Post by Nyarlath on Dec 9, 2010 21:40:57 GMT -5
After a few days Brian Thorn's scars were all but healed, and he probably would have roundhouse kicked anyone who told him he should still be in a wheelchair. One pilot was the unlucky sap who found that out for the entire compound, and everyone had given Thorn the distance he needed.
Our hero still winced from the injuries, but as soon as he could he immersed himself in assisting with the repairs. He'd done nothing but study and read the schematics until the time came where he could physically help, and by then most of the technicians were shocked to learn that he seemed to know as much about mechanics as they did. There wasn't a mechanized part or a plate of armor he couldn't seem to fix.
Thorn's expertise didn't end there either. A bit more reading and he was helping to reconnect wires and panels that were essential to the internal workings of the Mech. Most of the staff, especially Dr. Kagan, were befuddled by the aptitude of their top pilot.
As soon as it was mechanically ready to fly Thorn was in his flight suit ready to go. There wouldn't be extenuating maneuvers, just some basic ones to check on the Mech's structure and internal systems. It wasn't easy, and Thorn struggled to control the machine, nearly to the point of blacking out, but the test provided worthwhile results.
Probably the most surprised by his sudden dedication was young Emily Ward, his assistant, who had the lucky job of leaving him alone half of the time. She'd spent years researching the robotics field just to have Thorn pass her skills in just a few weeks of being around one. It wasn't fair, but Thorn told her he'd heard that a lot.
She watched as Thorn not only showed dedication to the compound and the cause, but to the machine itself. It wasn't just a machine to him, or so it seemed to her. When he was repairing it he showed compassion, as if nursing a dear friend back to health. It was a side of him she'd never assumed he even had.
Then came the Rebuild Tokyo Tower Cook Off, a ridiculous waste of a mech, and precious time, as far as Emily and many of the rest of the staff was concerned. However Thorn knew the importance of a public appearance, and he and he made certain that the Mech was looking shiny and new for the day. As far as the crowd was concerned, neither of them had just been crushed by the very tower they were raising money to rebuild.
Later when Thorn briefly tussled with Fearzilla he'd manage to bust some of the still damaged parts of the armor. He was surprised that neither the Giant or the Dragon he'd spoken with later had noticed. Thorn also considered himself lucky in that regard, as either of them probably could have defeated him right there.
Years of acting experience and paid off, apparently, and neither fought him. Hardly a success, though, as he didn't get what he went for. Apparently Brian Thorn would have to relieve Mebbles of the "crown" at another time.
When Thorn brought the mech back and continued repairs Dr. Kagan got right to work on the computer systems inside the machine. This was what Thorn seemed the most interested in and certainly wanted to help the doctor out.
"No."
"What do you mean, no?"
"I mean no," Dr. Kagan said plainly.
Apparently not liking that answer, Thorn grabbed the good doctor's lab coat lapels and turned him so they were facing eye to eye. "But doctor," he said with a low tone that indicated he may cause physical damage to the doc, "I insist."
"I suppose that wouldn't be a problem," the doctor agreed. He adjusted his glasses after Thorn let him go and turned to face his computer again. "Though there's not much you can do. If you get in the cockpit you could assist me from there."
"Oh really?" Thorn didn't believe him.
The doctor sensed his suspicions. "Yes," he said, "you can help by accessing the internal ports, that way I can figure out what needs to be fixed from here."
He didn't like it but Thorn realized he didn't have many other options. Fat chance he was actually going to brutalize the creator of his Mech, the man contributing the most, well besides Thorn himself, to the repairs.
Thorn leapt into the cockpit, but not without a slight grimace. His ribs were still tender, but considering he'd had a building on top of him he wasn't about to complain. Quickly he started pressing buttons and reading the sensory instruments.
"You shouldn't push yourself," Dr. Kagan said from afar.
"I'm fine."
"I'm serious," the doctor continued. "I understand that you have to be the tough guy, and I'm fine with that, but keep in mind that even you have your limitations."
"You are absolutely correct," Thorn admitted to the doctor. "I certainly have a limit to how many people I can have tell me to take it easy before I knock someone's teeth out." The next few minutes were nothing but straightforward repair work.
"Doctor," Thorn finally broke the silence, "is it true that I'm the first pilot the Mech ever responded to?"
"Such deliberate narcissism," the doctor mumbled. "Yes."
"Narcissism aside, why do you think that is?" Thorn just flashed a smile at the doc when he realized his whisper had been detected.
"It could be any number of things," Kagan explained. "I wouldn't necessarily say it's skill, perhaps a need to succeed at the task at hand the day you became the pilot was all you required. You're certainly a confident man, if you combine the two then maybe that's the reason you've been a better pilot than men who've trained the majority of their lives."
