Chapter 15

Jake paced about in his room, his hands locked behind him. He was wearing on a brown-collared sweatshirt over a pair of ash-coloured joggers. The windows were shut close, because of the weather.

  Karen and Kaycie sat on the soft mat beside his master bed. They were seated Indian style with their eyes closed; they were inactive at the moment. Jake was working new programming updates on them. The cyborgs were wirelessly connected to a big white contraption.

  "Sentics completed!" announced the contraption.

  "Yes," Jake said to himself. "B2Q, let's test them."

  "Rebooting the cyborgs!" came it reply.

  Jake walked up to them and unbuttoned their shirts to observe the blinking lights on their necks. It was green. He smiled, nodding. "Perfect."

  "In three, two—" Jake moved back a little, "—one. Power on."

  Karen and Kaycie's eyes opened, simultaneously, to meet Jake's wide smile, and cocky eyes.

  "Hello, Jake—" they said in unison.

  "Hi girls, how do you feel?"

  Karen looked at her hands, then gently placed them on her face. A big smile appeared on her face.

  "I can feel my face—"

  "I can smell the air," said Kaycie.

  "Are the salivary glands intact?" asked Jake.

  The girls gulped and nodded.

  "But it's annoying always having to swallow every second, we've been having to deal with it since you added it to our features three days ago," pointed out Karen. Kaycie nodded in agreement.

  "Don't worry, you'll get used to it—"

  "Why do we need saliva?" asked Kaycie.

  "Because you're trying to be humans — until the D-Day, that is."

  "But what do humans need saliva for, anyway?" Karen asked.

  Jake sighed, locking his fingers in front of him. "The saliva helps our mouths to be moistened, it lubricates ingested food, and begins the breakdown of starches."

  They nodded, mechanically.

  "It is true you don't need it, save for the mouth moistening," said Jake, "however, it makes you both more complete this way. Now, I've just upgraded you with something called 'sentics'. In this case, I'll define it to be the study of—"

  "We know what it means," said Karen, "you programmed us with a dictionary in our prototype, remember?"

  "Listen!"

  They nodded in humility.

  "In this case, it is what makes you feel things—"

  "I thought that was 'irritability'?" Karen cut in again.

  He slapped his forehead and made a fist with his hand.

  "Don't get on my nerves!" he exclaimed. "Define 'sentics'!"

  Kaycie began to speak.

  "Sentics refer to the study of waveforms, touch, emotion and music—"

  "Yes," he nodded. "Now what does these 'waveforms' entail?"

  Kaycie continued, "The waveform is the shape of a physical wave, such as sound, electric current or electromagnetic radiation, or its representation obtained by plotting a characteristic of the phenomenon (such as voltage) versus another variable, often time."

  Karen asked, "What does it mean by 'plotting a characteristic of the phenomenon versus time'?"

  Jake nodded with a big grin spread across each corner of his face.

  "Use your head, lasses, use your head!"

  He began to laugh in such a way that his voice echoed round the room and beyond, making the earth quiver at his ominous laughter, and what this evil scientist had in mind. It was as though the winter sky turned from white to black, and thunderstorm rattled in the sky as droplets of liquid burst down from it. The clouds formed an inauspicious, smiling face that could devour anyone of whom it found vulnerable.

  The girls could not but marvel at their creator.

  Just as they thought this animation was progressive, his phone rang and disturbed the moment, sending the droplets of rain back to the sky; the inauspiciously smiling cloud to a frown, as it retracted itself back; the cloud had a quick caprice, from black to white; Jake's ominous laughter fell to that of a cat's meow, and the room was as calm as a graveyard.

  "What the—" he reached for his cellphone, angrily, and almost did not pick the call when he saw the caller. "Must she call every second?" he asked to no one in particular. He cracked his voice and trimmed it to a suitably, calm one.

  "Hi cutee."

  "Jake, howdy!" from the background, Jake could tell she was on the road.

  "Howdy!" he replied, rolling his eyes. "It's nice of you to call, Amy, but I'm kind of busy right now on some...emm... school project—"

  "Oh, that's lovely! I'm on my way!"

  His eyes widened, "Oh–no, no, no; you shouldn't bother."

  "Really? Who said anything about bothering? I'm okay, mate. I just dropped at your junction, and you'll be seeing me any moment from now."

  He pulled the phone away from him and groaned, then said, "Oh, okay then. I'm happy you're coming."

