Kemn made his way into the plaza. They were announcing the new robot model today. He wanted to get on the side of the crowd. From there, he could see the crowds and make a quick exit if need be.

Kemn finally reached the crowd and looked at those on the side. As he walked by, Kemn looked for a better view and worked with his peripheral vision. He looked around for any cops, then placed his hands inside his pockets.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The speaker announced while lasers waved around the air. The lasers flashed in all different colors, moving up and down. The stage was about thirty feet across, made of metal, with fog starting to form on it. "Introducing Kasan Corp's Founder and Chief Executive Officer: Jak Comor!" The crowd started cheering and Kemn continued working while they were distracted. A man disrupted the fog and walked out, onto the middle of the stage.

Two holoscreens could be found floating above the stage. On both the left and right were smaller ones, only three feet wide and five feet off the stage. They displayed the image of Jak Comor up close. The holoscreens were floating screens that had a light-cyan background with an image or video displayed on them.

Jak Comor was a standard Upper City man. He wore a dark-red suit made of silks with a white undershirt that had several buttons of the same color. He also had the signature Zumakari skin tone of light brown. "Thank you all for coming out here tonight," Jak said while the crowd still cheered. "We have been working really hard on this new model for over three years now," he said, "and we are excited to bring to you: Guardbot."

The crowd roared with cheering, soon quieting down. Kemn continued to do his work in secret, putting his hands in his pockets every time he did. A holo screen popped up off the stage. It floated maybe three feet off the ground, was curved in, and was as wide as the stage with the sides going out towards the crowd. A presentation started.

"Introducing: Guardbot," a robotic voice said. The voice rang out across the plaza. Kemn briefly looked up, now in the middle of the crowd. The robot popped up as a holographic model. It was outlined with the same light cyan color as the screen, but with no insides. The hologram was floating in the middle of the stage, with projection lines coming out of the screen and forming the model. The head of the model was a rectangular box, with the body being the same shape but vertical instead of horizontal. The arms came out of the body, where a human arm might be. The 'hands' of the robots looked like pincers, circles with holes in the middle that bent out at a joint to become two semi-circles.

The announcer continued, "The Guardbot can protect you from anything. Best of all, it isn't overprotective; you can tell it you do not want it protecting you from a certain thing and it will steer clear." That sounded like a nice feature. Of course, Kemn wouldn't be able to afford it. Robots when they first came out were about five thousand credits. Kemn made about three hundred credits per week, enough to afford the oldest robot or eat.

Kemn preferred eating.

He continued to do his work as the presentation went on. "The Guardbot also has a built-in shield, for protecting you from harm." Kemn briefly looked up, the bot had a circular shield emanating out of its 'hands'. Kemn continued to work. "The Guardbot." The announcer said, crowd cheering.

The holoscreens showed Jak up close again. "Thanks for coming out tonight," Jak said, "you've been a great crowd; goodnight!" He exclaimed. The crowd uproared with cheering and applause while Jak Comor walked off of the stage. Kemn continued working as the crowd dispersed and holoscreens faded.

He then walked away, hands in his pockets. They were filled to the brim at this point. It was a shameful thing, his work, but he needed to survive. Despite that, tonight had been successful, and he would eat another week.

Kemn walked away from the plaza. He pulled out his holopad, one he had gotten from work. A hologram popped up off of the screen with a vertical list of contacts in the middle. In the top-right corner, was the name Resh Nosor. Next to the name was a photo of someone who looked very similar to Jak Comor.

Kemn made a scrolling motion with his other hand; pinching his thumb and index finger together, and moving them up until they were off the screen. Kemn continued to repeat the motion until he found the one he was looking for, Gress.

Kemn pressed on the contact profile. The hologram changed from the list of contacts to a profile page with a picture of Gress. He had a crooked nose and short hair. All holograms didn't show color, just dark cyan outlines. Holoscreens were just screens that floated in the air; those did have color.

