Does This Unit Have a Soul?

Chapter 2: Prime Directive

"So, were you really made 10,000 years ago?"

Mipha and Daruk were wandering the halls of Hyrule castle with "Link", while waiting to hear from Zelda and her father, the king. To pass the time, they decided to probe the construct's mind...processor...for any questions they thought he could answer for them. "Link" turned towards his new companions. "Yes. I was created 10,000 years ago after the defeat of Ganon by that era's Princess Zelda and Chosen Hero. The Sheikah were worried that one day, the hero may not appear, resulting in Ganon's destruction of Hyrule. Because of this, they created me as a back up, replacing a missing hero in times of crisis."

Mipha nodded, reflecting on the answer given. So he wasn't actually at the fight, he was made afterwards. The best he has are recounts of the fighting, and may not even know how to combat Ganon. We also don't even know if he can draw the sword that seals the darkness.

Daruk decided he would pose a question to the robot. "So, if they managed to defeat Ganon, what do you think our chances are? I mean, we still have those Guardians the Princess has been gushing about, as well as our Divine Beasts. Were they useful at taking down bacon breath?"

Scanning through his memory, grabbing whatever relevant data he could find within his archives, "Link" finally turned towards the Goron. "I assume that 'bacon breath' is a name with which to refer to Ganon in a joking/insulting manner. Nickname registered. It is true that the Divine Beasts, along with the Guardians, played a large role in Ganon's defeat, but it must also be said that without the Master Sword, wielded by the Chosen Hero, and the powers to seal away Ganon wielded by Princess Zelda, Ganon would not have been defeated."

Mipha's concerns were brought out into the open with the mention of the Master Sword. Looking over at Daruk, she noticed her ally deep in thought as well, though she questioned if it was about the same issues. "Link, if I may ask..."

"Of course you may. You are a registered operator, Lady Mipha"

"Thank you. Can you by chance...wield the Master Sword? I know that legends say only the Chosen Hero may pull the blade from its pedestal and use it against Ganon, but with you being a replacement, I was hoping you knew if you could as well."

"Link" began to comb through his records, calmly looking for the answer to Lady Mipha's question. After not finding what he was looking for, he then searched more thoroughly, spending a few days coming his entire archives. After not finding the answer he was looking for again, he began to "worry", unable to answer the question his operator posed to him. He glanced over to the one place he hadn't looked, but quickly shook his head. That section was forbidden, and meant to stay locked away forever. Returning back to Mipha and Daruk, he finally responded a few seconds after she had asked.

"I do not have information on that subject. My apologies."

Mipha's gaze grew more concerned, disheartened at the idea that they had no idea whether this replacement could wield the item necessary for defeating Ganon. Daruk decided to try and lighten the mood up, noticing the concern swelling in Mipha's eyes. "So, uh, Link! Do you always do that thing with your voice when you mention important stuff?"

"Link" gave a curious glance towards Daruk. "What do you mean, 'thing with my voice?'"

Mipha, snapping out of her concerned state, tried to clarify. "Whenever you mention Zelda, or the Master Sword, or Ganon, you always seem to put more emphasis on the words over the rest of the sentence. Are you supposed to do that?"

"Link" shook his head, deciding to test their observation. "I do not believe that I put more emphasis on words like Ganon over other words like hydromelon." "Link's" eyes widened. "Oh my, it seems like I do. Correcting...correcting...corrections made, no longer emphasizing words pertaining to Hyrulian lore or history."

Daruk gave a small grin. "Well, I wouldn't mind if you gave some emphasis to my name whenever ya said it. Makes me feel kinda special!"

"Link" nodded. "Acknowledged. Daruk will now be emphasized."

Mipha shook her head, a small smile appearing as she giggled at Daruk's antics. The moods levity was soon cut off, however, as Zelda, along with Urbosa and King Rhoam, exited from the Sanctuary into the hall where they were standing. "Well, let's hope that some time with her father has calm..."

