H.A.I.U.

~2~

I sat down in the bathroom. "How may I assist you, Mono?"

"Don't call me that, bathroom. And I have the word orders carved into my back, can you fix that?"

"Is it right on top of the word die? You know that one is still healing."

"Yes, I do."

"You should really stop getting into fights."

"Just fix it, you stupid robot." I seethed, taking my shirt off. The windows darkened to black and the door closed so nobody could come or see inside. I like my privacy.

"Do I need to order a new uniform?"

"Yes."

"Are you okay?"

"Perfectly fine. Shut up."

"Understood." it replied, and it was quiet. Very quiet. My heart began to pound. It was quiet right before they took my mom. Just like this quiet. Would they take me dad, too? My heart beat faster.

"I detect level of fear rising. Do I need to play music?"

"Yes."

"Do you want the stuff that nobody listens too anymore?"

"Fallout Boy? Yes. I don't care if the band and the style of music has been dead for over a hundred years, it's awesome and I'm gonna listen." I snapped, and bit my lip, eye bulging as it wrapped the bandages around my tightly. The Phoenix turned on, and I relaxed a little bit.

I tugged on my white tank top and left the bathroom to the kitchen. My dad wasn't home yet. He was fixing a robot at a hospital that had begun to skewer patients with its arms.

I popped some ramen n the microwave and watched it spin, the dull hum filling my ears. It was a nice sound, a calming one. I jumped when it beeped that my food was ready. "Enjoy your meal." it said, and I slammed the door shut.

I slurped down my ramen and threw the cup away, and turned on the TV. The news popped up ad I quickly muted it. Probably about the robot convention. I switched the channel to the documentary about sea life. It was the only place left untouched my human technologies.

I must have nodded off, because I was jerked away at the sound of an alarm. Intruder? No. It was just my alarm clock. How I got into my bedroom is something that will remain a mystery.

I got in my new uniform that the bathroom had ordered. Brushed my short hair and teeth. And then it hit me. The world was supposed to change today, but now it isn't. Because of me, all of their work will be lost.

I got out my hover board. My dad left a note on the kitchen table, and I sighed. Of course. I closed the door to the house and got to school, where the buses were loading. They would take us to the convention. I went inside, though, to get the kill code. A security bot began to tell me not to go, but I said with fake distress, "I have to go to the bathroom."

I was let inside.

I quickly went to my little white room and picked up my VR headset, and took out the kill code I put in the lenses. My headset would be fine, but the robot this was made for isn't. My heart was thrumming.

I got onto the bus and looked out the window. I could do this. I can do this. I can.

I will.

The bus stopped in front of a massive dome. It could hold eight football fields inside, and had three floors, not including the two sublevels. I was rushed in with the group, and I slipped away. A security bot grabbed my arm. It was a different one than before, so I pointed to the bathroom sign.

"Fine. But be back here in less than five minutes."

Ha. Nope.

I quickly made myself invisible in the crowd. I took a hoodie from my backpack and put it on, covering my hair. I was getting chills now. I navigated through the clean white marble hallways, each room memorized. I knew exactly where I was going.

But then someone bumped into me. And I was heading the opposite direction. And then I was spun around and pushed in another direction. I didn't know where I was now, but I was stuck between a large amount of people.

I quickly dashed away, and found a hallway with a rope that said Do Not Enter. There was a security bot behind it, and its round pixel eyes turned red. "You are not supposed to be here."

"I'm looking for the bathroom?" I said, doing the pee pee dance. The bot's eyes quickly turned green. "Go back two rights, straight, left, and it should be right in front of you."

"Thanks!" I said, and pulled a knife from my underwear. Not the most comfortable thing, I assure you, but when it pierced that robot's head and fried its insides, that was a sound for rejoice.

I went down the hallway. I didn't recognize this, and I should. I opened the first door, and the room was dark, but I had a sense it was a large room. "Um...lights, on." I said. They were probably voice activated. I hope they were, I didn't want to use my flashlight.

To my relief, they turned on.

I looked around the room. Polished tiles, floating lights. Computers upon computers and monitors and other stuff. A lot of wires.

And then my eyes landed on it. A computer, the only one that was on. It was beside a tank that didn't have any lights inside, so it was hard to see. I realized it was tracking a heart rate, pulse, breathing, et cetera. I clicked a button that said release, and the tank popped open. Purple liquids flooded around my feet, and a loud thump as something fell out of the tank. But it didn't have the clang of metal.

I looked down, and my eyes got wide. It was a dude. A very clothing less dude.

I looked back to the computer, sure I had forgotten the detail the robot I was after was also humanoid. But no. Instead of S.R., it had H.A.I.U.

Human Artificial Intelligence Unit. I read below it and almost fell.

He had a brain implant. And was alive.