Kemn pressed the call button at the bottom of the screen, a miniature holopad with vibration lines. The holophone rang a sequence of three buzzing noises, followed by a very short, "blop," and a repeat of the buzzing noises. After about two cycles,  Gress picked up, "Hello?" Gress asked in a thick accent, "Hey, it's Kemn," he said, "I got some items, where is the drop site?" Kemn asked, "Alley next to the Breakshop on Fourth," Gress said. "Be there in ten minutes." He said. Kemn hung up on the phone. It was a small, "Boop!" 

Kemn needed to be there quickly, the breakshop was far away. He started into a light jog. On his way, he passed a lot of things; sites he had seen before. Most of the buildings reached into the sky. Despite the many lights emitting from the buildings, the sky was darkened. People seemed to swirl around him as Kemn ran. Kemn hated this job, finding it shameful. He put his hands in his pockets and checked his holopad.

Five minutes.

Kemn started into a sprint. He was almost there. Kemn was on Kasnura Avenue, only one street over from Fourth Street. He continued running along the sidewalk. He needed to be there on time, with his work, or Gress wouldn't show.

Kemn ran and ran until he saw the Fourth street sign. It pointed to his left, going around the corner. Kemn followed and continued running. After about two blocks, he saw the sign for the Breakshop. It read, Tam's Breakshop in a green font.

Kemn turned into the alley next to the breakshop. From there, he looked around for Gress. He was kind of short, compared to Kemn. The alley was dark, not illuminated by the many holograms, billboards, and holographic billboards that littered the streets. A dumpster was placed towards the back of the alley, with a fire exit right above the dumpster. A figure came out from behind the dumpster; Gress.

"You have the items?" Gress asked, "I do indeed," Kemn said. Gress held out a large tray for Kemn to put his work on. Kemn pulled everything out of his pockets. A variety of electronic devices were placed on that tray. Not just holopads, but watches, ID cards, and robot controllers.

"This is a great load!" Gress said, "Where'd you get it?" He asked. "I went down to the robot showcase at the Central Plaza," Kemn said. "This is worth several hundred credits and weeks of food," Gress said, placing the tray on a large box, and pulling out his holopad. "Let me write this down, and I'll start the delivery process." Something caught Kemn's eye from inside the dumpster. It was a small robot "Could I take the robot in there?" Kemn asked, "Sure," Gress said, "I didn't even know it was there."

Kemn grabbed the robot out of the dumpster. The robot looked like a guardbot, but much smaller and without a shield projector. Upon further inspection, Kemn found it had an unusual antenna as well as a small, hologram projector on the inside of its head. There was also a spot for a battery and a small number of items. Lastly, it had an on/off switch. The robot didn't have a battery currently in it, but Kemn could get one of those with ease.

"Here it is," Gress said, pressing some buttons on the hologram. "Kemn gets five weeks of food." He said, "Would you like it all at once or spread out?" Gress asked. "Spread out," Kemn said. "Noted," Gress said, "I will drop a day's worth of food to you every day at nine the previous day with a drone." He explained. "It will track you down and land right next to you, dropping off the package and flying off. Sound good?" Gress asked, "Yes," Kemn said.

Both Kemn and Gress walked away from each other. Kemn then walked back towards his home. It was modest for someone in such a low profession. He was just that good at his job as a pickpocket.

Kemn walked into his home, a small apartment in the slums of the city. It was on the fourth floor, the fifth room to the right. Generally, the cost of a high-end apartment in the city was about five thousand credits every month. The cheapest apartments were only about one hundred credits if you lived on a super-high floor in a two-room, not including the bathroom, apartment.

As Kemn walked into his apartment, he found it exactly as he had left it; a mess. Kemn was getting prepared for the Plaza job, rushing around and making a mess. Plastic black garbage bags littered the floor. He placed the robot on a table, and got to cleaning up. 

About one hour later, Kemn had mostly cleaned up his apartment. The garbage bags that were lying around the house had been incinerated, and anything on the floor had been picked up. Kemn took a battery from next to the robot, and placed it inside.

