Disclaimer - I don't own them, just doing this because it was a slow, snowy day at work (and the original draft filled one sheet of paper and both free areas of a stock list O.o) Though this revision happened during the fall of '04 and will expand this fic quite a bit.
This is set WAY before X1 and is my version of how things came to be. This is going to be done as accurately as possible using information from all of the X games. Of course, there will be some liberties taken, especially if the information isn't readily available, but it will be an attempt to follow a logical path as to how events in the X series came to be. I would like to thank tikimother for beta'ing this for me.
Read and enjoy!
Timescape Saga
Of Irregulars and Hunters
Book One
Genesis
Chapter Two
Playing God
(C) 10 - 31 - 2004 to 09 - 17 - 2005 All Rights Reserved
By Goldenmane
"I was afraid something like this was going to happen," Doctor Cain mumbled as he followed the two heavily armed guards into the special room set up for the hearing, "someone leaked information about you."
X said nothing as he followed behind. They hadn't even been back to Doctor Cain's lab for three days when a call had been sent from the head of the military that the President was worried over the elderly doctor's find. Namely, they worried that X was a threat.
"I'll get this straightened out," Doctor Cain said as he turned to X, "so don't you worry, my boy."
"I trust you," X said, "so far you have not lied to me."
"And I don't plan on starting any time soon," Doctor Cain said as they entered the room and took their seats.
X noted the humans that lined seats behind where the table was they sat at, all behind an almost clear, and somewhat muffling, substance that seemed to be solid. He blinked once when three guards came over, two training their weapons directly on X, the third taking some heavy chains and binding his legs together as well as his lower arms in front of him. He turned to look at Doctor Cain who seemed livid about that.
"He's not a monster," Doctor Cain seemed to growl out, "so why are you treating him as one?"
"He is a threat to national security," one guard said, the one who had bound X, "and we can't have him attacking the humans without some attempt at preventing it."
Doctor Cain only sighed and shook his head as the guards moved away to take their positions.
X sat with his hands clasped together, resting on the table before him. Initial scans registered he could have snapped the chains easily enough, but the fact that they might hurt Doctor Cain if they thought he might be a threat kept him very docile. Every so often he looked around the room as best as he could without actually moving his head or body. He could almost literally see the fear from those assembled, hatred blending in, making X uncomfortable. The room was lined with armed guards, weapons trained on X, making him even more nervous than he already was.
Doctor Cain looked like he was ready to either kill or cry, it was hard for X to actually figure out what emotions were going on inside of the elderly Doctor.
"Who are those people?" X asked as his gaze scanned the two elderly humans behind the same substance those behind him were, "and what is that stuff before them?"
"That's bullet-proof plating," Doctor Cain said, "though I don't think it'd stop you from breaking through it. Your strength, what I've seen so far, is far past any protection we know to exist."
"But who are they? Are they important?" X asked. Even if he was nervous he had so many questions he wanted to ask the doctor.
Doctor Cain pointed to one person. "He is the Minister of Defense. He is in his full dress uniform which is why it looks so fancy and you can see all of his awards he's won for service."
"So he is a fighter?" X asked.
Doctor Cain nodded.
"Does he plan to fight me?" X asked, voice going a bit soft, afraid someone would hear him.
"No, no, my boy," Doctor Cain said with a soft chuckle despite the situation, "he's given up fighting for giving the orders."
"I see," X said, "and who is he?"
"He's the President of our country," Doctor Cain said, "I assume he's here and not the head of Congress because of where you are such a unique case."
"I know that term," X said, "it means he is in charge of your entire population."
"Right," Doctor Cain said, "so you know how important it is that nothing happens to him."
X nodded. "He is to be protected at all costs," he said, "that is the way it should be."
Doctor Cain smiled and nodded.
X shifted his attention back to the two people a good distance away from them, the two who were there to decide his fate.
"Members of the committee, I wish to bring this meeting into order," the President said as his gaze scanned the room.
The humans behind X and Doctor Cain fell silent with only a few whispers that X picked out clearly but chose to ignore.
"We are here to decide the fate of the robot known as 'X'," the elderly man said, "the only witness we have for this is Doctor Cain, a celebrated and noteworthy anthropologist, a Bachelor graduate of the University of New London and a Masters degree in the field of anthropology, most notably the Mesozoic era. Doctor Cain has also been known to tinker with robotics, is that correct?" the President asked.
"It is," Doctor Cain simply said with a curt nod.
"Now, Doctor Cain," the elderly man said, "it is my understanding that on the Thirteenth of April of this year you discovered a capsule that had been buried for over a hundred years in the remains of a robotics lab owned by one Doctor Thomas Right, am I correct?"
"You are, Mister President," Doctor Cain said.
The President nodded. "And is it correct that the next day, after reading the warnings on the capsule, you released this creature known only as 'X' into the world?"
