Phantasy Star: Mechanical Error
Chapter 9, The Creation of Wren
Written by Sarah Schoenlaub
Laurie went into the main control room of Zelan and sat at a terminal with a large screen. She inserted the videodisk Wren had given her into the slot and sat back to watch. Demi stood beside her, also curious. Everyone else stayed outside to give them a little space. Though they all loved Wren and were sad he was gone, they weren't as close to him as Laurie and Demi had been.
The image of a woman appeared on the screen. She had long grey hair, but by her face she only looked as if she were in her early thirties. She was working on something at a desk in what looked like a shed. "This will be the first day of the log, 10/15/1286," she said. "I am Ava Rothney, and I'm working on something quite marvelous, I must say."
"Last night I had a dream. I was standing beneath a dark sky, and standing in front of me was an android. It was like no other I had ever seen. He was tall. I'm about five-foot-four myself, but this android had to be at least seven feet tall. He had dark, spiked hair and steel grey eyes. His face had the typical synthetic skin substance of any android, but the rest of his body was metal. I would say it's Laconia, since no one would make an android out of anything else.
"Then there was a voice. It said that I would build this android, named for my father, using a W.R.E.N. processor." She spelled out Wren, unlike anyone in Algo had for many years. "This android would be known to serve and protect Algo through his lifetime. He would build systems and take control of old systems. He would maintain the climate and structure of the planets for centuries before other missions took him away.
"My husband, Garis, thought I was crazy. An android, inspired by a prophetic dream? How odd, indeed. But he is going along, finding the metal I need. I am currently working on the W.R.E.N. processor to control this android. The processor was made by four brilliant men. Kade Wyman, from Zema, Alec Rothney, Garis's father, Fuoren Ekson, my father, and Armoni Norton, from Paseo."
The screen then changed over to Wren. "Laurie, I know you're the one watching this. I prepared this when you began in Zelan, knowing that my time was short and knowing you would want the information someday. I am including key dates in the log files of my creator, Ava Rothney. She began work after Mother Brain was destroyed. It was a couple of months after that she was inspired to build me. I have all the log files in my system, but I didn't include each day here for time's sake."
The screen changed to Ava standing over Wren, who was lying on a table. His chest casing was not in place yet, and wires spilled from it. His head was only metal, with no synthetic skin, eyes, or hair yet. "It's day 65, 12/19/1286, and I just finished the audio and visual sensors. After I install the basic recovery systems and other important pieces, he will be ready for synthetic facial structure. After the main systems are prepared, he will be activated. I anticipate this process will only take a week to complete. Garis has been helping tremendously with metal work and even some programming. He never did like programming, though."
The screen changed once again. "Day 72, 12/26/1286. Fuoren is now ready to be activated. This is Garis standing by me. He's finally decided to be part of a video." A man in his mid thirties, with a small mustache, slight sideburns, bushy brown hair, and glasses, stood beside Ava. He nodded a bit, but said nothing. The camera moved to Wren, who was standing a few feet away. Ava reached into the chest cavity, clicked a few buttons, and replaced the casing. Wren's steel grey eyes flickered with a slight light as his life began.
The screen changed back to Wren in Zelan. "I spent much of my first year visiting libraries on Motavia. Motavia changed a lot over time. I visited towns that no longer exist today. I have extensive history files from all the learning I did that year. Ava was always supportive of me. She helped me to learn of existing control systems on Motavia.
"I visited Dezolis at the end of that year and also learned of its towns and control systems. Ava told me that someday these systems would need my help, and I understood why. With Mother Brain gone, the planets were falling into a slow decay. The climate systems were no longer active. By the second year, Ava and I began work on new systems and started to overtake old ones."
* * *
AW 1290
Four years after his creation, Wren was in a cave north of Zema with Ava and Garis. Ava was a good five months pregnant by then and Wren was very careful to monitor her condition as they worked. He was finishing the system he would call Seed. Seed would be in control of lifeforms on Motavia, creating and genetically altering animals in the area. Wren educated Seed in all areas of genetics and also told him about the first-generation Numans, known as Nei and Neifirst. The two started as one entity, but errors in the code caused the creature to split into two. Both looked identical, like twins. But Neifirst hated Nei, and wanted to kill her. Sadly, to kill Neifirst meant that Nei must also die. This caused a great deal of grief to her husband Rolf, a government agent from Paseo.
