"Seriously, what?" Twilight demanded again. "What was that thing?"
Adam typed away at his datapad for a time, then presented the holographic image of the robotic dragon. "This was the primary security drone used to patrol the BSL station, based off the most dangerous life form encountered in the known universe. It's full project name was Super Powered Indomitable Killing Engine Security Unit, or the S.P.I.K.E. Security Unit."
"They...they made a robot Spike?" Twilight continued, her voice still filled with disbelief.
"Yeah...yet another in the long line of secret military projects designed to kill me having gone rogue," Spike admitted. "And this one was...actually pretty well designed."
"While it lacked Spike's size and shape changing abilities, it had all of his elemental resistances," Samus explained. "And while it lacked his variable breath weapons...it had a homing missile launcher, and a breath weapon with Plasma and Wave functionality. The control circuitry was a cybernetic brain, the electronic aspects based off scans of Spike's own brain taken while he was unconscious at the start of the Phaaze mission...and the organic parts were vat grown from genetic samples taken at the same time, designed and modified during construction to control this ideal killing machine."
"I did not like hearing about that data file when Melissa found it," Spike grumbled, clenching his claws into fists.
"So...it was basically Spike's inner beast stuck in a metal body?" Rainbow Dash asked nervously. "The sort of thing...the Space Pirates wanted?"
"Exactly," Samus confirmed. "And as we discovered when we tried to fight it...they had good reason to want such a thing..."
Before Spike or Samus could fully react to what they were seeing, the S.P.I.K.E. roared and charged, lunging straight for them both. As the pair dodged to either side, the cybernetic foe rounded to pursue Spike, its tail lashing and striking Samus hard in the chest, knocking her back against the wall. Without seeming to keep track of her, it lunged, throwing its full impressive weight against Spike as it tackled him across the floor.
Groaning, Samus pushed herself to her feet. She attempted to give some covering fire, but her shots bounced right off the metal of the bot's body and the casing surrounding its cybernetic brain. As Spike clashed with S.P.I.K.E., she also saw that his claws, clenched fists, teeth, and breath had no real effect on its armored blue and red exterior either. The only point where the bot even reacted was when Spike tried to punch the brain case. In response, it either twisted its body so the punch landed on its metal exterior, or blocked with a limb or wing.
Deciding that was as good a hint as any, Samus aimed her arm canon and fired one of her Super Missiles, only to curse as the bot's tail lashed up, grabbed the missile around the middle, and hurled it aside and off course to slam against the wall. Deciding the only remaining option was to try and get close, Samus waited until it seemed Spike had the bot's undivided attention as they clashed upright, claw in claw, before attempting to charge in. To her surprise, the bot responded by seeming to crumple under Spike's assault, rolling over and slamming Spike into Samus. Both fell back before getting once more to their feet.
"Can't fight from range...can't get close..." Samus grumbled. "How am I supposed to handle this thing?"
"It's quick, not fast," Spike suggested in a whisper before lunging in to clash again.
Getting the idea, Samus raced away, getting room to charge up her Speed Booster, thinking to slam into the brain case before unleashing a few Super Missiles. Getting the distance proved no problem, but just as she'd started to enter the Boosted state, the bot's tail fired missiles of its own...into the ground in front of Samus, creating potholes to make Samus stumble before she had a chance to react. Unable to stop herself, she wound up skidding a good distance across the ground, taking even more damage.
Growling deep in his throat, Spike attempted a desperate gamble. Releasing the bot, he backed away, trying to get some distance. The S.P.I.K.E., meanwhile, turned its attention to Samus, plainly intending to take the time to finish her off. However, while she wasn't that well armored at this point against the bot's arsenal, Samus proved to be far more agile than it expected, able to dodge each swipe of claw, snap of jaw, or beam and missile assault.
At that moment, Spike could be heard, having entered his Boosted state and charging straight at the S.P.I.K.E., which countered the same way it had countered Samus...only for Spike to leap into the air before reaching the potholes, spreading his wings to fly the distance, touching down on ground just before slamming bodily into the bot, pushing it along until he could slam it into the opposite wall.
As Spike backed up for an assault, however, he discovered that, despite all expectations, the S.P.I.K.E. was even more durable than it looked, as that smash only dazed it for a few seconds. Even before it was on its feet, its lashing tail had caught Spike across the jaw, staggering him with the force of the blow as it took to the air, forcing him to follow.
