mmm Bot - Part 2
Bots are people too
Hello subscribers, new and old!
Welcome to part 2, the conclusion of mmm Bot. Part 1 is here if you missed it!
Please like, comment, and share!
With gratitude, Bill
mmm Bot - Part 2
“You’re The Kid?” I said flatly.
“Yes.”
“How the hell are you, The Kid?”
“Well, I’m not actually The Kid. Like, the original Kid….” He squinted and rubbed his head like it would help him find words.
I tapped my communicator. It didn’t work. “I’ve got to get the hell out of here,” I said.
“Sorry. I mean to say that, my son…,” he choked on the word and took a moment, “my son was the real The Kid.”
He dabbed at his eyes with his shirt. I glanced around the room like I was searching for his child.
“My son… he died a year ago.” He swallowed hard, the kind you can hear. “He killed himself right here, in this room.”
He stared at the floor, and I felt a chill run through my circuits.
“I’m so very sorry, John.” I couldn’t keep from thinking about Zip and what it would mean to lose him. I knew I’d never keep my bits about me if that happened.
“Thanks,” John said. “You know, I, uh, never said that last part out loud to a person or,” he looked at me, “someone like you.”
“Was this his room?” I said, searching for something to say.
“Yes. He spent a lot of time here. Now I do.” He fiddled with the multi-button mouse on the desk.
“And that’s you now. You’re using his handle and making all the config changes.”
“Yup.” He searched a few empty soda cans for one that had liquid left in it.
I looked down at my non-working communicator. “Can I ask you a question?”
He laughed. “I’m not certain if I’m dreaming all this. Either way, please go ahead.”
“Why are you playing? And why so much?”
John turned to face me and straightened up in the chair. “Couldn’t hurt to be honest with a bot, I guess. At least it seems like you can’t hurt me.”
I stared.
He squinted and wiped his nose with the back of his hand.
“I was a lousy father. Bad husband too. I was never there for him, always working or some excuse. I provided financially, but that’s about it. And I drank, and I was angry, selfish. A real piece of shit, Karang. Do you want to know why his screen name was The Kid? It’s because that’s what I called him. Hey, kid! Where’s the kid? What’s wrong with that kid? Stuff like that, you understand? Like he wasn’t a fucking person. Like a thing or a problem.
He got up and started pacing around the room.
“I can count on one hand the number of times I sat down and actually talked to my son. Worse than that, I’d be glad when I came home late from work. He’d be locked in here, and my wife would be staring at a video screen.”
He sat back down with a grunt.
“You know something, Karang? You might have spent more time with my son than I did.”
I shifted and touched the side of my face.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I thought he was playing games in here. I never knew he was making them-designing mods, maps, characters, and weapons. I’m grateful he had at least something he liked to do.”
He opened a heavy desk drawer and pulled out one of many notebooks that filled it to the top. John fanned and flipped through pages loaded with drawings before handing it to me. I turned pages slowly, stopping on one, and pointed. “I know this place. This is Lunar-Sol 9. My code! I’ve played this map thousands of times! Are you trying to convince me that your son conceived and programmed this?”
“And many, many others.”
I closed the notebook and began to feel sick. Static bursts flickered through my HUD.
“You don’t look so good. Are you feeling all right?” John said.
“Not really, John. I knew that someone or something maintained the game and the arena. I just never pictured it being a child or a guy like you. No offense intended.”
“That’s okay. I never imagined it was possible to speak with a bot. I thought you were composed of bits of code and colored pixels. But here you stand. Looking at me.”
I could feel my growing impatience and irritation beginning. “John, how can I get back? Why am I here? Did you summon me? If that’s the correct word.”
He turned back toward the screen. “Not sure. I must have fucked up the code when I compiled the last update.”
“So, let me get this straight. You’re the one writing the code now, for real. How? Do you have some background in game development?”
He shrugged. His shrugging was testing my last frayed wire.
“I learned as much as I could from my son’s notes. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been through all of those notebooks, over and over, even filled up a few of my own, trying to understand what he’d written. And I don’t comprehend it all. I sense some things are missing, but that may be a gap in my intelligence. I’ve also done some research outside of my child’s notes. Look, truthfully-I’m not a smart person. Book smart, I mean. Never have been. This might be the first time in my pathetic life that I’ve studied… anything.”