"H.E.R.O., come here this instant!" Or not.

"Link" nodded, approaching the King and his daughter as fast as he could before kneeling down in front of them. "What do you ask of me, your highnesses?"

Zelda slowly walked up to the kneeling automaton, staring at it intently before rearing her foot back and kicking it in the gut. The robot made no movement outside of the recoil, but remained silent and stationary. "H.E.R.O., retaliate and defend against your attacker."

"Error, conflicting order with prime directive. Cannot harm current princess of Hyrule. Order ignored."

Zelda turned back to her father. "See? No risk of it turning against us. It's completely obedient. And hopefully..." she turned back, looking down upon the kneeling robot. "...he can defeat Ganon for us as well."

King Rhoam brought his hand to his chin. "While it is all well and good that the replacement can take orders, that does not mean it can wield the Master Sword nor defeat Ganon with it. And you still haven't unlocked your powers!"

Zelda grew slightly annoyed. "But father, the Sheikah technology left behind for us was once used to defeat Ganon before, and it can be used to defeat him again!"

"Zelda, my daughter, I am well aware of the usefulness of the ancient Sheikah technology, but while you fuss over these relics, you are blatantly ignoring the powers that are your birthright. None of that technology will be of help to us if you cannot awaken your power. You need to stop wasting time on these artifacts and focus on claiming your powers!"

"But father!"

King Rhoam raised his hand. "Enough! Zelda, I forbid you from continuing research into the Guardians and Divine Beasts. We have scientists to do that, and do not need your attention being pulled away from your studies in regards to your powers. As for this...thing..." Rhoam turned towards "Link", "I do not know of its usefulness yet, but I do not believe our scientists will be of much help in unlocking its secrets. Therefore I believe it should travel with you and your Champions. Test out its combat ability, give it experience with your allies. Help it understand, if it can, the situation we are in. I would even go so far as to say it should try to pull the Master Sword from its resting place."

Urbosa turned towards the King. "Your majesty, are you sure we should have it attempt that? Those who try to pull the sword have often known to suffer for their attempts, even resulting in death. Should we really risk losing it to that chance?"

The King shook his head. "I am not worried about the robot losing its life. I believe if it cannot do it, then it will be fine. But if it can, we'll be one step closer to defeating Ganon."

Zelda hung her head, before softly agreeing to her father's orders. King Rhoam huffed. "Good. Now go, travel Hyrule to the Springs and pray to the Goddesses. Hopefully there you will awaken your powers. And as for you, errr, H.E.R.O?"

Mipha spoke up. "We have started to refer to him as Link, your highness, for sake of ease."

King Rhoam shot a skeptical glance towards the Zora Princess. "'He'? So it's a 'he' now? And you've given 'him' a name?" He chuckled lightly, turning towards the construct. "Well then, 'Link', I hear by order you, as King of the land of Hyrule, to protect my daughter and her fellow Champions with your life, no matter the cost. Is that order clear?"

"Link" nodded. "Order received and acknowledged. Defending Zelda and Champions from any and all harm, ignoring the cost of own life."

King Rhoam nodded before turning back towards the throne room. "Good. Zelda, Champions, I wish you luck. In more ways than one." And with that, he left.

"Link" slowly rose from his position, before standing straight and staring at Zelda and the Champions.

Zelda began to tap her foot. "So, are we going to go over the fact you have decided not only to give it a gender but also a name?"

Mipha and Daruk shot a glance at each other. Daruk decided to try and explain. "Well, we both thought that .H.E.R.O. was annoying to say over and over again, so we thought we'd give him an easier name to refer to him by. And I dunno, he looks like a guy so we thought we'd just refer to him by it. It made sense ta us..."

Mipha nodded in agreement, looking towards the quiet robot for any sort of support from him. Getting none, she turned back towards the annoyed princess.

