Part 28: Robot - Update # 9 - The end

Robot Chapter, Part 9
In Which Darth and Sphere Clean House

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Previously on Live a Live, Sphere spent most of its time wandering back and forth and watching other people do stuff, while occasionally being smacked around by whoever was in a bad mood at the time (mostly Darth) and being hounded by a green creature intent on its destruction. Along the way, Huey, Kato, and the Mother Computer, the only three people who either really liked it or pretended to do so, ended up being killed, being beaten to near death, and being revealed as the killer, respectively.

It's a good thing that Sphere is a mute, otherwise it'd be cussing up a storm right now.

: The Mother Computer?! Do you mean to say that someone tampered with it!?
: No, its program is tamper-proof.
: What!?



: I-I don't know...b-but it's possible.
: If that's true, then this whole time we've been played for fools!



: You'll stick with me. If it assimilates you, it'll be...trouble.

Unfortunately, the elevators are out, so Darth decides instead to do what comes naturally.



: Well then, I'll just use force!

What follows is a short montage wherein Darth knocks the door to the maintenance shaft in, climbs up to the third floor through one of the floor panels, and then shoots the lock off a door. Why couldn't we play as him for this chapter?



: I could destroy the lock, but if I damaged the mainframe, the entire ship'd shut down and we'd all die.



: He should know some way to bypass the computer. Meanwhile, I'll wait here. I'm not going to let the Behemoth get anywhere near this thing!

Unfortunately, since Darth didn't tear the door to the maintenance shaft off its hinges on this floor, we have to use the Power Jack one more time. However, since we have seven more charges left on the thing, I'm sure that we can make do.



This maintenance shaft is boring, consisting of a long ladder and the occasional door leading to one of the three floors. Fortunately, we only need to go to the second floor and run back to Kato's room, so we won't see it for long.



: OD-10 is the ship itself. If we destroy it, we'll never make it back to Earth...Say, that's right, you're a robot! You should be able to get inside its program...



Unfortunately, before we get the chance to inform him that being a robot does not make us instantly qualified to hack into other robots, Kato passes out, thus fulfilling the rest of his role in this chapter.



At this point, the chapter decides that it's been telegraphing its hazards too much, and sends the Behemoth at us the instant we leave the room. It's also a whole lot faster for whatever reason. Maybe it's starting to get hungry. However, with the exception of a locked door that is easily Power Jacked, we are free of hassles for the rest of the chapter once we avoid it.



: Then let's do that! Sheesh, to think that I'd be asking for help from a robot.
: Take this.

"You were given the Transponder Unit."

Despite the name, the device that the corporal hands us before running off is just a fancy radio. After a certain amount of time has elapsed, he'll call us to test it out.

: It's me. Where are you now? I'm at the terminal room, but it doesn't look like there's any way in from here.

This means that it's up to us to find a place to hack into the Mother Computer's programming, and that place is...



...Truly awesome!



: Wait...that's it! Hold on! I'll connect that game to the Mother Computer.
: Ha! Don't play silly buggers with me! That should do it!

Silly whats? Is Darth just making up words now? Unfortunately, before we can criticize him for his use of the English language...



A familiar friend comes in to play.



Shots are fired, the Behemoth shrieks one more time, and then silence...



At least, until this song kicks in.

: Everything within the ship must work in harmony. I was built to maintain harmony. Therefore, my will is absolute. Nobody will stand in my way. Anyone who tries...will be terminated!





Why do I love this chapter? This is why I love this chapter.



Despite the buildup and the obligatory boss music, this fight is actually very tedious, due to being both hard to lose and slow to beat. This is entirely the fault of the Mother Computer's flunkies, called Stabilizers, that do nothing but heal themselves and OD-10 every so often. They will, therefore, be our primary targets for the first phase of the battle.



For some unexplained reason, Sphere now has a boatload of techniques. As indicated by the blue text, the two at the top are healing techs. We'll be using the one called Upgrade a few times at the start of the fight, because not only does it heal a little bit of damage, but it also raises Sphere's stats a sizable amount. After just two or three shots of it, this fight is more or less impossible to lose.



