Saturday, June 4, 1983

Following the deaths of Elizabeth and Clara, William knew that he had to devote himself entirely to his work. After all, the sooner he unlocked the secrets of Remnant, the sooner he could bring them back.

This, of course, would require a lot of time and money. Acquiring more time proved easy enough as Michael, despite being only ten, was quite independent for his age, and so William had him look after the house and Evan while he was busy working.

Securing money was a lot more tricky, however. Given what had happened to Elizabeth, William simply couldn't bring himself to keep his restaurant running, and so he sold off the building. He still planned on using his Funtime animatronics as entertainers as a front for acquiring specimens, but the new business model would be more like a rental service. Of course, the problem with this was that he would only barely be able to break even with that kind of business model. After all, running any kind of business with animatronic entertainers was inherently expensive given operation and maintenance costs, and so having the animatronics in a venue such as a restaurant or an entertainment complex was much more viable than renting them out. Despite this, William was much more keen on the rental service idea. The other option was simply too unbearable.

As such, William knew that he had to get a new stream of revenue somehow, and after much thinking, he figured out a way to do it while still being able to devote almost all of his time to his research. And so, for the next few days, he made preparations while also making time to study Circus Baby and Ballora.

As regrettable and tragic as Elizabeth's death had been, it gave William an opportunity to learn a great deal more about Remnant and animatronic possession. Similar to his previous subjects, Elizabeth's mind had fused with Circus Baby's programming, but unlike the others she didn't see him as a threat and showed no hostility towards him. Of course, the most obvious reason for this was the fact that William had not been directly involved with Elizabeth's death. More than that, though, Circus Baby seemingly trusted him, which he postulated was due to Elizabeth being his daughter. Moreover, the advanced AI and voice boxes of the Funtimes allowed William to talk and interact with the possessed animatronic almost as if she were human, which proved invaluable for his research.

Of course, when he first realized this, his research was the last thing on his mind. Like any grieving parent, he embraced Circus Baby, told her how much he loved her, and asked for forgiveness for failing to protect her. But all of this just ended up confusing her, as whatever memories she had of her previous life were simply too vague for her to see herself as Elizabeth.

As lucid and talkative as Circus Baby was, it quickly became clear that there were limits to her sentience. She struggled to retain memories and those she did retain eventually became too vague for her to comprehend. And whenever she went outside of the bounds of her pre-programmed behavior, she would glitch out.

Ballora, on the other hand, was highly aggressive towards William, and while it hurt to see Clara that way, her behavior was more than understandable. He did kill her, after all. It was only when she couldn't see him that she reverted back to the animatronic's serene, normal state, though even then she seemed much more somber than before.

While Circus Baby helped him make a lot of important progress, it was abundantly clear to William that he still had a lot of work ahead of him if he ever wanted to bring back those he had lost. And so in order to secure the money necessary to fund his research and maintain his current lifestyle, William went through the various inventions that he had come up with over the years as he developed the Funtime animatronics. A number of them could be commercialized, but one stood out among the rest—a voice box capable of producing a voice indistinguishable from that of a human. As simple as it was to him, it was a truly revolutionary technology—one that countless people would want to get their hands on… and one that would inevitably upend a number of industries if the technology was ever commercialized.

William knew that his voice box alone could provide him with enough money to both sustain his family and fund his research, but he was also painfully aware of the public backlash that kind of technology would bring. After all, if you give something like a robot an artificial voice, you give it a semblance of life and humanity, but if you replace a singer with an artificial voice, no matter how perfect, it will be seen as something soulless and inhuman. Even so, the potential profits of the technology was far too tempting, and so William devised a plan to commercialize it without having to deal with the consequences.

He got in touch with an old acquaintance from college—Phil Williams—a fantastic engineer, a brilliant businessman, and probably the best salesman William had ever seen. Of course, despite all of these good qualities, Henry had never recruited him for Fazbear Entertainment, and the reason for this was that Phil had a number of flaws that were impossible to overlook. He was absolutely adamant about being his own boss and absolutely loathed being told what to do. Had Phil been wealthy, then this wouldn't have been an issue, and he would've undoubtedly become an incredibly successful businessman, but unfortunately for him this was not the case. No, he came from a very poor family, and despite earning a scholarship, he only managed to afford to study at Berkeley by selling various illicit goods, primarily pot and acid. William had many fond memories of Henry and himself buying stuff from Phil for the weekend. Those were good times.

Sadly, Phil had the misfortune of getting caught by the authorities, and it cost him what would've most likely been a very bright future. Between his eccentricities and his criminal record, no one wanted anything to do with him, and this made him the perfect candidate for William's plan.

As it turned out, Phil was now working as a door-to-door salesman, which wasn't very surprising. When William contacted him about a business proposal, Phil was intrigued, yet also somewhat hesitant. Despite barely scraping by, he valued his independence. Even so, William managed to convince Phil to meet with him.

