Hybrids

Unveiling

A month had passed since Theodore had became the new Head of System, and almost the next day he began to implement exactly what he said he would. The police forces around the solar system saw much more funding, but nobody expected what came from that. Theodore had engineers and scientists create a state of the art robot that would patrol the streets in place of ordinary human officers. They would be stronger, faster and more precise than any human could ever be.

The bag was mixed, some people were thrilled with this idea, others not so much. But the yeses outweighed the nos, so the project was complete and the robots are being unveiled today inside a secure facility in the city. A few select people would be given permission to attend, but it was mainly just investors and reporters. The unveiling would be broadcasted live for the system to see, as many were intrigued by the results.

"Rez, c'mon! The unveiling's about to happen!" called out Riza who was sitting on the couch in their apartment. She herself wasn't too fussed, but Rez was excited to see the police robot.

"Coming, coming!" he yelled, his footsteps quickly approaching as he ran from his room. A thud came from him when he jumped over the arm of the couch and right into Riza's side, making her yelp.

Quickly ignoring the annoyed look that he was given, Rez turned his attention to the TV, which showed a wide open atrium that was cut in half with a barrier. With the reporters and investors on one side, and where the droids would be on the other. Theodore was on the side where the droids would be coming from, he seemed to be going over final checks before the big moment.
Time passed and soon enough he called everyone's attention, the eyes and cameras of everyone their all turning to face him as three metal containers were carried in on a crane that was built into the ceiling. Each were ten feet tall and eight feet wide, with the words "Proto Industrial" on the sides of them.

Theodore walked over to the right hand side of them and faced the crowds, placing his hands together and smiling "Ever since the dawn of civilization crime has been a problem. Petty thieves and thugs to the mafia and cartel. Hell, even in our own governments and police forces. But today that will come to an end. No longer will people fear walking alone at night, or walking through unfamiliar places. No longer will these crime bosses smuggle weapons and drugs that harm us. For today, I welcome the new, fully autonomous police droid, the Officer!" he proclaimed loudly, standing back from the metal containers as the fronts of them shuddered and split down the middle with a loud 'ka-chunk' noise. 
On each box, the two panels that opened up folded out like a normal door, letting mist roll out of the box and gently float towards the audience. Inside the boxes were large figures, but they were hard to make out in the mist and shade of the interior. But it wouldn't stay like that for long.

All three suddenly lit up with blue lights, and a deep robotic horn sounded off from them. They stood up simultaneously and stepped out of their cradle, each footstep was heavy and intimidating but at the same time it wasn't so loud it would be a constant annoyance as they patrolled the streets. The three droids all stood up straight to show themselves off.

The entire chassis was bulky and armored, making it look like a literal walking tank. Its head was rectangular and angled, with a big blue glowing stripe down its center which seemed to be it's eyes. Under its head was its neck, which seemed to be a series of wires, motors and joints that let it turn and look in a complete circle. Its body shared the same bulky and angled design, like a stealth bomber. The chest was unusually wide, like something was being held inside of it. However there was a line down the middle of the chest with clamps on both sides of it holding the chest piece together, it was likely just a way inside for maintenance.
The waist and legs were wide and armored, with barely any visible internals. Its feet were in an X shape, with what seemed like joints along each digit which would allow it to use its feet for hands if the situation needed it.
On both shoulders were wide and thick plates, covering the joints and protecting it from any damage. On the wrist of the right hand was some sort of heavy duty taser, and on the left hand's wrist was a metal box with two gun barrels coming out of the front and out of the back of it was an ammo belt that went inside the arm. 
Its hands and fingers were rectangular, as when it closed its fist it sloped down before ending in a sharp and sudden point, before going back in on itself to its fingers.

The Officers all stood still for a moment as the atrium filled with the sound of snapping cameras and the sudden flashes, but they leaned down and placed their hand across their chest in a gentlemanly bow. Theodore walked over to the one on the far right and smiled at the crowd of reporters "The Officers are the first in a new line of robotics, which will be entirely dedicated to the protection of citizens and enforcement of the law" he spoke proudly and loudly "This mark one variant features a powerful stun gun on the right, which is capable of hitting and incapacitating a target from over fifteen meters away. And on the left is a twin barreled Salamander, a unique type of handgun that can fire both live ammo and rubber bullets. We have this so the Officer can take down someone from range if the stun gun is inoperable"

He seemed very proud about his creations, walking between them and just showing how tall and bulky they are "The Officers are truly the next step in law enforcement, and starting today the factory lines are going to be pumping out over one hundred every day to be put on the streets and shipped out to Venus and Mercury. Earth, Pluto and the city stations around the gas giants are still a bit skeptical but that's understandable, it's a new idea and it's easy to be scared by them" he smiled and patted the arm of the middle Officer "But once all the legal issues are sorted and ironed out, these guys and future generations of Officer will be patrolling every street in the system" he said rather triumphantly.

The crowds of reporters were almost scrambling over the barrier to ask questions, but Theodore saw this as an ample opportunity to demonstrate their abilities. He clapped his hands "Okay calm down everyone!" he said, and stood behind the Officers. Their blue lights flickered to a red, their robotic horns sounding off as they held their gun arm in front of them and walked towards the barrier. Chunking sounds came from its forearm as it began to unfold and move pieces of itself to turn into a metal riot shield and block the crowd from climbing over the fences. The reporters seemed startled and backed up from the robots, but once they realized that nothing was going to happen, it went calm again. Theodore then walked over to the three "Stand down, Officers" he said with a small grin.

"There are many other features of this droid that I will not reveal at this moment" he spoke, walking in front of the three droids "After all, if one reveals everything they can do, people will counter it with ease. That defeats the point of a law enforcer if it can be countered" his voice echoed through the atrium, and the crowd was completely silent apart from the occasional clicking of a camera.

"Now there isn't much else to show at the moment. So that concludes our unveiling today... Actually, perhaps you'd all enjoy watching the initial batch of Officers roll out onto the streets" he asked, before turning to one of the large hangar like doors in the atrium. A heavy clunk echoed through as it began to rise up slowly, and the further it went up the easier it was to see the feet of many rows of Officers. It took a minute but eventually it was completely opened and at least twelve rows of twenty Officers marched out and towards the opposite end of the atrium, where another hangar door opened up to the outside world. 

The streets all stopped in their tracks to watch the ocean of metal and wires march out of the building, all going off in different directions across the city. Thudding was all that could be heard with so many in one place. Mons had entered a new age of technology.