Robots Versus Humans (The Robot Planet Series Book 2) by Robert Chazz Chute

it?”
    “Something I’d hoped wouldn’t be necessary but there’s always got to be a Plan B. You know why, right?”
    “Complications ensue.”
    “Good man. Sometimes to get out of hell, you have to go through the long way. We’re not headed to the coast now.”
    As the dust began to settle, he grabbed me under my armpits and lifted me to my feet. With his cy-suit, I felt like a boy being lifted in the air.
    A shadow ran past amid the swirling dust. It was Jen headed to the rear of the train. The engine that pointed east was still on the tracks. Only the engine and three cars remained upright.
    My father hefted his heavy rifle and told me to stay behind him. He started for the train and I stumbled forward. Emma emerged from the dust cloud.
    I called out. “Raphael? You okay?”
    “Peachy! Keep going!”
    When I looked behind me, the old man had climbed back on Bob’s back. The assistive bot stayed on its hind legs and walked as a biped to maneuver through the trainwreck’s debris field.
    The skin of some of the cars had ripped open in the crash. Above me, Emma echoed my thoughts, “It’s empty. The whole train is empty.”
    My jaw went slack. “We kept thinking it would stop and give us goodies. It didn’t have anything, anyway.”
    “It came from the domes to the east and north,” Emma said. “No crops.”
    “And no water, neither,” Raphael said. “Shit!”
    Leading with the muzzle of his rifle, my father was ready for trouble. We didn’t find any on the train. By the time we got to the engine, Jen was already aboard.
    The companion bot smiled, reached down and offered her hand. She pulled me up, surprising me with her strength.
    My father peered around corners, ready for attackers. “Nobody home, Jenny?”
    “No, sir,” she said. “No humans. No drones. Just the pilot computer.”
    Emma retracted her exo-stilts to fit inside the engine’s door as she climbed in. “The whole train is the bot. The tracks to the coast are destroyed.”
    “The tracks to the west are destroyed,” my father said. “The tracks that will take you back home are clear.”
    Dad took a backpack that had been hanging on Bob and disappeared down the side of the train. I heard him banging on something. I poked my head out of the engine in time to see him emerge from the car behind me and close the door carefully.
    My father gave us a cheery wink. “The surprise is ready.”
    “What surprise?” I asked.
    “Bob has the details but don’t open that door. I’ve left an active proximity mine for anybody who opens that door, okay? Okay.”
      “You’ve put a bomb on our train?” Emma was wide-eyed.
    “More than one, actually. Running away won’t solve the problem. To survive this, we have to take the battle to them. Otherwise, the bots will eventually hunt us all down. I’ve already unlinked two cars and the engine from the wreck. You’ll make good time.”
    Emma said nothing. She was quick to weigh the options and must have figured there were no better choices. She made no argument.
    We were pointed east but the track would curve north and take us on a circuitous route before turning to Artesia.
    Jen moved forward in the engine’s cockpit. “Raphael was right. The manual controls are still here.”
    “Nothin’ much more complicated than a lever for speed and a brake,” Raphael said as Bob ambled up. “Haven’t seen the inside of one of these babies in a dog’s age. Down, Bobby.”
    The assistive bot knelt. Raphael grunted as he climbed down and leaned on Bob.
    “What’s the plan?” I asked. “Storm the NI’s castle and get killed?”
    “They won’t expect a counter-attack,” my father grinned. “It’s not logical. We’re weak. That’s when it’s most dangerous to attack any animal. We’re vulnerable and backed up against a wall with no choice but fight or become extinct.”
    “Yes,” Emma said, “but what’s the plan? Macho bravado isn’t a plan.”
    My father dipped his head. “Maybe