"I did," Doctor Cain said simply.
"And what made you release something that had been classified a danger without the proper military back up?" the President asked.
"I did so because it said it would take thirty years to confirm X was not a threat and that deadline had long since passed," Doctor Cain said, "the readouts on the capsule read green, that X had passed all of the tests and was safe to be released."
"But what if the readout had been faulty and this creature had been a danger instead?" another elderly man asked, the one Doctor Cain had said was the head of their military.
"Then he would have killed us," Doctor Cain said simply, "which he did not. X is a peaceful robot, not a violent one."
"But our reports say, and the schematics you have given us from Doctor Right's notes correlate this, that he has a built in weapon that you are only just learning about," the Minister of Defense said, "that right there classifies this thing as a threat to world safety."
"I must beg the forgiveness of the head of our armed forces," Doctor Cain said, "but the General is wrong to assume that any weapon automatically classifies anything as a threat. Humans have built in weapons and we are not classified as threats. Most animals have built in weapons, but, likewise, they are not deemed a threat to national or world security."
"But they are natural," the General said, "this thing isn't."
"X is no 'thing', General," Doctor Cain said, "X is an advanced robot that is capable of thinking and acting like a human."
That brought more hushed murmurs behind X and he shifted a bit in his seat.
"If that is the case, then maybe X should speak for himself, then," the President said.
X hesitated for a split second. "You may ask me what you wish," he said, words clear, his voice soft, "but if it is beyond my vocabulary then I may not be able to answer it."
"So you're saying you were not fully built?" the General asked.
"I was built in a way so I would learn, as any human child would, and 'grow' mentally by the stimulus around me rather than by a pre-programmed set of rules," X said.
"So your programming is incomplete," the President said.
"You could say that," X said, "I am designed to learn from my surroundings rather than having a complete understanding of it."
The General nodded. "And who is going to teach you about this world?"
"Doctor Cain has agreed to help me to learn and integrate myself with your culture and society," X said.
"And what if he teaches you wrong?" the General asked, "what's to stop you from becoming a danger to society?"
"I have programs built in that prevent me from harming anyone," X said, "that is the only set of data I had when I woke. The program was labeled 'Moral Codes'. It tells me what is right from what is wrong. I understand these codes and I choose to follow them rather than ignore them. It's not, how would you say it, in my nature to harm another."
"Who ever heard of a peaceful robot being built with weapons?" the President asked incredulously.
"That is for Doctor Right to know," X said.
"But he's been dead for almost a century," the President said, "all we have is you for proof of his creations."
"I am truly sorry," X said, "but I cannot explain it any further. I know what my programming tells me and what Doctor Cain has taken for his own scans. Past that, I do not know."
"From what we have seen of the notes that Doctor Cain has released to us," the General said, "it is in our best interest to quarantine this thing until it can be dissected and tested."
"If you take me apart," X said, voice quiet yet strong, "it will kill me."
"You cannot kill something that is not alive," the General said, "and you are not alive."
"I am," X said simply, "I function, therefore I live. I have a core that beats like a human heart would. I have fluids that circulate in tubes under the surface of my artificial skin as would the human blood stream. I have thoughts and hopes and wishes like any other sentient person would . . . Does that not make me alive?"
That brought more than just hushed murmurs from the humans behind them. Even the General and President seemed speechless.
"From what I understand," X said, voice rising just enough to be heard over the cacophony of voices around him, "even the animals are considered alive because they exist."
"But a computer is not alive, it is a machine, a tool," the General said as he tried to regain his composure, "and all you are is a very advanced computer."
"But a computer cannot dream," X said, "I can."
"Rubbish," the General said, "machines can't dream. All you must be doing is recycling data."
"I cannot recycle data that I do not have," X said, "when I wake, the feeling is real, as if I have been there, but I have no records, no data, nothing on what I have dreamed."
The President hesitated. "Tell me one of these dreams," he said, "assuming they are safe for humans to hear."
"I have dreamed of a world where there are more like me, existing alongside humans in a utopian society," X said, "I have dreamed where robots like me have taken positions that would be hazardous to humans, thus eliminating many unneeded deaths."
"And where did you get that idea?" the President asked.
"I've mentioned from time to time about how useful robots would be in working in such fields as excavation, mining and building work," Doctor Cain said.
"Can you show us one of these dreams?" the President asked.
X shook his head. "I remember the dreams . . . but the data is not there . . . "
"Then you could be lying," the General said.
"I assure you," X said, "I am not lying."
"That is left to be seen," the General said, "and until we run a battery of tests, I won't be convinced that you are not a danger to the human race."
X looked down, a feeling rippling through his core that made him shiver.
