“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS!
Do we have a bout of ages for you tonight! In the red
corner, the boy from the block, the youngster with a monster, Park Min-jun!
With his partner Sanshin, weighing in at 76 kg tonight with his new frame, boy
does he look fitted for a scrap! I think we should all take a moment to thank
Kulgarv Heavy Industries for this prototype chassis and Callinov Solar Energy
for their sponsorship. Buy Callinov, the most efficient panels this side of the
Pacific oce…”
Talinz robots are money. Big money. Domestics, industrials,
it seems the only place you can go
these days and not see a robot is what they were designed for; the military was
forced to scrap them years ago, after the war. And in the wake we had all these
chassis lying around and nothing to do with them. So we turned our sorrow into
sport.
Talinz fighting got popular quickly. The war had left a lot
of experienced handlers out of work and they got an easy way to make something
from the skills they picked up in the military. Five generations down the line
and, while the heavy industry corps that make the Talinz technically make more
money from newer servant and manufacturing models, everyone knows that the real
key is in advertising. Soft drinks, make up, banks, airlines are all clamouring
for that extra exposure. Get plastered on the Talinz of a World Series team and
that is up to 3 hours exposure a week to up to 65 million folks worldwide. Most
brands would kill for that kind of identity. Some of them have.
Cops are getting overtasked these days, having to deal with that kind of crime. The problem with banning robotic warfare is that criminals don't have to follow the rules. Meanwhile, as the Talinz make more and more money, companies are crying "industrial espionage" the minute they see a chip or part that looks even a little similar to something they have in R&D. Police departments are still stubbornly refusing to recruit any AI assistance beyond remote assistance 'bots, and the men on the street are suffering because of it. Where does a human cop stand when they are put up against rogue Talinz and corps that have their hand in the Government's wallet?
And the Talinz themselves? Bought and sold in the hundreds.
The most advanced AI the planet has ever known, complete with personality
modules and the potential for ‘real people emulation’. Every home just has to have
one.
But a housewife’s dream is slowly becoming a working man’s nightmare.
Cheaper production costs driving down the prices of industrial models have made
Talinz an alternate workforce without the need for a wage. Unemployment levels
are skyrocketing. Some have motioned for equal rights for these robots,
claiming that their artificial intelligence is just as real as any man’s,
whether it came from chip or womb, but they are being drowned out in the din of
those calling for their restriction or even destruction.
The Talinz have been decommissioned from military service,
but maybe their real war is only just beginning…
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