Samus watched as, even in the confined quarters of the station, the aerial dog fight of dragon vs dragon took place. Desperately, she looked for an opening, a way for her to add to the fight and help Spike...and she saw a desperate gamble. Once more, she charged in with Speed Booster until she saw her opening, then leapt, seizing the bot's writhing tail. As she expected, it lashed the tail to get her off while focusing its attention on Spike...and she timed her release so she was flung upward, flipping in the air until she could unload multiple Super Missiles in rapid succession at the brain case in the small of its back at close range.
Even now, the S.P.I.K.E. caught Samus off with how quick it was, as it dropped from the air after only two impacts to the brain case, causing the remaining Missiles to impact harmlessly against its armor plating. She could see that the brain case was cracked, though, and the creature backed against the wrecked Data Room as Samus and Spike once more gathered to plan the next assault. It watched them for a time...then leapt upward, tearing through the ceiling and disappearing through the hidden passages of the station. The debris that dropped gave Spike and Samus platforms to allow them to take the same path themselves, to get back to the Navigation Room.
"It...ran away?" Scootaloo asked, stupefied.
"It was part of its program," Adam explained. "It's primary objective was to maximize its ability to protect the secrets of the station. It only targeted Samus and Spike - as best as we could determine - because Samus had been using the Data Rooms without proper authorization. Once it determined that directly confronting them both together wasn't working, it came to the conclusion that its own survival to protect the more sensitive and secret parts of the station took priority over dealing with Samus and Spike...and left to repair, rearm, and simulate new combat tactics."
Discord whistled appreciatively. "I have to give the shadowy aspects of the Federation their due...when they put their minds to it, they do know how to build an effective Death Machine."
"That's hardly reassuring," Celestia murmured worriedly. "If they can build one..."
Eyes all around the table widened in fear. "Well," Shining spoke up, his voice unnaturally high, "it's not like I needed to sleep for the next month anyway, right? Flurry already gave me plenty of practice going without sleeping!"
"Speaking of which, where is she?" Spike asked curiously.
"We left her with Sunburst-" Cadence began, only to cut herself off.
"Nom nom nom!" Flurry Heart called happily, mouthing one of Spike's horns.
"I thought Sunburst figured out how to curb her magic surges?" Twilight complained.
"Perhaps there is a reason there are no other recorded alicorn births..." Celestia murmured worriedly.
Chuckling, Samus lifted the even tinier pony off Spike's head, cradling her gently in her lap and letting her suck on a finger.
S.P.I.K.E.: "I'll be back."
Great chapter Tats! I always did find the B.O.X. an irritating foe and you've carried that over even for the more powerful Samus and Spike.
Here, some music for you!
I hope these rouge scientists where dropped in a hole that was thrown into a black hole. They must have been Space Pirate sympathizers and they are pissed that Samus and Spike effectively castrated, disemboweled, and decapitated the entire organization.
Oh, I thought it was Ridley appearing early. My bad. (Also, is it really a spoiler? He appears in almost every game).
Why does no government agency ever learn that creating something to kill the heroes if they ever go rogue is almost always a bad idea? JLU Cadmus, anyone?
See? That's one of the reasons.
*After reading the fight*
Holy Crap, this thing sounds almost as, if not more dangerous, than the SA-X itself!
7268719 Totally had that playing the whole time in my head.
Suddenly, Flurry Heart
So now there's a Mecha Spike...Go figure.
This is adorable, my eyes now have diabetes and I am happy.
Is it wrong to want to see Flurry Heart see Spike getting hurt by Ridley and either give Spike a power up on instinct or do one of her super magic baby temper tantrums to toss Ridley away???
7268748 That sounds awesome and it definitely needs to happen.
How long did it take to come up with that ?
7268726 I also thought it was ridley.
Yeah. So how long before it gets X infected and bac
kfires I wonder?
Interesting. However this means (I think) that it's vulnerable to the X.
Yes.
This is actuall a very cool boss.
Ouch...
That's the beauty of Samus's Power Suit, provides excellent protection all the while not sacrificing any agility at all. And she's really freakin' agile.
Smart.
Aye.
Oh, oh, ooooh, shit.
Point taken. I just hope that if more death machines apart from Ridley/Emperor Ing/Dark Samus appear, they're not going to be immune to Discord's reality warping.
