Repairing A Robot

It was a very complicated process to transport a robot back to the camping ground. Chen Jin had to utilise his tools to first dismantle the useful parts from the ruins of the robots at the battleground. He dismantled them into nine modules. He transported the modules that were of use back to the campground at the huge crater.

Chen Jin could only use these phrases to describe the transportation process: complicated with details, heavy, and tiring! He was practically half-dead. One of the heaviest modules weighed in at almost 30 kilograms. The lightest robot head was 5 to 6 kilograms. The total weight of all nine modules was 120 kilograms.

Chen Jin used a total of two days and five trips to transport the nine modules back to the camping ground. After connecting them to the power and testing them, he discovered that two out of the six modules had problems and could not be revived. He had to get on Windrunner again and find two other modules for replacement.

After installing the modules, he put three fully charged high efficiency batteries into the battery chamber located on the back (it could hold a maximum of 10 batteries) to attain the lowest level of power needed to operate it. He pressed a red button on its chest.

"Beep ~" came a rattle.

Chen Jin could hear the sound of the motor starting.

"SYSTEM-STARTING"

The system starting notification alert could be heard. The robot in front of him that was bound to the chair slowly raised its head. Its electronic eyes lit up with a dim red light. After Chen Jin's infrared image entered its digital vision, the red light from within its eyes grew stronger and more brilliant. A light on its chest flashed red and a chilling warning rang out. "Menace! Find A Human! Kill Human!"

Its scarlet gaze was fixed coldly on Chen Jin. The movable joints of its neck and body twisted continuously with the intention to break free from its bindings. If its arm and leg modules had not been installed, Chen Jin was afraid it would have already attacked.

Chen Jin had taken great precautions. Holding the automatic rifle higher in his hands, he aimed at the head of the"evil" robot. With his finger on the trigger, he could attack in one second and eliminate this robot!

At this moment, standing at his side, Wawa went over to the robot and sent a string of information to the evil robot through the flashing signal light on its chest.

Current-Time:2258-8-22 13:48:22

This was a string of time-based information, signalling that the time now was the 22nd of August in the year of 2258.

It received this information. All of a sudden the robot bound to the chair stopped its movements, and renewed its computer log. The core control system started the upgrading process. "Update virus reboot 1.0 to reboot 2.0. Protect Human. Love Human."

Upon receiving these core commands, the evil robot repeated, "Protect…. Humans? Love…. Humans?" It began to scan Chen Jin's image within its vision again. Then, it stopped struggling and twisting. The deep scarlet rays of light from its electronic eyes slowly transformed into a gentle and clear blue light.

"This…." Chen Jin became hesitant and suspicious. Should he fight this evil robot?

"Wawa, Wawa ~" Wawa ran to him, all the while raising its mechanical arms and waving them continuously to get his attention.

"You're telling me not to fight it?" Chen Jin understood its meaning. Looking again at the robot on the chair, it seemed to become more honest. No parts of its body was moving except for its eyes.

Slowly, he lowered the gun in his hand. Advancing towards it, he took two steps nearer to it.

"Hello, my master," The robot on the chair greeted Chen Jin with an electronic voice from its chest.

Chen Jin was shocked. "You can talk?"

"Yes, I am a high-level robot."

Although Chen Jin's english was poor, he could roughly understand a little of its speech. Detecting the language that Chen Jin spoke, it said, "Master, my language packs include Chinese. You can communicate with me using Chinese."

"Chinese… it should be similar to the one on Earth."

Chen Jin's heart was filled with joy. Awesome, I finally have a conversation partner in this world.

Even though it was only a robot. Chen Jin also raised his own suspicion. "Why did you want to attack me just now? Why did you attack the humans in the past?"

"I don't know." Shaking its head, it said, "Within my core computing chip is written the '3 Laws for Robots' which will not let me hurt humans. However, I was infected with a virus which commanded me to kill all humans. I could not control myself."

The virus…. Could it be the Sky Net System? Chen Jin immediately thought of a related possibility. "Why aren't you attacking me now? Why are you back to normal?"

"The influence of the virus had disappeared. The "3 Laws of Robots" had renewed its functions. Master, I will never again hurt humans."

"Why should I believe you? If the influence of the virus has not disappeared and it breaks out once again in the future, causing you to attack the humans; what then? Moreover, how do I know that you are not a scheming robot that always had the intention to kill me?" Chen Jin debated this in his heart.

The robot was silent for a while. From its memory chip, it picked out a video of it crazily attacking humans in its past. After some consideration, it said, "Master, you're right. I betrayed the humans and went against the '3 Laws of Robots'. I killed a lot of humans and I am very ashamed. You're right that the virus never disappeared from my body; it's only been upgraded to version 2.0. Nobody knows if there will be any changes in the future. So, the most appropriate response from Master would be to obliterate me, and put an end to any possibility of me ever hurting humans again."

Chen Jin was shocked. The robot was actively asking for death? He could not help but ask, "Aren't you afraid of death?"

It answered, "For robots, there is no life and death; only existence and non-existence. I cherish my own existence but I do not fear my own disappearance."

"Are you certain that you will not betray humans again?"

"I cannot be certain. As long as the virus exist, all robots cannot be certain of that."

"Don't tell me, Wawa is included too?" He pointed at Wawa. "Is it infected too?"

"Yes, unfortunately, no robot was excluded."

"So, how does the virus influence you now?"

"The virus commands me to protect and love the humans."

Chen Jin asked, "So it means that the robots can do anything for the humans?"

It replied, "Yes, at least for now."

Chen Jin was silent for a while as he struggled internally for balance.

...

Very quickly, Chen Jin loosened the ropes tying the robot on the chair. He installed the mechanical arms and legs; they could all be used as per normal.

Chen Jin added another two high efficiency batteries into its back battery chamber. It now had a total of five batteries. After repairing it, Chen Jin named this two meter tall combat robot "Da Li". It had strong, healthy, and nimble limbs.

Da Li!

Chen Jin greeted it, "Da Li!"

Da Li walked to him and replied, "Yes, Master!"

"You are in charge of the peripheral defense. Defend the safety of the camping grounds."

Da Li saluted him. "Yes, Master!"

Nodding his head, Chen Jin climbed onto his ladder back to his bedroom on Earth for some rest.