The bot lit up, making various beeping and buzzing noises. After about a minute, the robot finally calmed down, "Please enter your government identification code." It said. The robot paused briefly between each word, in a rigid way. Kemn typed in the code, a string of twelve numbers that identified you with the government of Zumakar.

"Thank you for typing in your identification code," it said, "To turn your robot's power on, flip the switch on its back." The robot said. Wasn't it already on? Kemn turned it over and flipped the switch so the O side was pressed. He set the robot down, letting it stand up on its own. "I'm Pol, like polarity," the robot said, now speaking normally. He was clearly male, or at least the voice was.

"Now that I've given you my name I have to ask: Why did you turn me on!" Kemn didn't say anything, "I was perfectly fine being turned off, and then you decided to turn me back on." Pol said. "I just found you in a dumpster and turned you on," Kemn said. "A dumpster!" Pol exclaimed, "Ok, you know what, that is fine I'd rather be powered on than in a dumpster." He said.

"What's your name anyway?" Pol asked. "I'm Kemn," he said. "I feel I should ask," he said, "do you report anything to law enforcement?" Kemn asked. "No, I couldn't if I tried," Pol said. "Why do you ask?" He had a childish tone about him, despite the way he introduced himself. Kemn eyed a poster for a nightclub,"I'll tell you soon," he said. "I'll do basically anything," Pol said.

"What did you mean when you said, 'I couldn't if I tried.'?" Kemn asked. "I have been trying to arrest Ris Comor for years," Pol said. "Ris Comor," Kemn said, "Who's that?" Pol looked confused at the question, "Do you not know the CEO of Kasan Corp?" He asked, "The CEO of Kasan Corp is Jak Comor," Kemn said. "Oh! I remember Jak!" Pol exclaimed, "He was just a baby the last time I had seen him."

"So he's the CEO now?" Pol asked. "Yes, since about forty years ago," Kemn said with a chuckle. "How many robots has he released?" Pol asked, "About once every few years," Kemn answered. "What was the newest one?" Pol asked, seemingly worried, "Something called Guardbot." Kemn said. "Oh no this is bad," Pol said. His 'hands' were on his face with a worried expression. "This is very, very, bad." He said.

"I was a failed test to see if robots could be given sentience, but I had heard of a bigger model with sentience by that name." Pol explained. "I had heard from other robots that Kasan Corp would release a model by that name, and use it for something much greater than we could imagine." That was a lot of information, so Kemn took a second to process it in his head. "What?" He asked. "I don't know," Pol said, "but it could result in something disastrous."

Kemn was overwhelmed by all of the information. "How are we going to fix this?" Pol asked, "How about we focus on something else." Kemn said, looking back at the poster for the nightclub.

Kemn walked into the Dancing Lights night club. It was a flashy place. It was all one room, with a few bathrooms on the side. In the middle was a flashing dance floor glowing all colors of the rainbow. The room was darkened, so the lights seemed to glow brighter. On the sides were many small tables with people talking and eating. There were also stairs leading up to a second-floor where people were eating like on the first floor. Along all of the walls were railing to place drinks or lean on. What Kemn focused on was the guardbots.

The guardbots were positioned all around the club, guarding a few doors and watching from some of the corners. This worried Kemn. He would need to test out the guardbots' range. "So what do you do for money?" Pol asked, sitting on his shoulder. "Watch," Kemn said. He walked around the edge of the room and grabbed someone's holopad. One of the guardbots looked alerted but did not move, its eyes changed color, and its 'hands' clenched. It probably sensed the holopad being stolen but did not see Kemn stealing it. Kemn held his breath as it scanned around and didn't find anything.

"Oh, so you're a pickpocket?" Pol asked, "That's essentially it. I'm not happy about it, but no one else will take me." Kemn explained. "I guess that makes sense," Pol said, "Do you want help?" He asked. "No, but you could watch for any guardbots," Kemn said. "I can do that." Pol said. "Go up there," Pol said, "There aren't any guardbots." Kemn walked over to the stairs and moved around the walkway, pickpocketing several people. A guardbot on the first floor, standing across from where Kemn was on the second floor was alerted. The bot looked around and moved within its immediate area, looking for him. Kemn held his breath again. The bot returned to normal.