  As she hung up, he threw the phone with the intention of smashing it across the room, but Karen was just too quick to catch it.

  He stared at her like she were the cause of his problem, as though he could devour her. He spread his hands, each fingers crooked, advancing towards Karen. He grabbed her neck and raised it up — he had a good hight. Karen could easily break free, she was well-programmed, yet she didn't, despite the pain in her neck at his grip.

  The doorbell rang; someone was at the door. He released his grip, leaving her to fall to her buttocks on the hard, polished ground. He, quickly, adjusted his hair and ran down for the door.

  Kaycie ran to help Karen up.

  "Sorry, sis."

  Karen smiled, adjusting her clothes. They both buttoned their collars to conceive the naked part of their necks. They felt their boob-tubes and smiled curiously. "So we can finally touch and feel! It's so amazing—"

  "I know right?!"

  Just then, the door flung open to reveal Jake making way for Amanda to come in.

  "Hi, girls," she waved, enthusiastic as always. She had a gift parcel on the crook of her left elbow.

* * *

THE CAB pulled over at the massive gate of an extremely large compound. As all three got out, Hanson spread his hands out as though the gate were an old friend he were to hug. The marbles, they could see, were the most expensive one could ever purchase. The outside wall which they stood opposite was completely tiled to taste.

  Harry and Andy's eyes almost pulled off their sockets. They were in total amazement. Their mouth fell agape, failed by words. There was a writing on the wall beside the entrance gate. It said: SIR NELSON'S VILLA.

  Harry finally whispered to Andy.

  "Why didn't you tell me we were going to visit a millionaire?"

  "I didn't know, myself."

  They observed Hanson. He drew out something from the pocket of his jacket. It was like a detective's badge, only that it was metal. He faced it to a little camera the boys hadn't noticed till the moment. The camera scanned it with a red light, then immediately turned green. The gate drew open, automatically, and Hanson clapped his hands. He gave a cry that sounded like Santas call.

  "Ho-ho-ho!"

  The boys exchanged looks. They had questions in their head. Their eyes danced around the large compound. Andy was sure that every thing around him was high tech.

  Hanson took the first step in, followed by Andy, then Harry. There was a huge mansion that housed three storeys, directly opposite them. Big generators as tall as Harry's house stood erectly at the left-hand side of the compound. The rest of the compound had colourful gardens here and there.

  While they were midway from the house, the door opened and a robot as huge as a fit bouncer jogged out. "Halt your steps!" it ordered.

  They all stopped in their tracks. The robot stretched an arm against them, and it developed into a machine gun.

  "State your business and how you succeeded in passing through the gate!"

  Hanson dipped his hands to retrieve the thing he'd pulled out from his jacket the other time, but the robot's arm charged at him, as though to fire.

  "Hey-hey, I'm not armed," pleaded Hanson, retrieving it with ease. When he brought it out, he showed it to the robot. After it scanned the badge, it scanned Hanson's jacket, mainly the ID card in it and, suddenly, smiled.

  "Welcome, Professor Hanson — master would be pleased to see you." The robot's arm returned to it's first appearance.

  "What in the world!" Harry exclaimed. "Am I in a robot movie or what?"

  He wasn't expecting an answer, because Hanson and Andy followed the robot who turned around and led the way. They were scanned by the main door, when they got to it. After the door slid open, automatically, the robot marched into the house, then Hanson.

  As Harry stepped inside, he couldn't believe his eyes. Everything around him were, literally, technologies. The room they'd stepped into was completely covered with something that looked like glass in blue colour — all round. It was a cyberspace. Other robots worked hither and thither, each too serious to notice them as they advanced in the walkway. Andy knew what they were — cyberpolice.

  When they got to the door at the end of the room, the huge robot connected its fingers to the passcode on it, and it slid open.

  This room that they walked into had robots with the exact appearance of the one that led them. Each were positioned on both sides, like palace guards. They were unmoving and inanimate. As they walked on a long red carpet, they looked at some black and white pictures on both sides of the wall. It was a picture room. There were enlarged pictures of renowned scientists with a certain man that seemed to be in each of the pictures — with Einstein, Edison, Archimedes, Alexander the Great, Aristotle, et cetera.