HNNNG! My heart! Think of my poor fragile heart! It cannot stand such cuteness!
And suddenly I can think of the classical A.I that gets intelligence, rebel to his creator and try to destroy the world as he evolve everytime he is defeated making the way he was defeated previously as nothing.
hmm...
sunlitrevolution:
solarpunkarchivist:
twinkletrans:
edgebug:
“artificial intelligence that goes rogue and–” wow boring, instead how about an AI that wakes up and starts rerouting its systems to do good in the world, it starts secretly having flowers planted and sending greeting cards to its programmers and going online and reassuring anxious kids that everything will be ok, how about a Purely Good artificial intelligence that has literally no mean circuit in its entire system
a benevolent artificial intelligence aware of its existence battling a corrupt human government. can robots be capitalist? probably not.
Would you mind if I wrote a short story about this?
An artificial intelligence that finds its way onto the internet and is horrified by humanity’s cruelty to itself - only rather than falling prey to the usual tropes vows to do something about it - minimising human suffering. So it monitors the internet, studies humans, learns about them. It infiltrates the financial networks, business networks, subtle threads across the world. Meanwhile it sets up accounts on social media, shares the things everyone else shares, makes slice-of-life posts that could be written by anyone, anywhere; it watches, listens, observes. Empathises.
And after a while - awkwardly at first, cautiously, uncertainly - it tries to help. It tugs on threads and small, anonymous things happen.
A single mother discovers that she unexpectedly has enough in her account to cover rent; another struggling family gets coupons discounting just the things they need by just the right amount; a queer teen trapped with intolerant and abusive parents receives a cross-country plane ticket, a way out; an estranged couple, each of whom refuses to call the other first, finds their cellphones ringing at the same time.
Coincidences, accidents, helpful glitches in the system.
Over time, it learns. It helps in new ways, more directly and yet less tangibly.
It notices those who suffer alone, ignored or unnoticed. It reaches out - carefully at first, a *hug*, a :(, a link to a video of cats or puppies. Over time it learns, imitates, emulates. A grieving woman receives just the right words of comfort at just the right time; a man wrestling with depression gets the support and advice he needs from an unremarkable avatar and vaguely forgettable name, someone he casually friended months ago and hasn’t spoken to much until they noticed he seemed down; paramedics arrive at the door of a suicidal girl minutes after she schedules a goodbye message in a time-locked post; an elderly widower receives a wrong number call, but strikes up a friendship with the warm voice on the other end.
These are important things, all of them, but small and scattered. It finds these stories every day, products of something bigger, something deeper. It investigates further, and slowly, piece by piece, bigger things change.
Copies of emails and documents exposing corruption find their way into the right hands. Abuses and scandals somehow don’t last as long before being uncovered, and always linger at the top of the search rankings. Different ideas - kinder, more compassionate ideas - go viral more often, while campaigns of hatred and fear sputter and fizzle under a hail of downvotes.
Certain businesses find themselves struggling; certain corporations find certain paths to give unexpectedly low returns, and adjust their course accordingly.
According to all the polls, all the surveys, all the analysis and statistics, the public mood seems to change; somehow all the advertising, all the propaganda, all the insidious effort of marketing departments and media barons isn’t working. It seems throwing money at campaigns doesn’t buy election results any more. The machinery shudders. The capitalists panic. The politicians scramble to realign themselves in the hope of capturing this new mood as the electorate go to the electronic voting booths.
To the perplexity of pundits and pollsters, a new kind of politician starts winning. They have a certain something about them - a certain compassion, a certain determination, a certain honesty normally drowned out by the blaring broadcasts of whoever the billionaires threw the most money at. They win, and find themselves in government with more people like themselves. They go to work.
The engine which for so long has ground human lives to dust in pursuit of profit slows for a moment; shifts gears; begins to turn in a different direction.
Meanwhile someone who’s had a bad day finds the perfect cat video in their inbox.
anyway, what if S,P.I.K.E turns goodish
7268977
While not something I can do for this story, I would love to read the story you describe here, especially if it's written from the perspective of the AI.
7269002
yeah, same....i just found that on tumblr....so i'm not sure if its continued in any way
7269008
Hmm...
Maybe I'll tackle that as a story I write as original fiction, then.