Despite the troubles of before, Wren wanted to create a new, better Numan. But he and Ava knew he had much else to do, so he left the duty to Seed. The second-generation Numan would be agile, intelligent, and able to learn with lightning speed, just as the first. But hopefully this one would be more stable.
As Wren prepared to activate Seed, a man from the Motavian government entered the cave. "What in blazes are you doing? Ava Rothney, didn't I tell you…"
Wren walked over and stood between Ava and the agent. "Ava has explained to you that this is for the better good of Algo. We even got permissions from the reverent Lutz and many officials here in Motavia. I advise you to leave at once before I report you to your superiors."
As the agent left the cave, not about to argue with a seven-foot android, Ava chuckled. "I didn't create you specifically to defend me, Fuoren. I can stand up to agents well, too."
"I am programmed to care for you, though it isn't my main mission. My primary objective is to gain control of the systems in Algo to maintain life on the planets."
Ava nodded, smiling. "Good. You have been doing excellent work so far. I hope this child comes soon so I can be more helpful to you," she said, patting her belly. "With this thing I can only monitor."
"Garis wishes for you to stay home. He stated that he would take time from work to assist me, if needed."
"Fuoren, I'm quite glad Garis is caring about my condition, but he is not a programmer. He wouldn't understand any of this. However, in the next two months I will be staying at home with him and I will need you to work alone for awhile."
Wren nodded. "Understood. By then I hope to be working in Climatrol. I estimate that it will take at least five years to finish things."
Ava nodded. "Well, don't be a stranger. Come home and recharge often. And be careful out on the ocean on the way there." Climatrol was located far underwater in a Motavian ocean. "I want you to see my little one. When she's about two I'll come help you out more."
Ava was thirty-six by then, and very much looking forward to motherhood. In the years they worked together, Ava taught Wren a lot about programming, and now he was starting to lead. His mission was becoming clear.
It had taken nearly a year of travel and petition to convince the Motavian government the importance of Wren's mission. They didn't understand, but as Ava and Garis presented information about the decline of the systems, the officials began to understand. Finally Ava went to Dezolis and spoke to Lutz about her dreams. Though he was a shrouded, hidden, highly revered man, Lutz had enough connection with the Great Light to know her prophesies to be truth. He made sure that the government would do nothing to interfere with the work of Wren.
Wren became known through the planet as a great, powerful android. He also became an inspiration to other scientists. Though the Shiren and Siren Wren-types were already common, other types were introduced. And no official interfered with Ava and Wren, except the occasional misfit agent.
The next month in Zema, Wren activated Seed, assured him of his mission and duties, and left to make sure Ava was faring well in her pregnancy.
* * *
"Seed proved to be as useful as I expected. He created the first second-generation Numan, Rika, about a thousand years ago. She was one of the protectors and assisted Chaz Ashley in the defeat of the Profound Darkness.
"Over the course of twenty years, I reprogrammed and overtook Climatrol, Plate Systems, and other important systems on Motavia. However, Plate Systems was not a good thing with no control over it. Before I reprogrammed it, it caused numerous earthquakes and shifted much of the planet. Some towns were destroyed.
"Ava, Garis, and their daughter Demi assisted me in all my work until Ava fell ill. I then stopped my work to be with her and oversee her medical care. It took years for a diagnosis to be reached, and by then she was quite frail. It was my first time dealing with such emotion and illness, and it was one of the biggest learning experiences for me. When Ava died at the age of 57 in AW 1311, it was my first time really encountering the death of humans. She talked to me before she died.
"'I know this is strange for you, Fuoren,' she told me. 'However, I think that on another day, in another time, you will understand death and the sorrow that follows it. Never forget your mission. I trust that you will never fail to protect Algo. You are my greatest creation.'
Soon after her, Garis died at the age of 62. By then I was working mostly on Dezolis. There wasn't much to be done there, as there weren't nearly as many systems as Motavia had. Demi Rothney and I worked together for thirty more years before we realized that we needed something to keep things together on Motavia."
