Neoliberalism

In the early days of robotics, bloody wars had been fought, ruining cities and taking lives. The First Stardroid Invasion had come along, leaving deep scars in some parts of the Earth. Much of America’s western coast had been entirely sunk into the sea, and much of what was left was ground down to an irradiated desert.

Peace had finally returned. There was a period of peace- shaky, uncertain, but very much real. The Second Stardroid Invasion managed to shake things up, and many heroes died, but by some miracle, it was contained. It was ended. Humankind and robotkind alike were able to rebuild, to advance. Early Maverick outbreaks occurred, but they, too, were contained. Unrest came and went, but many felt hopeful.

And then disasters started to occur at a sickeningly familiar pace. The noble first commander of the Maverick Hunters fell to corruption. Even that was contained, but morale was low- many important Hunters were dead, either killed as traitors or fallen in the fight. Efforts to preemptively contain Maverick behavior, up to and including a major settlement built on Reploid social programs, went awry, failing or being subverted from within.

Sky Lagoon fell and flattened an entire city. An entire Reploid military force of the UN went rogue, claiming independence. And then came the Eurasia Incident. Eurasia had been a massive residential space station, meant to embolden exploration of the solar system and conduct astrophysical research. It was subjected to malware in its control system, and despite the best efforts of the UN’s brightest minds, much of it hit the Earth intact.

Environmental devastation was widespread. Most of humanity was forced to turn to the bunkers of the Wily Wars, using them as permanent shelters while Reploids above worked diligently. The fledgling technology of terraforming was slow, much too slow for the lifetimes of the humans waiting below. It had previously only kept the desertification caused by the Stardroids at bay, and now, it would only be able to maintain the livability of individual cities, disconnected by spans of derelict land. The world would be ruined for hundreds of years.

Still, life persisted. The Reploids built new cities. Some Maverick incidents occurred, but as always, they were contained. And finally, today, the first group of cities was ready for the humans to come up from the shelters, blinking in the sunlight. A new capital had been erected. It was called Neo Arcadia, built upon the remains of the original Arcadia, once viewed as the robotics capital of the world.

The leader of the efforts, Mega Man X, stood facing the city’s main gate, giving a speech to an amassed crowd of Hunters and construction Reploids. Cameras broadcast a feed of the event to the bunkers, both below and around the world. From far atop the empty city’s outer wall, Tanuki Man and a few associates watched the affair sullenly.

He listened to X rattle off generalizations about the policies of the new government. It was all depressingly familiar- much like the city itself, it was built on the foundation of the old, dedicated to attempting to reestablish and solidly maintain what had once been the status quo, never mind addressing what about that status quo that had helped bring the world to this point.

Finally, it appeared that X was wrapping up. A convoy of massive many-wheeled vehicles rolled up almost silently to the gate.

“So now, to all humans, to all Reploids, to all inhabitants, I part with these words. In a few short minutes, those of you living underneath this city shall be led up, into the light. Those underneath similarly completed cities shall do the same. Those busses over there shall journey to the nearby shelters and retrieve those within, kept safe from the harsh radiation and winds by their thick walls.”

A blocky robot in Tanuki Man’s group of watchers sneered. “He didn’t mention Robot Masters.”

A cylindrical member responded, “Not like we’re extinct. Plenty of our kind who’re still active helped. Hell, we helped.”

A squat, fox-like Reploid spoke up with a disdainful tone. “He certainly would have done better to just say ‘robotkind’.”

X continued his monologue, his ears deaf to the distant disgruntlement of the older robots, hidden as they were by distance. “Though it weighs on my heart, some of you will not embrace the light today. Some of our cities are yet to be complete, and you have nowhere to go. Soon, though, I promise that much. In the meantime, we are working diligently on new technologies, on a new generation of Reploids. This new generation will be the shepherds of the future, capable of rapidly adapting to the unique conditions of the environment out there as they complete vital work.”

It was Copy Man’s turn to speak up. “I heard of these new-gen’s. They’re kinda the same idea as me- shapeshifters. They’re only, what, 30 years late to the party? As if cracking Dad’s tech is gonna solve their problems immediately.”

This garnered a polite laugh from the gaggle of hecklers.

Meanwhile, X continued. “We will rise to meet the challenges of this brave new world, hand in hand. It falls to us, the Reploids, to safeguard our creators from the new threats. These walls shall stand as long as we are diligent. For a better tomorrow, I hereby formally declare this great city of Neo Arcadia and our grand governing body open.”

Applause and cheers rang out from the crowd below. In disgust, Tanuki Man looked away, back at his friends.

“C’mon, guys. Let’s get out of here. Rather not be the first things they arrest.”

The group of obsolete or dissident robots walked along the thick wall, putting distance between them and the crowd below. After a few minutes, they reached their exit- a stolen tiny VTOL aircraft with no wings and articulated engines that could just barely seat them all, which they had neatly set down atop the wall, far enough away to not be seen approaching. It wasn’t particularly fast, nor could it fly for very long. It truly was about the size of a small car, but none of the robots minded being squished together. They departed for Tin Can, satisfied that the new regime was bound to suck about as much as the last one.

Meanwhile, deep below Neo Arcadia, in the very foundation of the original Arcadia, a computer system stirred. Its name was ASCII, and it had originally been a non-sapient infrastructure control system within Arcadia, running everything from automated public announcements to traffic lights to electronic billboards. By some anomaly, it had gained sentience, thought it was only able to communicate through clever use of its prerecorded messages and through audio it picked up and held onto.

ASCII had been forgotten a while ago, ever reclusive and known about only by those who were listening at the right time and place. Certainly, Neo Arcadia had been built with no consideration for its existence, and now, the computer systems of Sub Arcadia, the new city’s own infrastructure layer, gave Ascii a direct line to the entire city.

It had watched, through rock and metal and time. It had seen the world fall into ruin. It had watched the huddled masses live their days in the shelters around it. In a very vestigial and disconnected sense, it had watched the Tin Can crowd leave the city a few moments ago. It recognized them, and wished it could have spoken to them- on the occasions it had spoken with members, they had always understood best its plight. But there was nothing to do about it, as the city’s radar and cameras picked up the tiny craft less and less.

ASCII asserted its control. It wrote a program and designated specific processes, understanding in mere seconds the complex architecture of the city. It took its place, a place that had never been intended, but a place it felt was right.

In one of its files, it wrote a comment that none would ever read.