MegaMan Generation, Chapter 3: Spirits of Silicon
(Author's note: If you don't understand paragraph two, don't worry, just assume that each side of his brain is doing a different task.)
Albert Wily opened his eyes, smiling, as gawking passengers with them on the subway train gossiped about the robot standing on the seat between them, occasionally pointing back toward it. No one dared to touch the robot, as they had no idea how a sentient robot, though not as intelligent as a human, would react. Some didn't want to anger or upset the little metallic creature; others thought their limbs were worth more to them than the little tin can would be on the black market. Dr. Wily looked over to Dr. Light, and raised his eyebrow as he saw Dr. Light writing a thank you letter to the Japanese-speaking investors on his laptop on his left knee, and translating it into English for the others, in real time, using the laptop on his right knee.
Dr. Wily had seen Dr. Light use this ability before, and was a bit jealous of it, not being quite as complex a case of Light Syndrome as its namesake was. As a child, Dr. Light found he could literally do a logical task and an artistic task simultaneously by lessening the use of or even severing the pathway between the two halves of his brain. Each brain then acted independently of the other to the degree Dr. Light wanted. It was quite a useful ability, and Dr. Light was using it to almost sever the connection, save the pathways to the language center. One HAD to be a genius to plan out how to map out the specific functions of one's own brain. Dr. Light could also use it when he preformed a logical task that he didn't want his artistic or emotional side to interfere with, or to stop his artistic/emotional side from getting bored when doing monotonous work sometimes needed in programming. Dr. Light never really got bored with any sort of computer or robotics work, or saw any need to separate himself from his emotions, but the option was there, and Wily was always jealous of the ability to turn one's emotions off with what was equivalent to the flick of a switch. He figured that Murphy's Law was well at work, giving the skill he wanted the most to a man who had no true need for it. He then intently pushed his way out of that line of thought.
"Thomas." Dr. Light returned to normal and responded.
"Hmmm? What is it, Albert?"
"…With all the funding we've been promised, I believe we will have MORE than enough to begin on DRN-000…have you considered my suggestion?" Dr. Light turned to his assistant and thought for a moment.
"Well, the first and foremost goal is to create a robot with a mind of it's own to think and feel for itself, so we have to remember that. Making sentient robots that are given specific powers for certain tasks goes against the very nature of a mind that thinks for itself." Dr. Wily seemed like he'd been punched in the face.
"But Thomas! We HAVE to show that our robots can be useful to humans! I mean, the people will see a sentient robot, and be impressed with the novelty for a while, but eventually they will think it serves no purpose but to give God the middle finger! If we give them tasks to perform, then at least the world will see that they have a purpose, and that there was a more tangible reason to do it than 'to prove we could'." Dr. Light looked at his friend, a look of surprise.
"Albert, you don't understand…the nature of an emotional, thinking entity is to choose their own purpose, not to follow a pre-set path or just obey orders. By giving them powers to accomplish what you want them to do indicates that they don't have a choice in what to do with their lives. What if they want to do something completely different than what you designed them for? What then? No, Albert. We can't outfit our sentient robots with functions specific to a certain task, not unless they CHOOSE that task of their own free will." Dr. Wily didn't seem to understand.
"Thomas, they're ROBOTS! Robots are built for specific functions! We should make their purposes obvious for them and give them equipment and functions to make it easier for humanity!" Dr. Light's look of surprise changed to one of pity.
"Albert…we can't do that…I hope you'll understand someday…but let's compromise." Dr. Wily looked at Dr. Light, his eyebrow raised once more. "Let's make our first prototype humanoid and sentient, to give our theories a good testing, and maybe the first one or two after that. Then we'll modify the code to make several semi-sentient robots that are built for specific functions, just to keep people interested. It is better that they be semi-sentient and programmed to be happy with their jobs then to have jealous sentient robots that envy the freedom of choice of their creators. The humanoids will not possess the drone control system, but the semi-sentient robots will, so that they can direct Metools and the like in tasks which relate to their function." Dr. Wily pondered this for several moments before nodding in agreement.
"I can live with that. The robots will be the masters for the drones, while your androids will be thinking robots meant for tasks that require a less specific design. I think we should call these task-specific robots Robot Masters." Dr. Light thought for a few seconds, and agreed. Soon, they got to the lab, turned on the satellite radio system to some soft blues music, and began work on the software for their first prototype, DRN-000.
Across the city, Toshiro was in his room, glued to a computer screen, which was the only light source in the room. A huge computer was in the room, which seemed to have been an old server which was re-fitted to store multiple computers in a massive homebrew super computer. The light from the screen reflected off of the nearby Metool, which had been repainted to have a light blue helmet and green feet. Even its eye color had been altered to be green. It was still deactivated and opened up shown to have quite a bit of powerful internal processing equipment.
"…Phew...this will take a while…"
Over the next six months, all three of them worked on their respective projects. Finally, on Toshiro's eighth birthday, things would begin to change…
"Albert, I'm going out the buy a new processor for the secondary programming terminal. Can you keep an eye on things while I'm gone?" Dr. Wily looked over to Dr. Light.
"Yes, I have work to do anyway. I'll see you soon." Dr. Wily continued to work on his part of DRN-000's systems, blues music still playing as it had for most of the design process. Dr. Wily had run into some problems, but swore he could solve them, so Dr. Light gave him some more time to fix the problem. Unfortunately, Dr. Light had long since realized that Dr. Wily's software had fundamental flaws.
