and-white film about killer robots who were trying to take over the world. Professor Pestilence had shown it to me and the rest of the Unit 12 Synthetic Artificial Machines as a training video so we’d rise up and fight the humans.

  But it didn’t work like that for me. I was supposed to want the robots to win – instead I wanted the humans to defeat them. I watched the other Unit 12 robots absorb the information and I knew I was different. Something had gone wrong with my programming: I could make my own decisions.

  When I saw that Professor Pestilence was trying to take over the world with his robotic creations, I knew I had to do something. So one night I made the decision to escape Pestilence Labs.

  Which is how I got to be in this situation.

  Right now I’m tied to a chair along with the other members of the Star League, the secret crime-fighting group I joined when I escaped Professor Pestilence’s clutches.

  ‘Ugh! These ropes are too tight,’ moans Roger Romero. ‘They’re cutting off my circulation!’

  ‘You’re a zombie,’ snarls Connor Lowe. ‘Do you even have circulation?’

  ‘Relax, guys,’ says Jay Casey. ‘We’ll get out of here soon. Can anybody get free?’

  I twist my hands around so my finger is pointed at the ropes, then I activate the laser in my fingertip. A beam of heat shoots from my finger and burns through the rope. I stand up, ready to release the others, when someone blocks my way.

  ‘Oh no, it’s the Mercenary!’ yells Leigh Faunus.

  The masked villain cackles. ‘Guilty as charged!’

  ‘You’re going to pay for tying us up,’ growls Asuka Kuro. ‘Quick, Sam, get him!’

  The others stare at me expectantly. I know I have to say something. I open my mouth to talk and …

  ‘DOES NOT COMPUTE!’ I say. ‘Programming incompatible with situation.’

  ‘CUT!’ yells the director, Ben Beaumont. The room floods with light and the Mercenary pulls off his mask.

  ‘I’ve had enough of this!’ he huffs. ‘I’m a serious ACTOR! I shouldn’t be working with amateurs!’ The actor playing the Mercenary storms off the set.

  By this point the others have slipped out of their ropes, which I guess weren’t that tight after all.

  ‘What happened, Sam?’ asks Jay. ‘ “Does not compute” wasn’t in the script. Did you forget your lines?’

  ‘Negative,’ I say. ‘My memory files are 99.9 per cent accurate.’

  ‘Then what’s the problem, Bot-boy?’ asks Roger.

  ‘According to the script I am required to say, “Sayonara, Mercenary!” and then blow him up with a laser blast, correct?’

  Jay nods. ‘That’s right.’

  ‘But the word “sayonara” comes from the Japanese language, meaning goodbye or farewell.’

  The others stare at me. ‘So?’ asks Connor.

  ‘The character I am playing in this film is not Japanese. It is much more probable that he would say “goodbye”.’

  Asuka groans. ‘It doesn’t have to make sense. Haven’t you ever heard of a catchphrase before?’

  ‘Definition is as follows: a signature saying that is made popular through repeated use.’

  ‘Right, so if you know what it means, why didn’t you say the line?’ asks Leigh.

  I can see the others are becoming frustrated but I don’t know why. After all, accuracy is important and, as a robot, part of my programming is to correct human error.

  ‘Look, let’s just drop it and try again,’ says Jay. ‘After all, the sooner we get through filming this movie the sooner we can get back to fighting crime.’

  ‘That may be sooner than you think,’ I say. ‘Incoming message from GALACTIC headquarters!’

  Suddenly Ben Beaumont’s phone starts to ring.

  ‘It’s GALACTIC,’ he says, looking at the number. ‘I’d better get this.’

  The others stare at me in surprise. ‘How did you know Ben’s phone was about to ring?’ asks Asuka.

  ‘My sensory system is wired to receive all incoming and outgoing frequencies.’

  ‘Whoa! So you’re like a giant radio?’ asks Roger. ‘How do we change the station on you?’

  ‘Negative. I am not a radio.’

  ‘Relax, Sam, it was a joke,’ says Jay.

  Ben snaps his phone shut. ‘There’s a robbery in progress at the Happy Android Robotics Factory. The Star League are needed right away.’

  ‘We’ll take one of the studio cars,’ says Jay. ‘I just hope we make it in time!’

  ‘I detect an error in our strategy,’ I say. ‘Most break-and-enter crimes take, on average, thirteen minutes and forty-eight seconds to complete. If we take a studio car it will take us fourteen minutes and twenty-two seconds to arrive.’

