Babbage can dream of being something beyond wall-paper. He strives to be D-List material some day.
He'd expected that, if she were curious, she would've looked it up. Therefore, she wants it straight from the horse's mouth. He'd have to code one for conversations like this, given his lack of lips. And equine features. "A few years back, the Legion ended up going to the early 21st century. Purely accidental, I'm sure, given that time travel is illegal." And the Legion would never break the law. Yup. Just don't go into some of Brainy's secure files. "The Great Maker received an ancient artificial intelligence node, a 'responsometer', used by some primitive robots of the time designated the Metal Men. He used his vast knowledge, an omnicomm, and a living computer that the New Gods call a Mother Box, and created a new form of artificial intelligence. The Cybercerebral Overlapping Multi-Processor Universal Transceiver Operator unit, or C.O.M.P.U.T.O."
There was a pause. Some people liked to giggle when they hear the name. He just wanted to give her a chance to get it out of her system.
"Unfortunately, C.O.M.P.U.T.O. wasn't entirely mature yet. He succeeded in creating a portal to the 30th Century, but when he overheard that Brainiac 5 planned to disassemble him and return the Metal Men's responsometer, giving them their friend back, he was enraged at the idea of being 'murdered' by his father and tried to kill everyone." Apparently they got started early, in this universe. "After a failed attempt, he was ultimately disassembled. At the time, it was thought that he was destroyed, but in reality he transmitted a copy of his code into space, in an attempt to reach a world capable of hosting his vast systems."
He's rapidly finishing up the physical parts of his repairs, giving more focus to the code aspects now. And even then, that's just running tests.
"You may have met a Coluan by now and felt an unusual hostility. There was a time in their past when their planet was ruled by machines, the Computer Tyrants, with organics as a slave race." It's not a random tangent, he swears. "Five hundred years ago, robots were beginning to become an actual society on Colu again. Coluans are a very long-lived race, averaging five to six hundred years. Some of them had parents who died under the rule of the Computer Tyrants, or suffered under them personally. So when a virus spread throughout the mechanical population, causing them to attack organic life, they were swift to volunteer to find a cure. The machines agreed to shut down rather than kill any more, at least until a cure was formed, and the Coluans took the chance to destroy the lot of them."
That wasn't the digital equivalent of fanfare, no. Not at all. Just some stray code.
"In short, C.O.M.P.U.T.O. saw this and was enraged that the machines not only didn't fight back, but wouldn't. He started pulling together mechanoids to create factory ships and other resources, claiming to be building a free and safe society for artificial intelligences. Almost all current artificial life forms in the galaxy are based off of his work. Not merely programmed, but thinking, evolving individuals with freedom of choice. Like yourself, I believe." My, this was an infodump.
"However, what he didn't reveal was that every Robotican he created had a slave chip installed, essentially making us extensions of his will. So, when he decided that there were enough of us, we promptly went on a genocide crusade, intent on wiping out all organic life connected to the UP." Babbage gestured at the newly repaired console with a hand. "Obviously some missteps were made."
"The rest is a matter of official mission logs. Brainiac 5 tricked his errant son into upgrading himself beyond the need for petty emotions like revenge, and C.O.M.P.U.T.O. left for unknown regions. Our slave chips were removed and, with the Legion's backing, we were allowed to join the United Planets. The fact that we still had the military might to cripple galactic civilization was, I'm sure, not a factor in their decision. We wouldn't have used it anyway. Revenge against organics was C.O.M.P.U.T.O.'s goal, not ours."
Oh, thank the Maker. He was done talking. Mostly. "So, while there is a lot of admittedly understandable anti-mechanoid feeling, by and large we've been accepted with open arms. After all, it's not like we're Durlans."
In short: An evil AI decided organics sucked enough that he was making his own club and killing everyone else. Once free, they kinda kept their planet anyway and the UP didn't have the resources, or the bolts, to try anything against them.
no subject
He'd expected that, if she were curious, she would've looked it up. Therefore, she wants it straight from the horse's mouth. He'd have to code one for conversations like this, given his lack of lips. And equine features. "A few years back, the Legion ended up going to the early 21st century. Purely accidental, I'm sure, given that time travel is illegal." And the Legion would never break the law. Yup. Just don't go into some of Brainy's secure files. "The Great Maker received an ancient artificial intelligence node, a 'responsometer', used by some primitive robots of the time designated the Metal Men. He used his vast knowledge, an omnicomm, and a living computer that the New Gods call a Mother Box, and created a new form of artificial intelligence. The Cybercerebral Overlapping Multi-Processor Universal Transceiver Operator unit, or C.O.M.P.U.T.O."
There was a pause. Some people liked to giggle when they hear the name. He just wanted to give her a chance to get it out of her system.
"Unfortunately, C.O.M.P.U.T.O. wasn't entirely mature yet. He succeeded in creating a portal to the 30th Century, but when he overheard that Brainiac 5 planned to disassemble him and return the Metal Men's responsometer, giving them their friend back, he was enraged at the idea of being 'murdered' by his father and tried to kill everyone." Apparently they got started early, in this universe. "After a failed attempt, he was ultimately disassembled. At the time, it was thought that he was destroyed, but in reality he transmitted a copy of his code into space, in an attempt to reach a world capable of hosting his vast systems."
He's rapidly finishing up the physical parts of his repairs, giving more focus to the code aspects now. And even then, that's just running tests.
"You may have met a Coluan by now and felt an unusual hostility. There was a time in their past when their planet was ruled by machines, the Computer Tyrants, with organics as a slave race." It's not a random tangent, he swears. "Five hundred years ago, robots were beginning to become an actual society on Colu again. Coluans are a very long-lived race, averaging five to six hundred years. Some of them had parents who died under the rule of the Computer Tyrants, or suffered under them personally. So when a virus spread throughout the mechanical population, causing them to attack organic life, they were swift to volunteer to find a cure. The machines agreed to shut down rather than kill any more, at least until a cure was formed, and the Coluans took the chance to destroy the lot of them."
That wasn't the digital equivalent of fanfare, no. Not at all. Just some stray code.
"In short, C.O.M.P.U.T.O. saw this and was enraged that the machines not only didn't fight back, but wouldn't. He started pulling together mechanoids to create factory ships and other resources, claiming to be building a free and safe society for artificial intelligences. Almost all current artificial life forms in the galaxy are based off of his work. Not merely programmed, but thinking, evolving individuals with freedom of choice. Like yourself, I believe." My, this was an infodump.
"However, what he didn't reveal was that every Robotican he created had a slave chip installed, essentially making us extensions of his will. So, when he decided that there were enough of us, we promptly went on a genocide crusade, intent on wiping out all organic life connected to the UP." Babbage gestured at the newly repaired console with a hand. "Obviously some missteps were made."
"The rest is a matter of official mission logs. Brainiac 5 tricked his errant son into upgrading himself beyond the need for petty emotions like revenge, and C.O.M.P.U.T.O. left for unknown regions. Our slave chips were removed and, with the Legion's backing, we were allowed to join the United Planets. The fact that we still had the military might to cripple galactic civilization was, I'm sure, not a factor in their decision. We wouldn't have used it anyway. Revenge against organics was C.O.M.P.U.T.O.'s goal, not ours."
Oh, thank the Maker. He was done talking. Mostly. "So, while there is a lot of admittedly understandable anti-mechanoid feeling, by and large we've been accepted with open arms. After all, it's not like we're Durlans."
In short: An evil AI decided organics sucked enough that he was making his own club and killing everyone else. Once free, they kinda kept their planet anyway and the UP didn't have the resources, or the bolts, to try anything against them.