Nothing

[McWolf 3,115]

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Vacation is a weird theme to write about. Hornet is a robot. A sentient steambot, sure, but still a robot. Robots

each have a purpose. They have a job to do, and when they're not required to do it, they just rest until they're

needed once again. Hornet's previous purpose was as the assistant for an old man running a shipyard in Halifax,

NS. But when its owner died, Hornet lost its purpose. Being sentient, it was able to designate a new purpose for

itself, which is how it became a hockey player. But even with no one to truly answer to, Hornet respects the main

principles of robot purposes. It plays hockey when it is required to play hockey, then rest when it is not.

 

It doesn't need vacations. It doesn't need to visit new places, or faraway lands. Hornet knows what it needs to

know, and it doesn't even understand the concept of these other things it doesn't know. The steambot's life is

what his algorithm dictates. Hockey, rest, hockey, rest, hockey, rest. It's content with that. It never actually

needed anything more than that. And it's still somewhat true, despite the sudden change in its personality, the

malfunctions in its algorithm caused by a violent hit to the head from rival power forward Mikko Lahtinen.

 

The routine isn't as clear to Hornet as it used to be. It used to just naturally turn on when it was time to go to the

arena and get ready for a game, and then it would naturally power down when it was back in its lodgings. It

used to know what it was doing at all times. Playing hockey was easy. Skate, pass, deke, score, and stay out of

the penalty box. The VHL official rule book was hard coded in its algorithm by then, it was used to it. But now it

all got blurry. It's still a terrific hockey player, just look at the price Beaviss paid to get him in Vancouver. But it's a

whole lot more violent, a whole lot more disturbed now. It's not at peace within itself.

 

Hockey isn't as enjoyable for Hornet as it used to be. It knows that it shouldn't hit  his opponents so much. It

knows it should try to not get penalized so much. But when it's on the ice, everything gets increasingly

b̷l̵u̶r̴r̸y̷

ẗ̵̰̽͐̍̿w̵̡̑̈́̈́̽͠i̵̼͙̦̜͍͗̇̐͜š̶̲ͅt̴̖͙̮̎̽͐̃̑ȇ̶̖̱̥̲̻͖d̵̳̯͔͚̬̝̑́̔

d̸̨̨̲̹̬̝̗̠̯̞͍̼̝̥̙̋̆̔̀̄̊̓̍̂́̽̇̔͌͛̃̂͘͘̕͠͝ͅį̶͈̣̹̫͖̺̑̄̽̃̆͋̒s̵̡͈͙̳͉̬͉͚̠͇͚̮͙͉̥̠̭̉̃̾̿̅̿͒̎͆̐̊̉͛͘͜͜͝ͅt̸̙͓͗̈́̈́́̈́̈́̅̏̎̽̂͝ö̷͈̘̭́͂̾̒̕͘͜ŗ̵̳̺͚̼̩̠̫̳̏͗̋̅̇̐̈́̐̒̕͝ͅţ̸̳̼̆͊͗̈́̆̐̀́̂̈́̚͠e̶̝̟̼̞̹̣̹̰̹͇̭̤͚̟͆̒̉͆́͐̀́͐̕̚͜d̵̙̜̗̯̹̃͋̌́͂͜

 

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But there's one thing that never changed for the Haligonian steambot.

Rest never changed.

Rest chases the bad thoughts away.

It sharpens the blur.

It straighten the twists.

It reforms, reshapes the distortions.

Rest is where Hornet feels at home now.

So much that the steambot feels like resting is its new purpose.

Rest is basically for Hornet the android equivalent to human vacations.

Rest is simple, rest is peace, rest is nothing.

 

Nothing.

 

And it's perfect this way.

Three more seasons, and Hornet will be freed from this blurry, twisted, distorted reality.

Three more seasons before it finally gets to power down forever.

Three seasons before it gets to be nothing forever.

 

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Edited February 11, 2021 by McWolf

[McWolf 3,115]

Nothing.

Hornet's dark take on mental illness, or something like that.

[mattyIceman 1,213]

I'm interested more in Hornet's inner algorithms and learning processes.  It seems to have learned what nothing is, so that's quite an accomplishment

[Xflexz 179]

This was a masterpiece that belongs in the hall of robotic work. The pure entertainment of this was amazing I freakin love it 10/10

[solas 1,951]

This is really cool and creative.  I don't often see many articles like this which is why I'm such a big fan.  I wasn't aware of Hornet's backstory, which I really liked, and I enjoyed the twist you put on it.  Honestly, I don't see many people actually building characters for their players very often (maybe I'm just not looking close enough), which is why I really like this article.  The formatting is really well done here too and adds to the tone of the article.  Great job.  10/10