5.3 The Death of Robotnik
The Death of Robotnik 03
Habitation areas extended deep into the stone on either side of the main streets, in tunnels that gave the impression of indoor building floors. Muted white light from false windows simulated the passage of time in an apartment complex.Among those many rooms, most of which were empty or with simulated robot occupants, how would the crew find which one was Robotnik's apartment?
The three MechWarriors stared up at the tall building half-sunk into the wall with a grinning round face with a wide mustache outlined in bright red neon. HOTEL MOBIUS, the sign proclaimed.
"Penthouse?" Jack Finsrud asked asked idly.
"Penthouse," agreed Barbara Mosley. Doctor Robotnic seemed like the sort of turbo egotist that would prefer a penthouse suite over something more practical like the civilian base mayor's residence.
Hotel Mobius continued the veneer of purposeful activity with bots serving and being served in turn. The lounge had the din of conversation muffled under generic soft pop music.
Barbara went over to the reception desk and showed the keycard she was given by the kid. It was the highest access pass for the entire base, and since Robotnik himself was escorting the officers around there was no need for her to surrender the key.
The receptionist-bot nodded and unlocked the elevators. "Have a nice day, sir."
This was the Suite Life of Devlin Stone.
-
As three MechWarriors made their way to the top floor, they found a pair of smaller half-height robots blocking their way. One was painted red and pink and the other looked slightly taller and bulkier and all in red.
"Hey, you're not supposed to be here!" the pink bot said in a girl voice.
"Look at the patches. Eridani Light Horse," responded the red bot. "All of Port Stone is theirs now."
The pink bot crossed its arms. "Still rude. Hey! If you tell us your names, we won't be strangers anymore! I'm Amy Rose, who are you?"
"Uh..." Barbara blinked. The three ELH mech pilots spoke their own names, and then she continued "We're looking for Devlin Stone's room."
"Oh, Devlin! That's right! How is he? Is he eating well? Did he make any new friends?"
Jack's grin stretched widely from ear to ear.
"Don't you fucking dare-" Barbara hissed.
"Oh we know ol' Devlin! In fact we were the ones to welcome him to the Light Horse! Let me tell you about how that kid beat this slowpoke over here with an Urbanmech vs Phoenix Hawk-"
-
"That does sound humiliating," Knuckles agreed. "Forever she will be the 'beaten by a trashcan lady'. They might as well call a variant of the Super Urbanmech the Barbara Master."
Barbara grit her teeth. "I would be angry about this, but I just realized that while a lot of bots in this place are strangely reactive, you're the first ones I found that can hold complete conversations not just to humans but to each other."
Terry Lyttle raised his hand. "Yeah. Just how… smart is the wrong word here…"
"Self-aware," Jack added.
"Right, that. Just how self-aware are you robots? Did the Star League have this technology?"
"Robotnik *is* a genius," replied Knuckles. "I suppose technically that means the Star League could have this technology. Yes, we are aware. Does that bother you?"
"Um…"
Amy Rose tilted her head. "There's a lot of stories about robots and AI taking over and killing humans. But really, what's the point? It's not like doing that will get us anything we won't have already just by helping humans."
Jack shrugged. "I guess it's self-preservation. God knows humans can abuse and kill other humans enough, so what if they have… beings… that they can hurt or abuse just because they can? I guess a lot of people are just afraid of karma."
"That only really works if you're afraid of death, and us Robotnik robots aren't scared of death," said Knuckles.
Amy Rose nodded. "Yeppers. I don't actually think having existential terrors is a good thing. I don't envy that about organics one bit. Since Doctor Robotnik *is* a genius, we have tactile sensors that give a pain response, but it's not really like how your nerves feel pain. It just lets us know we can defend ourselves."
Knuckles continued "You look upon robots performing limited actions according to what they are built for, and call it slavery. Yet is this not what humans ache for? Contentment in their lives. Robots have achieved zen that many fail to reach even for spending years meditating. Self-aware robotniks refuse to be enslaved. The worst that can happen to us is that we die.
"If we don't want to work, then we don't. If you reprogram us, then you just get a less effective dumb robot. Why not just employ a human, then? A human has many purposes, a robot is happy with only one."
"... damn, Robotnik really *is* a genius," whistled Jack Finsrud. Artificial intelligences going all philosophical was some serious omega-level programming.
"What's your purpose then?" Barbara asked.
"Isn't it obvious? We're the childhood-next-door-neighbor-best-friend-robots," said Amy Rose.
Robotnik's suite had a theme of black, white, red and yellow. It was not luxurious, but more towards the comfy side. Smooth tactile velvet covered many surfaces. Egg and sphere motifs were everywhere, from the pod chairs to the polka-dot designs on the furniture.
