There was a group of friends in their 20's that called themself Zem. They had known each other since their school days. Surprisingly, they had kept touch all through college even though many of them were in foreign countries. There were many of them but one day, they decided to meet up after over 5 years. It was a party. But before we get to the party, let's introduce everybody. There is Viraj, the Businessman; Kavin, the Influencer; Siya, the Journalist; Anaisha, the Mistress; Ayon, the Politician; Aneeka, the Fox; Anya, the Actor and Chaitanya, the Developer. Viraj and Aneeka had started their own business to make robots and they had grown closer until they were romantically inclined with each other.
At the party, everyone arrived almost simultaneously. Everyone rejoiced to see their old friends. Even the catering was done by their school friends. Anaisha was the most glamorous that day. After being married to one of the richest women in the world, she had all the money she could ever desire. That day she was covered in diamonds. Anya was a little jealous of Aneeka since they had old beef and she had been liking Viraj for a long time. Chaitanya showed off by duplicating himself. The Developer had once been a volunteer test subject which led him to have certain abilities. After that one incident, he could turn himself into two humans at will and have the ability to control both. Anya was the only one late and she had a hurried excuse of being at a red carpet. Ayon and Kavin were talking about where they had gotten in life. Kavin felt good that day since at most parties, he was faced with condescension for being the Influencer. Everything was going wonderfully, until..
"So, how's the business going?" asked Kavin
"Good. We've now got two main bots and a bunch of other mini bots. We own the patents. One bot is owned by TATA and they bought it for over a buck billion," replied Viraj
"Wow. How does the process of making robots go with two people? What do the robots do?"
"So Aneeka writes the code, the software part and I design the body and do the marketing. So the two bots are Yggdrasil and HMEE6. Yggdrasil is a worker robot. It has many limbs made of nano-tech, so it can change its size and make different things to satisfy the objectives. The other one, uhhhh. It's sorta broken. It's fine but we don't have any control over."
Aneeka came over to them and asked, "What's going on? I heard my name"
"We were just discussing your company." Kavin answered a little sheepishly.
"I was telling him about HMEE6. I'm honestly scared."
"So, HME6 stands for Hive Mind Evolution 6. It is too strong. It has its own mind. It's sentient. And not only that, it can control other bots as well. We made minibots to make a database of bots. Like, one HMEE6 would be able to control a slew of bots and a lot of labour is saved. This did not work but we found out a little late. We're scared."
"It'll be fine, babe" consoled Viraj
Before Aneeka could say anything, there was a loud BOOM. When everyone went to look at what happened, they saw a large hole in the corner of the room. Aneeka backed away slowly,"No, no, Everybody Run." Everyone scattered just as two humanoid figures jumped out of the hole. Kavin, Viraj and Anya hid behind the bar table and Aneeka, Anaisha and Ayon hid under a table. Chaitanya however, was caught in the middle. He was stunned and couldn't move momentarily. Yggdrasil took advantage of that and attempted to spear him but he was able to duplicate himself in time and join both groups. Meanwhile Viraj and Aneeka told the others everything and that HME6 now had control over Yggdrasil as well. Before they were able to regroup, Yggdrasil coiled Viraj in one of its limbs and dragged him away. Before he disappeared, Viraj yelled,"Don't let them win!"
Once he was gone, Anya yelled,"What the ****?"
Kavin replied, "Agreed"
Everyone sat down but they were still very jittery. Everyone started quietly contemplating and wondering what they could do. Chaitanya said,"Welp. We're dead." Everyone looked at him. "I mean. We are definitely going to go save Viraj but the Yggdra-thingy is too powerful. And the other Mind-thing-robot, that controls him. We will be picked off one by one. Even if we don't try to save him, he wants world domination, so we're gonna die anyway."
"So, let's die as heroes. The ones who at least tried. I may seem like a pretty girl but I can pack quite a punch. You remember that Kavin" Anaisha said all of a sudden.
"There is hope. I wrote the code. I can alter it. I was scared to do it, since we had already committed to the project but now, it's life or death." Aneeka realized.
"Let's go to my place then. It's the closest from here." Kavin suggested.
Everyone agreed and they all left. They were thinking that only Yggdrasil had an effect on the group but in reality, HME6 had learned to control minds as well. Ayon had HME6 whispering in his mind, clouding his thoughts and changing his motives. Everyone was shocked to see that Kavin's house was filled with technology of all kinds. When he was asked he just shrugged,"I do a lot of tech reviews and sponsors." Aneeka quickly grabbed one of the laptops, sat down and hacked into the company interface. She opened the HME6 code and altered it. She pressed save and run. Before a result could come, Ayon grabbed a knife and tried to stab Chaitanya but Chaitanya quickly divided into two. Siya grabbed him by the waist and tried to tackle him but before someone could grab his arms, he threw the knife directly at Anya. She got pierced right through her heart. Everyone was stunned. Ayon said,"I'm sorry. HME6 is too powerful. He controlled me. What have I done?" He then promptly stabbed himself.
"We need to stop him. The code is being transferred. I need to press the reboot button for it to proceed,." Aneeka said.
"Let's go to my place. It's big and Ashi won't mind. The bots will eventually come to us, so an ambush?" Anaisha suggested.
Everyone agreed and left for Anaisha and her wife Ashi's house. Anaisha had met Ashi in college and they had been dating ever since. Once Ashi dropped out of college to start her business Anaisha proposed and Ashi accepted. On the way to Anaisha's house, Aneeka figured out how to track Yggdrasil and was shocked to see that it had reached Kavin's house. "It's following us. Must want me. Let's wait at Anaisha's house," said Aneeka. Once they reached Anaisha's mansion, they were greeted by butlers. Anaisha asked the butler for a more maneuverable outfit for everyone. Ashi came out of the dining room and yelled,"Honey, you're home. How are you? Who are these people?" Anaisha explained what had happened to them. Ashi was shocked. Siya rushed everyone to get ready and they all positioned themselves as Chaitanya strategized to be best. As soon as everyone took their positions, Yggdrasil came barging through the front door. It was perfect but the only problem was that HME6 was not there. Without a warning, HME6 grabbed Aneeka from behind. Ashi and Anaisha tried to help her but they both got launched across the hall by Yggdrasil. Even though HME6 was not too strong, it was strong enough. Before being dragged away Aneeka shouted, "They're at Viraj's house."
Everyone was stunned. They decided that Kavin and Siya try to stop the bots while Chaitanya takes care of Ashi and Anaisha. Without a second spared, Siya got a key to a sports car and marched over to it. Kavin got in the passenger seat and they drove away before Ashi and Anaisha could recover from their fall. Siya drove at a very high speed to Viraj's house. On the way, Kavin and Siya strategized.
Kavin and Siya snuck in. The bots had disabled the intruder alarms, so they got in with ease. Kavin showed Siya a secret passageway that led to the back of Viraj's workshop. Kavin, however, headed there directly while making a lot of noise. Yggdrasil charged towards Kavin but Kavin managed to dodge. They played this very dangerous game for less than 5 minutes but that was enough for Siya to get both Viraj and Aneeka out of the prison and escape. Kavin was injured by the time the others had gotten to the patio. Siya had forgotten to press the reboot button on HME6. Kavin dragged himself to HME6's feet and pressed the reset button. Yggdrasil fell to the ground and everything was saved.
In the end, Siya, Viraj, Chaitanya, Anaisha, Ashi and Kavin were the survivors. They missed their friends but they were glad they had won.
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