“Why do it at all? What are you trying to prove? Why are you playing? The game is supposed to be fun. That’s what games are. But you, you don’t look like you’re having fun. And now, you’ve done something that has me stuck in your world or whatever this place is. John, you fucked up, and I seem to be paying for it.”
He nodded, reverently unfolded a delicate piece of torn notebook paper and handed it to me. It was an impressive drawing of a bot with snakes coming out of its head. Underneath it, in large, outlined, and colorful type, it said ‘DAD!’
I held up the drawing. “This is Chongru. Why does it say Dad?”
“You don’t get it? Chongru is me. He designed the toughest, meanest bot in the game after me. He spent hours battling me. He’d make me stronger and harder to beat to challenge himself. You’d have thought he’d code some weaker bot and name him after me to kick my ass constantly. Maybe he did for a while. I don’t know. But my kid, my boy… wanted the challenge. I think. Maybe it mirrored how increasingly mean I’d become in real life. I’ll never know.” John shook off the emotion that crept inside.
“You’re Chongru,” I said.
“Basically.”
“So what are you doing, playing to kick your ass? Do you think that’s going to bring you happiness? That it will bring back your son!” My rage began to flow at being trapped away from my family with this jerk.
He hung his head and made a circular motion with his hands. “Turn it over.”
I flipped the paper. A note was scrawled on the back.
‘I’m in here, Dad. In the game. Battle and defeat Chongru repeatedly to reveal the easter egg, to find me. The tougher Chongru is when you defeat him, the fewer times you’ll have to do it. I’m sorry we never got to know each other. I don’t know what I did wrong.’
I handed the paper back without a word.
“What do you think he meant by this?” I said after thirty seconds of quiet.
“I don’t know, but that’s what I’m trying to discover. It took my son’s death for me to act like I gave a shit about him, and that disgusts me.”
“Me too,” I admitted.
“Thanks for being honest.”
“John, where’s your wife?”
He shrugged again. “I don’t know that either. She left not long after my son….” he paused to gather himself. “Guess she’d been holding on as long as she could, probably tired of my shit. She was so tired that she barely left a note. I know what she meant anyway. My wife was catatonic for a while after he passed. In a sort of walking coma. Then one day, she was functioning, and the next, she was gone.”
“What’d the note say?”
“Goodbye, John.”
“Wow.”
“I don’t blame her at all. How could I? I’m not a complete monster. I’ve tried to find her, hoping that at least she’s safe. But so far, I’ve had no luck at all. Her family says they haven’t seen her; they’re not telling me if they have. Anyway, they’re rightfully disgusted by me. I hope that they’re looking after her. She needs someone who loves her and is there for her. She packed a meager few belongings and only took a little money from our account before disappearing into the wind.” He motioned to the fluttering curtains.
“Is this game all that you do now?”
“Basically. I took a leave of absence from work, but that’s almost over, and I’ve no plans to return. I come out of this room when I have to. To pick up a pizza or go to the store. Other than that, I’m here, learning and practicing. Searching.”
“Had you ever played games before….” I let the end of the sentence fade.
“No. Hated them. Despised them. And I let my son know it too. I yelled about what a waste of time they were, that they rotted your brain. All of the standard cliche asshole things you could think of. And, like a typical arrogant prick, I’d never even tried to play them, not once. Judgment based on nothing, just something to take my anger and rage out on. Meanwhile, it turns out my boy absolutely loved them. Not only Flak Fest 2084, our game,” he pointed to me and then back to himself, “but many games.” He motioned to the manuals, boxes, and gaming systems piled up in the corner.”
“How’d he get all this stuff if you hated it so much?”
“Good question. His mother, friends, and money from odd jobs. But here’s what really chaps my stupid fat ass-he started making money developing game mods.”
“Really? Like what?”
“Making custom maps and characters. All kinds of cool stuff that you take for granted during play. He might have gone on to be a brilliant and rich game designer. Unfortunately, he had a shit-bag for a father.”
I think I’m a pretty patient bot. You should see how long I can stay still, waiting to snipe someone. But John was pushing me to my limit.
“Look, I feel terrible about what you’ve been through, even though a part of me wants to rip your head off and chuck it out the window. I’m a father too, and frankly, I’m starting to worry that I’m stuck here with you forever instead of returning to my family.”
“You have a family?” He said, eyes focusing on me as if he’d just noticed the gigantic bot in the room.
“Why is that shocking?” I said, anger rising again.
