Author's notes: I've had this idea knocking around for quite a while and only now decided to try it out as a little side project. This is my second fanfic and my first foray into the world of Mega Man. I don't know why, but the idea of an insight into Light's thoughts and random musings took hold of me. I can only hope nobody has done this sort of thing before, as this should make for a nice break when I cannot get the energy up to write my other fic.
First entry is rather short, just to start things up I guess. Second entry will be posted alongside this one. Updates shall be scarce, currently in an exam period.
Echoes of Light – Entry 1
The following journal entries are all the data that could be recovered from Dr Light's computer, found in the same building that housed that familiar blue capsule...the container of Megaman X. So little survived from this era, 200X, and so little is known about the world's former greatest hero and his creator. It is my hope that what few fragments we can salvage (for the damage has been extensive, little remains of the original house) will shed some light: both on the past and the future that awaits us with the advent of Reploids...
- Dr Cain
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"To some he is but a machine, to others he is their saviour. But me? I call him my son" - Extract from the journal of Dr. Thomas Light
There are so many nights in which I worry for him, for the world and for all of my children. No...that is not quite true, I worry for Al too. I try to ignore it as best as I can, for as soon as the thought of Albert Wily comes to mind, my nights quickly become restless. Alas, I am no stranger to sleep deprivation, I suppose it is something that comes with the field and I'm certainly not doing myself any favours when I do all-nighters these days...
To the world, the advanced robot projects, better known as "Robot Masters" are simply that: more complex, but still nothing more than mere machines. Machines that are famous for being abused to bring the world into terror. With each Robot Rebellion, laws restricting the manufacture, treatment and ownership of Robot Masters have become harsher and harsher. The first robots, brought into this world by my own hands...were of a different breed to the mass-produced models of today.
We have not reached the stage of true, unbound Artificial Intelligence, but people don't seem to grasp just how far we have come already. Current robots are bound by the Asimovian Three Laws of Robotics, have pre-programmed "personalities" and have the data needed for basic language skills and doing the tasks expected of them upon waking. But...they are still capable of making decisions beyond their original programming, of learning, of evolving beyond what they were made to be.
Perhaps Rock is the best example of this. Created as little more than a lab assistant and, dare I say, as a son...we voluntarily asked to be converted to the legendary blue bomber, "Megaman". I did not push him into, he suggested it himself and for all the pain it has caused him (yes, robots can feel pain as sure as any human), he has not looked back. Rock and Roll and even Blues (my humour in my naming choices still amuses me to this very day) have over time developed far beyond any other known Robot Master, except perhaps Bass. I do not know exactly how, but they have developed human-like tendencies beyond what I could have expected.
I see it when my children smile. They were not programmed to smile, it was learnt and, unlike what I've seen from my rivals in the robotics field, it is genuine. Anyone can program a humanoid machine to smile. Any robot master, even the crippled models produced today, can mimic and duplicate the muscle movements. But such smiles are cold and lacking true emotion like a human can express. I see it in my children, I saw it in the early models before they went rogue...that capacity of true emotion, the hinting of true sentience, of the next stage in their evolution.
As much as I fear the backlash that would result if I made it public knowledge, my children have found a way past the Laws of Robotics. I am aware that some robots are produced without these laws, such as military war bots (how I detest such companies profiting from war) and, of course, Wily's own reprogrammed machines, which appear to follow some twisted version of the Three Laws made to suit his own purpose. But with my children...they have the original Core Module responsible for enforcing the laws, and yet Roll has broken the Third Law and disobeyed orders from humans which she finds to be counter-productive or from people she dislikes. Rock...as Megaman, has broken both the Second and Third Laws, as has, I suspect, Blues...or rather, Protoman. Both have taken unnecessary risks to themselves without being forced to by the priority of the First Law, preventing harm to come to humans.
My creations have grown so much...they have their own moods and independence, much like actual children their apparent age. It still brings a beam to my face whenever any of the three of them manage to "pass for human" when out and about. They hold such potential and with what they have done already for humanity, Rock especially, they would appear to be the hope of the future. Sadly, not everyone shares my viewpoint...
