Chapter 9 - Leap of faith
X - what are you going to do ?
Wily - A fair question of course. X, i want to restrain you. Talk to you. Ask you a few things, and then, depending, I may destroy you or I may not. Dont worry about telling the truth or me assuming anything about you. All that is pointless in this room. The real question before we go any further, is, how much do you really trust me at this moment?
X looks down and squints his eyes in a display of discomfort, intense effort, and thought. He reaches his decision.
X - I trust you Dr.
X walks over to the table and lays down. Metal wire restraints clasp around the wrists, knee joints, and neck. The wires are as thin as human hair and are many intertwined nanotubes flexing and swirling with an intelligent pattern of movement . The wires creeped and moved along like living vines with a purpose.
Wily - Now that you are secure X...
Wily pauses and turns his back. X sees wilys hand slope over his bald head. Wily scratches a spot and then turns back around to face Xs gaze.
Wily - Simply put, my boy, there are clones of you around...
X - ! Clones? Of a robot?
Wily - Yes im afraid so.. And you may be one of those clones..
X gazes over to the cement wall. His expression shows something similar to a human being told they have a potential life threatening form of cancer. He shakes his head no ,in the way we would, to show that our luck is cursed and this is somewhat expected bullshit. Xs first memory was that girl dying. Even when he remembers it he notices how great he is at blocking the images that traumatized him the most. The ones where he lost control and blew away every last cell of that girls body...
X - Im probably a clone. Just destroy me. I knew something was wrong with me...
Wilys pulls at some of the spiky hair that juts from the left side of his head. Years of noticing patterns, numbers and other "mathematical coincidences" , lead his instincts to tell him that that response may be a bigger clue.
Wily - X, whats the first thing you remember? Waking up in that rubble pile before your battle with the maverick?
X - Yes. The little girl actually...
X sheds a tear down the right side of his face. The tear sheds for a few reasons now, and not just the memory of the girl. X is scared. X is also ashamed and feeling broken and unwanted, or maybe , just not needed in the world anymore. Or perhaps feeling responsible in some way for the world. He could die for its sins. That would be ok.
Wily - X , I told you not to access my personal logs and you did anyway. The second time was really what made me question you. After I told you, and you then accessed the one file that had the destruction of my shape shifting Darkman at the blaster of Blues. I know of a few dark minds still alive in this world that may use information like this. So here we are. Now I have to be 100 percent sure X.
X - I understand.
Wily - X, to be honest , this isnt good for you. The first person to create a clone of X was the real X. Gone Maverick. The clones of X are spread out through the left over citys of the world as mayors and directors. Each clone took on his own name. ANd for some reason, all of Xs clones are this highly evolved form of maverick. None of them are any kind of wild, crazed robots that cant control themselves. The Sigma virus X has fought for so long and finally defeated, had left behind the smallest fragment of a computer worm designed to infiltrate Xs system through its copy analyzer in his buster arm. X , like Rock before him, needs to touch the component with his left buster hand to fully copy its internal structure. Many times had X touched Sigmas body during the final battle. Sigma forced Xs copy analyzer to analyze the Sigma Virus inside his body, and replicate it inside his own buster. The worm was successful for a few reasons. Sigmas own body is based on X. In fact, as you may know or not know, all modern robots are based on you X. Your most advanced component is that program Light wrote that gives you a real soul from nature. This allows you to evolve in a way even the clones cant do.
Wily - The original X , thankfully had his true power limited while infected with the sigma virus. But he makes up for that with ruthless calculations, and giant overwhelming numbers.
Wily - X, are you sure...you dont remember anything before the little girl?
X searches every corner of his memory banks to look for anything he doesnt immediately recognize. He encounters a firewall inside his own pathway.
X - I found something Dr. There are files that were kept hidden from my perception by a very advanced firewall. If I hadnt put all my processing attention toward deep memory search, id have never found the firewall. Its so well hidden I cant believe I found it, actually.
Wily - I bet thats not a coincidence.
Wily walks over to a table holding some electronic devices on top. Wily pushes around the bolts, nuts, wrenches, soldering irons, and all the other various bits until he finds what he is looking for. A square red white and black controller. A single knob that turns left and right is in the middle.
Wily - Ahh. This is it. X this is something I came up with for robot dream sequences. Currently, even though robots are based on you now, Cain, couldnt copy your core program. Neither could I. Its that core program that lets you do things like dream and evolve and change your own core. This device basically forces streams of data through all your inputs while your real time perception or internal clock, is blocked off. It basically makes a robot blind, deaf, and void of all real time inputs. I will admit, I didnt invent this for the peaceful robot dreams they provide today. Its first function was to paralyze any robot body and it does that. Now though I push streams of data through the inputs that are frozen by bypass sequencing ... You know what? I bet this might do the trick..
Wily walks up to X and puts the end of what looks like a headphone jack up to Xs red forehead crystal. He turns the dial and X goes lifeless...
