Pinnacle. That is what word humanity uses to sum up its existence today. Be it a gross case of rampant egotism or optimism at its finest, it would still be difficult to argue the use of that word in that context. Mankind had taken huge strides in just a short amount of time. In a mere thirty years, the state of technology had experienced a boom unlike any that was predicted, and it no doubt lends its current status to a single man.
The late Dr. Thomas X. Light.
Thirty-three years ago, in 2009, he unveiled the first major innovation of many soon to follow: his “Robot Master” series of humanoid androids, which would help to reshape the world like never before. Each individual robot represented what would have previously been considered decades of technological advancement, and with a total of six at the start of the program it was inconceivable that a single man was the father of hundreds of small inventions that made up these half dozen utilitarian robots.
One man’s jealousy was obvious from the start of Light’s career, and that jealousy eventually gave in to madness. Dr. Albert William Wily, former lab assistant and business associate of Dr. Light, decided that he deserved a share of Light’s power, and hijacked the original six android prototypes for use in his machinations for world domination. What Wily didn’t foresee was Light’s ingenuity persevering in such short notice and the creation of a new hero from Light’s own robotic lab assistant.
Rockman crushed his own six “brothers” and chased off the mad scientist Dr. Wily, and would continue to do so over the span of nearly one and a half decades as Wily continued to assault the plant with Robot Masters that he sometimes created and sometimes “borrowed”. Behind Rockman the entire time was the brilliant mind of Dr Light, who constantly created new and even more amazing devices and redrafts of current technology to give his “son” an edge over Wily’s army.
Eventually, this technology found its way into public hands and changed the world in short order. Creations originally designed for war were remade for public use, and in a short amount of time the entire planet was experiencing a renaissance of technological advancement like never before. Dr. Light’s breakthroughs in creating and taming armies of nanomachines found immediate use in the medical field, and cancer was wiped out thanks to the micro-precise robots’ ability to cut away tumors in minutes. Even the aging process ground to a halt, and humanity’s wrinkles faded, at the price of strict laws against unlicensed breeding.
However, some men felt that they weren’t ready to grasp immortality, and the man known as the greatest genius of all time died in 2022. Prior to that, his long time nemesis had also lost his life, but under less-than-peaceful circumstances when he engaged the UN in a fierce battle. It was somewhat anti-climatic that the enemy of Rockman would meet his end while Rock watched the event unfold on his television from thousands of miles away. But, if you were to ask Rock how he would have wanted it to end, he wouldn’t have had it any other way.
After all, once humanity acquired the tools it needed to deal with the Wily Menace on its own, Rockman could live simply as Rock- the eternally youthful android that desired nothing more than to play soccer and spend time with his family. The day that Wily perished was the day “Rockman” ceased to be, and Rock took a strict vow of pacifism. He promised himself he would never don his famous blue armor ever again.
Supportive of his son, Dr. Light still felt the need for a “just in case” hero. Or rather, six of them. Light redesigned and rebuilt his original six androids and made them into a special global police squad that would attend to the various emergencies of the plant.
At first, the public embraced the new team, the “Tetsu Roku” (Iron Six), as the successors to the much beloved Rockman. As they rode in to action again and again, that enthusiasm started to vanish in lieu of the often-huge amounts of collateral damages suffered when the six androids came to save the day. A simple bank robbery would yield a 100% capture of the felons involved, but would also result in hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars in damage as a result of the pursuit and capture.
All at once the media mockingly referred to the androids as the “Sinister Six”, and they were eventually hated for their attempts at justice. At last, a decade after the “Sinister Six” was unleashed upon the world to do good, the group disbanded and they live anonymously among the public that scorned them to this day.
Ten years have gone by since this elite and destructive team was last seen in one place together…
Present Day (2042 AD)- Dallas, Texas
He was a small, unassuming man that blended in easily with the crowd. Garbed in his usual hooded sweat shirt, plain blue pants, and his always present mountain climbing goggles hanging from his neck, the short man sat in his same, familiar seat in the traditional (i.e. poor and behind the times) diner on the fringe of the city. He ordered the same burger and fries combo he always came to eat on Fridays, and always sat alone, never picking his head up from the daily news paper to have a casual conversation with anyone around him.
Still, he seemed friendly enough. Behind his shaggy brown hair that reached downward past his nose was a pair of bright blue eyes that never seemed to be tired or angry in any way. A small smile even persisted upon his face, except when he read something troubling in his newspaper. Even then, he’d shrug it off in a few minutes and find a happier article to read. He seemed oblivious to the world’s troubles.
An hour after arriving, he stood up and left his usual, large tip and paid his bill.
“How was everything this time, Gary?”, the waitress asked as he handed her the money he owed her.
“Ehh, a little rare, actually, but that’s fine.”, he shrugged.
“Sorry bout that, hon. We’ll be sure to fix that next time.”, she rattled off. In truth, the burger meat had been cooked rare for the past five months to help reduce heating costs. The small diner was dying along with the rest of the city.
“Don’t worry about it. See you next week.”
Gary walked out the door and onto the street. At seven in the evening, hoards of pedestrians filled the sidewalks. Most looked to be out of work like the majority of the country, and others seemed to be in a rush to get to their graveyard shift jobs of cleaning bathrooms of hospitals and the like.
This was the cost of the upper echelon of the social tier having access to things like nanomachines- someone had to suffer for it. And here, as well as most every major city on the planet, were prime examples of that suffering taking place. In truth, the existence of nanomachines and robots finally ended the American middle class, as all assembly, factory, and most menial labor was taken over by an inhuman counterpart of some sort. The problem was, however, that there were no jobs for those pushed out humans to fill.
Even at the height of this technological renaissance and knowledge, over ninety- five percent of humanity was no where near with grasp of knowing the joys of these innovations. It may have been a revolution of wisdom, but for the most part mankind was in a spiritual and economical slump.
And yet, Gary still smiled as he walked through the streets, fully aware of this. Even as he wandered through this sea of suffering, he still maintained a look of “I told you so” on at all times. It was almost as if he were having a measure of revenge by choosing to stay amongst this sad display of human garbage. It was a bitter grin.
He still had a heart despite it all. Up ahead, he could see a pair of men mugging a couple, beating a man into submission as he tried to protect his better half, and then prying the woman’s purse away from her. All of this occurring in broad daylight and no masks to hide their faces with. No other person stopped to lend a hand, and few seemed to even give the scene even a quick glance. The two muggers knew no one would bother to try and stop them, and the police were over-burdened as it was, let alone within a few city blocks to even investigate the robbery. They knew they’d get away with murder if they wanted to.
As the two criminals ran away from the victims and towards Gary, he parted off to the side like the other pedestrians, but left a small bit of help for the victims ahead. As they passed Gary, they slipped and crashed violently on the sidewalk- a very odd occurrence in this ninety-degree heat. Casually, as the two muggers suffered with their injuries on the ground, Gary swooped up the stolen purse, continued on his way ahead, and just as nonchalantly dropped it in front of the crying woman as she held her beaten man. She quickly snatched up her recovered bag and looked up to see the back of the short, hooded man as he continued onward.
“Th-thank…you. Thank you!”, she offered, but the man continued to walk on, seemingly ignoring the good deed he had just done.
It was the first time in many months he had actually done something to help a human being out. He just wished that old, warm feeling he used to have all those years ago when he was helping out felt the same way. Today, he felt nothing.
Next Chapter
Index
