Upon arrival at the mansion, the Empress grabbed my hand and led me through the mansion. From the outside, the mansion looked like any other house, but bigger. The classic dark, iron walls, and neon lights, and strong, reliable Dextaglass windows. From the inside however, it’s a luxurious place. Marble walls, extremely expensive lighting, golden door handles, an expensive wooden floor and red carpet. The Empress then gave me a tour, while the Emperor got straight to his office at the third floor. Lily followed her mother as she gave the tour. Ruby took my hand, and guided me.




“This, is the main hall, where the kitchen, stairs, living room, servants quarters, laundry room, and the dining room are.” She took me to a door on the left side. On the door, on a golden plate, in beautiful curly handwriting was written: “Servants Quarters”. I tilted my head in curiosity, and let my fingers stroke over the plate. “The handwriting is beautiful..” I said. Ruby smiled with pride, and said: “It’s my own handwriting! I’m glad you find it beautiful, Daniel doesn’t care about them..” She added in a slight sad tone. I decided to cheer her up. “He probably cares about them in his own way. I’m sure he finds them beautiful, but doesn’t actively show it.” Ruby smiled, seeming happy again. “Thanks for reassuring me, Daurine. Next door!”

She smiled, took my hand once again, and took me to the door opposite of the servants quarters. On this door, on a similar plate, and in the same beautiful handwriting was written: “Laundry Room”. “This is where the servants do our laundry! There’s nothing else that I have to say about it..”




She takes me to the door that is closest, at the same side. This time, it’s a Delft’s Blue plate. In the same blue ink is “Living Room” written. Furthermore, the plate is decorated with flowers. “This is the living room, and my favorite plate! It took me a few hours to finish it, but the result is great!” She opens the door, and guides me inside. Inside is a comfy couch, a humongous CyberTV, and the typical chair where old men sit in. “This must be where Daniel sits in, correct?” I place my hand on the chair. Ruby nods. “That’s completely correct, Daurine. That’s where he sits.” She chuckles and then leads me out of the living room, to the kitchen, which is located next to the living room.




Again, a golden plate with Ruby’s handwriting shows the purpose of the room, the kitchen. The kitchen is spacious, with everything nicely organized. “This is the kitchen, where our cooks cook, and where I occasionally bale cakes whenever I want. Daniel usually doesn’t come here, so if I want to escape reality for some time I go here and bake a cake!” I nod. “I’m sure they taste amazing” I say. She smiles, and turns to Lily, who has been silently following us. “Mommy’s cakes taste good right?” Lily nods enthusiastically, and happily exclaims that they indeed are delicious.




Ruby tilts her daughter up, into her arms, and leads me to the next room, where yet another golden plate gives the information to the purpose. The dining room. Ruby opens the door, and lets me inside. The room is a medium sized dining room, which gives off 90’s diner vibes with the black and white floor tiles and red cushions on the chairs. The table, is an expensive wooden table, with gold molten into the table. Ruby breaks the silence by saying: “This is where we eat dinner! And Daniel got to choose how this room looked, and he likes those retro diners from like 1990 or something, which yeah, it’s quite a while ago.. since we’re living in 2853, but nevertheless, he got the dining room in the same style as that.. and I have to say, it’s pretty cozy!”

I nod and smile. “It’s a very nice choice! I like it.” Ruby smiles. “Great! Now, that we have completed the downstairs, let’s go upstairs and continue our tour!”




She takes my hand and takes me upstairs, where we are greeted with a hallway, just like downstairs, with the same amount of doors. All decorated with the golden plates. At the left side, were two doors. The first door’s golden plate stated: “Daniel and Ruby”. The plate on the second door stated: “Lily”. On the left, were three doors. The first one had a “DO NOT DISTURB” sticker on it. The second door had another Delft’s Blue plate, with “Bathroom” on it.




The third room, had none. It had holes where a plate should’ve been, but no plate. “Why’s that plate gone?” I asked, pointing to the door without plate. Ruby sighed, seemingly sad. Then, she explained. “That plate is gone, because the person who used to have that room is gone too. My oldest daughter, Ariana used to stay there, but one day she disappeared when Daniel and she were in the city. She got killed in a accident. I never got the chance to see her again… and Daniel wasn’t there to help her in her last moments.. he was in a shop, while she was outside waiting, because she didn’t want to go in.. that was three years ago.. but now, you will be taking her place and you’ll have her room.” Ruby looked like she was about to cry, and since I am practically still a human, i felt pity for her, so I decided to wrap my arms around her and gently hug her. Ruby broke down in tears and started crying. I comforted her to the best of my ability, and so did Lily, by gently hugging her. Ruby smiled, and looked happy again. “Thank you, Daurine. I really appreciate it. Now, let’s continue the tour, shall we?” I nod. “Sure, go ahead!”




