The Light family never missed New Year's at Times Square. It was a ritual of the doctor and his robot creations to gather excitedly in the lab with the seven-by-seven HD screen and the Dolby 9 surround to watch the glimmering Waterford crystal ball drop throughout the years. Thomas Light would settle back in his recliner and allow himself his yearly smoke, a single pipe full of rich Black Cavendish tobacco, and the smoke would waft gently about the room. Roll would tut at him for doing it, and pretend to cough, and fuss about the smoke's effect on their air intakes and the doctor's lungs, while Rock would laugh and eagerly blow on the noisemaker the doctor had given him. Any other of the myriad array of Light's robots available at the time would be invited to join them as well, and the atmosphere was always a festive, happy, noisy occasion.
The year before the turn of the century, Rock turned to his creator and asked the inevitable question. "Dr. Light, next year, can we go in person? Please?"
Light was hardly surprised by the question. Rock had asked it every year for the last three years, and each time Light had gently told him the time wasn't right. He took the pipe from his mouth, and smiled as he answered. "Yes, I think the time will be right then."
Rock was ecstatic, and flung his arms around his sister gleefully. "We're gonna go next year!" Roll squealed and bounced up and down, and they rushed Light to give him a big, happy hug, then ran out of the lab, singing and carrying on like children do.
But the year that came turned out to be anything but a happy new year, and Thomas Light found himself in New York alone on the eve of the new year. Wily was gone, executed by the new regime after another attempt to start a robot rebellion. Roll had succumbed to a vicious network virus. And the new laws in place regarding the limitation of robot lifespans meant that even Rock, the innocent defender of humanity, was required to be deactivated or turned over to the government's control.
Light had fought, but when the fight was lost, he opted to take Rock off line. Never would he let his creations be used the way he sensed the government wanted, the way Wily had used them in the past.
The world erupted into tensions and war in the final months of the year, the new regime offending the world, setting the tone for a series of ugly battles in the middle east between nuclear powers. The robots were under control, but the virulence of humanity remained, as ugly and brutal as ever. The economy collapsed, travel was restricted, familes found themselves straining just to survive. It felt like a darkness was settling, creeping into the veins of all the world, beginning to smother all hope.
After Rock's deactivation, Light was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
When Light arrived in New York and made his way to the iconic square, it was bitterly cold, and the mood of the crowd was dimmed. He looked at the young people whose faces were wrapped in their scarves, huddled together in heavy coats, trying to stay warm and cheerful against the chill. In prior years, when times were happier, the south end of Times Square was ebullient, a legend for a moment, where people from all countries gathered in peace. Now it seemed diminished. There were bare patches where no one stood. Many could no longer afford to travel or were banned from doing so because of 'terrorism'. Grim-faced police were visibly in force.
Thomas was 75. His doctors said he had about ten years left to live.
He looked at the faces of the young people around him. There was hope, but the hope was tainted with sadness and fear. At 11:57, they grew quiet as a monumental sound system began to play John Lennon's "Imagine" over the square, a plaintive song that had only grown sweeter and sadder against the world over the years.
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
Tears flooded his eyes and he lowered his head, a tired old man crying alone in the pregnant darkness. But above his own grief and the remorse he felt in the growing shadow of the world, something else came, flowing into him with the lyrics of the song. A gentle soul drew near to him, a pure light, blueprint lines seeming to write themselves like living things in his head, all at once clear and complete.
His heart began to race. This would change everything. It would take all of his strength, all of his will and heart. It would have to be done secretly. But in the name of his children and for the sake of the future...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
The crystal ball came down and for a moment, just a moment, the darkness was pushed aside by a swell of possibilities.
Dr. Light decided.
I will call him X.