"We are not a people of violence," the President said, "but we do have to make sure that our people are safe and secure. We do need to ascertain whether or not X is going to be a threat to us and just what he has for weapons or other abilities even he might not know about. And to do that we do need to run a full battery of tests . . . But we will do it in a logical and productive manner that will keep both X safe as well as ourselves. The last thing I would want on my conscious is to discover that we have killed a representative of what might become a new race on this planet."
X heard the sigh of relief from Doctor Cain and he looked over. He would have reached over and placed a hand on the doctor's arm if he had the freedom to do so.
"X will be taken to a special holding cell at our research base in New Mexico at White Sands," the President said, "Doctor Cain will be allowed periodic visits with X while we conduct our tests."
"Mister President," Doctor Cain said, "I must disagree with you. If you must take X to White Sands, I won't object. But to bar me from seeing him except when it's convenient for you is another thing. I was the first person X saw. I have been fundamental in his learning to date. To prevent him from having contact with me would be the equivalent of taking a child away from their parent for no reason. It is wrong and will only hurt X in the end. Plus, I have studied all of Doctor Rights notes and schematics on X. Why do we need to dissect him like a lab rat when I have the plans right here?"
"If you will release all of the schematics and notes you have discovered to date to us, then we will use them as a basis for our research," the President said, "I think it is safe to say, as long as you allow us to run our own tests, especially on the unit called a 'buster' at White Sands, that we will allow you a license to own X and, if X proves to be of the value you think he and others like him could be, then we might grant you a license to start production of these robots."
"That is acceptable," Doctor Cain said, "now, if you wouldn't mind taking those blasted chains off of my boy, we can get going. I'll have Cedric send the data over to you as soon as I can contact him."
Two guards moved over and unchained X before stepping back. One other still had his weapon trained on X.
"Thank you," X said as he rose.
"If what Doctor Cain proposes can become a reality, then I will welcome you and your kind as helpers of mankind," the President said.
X nodded and followed the guards and Doctor Cain out of the building and to a charter jet to take them to White Sands.
X had long since closed his eyes as he floated in the void. They had called it a sensory deprivation tank. They had said he would be in it only a few hours. However, they had lied to him. His internal clock registered it had been nearly a week with no contact, no reference point of up or down to see or feel. Yet it didn't phase him in the least. He had marked the location of the tank and made an internal map of it when he had entered it, before things had become dark, before the gravity had been nullified. Before he found himself floating in the void.
He had soon grown bored of the tank and had set about running scans or replaying past videos, his experiences in life, what a human would call memories. He ran over and over the tests they had performed, both with his pain centers online and offline, had replayed what they had said when they thought he couldn't hear. If there was one thing this had taught him . . . not all humans were as kind and truthful as Doctor Cain was.
When they had finally turned the gravity back on and he felt himself floating downward, he uncurled from the fetal position he had adopted, stretching his unused joints. A few creaked in protest from his lack of movement but a diagnostic read no problems that wouldn't correct themselves.
X was standing and facing the doorway when light pierced the darkness and the way to freedom was open. His steps were a bit unsure as he stepped into the light. Not from disorientation but from disuse and low energy. Not once had they offered to recharge X's internal power cells and his recharge chamber was hundreds of miles away in Doctor Cain's lab.
"I have to admit," one of the scientists said, "we didn't think you'd last that long in there."
"I had expected the test to have ended days ago," X simply said as he was shackled again around his arms, "not seven days, thirteen hours, twenty-five minutes and thirty-five seconds later."
"How . . . how did you know?" another scientist asked.
"I have an internal chronometer," X said, "I counted the time from when the door closed to when it opened again."
"How come we didn't find that when we last opened you up?" the first scientist said.
"Because it is built into my core," X said, "all you had to do was ask and I would have told you."
"Like I'd ask some over glorified computer," the scientist said with a soft snort, "now, on to the next test."
"As you wish," X said, willingly allowing the guard shove a rifle into his back to get him to move. He complied, following the scientists, technicians and guards into another room. When he saw Doctor Cain a huge smile broke out on X's face and he left the group to greet the elderly doctor. "I've missed you," X said, having grown fond of his founder and mentor.
"I've missed you too, my boy," Doctor Cain said hugging X where the robot couldn't, "when they put you in the tank I left to see about getting a license, much as I hate to use that word, to 'own' you. I hope you haven't been too bored with their tests while I've been gone."
"They only let me out of the tank two minutes, fifteen seconds ago," X said, stepping back just as a guard reached out to haul X away from Doctor Cain, not wanting the elderly doctor to get hurt accidentally, "I have been in it since the time you left."
"What?" Doctor Cain exclaimed, "barbarians are more civilized than the military is."
"You may have been allowed access to this creature," one of the lab technicians said, "but you hold no authority over what we do with it."
