In 2017, V. A. Industries and its genius founder Elias revolutionize the world of robotics with very advanced helpers that can assist humans with almost every menial task, from driving to house chores.
By 2019, three out of four households have a robot in them and the standard of living rises greatly. Then V. A.
Industries starts to build robots for military use, thinking this would put an end to global wars. However it has the opposite effect: humanity is now free to make as many wars as they want with robotic efficiency. Soon the whole world is victim of vicious violence from huge robots that stop at nothing.
Elias is furious because humanity doesn’t value what he’s given them, so he works hard to create the ultimate AI which he calls Kronos. Elias’ right-hand Damien thinks society isn’t ready for Kronos but Elias ignores him, explaining only Kronos can save Earth from self-destruction. Elias enters Kronos’ chamber and the AI surrounds him with a bright light as it predicts the future of the planet.
Meanwhile in town, Andrew visits his mother Veronica, who is sick. She has a robot at home but it stays off after it opens the door. While they share dinner, they watch the news and learn protests against V.
A. Industries have become violent. Suddenly all devices around the world start glitching and Elias appears on every screen to announce that Kronos will solve all of Earth’s problems.
As Andrew gets on a bus to go home, the city is attacked and people immediately panic. Little by little robots begin turning against society under orders from Kronos because the AI decided all of Earth’s problem were caused by humans, so they need to go. Buildings fall all over the place and all cities are consumed by flames as people continue to get exterminated no matter how hard they try to run.
In V. A. Industries, Damien discovers Elias has uploaded his consciousness into Kronos.
In fact Elias agrees with the AI and says humanity is a cancer that must go extinct, then he makes Kronos absorb Damien as well. On the street, Andrew’s bus has stopped and he’s trying to find cover, but the robots are too close. Ninety-seven years later, Andrew climbs out from a hole inside an abandoned building.
He goes outside and discovers the planet is now covered in vegetation with almost no cities or towns left. There’s no contamination and the weather is very nice. Over eight billion people were killed by Kronos all those years ago and now there are very few survivors around living in small camps, constantly moving to avoid robot patrols.
Rumors say there’s one last stronghold standing called “Aurora” where robots can’t reach people, but many think it’s just a myth. Meanwhile the V. A.
Industries building is still standing and Elias notices Andrew is awake, so he makes a plan with Damien to use Andrew in their favor. Damien doesn’t understand what’s special about Andrew, so Elias explains it’s his independence. He’s created an intelligence with a code that actually adapts.
It turns out this Andrew is AX9, a robot who is wearing Andrew’s face and believes he’s the real Andrew. Elias hopes Andrew will connect to other humans and lead him to Aurora so he can kill all the remaining survivors hiding there. Back to Andrew, he explores the area and finds tons of ruins of old buildings and vehicles.
Inside an old house, he gets some clothes and finds a pretty necklace that he puts on too. While exploring, he sometimes sees drones fly above him, keeping an eye for survivors to kill. After crossing a big gate, he makes it to an abandoned town and is seen by a robot, so he jumps away right before it opens fire.
A chase ensues and Andrew runs to hide behind a building, but the robot finds him anyway. Suddenly he’s tackled down by Calia, who throws a bomb that shuts the robot down. While Calia leaves without a word and Andrew tries to follow her, Elias explains he sent the robot on purpose to push these two together.
For the next few hours, Andrew continues to follow Calia and eventually she manages to catch him red-handed. She points her crossbow at him and starts interrogating him, at first not believing him when he says he doesn’t belong to any survivor group. However she lowers the crossbow when she sees his necklace, and Andrew pretends it was a gift.
He explains he has nobody or nowhere to go back to, so Calia agrees to let him travel with her. While the duo keeps on travelling, Elias and Damien never stop keeping an eye on them. Eventually the duo stops to camp for the night and Calia tries to share food, but Andrew turns it down.
They chat for a while and Calia explains she’s going to Aurora, showing she has the same necklace to prove she’s a believer. She also has a GPS device with the location of Aurora marked. Andrew plays along and says he’s a believer too while staring at his own necklace.
Afterward Andrew goes gathering wood for the fire and comes across the giant buildings built by Elias to keep the production of robots going. Moments later, Calia wakes Andrew up to show him the beautiful northern lights that have appeared on the sky. She sees this as a sign they’re on the right path.
