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Quote

"For millions of years, mankind lived just like animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk."
- Stephen Hawking.

This entire fic has a running theme of misinformation. History has been split apart; humans believe one thing while reploids know another. Because of these differences, they are constantly on the edge with eachother. The only way to resolve this problem is through communication.

Summary

Timeline: Present

This episode introduces X and Zero a number of years later. They haven't seen eachother in a long time; it took the death of an old friend to bring them together. Dr. Caine was responsible for the creation of reploids and the degradation that afflicts them all, and now he is dead. X meets a new person named Anyi; she tells him that the old doctor was on the verge of a major discovery before he died. He turned over all of his documents to her in confidence and she has vowed to finish the work.

Trivia

Cluster One is the introductory track to The Division Bell by Pink Floyd, sharing the same thematic point of the fic. The idea of being too old to change and simply growing apart.

Calling the bird a simulant was intentional; machines built with only rudimentary AI are referred to as simulants. Blade Runner fans should know the popular origin of that particular word.

The name of the story itself is "Poles Apart". Another track from The Division Bell, specifically stating just how easy it is to split apart over time. It refers to both the human/reploid split and the continuing loss of friendship between X and Zero.

World

I give enough clues throughout the first few chapters as to the location and time of the story. It takes place in southern Australia in late September. That is why nights are starting shorten and daytime is only "a few weeks away" by the time they reach the South Pole in chapter 5.

It should be reasonably clear that Australia is part of some "global government" and the main place to live for humanity in the future. The map is only an approximation.

Machine Terminology:

Android: It's a term to refer to any intelligent machine that possesses cognitive ability.

Reploid: Any intelligent machine based on Caine production models. X and Zero are the only known exceptions to still exist.

Bolt: A derogatory term used by humans to describe androids (and sometimes Simulants).

Simulant: A machine designed to look like a species for simple tasks and does not possess any cognitive ability. Any animal robots are referred to as simulants. Insect simulants (sometimes used for tracking and detection) also exist.

Robot Master: Exactly the same as a Simulant, but it was the term used long ago.

Degradation: A process through which an android (not a Simulant or other machinery) loses reason and has extreme emotional feedback.

Maverick: The reploid term for degradation. The first known victim on record is Sigma, the first production model reploid created by Dr. Caine. The "virus" is believed to be simply a process and not transmissible. All Reploids are believed to contain the flaw that causes the problem. It is incurable and the cause has yet to be found. Since all research has halted due to low public opinion, it is likely the few remaining Reploids will eventually lose their sanity.

Science

Facial Analysis: Facial recognition is nothing new at all. In fact, we can see partial 2D faces and reconstruct 3D meshes based on even a bad photograph. X also has this ability, using his eyes (which can scan across the entire electromagnetic spectrum and not just visible light) to completely reconstruct any object or person he sees. His navigation is through his own virtual reproduction of his surroundings. In other words, he analyzes and reconstructs the world around him; it is that world with which he interacts. If someone were to hijack his sensors, he could be made to believe or see things which do not match reality. This will be an issue in a future chapter.

Internal Works: Anything consumed is reduced to component atoms and incinerated by a cold fusion generator. In other words, food and drink are not necessary but can be prepared and reduced to ash. Their primary source of power is to use deuterium (not hydrogen; the fusion process is not similar to a star). The cold fusion reaction produces tritium and a proton.

Shielding is required to keep a completely closed system for the process. Any excess heat generated cools through a layer of titanium ceramic before reaching the skin, radiating at approximately 300 Kelvin. Any other exhaust necessary (due to using the stored tritium, for example) is done using a secondary coolant system (seen as breathing).

Their weapon (in X's case, an arm cannon) uses plasma. Plasma is a part of electricity. Their weapons use tritium (generated as a by-product of their main power source) to generate these wild energies. That is why, whenever X is charging his cannon, electricity radiates from his fingertips. The weapon's accuracy is regulated by pushing the protons (also a by-product) through conduits just underneath the skin, interacting with the free-floating electrons in the steel of the blaster.