Problem Solving

Wet paint was supposed to have a distinctive smell, like a fresh thing, but strong and stifling at the same time. Humans had their noses naturally, but robot masters like Rock didn't have a sense of smell. It took too much processing and too many delicate parts for it to be added to an already complex AI. Perhaps in the future, that might change. For now, it wasn't much of a concern.

Wet paint did have a different look, Rock considered. It glistened on the walls, but stuck in place once he sprayed it on with his paint gun attachment. Earlier, he'd found out that it didn't stick that well if he touched it while the walls glistened. There was still a white smudge on his fingers and he had trouble trying to take it off when the human painter was on a break. Now he wasn't touching the walls while they were wet.

And it was fresh in its own way. The lab wasn't fully back together yet, but it was looking a lot better. Shutting off the paint gun, he looked to the two humans that were working with him. "Mr. Brown, I've finished with my area."

"That you have," the supervisor said, looking over the room. Although he was short, Rock had used a ladder to cover the entire eight feet tall wall. "And a fine job you've done. Thank you Rock. It's a pleasure working with you."

The child-like robot grinned. "You're welcome, sir. I'm glad I could help."

However, there was more to do. Rock helped the two men clean up from their job, then they departed to speak with Dr. Light. The robot went to a supply closet to search for something to take the paint off his hands. Some time ago, he had read every single bottle, box, and container of cleaning supplies to learn what each one was for and how to use them. A few stated that they could remove paint, so he double checked those containers until he found one that specifically stated it would be safe on his synthetic skin. That solved the paint smudge problem.

Glancing out the window on his way back to the lab, he noticed that the sun was going down. That was okay. He didn't need sleep so he could use the entire night to finish his task. Once the paint was dry, he started moving the repaired lab equipment back in place. He checked each piece to make sure it was fixed and clean, then cleaned up any mess he made on accident. While his sister robot Roll cleaned up the house, the lab was Rock's area. He made sure everything was just as it should be and that there were no problems. If there were problems, he would solve them. It was what he'd been made to do.

The night moved on and the child-like robot kept working. After night passed and the sun had been up for an hour, everything was back in place. The lab finally looked like it should: tidy, efficient, and whole. That was another problem solved. Satisfied, Rock left the lab and went into the house.

He found a girl robot with blond hair in the kitchen; she was unloading the dishwasher. "Good morning Roll," Rock said, smiling.

"Good morning, Rock," she replied smiling back. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"I had a lot of work to do in cleaning up the lab. Where's Dr. Light?"

"He's in the living room watching the news. But he's been upset. I've tried helping him, but I'm not sure I'm helping." She put her hand to her chin, looking concerned.

This was an unusual problem. Rock had hoped that by fixing the lab, it might be solved. But maybe not. "I'll talk to him."

"I'll be there in a short while."

In the living room, the TV was blathering some commercial about coffee. It was a nice sized room with a creamy brown couch, matching armchairs, and a rocking chair around a long wooden coffee table. There was only one person in there, an older human with green eyes and white hair. Leaning back in the rocking chair, he was twiddling with his beard and obviously not thinking about the coffee commercial. His eyes were closed, so he might not have noticed his creation entering.

Rock had limited emotions, but he always felt troubled when Dr. Light was upset and worried like this. Hopefully, he had the solution. "Dr. Light, the lab is back in working order, just like it was," he stated.

At that, he opened his eyes. "Oh, good. Thank you Rock." He put his hand down and looked off not quite at the television, which had moved on to a clothing commercial.

"You're welcome," he replied politely. But he was disappointed. That wasn't the correct solution; fixing the lab hadn't made him any less sad or worried. Yet the problem itself was strange and new. Rock couldn't refer back to an old solution because no situation was like this one.

Determined to try anyhow, Rock came closer to Dr. Light and put his hands on the arm of the rocking chair. The man put his arm around the robot's shoulders for a partial hug, but that didn't accomplish much either. The morning news came back on, so the two of them turned to the screen to watch.

