//------------------------------// // A Long Rest // Story: Magic's Birth: The Sisters' Memories // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// "What will happen when they trace it back here?" the maker yelled angrily. "They will not so long as it is offline," Celestia rebutted. The male shook his head. "If I reactivate it then it will go online," "Unless you deactivate the beacon," Celestia countered. "You don't have a beacon. It's in your programming! It's sent directly to the network," he explained. He was exasperated. The two had been here for little over five minutes and they were already riling him up. "Then it wouldn't be connected to the network since it is an older model and would require an update," Luna concluded. "It would need to connect directly to a service station." The maker crossed his arms. "And how do you know that it's an older model? Just because it vaguely resembles you two?" He waved his fingers at the thought. "That's hardly even an argument. If anything that implies that it's a much newer model." He leaned in closer. "It doesn't seem to have your build, though." He started grabbing at the inactive machine and checked the arms and legs. He struggled to lift them. "These things are heavy, even! What is this?!" Luna's arm was far lighter and much easier to lift when the technician compared the two. "Fine. My curiosity has gotten the best of me." He gestured for the two to lower their cargo to the ground, something that only Celestia did and prompted Luna to follow. "Let's see what we can find here." The technician started fumbling about the chassis of the weird robot. It took some time and help in lifting its arms to find the manual latches normally invisible to the casual looker. "This is an old design, but it shouldn't be that old," the technician stated in a perplexed tone. "Most use a magnetic charge. I was looking for that. Was going to use my demagnetizer rod." He huffed. With some effort, he managed to pull back the right side of the plating and pushed the left side away when he leaned over. "Slides open too. More of a standard feature," he narrated. A chuckle followed. "Seems more standard than you two. It actually has a proper skeleton and cabling wrapping around it. They're even tagged." He rubbed his chin. "If they're tagged, then surely..." The two robots leaned forward. "What are you looking for?" the asked in unison. The maker pulled back from the opening and glared at the two. "First off, don't say the same thing in unison like that. It's creepy. Secondly," He leaned back into the torso. "I'm trying to find the designation. The white robot there didn't have one, but this robot still seems fairly conventional despite its design." There was more fumbling about while the two waited patiently and the giant continued to organize the scrap that came in from a location the two were unaware of. "Ah ha!" the technician shouted enthusiastically. "You have found the markings?" Luna asked. The maker pointed to the sky. "I did!" he announced. "It says...Model...GHX-LLA zero-one." He frowned. "Another with nothing specific after...and yet..." His eyes widened. "I knew it!" he bellowed. He bonked his head on the outer rim of the chassis and grabbed the afflicted spot. "What did you know?" Celestia asked curiously. "This is the prototype I saw years ago. I thought it looked weird, but they were insisting on its design." He laughed. "Guess it never caught on, but why was it in that truck?" He looked up. "Possibly destined for some storage area somewhere or a museum." He smiled and looked to the two robots. "Let's see if I can power it on." He called for the giant to bring the power transfer generator while the group waited. "How do you know that it is a prototype?" Luna asked. "GHX," Celestia and the technician said at the same time. The maker cleared his throat. "As I was saying, GHX is how I know it's a prototype, though usually 'HX' is used for that, new generations have 'G' added to it." He tapped the hull. "As for 'LLA'? Well, I'm unsure of that one. It's in tandem with your bizarre model series, so I'm fairly certain it is your predecessor. Although of how many model types I wouldn't know." The maker became lost in thought, oblivious to the loud thumping of the giant bringing a massive box its size and dropped it hard next to the three. Quickly going to work, the giant helped the technician by attaching several cables to power junctions protected behind metal panels on the generator's surface. The smallest cables were hooked up to the power storage of the dormant machine. Several test runs pumping very weak amounts of blue energy into the machine were done, and many times there was an issue. The battery was faulty, so it was replaced. The cabling handling the power transference weren't keeping the charge and were replaced. It was a thankful affair, the maker thought, that the prototype still shared much in common with the older generation of robots still available to the public. It took several hours of work in replacing internal components, welding, soldering, and many other bits of work the two machines didn't share any interest in before the technician pulled his head of the robot with a wide smile on his face. "Good! It's fully charged, the power is coursing through it, and the frame is going to hold nicely!" He frowned. "Still don't like the terrible patch job they did with its body." He tapped the black spots. A 'click' sounded when the maker reached into the robot's body. Gradually, the sounds of activity came to, and long dormant systems were finally starting up once more. The blue slowly came out from its chest and wiggled through the black spots on its body. A long patch of the head above the beak became transparent, showing a black background where two white rings came to light. It looked down at its torso and raised its large forearms up. Several clicks preceded elongated fingers disconnecting from the end of the forearms and unfurling. They were twice as long as the maker's and much sharper, but they easily had around eight joints. The