Runaway Robot?! Voices Lost in the Breeze!

[Fox]

This was a peaceful island. While his companions went into town to collect supplies and other essentials, Wight had decided to stray from the docks and wander a little. Something about the smiles on the faces of the people here set his mind at ease. He made landfall a short way outside of town and transformed back into his robot mode, rotating his fingers around to loosen them. Staying in his alternate mode for so long had a tendency to make his joints stiffen. While there was the danger of being spotted by the local inhabitants of the island, Wight felt that the risk was relatively low. The wide expanses of land would allow him some freedom of movement.

So, he walked for a while in the farmland, careful to avoid trampling any growing crops or stepping into the active fields. He stopped by a windmill for a moment and twirled its blades idly with a finger. According to his records, Windia was a kingdom belonging to the World Government. Seeing things this way, it made him wonder if the World Government was really all that bad. Then again, he was not aware of the history that led to Windia joining and besides, Wight couldn’t agree with their methodology. He knew what he had been constructed to do. That in itself was enough to put him at odds with them.

Moving away from the windmill, Wight started the long walk back to the shoreline. He ought to be getting back soon. If he wasn’t waiting at the docks, his crewmates would grow concerned and try and ascertain his whereabouts. He did not want to trouble them unnecessarily. On his way, he thought about their plans for the future. He had not needed to consider that until recently. What should they do? Where should they go? Their status as pirates set them in opposition to the World Government. Did that mean that conflict was inevitable? His primary directive was to create a united world… but he did not want to approach that through the same means as the World Government.

Pushing that issue aside for the moment, Wight instead decided that they should next look for some type of vessel. He could not carry them forever. He was not a suitable vessel for travel in the Blues, let alone the more dangerous waters of the Grand Line or other seas. He checked his records for a suitable island in the West Blue to acquire a boat from.

[Mr. Moon]

Alistair #1 

Alistair was tired. He was already traveling for few weeks, when their ship suddenly docked on the Windia for a day to gather more provisions to their journey to the Grand Line. This day spend on a dry land was a great relief for Alistair who never got used to a traveling by ship. He wasn´t sea sick or something it was just...uncomfortable.

And so, when the captain announced they day off, he gladly went to the city. Aimlessly strolling for a half day, he finally ended in a rural are behind the city, when he sit down under old apple-tree. He originally planed to spend there just a few minutes, thinking about his upcoming voyage, but the warm afternoon sun made him sleepy.

“Uhhh, looks like I am getting way too old for this”

Muttered Alistair when he finally woke up and discovered that the sun is slowly setting down, behind the horizon.

He was preparing himself to get up on his feet, when he noticed something strength. Something was moving several dozens of meters away from him.

“What the...”

Alistair tried to focus on it but his head was probably playing with him a bit, because the thing moving down there across the field definitely wasn´t human nor an animal. It was…

“You have to be kidding me”

Whispered Alistair, when he finally recognized that thing. It was some time since they got the information about lost WG weapon named Wight, but with his memory, it wasn´t so hard to recall this information.

Alistair was hesitating. His duty was prompting him to get up and retrieve this valuable piece of equipment, but his drowsy brain was against this idea. He was on vacation after all. The first one in many...actually the first one ever.

“I will regret this, I definitely will”

He muttered, when he accelerated himself up with the Soru, to catch up with Wight.

“Hey, Wight”
He tried to address the robot once he got close enough.

“I am Alistair Crow from the CP – 1, give me full status report. How did you ended up here?”

He tried the line they told them during the briefing regarding him.

[Fox]

Something odd was registering on Wight’s sensors. He paused mid step to try and analyze it. From what he could tell, something was approaching him with some incredible speed. Speed that Wight doubted humans could achieve. But, when he turned and cast his blue optic down on his pursuer, Wight noted with some mild surprise that it was indeed a human. He found it unfortunate that he had been discovered. His objective had been to keep a low profile. He was further puzzled that this human knew his preference in designation. Wight, instead of W8-MD5.

His confusion cleared when the human introduced himself. His databanks were swift to supply information about the World Government organization called Cipher Pol. While he had his misgivings about conversing openly with such an individual, they had not been openly hostile. As long as hostilities did not ensue, Wight thought it might be a good idea to make his position known. Wight kneeled down to better address the human and bring his head down to at least eye level.

