CHAPTER 8: Intelligence and the Artificial Intelligence

The girl kept thinking about Rocky’s story and turned to Bass, “Rocky told me his myth of endurance to overcome the fear of the unknown.  I was surprised that it took years to develop his unique features.  That’s a long, long time.”

“It took a hundred years to grow that giant oak in the Hofgarten in Bayreuth.  There are no shortcuts for beautiful things, although we naively expect a quick fix in this world,” retorted Bass.

“There are no shortcuts for beautiful things, although we naively expect a quick fix in this world.”

Bass the Sturdy Guardian

“Does every magical creature have an origin where the mage drew the beastie image and fabricated a myth?”

“Flora and I were initially posed in a still life painting in the mage’s studio in the southern hemisphere,” said Bass, “Later she decided to change the art genre somehow and redrew us in her magic journal.”

Flora nodded with a smile.

“My image was formed under the Aurora Borealis dancing above our heads,” Don overheard and joined in, waltzing around them.

“I could not remember where,” muttered Chococo as she looked at Bicana.

“We were in a kindergarten class,” said Bianca.

Then everyone turned their gaze to Prince.  Prince felt uneasy.  The conversation was soon interrupted as passengers were scrambling to alight from the train at the Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof.  In order to escape further questions, Prince got off swiftly and fled to the concourse via the stairs.

The girl, in her hurry, went up to the printed-paper notice board on the arrival platform for more information on the train schedule, trying to find a quiet and the quickest train to their next destination in the evening of the next day.  “From platform 7, InterCity Express train ICE 500 would leave at 20:04pm on weekdays for Bamberg with only one stop at Erlangen,” she muttered to herself.

Meanwhile, a ball figure rolled out from the shadow behind the notice board.  Part robot, part lightbulb, and part construction apparatus, the droid-like beast was genuinely a vicious villain by default, equipped with a razor-sharp drill and a heavy-duty clamp.  He glanced up to the girl.

“I shall replace Georgia Yilton!” sputtered the evil droid, “She should disappear from this world, and I will take her place, her friends, and everything else.”

The evil droid declared a fiendish attack.   Since modern conveniences replaced the use of magic, the villain’s ambition was to replace Georgia Yilton at work and to take over her possessions.  Soon he detached his spherical body shell in parts, turned fiercely upon his target, and pointed the deadly weapon to aim.

The girl was so focused studying the train options and found delight in a special note that the Bordrestaurant was located in section B, where they served her favourite Gulaschsuppe in a hot bowl.  She was planning to make a small proposal to Prince later.  She was completely unaware of any harm.

Bass was startled when he saw the villain’s drill coming closer to the girl.  He strode forward forcefully to protect the girl and growled at the villain, “Oh, no, not again!”

Bass saw the villain quail.  The villain rapidly withdrew his weapons.  When the girl’s attention was drawn to the mess, what she saw was Bass rolling a magical creature down the baggage ramp on the side of the staircase and forging steadily through the crowded passage.  She realised that she was last in the group and so quickly followed them.

Don and Flora led the way.  They knew they could be reunited with Prince when they reached the most magnificent castle of the city.  The villain was escorted by Bass and Rocky under guard.

Bass was soon distracted by the gradual crescendo from the organ nearby.  His heart kept time with the third stave of the bass clef.  As the twin towers of the medieval church Lorenzkirche was within sight, his strings followed his heart and bounded down the street, leaving Rocky to keep the villain under surveillance.

Inside the three-aisled Gothic basilica, there was an imposing Late Gothic (Sondergotik) choir and an organ built with 12,000 pipes and 165 registers.  Not just numbers, it meant engineering precision and exquisite craftsmanship in the construction of the masterpiece.  The organ pumped out musical notes, loud and powerful as the thunder, to roam the church and to reach for the heaven.  It also lullabied the broken hearts to regain their strength.

Meanwhile, the villain was seduced to another concert experience of the city.  He was mesmerised by the street music that the musician played with his saxophone.  Some pedestrians reacted and synchronized to the beat as they walked, and some stopped by, enjoyed, and tapped their feet a little.  The villain was eager to learn everything about arts and music, some skills that he found extremely difficult to master and analyse the programming rules for developing the artificial intelligence.  Music was impossible to clone.  From air turning to wind, and from wind transforming to sound, then the variations fashioned a tune or a melody, called music, that could change one’s temper completely.

“Music is the most dangerous and powerful weapon of all times,” grumbled the villain as his wicked heart melted to a soft one.  Indeed, in this morally bankrupt world, music washed away wickedness.

Prince conducted his routine investigation into the magic spell in the formidable Nürnberger Burg built on the highest sandstone ridge of the city.  A complex of medieval fortified buildings, including the Kaiserburg, the Burggrafenburg, and the Reichsstädtische Bauten, represented power, glory, and the riches of the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages and the Imperial City of Nürnberg.

Prince’s pride was stung again.  He started getting used to feeling defeated.  He learnt to appreciate the purpose of his assignment, perhaps not with the prize coming with it, but in the idea to live alive, to explore, and to challenge the established wisdom.

The non-winged beastie buddies finally arrived at the defensive tower Sinwellturm.  Once they saw Prince, they were all eager to tell him what their adventure was like to chaperon the evil droid up the hill for his ruling.

Amid the chatter, the girl asked the droid gently, “Hey, little fella, what’s your name?”

“I don’t have a name, but I could be identified by my serial number,” responded the droid dryly, “BU1b-773D-N9418-CA03-2TV5-X2X8.”

(Bravo, Uniform, One, lower-case Bravo, Double-seven, Three, Delta…)

“Bee-You-One-Bee…” the girl could not memorize the whole serial number.  “And why do you want to be someone else?” the girl frowned, “By being you, you will be happy.”

The droid did not respond.

“How about us calling you Bulb?” suggested the girl, “That’s what your first group of letters and digits looks like when written.  And as you have a lightbulb inside your body, the name certainly reveals your biggest character and personality trait.”

“I like that,” the tungsten filament inside turned to a W-shaped smile.  “You have given me a name!  That’s the best gift ever.”

Prince was astonished that the fight was won without shedding blood.  Then the gang was growing bigger.  The girl was happy.