269: A3

A3 has spoken its first word… murmured Threat Analysis, awed, as Nicolai and the others gazed down at the bot.

I am so proud, said Cyberwarfare, generating an image of a killbot wiping a tear from its eye.

The Modules spoke back to A3 over Local. They said it was a good boy and told it to stay still.

Nicolai’s smile had broadened at A3’s response. ‘A quick study.’ He hunkered down, and his next words were aided by the Mask. ‘What have you done to yourself, A3?’ he murmured in a quiet, soothing tone. He clucked as he felt at its limbs and examined it. It had managed to damage itself slightly in its crazed movement. A crack on its outer chassis, some bent manipulators. It was actually quite amazing it had managed to do so much damage, considering how sturdy its form was. He considered the damage then moved away, issuing orders to the Assembler while moving a few steps to where he’d left some tools on the workstation.

The scraping rasp of metal on stone prompted him to turn, and he saw A3. It was crawling across the floor after him.

‘A3!’ said A3. ‘A3!’

A warm glow moved through his chest, and Nicolai frowned, unsure where it came from. Then he felt an urge to smile. It was the Mask, and his eyes widened with the realisation the extent of the attachment it already felt to the strange being they had created.

This is our son, said the Mask in response to his thoughts.

Nicolai froze, staring down at the splayed out, rather pathetic form of the bot, at its camera staring up at him. Within him the Modules buzzed their agreement. They were full of excitement at the prospect of having a son. And, he supposed that they were right, all of them. A3… was his son. In a way. The thought was…

The world twisted on its axis and he was suddenly dizzy, sick. He would’ve stumbled, staggered, but even in the midst of the vertigo some distant part of him stayed calm, felt the ground and the air around him with Soul Sense, knew he was stable, and he simply stood still and rode it out.

Why do you think the idea of having a son disturbs you so very much, Nicolai? asked Psychology. Might it relate to your own childhood? Perhaps you would like to discuss that…?

It disturbs me because how can a creature such as myself raise another being without infecting it with my own… my… my problems… his thoughts answered, before he could stop himself thinking them.

You worry you will turn this fresh, unformed young being into some kind of insane, bloodthirsty monster? continued Psychology, and he sensed its delight at baiting him into conversing with it, but his thoughts were too much of a spin to even be properly angry.

He doesn’t need to worry about anything! The Mask hissed at Psychology. We will raise A3 together. A communal process. And, anyway—now the Mask spoke to him—if you are aware of a possible problem, surely you can avoid it?

‘Surely,’ murmured Nicolai, far from sure.

Surely, hissed Psychology, with dark glee.

And we will raise A3 as a father should, added the Mask.

Nicolai blinked, his mind refocusing. He recalled how not long ago he’d determined that he would do his best to ensure the Mask didn’t attach to anyone. He’d decided he didn’t want to deal with the messiness of “relationships” for some time. He wanted to find the Lizard. With this recent development, the “No Attachments” goal could be declared a failure. Messiness was on the horizon.

But the sensations the Mask was sending to him were, admittedly, interesting. Pleasant, even. He let himself soak in them and he felt… happy. And oddly proud, though he wasn’t sure if he was proud of himself or the bot. Either way, it was nice.

There was also no implicit risk in building a relationship with this being, and that thought further soothed him, turned into further thoughts. A list which unfolded;

He’d created it.

It was sort of like a Module.

It was too simple to possess any ulterior motives of its own.

It could be useful.

If taught well, he could spar with it and improve in areas that would otherwise be difficult to improve at; Intent, spiritual combat, Symbiote interactions.

Perhaps it could very useful.

He could shape it to ensure it was perfectly loyal to him… he felt resistance growing in the Mask at this thought, whose own feelings became clear. That he should simply raise the being and let it do what it wished. That this was what a Better Man would do. That this was what a Father would do.

Perhaps a compromise. The Mask had the right idea, or at least some right ideas. He had no basis for how to raise a child, he’d need help. He, the Modules, and the Mask… perhaps together they could do a semi-decent job.

We will teach A3 to be the greatest of hackers, said Cyberwarfare.

And to be ever wary of danger, added Threat Analysis.

To carefully simulate future events and situations, put in Simulations.

To shoot well and accurately, said Aiming.

To investigate and dig into anything it finds… murmured Psychology.

To understand all areas of the Law! spouted Legal.

To be a Better Man, said the Mask.

Nicolai thought for some time, feeling a statement was required of him, too. What was it he felt a new thing like this should have? What would most help it? What had caused him the most trouble?

To understand others, he thought at last. And above all, to understand itself.

He nodded, satisfied with the wording. Of course, it went without saying he would also teach it to fight.

‘A3!’ chirped the bot.

‘Okay… A3,’ said Nicolai, a faint, uncertain smile reforming. ‘Stay still. You are injured. I will mend you.’ He and the others worked to spiritually project the meaning of these words to the bot, to drive the fact that he was going to help it and that it should not struggle or cause trouble, into its mind.

A3 did not reply over Local, but it projected from its spirit a sense of being still, being good, trying hard. If it’d known the words, he had a feeling it would’ve been saying: A3 can stay very still!

