Chapter 315 - Recursion

"Uh, huh..." Afton mutters, "Before anything else, can you turn your Giant Robo-Scorpion off? It's probably finished destroying all the Protectrons by now."

"Oh, of course! I forgot!... I was wondering what as causing all those power outages..." Mobius says, floating over to a big red button and pressing it with a manipulator.​​

Afton thumbs the handle of the [Fallen Ranger Sequoia], wondering where to go from here... Mobius was undoubtedly a genius, a robotics expert Dr. Zero could never hope to be. Yet, his mental stability would make it terribly hard to give him a project... Though, it also made him pretty easily manipulated if he played his cards right.

First things first though... "Why did you steal my brain?"

"Oh, a variety of raisins... Reasons? Reasons." the scientist slowly corrects himself after flubbing his words, "You're something of an anomaly, quite special indeed, and not in the cranially-challenged way... You see, you are the most successful brain extraction experiment ever performed here in Big Mt, aside from our own of course. You are a victim of your own success, as the saying goes... I think?

If you were to go back with what your brain knows about the procedure, well... Your brain could be popped back in and you could walk right out of here. Can't have brains moving of their own volition after all." the scientist says with a chuckle.

"What do you mean? Aren't you able to move around with only your brain? That's what the robot-body is for right?" Afton curiously asks.

"Ah, well, you see, our robotic bodies were specifically designed to not bypass the fence. Though, I can't remember why this is the case, but I think there was a very good raisin for it. Everything I do needs a good raisin, otherwise, what's the point! Hehehehe!"

...

"So, there was a good reason for spamming Klein's inbox with threats, apologies, and whatever else he didn't care to mention?"

"Oh, don't mind that. I'm sure you know what it's like to accidentally dose yourself with psycho and only find out who you murdered hours afterwards." he says nonchalantly.

Afton raises a brow, "Wait, so all the threats you sent to the Think Tank were literally just a Psycho-fueled rampage?" he asks, this would certainly change things, considering the Think Tank were under the impression that Mobius wanted to invade, steal all their brains, and take over the world or something equally stereotypical.

"Hmm. Partly... Aha! The other raisin was for something like, ethics?... Conscience? Perhaps something to do with morality, or, Mhm, Theology? Bah!" The scientist makes a sound as if it were spitting on the floor, "Of course not theology!... Anyway, I can't exactly let them leave, can I?"

"Why not?" Afton asks, immediately feeling stupid for asking such a question. Of course the scientists couldn't be allowed to leave Big Mt! Who knows what kind of destruction they'd cause while experimenting on literally everything that moved, and did not.

"My colleagues were always more science forward, as opposed to anything related to 'common decency' or what is 'morally right'. I was always the one objecting to their experiments which tried to push the boundaries, as it were... Personally, I still think extracting a babies bones to see how it would grow is a little too much... Anyway, that is the raisin I reprogrammed everyone, changing their names and forcing a recursion loop in their perception programming... Or, atleast, I think I did? Perhaps the answer would be written on one of the walls around here..."

Wow, he hadn't been expecting that... Mobius had essentially 'mind-raped' the other scientists, stopping their ability to learn, process information, etc. Afton could see why this would be needed, as the scientists would eventually find a way to disable the Tesla fence keeping them all in the crater.

Additionally, it was probably a good thing the Auto-Doc fried itself after extracting his brain, otherwise they could've used the data it'd acquired to properly complete the procedure to put their brains back into organic bodies... Why, they could most certainly steal a Lobotomite's body and use it as their own if they acquired such knowledge.

Afton connects the dots and looks at Mobius in a slightly new light, "So, you reprogrammed them to stop them breaking out into the wasteland, I'm guessing your 'Evil Dr. Mobius' bit was to keep them occupied then?

"I think you've cracked the case!" Mobius says, "Er, I mean, I think I did all of that. Along with reprogramming their chronometers, geometers, and cartography programmes. Their histories are forgotten, all that exists to them now is Big Mt. For the good of man, animal, robot, and other-creature-kind, this is the best outcome." Mobius says, a bit forlornly.

Afton shakes his head, "I doubt this is the best outcome... The scientists are still active after all, lobotomizing any unfortunate traveller who gets caught in their path. How many thousands have been crippled or killed by them? If you truly wanted the best for man-kind then you would have eliminated them outright." he states.

"I see the logic in your argument but... Despite their flaws, crimes, and moral-evils they have committed. They are, were, still my friends. Everything I have done, every action I have taken in these long, long years has been for their sakes..." Mobius says in a moment of clarity... "Or maybe I just couldn't be bothered? Who knows!" Before returning to his mad, senile, self.

Afton shakes his head, If Mobius had just killed the scientists off in the first place then Christine wouldn't have had to go through their experiments... Though, he likely would have perished due to the Fungus ravishing his body as well... "Still, I think it would have been to everyone's benefit to have just eliminated them there and then..."

Mobius seems to shake his chassis, "All would have gone according to plan D, or was it E? Anyway, if it weren't for your arrival I'm sure everything would have been fine... That fungus attempting to strangle your brain allowed the Auto-Doc to recalibrate its medical procedure enough to fix its initial errors... All I could do was steal your brain and destroy it, but as soon as you started speaking to the Think Tank, giving them the idea of what might be outside Big Mt, things started going sideways..."