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[Well it's the birdbrain again, this time, holding up something pink and glowing.]

[He looks completely bewildered. But that's nothing new.]

What is this? It just -- I was talking to someone, and it just appeared.

Did I do something wrong?

[And yes, that's a serious question.]

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Then... what is it?

It just appeared out of nowhere.

It's called the crest of light. [Ryan puts his crest back on, tucking it into his shirt.] My partner has told me that they appear when the Digital World has decided that you're worthy of them - which seems to be randomly, at best.

Light...

[Then he shakes his head, all but shoving the little crest at the screen.]

No. No, I'm not worthy. It's a mistake.

You don't get to decide that. Nobody ever gets to decide for themselves if they're worthy or not. [Ryan shrugs.] It's yours, whether you like it or not.

But I'm not!

I'm only a prototype. I'm not even the finished version. I don't deserve something like this!

Hey. Listen to me. [Ryan's voice suddenly becomes extremely serious.] Whatever you think about yourself is not everything you are. Even if you think your role is defined by being inferior, always being behind someone, you can change that.

[A beat.] . . . Your story is what you make it. Have a little faith in yourself, okay?

But --

I'm not human. I'm not like you. And he... he was the reason I exist. How can I change, or become something more? If I surpass him, then... what do I do?

[This is really hard for the kid to grasp. Robot or no, he was barely online for a few months before coming here.]

[Sheltered doesn't even begin to describe it.]

Faith?

Honey, trust me: this one's not about being human or robot or alien or anything else. It doesn't matter what you are, you don't have to be defined by something else. You're letting yourself be defined by someone else.

Trust me, I've spent spent so long playing second fiddle and being in someone else's shadow that I get it. Your whole world, you entire being . . . all of it defined by somebody else. When you take that away, what's left?

The answer is you, and the light within you that can shine brighter than you ever realized. You just have to let it. You just have to let yourself be you instead of the shadow of somebody else.

And that's difficult. And it took me . . . so long to stop thinking of myself as the inferior version of my sister. I still slip into it sometimes, because that's easier. It easier to think that I'm just a bad copy. I would have kept thinking that forever if nobody had ever told me I didn't have to be that.

So you don't either, okay? Forget about this guy who messed you up by telling you that you were worthless. Just . . . Be who you'd like to be.

[Wait, what.]

Honey?

[Okay no, onto the real conversations here.]

Yes... he was -- is everything to me. All my life. All my memories. It's because of him. I'm his prototype -- his shadow. Without him... I don't have a purpose.

I am the bad copy. I... don't. I don't know if it's possible for just a prototype to be anything else. He wasn't my sister.

[He shakes his head.]

But he never said I was worthless. You're a human being. You have a heart. You can't be worthless.

My sister and I are twins, which is like . . . we're basically the same person, model, whatever. When people talk about us, they say SharpayandRyan. One word. You couldn't talk about me without mentioning Sharpay first for the longest time. Sharpay, the Golden Child who did everything right . . . oh, and her brother Ryan.

It's not that different. And the heart you're talking about isn't the hunk of muscle that keeps me alive. It's the willpower to keep going, and anything can have that.

But they knew of you.

I... don't know how to explain this. That it's different. That I was made to be his shadow. Nothing more. He deserves this. I don't.

All human beings have hearts. Because they aren't programs.

He's not here, is he? I mean, if he really deserved this and you didn't then he would be here and you'd be in some scrap heap and we wouldn't be having this conversation. [Ryan tilts his head.] Right?

And don't pull that "I'm here by mistake" shtick. The fact of the matter remains that we are here and everyone else is not. About three-quarters of the people here seem to feel like they're here by mistake, which is more than slightly improbable. What's more likely is that you've all been brought here to learn a very important lesson: nobody's useless. Not even misfit toys.

No! It's not like that! I wouldn't be scrap if he were here! That... why would you say that!

I wasn't useless. I had a purpose. A prototype is a lesser model, but it has a purpose. I won't deny that.

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