Ruiner

My grandfather once told me that I could achieve anything I wanted with the elements of the universe at my disposal. To be clear, he did not mean to say that I could achieve anything I could set my mind to, or any of that emotional hogwash. He meant, quite simply, that anything could be done by manipulating the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology.

I actually lied, he never told me this at all. But if he were alive, he'd probably say something to that sort of extent. My grandfather was a cold and calculating sort of man. He never had time for emotional business, it was all about the science. More specifically, creation. The defiance of God...that was his main ambition. Over the years he strived to extract the greatest amount of power he could from the sciences. He synthesized elements, destroyed them, changed them in so many ways. His genius mind could interpret his findings at least five steps in advance, giving him the flexibility to quickly create new experiments with even more spectacular outcomes. With every year that passed he was able to devise at least twice as many new techniques to extract energy. Energy he could use to create things...lifeforms...beyond even my vast capability of understanding. By the time of his death, his experiments had yielded some of the most promising results of the century.

Unfortunately, no one ever appreciated his genius. The scientific community viewed his techniques as reckless, lacking any sort of ethical code, and as such they had disbanded him from the most important scientific associations. It was true that my grandfather had taken a number of calculated risks in his search for energy. Some animals might have lost their lives in the search, but you have to remember. This was for science.

His last experiment was by far his most extraordinary project yet. He was on the verge of creating the ultimate life-form...a being said to be so strong in mind and in body that even the laws of physics could be distorted by its power. I only know this because I found one of his old lab journals in the ruins of his former laboratory. His notes were so thorough, so calculated...I couldn't believe it had been written by one man, my grandfather no less. Unfortunately, the journal only contained notes on a section of the project - a piece of a missing puzzle as it were. It's really a shame, because looking over the notes, it really looked like he was close to forming the final product. I wonder if he was ever successful...

The scientific community found out about his project shortly before it was supposed to end, and in their ignorance they alerted the authorities. In the raid that destroyed my grandfather's laboratory, they shot and killed my cousin. My grandfather was taken to court, where everyone there seemed to have such tiny brains. So pitifully tiny. They couldn't grasp what he was on the verge of creating...something that would advance science beyond their wildest dreams. All they could understand in their tiny little brains were the testimonies of similarly dimwitted scientists and psychologists.

My grandfather was shortly executed thereafter by firing squad. Funny how something as small and as simple as a bullet, fired from something that could be created with the most menial knowledge of mechanics, could end one of the most brilliant minds in history.

As I write this, you may think that I hold some sort of deep admiration for my grandfather, but in that regard you are surely mistaken. Not because he was cold and calculating...that doesn't matter to me at all. No, it's because he had it all wrong.

In the end, my grandfather was in it for the science. But what he failed to realize is...there is so much more to strive for...

/

At the age of seven I had built my first robot. It wasn't anything too advanced, just a simple bot to keep me company. A pet in the most basic sense. Its name was Eggbot, because it looked like an egg. Why give it any other name when science demands such an organized nomenclature? Even at the age of seven, I knew how to manage my creativity, and I definitely wasn't going to squander it on a name.

School was unnecessary...I had all the tools for creation locked in my brain already. It wasn't hard, all I had to do was read and take advantage of logic. The method was simple, precise, and calculated...just the way I liked it. But as a child I still had to attend school, and this was unfortunate because it was boring and dull.

And people were there. I dislike people. They're so irrational. They're so stupid.

Schoolchildren were the worst. They always talked about me, commenting about my rather hefty figure and my tendency to talk about subjects beyond their understanding. Subjects they foolishly classified as dull. They did this to my face too. People think I'm the evil one, but how am I more evil than those schoolchildren? I do not understand how illogical people are sometimes.

It was at the hands of these schoolchildren that Eggbot met its demise. Someone had taken it from my rucksack, twisted its head off, and dunked the decapitated body and head in the toilet. After getting through the gauntlet of constant nonsensical taunting from the lunatics responsible, I was able to recover Eggbot's body from the toilet. Its head had been flushed away.

At the age of seven, Eggbot was the most meaningful object in my life. It represented my idea of science, my methods of thinking, my ambition to yield the best and create the best through experimentation. So when it was taken by these schoolchildren and foolishly destroyed, I realized something. Science alone wasn't going to advance our race. People do not have the capability to understand its importance.