“Greetings, Cipher Pol One agent Alistair Crow,” he began in his usual mechanical monotone, “I was not aware my preference in designation had been made known, but yes, I am Weapon Series 8 - Mass Destruction Unit 5, codenamed W8-MD5. You wish for a report? Very well. I am fully operational after having taken damage during my escape from World Government forces. I do not recall how, but I arrived at the Funkyard relatively damaged from my escape. After traveling for a time, the damage was repaired, and I acquired enough fuel to continue operations for approximately twenty-two days, five hours, and eighteen minutes. My next objective is to acquire a seafaring vessel of appropriate size to house myself and my companions before continuing to follow my Prime Directive.”

That was a relatively brief report, having left out much of the detail of what transpired on the islands that he and the others had visited. He supposed that he ought to ask if Alistair would prefer a more complete report. He would opt not to disclose the names of his current companions. That would make them prime targets for the World Government. Oh, and there was something else he supposed that he should assert to the agent.

“Additionally, I oppose the World Government’s directives and methodologies, therefore, to my understanding, I am now a pirate. Do you require more detail?”

[Mr. Moon]

Alistair #2 

During his career as an CP – 1 agent, Alistair experienced a lot and so he was pretty sure that there are only few things in this world, that can still surprise him. Well, this was one of them. Ar first, he was listening to Wights report with his standard neutral expression, but as the machine was continuing with it, he found out that keeping his professional mask on is progressively harder with every word it said.

“Wait a second….”
Asked Alistair, when the robot finally ended his report, as he had to put his thoughts in proper order.

“What do you mean by escape? The report on you clearly stated, that you were stolen by some unknown group. Did someone messed with your programming or something?”

He paused for a second. Was he really arguing with machine? If there was some definition of pointlessness, it would be probably this. As if that thing could answer him outside of the strictly defined parameters of it´s artificial mind, or whatever it had in it´s head.

“Alright Wight”
Alistair sighed.

“What are you saying doesn´t make any sense. You were created by the World Government, alright? You are robot unless someone messed with you, you can not be...pirate.”
Alistair stopped once again. Acting as if it was alive really? As if he didn´t convince himself a moment ago, that such thing would be pointless.

“So yes, give me more details. I am especially interested in the time before you decided that you...disagree with the world government. Was anyone with you? Did someone did something to you that you started thinking this way?”

[Fox]

Wight was content to wait like Alistair had asked, merely staring at the Cipher Pol agent curiously. He knew that World Government agents had a uniform typically. Was Alistair’s clothing indicative of the uniform for Cipher Pol? Gathering that information might prove useful for the future purpose of protecting his crew mates. His thoughts were interrupted by Alistair trying to make sense of his report. He asked a series of questions that Wight processed slowly, trying to craft a satisfactory answer. Before Wight could answer him, however, he sighed and continued, asking what Wight perceived to be the higher priority line of questioning.

Alistair paused again as if he were struggling to come to grips with something. It wasn’t long before he composed himself again and asked for more details. He specifically inquired about the time before he had broken off of his allegiance with the World Government. Well, answering questions from that time period would not cause his companions to be revealed. He took another microsecond or two to calculate what he was going to say and how he was going to say it.

“I shall answer your query. When the World Government reconstructed me, they installed a variety of protocols and directives into my programming. After every reconstruction, however, my operating system loads information, directives, and specific memories from previous operational times. Some of the directives that the World Government installed were in conflict with the Prime Directive, so I deleted them.”

Wight paused a moment to allow that answer to sink him before continuing.

“There was no unknown group. I chose to leave the World Government before they demanded that I go against my programming and harm anyone for the purpose of oppression, subjugation, or personal agenda. I do not recall much of the time before my most recent reconstruction.”

[Mr. Moon]

Alistair #3 

Alistair looked at Wight and scratched his head in an attempt to comprehend what he just now heard from him. The problem with a robot was that, he has no eyes to speak about, no mimic or gestures which he would be able to read, but on the other hand, it was a machine, so it should be unable to lie, or no? Well, the sad part of this story was that, Alistair was more than ready to believe his story. Guys from science departments of World Government playing with weapon of mass destruction so long that they broke it? Yeah, he could definitely see that happening. But still, weapon that was created for the sole purpose of causing mass destruction was trying to get all philosophical on him about the wrong doings of the world government, well if nothing else, he could appreciate that irony.

“So, you are telling me, that despite the fact, that you were created by World Government, you decided to not follow it´s rules, because the structure and working of current government is going against your...uh what was that, Prime directive?”
Alistair quickly summarized what Wight told him until now. Well, if that was the case, there was still hope that he could be able to retrieve him...it and collect the extra fee at the end of this month. It was just a question of convincing that thing that going back with him is in line with it´s prime directive. So…

“Why is that?”
He asked?
“What´s your prime directive anyway?”