Ruby smiles, and starts explaining. She walks to her and her husband’s room. “This is me and Daniel’s bedroom..” She walks to the next door. “This is where the little Lily sleeps..” She walks to the door with the “DO NOT DISTURB” sticker. “This is Daniel’s office.. I am sure you know what that sticker is for…” She walked to the room next to it. And opened the door, and got inside. I followed. “This is the bathroom! I am sure you know what happens here..” Ruby said. “The bathroom is a room containing a toilet and sink, and typically a shower and or bathtub.” I said. Ruby nodded with a smile. “You pulled that straight from your internal vocabulary didn’t you?” I smiled sheepishly. “You see right through me..”




Then, Lily came tapping on my leg. “Can we play in my room? Or just talk?” She asked, with those irresistible puppy eyes, so I said: “Of course!” Let’s go!” Ruby smiled. “I’ll leave you guys be, I am downstairs watching TV, if you need me, just shout, ‘kay?” I stuck my thumb up with a smile, and then got pulled by my hand to Lily’s room. I watched while getting pulled that Ruby went downstairs, before entering Lily’s room, and Lily shutting the door. Lily takes me on her bed, and sits on my lap. “What do you want to ask me, Daurine?” She asks with a smile. I think for a while, and then ask: “How many times did people try to kidnap you?” I asked, and Lily replied with: “Enough for mommy and daddy to get you… next question!” She said. I thought for a moment, and then ask: “What do you think of me?” Lily’s eyes lit up, and she hugged my chest. “You’re amazing! You are the best new cyborg sister ever! You are beautiful!” I smiled happily, and gently hugged back, and stayed like that, hugging her, not really doing anything else. While hugging, i whisper: “You’re also the best little sister ever..” I stroke her soft hair, and smelled it. It smelled like cherry blossom. “Daurine?” Lily asks. I look at her, and ask: “What is it?” She looks at me with those cute puppy eyes, and asks: “Can we play outside? You know, maybe hide and seek, or something else.” I think for a third of a second, and then reply. “Does your mother allow it? I think you have to ask it before we can go.” I tilt her up in my arms, and smile. “Should we ask her? She’s downstairs.” Lily nodded, and pointed to the door with a smile. “Downstairs we go!” She said with a happy tone, and so I went downstairs with her, to Ruby, who was watching TV in the living room. I cleared my throat and then asked: “Ruby?” Ruby paused what she was looking at and then turned to face me. “You can call me mom, but what’s the matter?” She said, and then Lily spoke up. “We want to play outside mom! Can we do that?” Ruby smiled, and then nodded. “Just be careful, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt.” She looked concerned. “I’m trusting you, Daurine. Don’t let her get hurt and feel free to annihilate any threat.” I nodded. “I will do anything in my power to protect her. I promise.” She smiled, and then said: “Then go ahead and play outside then!”




Lily shouted “YAAAAYYY!!!” before motioning to me to go outside, so i walked outside, to the backyard. Only then, I noticed the house was located at a steep cliff, with a forest below. My systems immediately determined that a fall would mean death for a human, especially a child. A cyborg would have a 38% surviving chance. So, I had to set boundaries. “Lily, no matter what happens, do not come anywhere near the cliff, do you understand?” Lily nodded. “I understand sis! I won’t come near the cliff! We’ll just play hide and seek away from the cliff. There’s a playground over there where we can play hide and seek!” She pointed to a playground next to the house. I walked over there, and put Lily on the ground. “Go hide now, I’m gonna count to ten.” I closed my eyes, and started counting. I still used my systems to track where she was. Not because I wanted to cheat, but just to be sure she’s not getting attacked. I am her protector after all, so I have to make sure she’s save. After counting to ten, I opened my eyes and began searching. Of course, i knew where she was, behind the slide. But I wanted her to have fun as well so I pretended to be oblivious of her location. After searching for five minutes, I checked behind the slide, and there she was. She smiled and hugged my legs. “You found me! Now it’s my turn!” She ran towards where I was counting, and began counting. I looked around, and jumped into the big tree with ease, sitting down on a branch, and waited. She finished counting, and then began searching. She searched for a good three minutes, but then my entity tracker showed a person, who had a gun, hiding in the woods. I knew what I had to do. I switched my hand out for the sniper, and aimed, and shot in their head. The gunshot was heard, and the person flew back, down the cliff with a massive hole in their head. I then jumped out of the tree, to a scared looking Lily, kneeled down to be level with her, and looked her in her eyes. “Lily, go inside to your mom.” She then ran inside. I stood back up, and with both my hands switched to the machine guns, I approached the place at the cliff where the person was. I saw a pool of blood and down the cliff, at some trees, a mangled, twisted and broken body. I used my zoom visor to see the body. Then, a hand pushed me off the edge. I saw the ground hurling towards me, and the last thing I heard was a loud bang and crunch before my vision blurred and turned black.