Professor Joel Rowan crushed the empty paper cup in his hand, dropping the dripping vessel into the nearest bin and hauling himself to his feet. The scientist drearily exited the distinctly drab, largely ill-lit and unnaturally uninhabited cafeteria. His deep pocketed lab coat swung around his ankles as he paced. The professor passed a viewing screen as he journeyed down the straight, dark corridor. He turned and watched the intricate process going on. Complex, mechanic arms lifted, twisted and dropped tiny pieces of the gadgets they were mass producing.

Joel Rowan’s name was fast becoming one of the most heard of in the advanced robotics world. His lab’s progress in the development of the most advanced artificial intelligence impressed the world, most of which had been too busy watching Japan to notice what America was up to. Rowan’s lab was in the process of mass-producing their ‘Intel-Cores’, spinning-top-shaped blocks of energy and processing power. The Intel-Cores had the ability to breathe life into a robot; ‘life’ being intelligence far surpassing that of any human and the unique ability to understand and evaluate any situation. They were truly smart artificial intelligences.

The professor was soon past the viewing windows and, for a moment, the interval between the lights of the corridor shrouded him in darkness. Childlike fear saw him speed up until he was back below the next light. The corridor stretched on past the entire production line. Despite the combined intelligence of a dozen scientists, nobody had realized that putting a cafeteria half a kilometer from the main lab was an uncomfortable pain in the ass.

In the distance, past the protective boundary of two lights, a red light was flickering. The professor felt his heart skip a beat at the sight. Flickering red lights were rarely a good sign in a laboratory, especially when they were the signature of his latest creation, which by no means should have been out and about through the corridors.

As the professor neared the disturbance, it occurred to him to call out. He realized it was most probably his assistant, Banks, carrying an activated core.

“Banks, Banks! Is that you?”

No reply. The professor took a final step out of the safety of the light. He felt the welcome of the luminosity behind him dissipate. The red light flickered. In the shadow, the red barely illuminated the corridor. Rowan sensed movement.

“Banks…?”

Another flash and this time Rowan caught sight of the source of light before him. The light flicked again and his assistant’s possessed carcass had shifted position. The light strobed slowly and each time the creature inched towards Rowan. The professor stared in horror, paralysed by fear.

The red light strobed and the zombified creature, moving as if animated by a low frame rate, pulled from a deep pocket an inactivated Intel Core. One more strobe and the Core was activated, a second light began to flicker in time with the first.

Together, the two lights flickered once more and the zombie collapsed towards Professor Rowan’s head. A bloodcurdling stream filled the length of the corridor, and then the night was empty but for two red lights, flickering in time.