So, the only solution is to make people understand. To force people to understand.

And that requires power.

/

For the past few years, I have designed and built state-of-the-art robots that function on a level unmatched by any other inorganic creation. They're brilliant machines. I know that, because I made them, and I'm brilliant.

At first I created them to run on a reasonable amount of energy in order to observe their functionality. I couldn't believe how much progress I was making. The robots jumped higher and moved faster than I ever could have imagined. And yet, throughout every successful test and every achievement, there was this constant voice that existed in the back of my head.

More. I need more.

And so I built more, and I increased their level of capabilities. I pushed the highest threshold of obtainable energy in order to power them, and their motions and capabilities astounded me even further. If I did not already loathe the concept of art...I would call my robots masterpieces.

But still, I needed more.

And so I went back to the drawing board, attempting to formulate a plan to synthesize even more energy for more advanced robots. The pieces were coming together and the gears were starting to turn, and I was so close. Honestly, I was very close.

But then I hit a block. I realized that the only way to synthesize enough energy for my robots was to harness the most effective energy in existence. In other words, I would have to harness life energy from carbon-based organisms.

It was animals, or the end of the line.

This was a problem, because up until this point I still had retained some sense of ethical code in my experiments. Personally, I didn't care much for ethics anyway, but I had never forgotten what had happened to my grandfather and very much did not want to end up succumbing to the same demise.

The answer was so clear to me though. Animals.

I thought about it day and night, the ethics of animal experimentation. Weren't we, as humans, superior to all other life-forms? Surely that would be enough to justify the manipulative use of animals. And it wasn't going to be for naught, there was a purpose to all of this. I was going to build better machines, faster machines. Machines with capabilities far beyond what had ever been observed before. I was going to advance science beyond everyone's wildest dreams.

It had to be done.

I started with small rodents from the forest. I figured they would be hard enough to miss and there were plenty of them around. I installed an apparatus within every robot to house these rodents, and I connected the core of each robot to the brain of each animal using electrodes. The result was incredible. The life energy of these rodents increased the productivity of my robots immensely. It seemed at this point that there was no limit to what they could do.

So, naturally, I started to capture more animals.

I knew what I was doing had crossed the threshold of right and wrong, but I didn't care. I was doing science a favor. I was creating the most advanced robots ever known.

I was defying God.

And then it all came crashing down. Some Mobians had figured out where all the animals had gone and they alerted the authorities. They came bursting into my laboratory without warning and arrested me. They never gave me a chance to defend myself, to explain to them what their puny minds couldn't grasp. And before my eyes, my entire life's work up to that point...all of my dear robots...all of my plans...were crushed and destroyed. My animals, the hidden answer, were sent off and freed.

I was on the cusp of creating the most powerful life-forms in the universe. In fact, I was probably even closer to the end result than my grandfather was. But of course the ignorance of mankind and mobian-kind got in the way. I should have remembered from my childhood days. The problem was never the science. It was the people. They just never understood...

It wasn't hard for me to escape custody, or to build this hidden laboratory in the mountains where I currently reside. No, the hardest part was rebuilding everything with only my mental plans and memories to go on. I'll admit, it was tough. And it didn't help that at the time I was seething with rage, furious with everyone who had turned me in, everyone who thought my work had no meaning. My work was worth more than all of their lives put together.

And that got me thinking. What if I my work actually was worth more than all of their lives put together?

Last week, I completed the framework for the robotization mechanism. Its design is meant to fully integrate the mobian-body into my robots, meaning the Mobian in question will literally become one of my robots. A Mobian's supply of life-energy is at least ten times that of a normal animal, and so the capabilities of my robots will far surpass anything I've ever created. But more importantly, that one Mobian's life will become the life of one of my robots. It will take on a new meaning, a more important meaning. The Mobians I'll catch...they'll finally be able to see what I see, and they'll understand what they failed to realize. All it takes is a little bit of circuitry...

The world thinks I'm crazy. The world thinks I have it all wrong. But to be honest, I couldn't be any more right.

The only solution is to make people understand. To force people to understand.

And that requires power.

And I have it.

"You didn't hurt me

Nothing can hurt me

You didn't hurt me

Nothing can stop me now."

Nine Inch Nails, "Ruiner"