Robot Zero

MAV (28), a lone humanoid robot, goes about his daily routines that include working on a model of the now overgrown Future City where he lives and tending to Orange, his pet catdog. When Orange runs off, Mav gives chase and falls down a sinkhole where he discovers ten coffin sized pods. He brings one pod back, but he’s taken too long and his battery’s dying. Also, he is attacked by a swarm of large brats (rat/bat hybrids) that want to eat Orange. Once safely back in the house, Mav accidently “wakes up” the pod, which contains ELISSA (20), an understandably confused young woman. Mav informs her that she is the lone survivor of the nanoapocalypse and that she’s been asleep for over 300 years. Lethargic from hypersleep, she passes out. The next morning, Mav cooks her a breakfast of fried roachwasps, the only viable source of protein. Most animals are extinct, except for these genetically engineered hybrids. Elissa persuades Mav to go back to the sinkhole to recover the other pods. Along the way, Mav tells Elissa that his mentor was the lone survivor and who died trying to merge himself with Mav’s AI. The ensuing accident erased most of Mav’s memories. Elissa recalls her last day: that experimental nanobots, meant to cure climate change by converting CO2 to O2, escaped and ravaged all breathing beings, suffocating them. William, her genius father, raced her through the chaos to Harken Labs, where he put her in his place in one of the experimental impenetrable pods, meant for the richest of the rich. Tech billionaire ALAN HARKEN (45) is already there, preparing to go under. William says his goodby to Elissa. In the sinkhole, Elissa and Mav wake up the survivors. Billionaire elites GARY (55), SHELDON (30), Alan and WU (50), a janitor. The men are disoriented except Alan, who sneaks an injection, obviously prepared for this moment. Alan recognizes Mav as one of the robots his company built. Back at the house, as the others pass out from lethargy, Alan pulls Mav aside and resets and assumed total control of him. The group assesses their situation and it is grim due to the lack of food. Alan suggests that they hike to his robot facility where they’ll find hundreds of deactivated Mav units. They can use them to hunt and rebuild. Alan knows Wu isn’t supposed to be there, and coerces him to help convince the others, which works. Before leaving, Alan orders Mav to kill Orange for their breakfast, which he does despite Elissa’s protests. The group sets out for the facility. Elissa tries to stick up for Mav but Alan sees him as a robot who’s gone insane and needs to get back to “normal.” The conversation ends with him accosting her. Elissa then tries to engage Mav in a discussion of free will but he defends his robotic stance. With no one else to confide in, Elissa tells Mav she is getting her period and he fashions her some sanitary napkins. To avoid the difficult terrain of ruins and jungle, the group enters the subway tunnels. Along the way, Wu starts experiencing organ damage because he didn’t drink the protective pod fluid. Mav gives Wu a pain killer in hopes they can make it to the facility and save him. In ancient skeleton lines subway cars, Sheldon scavenges batteries from a cell phone he invented that he intends to adapt to give Mav longer awake time. They reach a collapsed dead end, but spot daylight through a half buried SUV. Alan breaks through only to find a grand canyon on the other side and nearly falls to his death but Ellisa saves him. An avalanche ensues but Mav manages to get everyone to safety. The group continues along the ridge to a skyscraper that has toppled over to bridge the canyon. They prepare to spend the night there as it gets brutally cold. Alan orders Mav to go hunt Blackie, a following catdog, and tells Gary to go with Mav to monitor his erratic behavior. On their hunt, Mav asks Gary about what happens when a person dies. Gary tries to explain the concept of a soul. After the discussion, Mav throws the spear past Gary and kills a different catdog. Gary sighs with relief, only to have Mav kill him when his guard drops. Mav attempts to make his way back before nightfall, but ends up encased in ice as his battery runs out. Mav remembers/dreams being with the Old Man, testing his emotion chip to make him more human. The next morning, Mav’s solar wings power him back up. In the skyscraper, Alan, with bad intentions, creeps out Elissa while she is going to the bathroom. Mav returns with the catdog and roasts it. Sheldon hooks up Mav with his new battery. Mav tells the others that Gary fell into a sinkhole. Alan secretly warns the others that Mav may have killed Gary. The group pack up and make their way through the skyscraper elevator shaft to come out onto a field that is a robot junkyard. An ice storm breaks out and they scramble for shelter. Wu and Sheldon get separated when Wu collapses. Alan, Mav, and Elissa are in a giant robot torso when Alan, tired of rejection, orders Mav to pin down Elissa while he rapes her. Sheldon walks into this scene and Alan asks if he wants a turn. Sheldon starts to, but hesitates and Elissa kicks him in the groin, breaks free, and escapes. Elissa rushes into the jungle and finds the robot facility situated on a broken dam’s waterfall edge. She suicides off it. Mav, ordered to catch her, and uses his solar wings to swoop down and rescue her. In the ensuing crash, Mav’s brain is jostled and a dormant part wakes up. Alan, Wu and Sheldon reach the waterfall and facility. Wu doesn’t believe their story, and Alan beats him and tells Sheldon who he really is: a lowly janitor. They leave him for dead and reach the facility. Markings indicate someone had tried to break in years ago, but couldn’t without Alan’s key, which he now uses to open it. The facility powers on and sheds its overgrowth. In the valley, Elissa wakes up to find Mav talking in her father William’s voice and using a device on her head. It turns out that William was the Old Man who reprogrammed Mav and uploaded himself and he’s now uploading her. Mav tells Elissa they need to go to the facility to free the robots. She will have to plug a drive in an Imprintor, which will give the robots their personalities. Mav uses the pain suppressor to dull her suffering and they climb a stair to the facility. Wu, dying on the river bank, is awakened by Blackie. He sees them, but is unable move. Mav, with Elissa as his fake captive, enter the control center where Alan and Sheldon are starting up the robot assembly line. Alan tells Sheldon they’re going to have to use Elissa to repopulate the human race. Sheldon has finally had enough and so Alan has Mav kill Sheldon. Blackie enters the control room, distracting Alan long enough for Wu to charge in. Alan kills him and, seeing Elissa plug the drive in, shoots her. Alan removes the drive and with the new Mav units now coming off the assembly line, orders Mav to slowly kill himself with his own blowtorch. Mav complies. Alan makes the dying Elissa watch, then is surrounded by the other Mavs, unaware they've been reprogrammed with William and Elissa’s personalities. They draw and quarter Alan. Elissa has a new Mav unit carry her out to watch the sunset. The Mav explains the robots will fulfill the aspirations of humanity, without the horror, and hints that perhaps this whole thing was orchestrated by Mav from the start. Elissa dies, passing the torch to the robots, as the human race comes to an end.