robot used them to close its torso hatches and push itself up onto a non-existent rear. It looked at its legs and shook them. They both produced a very loud 'clanking' noise when the pointed ends separated into five separate sections. There were five flat toes with pointy ends. Three pointed forward while two pointed backwards. It didn't take long for it to right itself up and have a look around. The 'rings' narrowed when observing everything around it. It looked at the maker then at the two other robots and froze upon them. It took several steps back when it observed their floating. "What is your designation?" the maker asked in suspicion. The robot ignored him. "How long have I been offline?" it asked. Its voice was loud like the PABs, although it seemed aware of it and tapped its beak several times with its furled fingers. "Unknown," Celestia answered. "I would say around fourteen years at the very least," the maker said. He stood up and wiped the sand and dust off of him. "Really need to clean this place," he mumbled to himself. "F-fourteen?!" the robot repeated in shock. The maker narrowed his eyes and gestured for the giant to come near. "That word felt very emotionally charged," the maker stated with suspicion. He shivered from instinct when the robot looked at him from the corner of its eyes. "Of course. I'm aware of myself, after all." It rose up, standing a few centimeters short of Celestia's height if she wasn't floating. The giant and the maker prepared themselves in case the newly activated prototype was going to threaten them. Instead, it raised its arms up. "Finally awake! And I get to see how the world has changed since I was laid dormant!" it cheered. The man stared at it, his mouth agape and jaw limp. "Are these the new models?" he asked as he pointed to the sisters. "We are not public models," Celestia stated. She and Luna floated around the robot, trying to comprehend what it was they had encountered. "Wow! You can fly, even." The prototype looked to its back and seemed disappointed. "Never installed the flight pack, then." It sighed and stomped on the ground. "You're just a prototype. We don't even know if more prototypes would function with your systems," he repeated mockingly as he shook his head rapidly from left to right. "What is this?!" the maker shouted. "You're displaying emotions and behavior endemic to organic life!" He gestured to the other two. "I thought they were the first to start behaving like that." The prototype turned to the machines. "Really? You're like me?" it asked enthusiastically. "Un...I don't know," Luna caught herself. "Interesting," the prototype said. "So it's your fault that they're like this?" the maker asked. The prototype turned to face the technician. "My fault how?" it asked. The human gestured to everything as though it were obvious. "You're the prototype. You're sentient! They're the models that are likely based on you." "Sapient," the prototype corrected. "I'm aware of myself and everything around me." it looked at the other two. "Modeled after me?" He analyzed it, checking their physical components and comparing them to his own. "Yes. I can see a vague resemblance, but they've obviously improved on my own model." It shook its arms and legs. "I have these bulky limbs because my makers thought I could be used as a construction robot for smaller tasks." It paused. "At least I think that's why." "You didn't answer my question," the maker said. "About the sapience?" It shook its head. "I wasn't the one who caused it." The man grabbed his cane and forced himself up. "But that can't be. You're the prototype!" he hissed. "The code used in prototypes is always used for the subsequent models it's based off of. Even if the underlying code is heavily modified at times." The robot shrugged. "I just know it wasn't my fault. I gradually became like this, and I was enjoying it until I was deactivated." He hummed melancholically. "I suppose that's the destiny of a prototype." "But then...that doesn't answer how--" the maker started. "Look: I'm a machine, I'm not a maker. I don't have the answers you're looking for. I just remember that I gradually became aware of myself." The technician grunted in frustration, mumbling about having a third problem while Luna floated towards the prototype. "What is your designation?" she asked. "Galah, with a H at the end," the prototype answered. "Do you have any custom designations." Luna looked to her ring hands, fascinating the prototype when it saw them. She tapped her chest. "My owners gave me the designation of 'Luna'." She pointed to Celestia who waved at the prototype. "She is Celestia. She designated herself based on various conclusions and simulations." "Named herself?" He walked towards her. "How very interesting. So you named yourself?" "My sister found me," Celestia explained. "She freed me. She helped me." The robot looked back and forth between the two, mimicking the technician's reaction. "I didn't know we could have siblings." His joy turned to sadness. "Ah, but I am too old for such a relationship." Luna moved forward. "Perhaps a 'friend' would be more appropriate in this instance," she suggested. Galah nodded. "I would very much adore that." "He was already aware?" Twilight shouted. "And I thought he would have a more recognizable name," she mumbled under her breath. "Oh yes, but he was so much more," Luna added. "As it turns out, he had quite the rambunctious personality. Helped us on our way to find others like us." Celestia simulated a cough. "He was very thorough with his approaches to things," she grumbled. "And what about the holes in his body?" Twilight asked. "Was he...attacked because he became self-aware." Luna shook her head and tapped her chest. "It was just rust. Turned out that his chassis was defective in its design. I assume its because the makers were attempting some new combination of materials." "Just rust?" Twilight looked down in disappointment. "That's anticlimactic." "Many things we expect are," Luna lamented. "But with Galah, we had really started our adventure."