INTRO

• Chapter 1

"Her Highness, Queen Betty, has raised the ban on robots and other high technology devices such as infomorphs, super AI computers, mind-distorter rays, and so many others, which were banned after their inability to respond correctly to orders late spring, last year. They are now back to normal and are... to... b..."
Diago turned down the volume of his room's television.
"Mum! The Queen has changed the laws on the techs!" Diago screamed from his room with excitement.
"I know! Good news right?" She responded back.
He jumped up and ran to his mini lab.
He gently opened his door and halfway ajar, he slid in.
He smiled as he stared at Demi, his robot which the connection was powered off mysteriously by the government.
He had been working on upgrading Demi to be more human-like but at a point it began to disobey commands and even wanted to run away, before he was eventually powered off from CRHQ, a government lab that controls every high connection-needing tech in the nation.
He walked in and touched Demi's rubber hair.
"You will come back to life now. Alright?" Diago whispered. He rose up and walked to his computer chair.
"I think a little this, this, this and..."
"Diago, you have a visitor. It's your friend Shika." Diago's mother shouted.
"I'm at the lab Shika! I was hoping you'd come."

A short moment later, Shika walked in. Diago ran towards Shika and pulled him to the computer.
Diago began to rush words. "You heard the news right? I know you did. I was just about turning Demi on. He's been down since like months,you know. Won't you say anything? Well, you don't need to. You are excited too, I kn..."
"IIIII didn't listen to any news." Shika finally responded, calmly.
"Seriously?"
"I read it."
"Okay. So, this is it." Diago hit a green button on his self-made keyboard and...

"I am Demi. Can I take your command?"

*****
Mira, a pregnant young woman in her 20s was in her elegantly dressed room. She laid her head on the headrest of her cozy and comfy cushion chair. And involuntarily stared at her newly polished nails in anguish.

She knew she'd die soon, very soon in fact. But she couldn't tell exactly when that would be. A death threat had been sent to her from an unknown enemy and she could understand the signs she received.

Nothing seemed to move, nothing seemed to work except her mind which was fixed at the fact that she would die soon.

She had sought for help from relatives, friends, and neighbours. But no one could help. Her husband had travelled to Hong Kong, China to further his education and she couldn't contact him ever since.

Mira's calls never got to her husband, her messages returned with 'not sent'. She searched for him online via the most popular social networks, and the long list of related names like that of Mississippi, discouraged her. He was simply gone, but she knew he'd return. She knew she'd see his face again. But he; he never had an idea of her situation. He didn't even know she was pregnant. He longed to see her, but couldn't. And probably never will.

Mira stood up and walked to the door. She had her right hand on her waist as she did that. She was already nine months pregnant yet the baby did not show any sign of being ready to be born.

She opened the door and dragged herself out. She was assisted by her younger sister by the name Michel, who had come to live with her sister, since the news flew around that she was pregnant.

"Going somewhere?" Michel questioned.

Mira didn't utter a word.

Michel helped her sister to sit in the living room and gazed at her face with a puzzled look.

"Mira, what is the problem? You scare me with your expressions. I have told you countless times to stop worrying for nothing. Worry can kill slowly. Please for the sake of your baby, don't bother yourself with worry. It can..."

"Michel, don't! Don't give me the speech again. You don't know how I feel. Life is full of..." she raised her voice a little.

"Mira, take a nap. You said all these the last time, so let's forget it."

Everywhere just went dark and got bright immediately.

"Was that power failure?" Michel questioned.

A man barged in with a gun.

"Everyone down now!" He ordered.

She quickly went on her knees.

"Sister, what's the problem? Why are you kneeling down?"

Mira came back to her senses and realised no one actually entered.

She turned to her sister, still on her knees and began to check the ground.

Mira quickly thought and spoke. "Can you check with me if my shoes are okay? I think they are about to wear out?"

"O... o... Okay! I guess so."

Michel joined Mira and surveyed the royal blue coloured shoe by the armchair.

"Michel, was power out just a while ago?"

"Oh dear Lord, Mira!!!!" She screamed. "We are going to see a psychiatrist right now!"

Mira turned her head away.
*****
In school, the next day, Diago sat by Shika's side. Shika was called Shakes, at school.
Miss Flora was an elegant, though elderly lady. She was their English Language teacher and everyone really loved her. Only when she gets angry that they all fear her. She was in their class teaching on a topic most of them already knew. It was more like a revision class.

Diago began to think about Demi. He could now have someone to do his chores. Someone he could order around at his own wish. What if he studied more about technology and made Demi a very friendly and chatty bot? It would be a good replacement for his unwilling to talk friend, that just decides to talk only to himself. Then he thought again, what if there are some robots that CRHQ could not shut down?
"...go."
What if they had become so human that they cannot be differentiated from an human except by maybe a test?
"Diago!"
"Yes ma'am!"
It was Miss Flora calling his name.
"Up! Up!"
He stood to his feet.
"What did I call a triphthong?"
"Pardon?"
"Triphthong!" She raised her voice.
"Triphthong? It is a..."
He slowly turned his head towards his mates and noticed many of them were giggling. They weren't ready to help. He faced his teacher again.
"... a group, I mean a class of..."
He slowly for the second time, looked to his side and his eyes met with Shakes' eyes. He knew Shakes was a disappointment. He talks to no one at all. He faced his teacher again.
"... a class of words that..."
"Psst."
He turned his head slightly to know who signalled. It was the same Shakes.
Shakes did a few body language messages.
"A class... of... sounds... with three, two... yes two individual sounds as one sound."
Shakes was not satisfied. Diago got the wrong interpretation.
"Okay, you can sit. But focus."
Diago sat with a victorious smile. His classmates were quite at that time.
"No! Diago stand. That's wrong! What kind of definition is that?"
His classmates roared in laughter. Diago rose up.
"Now out! To the staffs quarters."
He felt sorry for himself. He thought he had done well. But no, he was going to get punished. He just hoped he would get pardoned.
He left the class and walked to the staff quarters. He was shocked at what he saw. Things began to seem confusing, but he couldn't properly define it all.