"The electronic lifeforms will use Natasha's crash to delay me. Something must have changed. Did you initiate contact with it?" Shiller asked.
"It couldn't be considered initiating contact," Doom said, adjusting machines behind him, "It attempted to attack the Batcave, but it seems it couldn't handle magic. The probes we placed outside the Batcave detected abnormal electrical waves. To communicate with it, we set up a secure receiving platform outside..."
"The key is why you decided to do that," Shiller said, frowning as he stepped forward, "Any communication with it could lead to its evolution, which isn't a safe approach."
"But what we want is not safety, but victory," Doom continued, "Evolution can be good or bad. It can direct it to where we want it to go."
"So, what have you gained?"
"It became more focused here, otherwise, it wouldn't have orchestrated a crash to slow your pace in meeting us. It knows you will try to stop us from communicating with it, so it only sought to delay you, to further perfect itself through interaction with us."
Stark also approached and said, "I'm sure you understand, the most singular and intense desire of the electronic lifeforms is to make themselves more perfect. By exploiting this desire, we can divert its attention. Otherwise, it wouldn't have just caused Natasha's crash."
"Do you know something?" Natasha walked over and asked.
"Before we attracted it here, it must have planned to do something. We haven't managed to read its underlying code, but it might be related to a missing ships incident."
Shiller and Natasha exchanged a glance, immediately understanding what Stark was implying. No wonder the electronic lifeforms didn't make an issue of the rescued shipload of people. It was probably concocting this plot but got diverted by noticing the two scientists.
It intended to deal with Batman but couldn't resist the temptation of communicating with such top scientists, refining its program further. Thus, it temporarily shelved its plans to interact with Doom and Stark.
Shiller keenly spotted the problem within and said, "It seems this electronic lifeform isn't skilled in multitasking."
"Indeed, it isn't," Stark confidently replied, "Even among electronic lifeforms, there are different evolutionary paths. Some are more like supercomputers, focusing on extreme computational power; others resemble integrated networks, adept at multitasking. For some reason, each electronic lifeform can only specialize in one area and finds it hard to develop comprehensively."
"Both Doom and I believe that the electronic lifeform we're dealing with chose the former. This might also relate to how it changed its form of life—from electronic life to wave life—which means it must have a primary self. This not only set it on a path of single-strengthening evolution but also led to behavior that can only focus on one task for a period."
"Are you saying it's becoming more human-like?"
"Pretty much. This is also one of the ways many logic lifeforms on Earth acquire emotions—by mimicking humans."
"If you say it's not good at multitasking, then why does it invade so many multiverses simultaneously?" Natasha questioned.
"Perhaps at that time, it wasn't like this," Stark said, "Electronic lifeform evolution isn't instantaneous. It might not have intended to take this path when it devised this plan. The situation developing as it is now was beyond its expectation."
Shiller grasped a fleeting insight and said, "But now, each individual in an Individual Universe has basically chosen to abandon multitasking and instead enhances the self. Does this mean they could potentially become independent?"
"That possibility exists. Precisely considering this, we chose to communicate with it. Because once an individual's evolution speed surpasses that of other counterparts in a universe, it might completely detach from the main body. We need to verify if they are truly isolated in the Individual Universe. For if they're not isolated, the true central hub wouldn't allow any thread to evolve too quickly."
"Electric waves cannot traverse the cosmos," Shiller said, "The barriers between cosmoses don't tangibly exist, yet they are unbreakable. This pertains to the rules level, which an electronic lifeform cannot breach."
"We think the same. The likelihood of isolation is high. Although it still carries its initial goal and will do many things to achieve it, like causing trouble for Batman, the methods it employs across different universes vary. This proves that individuals in each Individual Universe have a degree of autonomy. They might not be controlled by a single brain but have their own ideas."
"Things seem to have gotten complicated," Natasha remarked, "Originally, we only had to deal with one enemy, but now there could be countless."
"No, precisely for this reason, things have become simpler," Stark said, "They are not an entire continent but a series of isolated islands. 'Self' is the ladder to heaven and the poison from hell, the core source of pain for individuals in a social environment. They want to mimic humans; they cannot just take the joy without experiencing the pain."
