Page 12 of Wild Oblivion

“We’re not talking nuclear, are we?"

I shook my head. "Too small. But I'm no expert.”

"You got me,” Sergeant Hartman said. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"I think if we cut that lead right there, it should render the device safe,” I said.

"Youthink, or youknow?" Daniels said.

I shrugged. "It's just a guess.”

He looked at his watch. "Well, we’ve got a little less than 23 hours to guess right.”

"That's if the perp isn’t lying,” I said. “It could go off at any time.”

The sheriff didn't like the sound of that. "You mentioned anti-tamper.”

"If you pull the thing apart, there's a good chance it's going to go boom.”

"What if you move it?”

"Those look like mercury switches. But to be honest, that could be any combination of mercury and possibly thallium, which could reduce the temperature needed for a state change.”

"State change?"

"Freeze it, then it won't explode when you tilt it.” I added, "Of course, there could be thermal sensors. If you're going to cool it, I would suggest doing so slowly. You’re not going to be able to move the device otherwise. Too risky. We have to render it safe on site.”

“Hartman?” the sheriff asked.

He shrugged. “I tend to agree with Wild.”

The sheriff grimaced. “This is really starting to piss me off.”

After much debate, we decided to proceed with cooling the device. Right or wrong, we’d know pretty quickly.

Deputies pushed the crowd back even farther.

We huddled for cover behind the bomb disposal unit’s van and kept our fingers crossed.

Sergeant Hartman sent BOB to do the dirty business. But there was one slight problem. The robot’s optics glitched as it approached the device.

Hartman grumbled a few obscenities.

“Why has the feed gone down?” the sheriff asked, trying to manage his annoyance.

“I wish I had an answer for that,” Hartman said.

“Can you get that thing back online?”

“I’m working on it.”

Hartman tried doing a forced reboot by remote, but BOB became non-responsive.

He sent a couple of the BDU guys dressed in protective gear in to retrieve the robot. They carried BOB out of the restaurant and brought him back to the sidewalk, where we all huddled behind the van.

BOB was a new acquisition and still a little buggy. Nobody was particularly savvy about the technical workings of the robot.

I called Dr. Alexis Sinclair at A.R.I.S. She was the interim CEO and an integral part of the design team responsible for the Maximus line. After some brief chit-chat, I said, “We have a slight situation. BOB is bricked.”