"As much as I would like to be annoyed by your decisions without any sort of approval, I am much too tired to deal with this right now. It's late, and we have to head out in the morning. So everyone, please retire to your rooms for the night." She turned to leave. "Oh, and one of you take that...thing...with you. I certainly don't want it in my room."

The three Champions watched as Zelda left, before sharing a concerned glance with each other.

"I believe the Princess is starting to 'warm up to me.' She didn't insult me or nor use me as a stress reliever."

Mipha gave a worried look to "Link". "But she kicked you? Doesn't that bother you?"

"Link" shook his head. "No. It is my duty to take attacks for the Princess, including hits from herself. I will not retaliate, and cannot have any 'hard feelings' as I lack feelings in the first place."

Mipha sighed. "Well, at least let me look into healing the damage." She knelt down, moving his shirt before examining the bruise that was forming on his stomach. "It's very interesting how you can still bruise, even when you lack blood."

"I may lack blood, but I do have fluids that regulate my systems. Losing enough of that liquid would result in my termination, so it can be seen as 'blood.'"

Mipha nodded before raising her hand, a soft blue glow emanating from it as she began to heal his bruise. Soon enough, the bruise began to fade from his skin.

Daruk grinned. "Well, at least we know that you can heal him. That's good!"

Urbosa nodded, placing her hand on Daruk's shoulder. "While we have had a very informative day, I believe we should heed Zelda's words and get some rest. We will have a long journey ahead of us, and the rest will do us some good." She turned towards their automaton ally. "As for you...um...'Link', was it? Do you need sleep?"

"Link" shook his head. "Negative. I do not need rest, though I can go into stasis. I am powered by solar light, and can charge for multiple days of use before running low. I will be fine for the night, but can go into stasis if that would assist in my partner's ability to rest."

The glow of Mipha's healing power faded, the bruise now completely gone from his stomach. She stood up and looked to the others. "I'll take him for tonight. I do not feel threatened by him and I can handle him if anything does happen. I also can heal him in case anything happens."

Urbosa and Daruk nodded, before turning towards the guest rooms they had been allotted. "Alright," Urbosa said. "And Link, you keep watch over her, alright? Make sure nothing happens to her."

"Understood, Lady Urbosa. Order received."

"Oh, well if you're worried about lady Mipha, we would always accompany her."

They four of them turned towards the new voice, their eyes landing upon two guards who had just entered the room. Urbosa smiled. "Ah, Sir Hartford and Sir Delvin. I'm surprised to not see you at the bar!"

They two guards laughed with her, before composing themselves. "Well, we can't very well go there while on duty, now can we? We overheard that Lady Mipha was a concern. We would be happy to lend a hand in escorting her to her room."

Mipha waved them off. "No no, I'll be quite alright. I have our new friend to guide me and watch over me. But I do thank you for your concern...ummm..."

"Kenji and Sabren."

The group looked to "Link." "No, Link, I believe you are mistaken, this is Sir Hartford and Sir Delvin, of the Hyrulian Guard." Urbosa explained, the pair of guards nodding.

"There is no mistake registered in my directory. I have a database of the population of Hyrule, as well as names and faces of it's inhabitants due to the information uploaded to me from the princess as well as genealogical family trees. I may not have a deep understanding of modern political parties or movements, but I can match someone's identity to one in my current database, even through a disguise. This is Kenji and Sabren of the Sheikah clan. Tell me, why have you adorned yourselves with such disguises?"

The group slowly began to turn towards the two "guards" who began to slowly take steps backwards.

"And why is the Sheikah symbol you wear upside down?"

AN: Hey! Writer (Not Writer) here! So, I finally managed to put out a second chapter for this story! My apologies, like with SCaYSF, I had a bit of a down time between writing that gave me a back case of writer's block. But I'm back now and should be able to update regularly. I hope you enjoyed the second chapter of this story! Please let me know how you liked it in the review! Thank you!