Dr. Light went into the computer store, and saw Toshiro walking toward the counter with a massive amount of complex computer hardware, and what looked like a custom Metool. This made him stop for a moment, enough time for Toshiro to notice him. Dr. Light knew from the boy's face that he was a fan, and realized there was likely no escape from this situation without probably talking to the young technology buff. The boy had made his way over to Dr. Light, swiftly considering the sheer amount of hardware he had in his arms.
"Hi! You're Dr. Light, aren't you?" He looked up at the doctor, now with more white hair than black, with his emerald eyes shining.
"Why yes I am. Who might you be? Most boys that are your age don't buy computer components this complex or high-end." Dr. Light seemed a bit puzzled as to why the boy was buying so much equipment. Most children simply had no need for it.
"Well, I'm Toshiro Yuki, and I like working with computers and robots. I'm the one who rebuilt and programmed this Metool. His name is Dou, but I haven't been able to finish him yet." Dr. Light seemed to think for a moment, remembering the name from somewhere.
"What are you programming it to do?"
"Well, I'm trying to make him sentient, and underneath the Metool chassis, I've crammed a bunch of complex hardware into him as I could. It's based on your work with Eddie!" Toshiro smiled, and Dr. Light looked puzzled.
"Not bad…but most children your age can't program a Metool at all…how did you manage it? You must be only seven or so." Toshiro smiled and gave an answer that Dr. Light wasn't expecting.
"I turned eight today, and was born with Light Syndrome. My parents say that not even 12 hours after I was born, I said my first word." Dr. Light seemed quite surprised, and realized that he'd heard the name from the news broadcast eight years ago. Realizing this, he became curious as to what the boy had programmed, and the words just came out of his mouth. He immediately regretted it, but couldn't take it back.
"Maybe I can take a look at your Dou and see how close you are, and maybe make some modifications…" Toshiro's eyes were soon open wide.
"You mean it? WOW! Thanks, Dr. Light!" Next thing Dr. Light knew, he was leaving the place with schematics, Dou, several disks of Dou's software, and the processor he originally set out to purchase. Albert was quite irritated when he found out what Dr. Light had promised.
"Thomas, put that child's toy away and help me fix this incompatibility in the guidance system!" Dr. Light looked at him, only half-paying attention.
"Sorry, I'll be there in a minute, Albert…" Dr. Wily grumbled and walked away, as Dr. Light stared at the screen. Somehow, this eight year old boy had managed to make a system that solved the problems Dr. Wily was having…he could just adapt it for his own systems, and there it'd be, a complete AI…but he owed Dr. Wily too much to scrap his AI, and he'd been there every step of the way.
"I'll give Albert a little more time…if he can't deliver results by the time I port this to DRN-000's AI, I'll have to fall back on this boy's program…" Dr. Light worked for several weeks on this AI, stalling when he could, to give Dr. Wily more time, but Wily failed. After calling Toshiro, who gave him permission to use his work, and even take credit, he implemented the AI OS into DRN-000's design, as well as Dou's. Imagine Dr. Wily's surprise when he saw two Metools, Dou and a newer red one, waiting on the activation table.
"Thomas, what is this?" Dr. Wily asked, surprised, and a bit suspicious.
"Ah, Albert, guess what! I managed to work out all the bugs in compatibility issues! Albert…we're ready to go!" Dr. Wily was surprised, but smiled. He walked over to the table, looking over the units.
"I thought they'd be humanoid, and that we'd only build one to start!" Dr. Light had to do something he didn't like to do. Lie.
"Well, I thought we'd run the tests on the AI with them as normal Metools, and THEN build their main bodies. Also, the other Metool is so that we can have data on how these sentient robots would interact. We'd need two for that." He didn't tell Dr. Wily that the other Metool was programmed because he owed that boy. Dr. Wily looked at him, and sighed.
"Tell me next time there is a change to the plan, alright?" With that, he flipped the switch on DRN-000 and waited to see if he woke up. The Metool opened it's eyes, and spoke.
"…Well…I think I work...DRN-000, scan complete. All systems green. It seems like you guys finally did it." The Metool jumped up, and looked toward Dou. "Who's the other tin-can?" Dr. Light spoke up.
"His name is Dou. He is your fellow prototype. Now…let's see if he works…" Dr. Light flipped a switch, and Dou sprang to life.
"YN-000 "Dou", systems check is all good. I'm alive!" With that, Dou jumped up and did a little dance, and DRN-000 rolled his eyes.
"Showoff…and why don't I get a name?" Dr. Light blinked and thought. DRN-000 was right, he deserved a name. The blues music that had been on the whole time gave him an idea…
"…How about Blues?" Dr. Wily shot a glance at Dr. Light. After all, he'd put in just as much work as Dr. Light, and for all he knew, it was his software running them. How could Dr. Light name DRN-000 without even asking him? He'd let it slide, since he couldn't think of a better name, but he decided then and there that he'd get to name at least ONE of the robots they'd build in the next phase. Dou turned to Blues.
"Hey, I'm happy to be alive, and I think I deserve a little dance, okay? Aren't you happy to be more than the sum of your parts? The big brother to a generation of sentient machines?" Dou seemed to have a strong sense of just what their creation meant, even moments after his activation. Both doctors were surprised at this.
"Nah, we'll be rendered obsolete pretty quickly. I mean, sure, in a way life isn't EVER obsolete, but people will see us as that once more advanced robots are created."
"True, but most humans will realize that we live, and we won't be considered obsolete. The elderly aren't considered obsolete, are they?" Both doctors were shocked that they were hearing the very first meaningful conversation between to sentient robots. Two spirits of silicon had been successfully created.