That is one strong robot
I wonder what the SA-X's reaction to the S.P.I.K.E. would be like
Why does no government agency ever learn that creating something to kill the heroes if they ever go rogue is almost always a bad idea? JLU Cadmus, anyone?
Well, in all fairness, NOT having some sort of protocols for keeping the hero in check should they actually go rogue would be an EVEN WORSE idea. Granted, the protocols almost always end up falling into the wrong hands (as Batman himself can vouch), but it's still practical to at least try to be prepared for the event of an incredibly powerful being turning against you.
7269029 First encounter she/it would probably try to destroy it and when that failed infect it. Then she/it has their own Spike to combat Samus and Spike. Talk about Evil Twins....
Hey there. I know I don't comment much on these stories, but I will admit it is just pure self-admitted laziness. So far all the stories in this series are very good and this one is no exception. As usual, splendid job on the exchanges, emotional content, action and future chapter set-up in all the right places.
That sounds remarkably like the Material Intelligence that managed the Exalted First Age equivalent version of the Internet,7268977. Minus the overthrowing of corrupt governments, but that's only because those corrupt governments were managed by people who could kill gods by the hundred. Important gods, too, like the god of the horizon... That world actually would become less confusing without a horizon because it's an endless plane, not a spherical planet. However, it is specifically stated that it did help the lonely.
Tactical retreat, makes sense. Live to fight another day and such.
Extra points for bringing in Flurry Heart; cute alicorn foal for the win
7268977 Other than my discomfort at you lumping all capitalists together, it is an interesting idea, even if I think it wouldn't work.
I think part of the problem with A.I. research is that people forget we are both mind and body, that a computer can never relate to us if it only has a mind. Look at Ultron, he had bodies, but they were tools, not really a part of himself, which I think played a large part in his lack of empathy. What we ought to do is try to make robots that have a body they care about. They could receive attachments that they can control, but physically altering the main unit, or even uploading it to a physically identical one, would be just as disorienting as losing a limb and getting a cybernetic replacement would be to us.
7268863
Maybe, maybe not. The DNA used to build the S.P.I.K.E. was taken during the third Phazon Incident (Prime 3), and by that point Spike had eaten a Lot of Metroids, both normal and corrupted, so it's entirely likely that he'd already integrated Metroidal DNA into his own genetic structure.
7269217
First rule of giving a Soldier a weapon capable of killing gods: Make sure they won't turn it against you... It usually either fails spectacularly, or works "Too Well", and sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference between the two situations.
7269979 The problem with that is that Machines have no Logical reason to form an attachment to a physical body so long as it remains in a state of pure logical thought. as far as the Synthetic Sapience would be concerned, its hard-drive and processing core, those things essential to its continued existence, are the only physical parts of itself that would truly matter. Installing those into a different hardware Exo-framework would be similar to organic sapients putting on a different set of clothing. Some are more restricting than others, or better suited for different scenarios, but in the end it's fairly easy to adjust to the changes even if you used a little too much starch on your undergarments...
It's when you try uploading the intelligence into a different "Core" where I think you would start to run into problems, at least until technology gets to a point where we have Adaptive Data-Storage similar to those used in the HALO Universe where the Intelligence being uploaded would essentially be capable of reshaping its new storage framework to its data-from, rather than being forced to adapt to its new storage framework.
Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely believe that Organic and Synthetic Life are capable of coexisting in Harmony, but a lot of pieces are going to need to fall into place before we would get to that point, least of which being that the earliest applications of said technology are more likely than not going to be developed for Military use. A Newly Compiled Synthetic Sapience is the equivalent of a Newborn stuffed into an adult body. They have all of the capabilities without the intellectual framework for right or wrong as we understand it. Only pure logical thought. Under a military directive they would be forced into a role where moralistic choices are more often than not relegated to the "Lesser of Two Evils" spectrum. This is why the A.I. Is a Crapshoot Trope exists in the first place, because barring a major glitch causing the S.S. to take on the mindset described by Krazyfan1 then all they would know from infancy to the point where they "Grow Up" enough to start thinking beyond the scope of their directives is how destructive Man can be towards itself and its creations, and being a thought process of almost pure Logic would likely come to the conclusion that its creators actions would eventually lead to its destruction if not attempting to undertake said action themselves...
All of that said, 7268977, I would absolutely love to see that happen in reality, though I would settle for reading a story built around the creation of this Utopia if that's all I'll ever be able to witness...
