Relic from the seas

By

Dr Facer

-7-

The replica of the Light labs' voice box was perfect in every way, and Viktor Cossack felt quite satisfied by what he had accomplished. He had spent several days working on this small device and, now that he had completed it, he was forced to admit the only way he had managed to duplicate it was thanks to the detailed schematics Splash Woman had given him. He was already working on a full body duplicate, a duplicate that, while still maintaining her design in every way, was pretty much up to date in terms of armor, power core, communication systems and inner circuitry. Of course, the professor would not force Splash Woman to upgrade to the new body once it was built, but he would offer the option.

"I'll also ask her to let me update her modem and ports so she can interface with our signals and computers," Viktor muttered as he placed the little device on his table. "Well, not that I'll have to, she is a Robot Master after all and she can't disobey an order from a human unless it conflicts with the Three Laws of robotics. I'll just have to update or change her OS and install the new ports, it shouldn't take more than a few hours."

He stood from his chair so he could stretch, popping his back as he arched his frame this way and that. He had been sitting all morning, and he felt as if his spine had turned to stone. Some coffee, Viktor decided as he ran a hand over his reddish beard, was more than necessary.

He found his wife sitting by the coffee machine in the lab's kitchen, enjoying a cup of the hot beverage herself. It always amazed him that she had developed the habit of drinking it. Reploids like her could consume foodstuffs, of course, but most of them never ingested them since the amount of energy they could obtain thereby was minimal. Drinks rich in alkaloids like tea and coffee, however, were more popular amongst the reploidkind since their chemical composition was something from which their systems could somehow extract an adequate amount of energy. This reminded him that wine was also something a few reploids had developed a taste for, since alcohol was easily converted into energy and it provided them with a nice 'buzz'. In fact, although reploids would need to ingest higher amounts than humans, it was possible for them to get drunk.

"You look happy," Nina observed, placing her cup on the table to greet her husband.

"I am, and for a good reason," he smiled, focusing his attention on the beautiful blonde female reploid. "I have finally completed Splash Woman's voice box."

"So quickly? You said it would still take you another day!"

"I was able to get a few parts beamed here earlier," he explained as he sat next to Nina. "I'll go look for her after this so we can install it right away; I just hope she didn't go too far."

"Oh, I'm sure she's with X somewhere," Nina said. "Or swimming a few kilometers away from the coast. Splash Woman has become quite independent during the last couple of days, in case you haven't noticed."

"I read your reports on her behavior," Viktor said while pouring some coffee on his cup. "It's not surprising, she is programmed to be that way."

"What do you mean?"

"She was a rescue robot back then; her primary function is saving passengers from sinking boats or helping lost ships find a safe route to port," the scientist explained. "According to the information on her schematics, she was programmed to be independent because her work required her to spend large amounts of time on her own."

"So… she is always coming and going by herself because it's part of her programming?" Nina said, feeling a little bit relieved after learning that what she imagined would be abnormal behavior was simply part of Splash Woman's programming, still… that didn't explain some of the other things she had noticed. "But, what about her reactions to X?"

Viktor drank some of his coffee as he considered his answer. He had noticed a somewhat subtle yet consistent shift in Splash Woman's behavior when X was near. That intrigued him as he was not completely familiar with the way a Robot Master's electronic brain operated or adapted to different situations, but he imagined her conduct was fairly normal as far as Robot Masters went.

"There's a chance that her responses to X are completely normal," Viktor said. "There's too much about Robot Masters that we don't know today."

"Are you saying she could possibly be almost as advanced as we reploids are?" Nina said with a displeased frown. "I'm sorry, Viktor, but that's just impossible! She… she's so… primitive!"

"She is by today's standards, my dear; but that's where the genius of her design lies," the man disputed gently. "Consider that the simplicity of her programming, at least when compared to that of you reploids, may be what allows her to adapt to different situations in ways we can't comprehend today. I'm not saying she's as advanced as any of you, just that the way she functions is something that we don't know anything about. She's a complete mystery."

"I must admit you are right," the blonde reploid conceded. "And as a programmer myself I can accept that her coding is something that intrigues me."

"As for X, I'm not surprised he visits her every day," Viktor said after finishing his coffee. "She is very important to him."

"I know that, and I can understand it," Nina Cossack said. "I just wish he brought Alia with him, I would like for my sister to look at the data on Splash Woman I've collected."