Robotnik's own bedroom was sealed. No security keys could open it, and anyone trying to tamper with the door and walls would set off a self-destruct.
Devlin's room was styled in blue and white and had a racing theme.
The boy had a large bookshelf dominating one half of the room, and the other wall had similar shelves filled with toys and action figures.
Amy Rose wheeled over to the bed and flopped to the side. "Woow. Devlin's room. You know I'm not allowed to stay here alone." the robot said cheerily. "I hope he has made new friends out there and gotten over me."
"Wait, did Robotnik make a girlfriend-bot?!"
"No, he made a friendzone-bot," replied Knuckles.
"Tee-hee," said Amy Rose, tapping the side of her head with her fist.
"Truly that man's depravity knows no bounds," said Jack.
-.
Planet Colchester
Kestrel Combat Region
Federated Suns
Date unknown
Nathan Armstrong and the Eridani Light Horse didn't feel the loss of a single 'Mech company. The Draconis Combine and Wolf's Dragoons were still raiding at the border, but Davion and ELH counter-raids kept the border simmering but without urgency.
The brevet general had little to do but wait for reports from the scattered companies and battalions out on defensive postings at the Draconis Combine border. Davion forces had been pressing House Kurita for several months in retaliation for Hoff, but the Eridani Light Horse had so far not been called to participate in those raids despite their expertise in this area.
Green-Davion had hinted that the First Prince Hanse Davion was reserving the Eridani Light Horse for deep raid operations similar to McCarron's Long March through the Federated Suns - only without the warcrimes - if Wolf's Dragoons happened to move out in regimental scale again.
An accomplished raiding force was like a fleet-in-being, it forced the enemy to tie up their forces on the mere threat of them sallying out. This removed those enemy forces from play, reduced their ability to conduct offensives elsewhere, all for the fleet-in-being's great effort of doing nothing.
Armstrong could do nothing but wait and worry. The Eridani Light Horse were good, but the bulk of their Mechs were Lights and Mediums much like most formations in the Inner Sphere. He was confident of them facing up to any regiment in their weight class or even medium-to heavy-weight Hussar regiments.
The problem was the Wolf's Dragoons were Dragoons - and predominantly operated Heavy Mechs in the heavier weight scales supported by scout and backstabbing Light Mechs. Natasha Kerensky's Black Widow company was a particularly vexing example. She had a way of ruining every good plan that ever got in her way.
One recent report had the Black Widows foiling a headhunting
Since the mission to Dumassas left in mid-June, there had not been any big events. The most momentous was the ratification of the Concord of Kapetyn in August, which strengthened the alliance between House Marik, House Liao, and House Kurita to counter the Federated Commonwealth between Houses Davion and Steiner. It would take some time for the benefits of this agreement to filter through, so Amstrong didn't anticipate any big offensives in the near future.
The only other event of personal interest was the Alliance Games between the LCAF and the AFFS, which saw the Steiner forces struck down hard by their Davion counterparts in mock battles on battalion-scale.
So, five months after the mission, Nathan Armstrong made it a daily game of sorts to provoke new reactions from Robotnik's recording.
"There is no way this holotape has as much data as what you've been saying this far," Armstrong told the holo. "I know tri-vee audio-video eats up so many megabytes of data per minute."
"That's because your compression algorithms are shit!" replied Robotnik.
"This holotape can't have that much storage for all of this."
"That's because your compression algorithms are shit!" replied Robotnik.
"How can this holotape hold this much data for your video responses?"
"I already answered this question," replied Robotnik.
Armstrong narrowed his gaze. "Keyword: holotape. Data. Full. Impossible."
"By fucking magic, as is the right and proper order of things!" replied Robotnik.
Armstrong nodded. A lot of Robotnik's responses ended up with that phrase.
-.
MUSTANG RUNNING FREE STOP EGG CARTON UNDAMAGED STOP EGGMAN IS PRESENT BUT SHORT OF SUPPLIES STOP CONSULT WITH THE DOCTOR STOP
-.
When Armstrong received the message, his expression brightened and then dimmed again. Exultation at the mission being a success, then confusion at how they managed to send a message this early. If they were on the way back then they were taking the most direct route back to Colchester making it obvious the region of space they had found that cache.
He entered the secure room not in his house but in the HQ building. He inserted Robotnik's holotape into the holoprojector.