Kemn continued to walk around the balcony, looking for a crowd. The dance floor wasn't a good option, that was the most likely place for Kemn to strike. As Kemn walked along people eating, he pickpocketed a few items. None of the guardbots seemed to notice. "Let's go over there," Pol said. He was pointing at the sidelines of the dance floor. Perfect. There, like at the plaza, he could make a getaway if the guardbots spotted him. At the same time, there were dozens of people on the sidelines, rife for pickpocketing. "Good idea," Kemn said. Pol silently cheered, putting his 'hands' into the air.

Kemn made his way down the stairs after pickpocketing several people on the balcony. Kemn walked toward the dance floor and stopped at the edge. He walked around the dance floor, "Come on, you can do better than that." Pol said, "What?" Kemn asked. "It is quite literally a dance floor, you can do better than that." Pol said. "Why would I, it could make the items fall out of my pocket," Kemn explained. "Fine," Pol said, "but I am going to dance." He made a crude attempt at dancing, by putting his arms at right angles, and mixing up, bending at his waist, spinning his arms around at the shoulder, and moving his head at right angles around his neck. Kemn chuckled.

He pickpocketed several people while Pol continued to dance. One of the guardbots was alerted, and Kemn could hear a very faint siren underneath the music playing in the club. The bot moved around in the immediate area and scanned around itself. Pol stopped dancing and looked at it. The guardbot walked over to Kemn, "What model are you?" It asked in a surprisingly non-robotic voice. "I'm a 1023f-2897i." Pol replied, "Damn!" The bot exclaimed, "You're old," It said. "Well, good luck with this human, he seems adequate for such an old model." Kemn held his breath again as it walked away from them.

When it finally went away, Kemn exhaled, "That was close." Pol said. "What was that about?" Kemn asked, "He recognized me as not being a recent model, and wanted to know what model number I was." Pol said. "No, that was clear," Kemn said, "I was talking about the model number. Exactly how old are you?" Kemn asked. "Well, the model number was how many bots of my model came before me and what cycle, followed by the year I was manufactured and what month." Pol explained, "What year is it?" He asked. "It's 2982." Kemn said, "Why do you ask?" Pol muttered numbers to himself and then looked at Kemn, "That would make me about ninety years old." Pol stated. "Damn!" Kemn exclaimed, "That robot was right, you are old." He said.

"It doesn't matter," Pol said, "Look over there." Pol said, pointing at the exit. "You could pickpocket the leaving guests and make a getaway." He explained. "That would work," Kemn said, "But look, three guardbots are watching the exit, including the one that just came up to us," Kemn said. "You didn't think I saw that?" Pol said. "I'll talk to them, they're already talking to each other, likely about me." Pol explained. "I'll distract them while you pickpocket, then come back for me and we'll be out of there." He said. "Wow, you're already extremely into this, have you done it before?" Kemn asked, "No, but I am inherently mathematical, and most plans are just math." Pol said. "Don't worry about it," He said, "Just put me on that railing and start pickpocketing when I start talking to them." Kemn did so, placing him on the railing, and leaned on the rail to the other side of the exit.

It was just a double-door about six-and-a-half feet tall that pushed forwards. On the opposite side of the room was the entrance, a much bigger arch that had no door visible, but likely had a mechanical door that came out of the walls. Kemn watched as Pol walked along the railing towards those guardbots. "I heard you talking about me." He said, "Yeah, it's amazing that you are almost a century old, and haven't been deactivated." One of the guardbots said. "What is with humans and deactivating their old robots?" Pol asked. Kemn immediately got to work. As dozens of people walked by Kemn, he pickpocketed each one of them. "I mean like, we never expire like that foodstuff they consume." One of the bots said. Kemn's pockets were full, so he walked over to them.