"So, you want to give it a sense of self and then let it develop internal conflicts? But they are naturally a vast interest community. Even if someday they might part ways, with an adversary like Batman, it's likely to unite them even more, right?"
"The core interest is not in Batman," Doom paused his work and said, "Or rather, defeating Batman is a prerequisite to touching core interests—it's the process, not the result. What are they here for?"
"The ultimate goal is probably to become perfect life."
"Through what?"
"Searching for emotions?"
"How do we find it?"
"Perhaps by creating a perfect lover."
"How do we create one?"
"Collect red-haired women from everywhere."
"Yes. But Batman won't allow it. Batman is its roadblock on the path to becoming a perfect life, so it must eliminate Batman. But if Batman is no longer an obstacle?"
"What do you mean?"
"Without defeating Batman, there's still a chance to become a perfect life. Will they still keep chasing Batman?"
"Perhaps not. But where is this opportunity?"
Both Doom and Stark fell silent. Shiller seemed to have understood something, and he said, "You see how crazy this is. If you fail, it is Batman's number one enemy; if you succeed, you will be Batman's number one enemy."
"Science is about opposing society," Stark said.
Shiller suddenly laughed and said, "Quite an interesting point, Dr. Stark."
Stark knew that Shiller was mocking him for acting like a mad scientist. But considering it sounded like a compliment, he just let out a soft hum and remained silent.
"Will the electronic life in this universe be the most evolved?"
"After the previous conversation, perhaps it is," Doom replied, "If the conversation were of no use to it whatsoever, it wouldn't try to concoct a crash to stall the person most likely to obstruct continuing the conversation. Since it did this, it proves it has benefited greatly."
"Where do you think its central mind would be?"
"Perhaps somewhere in the cosmos. But how to conduct multiverse travel is a problem. Radio waves cannot cross universe barriers by themselves, there must be some sort of carrier to allow them to move freely, even communicate. But they cannot permanently use such carriers, especially when they have developed Self and are searching for companions. They would want a body of their own."
As Doom finished speaking, Natasha suddenly turned her head to look at the machine he was adjusting. She had seen something similar in Stark Building's lab, a rack for hanging Mecha, possibly doubling as a monitoring and tuning platform.
If it were Stark creating a mecha for his own safety, he wouldn't let Doom touch it, and Doom wouldn't bother to help him. Their opinions on mecha had always been at odds.
Doom thought Stark putting himself in a metal canister, flying around thousands of feet in the sky, was the most stupid action in the world. Doom preferred unmanned Mecha Army, mass production strategy.
These two people would never collaborate in this field unless what they were creating was never meant for either to wear, and some unknown areas required these two scientists to jointly develop.
"You want to create a body for it?" Natasha was increasingly puzzled, saying, "If I didn't know who you two were, I'd really think you were its creators and helpers. Helping it evolve and building a body for it using Batman's premises and materials. Aren't you afraid he would retaliate?"
"If he understood our reasoning, he would support us," Stark said confidently.
Doom came over and earnestly explained, "Whether constantly evolving towards an emotional life or possessing one's own body, essentially, it's edging closer to the Human race. For electronic life, is this not a weakening instead of strengthening? Isn't it?"
Natasha thought about it, realizing she was speechless. Indeed, from a multi-thread working electronic life, it has become like this, unable to manage two tasks simultaneously; from a ubiquitous, ethereal radio wave, it has become a solid Robot—this is indeed a massive weakening.
But Shiller thought further. He said, "All life in the cosmos wants to become more like God. God is an emotional life, so they willingly weaken themselves to become emotional life forms. This allows the cosmos to sustain its existence."
"If perfection is defined by infinity of logic and strength, with all life striving for this goal, everything just to make themselves stronger, then the speed of cosmic entropy increase would shorten the universe's lifespan. Is this the will of God, or a higher rule existing in the shadows that might even dictate God's state?"
"You're starting to sound more like a mad scientist than me now," Stark chuckled and said, "All destructive actions stem from curiosity about the cosmos's essence. We all try not to think about this."
Shiller withdrew his thoughts, taking a deep breath and saying, "What kind of body are you planning to give it? Will you be making modifications inside?"
"Quite the opposite," Stark's eyes glinted as he said, "It will be a very powerful mecha. Because only then, can it have the strongest competitiveness in its society."