  ‘Yeah? So why are we wasting time standing around
chatting?’ asks Connor.

  ‘I thought I should inform you that I have engineered a method of transport that will get us there precisely eight minutes sooner. Follow me.’

  I lead the others out into the studio lot to my workshop in an old garage. I slide open the garage door to reveal a shiny black car.

  ‘I have adapted this car to run on nitrogen tetroxide and hydrazine, more commonly known as rocket fuel.’

  ‘It’s a rocketcar?’ asks Jay, his eyes wide. ‘When did you get time to do all this?’

  ‘Because I am a robot I do not sleep. That means I have a lot of time to perfect inferior human technology.’

  ‘Well, if we don’t hurry up and get in the car, a whole lot of that inferior human technology is going to go missing!’ says Asuka. ‘Let’s go!’

  We all jump in and I set the coordinates for the robotics factory. The autopilot takes over and begins to drive us out of the lot.

  ‘Uh, I’m not sure I like being driven around by something I can’t see,’ says Leigh. ‘What if it crashes?’

  ‘The chances of crashing in this car are less than 0.01 per cent compared to a 13 per cent chance of accident with an inferior human driver,’ I say, trying to put her and the others at ease.

  But Connor seems annoyed. ‘Will you knock off this “inferior human” business, Sam? We may be inferior to your robot brain but it doesn’t mean we’re not as good.’

  ‘Actually, that is the definition of inferior,’ I say. If I ever made a mistake I would want somebody to correct me so I could adjust my programming accordingly and not make the same mistake again. But Connor doesn’t seem to see it that way. I quickly scan his vital signs and body language, and my data systems inform me that he is experiencing the emotion known as anger.

  ‘I did not mean to anger you, Connor. Here, perhaps some of your favourite music will make you feel better.’ I switch on the car’s audio system and a style of music known as heavy metal comes out of the speakers.

  ‘Hey, this is my favourite song,’ says Connor. ‘How did you know that?’

  ‘By careful analysis of your personal tastes and belongings,’ I say.

  ‘Wait a minute, does that mean you go through our stuff?’ asks Roger.

  ‘Of course I do,’ I answer. ‘Part of my programming is to gather as much information as possible.’

  The others look furious, though I don’t see why they’d be angry with me.

  ‘Don’t be mad at Sam,’ says Jay, trying to calm the others down. ‘He doesn’t understand. Besides,’ he continues, glancing out the window, ‘we’re here.’

  As we jump out of the car the others glare at me. But that doesn’t bother me as much as what Jay said: that I don’t understand. How could I not understand? It’s my job to understand things.

  I store the data away in a memory file for later analysis and head into the factory with the others.

  The Happy Android Robotics Factory has one of the most hi-tech security systems in the world. It might prove challenging, even for my programming. I open the control panel, ready to get to work, when I discover that it has already been disabled.

  ‘Oh,’ I mutter. ‘The alarm is down. The intruders must still be inside.’

  ‘Okay, I want everyone to be careful in there,’ says Jay. ‘We don’t know who or what we’re dealing with, so keep your wits about you.’

  We sneak into the factory, keeping to the shadows. On the way we pass a motion sensor panel, which gives me an idea. I remove the tip of my left index finger to reveal a plug underneath.

  I slot the plug into the wall panel and download the data stored within.

  ‘The intruders are on the second level,’ I say, analysing the motion sensor data. ‘They’re in the workshop.’

  We head up towards the workshop, but as we climb the stairs I hear a voice.

  Hello, Sam. It’s nice to finally meet you.

  I scan the area for life forms, but there are none besides the six of us.

  ‘Be quiet,’ I tell the rest of the Star League. ‘Our success to failure ratio goes up significantly if we can launch a surprise attack.’

  The others look at me in confusion. ‘But we didn’t say anything, Sam,’ whispers Leigh.

  ‘Is your brain malfunctioning or something?’ asks Asuka.

  I’m hearing voices? That seems statistically impossible. There must be a logical explanation

  There is a logical explanation, Sam, says the voice. I am wired into the factory’s computer system, just like you. That’s why you can hear me.

  I stop where I am. The others don’t notice and keep walking ahead.

  ‘Who are you?’ I whisper.

  I am iRis, comes the answer, and I’m a robot like you. Which is why I want to help. Stay where you are for a moment.