[Fox]

“Correct.”

Wight’s response was simple and to the point. Cipher Pol Agent Alistair had only wanted a confirmation of his own summarized paraphrase. Though Wight was tempted to correct him again on his use of the term created, he let it go. It would be better if he did not disclose any more information related to his black box. Reconstructed would be the term that Wight would use, given from his hazy recollections that he had not always been a robot intended for use by the World Government. In fact, the World Government had only entered his databanks relatively recently to his total operational lifespan. Still, he didn’t feel it necessary to voice that fact. It could put his current comrades and himself in danger. Fortunately, Alistair’s next question was one he had no qualms about answering.

“My Prime Directive is the peaceful unification of the world. Peaceful is defined as without harm or with the least amount of harm to others as possible,” Wight paused for a moment to let it sink in, “The World Government built me to kill and destroy. I will not, and so that puts me in opposition to the organization you serve.”

Wight looked up from Alistair, his big blue optic swiveling from side to side as he scanned the fields. It was growing late. He ought to return to his crewmates soon. He hoped that Cipher Pol Agent Alistair would prefer to retreat or fallback for the time being rather than engage him in combat. Wight did not want to harm him. So, to discourage hostilities, Wight decided to ask Alistair a question of his own.

“Why did you join the World Government, Cipher Pol Agent Alistair?”

[Mr. Moon]

Alistair #4 

Alistair was listening to the runaway robot and with every word it said his conviction that trying to bring him back was mistake grow even stronger. Tell him about crewing up your job. How could possibly World Government´s scientists be so naive and program their weapon for peaceful unification of the whole world? He sighed.

“Yeah, I can see why you think that serving World Government is against your Prime Directive, but did you ever crossed your mind, that you turning pirate will bring even more war and chaos into the world than you serving your original master?”
Alistair himself wasn´t really sure what kind of answer is he expecting from it. After all it was build as weapon so he shouldn´t expect much of reasoning from it outside of some basic communication. Or maybe not? Wight next question caught him off guard or a moment.

“Are you sure you are combat robot and not social one?”
He asked with hint of irony in his voice to get some time to answer. Well, on one side he shouldn´t probably speak about his personal matters with pirate. On other hand, if it was combat robot, he wont probably remember anything non combat related and his past was as far from direct battle, as possible.

“I was born on Grand Line, in one of it´s more lawless areas filled with pirates and other scums. My family was never directly affected, but many of my childhood friends lost someone because of their raids so, I decided to try my best to protect them from such fate.”

Answered Alistair truthfully.

[Fox]

Wight raised his arm to put a finger to his chin in a gesture that he barely realized that he was doing as he seriously considered Alistair’s counterargument. He thought about the implications of his desertion from his most recent architects. Surely, the possibility that they would endanger those he considered to be allies was at the forefront of his mind. He did not wish for harm to come to any of them. And, given some of the directives that had been assigned to him, Wight wondered if anyone he had come into contact with might be in danger. The thought of all of those innocent lives being in peril simply because of his existence… It made him… feel as though there was a weight in his chest, which was completely illogical. His chest was no heavier than it had been a moment ago.

Even still, if the World Government initiated those scorched earth tactics to achieve their goals, his rejoining them would not put an end to their methods. Most likely, they would attempt to reprogram him again to suit their purposes. So, Wight reasonably concluded that his decision to leave was justified. His optic swiveled back onto Alistair after having come to his answer. “If, indeed, the World Government takes aggressive action to retrieve me, my surrender will not change their methods. It will only enforce the efficacy of those methods via a positive feedback loop. Additionally, if I were to return, it is likely that I would be reprogrammed for violence once again, and nothing would change.”

Wight tilted his head to the side at Alistair’s next question.

“The World Government only programmed me with basic communication protocols and several advanced combat and tactical program suites. However, I reloaded my advanced social and interactive protocols from memory. They were given to me by my past architects and allow me to learn and experience concepts like emotion, although my knowledge of these concepts is lacking at the moment.”

Perhaps he had said too much. His black box was the core of who he was, even if it only held his most essential programs and scattered memories. Wight wasn’t particularly attached to this body, but it was a weapon that he did not wish to see return to World Government hands. This line of thinking was cut short by Alistair’s answer to his earlier query. Hm. Alistair had joined the World Government for reasons not dissimilar from his own goals. It seemed incongruous that they were on opposing sides of this argument. Confused, Wight pressed him on the topic further.