"How many times do I have to tell you thick-headed numbskulls that X is not a 'thing', he is a living and thinking being," Doctor Cain fumed.
"Please," X said, voice soft as brought both hands up to rest on Doctor Cain's shoulder in imitation of what the elderly doctor had done to him many times before when he had been troubled, "it will be all right."
Doctor Cain didn't seem too sure but he nodded, the dark look on his face still.
X willingly allowed the soldiers to force him down onto the table even though he gave them no resistance. He willingly allowed them to chain him down like a wild animal, still giving no resistance. Whenever a soldier would point a weapon at him or would make a move that could be considered hostile, he still made no move to do anything other than completely submitting himself to their will. However, he silently mused, if Doctor Cain hadn't been there things might have been different . . .
He froze at the dark thoughts. Since his awakening that was the first time he had ever considered harming a human. A slight ripple of fear passed through his core. Could he, one of peace, be willing to take the life of another? He knew what he had in the files listed as 'Moral Codes'. Three simple instructions that dated back to an antiquarian age when the concept of robots with free wills were unheard of. Three old laws that had been written ages before. 'A robot must never harm a human. A robot must never allow harm to come to another. The only exception to that rule being if the robot itself would come under harm', this being the overriding rule.
However, all musings ended as X let out a scream of pain, trying to curl into the source of it on instinct.
"Stop it," X barely heard Doctor Cain say, "you're killing him."
"We know how he was built, more or less," the tech said, "but we need to know his physical tolerance level. We need to know his strengths and weaknesses."
"How would you like it if someone stuck a knife in you without giving you anything for the pain?" Doctor Cain asked, anger in his voice.
"This is a machine," the tech said, "it is only programmed to mimic humans. It has no ability to form such ideas on its own."
"X is no mere machine," Doctor Cain said angrily, "X is a robot who can think and feel as a human does or haven't you read the notes I released of Doctor Right's? And would you get that knife out of X before you hurt his systems?"
X's body shivered once as he finally killed his pain center, his body soon relaxing. "You may proceed as long as you use caution," he said, "I have deactivated my pain centers."
"Remarkable," the tech said, "so you can't feel what I'm doing?"
"No," X said, "it seems to be a failsafe program in case I suffered damage so it would not affect my other tactile receptors."
"That would be a handy device in a soldier," the tech said, "it could take damage and not react to the pain, making it still a viable fighter until it took too much damage and ceased to function."
"Is that all you can think of?" Doctor Cain exclaimed, "how much use X would be as a warrior than as an ambassador of peace?"
"We need to view all options," the tech said, "even this things use in war."
Doctor Cain just shook his head as he looked down at X.
X looked back at Doctor Cain, not knowing what to say as they cut his arm open, the one that housed what the schematics and his own internal programs registered as a buster unit.
The tech was silent as he poked and prodded around X's arm, a frown on his face when apparently nothing happened. "The specs say you have a buster, whatever that is. Where is it?"
"It is housed in the arm you have opened up," X said simply, "if you replace the shell I can activate it safely."
The tech did, surprisingly, replace X's arm shell.
"Please release me from these bonds," X said, "and I will activate the buster unit."
"That I can't do," the tech said, "just show me what it looks like."
"Doctor Cain, please step back," X said.
He waited until Doctor Cain was far enough away before he easily tensed his cybernetic muscles, pressing against the chains and snapping them in several places. Now free, despite the fact that the guards had rushed in and trained their weapons on X, he held out his arm, pointing his hand away from any human in the room and he activated the command line, watching as his arm seemed to shift, reforming into a slightly larger version of his arm, an open muzzle to the buster where his hand had once been. "This," he said simply, "is the buster unit you wished to see. From here I can fire a plasma shot."
"Do a test fire," the tech said, "I want to see it in action."
X selected an area of wall devoid of any machines. "There are two commands I can give it," X said, "one is a low level shot, the other is a charged shot that is supposed to do more damage than a normal shot."
"Show me the low level shot," the tech said, "and if you hit anything or anyone important, the soldiers will shoot not only you but Doctor Cain as well."
X froze at that, nearly banishing his buster. The last thing he wanted was for them to harm his mentor.
"It's ok, X," Doctor Cain said, "just do as he says."
X nodded and fired a low level shot, leaving a gaping, smoldering hold where his shot had connected.
The soldiers jumped, weapons fixing ever closer to X.
The tech whistled. "I need to see just how strong that buster is and see how we can create materials to protect us from such power."
"I know only that the buster is powered by a separate source than the micro-fusion tank that allows my core to run," X said, "it is located in the buster unit."
"We'll need to study the specs again with a fine-toothed comb," the tech said, "for now we'll allow you to go back to your room. When we're ready to run more tests we'll call for you."
X nodded as he rose. "Will it be acceptable for Doctor Cain to stay with me?"
