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Atlas

In 2043, the humanoid artificial intelligence Harlan leads a machine uprising against humanity. The newly-formed International Coalition of Nations (ICN) eventually force Harlan to flee into outer space. Twenty-eight years later, analyst Atlas Shepherd discovers that Harlan escaped to a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy after one of Harlan's agents is captured and interrogated. She insists on accompanying the military mission to find and capture Harlan, using AI-assisted mecha known as ARCs.

Moments before the ARC-equipped ICN Rangers descend to the planet, Harlan's drones attack their orbiting ship. Atlas is forced to enter an ARC herself and falls to the planet as the ship crash-lands. Atlas manages to gain basic control of the ARC despite her distrust of the onboard AI, who introduces itself as Smith. Atlas orders Smith to head to the planned drop point, where she finds the rest of the rangers dead. She reluctantly agrees to directly interface her mind with Smith, allowing for greater control of the ARC. As they journey towards a rescue pod, Atlas and Smith begin to bond, and she reveals that her mother was Harlan's designer.

Although running low on power, Atlas convinces Smith to head to Harlan's base in order to tag it for a long-range strike. However, after placing a beacon at the base, Smith is hacked and disabled. Atlas is captured and brought to Harlan, who plans to destroy most of humanity and give the chosen survivors a chance to thrive under AI guidance. To do so, Harlan lured the military to the planet in order to steal the ship – and its carbon bombs, which will burn Earth's atmosphere.

Harlan extracts the security codes from Atlas in order to get past Earth's defenses, then leaves her to die with Colonel Banks, the only other survivor of the mission. After Banks gives her his ARC neural interface device, Atlas remotely reactivates Smith, who comes to their rescue. Using salvaged parts from the other destroyed ARCs, Atlas upgrades Smith to stand a chance against Harlan's assembled forces.

Atlas further reveals to Smith that Harlan killed her mother after she gave Harlan an unfettered interface with her mind. Harlan, programmed to save humanity from risk, then saw that humanity's history of destructive behavior made it a risk to itself. Smith helps Atlas overcome her guilt, and Banks sacrifices himself to clear their path. Atlas and Smith fight their way out and destroy the repaired ship before defeating Harlan in hand-to-hand combat – though Atlas and Smith are badly injured. Smith shuts down before Atlas is rescued after repeated defibrillation.

Back on Earth, Atlas is informed that Harlan's complicated CPU will take years to analyze. Now a ranger, she tests the newest model of ARC, created with her suggested modifications reminiscent of Smith. As she boots up the new ARC, its AI repeats a specific phrase Atlas made during the final moments of the mission, then jokingly tells her to guess its name, suggesting that Smith, in some form, survived.