Chapter 327: Do You Have Cat Lice? [Part 1]
Cillin had noticed that Moon was acting a bit off after returning to the ship, but he decided that the talk with Ghost Butterfly Seventeen and Swallowtail took precedence at the time. He wasn’t expecting something like this to happen in such a short time.
Robots like Moon, Sigma and Czedow had a consciousness that automatically generated some form of disruptive wave, and they normally kept it in check at all times. In this case, Moon was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he had relinquished his control before he realized it. As a result, the waves spread from his room to the entire ship through the communications network and electronic circuits. It was the same as Wheeze unknowingly destroying much of Sigma’s equipment with its emission of machine language when they were passing through the time and space vortex.
Xi Kai named this phenomenon “machine thought intrusion”. He believed it to be a obstacle that many robot researchers must overcome. If they succeeded, it would be of great use to them. But If they failed, there would be negative consequences. Many of the robot uprisings that took place in GAL or the empire had been a negative consequence of failing to deal with this phenomenon.
“What’s wrong, Moon?” asked Cillin after pulling a chair over and sitting down on the opposite side of Moon.
Head bowed and fingers making circles around each other, Moon struggled to say his thoughts, “I…”
It took a bit of time, but Cillin eventually found out why Moon was acting like this. When Moon and Sigma were searching for saplings, Moon had fired a couple of warning shots to scare away some hunters. After he thought about it, he realized that his careless action was what scared the local wildlife and inspired the killers to start a triple earthquake and create a murderous stampede.
Moon felt very guilty because of this. His lack of consideration and carelessness was at least part of the reason this incident had happened in the first place. Thankfully no one was injured or worse, killed in this incident, or this guilt would’ve sat with him for a very, very long time to come. This was why he had entered self-reflection mode the moment he returned to the ship… at least until he lost control of himself and accidentally disrupted much of the instruments and electronic equipment on the ship.
Moon’s guilt practically doubled when he realized that he had caused trouble for everyone again. It was why he looked as depressed as he was now.
Cillin stared at the Origin robot for a moment. Excluding his exterior, the robot thought and behaved just like any sentient being would. He knew pride, he knew annoyance, and he knew guilt. The fact that Moon felt guilty meant that he truly valued the people of this squad. To a robot, there were only two kinds of people: people they acknowledge and people they don’t acknowledge. The former’s welfare mattered to them greatly, and the latter could die or suffer a terrible fate for all they cared. So Cillin was glad to learn that Moon cared about their squadron if nothing else.
Cillin put his hand on Moon’s bulbous head and rubbed it just like he normally rubbed Wheeze. The metal felt cool and hard to touch.
“It’s not your fault. Those killers would’ve tried something whether you fired those shots or not. In this case, you taught those hunters a small lesson because it was necessary, and it was definitely the right thing to do. Had you given those hunters an inch, they would’ve wanted a mile.”
“But that doesn’t change the fact that my actions had indirectly helped those killers,” Moon replied in a small voice.
“It was just a coincidence. Moon, this is GAL, not the Mist Bodhisattva Empire. Do you know what the law of survival in GAL is?”
“The strong reigns supreme.”
“That’s right. The strong reigns supreme, and some things are just unavoidable in life. Even if you haven’t caused the commotion, some other hunters would’ve eventually. Think about it. What would those hunters have done if you haven’t intimidated them? They would’ve attacked you, and the resulting commotion may not necessary be smaller than what you have caused.”
Moon recalled the scene from before and came to the same conclusion. He had fired those warning shots precisely because he sensed that those hunters harbored ill intentions toward them. If he had chosen to stay his hand, there was a high likelihood the standoff would’ve devolved into a fight.
“So there’s no need to overthink things. Some things are unavoidable in life, and all you can do is to meet it head on.”
Cillin stopped here. Excessive advice would only produce the opposite result, and Moon was smart enough that he wasn’t worried he would drive himself into a dead end. Of course, this would be a very different talk if it was Sigma he was talking to. That lovable robot would probably the first robot in the entire world to die of depression if he didn’t absolve him of his guilt.
Moon said nothing for a moment. The dancing blue strip on his faceplate showed the he was thinking about something, but this time he didn’t forget to keep the disruptive wave suppressed.
Cillin was in no particular hurry, so he patiently waited for Moon to arrive at a reconciliation with himself.
Thirty minutes later, the blue strip on Moon’s face turned thinner. Cillin knew immediately that Moon had returned to his usual self.
“You should help Sigma with the saplings. He’s been doing everything by himself,” said Cillin while flicking Moon in the head just like he usually did with Wheeze, smiling.
“Okay! Don’t forget to close the door when you leave!” Moon replied while flying toward for Sigma’s fruit garden.
When Cillin exited the room, he immediately saw Xi Kai leaning against a wall with a look of extreme confusion on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Cillin asked.
“Moon greeted me when he flew past me earlier. What the hell happened? He always ignored me until just now.”
“It’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
It was true, but Xi Kai was still bothered by Moon’s sudden change of attitude, so he asked, “Say, do you know what’s going on with Moon?”
“How would I know? Moon has always been an enigma even to me, also aren’t you the one with centuries-long of records on Moon? You should know more than me.”
Xi Kai grimaced. His ancestors were exactly why Moon was always guarded around him. A large majority of his understanding of the robot actually came from Chip, not the records they left behind.
“Wait, Cillin!” Xi Kai called out to Cillin before he could take his leave. “There’s something I need to discuss with you.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about our starship. The disruption earlier made me think a little.”
Xi Kai started explaining his thoughts to Cillin. Moon’s incident had exposed many problems regarding their starship, and he wanted to change that. Although the same thing would’ve happened to most other starships, the scientist was nothing if not a man of very high standards.
Also, if Moon’s stray thoughts could disrupt their starship to the extent it did, then it could only be worse if their enemies pulled a similar trick.
“As you are aware, neither Czedow nor Sigma were completely unaffected by the disruptive waves. This means that they are highly resistant toward this type of attack. Even if we assume that it’s because their existence is unique, my own robots weren’t affected nearly as bad as our starship. Their reaction was delayed by a bit, but they were nowhere close to being scrambled to the point of malfunction.”
“You mean…”
“That’s right. I want to upgrade our starship down that direction!”
Cillin said nothing, but it wasn’t because he disagreed with Xi Kai. He was just recalling the flying car with the super AI he personally created a while ago, Vege-Fritter. Back then, he had created the flying car to serve as a template for his future starships. Unfortunately, he never found the time to put his plans into action, and it was for the same reason he had foregone the upgrade when building their current starship.
He had left open the room to install a super AI—currently, the starship was only employing a normal AI similar to the ones used by other B Squadrons—but the risks were enormous. A starship was no a flying car. If a flying car malfunctioned, you could still jump out of it and save yourself. But if a starship’s super AI malfunctioned and left them stranded in the middle of nowhere, there was nothing they could do except to wait for death to claim them.
Xi Kai understood the risk but still wanted to give it a try. The same couldn’t be said for everyone else.