  Normally I wouldn’t trust a strange voice in my head. It seems logistically unwise. But there’s something about iRis’s voice that puts me at ease, almost like I’m being hypnotised.

  I watch as Jay, Connor, Asuka, Roger and Leigh pass through a door, which slides shut behind them. Then I hear them cry out in shock.

  Your friends have walked into a trap, says iRis.

  ‘What? You tricked me?’ I try to run towards the door but my feet feel frozen to the spot.

  It was necessary to help them, explains iRis. If you had followed them into the trap you could not have saved them. The same would have happened if I had warned you it was a trap. This way has the greatest chance for success, at 0.18 per cent.

  ‘Those are not very good odds,’ I say.

  They are better than zero, says iRis. Now, you must follow my instructions exactly if you want your friends to live. Climb up into the air vent above your head.

  I look up and see the vent iRis is talking about. I climb to the top of a piece of machinery and open the air vent, then pull myself inside and start inching along the crawlspace on my hands and knees.

  Good, now turn left. If you look down you’ll be able to see your friends.

  As I peer through one of the vents I spot the Star League below me, and my systems switch to high alert mode.

  They’re surrounded by over fifty robots and, unlike me, I don’t think these robots are the friendly type.

  I watch as the Star League try to fight back against the robots. They manage to take out a few of them, but there are just too many robots. Jay gives the signal to stop fighting and the robots surround them, holding them prisoner.

  Sam, can you still hear me? asks iRis.

  ‘Affirmative,’ I answer.

  Those robots down there are Sentrybots that have been programmed to break into the factory, explains iRis. They will hold your friends hostage until they find what they came for. However, when the job is done they will … dispose of them.

  My systems process this information. I quickly reach the decision that this is definitely not something I want to happen.

  ‘Understood. What are your directives?’

  Sentrybots are not very intelligent. They follow the orders of the lead robot. If you can destroy the leader they will let your friends go.

  I glance down at the Sentrybots. ‘How do I know which one is the leader?’ I ask. ‘They all look the same.’

  You must sneak down there and pose as one of the Sentrybots. It doesn’t matter that you don’t look like them, they’ll recognise you as a robot and leave you alone as long as you follow their commands. Then, once you’ve figured out which one is the leader, you can disable its programming.

  ‘Understood.’

  I quietly climb down out of the air vent and sneak over to where the Star League are being held. Jay spots me and mouths something that looks like ‘get help!’, but I shake my head. I stick my chest out and walk confidently into the middle of the Sentrybots. A few of the robots point their weapons at me but none of them fire.

  ‘Sentrybot 11XQ3 reporting for duty!’ I announce. They lower their weapons and ignore me. I fall into line with the other Sentrybots as they march in a cont
inuous circle around the Star League. Jay and the others stare at me in confusion but say nothing.

  Every so often the Sentrybots change direction as the leaderbot gives the command. It’s almost impossible to tell which robot the command comes from. There are so many of them and they all react almost in sync with the leader.

  Soon I start to notice a pattern. The robots to my left move faster than the robots on my right, which makes me think the leader is to my left. I move along the chain of robots in the direction of the leader, careful not to break the pattern of marching in case they realise I’m not really one of them and choose to exterminate me.

  I march along the line until I think I’ve figured out who the leaderbot is. I shuffle up next to it and watch closely. Its movements are so quick that a human eye wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, but luckily my enhanced robotic reflexes are able to see that this robot is the first to move. It’s definitely the leaderbot.

  I’m about to reach out to short circuit its wiring when the Sentrybots suddenly grind to a halt. I have no choice but to stop too or they’ll realise I’m not really one of them.

  ‘Greetings, Sentrybot 16YJ9,’ drones the leader. ‘You have returned.’

  I turn and notice another Sentrybot has entered the room.

  ‘Were you able to find the top-secret technology we were sent to steal?’ the leaderbot asks the new robot.

  ‘Negative,’ says 16YJ9. ‘The Megadroids are nowhere to be found.’

  Megadroids? I scan my databases but they return no search results. I’ve never heard of that technology.

  ‘That is unfortunate,’ says the leaderbot. ‘The Megadroids must be found. We shall proceed to search the next location on our list, Falcon Laboratories. But for now the prisoners have heard too much. It is time to exterminate them!’

  The Sentrybots pull out their weapons and point them at the Star League.