Aniki (Twin Signal story)
[initiate= "part.one"]
[pov= "signal"]
[ PART ONE
ACTIVATED~]
Doctor Otoi. Chris Sine. Nobuhiko.
My family.
Of course, you say, a robot can't have a family. A robot
is a mere tool, created to serve humans. It cannot go beyond its programming.
It cannot question, cannot complain.
I have a family. I question. I complain. Am I still a
robot, then?
My name is Signal. Doctor Otoi – a famous robotics expert
– built me to be a powerful companion for Nobuhiko, his grandson. He asked Nobuhiko
about my personality, and Nobu wanted the reliable-older-brother type.
Go figure. That would be me.
So yes, I was programmed to be that older brother type.
But I complain sometimes, I think, I have wants. Fighting philosophies,
chocolate, getting Elara to like me – that's at the top of the list, though not
always in that order. I look like humans, I think, I feel, I act like humans…
but I'm not one of them.
And yet…
Nobuhiko IS my little brother. He is.
"Duh, Signal, you were programmed to act that way," you
say.
If I wasn't programmed as the reliable older-brother type,
I would still be his older brother.
I would still try to protect him. Through sibling
rivalries, through competitions, through all the big and little things that
happen, I'd still try to protect him.
Because I am his older brother.
[deactivate= "part.one"]
[pov= "signal"]
[~END OF PART ONE]