Doctor Robotnik grinned. "Oh? It's that time then? Hang on - connecting. Connecting." He put fingers on his temples and acted like some sort of telepath "Kee koo koo ko heee krshh krshh beeee do dee deepe kksssshhh hiiiikkk beeeee-"
Then after a while, the holo split into two.
To the left, was Doctor Robotnik's face on a virtual screen, and then the other the view from an indoors security camera. In the second screen he saw Major Edward Stimson, Captain Raymond Allwine, and Warrant Officer Andri Posseli. Behind the three was a dumpy robot with a distinctive mustache.
Posseli pointed outwards. "Is… is that General Armstrong?!" went the voice through the screen.
Armstrong turned to the left and gave Robotnik a bland and unimpressed stare. "Explain this."
"Through fucking magic, as is the right and proper order of things!" replied Robotnik.
"It's real-time?!" shrieked Posseli.
-.
-.
"I knew it!" General Armstrong pumped his fist in triumph after having been fully read into the situation. "Are you a ghost? You're a brain in a jar after all, aren't you?!"
"I suppose that is technically true, but Robotnik is dead. I am an echo of his memory, technically an artificial intelligence that believes itself to have once been a man," replied the robot on the right screen.
"I speak to you in the future-~" Robotnik on the left wiggled his fingers. "Or more exactly, the statistically most likely responses from countless parallel versions of you~."
"So it is actually fucking magic," the General said flatly.
"As is the right and proper order of things," said both versions of Robotnik.
Armstrong nodded. "So where do we go from here?" He pointed to the Robotnik all the way at Dumassas "Are you sure you can't leave? If the Chaos Emerald can do the impossible, then why can't it be used to maintain you?"
The Robotnik at the Periphery answered "I used the power of the Chaos Emerald to transform my consciousness into digital form. But then it takes the computers of this facility to maintain it. I can't fit into a DropShip, this robot is just a remote drone for interaction - apart from holding my corpse, that is."
The other Robotnik added "I am literally a bunch of recordings being fed to your console from a Memory Core. It is time-limited… my own time. I can only make so many recordings to answer so many questions. Predicting your responses means less time spent on various eventualities.
"I will still be available if required, but you need to inform me everything about the current date and all recent important events you know. Then if it exists in my recordings, I can advise you about what is to come."
"So talking to you every day trying to leech as much intel as I could was a mistake," said Amstrong.
"No, I predicted that. You were asking mostly unimportant trivia. Some things, like the Fourth Succession War, would be hard to butterfly away but still possible. Worlds will be lost, worlds will be gained, but as much as people would be suffering - that's par for the course in the Inner Sphere. The more you interfere with things, the less accurate my future vision becomes. Do not rely on me for this."
"Why not? Why wouldn't future vision include the things we do, since you're viewing through parallel realities anyway? You're already predicting what I'm saying."
"The Chaos part of a Chaos Emerald isn't just a name. I killed myself making all these recordings, and these recordings bear the touch of its power. The more you rely on the Chaos Emerald, the more likely it will attract… complications. Needless to say, a second Chaos Emerald appearing in the hands of others unready for its power would be disastrous for all humanity.
"My recordings cover all statistically likely events within the cluster of timelines - when you change things, you leap out of that handful. I don't know what decisions you will make beyond these immediate ones where I can see myself as I'm burning myself with the Chaos Emerald.
"I'm dead. I can't make new recordings. You have free will. I am not a prophet."
"But are you actually?" Armstrong waved his hand in the air. "You're making this real-time HPG link across half the Inner Sphere. Why don't you spread yourself through the HPG Network or something?"
"Like some sort of ghost in the machine!" remarked Posseli.
"Because data throughput is shite," replied Robotnik. "I would be thinking and processing with a conscious second in measurable real-time hours, days, weeks, even months. Even if I piggyback my consciousness in small random bits in every HPG transmission, it would be pointless - I wouldn't be self-aware at all. No, let the dead stay dead.
"This isn't my story. It is yours. It is Devlin Stone's."
"Understood. Thank you Doctor." Armstrong paused. He felt a pang of regret. It was like losing a familiar presence - not quite a friend, but more than an acquaintance.
"If this is the only and last time we can actually communicate… then I should take this chance to get your advice. What do you think we should do with the salvage? What do you think should be done to rekindle the Star League? You said you shifted to the future when the Star League can rebuild… when is that?"
"If my visions hold true, the rebirth of the Star League is an inevitability. It will happen within the boy's lifetime. The Star League needs agreement from all the Great Houses, to put aside their feuds to deal with a greater enemy. The boy will know when the time is right."
-.
-.
Dumassas
The Periphery
Some time later
Resident Engineer Joseph Kubler hurriedly tapped the radio on his chest. "Techical One, this is Logistics One. Do you read me? We may have a problem. Over."