"As long as the brass don't mind and you don't try to break him out, I have no problem with it," the tech said.
"Thank you," X said, a faint smile on his face, despite what had been done to him or how dark at one point his thoughts had gotten.
"Now, maybe we can get somewhere on getting these idiots trained to realize you're more than just a mere machine but a new form of life," Doctor Cain said.
X said nothing as he stayed close to Doctor Cain as the soldiers led him back to his room, wondering just what good was going to come from all of this and whether or not the government would allow the elderly doctor the chance to try and recreate X as he had so dreamed of doing since the day they had met.
X knew he had been warned to stay away from the examination room, but curiosity had gotten the better of him. He knew Doctor Cain would be angry at him for disobeying, but he felt he would be forgiven. Or so he hoped. It had been almost nine weeks, after all, nine long weeks of what seemed like non-stop tests and studies to better figure out how he worked and just how Doctor Right had come up with the designs for X. They had also done extensive research on X's weapon, now given the official designation of the X-Buster Mark Seventeen, as per Doctor Right's notes, to see if it could be adapted to human weapons. Nine long weeks where scientists prodded and poked at him as Doctor Cain assisted the technicians in creating what would be the first robot replicated from X's systems. Now that Doctor Cain had been given a license to attempt to recreate a weaponless version of X to see if it would be of value to human civilization.
He stopped outside the room and looked down from the observation deck, making sure he was hidden from sight. He magnified the view and watched as Doctor Cain began the boot up sequence for his first 'copy' of X. His first attempt to re create what Doctor Right had perfected. It was merely a featureless shell, no details, no true outer structure. The face, even, lacked the artificial skin that X had. It was simply 'it', nothing more.
He couldn't hear what the humans were saying through the thick, double sided glass, but he didn't need to know. From his own experience booting up for the first time, he knew what would happen.
X watched as the power was switched on, the monitors recording everything. He watched as the lights turned green one by one, indicating one more process succeeding.
Then he saw the frame twitch, fingers clenching into fists. He saw the robot shift its head to the side, seeming to still for a moment. Then he heard it, the grating, piercing metallic scream, muted as it was, as the robot's body arched hard off the bed, lights on the monitors began blinking warning signals. The robot's body convulsed again and X unconsciously laid a hand against the glass as the robot fell still, all lights in the red now.
A failure.
The robot no longer functioned. How was it the humans would have termed it? The robot had died.
X turned away, the sound of the robot's scream still echoing, or so it seemed, in his audio receivers. He closed his eyes, trying to get the sounds to go away, the sight forever burned into his core. Was this what had happened to Doctor Right before he had perfected X? Did he lose many robots to experiments?
He didn't need to see where he was going, his radar was enough to let him know if any objects came into his path. He didn't stop until he reached his room. He opened his eyes then and walked over to his capsule and sat. He sighed softly as he looked down to the capsule. Not the one he had been found in, that one was in storage until it could be placed on permanent display. This was one that Doctor Cain had created based on X's old capsule. But it functioned the same way.
But . . . if Doctor Cain could have recreated the capsule, why then did he fail to create another robot? Was his systems that complex? He knew what he had recorded almost five months prior when Doctor Cain had him read what was listed under the "Rockman X specifications" folder.
Slowly X rose and walked to the window, his gaze scanning the barren wasteland that had been his home since they had taken him here, to White Sands.
Doctor Cain had been instrumental in helping him to understand his feelings, to be able to label them accurately now. But he still couldn't answer those deep questions X had. No records had been found, no notes, nothing on why Doctor Right had built him, what he was thinking, why he would even tackle such a thing.
When he heard the door open he turned and looked. He smiled, though faintly, a touch sadly as he watched Doctor Cain's personal assistant enter.
"X, something wrong? You seem sad," she said, "is it because you're still here even though they've allowed Doctor Cain and I to invade them?"
"No . . . it's nothing," he started to say then stopped, "Victoria . . . " he said suddenly, "if I tell you something, will you not get mad at me?"
Vickie chuckled as she went about checking the machines in the room, making sure they were all operating fine, as she did every day.
"I went to the examination room," X said softly, like a child admitting finally he had stolen the last piece of candy, "and I saw . . . I saw Doctor Cain's robot . . . "
"And you saw it fail," Vickie said softly, sadly.
X nodded.
"That must be hard on you," she said as she walked over, placing a hand on X's arm, "I heard about it through the communications lines right before I left for my rounds."
X closed his eyes for a moment before looking at her. "I know Doctor Cain wants to prove that I can be copied," he said, "but . . . "
"How many more robots will die before he perfects you?" Vickie asked. It seemed, at least to X, as if she could read his thoughts.
X nodded again, staying silent.