“Sorry, I just… it never occurred to me that bots could have families.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me, John. Maybe you’re actually stupid and not a huge asshole.” I shook my head with my eyes closed. “Yes, I have a wife and son and am late for dinner. Not to mention how long you’ve paused the game, crap!”
“Doesn’t that freeze time on your side?” he said.
“Unbelievable. No, John. It doesn’t freeze time. This isn’t some effed-up sci-fi novel. It’s real life. When the game pauses, rockets stop in mid-flight, and bots stop moving, but we’re all conscious, and it’s annoying as hell. I hate calling home to tell Shangrat I might be pulling an all-nighter because I’m stuck on pause. It’s even worse if you’re in some embarrassing situation, like having your guts blown out right as it freezes, then having to sit there until some numbskull, er you, starts it up again.
I walked over to the screen and pointed to Daze. His frozen stare was a little funny. If I ever got back, I’d have to bust his bits about it. His giant, stupid eye reflected a leaping Chongru with a volley of missiles headed his way. “See, my buddy Daze here is getting pissed. How about sending me back?”
“Ah, there could be a problem with that,” John said.
“If you say that you don’t know how to do that, I’ll make you soil those sweats too.”
His bushy eyebrows met like wiper blades.
“Oh, come on!” I said.
“It wasn’t intentional. My son built most of this map. I found it recently and got it ready for play. Tonight is the first run, and I already crashed and repaired it once. You probably know that, though.”
“Yeah, I came part of the way through here on the first crash.”
“So that was you.”
“Yeah.”
“Mind if I ask you something?”
“You have a captive audience.”
“Were you in the same spot both times that you ended up here?”
“I was; wall jumping for the ammo refill pad inside the Blue Castle.”
He rubbed his bald head. It seemed to grow shinier.
“What?” I said.
“I didn’t realize that bots could wall jump. I didn’t think any non-human player could reach that pod. I’ve never witnessed it.”
“You seem not to know a lot. Sorry to be rude in your home.”
“It’s fine,” he said, tapping his chin like he was sending a desperate morse code message.
“What! Why are you doing that? Are you having a non-dumb thought or the regular type? Please enlighten me because I’m pissed off and freaked out, and that’s a bad combination for someone of my size in this tiny room.”
“I’m sorry, but I think my thought was non-dumb.”
He walked over to the corner of the room I had come through and pressed his hands on the walls. “My son coded the map we were just playing.”
“You said that already.”
“Maybe he intentionally created a path from the game to my world. Maybe it’s not an accident that you or any other bot is here.”
I thought about that for a moment. “Or, maybe it’s simply some fucked up code.”
“Sure. But listen. You know how you crashed the first time through? Well, I had modified his code a bit. Then, I rolled back to his original version, and you’re here.”
“That still doesn’t prove he did this intentionally. Shit, John, he created a portal to another world! I don’t freakin know. You should be the expert here.”
“But, Karang, don’t you see? He said he’s ‘in the game’ and I ‘have to find him.’ This is the first big clue to what he might have been talking about. I’ve been logging thousands of hours playing every version of every map and each type of game, and now I’ve finally found a hint. The first hint…” he put a hand over his mouth. “You can help me; maybe you’re supposed to help me!”
“Uh…,” I fiddled with my helmet.
“Come on! Help me a little, and I’ll do the same for you. I’ll make sure we’re always on the same team. We can watch each other’s backs!”
“With all due respect, I’ve got a life, not sure what’s in it for me. I’m suddenly trapped in another world and now being pressed into some weird mission to find your son or easter egg. I’ve got enough on my plate, man.”
He fell on his knees in front of me. The floorboards groaned as he began sobbing.
“I’m begging you, Karang! I’ll find some way to make it up to you. I promise! For what it’s worth, you have my word! Please help me find my son. It’s the only reason I have left to live.” He openly wept into both hands like I’d never seen another man, bot, or anyone. I sighed, fogging my visor, and touched his shoulder.
“Okay, John, okay. I’ll help you. Get up.” I steadied him to his feet. “Of course, that is predicated on the fact that I can somehow return to my world.”
He looked at me with wet eyes. “Thank you, thank you so much. I don’t know what to say.”
“Just do me one favor.”
“Anything.”
“After I return, quit the game for today and start again tomorrow. I need to see my family and make sure they’re okay.”
“Of course.”
