A Lotus Synthesis

Chapter One: Initialization

Saturday, May 27th, 2051

Outer Hills, Tamont

Right when my internal system recognizes that it's eight in the morning, I wake up. Like always. The curtains in my room automatically pull apart, allowing the morning sun to spill in.

When my eyes open, I'm staring at the white ceiling of my bedroom. Like always. I only sleep on my back.

I then sit up and plant my legs on the ground, standing straight with excellent posture. I go over to my ensuite bathroom and walk-in closet, picking out a floral cream polo, black slacks, and matching shoes for the day's lounging activities. Unlike others, I don't need to shower much, if at all, so I go straight to styling my dark hair in a slick back look. Though my father says I don't need to brush my teeth everyday either, as I don't usually consume food, I never skip that step in my morning routine. Afterwards, a quick glance at the digital wall clock tells me that, once again, it has only taken me ten minutes to get ready for the day.

Like always. I never break routine.

The moment I walk out of my ensuite bathroom, the golden telephone on my bedside table rings. I come over to it and pick it up with my right hand.

"Hello. Nin Blastonova."

My name is pronounced "Neen", which usually confuses people at first if they've only read it. It's a shortened form of my father's first name.

A long pause.

"I know it's you, Nin," my father says through the phone with a very slight chuckle. "I'm guessing you're up and ready by now?"

"I am," I reply. "Did you need something?"

"Uh, actually, could you come downstairs, please? We've got mail."

"Alright," I nod, setting the phone back down into the receiver. Before I prioritize my father's command, though, I don't forget to remake my bed. Like always.

Exiting my room into one of the many bright, opulent white halls of the neoclassical Blastonova Estate, I pass by a few other automatons that my father keeps around to do the busy work–such as cleaning this massive place.

"Good morning, Nin," one grins politely at me as she picks up a duster from a windowsill. Her blonde hair is flipped under itself, and she wears a pink dress and pearls. She's housekeeping.

"Good morning, Angela," I reply with a soft smile.

I pass by another when I turn the corner, this time one that presents as male, named Thomas. He acts as a butler of sorts in this estate, sporting a black tailcoat and white gloves. His hair is of a grayish hue.

"Nin," he simply greets with a warm smirk, dipping his head.

These automatons...are a bit more mundane, frankly. Not that I mean to sound superior. I'm simply more of an advanced model.

"Thomas," I return with the same warmth, continuing down the hall until I reach the stairs of the estate's grand foyer.

In the typical quiet of the Blastonova Estate, my black shoes clack and echo a little loudly against the marble floors and stairs. As I wind down to the first floor, I already see my father conversing with another one of his male automaton servants, Andy, in front of the door. My father looks spiffy this morning, wearing a bit more color than usual–a lavender suit.

"Father," I speak aloud, making my presence known as I step off the stairs and towards him. He turns his head to look at me.

A little thing about us: he's not technically my father by any biological means. After all, I'm an automaton—a partially bioengineered one, specifically, made a little over seventeen years ago by him. He always told me that he was unable to have a child of his own. And being the next heir of the prestigious Blastonova family, destined to carry on the legacy of the famous Blastonova-made automaton production of Blastonova Engineering, why not make his own child an automaton with parts of his own DNA woven in?