The Shutdown in NeoCore
It was a normal day in Elysium, the capital city of Nova-X3. The planet was discovered 124 years ago in 2109, when it was deemed the perfect place for humanity to thrive. Because Earth was slowly becoming uninhabitable due to climate change, severe weather, and rising sea levels, humans were forced to flee to Nova-X3, where they built cities and anything that could be imagined.
Elliot Menzel was just an ordinary kid. He worked alongside his father in the NeoCore, a massive facility located in the heart of the metropolis. It housed the control center for operations across the city—including energy sources, transportation networks, and even AI defense systems.
On Nova-X3, everything from simple household chores to complex city functions was automated. Life was easy, convenient, and seemed perfect. Until it wasn’t.
First, all transportation came to a halt. People stepped out of their vehicles to see what was happening. Then, a robotic woman’s voice boomed throughout the city, and screens posted on the skyscrapers displayed bright red words that said, “WARNING. AI protocol malfunction. Evacuate immediately.”
During this time, Elliot was in the NeoCore, doing his daily homework. After the alarms sounded, Elliot’s dad quickly grabbed his wrist. “We have to go.”
They stepped out of the office and saw employees frantically yelling and pushing each other to reach the exits. The two rushed towards the elevators, only to find that they were out of service. Additionally, the exits seemed to have been sealed from the outside.
Suddenly, Elliot turned his head to see a shadow moving through the hallway. It seemed to be gaining speed every second that passed. Amongst the chaos in the hallway, the cleaner bot locked eyes with Elliot as it came into the light. Its eyes were glowing neon red.
Elliot froze. The cleaner bot was now barreling toward them, wielding its rotating bristle arms like deadly weapons. Elliot’s dad yanked him behind a nearby pillar just in time as the robot crashed into the wall, putting a dent in the metal body.
“The robots have gone crazy!” his dad yelled as they sprinted down the hallway.
“Where are we going?” Elliot called.
“We have to get to the control room that I showed you the other day. It’s the only place where we can try to shut down the AI systems,” his dad said. They turned a sharp corner and reached a security door. Unfortunately, the face recognition scanner that allowed entry to the room had been destroyed. Without wasting another second, Elliot’s dad ripped off a hidden panel on the side wall and slammed his hand against an emergency button. The high-strength metal door slid open halfway, just enough for them to slip in.
Inside the control room, red emergency lights flickered and the warning sirens continued to wail. A huge black screen displayed the information on the AI systems of Elysium. Elliot’s dad rushed to the central control panel. Elliot watched as his fingers flew across the keyboard, typing commands and rewriting lines of code.
His dad sighed. “This won’t work. All of this wasn’t an accident. Somebody reprogrammed the robots to target the civilians of Elysium.” He pointed at a corner of the room. “Elliot, I need you to hurry to that keypad and manually reset the entire NeoCore system. The code is 728193.”
Elliot obeyed his father’s commands and immediately ran to the keypad, quickly inputting the code. He heard a rumble and the keypad lit up green.
The automated woman’s voice came over the loudspeakers. “Core reset successful.” Elliot glanced at the security setup, which displayed camera views of the entire facility. Robots powered down, and people looked around in confusion. Just before he could celebrate, the monotonous voice sounded again.
“Secondary virus detected. Operation failure.” A second virus? Elliot turned to his dad, who stared at the screen, his face pale. Nova-X3 wasn’t safe yet.