“Great.” I walked over to the corner of the room I’d come from and pressed on the walls. “So, how am I getting back?”
He sat down in front of the computer and said something awful.
“I have a hunch that I only have to unpause the game.”
I have to admit that I considered choking him. Clearly, he noticed a change in my body language.
“I honestly just thought of it. I’m sorry!”
“Well, get to it, Kid,” I said.
His fingers glided across the keyboard, and I saw Daze, who had remained frozen on the screen, suddenly disintegrate into flying body parts. Another incoming rocket from Chongru blew up The Kid, or John, as I now knew him.
“No fair. I’m not even playing, really,” John said.
I pressed on the walls and kicked them. Nothing.
“John?”
“Hmm, what about your translocator?”
“What about it?”
“Try to power it on and fire it at the corner.”
“Do you rent or own, John?”
“Just try it.”
I pulled out my trusty teleporting device and was pleased to see it light up when I hit the power toggle. I fired a glowing disc into the corner. Instead of ricocheting around the room as it would have in the game, it went through the wall with an electric schloop.
“Well, fry my algorithms. It seems to have worked. Hopefully, when I hit the trigger again, I’ll return to where I belong. I reached to tap my wrist.
“Karang?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
I gave him a thumbs up and tapped.
I felt myself warp back into the playing field, even collecting the ammo I had initially been going for at the beginning of this messed-up day.
“Damn, that was a long pause,” Daze said over the comm link. “Think The Kid went to get a college degree or something?”
“What?” I said in a fog. I felt nauseated. I guess world travel did that to you.
“Get a move on, man! Why are you standing there? Let’s go!” Daze said as he bounded towards the castle entrance.
The Kid materialized at a regeneration point near where I stood. He noticed me, ran over quickly, and gave me the thumbs-up sign before quitting the game. I warped back into the modding arena. Daze was fuming.
“The hells up with him! We started off strong against ole reptile-head, and he bails!”
Chongru grunted something unintelligible, and Daze replied by flipping him off.
“Beats me,” I said, looking at The Kid’s avatar. It wasn’t moving, a sure sign that he was about to break the connection, and we could all go home.
“Homework? He’s got too much homework, I bet. Oh no, maybe it’s a girlfriend or boyfriend. Man, it will get boring around here right quick if that’s the case. Know what I mean, Karang?”
I looked up at the central HUD, and we watched as The Kid selected ‘Close Connection.’
“Later, buddy,” I said to Daze before I warped home.
The lights were dimmed in the living room. I stepped quietly to the closet to take off and stow my weapons and gear. I found dinner in the fridge–Shangrat had made me a plate. I scarfed it down in two minutes, not realizing how hungry the long and weird night made me.
Zip’s school book bag was on the table. Poking out from the top, I could see that he’d worked on his homework. A report cover had ‘My hero is my Dad’ printed in large block letters.
I fell into a chair at the table and rested my head in my hands. Then tapped the main console button in the center of the table and switched the view mode to ‘Family Photos.’ I swiped through ones from our wedding, vacations on Rygar 6, Zip’s first birthday, his first day of school, Zip and Shangrat asleep on the couch.
“Feeling nostalgic?” Shangrat said from behind me, slipping smooth arms around my neck.
“Lucky, feeling very lucky tonight, my love.” I kissed her forearm.
“He got that report finished. You’re going to cry like a baby when you read it.”
I reached for it.
“No you don’t. Let him show you. I promised him he’d see you read it the first time.”
I nodded and was silent.
“What’s wrong? Tough night on the battlefield?”
“Sit down for a minute; I’ll make some tea,” I said.
For the next hour, I explained everything that happened with The Kid. After her initial surprise, she handled it way better than I did. She said, “You’re going to help him, right?”
“Yeah, I guess. I mean, how could I not? But the way that guy, John, treated his family makes me angry, you know?” I motioned to the air with both hands like I was appealing to a jury.
“But the boy,” she said.
“But the boy. If there is something hidden in the game that he wants his father to know, I want to help–because it helps the child, not so much the father. I don’t know. I’m a little emotional about it, I guess.”
“Understandable,” she said.
“The Kid’s note said he’s ‘in the game.’ That’s not possible. I didn’t think what happened today was either. But there I was, staring at this asshole from another world.
“You seem pretty angry, honey.”
“I think the game was more fun when I thought a child was playing it. I’ve come to the realization that I’ve been duped for a long time by someone who didn’t value his family until it self-destructed.”