It was slightly past noon and William was in the barn, busying himself with getting everything ready for the meeting.

However, his attention was suddenly diverted upon hearing banging on the door, which was accompanied by the faint sound of a child sobbing.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, William strode over to the door and opened it. He was met with the sight of Evan, whose face was wet with tears.

"Father, Michael's being mean!" The four-year-old sobbed and sniffled uncontrollably.

William rubbed his forehead and grumbled to himself. He did not have time for this.

Ignoring Evan's cries, William simply picked him up and carried him back towards the house. He ground his teeth when the toddler buried his face in his chest, staining his shirt with tears, snot, and saliva.

Upon entering the house, William spotted Michael on the couch in the living room, watching TV. Furrowing his brow, he strode over to the older brother.

"Michael!" William snarled. "I thought I told you to watch your little brother!"

"I did!" The ten-year-old retorted. "But then he ran away!"

"So then Go. After. Him," William hissed as he plopped Evan down on the couch.

The four-year-old continued to cry. "But Father—"

"Be quiet!" William snarled at the toddler, making him recoil away in fear.

William returned his attention to the older brother. "You're ten, Michael! It's high time for you to actually use your brain and think for once!"

The ten-year-old scowled. "Fine, whatever."

Letting out an exasperated sigh, William looked down on his shirt. He had picked it out specifically for this meeting, and now it was ruined. He checked his watch and growled in annoyance. "I don't have time for this!"

William stormed off to the stairs, but before he went up, he turned back to Michael and shouted, "Watch him this time! If any of you bother me again today, I'll ground you both for the rest of the year! Am I making myself clear?!"

"Yes, Father," Michael replied in an overly practiced manner.

Sparing no time, William headed upstairs. As he did, he could hear Michael berate Evan for getting him into trouble.

William went into his bedroom and scrambled to find an acceptable replacement shirt, eventually finding one after a couple of minutes of searching. As he changed into the new shirt, he could hear a car pulling up into his driveway.

Cursing to himself, William quickly buttoned his shirt and then practically ran downstairs and to the front door. Then, after pausing momentarily to compose himself, he went outside to greet Phil, who was just getting out of his car.

"Hello, Phil," William said with a courteous smile as he walked over to him. "Long time no see."

"Yeah, no kidding!" Phil replied with a big smile and shook William's hand. His expression then grew slightly more serious and empathetic. "How have you been holding up? I heard about what happened to your daughter."

"I'm not doing too well, to be honest," William frowned somberly. "After we… lost Elizabeth, my wife left me and the boys, and after everything that had happened, I wasn't particularly keen on keeping the restaurant running."

Phil nodded. "More than understandable."

"And that leads me to my business proposal," William continued. "Come. Follow me to my workshop and I'll show you."

"Sure."

As the two walked over to the barn, William glanced back at Phil and asked, "By the way, you're not still dealing drugs, are you?"

"No, man, I haven't been selling any since I got arrested. I mean, if I managed to get caught before Johnson and Nixon's crackdown, then I don't think I'd be able to get away with it now." Phil explained. "Besides, I want to be legit. The only reason why I started dealing in the first place was because it was the easiest way for me to make money in college."

"Good, good," William replied, feeling somewhat relieved. "Here we are."

He opened the door to the barn and ushered Phil inside. Once both had entered, he closed the door behind them.

Phil looked on in wonder at all of the various high-tech equipment and inventions scattered throughout the barn. William couldn't help but smirk as he watched him.

He cleared his throat. "Now, before I show you anything, I want to discuss my business proposal."

Phil nodded. "Alright, let's hear it."

"First of all, I'm well aware how important it is to you to be your own boss and call your own shots. I've learned the hard way from working with Henry that I'm much the same," William began. "As I mentioned before, given what happened to my daughter, I'm not particularly keen on running a restaurant or similar venue. I'd much rather just focus on my own projects, but for that I need funds."

"So… what? You want me to run your business for you?" Phil asked. "If so, I have no interest in that."

"No, no, it's nothing like that," William assured him. "You see, when I developed my Funtime animatronics, I happened to invent a couple of technologies that I know can make a lot of money."

"So… why not just patent them?" Phil asked.

"Because I believe they can make a lot more money by being monopolized by a single company run by a good businessman," William replied. "Hence why I reached out to you. You see, I want to form a new company with you, one that you have complete control of and where I'm simply the silent partner."

Phil nodded and stroked his chin. "And what exactly would this partnership look like?"

"Well, I got quite a bit of money from selling my restaurant, so I would provide you with the capital and inventions to get the company off the ground. As I mentioned before, you would have complete control of the company, but as a silent partner I would own a fifty percent stake in it and receive fifty percent of all profits," William explained. "I might also, on my own prerogative, provide you with more inventions, but you should neither expect nor demand them from me."

