RP:The Ochanimizu Files; Tenma's Therapy Sessions

[Prettywitchiusaka]

T; I do...but at the time I couldn't have possibly imagined how he must have felt...

A moment fo silence takes over the room as O'Shay gaze remains on Tenma. Though pretty soon afterwords, he opened his mouth to speak again.

O; Did you resist his words?

T; Yes...I told him not to speak to me in that manner...

O; And then?

T; As I said that...he told me something...something that broke my heart to hear him say...

O; What was it?

T; He told me that I didn't really care about him...

O'Shay's eyes widen in shock as he stares at his melancholy looking collegue

O; Tenma...

[AprilSeven]

Tenma shook his head and held up his hands, not wanting to get emotional (although that's exactly what he needed to do).

T: Look, when I began my career as a robotics engineer, they WERE "just machines." Somewhere along the line the blurring occurred. And we started to depend upon these machines for things that PEOPLE used to do - like parent our children.

The two scientists looked at each other in silence.

T: To this very day, I don't feel any qualms about recycling most robots. We BUILT them to be recycled! But I didn't count on two things...

O: W-What two things?

T: First, as we built many robots to be more human-like in their interactions with us, I didn't factor in that humans would develop real, emotional, genuine feelings for them.

Ochanomizu sighed, shook his head sadly, and looked down.

O: Hmmm . . . you didn't see that coming? Then why did you develop Kokoro?

He looked up at Tenma, holding back a deep-seated anger.

T: Well . . . because I could. I-I mean why NOT make your Nannybot as pleasant as your dog, or best friend? W-Why shouldn't it learn manners and pick up on your moods? That's a more useful machine, is it not??

He saw that Ochanomizu was about to explode, so he redirected his defense back on to his second miscalculation.

T: I didn't - DID NOT realize that Kokoro would result in a fully sentient creature. That was never my intention.

A pause.

T: In my mind, I expected Tobio to understand how much I loved him, and I expected him to see Nora as an extension of me - not as an independent being!

Ochanomizu slapped his knees and blew . . .

O: Oh for Heaven's sake, Tenma! You modeled Kokoro on human psychological development - THINK ABOUT IT! Astro "bonded" with you - and later me - and he learned from both of us. He grew to love us. Well, that's what Tobio was doing with Nora!

He leaned forward, glaring at Tenma, who's expression was one of fitting the puzzle pieces together.

O: It's not a big mystery, Umataro. The boy saw Nora as a friend or a mom - not as a "household helper machine." You know darn well what happened back there, and it's time you face it so you can move on!

T: He thought I didn't love him because I honestly didn't see Nora the way he did. How could I care about him, if I would destroy someone he loved . . .

Silence, as Ochanomizu gathered his thoughts together and put forth the next question

O: But now we have to address what happened to Astro - you created him to respond as a human, and expected him to literally become Tobio.


T: Yes, YOU named him Astro. I called him Tobio.

O: Well - what happened there? Didn't YOU fall victim to making a human connection to a machine? What did you do to Astro's Kokoro programming to push his ability to be "human" beyond everything before, and why do this if you weren't interested in creating a sentient lifeform?

Tenma jumped up and walked to a corner of the room, half-crying/half-shouting --

T: WHY? To see if I could bring him BACK, you fool! I would have done the same thing for Hoshie, if I had the means to do so at that time!

Ochanomizu's eyes widened. Tenma still faced away from him; shouting at the bookcase before him...

T: It was an application that seemed plausible - I might be able to lay Tobio's digitized memories in a background mode over the Kokoro, and awaken a perfect robotic copy. I wanted it to work. I needed it to work. Losing Tobio was also losing Hoshie again.

O: But you shut him down...

T: OF COURSE!! By then I was past my initial grief, and needed to see what happened when we addressed robot recycling. I wanted him to see robots as I do - well, as I did.

O: B-B-But he's a robot . . .

T: SHUT UP!! He's nothing like anything I ever encountered before. He was becoming increasingly independent and emotional.

He turned, silently walked back to the chair, sat down and looked directly at Dr. Ochanomizu before continuing.

T: I knew I couldn't continue raising him as my child. When he destroyed Lab Seven [shakes his head, lowers his eyes], I deactivated him on the spot. It was like I lost him again.

The two of them looked at each other: calmer now, but their eyes fighting tears of grief over the tragedy that had been brought to life, once again.

T: I'm just curious, Ochanomizu. What would YOU have done in my situation?

[Prettywitchiusaka]

O'Shay/Ochanimizu's eyebrows begin to furrow as he goes to answer, even as he fights back his tears

O; I would have determined the situation rationally, before I would ever consider shutting him down

T; Are you certain of that?

O; OF COURSE! Astro isn't someone's copy, he's a child with a mind and a heart. Why would I punish him for that?

T; That hadn't occurred to me-

O; To what? Shut him down without considering his own feelings!?

[Astro Forever]

Tenma: No, I just expected him to behave the way he was programmed to behave; I had not expected him to think so independently from me!

O'Shay: So he developed further than you expected?

Tenma: Of course he did! And when I realized that, after you reactivated him, that's when I aimed at another future for him!

O'Shay: So you went from expecting him to react the way you wanted to, to wanting him to rule the world?

Tenma: Yes, he had surpassed every other human and every other robot.

O'Shay: But if he had done so, he would still have followed your plan. And when he refused to, you didn't acknowledge it that time either.

[Prettywitchiusaka]

T; Why would I have acknowledged it? The battle was far from over.

O; So rather than admit it, you believed that he would eventually join your side?

Tenma's slowly turned away from O'Shay's, much to his dismay as he sighed in slight frustration

[Astro Forever]

Tenma: I believed it until the very end. I still have a hard time believing it, actually.

O'Shay: Really? Even after Astro did in Laboratory 7?

Tenma remained silent. He tried to speak, but no word came out of his mouth. Silence ruled for a few minutes as his gaze traveled throughout the room.

O'Shay: Do you think you would be ready to meet him?

[Prettywitchiusaka]

Tenma remains silent for a few moments as he ponders the question

T; I'm not sure if I am...

O; I need a direct answer Tenma.

Tenma merely remains silent for the time being before O'Shay opens his mouth to speak again

O; Let me ask you this; What will you do if I let him come here?

Tenma remaisn silent momentarily before speaking up again

T; I'd simply like to talk with him, nothing more.

[Astro Forever]

O'Shay: Alright, I'll ask him to come to the next meeting.

Tenma: I would rather be alone with him.

O'Shay: What would be different if I was around?

Tenma: Why would you even want to be around? He is my son!

[Prettywitchiusaka]

O'Shay stares at him birefly in anger before sighing once more

O; You do realize that he's practically my son as well by now?

T; Yes...But you could never hope to replace me.

[Astro Forever]

O'Shay was hurt as he heard those words, but he hid his feelings that time. A little hesitant, he followed:

O'Shay: Perhaps not,but you can't deny we share a bond. I'm supposed to help you.

Tenma sighed.

O'Shay: It seems to bother you quite a bit...