maskormenace | Audio, 001 [ID: Rock Light]

[Surprisingly, the first thing to notice about the audio is probably how -clear- it is. There's very little (if any) background noise, almost as if it's from someone with built-in communication. Of course, it kind of is.

The second is that is -definitely- some weird prepubescent voice.]

Haha, maybe I should have access this board... earlier. I got here, and then there was that whole big ceremony, and it just kind of slipped by me...though, to be honest, this flows more like a chatroom. Are we using some sort of ICU-variant? Do I need to ask for people's UINs?

Oh, maybe I got off to the wrong start.

Hi! I'm Rock. I'm the son of Dr. Light - well, one of them, anyway, and... well, he built me and my brother and sister and all my other brothers! I guess I'm kind of on my own right now, though. Which leads me to my first question.

How many people have experience with robots and robotics? I mean, it's okay if you don't. I was just wondering. Knowing someone to come to for the occasional repair might be handy, given my reputation back home.

Anyway! I might not necessarily have wanted to be here, but if anyone needs my help, I'll do my best!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's good to hear your voice again, Rock. Welcome to... whichever city you've found yourself in. You'd be surprised at the number of talented roboticists among our ranks. Some are even more skilled than Dr. Light.

Tempo! It's good to hear you too! I was hoping someone would be here. I landed in... Heropa, I think? It's pretty sunny out, I feel great.

And wait - really? That's... wow.

Oh, excellent! I live in Heropa right now as well. I may be tasked with some work in Nonah at some point, but that's in the future. If you'd like to meet up in person, I don't have many plans. Just, I suppose, the same cleanup as always.

I'd be glad to tell you about some of the roboticists I've met, but you'll likely hear from them yourself. Some of them may be capable of creating true AI! [and some of them are true AI, but she sees Magicman down there.]

True AI!? [It bears repeating. Not even Light, his father, easily in the running for one of the greatest roboticists in their world, had cracked the code. Arguments could be made for the lightning in a bottle that was his brother but... well, Blues was another topic entirely.] That's incredible... I can't believe there are such incredibly skilled people here.

Cleanup, though? Is there some problem going on right now?

[she'll shelve the discussion of roboticists for now, because while she'd like to talk about it, she really doesn't want to steal anyone's thunder. so instead she'll move to that second thing.]

Yes. Or, well, not actively, but who can say when the next one will strike? We've had a plague, a dragon, several explosions, many attacks by gangs, and a second plague all since I arrived here roughly four months ago. It has gone some way in shaking the trust the locals of this world have towards us, and there is admittedly only so much I can do about it. It is the very definition of an uphill battle.

Dragons? Plagues? Explosions? Gangs?

[You can almost hear him wincing.]

Eugh... why do people try to hurt each other like that. I hate having to even deal with wIly's bots - they don't have a choice in the matter, and neither do I.

It just seems so... strange.

The world we now live in is not one that is kind to people like us.

[which she means on many levels.]

If I reprogrammed myself to entirely focus on analyzing the reasons behind the imPorts who wished to cause others harm, I would still never be able to find a conclusion. There are good people here, yes. But there are unmistakably bad people, as well. And they are ones that even you may not be able to do much against, even if you wanted to.

Out of the motherboard, onto the soldiering iron, huh?

[Not like they were exactly well received back home by a lot of people.]

I've already had that conversation with Magic Man - trust me, the farther away people like Xander keep from this place, the better off everyone will be.

But... I still have the copy chip. I can still at least do something, even if I can't fight.

That is the issue. New imPorts arrive on a monthly basis, and there is no screening process. Magicman and others have postulated that the Porter doesn't even have a choice in who it pulls, despite being the closest to AI that this world may have come up with on its own. We may have Xander here next month. We may have worse.

[the idea sends a metaphorical chill through her body. they already do have worse than Xander, and she knows it. she just doesn't know who.]

You can still do something, though. We all can, and it doesn't have to be fighting. I was speaking with Magicman recently about a peculiar method of modular programming that exists in his universe: Battlechips, he called them. They could temporarily augment a synthetic creation's abilities in any number of ways, and he is already working with someone roughly our age to develop the technology here.

That's a scary thought - a glitch in charge of the people who arrive here.

Battlechips...? Hm. That at least sounds like it's worth a look!

[Though he's going to have to bite the bullet here.]

But if I can help by fighting, I'm going to. Not against humans, but others... well.

[He's not a killer, but he has a job, a responsibility.]

We want to communicate with it, but nobody with the necessary technology is allowed close enough. That was Magicman's idea—to talk to the machine rather than fight against it in some way. Your ideals and the ideals of your father are still alive, even in other universes.

[she says it like it's something she's proud of, and something Rock should be proud of, too. she's thought for a while that he'd like hearing about that.]

I don't think there are many rogue robots here, though. Every threat I've seen has been biological, if not... necessarily human.

[There's a long pause on the other end - or at least what feels like a long pause, for Rock. The last time he saw Dr. Light, he - well, he hadn't been doing so well. To hear that Tempo and others are trying to talk to the machine, to see if they can help it... it takes him a moment to speak up.]

I'm... really glad. I wish Dr. Light could be here to hear that. I think he could use it right about now.

[He's really grateful and glad, though, with there not being many rogue robots... eugh.]

I... we'll find a way. We can try and capture them, at least.

We do have a prison system in place that seems to be doing the job well, barring a few mishaps.

[she's really, really trying not to bring up the time she watched a prison guard die because she had no training that could help. she'd rather talk about Dr. Light.]

I've been missing from our world for some time now. How have things been? Is Dr. Light well?

Audio, 001 [ID: Rock Light]

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