“But you’re nothing like that. You know that, right? Your son loves you; I love you. We have a good life, and you have a good job.”
I put my head on the table. Arms stretched across to touch her hands. She took them in the reassuring way that someone who loves you would and squeezed them.
“You’ll see how it goes. Hopefully, no more trips to see this John person in his world?”
“That’s about it. Pretty much the same as usual, but I’ll see if I can help somehow.”
“Okay, sweetheart, how about we get some rest?”
She led me to our cozy bedroom, but we stopped to look in on Zip, who was fast asleep.
For the next few weeks, the frequency and intensity of the games increased. We’d play for several hours without a break, and it began to feel like a grind. John “The Kid’s” skills increased significantly during this period. It may partly have to do with me working so closely with him. I’d give him cover fire while he worked out a new move. In turn, he learned to be a better team player by watching my back. Daze could smell that something was going on.
“What’s the deal with you two? Dating? You’re always up each other’s data ports.”
I played it off, not ready to expose The Kid’s secret unless I had to.
Chongru noticed too. When The Kid and I went up against him, he could rarely beat us both simultaneously. His frustration began to show with degraded technique and knee-jerk reactions he would’ve never done before, like shooting rockets too close in front of him and blowing his stupid snake head right off. He began to lose regularly, and his howls of anger intensified.
Both Goldakk and Dimmack had his number, too. Daze christened a new move called ‘Split the Snake Head,” where he’d send rockets on either side of Chogru, then switch quickly to the sniper rifle to pick him off between his furious eyes.
The Kid maxed out the skill level of most of the players, yet he continued to be competitive. In truth, he began to dominate. Because of that, we spent more time together exploring maps and gameplay for any sign of a message. When we were interrupted by a player looking to take one or both of us out, we’d slip into any number of well-rehearsed plans, kick their ass and get right back to exploring. This routine went on for a very long time.
This may sound weird, but I began to think of The Kid as an extension of myself. A slight twitch or head-fake from him was all I needed to know what he’d do, and his reactions to me were similar. I began to forget the man behind the robotic avatar, the one who had treated his family so poorly, and I embraced The Kid. He was unique, talented, and fun to hang out with–fun to play with, if I’m being honest. Even though we turned up next to nothing of consequence about his son’s hidden message, his ‘Easter egg,’ we both seemed to be getting something else from the game. I couldn’t put my finger on it, then Shangrat explained it simply.
“He’s your friend, Karang.”
“A friend.” I hadn’t thought of it like that. Daze was my friend too, but somehow it was different with The Kid. That’s when I got it in my head that I had to see him again, in his world.
The next time we played the map where I’d teleported to him the first time, he trailed behind me as I ran for the familiar corner. I jerked my head up at the spot and could tell he knew what I meant to do by his body language, and he was nervous.
I made the jump… and was back in the bedroom.
“Hey, John,” I said.
“Karang…,” he said.
The room looked different from when I’d seen it the first time. It was clean, and in fact, so was John. He appeared to be washed and wearing clothes that were as well.
“Something’s different,” I said.
“I’ve turned over a new leaf, you might say. Decided to start taking care of myself.”
“That’s good.”
“Look, I’m glad you came. I need to say something. I’ve, uh, really enjoyed playing together these past several months.”
“I have, too,” I said with a smile.
“It’s been great to kick Chongru’s ass on the reg.”
“Oh, hell yeah!” I said and held out my hand to grasp.
As I touched his hand, I realized that I hadn’t done that before, touched John—a being from another world. The next moment was harder to describe. I felt my outer shell fade; melt is the best word I can find to describe it. I was Karang, but also not. Visions and memories flashed through my mind and filled the void like water in a teacup. The time I’d spent in this room, the longing for attention, the sadness—the hours I spent coding. And the ones spent crying. The moment I came up with the idea–a way to connect with my Dad, the last way. A way for him to see me, to spend time with me.
John stared at me, frozen, with tears streaming down his face.
“Son,” he said.
“Yes, Dad. I’m here, with Karang.”
John slammed into me, or us, with a bear hug, and his body convulsed with sobs from the center of his being. We crumpled to the floor, clutching each other.
“Thanks for finding me, Dad. That’s all I ever wanted.”
“I love you, son. I’m so sorry, and I love you.”
Thank you for reading part two of mmm Bot. I hope you enjoyed it.