"Military forces are struggling to regain control in the western United States where one of the leading roboticists in the world, Dr. Albert Wily, has unleashed a robot army that is battering the much larger human forces. Many cities, including Monsteropolis where Wily used to work with the renowned Dr. Light, have become cut off from the rest of society. People attempting to flee this area have been killed or terrorized for doing so. Authorities are doing their best, but with many civilians still in affected areas and human armors and tanks proving ineffective, their options are limited."

That was the problem. Dr. Wily had taken off with six other robot masters and many mechaniloids, some the others weren't even aware of, and had turned violent against society. In Rock's mind, there was no explanation for it except Wily having some human glitch in his head. He used to seem nice and intelligent, although he requested that Rock stay out of the labs he was working in. Rock was obedient, so he didn't question it. And Dr. Light trusted him, so he didn't question Wily's requests either. In the end, Wily left Rock and Roll behind because they were domestic robot masters, not masters a few steps away from being combatant robots.

And the problem bothered Dr. Light greatly. Looking back to him, Rock saw that he was saddened and hurt by Wily's actions. Maybe angry; Light didn't anger easily, as he had a generally cheerful and optimistic view on life. This was enough to turn him from that cheer, though.

Bothered by that, Rock looked back to the TV to see footage of Bomb Man and Fire Man attacking two remotely-operated tanks. They were getting the better of the human-controlled machines. Seeing them gave Rock another idea for fixing this. He gripped Dr. Light's hand. "I could go fight them if I had the right armor and weapons."

Dr. Light's eyes widened and he looked to Rock. "Rock? Why do you say that?"

"Because it could work," he said. "You made me so I can use a lot of tools, right? I heard on the radio the other day that guns were just another tool, so I could learn to use one like I learned to use the paint gun yesterday. And the contractor said I did a good job with that. I can be fixed easier than the human soldiers too." And that was a solution to this problem.

For a moment, he looked further saddened and worried about this, which made Rock reconsider if that had been a good solution. But then Dr. Light seemed to start thinking about it. "It's going to be a lot more difficult than that. There's one of you while there's six affected robot masters and all those mechaniloids."

"I know," Rock replied. "But if I could do something that is right, I should try. You said that. And you'd be safe if Dr. Wily was captured and his mind glitch fixed."

He sighed. "Humans aren't that easy to fix, especially with a mind glitch, as you say. But we could get an explanation out of Albert if he were captured. Also... you would be going into a very dangerous situation. I don't want to lose you, Rock."

"I'll be careful." Worry was still on Dr. Light's face as he brushed some of Rock's black hair back. So the robot master added, "I promise I'll come back home when I'm done."

That finally got him to smile, even only a little. "That's good to know. Still, I hadn't planned on you becoming combat capable. But…" he was thinking while looking him over, so Rock stayed still and watched him patiently. "You may be right about your variable tool system. I might be able to put something together for you based on that which could give you an advantage. But you'd also need some armor. My young assistant?" He tapped Rock on the nose.

He grinned. "Yes Dad?"

"Let's go to the lab," he said, getting up and turning off the TV. "I need you to get into the exam area and give yourself a thorough scan of both external and internal conditions. It shouldn't be much different than what's on record, but I don't want to risk any errors when we don't have much time. Then go into the storage area and look for leftover armor-grade materials. There should be some left over from the other eight, but take inventory of anything that could be used."

Which meant pretty much take inventory of everything, but that wouldn't take long for Rock. "Okay, let's go!"

That was a satisfactory solution to Dr. Light being troubled by Dy. Wily's treachery. But now Rock had an even more difficult and more foreign problem, fighting Wily's robotic army. He would do his best though. He was made for solving problems.

I was going to stick with X series characters. I like the thorny questions presented by the existence of nearly-human machines and where that dividing line exists (or even if it exists when it comes to mental/spiritual/philosophical/ethical/etc. issues). But, I've been reading GrimMoody's stories lately and I recalled this little snapshot that I never had a use for. So yeah, go read her stuff!

Hmm, now I have to decide if I want to play my Classic collection or the X collection… there's always that Legends game too…