“I see. And do you believe violence in the name of protecting others is justified?"

[Mr. Moon]

Alistair #5 

Alistair had to admit for himself, that the robot in front of him fascinated him more and more. Not only because he never even imagined that there could be such complex mechanism, but also because somewhere deep inside of himself, he already reassigned him into the category usually reserved from intelligent beings. Such assumption was of course completely absurd as there was no real way someone would be able to construct really sentient and self aware machine, or was there? After all the robot already hinted many times that he was constructed by someone else then world government entirely. That was definitely something he wanted to ask.

“When you are saying that you reload these protocols from your memory, you are basically saying that you were constructed by someone else than the World Government scientists. Someone whose skills and understanding of these topics is far greater than that of ours am I right? Do you have any memory of the people who constructed you originally?”
This was very important question. Actually maybe the most important one, because if there was loose group of scientists capable of doing this, his superiors should know. When Weight gave him his another question, Alistair smirked for himself. But what else should he do when robot started giving him this deeply philosophical questions?

“Not only justified, it´s also natural things to do.”
He answered honestly.

“Because there is no other thing that can stop evil person who is willing to hurt, other than good person willing to do the same. You see, the only difference between evil and good person in this case is that the evil person is willing to hurt the innocents to gain some kind of personal benefit, while the good person is willing to hurt someone only to protect others from greater harm.”

[Fox]

Wight paused a moment before he answered Alistair’s question. Depending on the way that he answered it, it could put potential former allies at risk. He wasn’t exactly sure just how long it had been since the last time that he was fully operational, so it was also just as likely that they had all passed away. Organic beings had that unfortunate timer over their operational capacity. They simply could not come back once they ceased functioning, unlike himself. A tinge at his core that felt like something had sunken deep into his chest distracted him for a moment. He put a hand over his chest, unsure what had caused the sensation. His diagnostics did not indicate to him that anything was amiss. Strange.

Turning his optic back to Alistair as the man began to answer his question, Wight tapped the side of his face, trying to process this new information. It made things… complicated. Alistair’s definition of good and evil made a degree of sense, but Wight suspected the difference was a touch more complicated. He lifted a finger up lightly to get Alistair’s undivided attention.

“What if a good person was hypothetically forced to harm innocents to protect others from greater harm? Are they still good? Or have they become evil? To the perspective of the innocents, they must surely be evil, but from the perspective of those being protected, they are good. Correct?”

As Wight posed that moral question in order to get more clarity, he arrived at an answer to Alistair’s earlier query.

“As for the individual or individuals that created me originally, I have no memory of them. My memory has been severely corrupted or lost due to hardware failure. For that reason, I do not recall any of the people who have constructed bodies for me previously. I do know that there have been several different groups who have done it in the past, and it is likely that they had a greater grasp of robotics and technology than the World Government does now. However, it is unlikely that they are still alive. It has… been a long time. At least a century or two, if I was to attempt a guess.”

[Mr. Moon]

Alistair #6 

Surprisingly Wight wasn´t satisfied with Alistair´s answer and continued their philosophical debate about the nature of good and evil. Going so far into it that the CP agent start suspecting that he was either programmed to be more than just combat robot, or there is going something else entirely. Either way, he came to the conclusion, that this debate if it shall continue would deserve a good wine or other drink. However, first things first.

“Well in that case, you would definitely be evil from the perspective of the innocent. However what determine your nature as a man...or robot in your case, isn´t subjective perception of you but the objective reality. If you had no other choice than to hurt three to save hundreds than you are good because you saved more than you hurt, however...”

Alistair rise one finger to emphasize what he was about to say.

“The condition for this is that you truly had no other chance. If you hurt that three just because it was the easier thing to do, than you are evil. Unfortunately, many people forgets this part.”

After that Weight start sharing another pieces of information about him, which were even more interesting, than Alistair thought they´ll be. If he was telling the truth of course. As it turned out, he was created by some ancient and now probably extinct society or maybe organization that had way higher understanding of the robotic than the current world government, or maybe even Vegapunk at least as far as artificial intelligence went, because whatever he had in front of him was definitely more intelligent and independent than the regular Pacifistas they were introduced to few months back.

“That´s interesting story Wight, you know what?”
Alistair nodded in the direction of the local port that was providing a distant lights in the upcoming night.

