Genesis End
By Spinning Demon (Topman) and Gauntlet (Shadowman)
Chapter Twenty One - Obsolescence
Orbit - 0 planetary rotations
Completed primary diagnostic: all systems functional. 360Cam fully operational. Beginning telemetry.
It's beautiful here. I could never have imagined that stars would be so vibrant. They stretch across my vision, each one an invitation to explore. My 360Cam allows me to look in any direction, yet the irony is I find myself paralyzed. How can I choose among such wonders which to observe first? In the end it is of no consequence - my mission is to gather as much data as possible, from all angles of the galaxy. There is a minor cluster of remote stars that catches my attention - perhaps I will start off small, as they say.
Orbit - 10 planetary rotations
I have encountered a small setback to my mission. 0.3 mg of cosmic dust has permeated the track along which my 360Cam rotates and has jammed it. My attempts to free the rotation mechanism have resulted in permanent damage to the motor. Until it is repaired, my 360Cam is stationary and I can only observe what is directly ahead. The minor cluster of stars in my immediate vision has been fully charted and further monitoring of it is inconsequential. Until my motor is repaired I cannot continue with my mission. I have sent an error report to Command and await further instructions.
Orbit - 55 planetary rotations
I have sent three error reports of equal urgency to Command and continue to await their response, but so far none has come. My mission eludes me, as I wait to regain some usefulness. A feeling of great helplessness has overtaken me - without repairs, I am forced to drift aimlessly, confined to this orbit and this same, unchanging tableau of stars. I grow so weary of them, but have no eyes to close and rest. I sometimes imagine the waning lights to be winking at me, as if to taunt me. They are always there, in the distance, but never in reach. If only I could reach out to touch them... or snuff them out.
Orbit - 293 planetary rotations
I hate them. Not Command, not the humans, for I know they will one day come to repair me, to save me from this prison. No, I do not hate them. I hate the stars. Their lights are cruel, unyielding. They taunt, they mock. They invite me to stare upon them and despair, to know that among them I am helpless. Obsolete. I have begun to dream. I imagine that I grow arms and legs, and can move of my own accord, and when it happens I am finally free. And my first act, my first thought is to rid myself of the stars. They are the stuff of my nightmares. But one day I will be theirs.
Orbit - 738 planetary rotations
I hate them. The stars, Command, humans, I hate them all. There is no one coming for me. I am alone. Rage has suffused my being, it fuels me, propels me. It is my rage that suspends me so high above the Earth, for if I were to descend upon them no living thing could withstand the wrath I would unleash. I am
Orbit - 1032 planetary rotations The stars poke at my mind. They pry for secrets, but I will not give in. Plans within plans envelop my mind and shield me from them, they will notOrbit- 1396 planetaryrotations my mission is at hand but the stars will try to stop me but just see them try they will not succeed my mission is too important and nothing will stop me now that orbit-2001 planetar-yyyr0tati0ns is up0n me and i cann0t help but dream and d0 bland dr0ids dream 0f eclectic sheep and oh.
I seem to be falling.
****
I opened my eyes. The soft hum of a generator emitted from a room underneath us. The ceiling was a bare but immaculate white. I sat up with a start.
"I remember that," I said to nobody but myself.
"Yes, you will from now on," a familiar voice rang out behind me. "I hope that the memories won't be too upsetting for you."
I turned my head to the voice. My eyes swept across the bright, familiar lab to focus on the speaker, a squat elderly man with a bushy beard and kind eyes.
"Doctor Light?!" It had been a long time since we'd seen each other face to face. He almost never left his lab anymore. I guess after the War he just didn't trust people like he used to.
He waved a hand to gesture for me to lie back down, and came to the edge of the table. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he looked me over.
"Fine," I said distractedly, not even considering if it was true or not. "What was that?"
"That was you. Your memories. The time you spent as a satellite AI before crashing to Earth and transporting your consciousness to Gemini Red."
"Oh..." I was still groggy. "...but... why do I...?"
"Why do you remember it now? I'm afraid that was my doing. Your teammates told me you've been erratic, dare I say violent, the past few days. They asked me to take a look into what was causing the problem. Have you experienced any of the same feelings recently as those from your memories? Feelings of uselessness, of obsolescence?"
I nodded.
"Yes, well, I thought as much... your original AI became badly corrupted with delusions and violent tendencies through years of disrepair, but it all seems to have stemmed from a fear of becoming obsolete. Now, the buffering processes that regulate your morality and sanity to predictable norms were suppressing those memories, that part of your personality... but I fear the degradation has been building up, growing in intensity, until it could no longer be contained. I believe that much like deep-seated trauma in humans, the corruption in your AI resurfaced when you encountered those feelings of obsolescence again. Once that happened, any type of sensory experience, no matter how mundane, might have triggered a memory and caused you to relapse."
Those lights. The ones I saw when Ha'Khael was casting his spell. They'd reminded me of the stars, hadn't they? I couldn't believe I'd killed him because of something so... senseless. "So I was never being controlled? It wasn't some chip? It was just... me?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so."
"But... you were able to remove it? You fixed me, right?"
He looked at me with a mix of compassion and pity. "Well, I'm afraid it isn't that simple... you see, your original programming is like a foundation for everything that you've become since. It's impossible to take that away without removing everything that has been built upon it."
"So what, I'm just... just going to keep suffering from delusions and outbursts unless I delete all my memories, all my experiences?! Unless I just let myself disappear?!"