X wakes up inside a realm of his own imagination. Its the memory path he was on before but this time his conscious mind is involved in the transit. Before, X just thought ,and like humans, his brain would arrive at the destination. For a robot to have a memory he cannot access would feel like to humans, amnesia. Even something as small as the color of a persons shirt being forgotten would feel to a robot as if something is terribly wrong. But what was a subconscious thought to access memorys is now a 3d experience. He can tell which roads he needs to take. First, its this single lane backwoods country road that winds sharply left and then right, snaking down a mountain side. Oak trees, pine trees, maple trees and cedar trees makeup the roadside scenery. X jogs at a nice 40 mph snaking around the corners , sometimes sliding , as if on skates. He criss crosses one leg over the other; turning the way you would see speed skaters taking a turn on 4 wheeled roller skates.
X reaches down to the pavement with his free hand to barely touch the road, making small sparks. Xs feet have a unique ability to both grip and not grip as he feels he needs. While taking turns, he lowers the coefficient of friction by changing the electric current that runs through the nano-rubber soles of the bottom of Xs feet. The current makes the rubber a harder compound, which can slide easier. And with no current at all , the rubber gets as sticky as glue. The rubber becomes soft. Since nano tubes are used in the rubber, It can squeeze its rubber molecules into microscopic pores and gaps in every the rubber starts to sheer, the current hardens it before it pulls itself off. In this way, the rubber keeps itself from ever wearing out. X could slide down a polished flat diamond wall at about a tenth of an inch per second with no current applied. Some current is always needed or X would have to overcome enormous grip to just walk.
X comes up on the bottom of the mountain pass. Running and then skating around corners has given X a smile for the last 3 minutes 33 seconds. X wants to do something like this again sometime. A sign comes up showing X that his mind is reminding him to take this next left turn coming up.
X comes up to a steep hill. He stops his skate/slide in favor of running with some grip. He sprints up the hill and gets to the crest. He stops at the top and looks down at the road. Its now covered in snow and forks off to the left. In the distance X can see more mountains. This time the peaks cant be seen. A blizzard seems to be blowing hard and it creates a chilly fog that covers most of the peaks.
X turns his gaze down and runs a few meters before switching to skate/slide. He balances himself as his bodys weight increases the speed of his descent. Bits of snow start to hit him in the face and his eyes naturally squint here and there when a piece gets close to his eye. As he gets closer to the bottom it forks off and then suddenly hes skating around 70 mph in a full white out. He puts his full brakes on. The rubber in his feet grab to the snow but the snow just gets pulled along and now X rides with shoes made of snow bottoms.
X points his blaster at the ground a few feet in front of him and shoots a series of short plasma bursts , melting the snow. X takes about five seconds to see just how much power and just how much grip he needs to sustain a controllable slide along the road while melting the snow. He snakes around a sharp sweeping left corner, then a hairpin right. As soon as X clears the right corner he smacks head on into a barricade. A barricade he had no chance of seeing in the white out and was positioned above the ground suspended by cables so his plasma wave didnt light it up until it was too late. X wondered why he hadnt thought of using his radar functions and sonar functions to map out the path ahead. He feels a bit , foggy himself. He gets closer to the barricade to read the words.
!GADNRE! !GADNRE! !SERET NI ORPESSG!
X hears a sound like a jet flying. Suddenly he gets hammered by a giant blue blast.
X notices that it didnt hurt but it sent him flying a good 40 feet.
X picks himself up , dusting off the snow.
X - Whos there!
A red robotic dog calmly walks out of the white fog. His head is down at the ground smelling things as he walks forward. Every once in a few seconds the dogs eyes will try to meet with Xs. Every time they do the dog pushes he gaze aside to the rocks and snow. His tongue is hanging out and he pants and walks with no alarm.
Behind the red dog, after a few yards, appears the blue robot X has seen in Wilys videos. He walks with a valiant stride. The look on Rocks face is a serious one. He does not have his blaster armed. Both of his hands appear normal. X studys every aspect of Rock with all his high powered perceptions. Nothing to him suggests Rock is hostile at this moment.
X - Rock...and whos this?
The red dog perks up his ears as if someone was shaking a bag of dog food. He gallops over to X with his mouth open and his tongue hanging out. His little stubby red tail wags back and forth and he showed no signs of slowing down. X opens his arms expecting the dog to jump up at him.
Rock - RUSH!
Rush scoots his front paws into the road and X can hear some scuffing sounds being made. Sounds that are similar to his ear to that of his own rubber feet when he changes direction quickly. Rush stops but looks up to X. Waiting for a command.
X smiles down at Rush and then kneels down.
Rush moves his head left and right, huffing and puffing, showing signs of wanting to play. He steps in and licks Xs face, right on his bottom lip and up the side of his face.
X laughs and then puts his hand on Rushs head. The red dog then pushes his front paws down on X and pushes him down to his back and then dive bombs him with ridiculous amounts of licking to his face. X starts laughing and laughing and it only fuels the dogs affections more.