  It didn't make any sense to Harrison. In each picture, the young man had the same look. Last he checked, those scientists lived in different generations. Andy realised that the room was a dead end, so he tapped Harry and gave him a sign. Harry noticed this and began to falter in his steps. They were afraid something bad was about happening. Besides, all the curtains were dropped — not to mention the top security — how could one possibly escape from a "house" as this.

  The robot turned to face the wall, slowly. It was then Hanson noticed they were at a dead end and turned to look back at the boys who were standing six steps away from him. Fear gripped his heart as well, then he turned to look at the robot. It was pressing a code on the wall. The boys looked around them, expecting something to happen. Their fists were clenched.

  Next thing, the wall pulled up, in the way one pulled up a garage's door — only it was automatically. Hanson gasped back holding his chest. A secret door.

  "Phee-yoo," said Harry, and the others nodded, with a big exhale. The room was very dark, it had a staircase that led from bottom to the top, diagonally. The robot walked in and tapped its wrist, causing something to pop up — a kind of "cyber board" (I shall hence refer to it as Cyberboard from this moment) whose rays poured on its face. The robot typed some complicated symbols on the Cyberboard and all the lights in the picture room turned on, including over the stairway. They all gasped back and raised their arms, protectively. The robot looked at them and turned its attention back to the staircase, indifferently.

  As they walked behind it, Andy could not but marvel at the wisdom of Nelson. There he was thinking Hanson was the wisest of all living — Mcbornie was literally a novice where Portsmouth stood.

  They noticed the rail of the staircase was made of gold, rather than a dusty and rusted old rail like they saw in the movies where secret doors revealed. It was gold and they knew it — real gold.

  Fortunately for them, the stairs was just a flight. At the platform of the stairway, there was yet another door. This one was different from the others in that it had a knob. The robot placed its hand on the knob, bent it, then applied his weight on it such that the pressure made the door open to reveal a beautiful withdrawing room. This drawing room looked less pressuring than the others. It was perfectly arranged, just like the others, but more "humanlike"; lively. It had couches and sofas; a wide TV on the wall; a flower vase on a central table which was made of very expensive Irish wood — Andy noted. The sight of the soft chairs made Harry's legs feeble. He was more than gratified when the robot beckoned them to sit while he called for "the master."

  Harry fell on a single-seater like a basket of tomato. The others were terribly tired as well, so they did likewise.

  Hanson told them how everything had drastically changed since he stepped foot into the building last. There used to be a security guard, and lots of housemaids. Now, all he could see were robots here and there.

  Talking about maid, one appeared to serve them cookies. While Anderson and Harrison dived at it with gratitude, Hanson observed the maid. He brought out the badge and raised it to her face then noticed how the eyes calmed, and her anxious face turned into a smile. She said, "Welcome, Professor Hanson to Nelson's Villa." He nodded, while she walked away. Harry was about putting the fifth cookie in his mouth when he left it hanging in mid-air.

  "What just happened?" he asked, his face already turning white from fear.

  Hanson was about replying, when Anderson replied, "She's a cyborg!"

  Harry nodded, picked some cookies, and began filling his stomach. He had a lot on his mind to think about robots — he was already regretting why he hadn't stayed at home. He loved adventure, but was never friends with thriller.

  Meanwhile, as they ate, Andy observed the room to see any sign of pictures or paintings, but the walls were free of any. The room was painted white, and the wall looked so smoothe one could think a spider would make a futile effort in trying to climb. There were shelves as well, with books strucked into them, neatly. Andy observed that most were on Physics — he was sure that this man, whoever it was that owned here, must have written billions of books on technologies. He was still feeding his eyes when an adjoining door burst open to reveal robots in rows of two marching their way. There was a significant gap between the two rows, and just as the boys gripped the arms of their chairs, they saw why.

  The man in the black and white pictures in the picture room walked in through the middle of the rows. Only, he was much older than he looked in the pictures, having grey hair all over his head, not a single spot exempted. His arms clung behind his ankle-length lab coat. He had a smirk on his face, as he watched them behind his tinted glasses.

  "Nelson!" said Hanson, rising to his feet.

  "We meet again, old friend."

*

*

*

*

Howdy mates!

Is it just me, or is this creepy? What in the world was that?! When I was thinking Mr. Hans was too creepy, there had to be this — what — Robot Lord?!🤣🤣🤓

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I do. What is this crazy author thinking, anyway?! If you liked — I meant love — this chapter, then you'd want to do justice to it by dropping your votes and your thought-provoking comments. Thanks a million, peeps!