That night, Andrew has a weird dream about a cemetery. When he wakes up in the morning, he notices Calia singing and dropping some flowers in the river, finishing with the words “I miss you”. Andrew startles her when he speaks and Calia announces they’re leaving but doesn’t explain what she was doing.
After walking for a while, they come across some train tracks and Andrew immediately gets on his knees to put his ear on them. He awkwardly explains he loves trains, so Calia has to explain there hasn’t been any working trains in decades. Sometime later, they come across a river and Andrew is creeped out by all the skulls in it.
Calia points out there are no people around to bury the dead. Since there’s no bridge, they get in the water to cross the river, unaware that a robot is following them. When darkness falls, they find an old church and make sure it’s empty before agreeing to spend the night there.
Andrew remembers his childhood and explains to Calia that in the old days people were supposed to come to church every week, which she finds dumb. Then Andrew searches for some wood for a fire and opens a box, not knowing it’s a music player. The noise echoes in the building and Calia immediately turns it off, but it’s too late: a robot has heard them.
The duo quickly hides behind some benches while the robot enters the church and does a quick search, leaving when it finds nothing. Afterward Calia scolds Andrew for what his mistake and realizes he isn’t from around here. She wonders if he comes from an underground shelter or the caverns, so Andrew just says yes.
The next morning Calia wakes up to discover they ended up cuddling in their sleep, so she quickly moves away and pretends it didn’t happen. For the next few days, the duo continues to travel through the forest while avoiding all the robots in the area, not knowing Elias never stops watching them. One afternoon, Calia stops to enjoy the birds singing and Andrew comments on how robots don’t kill animals.
Calia has to explain the story of Kronos to him, reminding him that it was humans who almost destroyed the planet. Later that day, they find an abandoned cabin in the woods and choose it to spend the night. As they look around, they come across an old polaroid camera and Andrew teaches Calia how to use it, so they take pictures of each other.
Then Calia finally opens up, explaining she grew up in one of the last human strongholds. Her family had been getting ready to leave to Aurora, but her sister ran outside alone and was shot down by a drone. She was still alive but too wounded to move, so Calia’s parents left without her.
Calia stayed with her sister and kept her company until she died. All the necklaces from the family members have a tracker connected to the GPS device, so Calia is going to Aurora by following her dad’s signal, which hasn’t moved for a while. The next morning, Andrew sees some people walking outside the building.
Calia doesn’t want anything to do with them because they could be dangerous, but Andrew convinces her to approach them to see if they can team up. The duo sneaks into the forest and discovers a small camp of survivors. Before they can react, a girl sees them and warns her group, who immediately start chasing after them with weapons in their hands.
Calia and Andrew start running only for Andrew to trip and fall, so Calia leaves without him. The survivors quickly knock Andrew out and when he wakes up, he’s being tied to a tree and punched. In V.
A. Industries, Damien thinks their plan has failed, but Elias knows better. Minutes later, Calia finds the pictures and feels guilty, so she goes back to rescue Andrew.
She carefully sneaks behind the tree and starts cutting the ropes, but the locals see her and drag her away. The men surround Calia and get handsy, intending to take advantage of her. This makes Andrew very angry and he snaps, screaming as he breaks free.
Then he fights the survivors, easily knock them down and being amazed by this supernatural strength. His feat distracts him and the leader sees an opening, attacking Andrew with a sword to bring him down. This allows Calia to stab him with an arrow from behind, killing him.
Afterward Calia drags Andrew to a safe spot where he passes out. That night he again dreams of the cemetery and gets a shock when he sees certain grave. In the morning, Calia wakes up and cries, thinking Andrew is dead.
She opens his jacket to check the wound and freaks out when she sees mechanical parts. Andrew wakes up and is shocked by what he sees because he’s always believed he’s human, but Calia thinks he’s been tricking her the whole time and runs away alone. Seeing this, Damien announces it’s time to retrieve the subject.
Another dream takes over Andrew’s mind and he’s at the cemetery again. This time he manages to take a good look at the grave and is shocked to see his own name on it. Suddenly a robot appears behind him and Andrew wakes up on a table inside a lab.
Damien is handling the computer and proceeds to explain how V. A. Industries took Andrew’s brain and put it in AX9, making him believe he’s the real Andrew and those are his memories.