Now, for actually killing the Stabilizers, we have a number of means at our disposal. Mind Hack is ideal for this fight, because it's fast enough to be fired twice before the enemy can heal back the damage. However, Sphere has to be at an ideal distance to use it, so it won't work on the ones in back.



In our upgraded state, it does around 40 damage, which is still downright pathetic, but more than enough to kill these weak little things in two hits.





While it looks pretty cool and hits everybody for a small amount of damage, Noise Stream is not ideal for this battle. Why?



Because the Mother Computer counters all damage to it by healing everything for up to 200 health at a pop, which is more than enough to undo any damage to the Stabilizers.





Spin Drive is Sphere's only physical attack, and given that Sphere is more focused towards elemental and psychic attacks, it doesn't do a whole lot.



That really doesn't matter though, as a quick use of Info Research shows that another Spin Drive will be enough to finish this one off. That's it for the front row, but how are we going to get the ones further back?



Maser Cannon is the answer to this one, albeit a pretty slow answer, because it's the only one of Sphere's moves that needs time to charge.





You can't deny that it gets results though.

Five more instances of waiting for Sphere to charge the Maser Cannon later...



By the way, it's possible to use Info Research on the boss itself as well, and it might be a good idea at this stage of the battle. Just be warned, once you do...



...This battle will start to get a lot worse.



In this form, Mother Computer's healing counter has been replaced by a fairly powerful attack that seeds a 3x3 area with electrical fields. It will incorporate this attack into its regular fighting pattern as well, which means that from this point, Sphere is better off just using High Speed Op, its main healing technique, over and over.

Now, why in the world would we want the Mother Computer to start attacking nonstop?





Because Sphere's got a counterattack of its own, and it does 100+ damage every time it gets struck with elemental damage at close range. It also can counter with High Speed Op if struck with a physical attack, making it nigh-invincible so long as its foe does a medium to small amount of damage.



After four or five instances of Anti Field, this anti-fight ends anticlimactically. What anti-fun!



: I was given the job of protecting this crew, but the humans who gave me this job fought amongst themselves, destroyed all sense of balance, tried to disturb the operation of this ship. I do not understand humans. Humans...cannot be trusted.



"A select portion of the conversations recorded were purged."

: You're a damn coward! Don't you forget! That's why Rachel dumped you!
: This ship is a piece of crap! You'd be better off trying to swim through space!
: I know exactly what's going through your head. You thought that if you killed Kirk...You thought that I'd come back to you, right!? That's what you thought! Right!?
: Y-you!! You killed everyone!!
: I'd like to say it isn't hopeless, but given the circumstances...

Judging by this, at least the captain was a shining example of goodness and purity, given that he didn't get a quote that reinforced how utterly repulsive humankind is.



Just when the computer is on a roll with its "Humans are weird, yo!" speech, it finally stops, and the screen at the top of the break room flickers to life.



: This vessel uses an intelligent maintenance system, designation OD-10. Due to troubles with the system, the Computer's logic circuits have been disabled. This should have no effect on normal activities, but if something that seems unusual occurs, please do not hesitate to ask a crew member about it.



Speaking of crew members, Darth is alive apparently, albeit favoring one foot over the other.

: I'm all right, I can't be killed that easy. You don't believe me? Well, whatever. That doesn't make any difference now anyway.

As Darth helps Sphere up onto a seat at the table and finds one for himself, Cry a Live comes on again. I sense a monologue on the horizon!



: There was a huge war. I can never forget that fear...Combat robots, or rather, the computers within their heads. Many of my friends died at the hands of those machines. Machines built by humans...we're such a foolish species.



: But fortunately, you were born on this cargo vessel and not a military ship. Huey told you to learn, and that's what you should do. Don't do anything to hurt another human!

Don't try to impose your silly Asimov rules on us, mister!

: Hmph! Telling a robot to think? Heh, I guess I've really gone off the deep end. Geez...



: Before I get off this ship, I think I'd like to have a taste of your coffee.

Now, this is actually a bit of a trap, because there is a bit more to do around the ship, all of which will be covered in the next update. For now, let's get the man a cup of amateur espresso.

: Mm...this certainly is bitter, but...





And with that, we fade to the ending credits. It's been a fun month for me, all things considered. After we polish off a few last details in the next update, my work will be done.