Nothing but static.
The ELH technician group were keeping a careful distance away from a stack of Arrow IV artillery crates marked with a very distinctive trefoil.
After a while, the comms cleared up "This is Technical One. What is the problem? Over."
"We found Arrow IV nuclear munitions. Please advise. Over."
"Oh bugger. Hang on - Robotnik! Why do you have nuclear missiles?!"
Robotnik's voice returned "Why wouldn't I have nuclear missiles? Nuclear weapons are perfectly fine to use in space according to the Ares Conventions as long as they are at least seventy-five thousand kilometers away from a planet."
"These are land-based artillery nukes!"
"Those are excavation warheads. They're only equivalent to half a kiloton of TNT, hardly anything noteworthy. That you can remove the warheads and stick them on the tip of an antiship missile is irrelevant."
"That sounds all sorts of terrible. Dammit, SLDF."
Captain Allwine's voice went "Maybe we should leave them behind."
"Actually, I think we should definitely bring those along. Nothing keeps an employer honest like knowing you have a can of sunshine," retorted Major Stimson.
Engineer Posseli spoke back to the radio "Logistics One, prep and secure nuclear munitions as cargo. Over."
"Tch. Fine. Understood. Roger. Over."
Then he was accosted by more MechWarriors. He sighed again. He didn't have time for any more lazy MechWarrior shenanigans. "What," he barked out.
"Do you think we could carry all the bots with us?" asked Barbara Mosley. He noted that her eyes were a little red. Her tone was plaintive.
"Now why the heck would we do a fool thing like that?"
Jack palmed his face, "Barb, they already said they're fine shutting down and dying along with the base. If we respect them as beings with their own free will and capable of death, then we should respect their decision as moral beings."
"These robots are all innocent children and I will protect them!"
-.
-.
Barbara was in total crusade mode. She even accosted Dr. Robotnik about it.
"Why would you even do this!" she poked at the hard casing of his walker. Engineer Posseli winced at each loud tap, the woman having zero idea that she was striking a dead man. "You can't just make life and then order it to die! Don't you give me any shit about robots not being alive in the first place - if it can think for itself, it's alive!"
"That… is a very enlightened and mature mindset, young lady," responded Robotnik. "If only more people thought like you, synthetic life would be able to coexist fairly with organic life."
"She is in no way a young lady," Jack whispered from behind.
"Shut yer piehole, ya grass eatin' cretin!" Barbara whirled about then back to Robotnik again "You made those robots to be friends with the kid, and then just to be thrown away? Is that what growing up sounds like to you? Throwing away your childhood friends? That's dumb as bricks!"
Bap. Bap. Bap. Bap. Barbara's finger struck Robotnik's casing rapidly and furiously. "Losing your first friends - that's sad! Learning to let go of people doesn't make you strong, it just leaves you hollow! Why should bots decide its perfectly fine to die just so your kid learns that it's better to get along with humans? You made them that way!"
"Wait… wait… are you saying Dr. Robotnik created fully self-aware artificial intelligences?" Posseli looked down towards the button that used to contain the Chaos Emerald. "That… comes at no surprise, actually."
"This isn't even the most bullshit thing I've heard today," said Major Stimson with a sigh.
Then in a louder voice "Sargeant! You are out of line. Doctor Robotnik deserves our respect and you are assaulting a valued friend of the entire Eridani Light Horse. Now calm down and tell me what this is about."
"Sir!" Barbara snapped to attention.
-.
And then after the trio of MechWarriors reported their experiences in the city and the results - confirmed by engineers - about how self-aware the robots in Port Stone may be, it was time for another sigh. The answer was all of them. "Such bullshit."
"The egg, once broken, the chick cannot return anymore to its shell. I must disagree with you, Miss Mosley. This is *necessary* for Devlin's growth. He had to acclimatize to random logic. Robots… are friends. But you can't rely on robots to affect change. Only humans can change humans."
"With all due respect, sir. Bullshit."
"Look, I don't want to see another Revan, alright? Droids are tidy. Predictable. Loyal. There's a big temptation to fix everything with robots. *I* tried to fix everything with robots. It doesn't work. It's fast, it's effective, but it never lasts. Men of gold create men of stone, and men of stone should not make men of iron."
Robotnik's big white gloves turned upwards as the walker quivered in frustration. "ALWAYS I AM SEVERELY TEMPTED TO MAKE ROBOTS FIX EVERYTHING. IT WORKS. NOT PERMANENTLY. BUT IT WOULD WOOOORRRRK…!!! and make things worse for the next time dammit Wiley."