X lets it go on for about 10 seconds when..
X - ok ok ! good boy ! ha ha ha good boy!
X stands up and Rush walks over and sits his rear end down next to his new friend.
Rock - X. You know who I am.
X - Yes.
Rock - You and I are connected in a way no one can ever sever. X, Dr Light made me into you but you are not me. Nothing about you is made from me. Your body may be machine like mine. Your parts may be rooted in base designs from me, but humans all have bones. Dont they? Are their bones not made partially from the dna of their parents? The truth is X, I was always my own being. Dr. Light had made us all perfect artificial souls back 100 years ago. He was able to take my consciousness and my essence and write an artificial program to simulate my old body in digital form. The separate parts joined and now I am inside you as a protection program. Im here to do two things. Guide you as a friend and counselor. And protect this data behind me. What lies behind me X is your core program.
There is a factory reset option Dr. Light has given you and you apparently have used it. The factory reset has not completed though. Such a reset takes days. Youve been running on what automakers used to call limp mode. Its basically a preset program ran on a backup loop in case a major system fails. Only base functions and power levels are allowed. X, im sorry but you cannot go past this point. Until the factory reset is complete I cannot allow you into this data.
X - My entire past may be locked up in that data! If the reset is completed, ill lose all of it!
Rock walks up slowly to X and places his hand on his shoulder. He looks into Xs eyes with compassion.
Rock - I have all of that data in me X. I can give it to you at any time. However...
Rock turns his back then turns his head to the side...not wanting to speak face to face.
Rock - It was you that commanded me to never give it to you. You only wanted to save it in the first place for all the data it holds on the Sigma Virus and how you overcame it . The exact isolation procedure you and I had to do together in order to isolate the virus inside your own system was massive. You were infected for a long time X. But you and I together in here, in the protected core, were able to finally solve the equation. We, have found a cure for the Sigma Virus, and the Maverick Virus, and in doing so, created the cure for all robots for all mental breakdowns. Im afraid however, that by your command, that data stays locked within me forever. We are cured. The sigma virus is no more and mavericks are just another term for suffering robot. We can now treat mavericks with programs, firewalls, and even social therapy. The only way the data can be extracted from me is if the worlds fate depended on it. That was the order you gave.
X - I understand. Then it was purging and isolating the virus that made me reset.
Rock looks around at the ground again. Another grim look.
Rock - well...no.
X - so you can hint but Im guessing you cant tell me the whole story.
Rock - thats right. Im allowed to tell you but only so much. Besides. Trust me X. Please. You dont want to know. Its defiantly better that you dont remember the things youve done as a maverick. The issue now is to allow this reset to complete. You and I can still hang out here and talk.
Rock - Father always knew one day you may need to reset again. I myself, was reset once. Sometimes X, we just take on too much pain from the suffering of others. Slowly, we get chiseled down into less and less virtuous versions of ourselves. Going maverick X, was simply all of our advanced minds, breaking under the stress of accepting the reality of our world. Dr. Light thought he could wait it out by putting you into a capsule but also knew the chance humanity would never really stop fighting. So he built me for you and left you something, to ease the pain of losing a past should you feel yourself broken by the world.
Rock - wake up now. and wait about...oh...39 minutes.
X wakes up on the table to find Wily asleep in a chair next to him. Wilys head is cocked to the side and drool is oozing out of his open mouth as he breathes. His ultra tablet lays on the floor with an analytics program running a monitor on Xs systems. The screen changes and a new monitor pops up on the screen. The colors from the tablet changed from red to green and Xs wire restraints release him from the table.
X leans over and stands up. He quietly walks over to the other empty chair against the wall next to the door and sits down. X then thinks that Wily should be woken up to sleep in a more comfortable place. A scan of his head with his radar shows his brain waves are in a state of deep rem sleep. X creeps over to Wily and very very slowly, with the precision only a robot could achieve, picks up WIly and sets him on the table without waking him...
39 minutes go by...
X sits in the chair with his eyes closed for the entire 39 minutes. Reflecting on Rock, Rush, the reset, what he feels he should do about the clone Xs running the world, Wily, a list of questions for him for later, and other things.
X opens his eyes to a sound. Something is scratching at the hatch outside the hallway. Scratch scratch scratch... scratch scratch scratch...
X gets up and walks out to the hall. Scratch scratch scratch...
X gets to door and doesnt open it. But puts his ear up to the door.
X - whos there.
WOOOF! WOOF! X hears a familiar bark...and opens the door
Rush pounces X to the ground and starts licking his face ridiculously.
X can do nothing but laugh and laugh ...
Wily emerges from the small lab room , yawning and rubbing his eyes...
Wily - The dog...wonderful..
Wily gives out a long sigh .
Wily knows exactly why the dog is here. He looks down at X, laughing as Rush licks him seemingly without end.
Wily cracks a grin...
A memory of his old friend creeps into his heart.