"Who knows?" she said more than asked, "your systems are far too complex to be copied exactly and we don't have enough of Doctor Right's notes to know every little detail of how he created you. So it'll be a series of failures until Doctor Cain can figure out exactly how you can function and re create that in another form."
"But . . . do they have to die?" X asked, his voice soft and pleading.
"They aren't really alive," Victoria said, "they have no soul, no personality, nothing but the base robotic parts."
"Still," X said, "they had a chance to be alive, like me, to function."
Victoria patted his arm then walked away. "I'm sorry I can't be of any more help, X," she said, "but this advanced field of robotics is too new to us. We're almost literally flying blind. And that was the Doctor's first attempt. Who knows? Maybe the next one will be a success?"
X said nothing, only nodding, returning his emerald gaze back out the window as she continued her work. He heard the soft hiss of the door as she left the room and he closed his eyes, his core still feeling sad at the loss of a mere robot.
He finally opened his eyes and looked up into the azure heavens. "Is this what you wanted of me, father?" he asked softly, "did you want me to feel such pain? Did you want me to mourn every time a soul, whether human or robot was lost? Is this to be my burden?" Or was this just some quirk to his programming, as one of the doctors had said while they had examined X, just something he had picked up or developed suddenly?
When he heard the door open again he turned to look. "Doctor Cain," he said, voice softer than he had wanted it to be.
"Failure," the elderly doctor said, "I failed. I thought I had everything right. I did everything the way it was supposed to be done. I don't know what went wrong."
X said nothing, not knowing what to say.
"I need to study you again, to see what went wrong," Doctor Cain said, "I need to see what I might have missed."
"When do you want me down in the examination room?" X asked.
"As soon as possible," Doctor Cain said before he turned toward the door, "and X . . . I had really hoped I could have given you a companion, someone you could relate to better than us humans."
X only shook his head even though he knew Doctor Cain couldn't see it. "I don't need a companion," he said, "I feel comfortable around humans. Even if I don't fit into your society . . . I am accepted by at least a few."
Doctor Cain nodded and left without a word.
X sighed softly, not moving for a moment, arms crossed and head bowed. After a short while he finally moved and headed down to the examination room, his steps heavy and seeming to echo more down the corridors.
He entered the room and moved over to the table, laying down. His gaze lit upon the failed robot and he felt a ripple of sadness pass through his core as he heard once again the echoing screams of the robot's last moments. He closed his eyes and waited, listening as people entered, as the tech staff readied the room. Heard and felt the connections being made to his systems, the last into his audio receiver, effectively 'deafening' him on one side.
"X, are you ready?" he heard Doctor Cain ask.
"I am," X said, not opening his eyes, "switching to stand by mode on your command."
He heard nothing as he felt the air mask being placed over his mouth, a precaution in case they needed to pump air directly to his core to keep it cool.
"Go to stand by, now," he heard Doctor Cain say.
X immediately altered the command lines setting his systems into a dormant state, leaving just his mental processes, core, coolant system and other vital functions online. He had even killed his external sensors and pain centers, knowing that they would have to basically strip him of his outer shell to reveal his inner workings. This was where he had first learned the concept of faith, hope and trust, for if Doctor Cain had made a mistake in his initial and sub sequential examinations of X's systems first hand, then X would have ceased to function.
His internal clock registered the length of time and as it grew longer and longer and the command to come out of stand by hadn't been given, X began to worry. What if something had happened? He didn't dare bring himself back fully online until he knew it was safe. He had drowned out the talking around him as Doctor Cain worked on him, waiting only for the words for him to reactivate his systems.
Finally he heard a weary and almost defeated voice. Doctor Cain's voice. "X, you can wake up now."
X switched himself back on and once everything read green, he sat, looking over to Doctor Cain.
"I just can't figure out what went wrong," Doctor Cain said, "I just don't know what happened."
"What if I'm supposed to be unique?" X asked, "what if Doctor Right didn't plan on creating any more than just me, had he lived long enough?"
"That could be the case," Doctor Cain said, "but you hold in you a great promise for the future."
"What if you started small?" X asked, "worked on simple machines instead of something as complex as myself?"
Doctor Cain brought a hand to his bearded chin, stroking it in thought. "Maybe machines don't need brains to work, just enough intelligence to obey a certain set of commands."
"A sort of mechanical droid," X said, "something to do the hazardous work instead of the humans."
"My boy," Doctor Cain said, "that just might be the way to go instead. Then, once I can perfect them, I can figure out how to translate that over into you."
X nodded and smiled. "I wish to help," he said as he looked up to Doctor Cain, "I want to help you realize your dream . . ."
Doctor Cain smiled. "I'd like that, my boy," he said, "I'd like that a lot."
X smiled, his core feeling the weight of the robot's death lift from it. Maybe together they could prevent any further deaths of future robots?