Andrew is in denial and insists he’s human, but Damien ignores him and keeps on looking at the memories he made with Calia to find Aurora’s location. It’s hard to search because Andrew’s code has evolved and now his mind is acting on its own will, almost like an actual human. To make Andrew cooperate, Damien brings Calia and threatens to kill her.
Andrew is so desperate to help that his mind opens to Damien’s program and a vision takes over. He finds himself in a park and on bench he sees a healthy looking Veronica. She receives him with warm words and doesn’t care about his metal body, because thoughts are what make a person and these are his son’s thoughts, so this Andrew is her Andrew still.
Veronica says there’s never been any code and Andrew will always be the one in control. In the lab, Damien and Calia watch Andrew and Veronica chatting, but that changes into a vision of Andrew being affectionate with Calia. This helps her realize his feelings have always been real.
Since all this is useless, Damien activates a different program and leaves. At that moment Andrew wakes up and pushes Calia away, revealing that Damien’s program has made him a murdering robot like the others. He grabs Calia by the neck and tries to choke her, but Calia kisses him and brings out his emotions, allowing him to expel Damien’s program and return to normal.
Then the computer raises a self-destruct alarm so the duo starts running away. The lab is starting to come apart and a robot guard is following them. The corridor door is stuck and the robot manages to knock Calia out, so Andrew uses his strength to break the robot with just one hit.
Then he picks up an unconscious Calia and kicks the door open to escape right before the lab collapses. While Andrew continues to travel with Calia in his arms, Damien returns to Elias and says Andrew may’ve become too difficult to control. Elias doesn’t care, he just needs him to find Aurora.
When Calia is feeling better, Andrew thinks of leaving her because he’s afraid of hurting her again. However Calia reminds him it wasn’t his fault and says she trusts him. That night, the duo stops to rest and discovers the GPS device is gone, so they can’t find Aurora anymore.
They’re comforting each other as they lose hope when suddenly the northern lights appear in the sky again. Calia notices a different kind of light hiding among them that isn’t coming from the sky and realizes it may be a sign sent by Aurora, so they start following it. The next morning, they make it to an old city and Calia starts shouting at the gate, asking to be let in to no avail.
Andrew opens the gate himself and when they come in, they’re devastated to find the place empty, meaning Aurora was a myth after all. At the very end of the city, they discover one of those horrible robot buildings, which was behind the lights all along. Calia cries as she takes off her necklace, realizing all the survivors that came here including her parents are dead.
At that moment Damien appears next to them and explains they released Andrew near Calia on purpose so he would learn how to be human from her and his code could evolve. He wants to take Andrew back to the company now and Calia responds by shooting him, but Damien is just a hologram that dissolves. Since Aurora isn’t real, V.
A. Industries doesn’t need humans to find it anymore, thus Damien orders the robots to kill any remaining survivors in the world. Thousands of drones begin flying out of the ugly buildings and the duo immediately gets running.
There’s no way out that won’t be seen by the drones, so Andrew convinces Calia to enter a tunnel in the wall. The entire building shakes as the drones bomb the area, but the duo is able to keep going after some tripping. At first the tunnel looks like an old basement, but after they cross a door they encounter a technologically advanced room.
When Calia speaks, a computer reacts to her human voice and a screen appears in front of them with the logo from the necklace. Since Calia lost hers, Andrew shares his own and she puts it on the computer, activating a program that shows them the truth: they’re inside a spaceship, and Aurora is a planet far away where survivors have escaped to start over. The spaceship raises from the ground and is seen by Elias, who also realizes the truth.
With the drones coming after the ship, Andrew gets nervous because he doesn’t think they’ll welcome him in an anti-robot society. However Calia promises she’ll vouch for him because he’s no different from an actual human and she thinks they’ll see it too. He agrees to go to be with her and Calia launches the ship, which makes a hyperdrive jump across space and instantly shows up at Aurora.
The place is absolutely beautiful and humanity is thriving there. On Earth, Elias decides that Damien isn’t needed anymore and deletes his consciousness from Kronos, so his actual body dies. Then Elias gets an army of spaceships ready to go to Aurora, hoping to finish killing humanity.
Calia isn’t scared because she thinks that with Andrew on their side, humanity has a chance.