"I don't know, man, fifty percent is a big ask when I'm going to be the one doing all of the work once this company of yours has been established," Phil replied, seeming very skeptical of the idea. "This isn't something I'd be willing to get on board with unless we can agree to a lower percentage or your inventions have a significant profit potential."

William suppressed a knowing smirk. "On that note, why don't I show them to you."

He led Phil over to a workbench, upon which sat a robotic arm next to a pile of Legos, a tiny camera that was about the size of a thumb, and a speaker that was hooked up to a small metallic box, which was in turn hooked up to his computer. Out of all of them, Phil seemed most interested in the camera, but he didn't seem that impressed overall.

"First we have a robotic arm that has much better articulation, visual acuity, and decision making capabilities compared to anything else on the market," William explained as he gestured to it. "Observe."

He pushed a button and the robotic arm immediately got to work picking out pieces from the pile of Legos and using them to construct a house complete with a porch, a front door, windows, a tiled roof, and a chimney—and it did all of this in the span of five minutes.

William glanced at Phil, who seemed quite impressed.

"Not too bad," Phil admitted. "If it works just as well scaled up, it's definitely going to sell well, though the up-front cost of actually making them is going to be very high."

"Next up is a camera that I developed to give my Funtimes more accurate and detailed vision," William said as he gestured to the tiny camera on the workbench. "It's a color video camera that utilizes a 250k pixels CCD image sensor."

Phil whistled. "Now that's impressive."

"However, since my animatronics only use the raw feed, the camera doesn't currently have an integrated recording system," William added. "But that can easily be added."

"This would definitely be easier and a lot cheaper to develop into a product than the robot arm," Phil noted as he thoughtfully tapped his chin.

"Last, but certainly not least, is the voice box I managed to perfect for my Funtimes," William said proudly as he gestured to the metallic box and the speaker.

Phil eyed it curiously. "What does it do?"

"It produces a perfectly human-sounding voice," William replied. "Allow me to demonstrate."

He strode over to his computer, typed a command, and hit enter.

Then, much to Phil's astonishment, a professional-sounding male voice came out of the speaker. "Hello, Phil! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance!"

William smirked as he watched Phil stare slack-jawed at the device. He then typed a couple of other commands and hit enter.

The male voice was replaced with that of a small child of unambiguous gender. "I can sound like anything you want! Anything!"

Next, William typed another set of commands and hit enter.

The voice coming from the speaker now sounded like a sultry femme fatale. "I can even sing. Would you like to hear?

"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do,

"I'm half crazy,

"All for the love of you.~"

With that, William turned away from the computer and, with the biggest smirk on his face, stepped over to Phil. "What do you think?"

Phil looked at William, then at the device, and then back at him as he sputtered incomprehensibly. Finally, he managed to say, "This is fucking incredible, man! H-how are you even doing this?!"

"It's quite simple, really. The human voice consists of a range of sound frequencies that can quite easily be synthesized by a machine with the right hardware, and with a bit of math it's a simple matter to replicate the symphony of frequencies that make up any form of vocalization," William explained nonchalantly. He then gestured to the computer screen and continued, "The software is quite easy to use. All you have to do is set a few dials and do a little bit of coding, and you can create any voice imaginable. You can even create presets for things such as dialects and moods to speed up the process."

Phil stared at him in amazement. "Dude, you're a fucking genius! I mean, like… shit, every movie, TV, and music producer is going to want this!"

"I'm well aware," William replied with an amused smile. "So now you understand why I'd prefer to monopolize it under one company."

"Uh, yeah!" Phil agreed. "I mean, shit, dude! This is gonna make us rich!"

"Yes. It's going to make us rich… provided that you're willing to accept fifty percent," William noted. "Alternatively, I suppose I could just patent it…"

"Nononono! Fifty percent is fine!" Phil exclaimed as if his life depended on it.

"Very well," William replied, stifling a chuckle. He then gestured to his desk. "Then let's draw up a contract, shall we?"

"Sure thing!" Phil replied with great enthusiasm.

William began to walk over to the desk, but then stopped himself and turned to look at Phil. "Oh, and one more thing—I want my identity to be kept completely anonymous, with any and all of my inventions being copyrighted under the company's name."

"Sure thing!" Phil agreed with a nod. Something then seemed to occur to him and he asked, "Speaking of which, what should we name this company of ours?"

William shrugged. "As I mentioned before, you're going to have full control of the company, so feel free to name it whatever you want."

"How about Philliamco?" Phil suggested with a grin.

William suppressed the urge to cringe. That was by far the stupidest name he'd ever heard, not to mention… "I thought I told you that I want my identity to be kept anonymous."

"Hey, man, no one will know. I'll just tell everyone that it's an abbreviation of my first and last name," Phil assured him. "Come on, man. You're giving me another shot at fulfilling my life's dream, the least I can do is have you be part of the name."

William let out a drawn-out and exasperated sigh. "Fine."

"Great!" Phil exclaimed with a grin. "Now let's draw up that contract!"