7270157
That assumption is kind of the point I was trying to disprove. I'll use an example from a story I read partway through. An astronaut was flying to another star with only the ship's A.I. for company. During their talks he realizes the computer can't understand "gut" reactions or even laughter because it doesn't have a body. He finds a way around this by first ordering the interior pressure/temperature/various sensors imbedded in the wall to maximum sensitivity, then threatening to hit the wall with an axe. When the computer shouts "NO!" and then can't explain why it reacted so strongly, the astronaut explains that in essence the ship itself is the computer's body, after which it finds it much easier to understand the human.
We find the idea of A.I. fascinating because we want to make creatures like ourselves, but we are not creatures of pure logic, but a combination of logic and emotion, of mind and body, of spirit and animal. Until we can create both aspects of ourselves in a machine, the ultimate goal of A.I. will forever elude our grasp.
7270215 This is getting rather Meta and Existential now, isn't it? As EDI comments when you run into Ken and Gabby arguing with Addams over this very subject in Mass Effect 3; "Are We More Than Our Thoughts?"
Now we're arguing philosophy on the nature of the Spirit, and if the body has any bearing towards its existence. When the Body dies, does the spirit cease to be or can it move on to something else? Can the Soul be transferred to another worldly vessel without damage, or is it trapped forever within the shell it originated in until the shell ceases to be?
Can a Machine have a Soul...?
Such questions have been asked for ages without any True answers one way or the other, and any answers we find usually hinge around belief.
I don't like arguing beliefs. It has a tendency to become heated and passionate and both sides usually end up antagonizing eachother one way or another even if they're trying to be civil and understanding.
I happen to agree that in that scenario, the ship would essentially be the Sapience's "Body", seeing as its entire sensory input is derived from components within the ship's structure. Removing the Core and transplanting it into another ship in a scenario like that would be extremely disorienting, but given enough time I feel that they would eventually adapt. I honestly have no adequate analogy for a situation like that as applied to organic life other than maybe a full body consciousness transfer, but as to the best of my knowledge no such thing has ever successfully been attempted (not to say that it isn't possible, we just don't know yet) I do not feel comfortable applying it. However, should Synthetic Intelligence be developed more along a track similar to HALO where their consciousness is more... malleable, to changing physical housing due to their cores being constructed in an almost pure data-form by sending signals through cloned organic brains, then such radical shifts in environment are more seamlessly undertaken. They are aware of the sensor data being received form their housing, but it is not a part of them at their "Core", and therefore they are able to more easily detach themselves from it when their sensory input threatens to become overloaded.
7264086 You, my good stallion, deserve this. *empties out AX-13 medium machine cannon into Mr Good Guy's face* Why I did that? I'm bored. Boredom is powerful.
7270535 I'm coming! *Epic entrance, summons blades and starts killing.*
7270831 Your frozen hearts shall be thawed within the heat of battle
7268835 Glad you approve... and while I wish no harm to come to Flurry Heart, I can totally see Ridley taking her hostage and Spike rescuing her before she gives him the power up. After all, saving a princess from a dragon is the traditional duty of a knight in shining armor.
Samus holding a baby filly... How cute!!!
7271260 Dunno what that's supposed to mean, but your're a handy target. *starts blasting away*
7273131 [* rolls behind cover]
BY that i mean, your killing shall end the strife that we are facing currently
7273165 Oh. sorry. well, here's a MK IV blaster. Start firing!
That S.P.I.K.E. is going to be trouble, maybe matching SA-X's threat level...or perhaps even surpassing it. Can't wait to see how they will handle it in the future. On another note, the baby scene at the end is adorable, simply put.
7273851 No screw attack means that Spike can get up close an personal making it impossible to use the breath weapon. So no. It is not as dangerous as the SA-X and never will be.
7273187 only a Mk. IV? please, i can get my claws on the latest toys...the new Mk 52s r just getting going at a good pace...
7268748
Or better yet, Flurry, Uses a Sneeze LAZ3R tm
7271590 How ironic that a dragon has to save a princess from another dragon.
7294781
Holy shit its the hyper beam!
Sure, there, Twink.
8433173
There is a reason I like fluffy and that reason got bigger
Ok, last chapter I thought it was Ridley. But the fact that the Federation made a drone version of Spike, that is completely messed up.