Thorn thought about it for a second before speaking. "So you're saying that my confidence in myself plus the need to defeat the monster and the will to survive just happened to make me better at piloting her?"
"Perhaps." Dr. Kagan noted, but did not respond to, Thorn's use of the word "her."
"Aren't pilots typically strong willed and confident men?" Thorn continued working on the systems as he asked his questions. "Wouldn't they be able to adapt quicker than I would under the same circumstances?"
"It's possible," Kagan admitted, "though you're not without your own piloting experience." Dr. Kagan noted, truthfully, that he'd looked at Thorn's file and was not surprised to see extensive flight experience. Helicopters, race cars, motorcycles, airplanes and jets, motorized boats... the list went on. Brian Thorn was certainly a skilled pilot.
"Alright then," Thorn continued his line of thinking. "So even if I'm more confident and stronger willed than these men, they'd still have more flight experience than I would. Assume the two balance each other out, why would the machine reject so many pilots and then eagerly accept me?"
Hewitt Kagan leaned back in his chair and removed his glasses, rubbing his eyes. Apparently the sudden burst of questions was even more taxing than he'd expected. "I have no idea, Thorn. It's just a machine."
...
"Is it?"
Kagan slowly turned to see Thorn, who had a strange gleam in his eye. Quickly the mech pilot exited the cockpit and walked up next to it's creator. Pulling up a chair he leaned towards the doctor as he spoke.
"Are you really telling me that your creation is all machine and nothing else?" Thorn pointed to emphasize his words.
"Of course," Kagan made a poor attempt at laughing Thorn off. "What else could it be?"
"I think the machine and the electronics were simple enough to create, doc," Thorn said excitedly, though he kept his voice low. "The challenge was getting it all to work together, to flow smoothly and seemlessly. You fixed that, didn't you?"
"Well of course I did," Dr. Kagan said proudly. "I am one of the worlds leading Robotic Engineers, after all."
Thorn smiled. "You're also the top mind in artificial intelligence." Thorn noted Dr. Kagan's shocked look as a confirmation of what he'd been assuming all along. "I've done my homework too, Dr. Kagan, and I believe that you designed an artificial intelligence to help run the complex Gundam smoothly."
"I- I just, I" Kagan was beside himself.
"You developed a program with the ability to run that mech and I believe that it rejected all of the other pilots because it grew into something more than you expected." Thorn could see the look of defeat in Kagan's eyes. He was totally and completely correct.
Dr. Kagan would go on to explain that he indeed created an AI for the Mecha, but it was supposed to be very simple, just enough to do what Thorn had already stated. That, however, was supposed to be unknown to anyone but himself. "Please," Kagan pleaded desperately, "you can't tell anyone. It's not supposed to be part of the design."
"They're going to find out eventually, doc."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because what you created grew." Thorn relaxed as now he explained things to the scientist. "You designed the intelligence to be able to react and anticipate the pilots style, to learn it. Your parameters were off just enough that you allowed it to continue learning, all the time. The intelligence inside that machine is sentient, isn't it?"
Dr. Kagan gulped. "That I really don't know."
"I do," Thorn admitted. "Whatever she is, she saved my life. When I was going to die a hypnotic device kept me alive, and it claimed that I'd built it myself. It's true, I'd done it once before, but then suffered a near fatal trauma. By the time it occurred to me that I would have needed to create another I was in the hospital after Tokyo Tower nearly crushed me."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that your artificial intelligence is able to communicate with me, on some level anyway, and planted this hypnotic device into my brain to keep me alive. She saved me." Thorn glanced at the Mech with pride.
"Which is why you've been so eager to help with repairs," Kagan said, finally understanding Thorn's motives.
"Exactly." Thorn stood up and faced the Mech. It seemed as lifeless as it should, being a machine anyway. "What I need you to do, Dr. Kagan, is to bring it back online." Kagan remained silent, so Thorn continued. "The few test runs, the appearance and performance a few days back, it didn't feel right."
Thorn turned back to Kagan and slowly approached him. "It felt sluggish and unresponsive, more so than it should have with the repairs we'd made by that time. Doctor, the machine felt lifeless."
"No!" Kagan nearly shouted as he stood to face Thorn. "I will not turn it back on! Who knows how dangerous or life threatening it could be? I didn't dare shut it down at first, but when it suffered so much damage I had a chance to examine it more and decided to keep it offline."
"Well, turn it back online."
"No."
"You have to."
"I wont!"