“I don´t know like you, but I would like to continue our debate somewhere in comfort with a drink. Can robot like you drink something?”

He asked.

[Fox]

Wight contemplated Alistair’s response. It made sense to him. The reasoning was sound and logical, but did that mean that it was always best to save the greatest amount of people? He felt that it wasn’t so simple, but he couldn’t determine exactly why he thought that way. And, to be fair, Wight would prefer to save all lives if at all possible even if it meant harm would come to himself. Alistair listened to his story with interest, but Wight felt confident that nothing he had said would damage any past associates. His memories from long ago were beyond fragmented and most were corrupted. He would have liked to restore them if at all possible, but he feared that was just a distant dream.

“I consume oil and other such fluids through a port here.” Wight tapped a port on the underside of his head. However, he considered Alistair’s offer as he looked in the direction of the port where his associates were no doubt procuring food, supplies, and a warm place to stay for the night. Going with Alistair invited the danger of him seeing them, which might paint targets onto their backs. He could not have that. “Unfortunately, I must refuse your offer.”

Mm. Wight supposed that he would need a suitable excuse in order to evade suspicion. He had already mentioned his current companions once, so he supposed that there would be no additional risk in mentioning them again. “My current companions will be waiting for me. I am their captain, after all. And, ultimately, Alistair, we are enemies. The World Government has shown a side of itself to me that goes against my Prime Directive, and I cannot abide it. I encourage you to better it from within. You do seem like a good man.”

Wight paused for a moment as he stood from kneeling and straightened up. He would head back toward the shore and then make his way discreetly to the port town. He could travel along on the sea floor if necessary. But, before he started on his way back to the beach, he regarded Alistair one last time. “Additionally, please note that I do not wish to hurt anyone of the World Government but will defend myself and my current companions from harm if provoked. It was… enjoyable being able to speak with you like this. I wish that we do not meet on more contentious terms in the future.”

[Mr. Moon]

Alistair #7 

Alistair was carefully watching Weight and the way he was responding on his words and invitation. He got a feeling that he is starting to understand the way his head or whatever he was using for thinking, works. After all, he was programmed by humans, so his thought processes couldn´t be to far away from them. The only think he had to do was finding the pattern and test few theories. To be honest with himself at this point in time he wasn´t thinking about capturing Weight or his crew. Of course as an agent of World Government he had to report his presence, but going after them directly would spoil this beautiful conversation for him and that would be a shame.

“You know you don´t have to worry so much about them.”

Crow tried to put up one of his best comforting smiles.

“I may be working for the World Government but since you declared yourself a pirate, you are Marine´s problem not mine. So I am simply planing to enjoy this night and relax a bit. After all, this is supposed to be my vacation.”

Still smiling Alistair stiffened a bit, when Weight suggested that it´s already time to part their ways.

“You know as a World Government´s agent I had to report your presence on the island to the Marines. It´s my duty, however, I am new to this island so no one will be surprised if it takes me a quite long to find their base. Probably long enough for a crafty pirate and his crew to escape from the port. However”
Alistair rubbed his chin slightly.

“It won´t take me way too long, so If you need some extra time for your people to finish their shopping or whatever they are doing down in the city, we should probably chat a bit longer don´t you think?”

[Fox]

“Worry?”

Was he worried? Wasn’t it only proper to consider their welfare and the consequences that his actions could have on them? To do less seemed like it would put into jeopardy their lives and his own structural integrity. Alistair smiled up at him, a gesture Wight interpreted as attempting to appear friendly despite his alignment with his enemies. Strange. He soon clarified, which did set some of the unease in him to lower to appropriate levels. His expression changed slightly, but Wight had difficulty interpreting its meaning. There were elevated levels of strain in his facial muscles. Dissatisfaction of some sort?

Alister continued to explain his duty, which did make sense to Wight as a being ruled by rules and logic. Duty just sounded to him like a directive. He explained that he would take a long time to find the Marine base, but that if his comrades were still busy with stocking up on supplies, he could distract Alister with more conversation. That seemed equitable to Wight. Still, it did leave one question in his processor.

“I will continue our conversation then. But first, please answer me this. Why do you wish to speak with me, Alister? I do not understand. I will not divulge any information that could be potentially harmful to myself or my companions. What is it that you have to gain?”

Wight glanced toward the city in the distance where lights danced on the horizon. “Additionally, do you really think it is wise that you and I simply enter the city? I attract attention even in my alternate form.”

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Wight | #ffc447 (Golden Tainoi) | Post Count: 8