The makers of these robots have figured out that the fastest way to move two assault rifles over uneven terrain is to give them human-like legs, an upright chassis and shoulders for two arms. At the elbows, these arms turn into two factory-made, belt-fed AK-47s, of which the wooden stocks have been removed.

Their makers have also figured out that the best place to put the visual receptors is where they are most useful: in a lifted pod that sits clear of the chassis, where the pod offers maximum field-of-vision and a hard target compared to the tempting chassis underneath.

The motors for the upper and lower ligaments needed to be housed in the upper and lower chassis – and the chassis was easier to hit, so they put the processor box in the pod as well. The pod has a steel casing that's almost two centimeters thick.

There's only one – almost-forgotten – automatic, shoulder-fired rifle which can be carried by a running soldier and which can consistently penetrate an IR-1 infantry robot's armored skull.

The infantry robot is covered in light-absorbing camouflage paint. It is a hard target, it moves fast and it fires accurately.

But, most chillingly, the IR-1 does not fear death ...

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Hundreds of these robots were assembling in our sector, undoubtedly for a big offensive. We did not know where they were coming from, or how they communicated with their human handlers.

Our latest intelligence suggested that the extra armor-plating on the robot’s rear bullet silo concealed a small chamber that contained the key to the IR-1’s communications secret.

Unconfirmed reports from the Magdeleine sector rumored that a reconnaissance platoon had witnessed an enemy technician opening such a chamber. The chamber’s lid purportedly folded out into a flat surface, acting as the base for the full keyboard of an incredibly small and thin clamshell-shaped ultra-mobile device.

The device was linked to the robot’s processor stem with two high-speed USB 2.0 cables and a DVI-I video output. According to the recon unit, the enemy technician was busy inserting a flash drive into a 4-in-1 card reader.

Traditionally, card readers were used by civilians to access virtually any flash memory card that did not interface with USB because they were simply too thin. These cards are solid-state electronic flash memory data storage devices and are used in digital cameras, handheld and laptop computers, telephones, music players, video game consoles, etc. They offer high re-record-ability, power-free storage, small form factor, and rugged environmental specifications.

In this terrifying new role, a 4-in-1 card-reader would be able to access up to four formats of extremely thin, light and rugged memory cards that can each store more than 2GB of military data.

The report was incredibly troubling. We knew there was only one ultra-mobile this small that had a full keyboard and enough processing speed to run an attack robot’s wireless communication systems – and extreme power independency provided by the 5 hours of battery life from the four-cell battery and low-draw processor.

It became clear to us that the VIA NanoBook was not a rumor any more. The enemy had managed to get its hands on the blueprints and was mass-producing them for insertion into its attack robots.

Orders, maps, directives and other programs could be updated by simply changing a light, thin and rugged flash memory card in the robot’s interface computer – the VIA NanoBook.

The VIA NanoBook, being small, light, low-drawing, satellite-connected and high-speed, would make a terrible addition to the lethal firepower of the IR-1.

Being an optimist, Sarge saw the bright side of this dark and ominous cloud: “Looks to me,” he drawled with a glint in his eye, “like we finally found an opportunity to get our hands on one of those VIA NanoBooks.”

Next: “First Contact”

Visitor

Friday, 13 July 2007

Very entertaining! This is getting more and more interesting! :grin

Visitor

Sunday, 15 July 2007

:grin Interesting and entertaining

Visitor

Monday, 16 July 2007

Great stuff - great read

Visitor

Thursday, 26 July 2007

Cool! very interesting

Visitor

Sunday, 29 July 2007

:grin cool. very entertaining

Visitor

Tuesday, 31 July 2007

"There's only one – almost-forgotten – automatic, shoulder-fired rifle which can be carried by a running soldier and which can consistently penetrate an IR-1 infantry robot's armored skull."
Yeah, here's to the FN FAL battle rifle. Because sometimes the use of a good gun is required to defend freedom. :)

Visitor

Tuesday, 31 July 2007

Very interesting material for a movie script - keep it coming. ;)

Visitor

Thursday, 16 August 2007

Yeah, cool movie! 8)