"Everything okay here?" Thorn and Kagan stopped yelling at each other long enough to notice General Anthony Grant glaring at them. He was on his way past the station and normally wouldn't have stopped for either of them, but if his top pilot was going to damage his top scientist then he had to intervene.
"Fine," Thorn blurted.
"Great," Kagan agreed.
"We were just," Thorn had to think of something, "Well you know old Hewie, here, such a prude. I was trying to convince him to come to a club with me tonight, but he insisted he didn't want to."
"Oh, yeah, that's it," Kagan agreed again. "You know me, sir, such a prude."
"Well..." Confused, Grant was just trying to look for something to scold them about, "keep it down."
"Yes, sir," they said in unison, then watched him shake his head as he walked away.
Thorn cocked his head. "Tell me again why the American government is immersed in a privately funded project that's taking place in Tokyo."
"I have no idea," Kagan remarked.
"Doesn't make sense," Thorn admitted, "but I really wouldn't want it any other way." Thorn turned back to Kagan, who was sitting in front of his console again. "Come on, doc. You built something special here who seems to have some sort of interest in me. Normally I wouldn't ask someone like you for help, but, please turn her on for me."
"Get back in the cockpit." Hewitt Kagan sighed and started typing. "Tell me, why do you insist it's a female?"
"Designed by a desperate male and attracted to the perfect one," Thorn said as he climbed in. "Definitely a female."
"Okay," Kagan said after another minute of typing, "the artificial intelligence should be online."
Dr. Kagan could see on his monitors that Thorn's heart rate and pulse were increasing a bit and that his breathing was irratic. Hewitt was relieved to see that even the legendary Brian Thorn could get nervous meeting a new girl. Of course this isn't just any girl, Kagan reminded himself.
"Hello?" Thorn asked, hoping for some sort of response. He'd shut the cockpit door, though he wasn't quite sure why. Maybe he wanted a bit of privacy, what little he could get with Kagan monitoring him. "Are you there?"
He waited a bit longer. "Hello?" he asked again.
Thorn started doubting himself, wondering if he had in fact replaced his hypnotic device and this was all just some trick he was playing on himself. Maybe Dr. Kagan was just playing along because he was afraid that Thorn would hurt him. Silence, no answer whatsoever.
He must be wrong.
Thorn must have been jumping to conclusions.
There was nothing inside this cockpit but a fool and a bunch of consoles.
...
Thorn sighed.
...
"Hello."
"Hi! Hi, don't leave. I'm- I'm Brian Thorn."
"I know."
"Well, aren't you going to tell me your name?"
"You can call me... Jane."
Our hero still winced from the injuries, but as soon as he could he immersed himself in assisting with the repairs. He'd done nothing but study and read the schematics until the time came where he could physically help, and by then most of the technicians were shocked to learn that he seemed to know as much about mechanics as they did. There wasn't a mechanized part or a plate of armor he couldn't seem to fix.
Thorn's expertise didn't end there either. A bit more reading and he was helping to reconnect wires and panels that were essential to the internal workings of the Mech. Most of the staff, especially Dr. Kagan, were befuddled by the aptitude of their top pilot.
As soon as it was mechanically ready to fly Thorn was in his flight suit ready to go. There wouldn't be extenuating maneuvers, just some basic ones to check on the Mech's structure and internal systems. It wasn't easy, and Thorn struggled to control the machine, nearly to the point of blacking out, but the test provided worthwhile results.
Probably the most surprised by his sudden dedication was young Emily Ward, his assistant, who had the lucky job of leaving him alone half of the time. She'd spent years researching the robotics field just to have Thorn pass her skills in just a few weeks of being around one. It wasn't fair, but Thorn told her he'd heard that a lot.
She watched as Thorn not only showed dedication to the compound and the cause, but to the machine itself. It wasn't just a machine to him, or so it seemed to her. When he was repairing it he showed compassion, as if nursing a dear friend back to health. It was a side of him she'd never assumed he even had.
Then came the Rebuild Tokyo Tower Cook Off, a ridiculous waste of a mech, and precious time, as far as Emily and many of the rest of the staff was concerned. However Thorn knew the importance of a public appearance, and he and he made certain that the Mech was looking shiny and new for the day. As far as the crowd was concerned, neither of them had just been crushed by the very tower they were raising money to rebuild.
Later when Thorn briefly tussled with Fearzilla he'd manage to bust some of the still damaged parts of the armor. He was surprised that neither the Giant or the Dragon he'd spoken with later had noticed. Thorn also considered himself lucky in that regard, as either of them probably could have defeated him right there.
Years of acting experience and paid off, apparently, and neither fought him. Hardly a success, though, as he didn't get what he went for. Apparently Brian Thorn would have to relieve Mebbles of the "crown" at another time.
