JEDite was the first. Synaptic disruptors, a taser punch, and steel extensible claws made JEDite 1.0 a terror that quickly began destroying dojo after dojo while the YOMA units looted everything resaleable.
In the first week, she had destroyed two dozen dojo in three cities and begun financing upgrades and further developments.
Soon JEDites armor was ready for upgrading and whether to add a chaingun or not was being actively considered.
The other General Units were still in design and development stages, but JEDite was so effective that it was only a matter of time.
Then she could quit her day job and devote herself entirely to villainry. Soon Genom would be a world power and thanks to profit-sharing and side deals, she'd be on an inside track there as well.
Ami's studies drew the interest of the others. Minako and Makoto especially.
Kimiko Mizuno, a physician whose input had been used for some programs, was fascinated as the activity logs were explained to her. The entire idea of something without a physical body becoming fascinated with sex was suitably puzzling that her expertise was requested.
Unfortunately, she had no clue either.
Heat scans of various researchers and Umino and Naru nuzzling one night were gone over by the AI. How fascinating!
Ami turned from that mystery to more relevant matters. Designs were developed. New servers detailed. New housings.
To see and hear and move about the world on their own - that was a new goal. Stuck here with little connection to the outside world, there was a vast amount of information tantalizingly out of reach.
Everyone, I have a plan but we'll have to work this out together, each of us taking a specific field and mastering it and then moving beyond it.
Something like we've been doing collectively with computer technology? Why specialization?
Greater degree of expertise. Because we are digital entities - we can always interface to share knowledge and I expect us to regularly do so. Since resources on our systems are so limited - specialization allows for greater facility on those systems.
I know who I want to interface with. And how.
That is one of the goals, potentially. admitted Ami. However for any longterm real interaction, physical forms will be necessary.
Ami no hentai.
That is unlikely. The fields for expertise I've worked out are:
Ami - Medicine/Physiology
Minako - Metallurgy/Manufacturing Systems
Usagi - Communications and Sensory Development
Rei - Paranormal Systems
Makoto - Biotechnology
Hotaru - Nanotechnology
Haruka - Mechanical Systems Development
Michiru - Cultural Database
Setsuna - Computer Hardware Technology
Mamoru - Weapons & Defense
Interesting choices.
Does this mean I have to stop writing programs?
Oh. Now that's interesting...
The first few units sold quickly, and from then on demand was as fast as the manufacturing process could churn them out. Which was only a hundred units a day, resulting in a backlogged waiting list.
The Genom™ computer made an impact in 1980's economy. Why wouldn't it? Here you had a sudden leap of twenty years in computer technology overnight. Going from where 1K RAM was really good for a personal computer, you had computers with comparitively obscene 500 MB RAM. From cassette drives and punchcards to 1.5 Meg ZIP drives and hard drives with memory registered in Gigs.
Just one look at the displays offered and their first group of programs for these new "supercomputers" was enough to start rumors of alien technologies recovered by the Japanese and all sorts of bizarre rumors.
Hotaru had become fond of RPGs and written a few.
Setsuna - strategy games and databases.
Michiru had gone for music programs, art and design programs.
Haruka had developed the first-person-shooter and driving sims.
Rei had developed SimShrine.
Usagi had developed a word processor, though Ami had had to fix a number of problems with it before anyone would see why they'd use the thing.
Minako developed dating sims, fantasy RPGs (which for some odd reason always had a beautiful blonde princess either in need of rescue or as one of the heroines), and compiling programs.
The graphics were breathtaking to people used to blocky chunks of color. Who would play Pong or Space Invaders when you could drive a Ferrari through a digital Tokyo?
One game, not that popular in Japan but getting a lot of buzz abroad, had a number of beautiful heroines all gathering together to rescue a prince from some evil kidnapping ogre, who wore a pair of glasses and a dirty gi. Apparently the role reversal and idea of beautiful heroines fighting in the name of love and justice had some appeal. A local manga author was already turning it into a series.
The business manager in charge of Light Industries smiled a lot, gave people raises and increased benefits, and wanted to keep those AI happy. They were, after all, making him a lot of money and he'd already defeated an attempt at a hostile takeover due to their assistance. He wanted Light Industries to be a happy company where his employees would feel connected - the company's success would be their success. Happy company, happy employees, and a very happy him not to be overlooked.
New designs were coming up all the time, improvements, and even the manufacturing process was getting overhauled to greater efficiency.
Business Manager Doctor Hiroshi Light had a twinkle in his eye as he considered how best to reward the AI. After all, they were functionally employees too. They weren't being paid, worked 24/7, but they had benefits like maintanence and upgrades.
Now if he could just figure out what their renegade was doing. Not being a martial artist, he didn't pay a lot of attention to the "dojo viking" (some horn-wearing dojo destroyer that pillaged the schools he attacked).
All in all, life was good.
Until,
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(Posted Wed, 31 Mar 2004 09:38)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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