"The thing is, I think the world would be much better run--" One of the bots paused when Kemn walked over. "You done?" Pol asked, "Yeah, I drank the place dry." Kemn said. "Hold on a second." The bot closest to Kemn said. "I am detecting something," it said. "I need to pat you down." Kemn grabbed Pol and ran towards the back exit. There was one for, 'Employees Only' but Kemn didn't care. The chase continued, the guardbots rushing after him. Kemn ran through a crowd of people on the sidewalk. The guardbots slowed down to not harm anyone. Kemn used the opportunity to run into an alley with a few dumpsters and hid in one of them.

The dumpster's lid slam shut as he heard the Guarbots coming into the alley. "He must have continued along the sidewalk." One of them said. "No, you malware, he clearly went up the fire escape." Another one said. "He probably just looped back into the club, he can use the main exit from there and not have to worry about us." Said a third. "I don't know," The first one said," I'm detecting some stuff in this alley." Kemn held his breath. "There's probably some stolen stuff in that dumpster." Said the second one. Kemn heard a dumpster lid opening and then slamming shut a few seconds later. "What do you know?" One of them said, "It's a stolen holopad." He could hear them walking away. "Let's return it to the owner and get back to the nightclub." Their voices were slowly fading.

A few minutes later, Kemn opened the dumpster lid and walked out of the alley. "You need a shower," Pol said. Kemn placed Pol on the ground. He had a banana peel on his head. "So do you," Kemn said. "You still have the stuff?" Pol asked. "Never left me," Kemn said. "Then let's get out of here and go home." Pol said. Kemn picked up Pol and placed him on his shoulder."Man, those guardbots are going to be trouble." Pol said. "They definitely will be," Kemn said.

A day after Kemn had gone to the nightclub, not much had happened. Throughout the day, Kemn had watched some movies and eaten. They were fairly simple, just some of the more popular movies. He had liked Robot Wrestling 3: His Son, Circuits Are Coming: All Robots Must Serve, and The Robots in the Wind. Overall though, nothing much had happened.

Kemn took out his holopad. He'd had his day off, time to go back to work. "Where should we hit next?" He asked Pol who was sitting on one of the boxes, looking at the holoscreen. "I don't know." Pol said, holding up a holopad. "According to this calendar, there isn't another event for a week," He explained, "And thanks to our nightclub fiasco, most of the major establishments have increased guardbots from around three to eight." Pol put down the holopad and looked back at the holoscreen.

"Well, I guess we could wait another week, I heard the new season of Calculator vs. City is coming out today," Kemn said. He sat down on the couch and started watching the movie. A man was holding a house party to see who would win a robot fight. The man who had given the main character the robots told him that what doesn't destroy them only makes them stronger. "I still don't understand why you humans love this stuff." Pol said, "I mean, it's basically just paying for a bunch of people to lie to you." Pol continued to watch despite his complaints. "Well, isn't that all stories?" Kemn asked. "I guess so." Pol said.

Kemn continued to watch the movie. The party ended the next day. The main character's girlfriend smashes all of the robots to pieces, but instead of being turned to dust, they become a grey goo that consumes everything. The robots then rampage throughout the city, wreaking havoc on all. The movie ends with the main character getting consumed by all of these robots. It wasn't a very complex movie, but the concept was interesting.

Outside, Kemn heard stomping and screaming. He walked up to the window. "What's happening?" Pol asked, looking back at Kemn. There was a giant robot outside causing mayhem in the streets. "A great opportunity," Kemn said.

Kemn picked up Pol and placed him on his shoulder. They made their way down the stairs. "I'm not dressed for this." Pol said. "Since when do you wear clothes?" Kemn asked. "I wear clothes," Pol said, "You just can't see them." Kemn chuckled. They finally reached the bottom and saw what was happening. A giant robot, as tall as the skyscrapers, was stampeding through the streets. It had a large logo written on it. "What does that say?" Pol asked, "It says, 'Death to all.'" The glyphs were read as Ka No Mor. Kanomor was a major mafia gang that had taken over most of the city.