When Thorn brought the mech back and continued repairs Dr. Kagan got right to work on the computer systems inside the machine. This was what Thorn seemed the most interested in and certainly wanted to help the doctor out.
"No."
"What do you mean, no?"
"I mean no," Dr. Kagan said plainly.
Apparently not liking that answer, Thorn grabbed the good doctor's lab coat lapels and turned him so they were facing eye to eye. "But doctor," he said with a low tone that indicated he may cause physical damage to the doc, "I insist."
"I suppose that wouldn't be a problem," the doctor agreed. He adjusted his glasses after Thorn let him go and turned to face his computer again. "Though there's not much you can do. If you get in the cockpit you could assist me from there."
"Oh really?" Thorn didn't believe him.
The doctor sensed his suspicions. "Yes," he said, "you can help by accessing the internal ports, that way I can figure out what needs to be fixed from here."
He didn't like it but Thorn realized he didn't have many other options. Fat chance he was actually going to brutalize the creator of his Mech, the man contributing the most, well besides Thorn himself, to the repairs.
Thorn leapt into the cockpit, but not without a slight grimace. His ribs were still tender, but considering he'd had a building on top of him he wasn't about to complain. Quickly he started pressing buttons and reading the sensory instruments.
"You shouldn't push yourself," Dr. Kagan said from afar.
"I'm fine."
"I'm serious," the doctor continued. "I understand that you have to be the tough guy, and I'm fine with that, but keep in mind that even you have your limitations."
"You are absolutely correct," Thorn admitted to the doctor. "I certainly have a limit to how many people I can have tell me to take it easy before I knock someone's teeth out." The next few minutes were nothing but straightforward repair work.
"Doctor," Thorn finally broke the silence, "is it true that I'm the first pilot the Mech ever responded to?"
"Such deliberate narcissism," the doctor mumbled. "Yes."
"Narcissism aside, why do you think that is?" Thorn just flashed a smile at the doc when he realized his whisper had been detected.
"It could be any number of things," Kagan explained. "I wouldn't necessarily say it's skill, perhaps a need to succeed at the task at hand the day you became the pilot was all you required. You're certainly a confident man, if you combine the two then maybe that's the reason you've been a better pilot than men who've trained the majority of their lives."
Thorn thought about it for a second before speaking. "So you're saying that my confidence in myself plus the need to defeat the monster and the will to survive just happened to make me better at piloting her?"
"Perhaps." Dr. Kagan noted, but did not respond to, Thorn's use of the word "her."
"Aren't pilots typically strong willed and confident men?" Thorn continued working on the systems as he asked his questions. "Wouldn't they be able to adapt quicker than I would under the same circumstances?"
"It's possible," Kagan admitted, "though you're not without your own piloting experience." Dr. Kagan noted, truthfully, that he'd looked at Thorn's file and was not surprised to see extensive flight experience. Helicopters, race cars, motorcycles, airplanes and jets, motorized boats... the list went on. Brian Thorn was certainly a skilled pilot.
"Alright then," Thorn continued his line of thinking. "So even if I'm more confident and stronger willed than these men, they'd still have more flight experience than I would. Assume the two balance each other out, why would the machine reject so many pilots and then eagerly accept me?"
Hewitt Kagan leaned back in his chair and removed his glasses, rubbing his eyes. Apparently the sudden burst of questions was even more taxing than he'd expected. "I have no idea, Thorn. It's just a machine."
...
"Is it?"
Kagan slowly turned to see Thorn, who had a strange gleam in his eye. Quickly the mech pilot exited the cockpit and walked up next to it's creator. Pulling up a chair he leaned towards the doctor as he spoke.
"Are you really telling me that your creation is all machine and nothing else?" Thorn pointed to emphasize his words.
"Of course," Kagan made a poor attempt at laughing Thorn off. "What else could it be?"
"I think the machine and the electronics were simple enough to create, doc," Thorn said excitedly, though he kept his voice low. "The challenge was getting it all to work together, to flow smoothly and seemlessly. You fixed that, didn't you?"
"Well of course I did," Dr. Kagan said proudly. "I am one of the worlds leading Robotic Engineers, after all."
Thorn smiled. "You're also the top mind in artificial intelligence." Thorn noted Dr. Kagan's shocked look as a confirmation of what he'd been assuming all along. "I've done my homework too, Dr. Kagan, and I believe that you designed an artificial intelligence to help run the complex Gundam smoothly."
"I- I just, I" Kagan was beside himself.
"You developed a program with the ability to run that mech and I believe that it rejected all of the other pilots because it grew into something more than you expected." Thorn could see the look of defeat in Kagan's eyes. He was totally and completely correct.