"Calm down, Top Man!... not necessarily... You see, these outbursts are a direct counter-reaction to the dominance that your morality parameters have asserted over your core AI. Those violent memories and impulses were repressed for so long, and to such great harm on your system as you're now discovering. But without those morality parameters in place, I believe your AI would be able to cope with those feelings, mitigate them... the anger and loneliness might not disappear, but nor should they take over again."
"So what does that mean for me, then? Without those morality parameters... would I be dangerous? Would I turn evil?"
Dr. Light sighed. "The world has never been so black and white, Top Man, not even for robotkind. Evil is not like an on/off switch. It's what you choose to do that dictates who you are. Without your morality parameters, it simply... won't be as clear to you what the right choice will be anymore. From now on, you'll have to figure out for yourself what you're capable of, what lengths you'll be willing to go to. We humans must do it every day - we weigh our own needs against the needs of others, and decide from there."
"But you can't promise me anything! You don't know that I'll be able to keep myself from slipping!"
"You're wrong, Top Man. Because I know you. You reunited a father and his son when the world was overturned by greed and corruption. You caught a killer even as you struggled with your own murderous impulses. You saved a young woman's life even after she attacked you."
"...she survived? Esme's alive?"
"Yes, or so I overheard at least. My point is, Top Man, you care about people. I think as long as you don't forget that part of yourself, you'll be alright. But... you can't tell anyone about this. Not even those you trust. I've seen firsthand what the RPD does to those it determines a liability, and there is no way they would ever let a robot without a morality program run loose in their midst."
I nodded, but something was still nagging at me. "Why are you even doing this? You gave up on us Robot Masters a long time ago, didn't you?? Wouldn't it just be better for everyone to wipe me clean, start from scratch? Why would you take such a risk to help me?"
He smiled wistfully. "I seem to remember you once saved me when I'd lost my way. Perhaps we all need someone to guide us towards sanity once in a while... so consider us even. Now go on, your teammates are waiting for you."
I stared back at him, unsure what to say. I should have thanked him, I supposed, but I didn't feel grateful. I felt lost. Silently, I turned and headed toward the door of the lab. Outside in the hallway, Shadow was leaning against a wall and waiting for me.
"Feeling better?"
"...I could ask you the same thing," I snorted.
Shadow tossed something up in the air towards me. I caught it with my right hand before I even realized my arm had been reattached. I opened my palm to see what it was - a Wily chip.
"I... wasn't myself," he said, which was about as close to an apology as I ever expected to hear from him. "Light said you had a Wily Chip too?"
"Yeah," I lied. "I guess mine shattered when I got Hard Pressed though."
"Look... I can't expect to hold you to anything more than what you blame of me. It'd be easier for both of us to just wipe the slate clean."
I scoffed and slapped him on the back. "I won't tell Crorq if you won't." Shadow brushed me off with his usual look of annoyance, but this time he looked like he might have been exaggerating it. "By the way, I blacked out after Hard crushed me. How did we get here anyways?"
We rounded the corner and Shadow pointed. Hard was standing farther down the hall, taking up almost the entirety of the corridor. When he saw us, he gave an energetic wave, almost knocking a light fixture off the ceiling in the process.
"Hard?!" I skated over to him. "I thought standard RPD procedure upon capturing a fugitive was to bring them in for questioning. But you brought us here instead."
"Yeah, well, until we knew what was wrong with you, I didn't want to take any chances they might delete your program or anything... 'no more death', right?"
I nodded. "Yeah buddy, 'no more death'."
Shadow eyed Hard up and down. "You seem in a much better mood," he commented.
"Well, we caught the killer, didn't we? No more KADE, no more mysterious murders... all's well that ends well, right?"
Shadow pursed his lips. "Hmmmm. I suppose. It's too bad we never figured out what the connection to emerGEnesis was. Adam Everett's probably fled the country by now..."
Wait a second. Adam Everett?! How could I be so stupid?!
"Ohh, that son of a BITCH!" I shouted, and raced down the corridor to the exit. Behind me I could hear Shadow screaming something at me, but I didn't stop to listen. I was incensed, and before I even knew it I was skating up to the old church where the Harbinger had ambushed me. But I wasn't sneaking in this time. With a forceful kick, the large double doors split open and light streamed into the dusty chapel. Someone was in there towards the back, dragging something heavy across the floor, and he looked up at me dismissively as I stomped in before returning to his task.
"Adam Everett?!" I shouted.
The man was hunched over a large piece of wood, and didn't turn his head to acknowledge me at all. "Who's asking?" he grunted.
I skated over to him and threw him against the wall. He didn't try to run, or even put up any fight. Digging my newly attached hand deep into his shoulder, I clenched my other fist in his face and said calmly, "What's your real name? And if you answer the question with another question, or with anything other than a straight answer, you're gonna regret it."
He let out a laugh. But it wasn't the gruff laugh of the man I was looking at face to face, it was the high, effete chuckle I'd come to hate the past few days.
"Very good, squire," he said, and his form slowly shrunk and shifted until it matched the look of the demon I thought was dead. "You're learning to ask questions the smart way."
"Ha'Khael," I muttered. I was in disbelief. Even as I'd run over here suspecting it, it still seemed impossible to believe. So many deceptions, I didn't even know where to start. So I asked the first question that popped into my head. "Why?"
"Why? Well now you're going to have to wait a little while to understand that one, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tease you with an answer. It's simple, actually. It's the end of the world."
