Prodigy Eternal (book 2)

Chapter Six

When morning came, the smell of fried eggs and bacon wafted throughout the house. Yuri’s robot had been busy preparing breakfast for everyone.

Alex opened her eyes and looked over at Aris. He was on the other side of the bed, still completely passed out.

“Aris, you up?” Alex asked in a groggy voice. There was no answer. “Aris,” she said again, this time a little louder — still nothing.

She tried to send a thought to his head, but that didn’t seem to work either. She then picked up her access pod, which was on the side table next to the bed, and used a simple hack to activate the alarm on Aris’s access pod. The sound of a wailing siren blasted at full volume into Aris’s ear, causing him to nearly hit the ceiling.

“What the heck!” Aris screamed as he jumped out of bed, obviously flustered.

“Oh good, you’re up,” Alex said. “Let’s go get breakfast.”

Aris shot Alex a dirty look, but all Alex could do was laugh. They took turns using the washroom and when they were ready, they both trotted downstairs and into the kitchen.

“Good morning,” Yuri greeted them. “How’d you guys sleep?”

“It was going fine until this morning,” Aris said begrudgingly.

Yuri looked over at Alex, who was trying to contain her laughter, and asked, “Why what happened?”

“It’s not funny, Alex,” Aris moaned. “She interrupted my sleep cycle, now I’m going to be off all day.”

“I didn’t know you could be on?” Yuri teased.

“Don’t worry, I’ll remember this.”

Alex and Aris sat down at the kitchen table and Yuri’s robot walked over to serve them a plate of food. Yuri sat down with them, but had already eaten.

“Does your robot have a name?” Alex asked.

“I call him Akino. He’s a good robot, but of course, I’ve hacked his AI to improve his functionality. The factory models can’t even do half the things he can do.”

“That’s so cool,” Aris said. “You could sell the upgrade and make a lot of money.”

“Nah, there are easier ways to make money,” Yuri said with a smile. “So, Alex, are you ready to become a grinder?”

“I guess so.”

“Great, we’ll transfer the necessary patches so you can start the review process. If everything seems safe and sound, we can begin the transformation. Have you given any thought to what you want to change?”

“I think for now I’ll just change my hair and eye colour. Obviously that won’t be much of a disguise, but like you said, it’ll be a way to dip my toe in the water before fully diving in.”

Akino the robot came over and filled up two tall glasses of orange juice for both Alex and Aris to go with their breakfast. He was unobtrusive and completely subservient.

“Your eye colour will change almost instantly, but hair takes a bit longer since there are different stages of hair growth. You may want to consider cutting your hair really short, that way the colour will take effect sooner. Plus it’s another way to alter your look.”

“Good idea,” Alex said. “My hair is so long, I haven’t cut it in a while. Does anyone here know how to cut hair?”

“Not yet, but one of us can download a lesson while your data transfers.”

“Okay, let’s do it. I’m ready whenever you are.”

“Perfect,” Yuri said as he stood up from the table. “You two finish your breakfast and I’ll get everything set up.”