Dr. Kagan would go on to explain that he indeed created an AI for the Mecha, but it was supposed to be very simple, just enough to do what Thorn had already stated. That, however, was supposed to be unknown to anyone but himself. "Please," Kagan pleaded desperately, "you can't tell anyone. It's not supposed to be part of the design."
"They're going to find out eventually, doc."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because what you created grew." Thorn relaxed as now he explained things to the scientist. "You designed the intelligence to be able to react and anticipate the pilots style, to learn it. Your parameters were off just enough that you allowed it to continue learning, all the time. The intelligence inside that machine is sentient, isn't it?"
Dr. Kagan gulped. "That I really don't know."
"I do," Thorn admitted. "Whatever she is, she saved my life. When I was going to die a hypnotic device kept me alive, and it claimed that I'd built it myself. It's true, I'd done it once before, but then suffered a near fatal trauma. By the time it occurred to me that I would have needed to create another I was in the hospital after Tokyo Tower nearly crushed me."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that your artificial intelligence is able to communicate with me, on some level anyway, and planted this hypnotic device into my brain to keep me alive. She saved me." Thorn glanced at the Mech with pride.
"Which is why you've been so eager to help with repairs," Kagan said, finally understanding Thorn's motives.
"Exactly." Thorn stood up and faced the Mech. It seemed as lifeless as it should, being a machine anyway. "What I need you to do, Dr. Kagan, is to bring it back online." Kagan remained silent, so Thorn continued. "The few test runs, the appearance and performance a few days back, it didn't feel right."
Thorn turned back to Kagan and slowly approached him. "It felt sluggish and unresponsive, more so than it should have with the repairs we'd made by that time. Doctor, the machine felt lifeless."
"No!" Kagan nearly shouted as he stood to face Thorn. "I will not turn it back on! Who knows how dangerous or life threatening it could be? I didn't dare shut it down at first, but when it suffered so much damage I had a chance to examine it more and decided to keep it offline."
"Well, turn it back online."
"No."
"You have to."
"I wont!"
"Everything okay here?" Thorn and Kagan stopped yelling at each other long enough to notice General Anthony Grant glaring at them. He was on his way past the station and normally wouldn't have stopped for either of them, but if his top pilot was going to damage his top scientist then he had to intervene.
"Fine," Thorn blurted.
"Great," Kagan agreed.
"We were just," Thorn had to think of something, "Well you know old Hewie, here, such a prude. I was trying to convince him to come to a club with me tonight, but he insisted he didn't want to."
"Oh, yeah, that's it," Kagan agreed again. "You know me, sir, such a prude."
"Well..." Confused, Grant was just trying to look for something to scold them about, "keep it down."
"Yes, sir," they said in unison, then watched him shake his head as he walked away.
Thorn cocked his head. "Tell me again why the American government is immersed in a privately funded project that's taking place in Tokyo."
"I have no idea," Kagan remarked.
"Doesn't make sense," Thorn admitted, "but I really wouldn't want it any other way." Thorn turned back to Kagan, who was sitting in front of his console again. "Come on, doc. You built something special here who seems to have some sort of interest in me. Normally I wouldn't ask someone like you for help, but, please turn her on for me."
"Get back in the cockpit." Hewitt Kagan sighed and started typing. "Tell me, why do you insist it's a female?"
"Designed by a desperate male and attracted to the perfect one," Thorn said as he climbed in. "Definitely a female."
"Okay," Kagan said after another minute of typing, "the artificial intelligence should be online."
Dr. Kagan could see on his monitors that Thorn's heart rate and pulse were increasing a bit and that his breathing was irratic. Hewitt was relieved to see that even the legendary Brian Thorn could get nervous meeting a new girl. Of course this isn't just any girl, Kagan reminded himself.
"Hello?" Thorn asked, hoping for some sort of response. He'd shut the cockpit door, though he wasn't quite sure why. Maybe he wanted a bit of privacy, what little he could get with Kagan monitoring him. "Are you there?"
He waited a bit longer. "Hello?" he asked again.
Thorn started doubting himself, wondering if he had in fact replaced his hypnotic device and this was all just some trick he was playing on himself. Maybe Dr. Kagan was just playing along because he was afraid that Thorn would hurt him. Silence, no answer whatsoever.
He must be wrong.
Thorn must have been jumping to conclusions.
There was nothing inside this cockpit but a fool and a bunch of consoles.
...
Thorn sighed.
...
"Hello."
"Hi! Hi, don't leave. I'm- I'm Brian Thorn."
"I know."
"Well, aren't you going to tell me your name?"
"You can call me... Jane."