"That's not a bad idea," the roboticist said as he got up. "In fact, I'll go ask Maverick Hunter HQ if we can borrow her services. I'm sure Signas will let her come help us with this project."

"I'd appreciate it if you do that," Nina said, watching as her husband left the kitchen. The white and pale blue armored reploid smiled discreetly then. She knew her sister's assistance would help their research progress faster, but that was just an excuse to have her here. The real reason she wanted Alia in the lab was because she hoped it would stop X from getting more interested than necessary in that ancient Robot Master.

=0=

He found her on the snowy beach, sitting on her usual stone, gazing at the ocean with thoughtful eyes. He wondered what occupied her thoughts and as he approached her, finally noticing she had her trident by her side. That was odd, since she normally left it at the laboratory Viktor Cossack had commissioned near the docks. Mega Man X stopped once he was at her side, and waited until she turned to see him before sitting down on the snow.

They sat there in silence for almost a minute before she did something he wasn't expecting. She touched his shoulder and then made room for him so he could sit by her side.

"Are you sure?" He asked. This wasn't the first time she had touched him, but it was the first time she had invited him to sit near her. Normally, she would just allow him to walk with her and listened to him talk about the comings and goings at Maverick Hunter HQ, but she always remained a little distant during their interactions.

She nodded and offered him a smile.

"Thank you," he said, returning the smile and sitting at her side. He noticed his right hip and leg were touching hers, and it amazed him that she felt… warm. This was slightly unusual, since mechaniloids couldn't normally regulate their temperature unless they were ice or fire-based, and not all reploids could emulate human temperature. He didn't know that Robot Masters had that function as well.

[010110010110111101110101001000000110000101110010011001010010000001110111011001010110110001100011011011110110110101100101]

X blinked when his electronic brain decoded what to anyone else, including most reploids, would have been nothing but static. But no. It was not static. She had somehow transmitted a message to him. A message in binary. X didn't know many reploids who could still understand something as ancient as binary code without studying it first.

She had told him this: 'You are welcome'.

"You can transmit in binary?"

Splash Woman smiled and nodded again. She followed this gesture with another long string of ones and zeroes, indicating she hadn't tried to communicate with him that way because she wasn't sure if he could understand it. The artificial mermaid then explained no other machine could decipher it so she abandoned the idea, and only tried it with him because she knew he had been built over a century ago and she hoped he could understand it, she then mentioned how glad she was it had worked.

"And I'm happy you tried," X said, feeling glad this had happened. "One of Doctor Cain's biggest problems when replicating me was that he couldn't understand binary very well… maybe that's why some reploids go maverick, I don't know… I guess it's possible he made a mistake somewhere that I didn't notice."

She perceived his mood changed from relaxed to tense when he mentioned the irregular behavior he had already told her about. Splash Woman placed her hand on his shoulder so he would look at her. She transmitted a new message and waited for him to reply.

"It's alright, really. I regret it happens but I no longer blame myself for it," he said, appreciating her concern. "I'm fine."

She sent him another string of zeroes and ones.

"Yes, I'm sure. Don't worry, I'm always like this." X offered her a smile. "It's just something I do."

She sighed and sent another message.

"Really?" he straightened and looked at her with a surprised expression. "You think I do that?"

Splash Woman replied with a new transmission.

"Well, I don't spend my time sulking," he stated. "But I can see why you would think that. I haven't been entertaining company have I?"

She shook her head and expanded on what she said with another chain of ones and zeroes.

"I'm glad to hear you think I'm interesting. I just…" X made a pause. "I just feel melancholic sometimes, but not right now. Things are good now compared to how they were for a long time."

She transmitted a response.

"You want to hear about it? Sure, I can tell you," he promised. "After your voice box is ready. That way we'll be able to talk and I'll finally listen to your voice."

Splash Woman didn't send any binary transmissions after that, but knowing he wanted to listen to her voice made her experience a reaction she identified as feeling pleased by his words, and she decided the proper response was doing something nice for him. Normally she would have sung a soothing ballad, but since she couldn't, she instead chose to offer him music. Silently, she produced her harp and then showed it to him. She grinned at his dumbfounded expression and then started playing with great skill, the notes linking into a relaxing song that X found very enjoyable and relaxing.

And as he watched her play and listened to her music, all Mega Man X could think about was how he had never met anyone like her and how special she really was.

He discovered he rather liked that.

Notes:

Thanks to Adam for beta reading this chapter.

And also, thank you all for reading, I hope you are enjoying the story so far!