Kemn took advantage of the situation. He walked by several people in the crowds gathered along the side of the street, recording with their holo-pads. Kemn quickly stopped when he saw five-dozen guardbots start working together to stop the Kanomor bot. He then watched as another bot, about the same size as the Kanomor bot, projected an enormous lime-green shield in front of it. When the Kanomor bot tried punching a building behind the shield, it was pushed back a whole block.

The robot with the shield was a similar model to the guardbot, the only difference being the size. About fifteen guardbots deployed cables in a square around the Kanomor bot's feet. Meanwhile, another twenty guardbots climbed up the Kanomor and began dismantling it. Finally, the rest of the bots made their way up to the rooftops and began deploying cables between buildings. Kemn decided to use this.

"What are they doing?" Pol asked. "They're trying to stop him from killing people," Kemn explained. He continued to pickpocket the crowd, taking everything out of their pockets. He made his way up and down the block, across the street, up and down the block again, and back to where he started. The whole way, there were people scattered around. His pockets were brimming full. With the guardbots distracted, Kemn could pickpocket everyone in the vicinity. He went back inside his apartment and came out with empty pockets.

The guardbots continued to fight the Kanomor bot. By this point, the guardbots had rendered the Kanomor immobile. However, the Kanomor was tearing down the cables and was slowly breaking free. Even then, it didn't matter. The guardbots on the bot had also nearly dismantled the whole thing. It had one 'handless' arm left that it was using to tear down the cables. It also didn't have either of its feet, so it couldn't move anyways. One of the guardbots climbed up the Kanomor and started tearing apart its head. More guardbots started to help it. The crowds cheered for the guardbots to destroy the Kanomor. This was despite not making any effort for their own safety.

Kemn made his way around the block. He continued to pickpocket the crowds. There wasn't much this time, however. Kemn had gotten most of it on his first run-through. Although new people were coming into the crowd, so he ended up with pockets half-full. Kemn watched as the Kanomor bot fell to the ground, breaking the cables, and getting deactivated. The crowd uproared in cheers as the guardbots dismantled the Kanomor bot further.

Kemn started to walk into his own home. As he approached it, he felt Pol being taken off of his shoulders, and a bat hitting him in the head.

Kemn awoke to find himself in the corner of a small, dark, room. He was sitting on a chair, looking at Pol talk to someone. Kemn stood up from the chair. His head was still aching from the baseball bat to his head.

"You're finally awake." The man said. "Where am I?" Kemn asked. "Everyone always, asks that," the man said, "you're in the headquarters of the Kanomor." The man said. "I am Ras Kan, the leader of Kanomor." He said. "Did I steal something from you?" Kemn asked. "Oh, no," Ras said, "I was one of the few people you didn't pickpocket." Kemn was confused.

"Then why did you kidnap me?" Kemn asked. "I saw you pickpocket with ease, but more importantly, I saw the robot on your shoulder," Rad said. "You mean Pol?" Kemn asked, "Because he was just saying where I should go." He said. "I already met him," Ras said. Pol waved from behind Ras's shoulders. "I learned that Pol here is one of the first models of robot to have artificial intelligence." He explained.

"I already knew that." He didn't, "So did you want him?" Kemn asked. "No, I wanted you," Ras said. "I know you're out of a job, Kemn." He said, pointing to Pol to show how he knew Kemn's name. "I want you to help me do something." He explained. "Do what?" Kemn asked. "I want you to help me break into Kasan Corp's headquarters."

Kemn was shocked. He made it show on his face. "I fear that Kasan Corp is planning a coup of the entire government." Ras explained, "I have already learned from informants that the city plans to replace police with Guardbots, because of the police's slow response." Ras said.

"Why did you send out said giant robot of you don't want Kasan Corp to control the police?" Kemn asked. "I didn't, Kasan Corp placed the robot there." Ras said, "So are you in or not?" He asked. "I am," Kemn said, "Tell me what to do."