* * *
AW 1343
"Plate Systems caused another earthquake in Paseo," Demi Rothney reported to Wren as she read the paper in her home in Zema. "We simply must get a central system here in Motavia. This is crazy."
"It is a problem. Paseo is losing government power. Aiedo is becoming a bigger influence. The new Hunters' Guild there is bringing enormous revenue to the city, and therefore it is gaining power."
Demi, who was 53, chuckled. "Of course. Everyone wants a hunter to kill the mean old monsters in their backyard. They blame Seed for it, but really these are creatures that always existed here."
"I hope that you will be able to assist for quite a long time on the construction of Nurvus."
Demi laughed. "Of course! I've still got my intelligence and ability. But the construction could take fifty years, and I'm not sure I have that much in me."
But she worked fifty years and lived to see Nurvus activated. She was 103, and died in her sleep the night after it was activated, as if she was making herself last only long enough to see it activated.
In the fifty years, much had changed on Motavia. Paseo and the Motavian government were becoming angry with the success in the town of Aiedo. Though the planet's plates hadn't shifted much, they were still moving. Now Plate Systems was being well controlled by Wren, so even though the plates were shifting, earthquakes were quite infrequent.
Wren's solo work had begun. He worked mainly on Motavia, occasionally going to Dezolis to maintain systems. Dezolis had a self maintaining climate and didn't need much help. Wren worked mainly in Nurvus and controlled Dezolis systems remotely.
Many hundreds of years passed. Wren, who was once known and loved by all people as a great hero and caretaker of Algo, faded into the background. No one went to Nurvus or any of the systems. But despite being neglected by the public, Wren remained true to his mission at all times. The lives of everyone in Algo were in his hands.
In AW 1782, the Motavian government fell. Paseo became a ghost town, then ceased to exist. Aiedo gained power, and all the cities, now independent of rule, prospered greatly. Zema forgot about Seed, and Wren only communicated with him via data transmissions. Piata was built southwest of Nurvus. Small towns were springing up around Motavia.
By AW 1930, Wren realized that with all this growth he could no longer keep things together well. He needed a place in space where he could work. He began drafting Zelan and by AW 1940 he had plans drawn up. But he couldn't just abandon Motavia while working on the Zelan project. He needed help.
* * *
"I created Demi in AW 1960. She was built to be fully integrated with Nurvus. She was of my own design, and was named for Demi Rothney. She was my assistant, my second-in-command. I couldn't have completed my mission without her." Demi smiled sadly at that remark. "She was given much more emotional capability then I was. She was like a daughter to me. She helped with the Zelan project and controlled Nurvus. It wasn't until AW 2060 until Zelan was activated, but that was fast. Kuran had already been created by me as a stopping point between Motavia and Dezolis.
"With Zelan and Nurvus, we were able to stabilize all the systems. Motavia prospered again. Monster populations decreased until about AW 2200, when they started back up again. I sensed something was going wrong.
"In AW 2284, I lost contact with both Seed and Demi. I had been educating Rika, Seed's second-generation Numan. I knew something was wrong. Chaz Ashley and his group came to see me after they rescued Demi and she was connected to Nurvus. I then explained what was wrong. Kuran had been altering signals from Zelan, causing systems on Motavia and Dezolis to malfunction.
"In that year, I learned a lot about the Black Energy Wave and the dark forces. We defeated the Profound Darkness, the creature responsible for creating and releasing dark forces. After that I was thrust back into the spotlight and scientists requested permission to study in Zelan. After installing new security, I began to allow scientists to work in Zelan. In the course of a thousand years people were hired to work in Nurvus and more scientists made Zelan a key research area.
"I know this history lesson may offer little comfort to you, Laurie, but it is important that you now realize your role in Algo. Your mission is my old mission. I hope that you program Kyle with the same mission, and I know Demi has always had it. We must all help serve and protect Algo. In another hundred years, Zelan will not be needed and neither will the other systems. But Zelan will still thrive as a scientific community.
"Be brave. Be strong. And never forget your mission. Ava told me that same thing just before she died." With those words, the video ended.