He laughed. He couldn’t help it. He wasn’t sure if the feeling came from him or the Modules or the Mask. But A3 was… cute. He didn’t know how to react to this emotion so opted to ignore it, busying himself working to unscrew the bolts connecting A3’s damaged parts to the rest of the bot.

Throughout the repairs A3 didn’t issue a single complaint. He approved of that. ‘Well done, A3,’ he said, over the squeal of the hand-held welder he was using to seal a tear in its outer chassis. ‘You are doing a good job staying still while I repair you.’ He kept his language simple, and continued to augment his words with transmissions over Local and via spirit, a form of tripled communication to increase the likelihood his point got across. ‘Many humans find it very difficult to stay still, stay calm, and not react when they are in a new or difficult situation. That is because they lack discipline. That’s not you. You’re my… you’re… you are A3. And you are strong. You have discipline, and strength of will. Do you understand?’

A3 radiated understanding. It was a veritable bonfire of understanding.

It struck Nicolai as odd that the bot was unable to communicate. As part of the unnecessarily comprehensive software they had installed, the Modules had included understanding of every major human language, plus all forms of machine-code.

Once more, he bid A3 to stay still and show no reaction. ‘Your uncles are going to check your mental state,’ he informed the robot.

Cyberwarfare dove in. The normally ruthless Module showed far more restraint than he’d ever seen from it as it carefully felt its way through A3’s software and spirit. It was joined by Psychology, coming in after, taking a deeper look at the things Cyberwarfare had moved past. Nicolai wasn’t worried by this. Though he didn’t necessarily trust Psychology when it came to him conversing with it, he knew that it contained the same drive to flawlessly perform its job and role as any of the others. Outside of its desire to interact with him and dig into his past, it could be relied upon not to mess about.

He has the necessary software, spoke Cyberwarfare. I don’t know why he’s not able to use the language packs, it’s like he doesn’t understand them.

Why do you call her a him? Maybe A3 is a she, said Threat Analysis.

Because he is our Son! said Cyberwarfare. We decided. And a son is a he.

It is an it, said Psychology. I believe that the inability to use the language packs is due to it being both spiritual and artificial. Psychology had spent much of its time since awaking intensely studying everything Nicolai and the others had learned, and now had a good understanding of spirits, Symbiotes, Oma, and the rest.

A3 is a near-perfect merge between these two parts, Lectured Psychology. Something like what Nicolai is attempting, but far more seamless. However, it is still young. The reason it is unable to properly understand and utilise the software, is because its spirit has not made the necessary connections. Therefore, we need to explain to it what the concepts in its software mean. In fact, simply getting it to understand some concepts, should lead to it naturally making connections and understanding more. Observe. Psychology focused on one of the concepts held within A3’s software, bringing it to the bot’s attention. At the same time it bid Nicolai to perform an action.

Nicolai pulled his pistol from its holster, and displayed it before A3’s curious camera. The bot reflexively extended its tiny Soul Sense tendril and felt at the item.

Projectile weapon: gun: pistol, said Psychology. It didn’t just say the words. The Module was layering meaning with the Local transmissions, adding in code and spiritual emanations.

A3 stared blankly, but Psychology kept on repeating the multifold message, and after some time, there was success.

Projectile weapon: gun: pistol, repeated A3, and it broadcast a spiritual sense of the same, something like a thought or image of the gun it saw.

Nicolai next drew a knife. Immediately A3’s Soul Sense extended and felt at the knife, feeling it closely, and its camera audibly zoomed.

Melee weapon: bladed: knife, said Psychology.

Melee weapon: bladed: knife, repeated A3 eagerly.

Nicolai retrieved his assault rifle from the Big Mouth and held it out to the bot, but before Psychology could speak, A3’s Soul Sense had lunged to feel at the weapon and then it spoke up.

Projectile weapon: gun: big pistol! cried the bot excitedly.

Nicolai and the Modules basked in a shared sense of pride at A3’s accomplishment, generated primarily from the Mask.

Very good, you are almost correct, said Psychology. It is a projectile weapon: gun: assault rifle.

A3 repeated this diligently.

Maybe we could teach him other things, rather than just about killing implements? asked the Mask. For some reason it seemed unhappy that their immediate focus was on combat related objects.

Nicolai shrugged. I have to check some things. In the meantime, will you continue educating A3?

The Modules were more than happy to do so, though the Mask became upset, having realised that being unable to communicate over Local, it was unable to properly communicate with A3. It could still make some use of his Soul Sense to generate emissions, but it couldn’t engage in the multifod communicating the Modules were employing.

Threat Analysis attempted to solve the problem by suggesting they attempt to create a kind of AI hardware place for the Mask, to integrate it in some form with technology, and offered some small portion of its own hardware for this. They worked on it for a while but didn’t find any immediate solution, though it looked like given a few days the pair would indeed find a method. In the meantime, Threat Analysis soothed the Mask by promising to impart any messages it had for A3. The Mask immediately passed over a dozen things it wished to say.

He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen all the Modules, and the Mask, so very excited and busy.