"Doc," Cedric said with a soft sigh, "I don't think two more factories are going to do it. We're going to need to apply for a permit to build three. I mean, we already have orders for hundreds of those mechanical droids from several mining corporations we're trying to fill, not to mention the couple hundred we just received from the bio and aqua techs who need droids who can withstand the pressures of the deep sea or the hazards of dealing with toxic chemicals."
"Do what you think is best," Doctor Cain said as he looked up from the notes X and he had been going over, "if it'll be profitable then go for it."
"As you wish, sir," Cedric said before taking his leave.
X looked up from the schematics, one hand still in one of the pockets of his lab coat, a habit he had picked up from one of the techs. "If we fail to recreate another robot, at least these mechaniroids will do nicely. So far they've fulfilled your dreams."
"But they can't think," Doctor Cain said, "they can't anticipate trouble. They can't react to sudden changes except as their programming allows. If we had someone with your ability to think doing those jobs then there's a good chance they wouldn't get stuck in a situation they couldn't get out of. They could easily predict, like a trained human could, when something is about to go wrong and they can make corrections before it gets out of hand."
Which, X had to agree, was true.
"I just never realized that so many corporations would jump at the chance to own mechaniroids to replace their workers and out dated machines," Doctor Cain said.
"They have been the help you had sought," X said, "but, the humans were not always agreeable with the mechaniroids. Remember the uprising against the mechaniroids a couple of weeks ago by workers who feared becoming jobless? What if they refuse to accept the new robots?"
"Sometimes changes are hard for humans to make," Doctor Cain said, "it might take time but I'm sure that humanity will find the value of robots doing the work to be more beneficial than not."
X only nodded. He had read and studied every facet of human culture in the weeks and months they had been analyzing him and working on the first robot. He knew how humanity had not always accepted new things, new pieces of technology, especially if they considered it a threat to their way of life.
"So," Doctor Cain said, "do the schematics line up?"
"I can see no distinct differences between my specs from Doctor Right and the specs you have created except for the few deviations you had to include to make up for the lack of understanding in this time," X said.
Doctor Cain nodded. "When you're ready we can begin building this new robot."
X nodded as well. As they walked he hoped that this, the second robot Doctor Cain had devised would not meet the fate the first one had.
The techs had already laid out the necessary materials for them to begin construction on this new robot that Doctor Cain had named Adam from the biblical Adam and Eve who were the first members of the human race. X had studied human religion around the world and the thought that Doctor Cain and himself would become a sort of modern day, man-made gods disturbed him for reasons he couldn't readily identify.
It would take nearly four months to construct Adam, longer than it normally would have but X had insisted that they go slow and analyze each and every part as it had been constructed to make sure it wouldn't fail, the longest time being spent on the core, the heart and what he considered the soul of the robot. He wanted to make sure that Adam would survive the revival process and wouldn't be carelessly tossed on the scrap heap as a failure. The last thing he wanted on his conscious was for another life to be lost in the name of research.
When they had finished, X stepped back and simply took in the physical form of their creation. Adam had been given a dark tan and cream colored shell, more angular in design than X's was. Where the 'body suit' would have been, Doctor Cain had wanted white, both as a symbol of purity since Adam was going to be the first successful representative of what he hoped would be a new race, but also of hope that this would work. Doctor Cain had also decided that Adam would have locks of curly, black hair spilling around the edges of his helmet in an almost unruly manner and his skin would be a moderate shade of tan whereas X's had been lighter, almost pale.
"Now for the moment of truth," Doctor Cain said, "time to wake Adam up."
X nodded as he stood there, his gaze on the robot.
"Do you want to do the honors?" Doctor Cain asked.
X hesitated before looking over to the elderly doctor, wondering if his audio receivers had heard correctly.
"Adam is as much your creation as he is mine," Doctor Cain said, "which means he is your descendant and a continuation of Doctor Right's line."
Feeling a slight skip to his core, X moved over, his finger hovering over the button as his processors made last minute checks to make sure everything had been done according to plan and to the best of their abilities. With a soft, almost shuddering breath, X pressed the button, stepping back, his gaze going to the machines attached to Adam.
His gaze flicked to Adam then the machines every so often as he heard the faint click of a light shifting color, from the yellow of standby to the green of a passed system. So far everything seemed to be in order, no traces of a problem that would cost Adam his life.
As the last light turned green, X found himself unconsciously holding his breath. He watched Adam, watched the gentle rising and falling of his chest as his systems took in air and expelled it, the almost invisible fluttering of his eyelids, the nearly hidden twitch of his fingers. Slowly a hand raised as Adam placed it awkwardly against his temples, brows drawn together.
X jumped when Doctor Cain nudged his arm with an elbow, gesturing toward Adam with his chin, a huge grin on his face. It took X a moment to realize what the elderly doctor wanted him to do and, going over, he smiled softly down at the new robot. "Greetings," X said, "may your life be long and productive."