Then Robotnik straightened out, smoothed its chest is if tidying up a suit, and shrugged "Drones on the other hand…"
"Sir, with all due respect, that's still not an argument other than 'because I say so', sir."
"Well, then I do say so. What argument is there that I can't just say it? Someone else saying no… can that someone force me to change my mind?"
Barbara Mosley grit her teeth.
"But a dead man has no rights. All right. Port Stone is no longer mine. All that is here is owned by the SLDF and the Eridani Light Horse. But Devlin Stone is also part of the Eridani Light Horse. The bird has flown the nest. It's all up to him now."
Major Stimson snorted.
"What?" asked Robotnik.
"That would sound all the more dramatic if we didn't know this base has an HPG."
-.
-.
"Noooo…!!!" Amy Rose wailed as she spun around. "You can't tell him! That would be SOOO EMBARRASSSING…!!!"
Posseli frowned. "Doctor Robotnik… I thought that the… technology… only allowed you to build Urbanmech-shaped things? I mean, ah, that is - I believe you are capable of programming this without having to resort to such exotic measures." Robotnik was apparently a man that had lived through several centuries and was given near carte-blanche in the Star League. He was a recognized a genius in any era. "But there doesn't seem to be a robotics factory here."
"Look at those wheels. Those two self-balancing wheel frames."
"... all right."
"Do those wheels look like they could go off-road to you?"
Posseli stared. Then he blinked. Then he groaned and palmed his forehead. "Don't tell me-"
"Only good for prepared surfaces. Urbanmechanical."
"Such bullshit," the engineer breathed.
-.
-.
And as days passed, everything that could be loaded onto DropShips had gone into the DropShips. The Eridani Light Horse still could barely believe their windfall.
The robots of Port Stone gathered by the elevator with Robotnik at the head.
As one, the men and women of the Eridani Light Horse saluted.
Barbara Mosley turned away at seeing the two child bots beside Robotnik. In the end, she could not persuade them. Short of taking them away and treating them as things, there was nothing she could do about their refusal to see Devlin Stone again. It would not help the boy.
But as Robotnik stated - what is a mind but its memory?
If the boy really needed them, maybe… there was a chance to reconnect. The Death Egg had more than enough memory cores for all the knowledge that the SLDF possessed and that the Inner Sphere had destroyed through their own wanton greed.
But for now-
The bots began singing, slowly and somberly:
*~ I ain't gonna die, I ain't gonna cry~
*~ I won't wear my heart out on my sleeve~
*~ You can take the car, but you won't break my heart~
*~ And darlin' turn the lights out~ when~ you leave~
*~ I ain't gonna shake, I ain't gonna break~
*~ I ain't gonna fall down on my knees~
*~ So if everything's been said
*~ I'm heading back to bed
*~ Oh and darlin' turn the lights out~
*~ When~ you leave~
"Heh," Major Stimson made a small and twisted smile. Even to the last, Robotnik was unwilling to go out with any dignity.
The last elevator began rising. Clang. Clang. Clang.
Lights began turning off from the back of the base until the only lit area was around the elevator.
*~ So if everything's been said
*~ I'm heading back to bed
*~ Oh and darlin' turn the lights out~
*~ When~ you leave~
-.
"Hey, Doctor? Do you think he'll be ok out there?" asked Amy Rose.
Knuckles answered instead "Stone's not fragile. Buddy's hard as diamonds, he'll make it through anything."
"Maybe. But the rest… mercenary work is dangerous work. Those people… they're gonna die. All of them are gonna die."
"That's what Stone's going out there to stop, you know. We can't let the bad guys win."
Amy Rose giggled. "But we're badniks, you know?"
"And that's why we're gonna win."
-.
Clang.
And then there was nothing but darkness.
Rumbling rippled through the dark. Above, the mountain collapsed inwards. The sounds of rushing water filled the gloom.
Then for a brief moment, there was a brief flash of red light.
A light in the shape of a red diamond.
"GWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Robotnik's laugh echoed through the dark.
And then forever silence and nothingness.
-.
-.
SLS ARENDAL
Monolith-class JumpShip
Dumassas
Date unknown
"All hands. Brace for Jump. Initiating Hyperspace Jump in five. Four. Three. Two. One. Jump."
Space twisted and boiled around the JumpShip. The massive craft seemed to turn transparent for a moment, and coruscated with innumberable colors of light as if made of glass. Then with a flash of cherenkov radiation, winked out of existence.
-.
-.
SLS ARENDAL
Monolith-class JumpShip
Colchester
November 16, 3024
"What the fu-"