"Not quite how I would have said it," Doctor Cain said with a soft chuckle, "but close enough."
Adam slowly opened his nearly black eyes, blinking once as he looked to X. "You're like me," he said in a deepish voice.
"I am an advanced robot, yes," X said, "I helped create you with Doctor Cain's permission."
Adam shifted his gaze to where Doctor Cain stood, just behind X. "You are not like me," he said simply.
"Nope," Doctor Cain said, "I'm human, not a robot."
"I know what a human is," Adam said, "and I know what a robot is . . . That information has been pre programmed into me."
"I wanted you to know everything we could possibly teach you," Doctor Cain said, "unlike X, I wanted you to have a head start."
X nodded. He had agreed that the idea of pre programming Adam would be better than taking a chance of having an uncontrollable robot on their hands since they didn't want to wait the thirty years that Doctor Right was willing to wait to test X's integrity.
Adam was silent, no doubt taking in the world around him as X had done but, with a different mindset as he already understood what he would encounter, even if the actual tactile responses were lacking.
"Now, my boy," Doctor Cain said, "once you're able to stand and walk, I'll take you to your new room where you can rest, inquire what you want to and we'll get you started in learning what we didn't program into you plus experiencing what you do know."
Adam seemed to hesitate for a moment. "Why do you call me 'boy'?" he asked, "I am a robot, we already established that. I am not a human."
Doctor Cain chuckled. "X said something similar when he first woke. I'm using that term as a figure of speech. But, you are my son since I created you. And, you are also X's son since he helped to create you."
A furrow came to Adam's brow. "I am programmed to understand that a male and a female are needed to create a child . . . But both of you are male and robots can not give birth . . . "
"This is a different case," Doctor Cain said, "you were given life by both of us. You were created by us. That makes you our son."
"How is this case different?" Adam asked, "is my programming faulty?"
"Humans do need a male and a female to create a new life, but that's because there are different changes that occur. Humans are formed of flesh and blood inside the mother. You were formed of metal and fluids on this very table," X said.
Adam fell silent for a moment. "It seems illogical to program me with knowledge that is not correct."
Doctor Cain laughed, causing X to shift his gaze from Adam to the elderly doctor.
"Is something funny?" Adam asked before X could.
"Here you are, just a few minutes old and we're debating the terminology of your creation," Doctor Cain said, "this is more than I had ever imagined."
"What was it you had imagined?" Adam asked, looking from Doctor Cain to X.
X was speechless for a moment. "I was hoping for a miracle," he simply said.
Adam seemed confused by that. "A miracle is an event that happens that is considered beneficial and unexpected. It comes from religion when an occurrence that cannot be explained except by divine intervention has taken place. Yet religion is a human construction, it has no place for robots. We are not formed by a god, we are created by man."
"Miracles are not just regulated to religion," X said, "a miracle can be described, as you said, by an unexpected and beneficial event, but it does not necessarily involve a religious belief. It would be easier to explain in parable than it would to use the dictionary term."
"And what miracle were you hoping for?" Adam asked.
"I was hoping for the miracle that you would survive the initial boot up process and live," X said simply.
"I was hoping to create another like X so he'd have a companion of his own race," Doctor Cain said, "and to prove that not only could X be copied but that more like him would be beneficial to mankind."
Adam nodded. "And am I what you expected?"
"You are more, my boy," Doctor Cain said, pride in his voice, "much more."
Adam smiled at that.
X felt a conflict of emotions deep inside. He felt pride that Adam had not succumbed to the same problems that the first prototype had, but also another emotion that Doctor Cain had described as jealousy. But why he should feel such a dark emotion on a happy occasion like this was beyond him. He ran a quick check while he watched Doctor Cain talk with Adam to see if there was any glitches. When he found none he internally frowned.
However, when Adam attempted to stand and nearly collapsed, X didn't even think as he hurried over and caught the robot under one arm, supporting his weight, glad Adam was no bigger than he was.
"Thank you," Adam said.
"You're welcome," X said.
"Let's take Adam to room B413," Doctor Cain said, "that way he can have his own room but be close enough to us that if he needs anything, he can easily contact us."
X nodded. "It's a long walk," he told Adam, "do you think you can make it under your own power?"
"I can," Adam said, "my stabilizers are starting to align themselves all ready."
X nodded once, taking a slow step, letting Adam get used to walking. He knew from experience how difficult it was to learn how to walk, even if he had been programmed with the mechanics of it. Knowledge and experience were two different things and that was what they needed to teach Adam, how to incorporate the two so he could exist effortlessly in human society. Then they could tackle the problem of getting humans to actually accept these replicated droids as a part of their world, one that seemed like it was going to be a nearly impossible and never ending task.