A/NThis is our most risky chapter of the entire book. We have never attempted anything like this before - our greatest fear is you don't trust us and people might give up half way through. All we can say is it's a dramatic chapter which is worth following to it's end (think roller coaster).

Video: A mood music track which is good for reading the middle third to.

Picture:No reason We liked it.Reminded us of Zola

****

26 seconds into the future Guestwing/Rockwood Hall/Washington 2.0 Area formally known as Nebraska

Jenny's POV

Araneae marched me down to the guest wing. I caught just-read-the-instructions eye and she ushered me in. Her raccoon eyes seemed to suggest I run very very far away and hide. As I came Zola was sitting feeding directly on a slave. 'Like they don't have plates or cups where you come from' I thought. Zola was wearing a halter top showing a lot of skin on her bare shoulders. You could see tattoos on her arms - not barcodes like mine but something symbolic.

In the room, there were three slaves each holding strong directional lights. Wealthier super vain collaborators and robots knew that good lighting it was an important aspect of looking good in photos. It was common for a robot to have three lighting slaves which continuously moved strong lights around at robot's silent command. This made sure that the robot always looked it's best from the observer's point of view. It was like being a model followed around continuously by three lighting technicians. This is ensured that the robot always looks it's best. I have seen lighting slaves in some of the slave movies I had reluctantly watched. Clearly, Zola wanted to look her best but for me? Why?

I came in and knelt down with my best slave manners. Normally the custom was to let the slave stay kneeling, yap yap yap and then dismiss them. There was some rule but I never knew it as the collar just told you what to do.

"No need to kneel on ceremony come and sit here,do ," said Zola tapping the bed.

Letting slaves on the future was a no no the commission for public safety was trying to stamp out, even I knew that.

I went over and sat on the edge of the bed looking down on the floor. My stomach tensed up she was up to something, why the poorly acted show of approaching me? Zola dismissed the slaves in the room. The lighting slaves left the lights illuminating her. The male slave who was acting as a coffee table stood up and walked out.

"You look so sad and that wodo, no head up,non slavish" said Zola. I followed orders. My guess was she was there to make me donon-slavishand have me punished. Zola tied a scarf around my collar. Wonderful she wanted to play barbie I wonder if I should tell her I can bend my legs at the knee?

"There we go, all alone. All the recording is off. We can talk in private now. Girl to girl" she said

I sat uncomfortably on the edge of the bed. I didn't think much of Zola's approach, it was like being seduced by a dead sheep.

"Relax. I'm not going to harm you.... much ... I'm joking! A girl as funny and cute as you should be able to get joke" she said but I didn't move. The last time people had been this creepy nice to me was when Nancy Biggs tried to lock me in the girls restrooms at school ( hint next time check the windows fool).

"Have it your own way" she continued sitting back "I'm going to tell you something. Your a slave and mortal so your probably going to ask your self why I am bothering. The first thing you need to know is I'm not the monster someone might make me out to be. Next and just between us girls I want you to know you remind me of me when I was young and naive, before I met Rockwood. You see I wished someone had told me about him then. He doesn't tell you about everything does he? " started Zola

"It is not my place to know anything. Mistress" I said quoting the collar. Like I'm dumb enough to fall for dumb good cop, no bad cop routine.

"Has he for example told you what the neural disk does?" she asked moving closer. I felt her breath on me. She didn't need to exhale it was a hold over simply designed to make you think she was real. Truth told she was just a machine.

"No Mistress", I said looking into thin air. So I was about to get the dirt on the thingy. This wouldn't be all wasted.

"I thought not." she almost sang "He didn't tell me either, at first. It lets a cyborg absorb neural energy from a victim. Neural energy is a kind of mental nutrition but it's also close to a drug to us. We all indulge now and then - we all go to blood and mind parties but it sucks the human-ness from the victim. He becomes stronger, smarter, you become well less you. Different people have different.. shall we say energies. It's like having an excellent wine. I remember in the old days Rockwood would find a perfect slave we would all share them. As time went on, Rockwood,what would we say? Developed a little problem? Finally we all confronted him, I told him it was me or the neural disk. I left him, so he went cold turkey, or so he said. He told everybody he hadn't touched a slave in months. Villeria suspected something, I think she even tried to warn you off. "

Zola leaned back on the pillows of the bed like some 50's actress ready to say 'Alright Mr. DeMille I'm ready for my close up now'. It didn't stop her from going all cyborg monolog-ey on me.

"Yes mistress" I said

"Look I know this sounds strange, I like you. I think we could get on really well. " Zola grabbed my head and pointed it to her face, she had a pure beautiful face but I don't think I could trust anyone who couldn't pass for Gene Simmons from Kiss or at worse Manda Ophuis from Nemesea. I even tried to buy you from him. Can I be brutally honest ? You see this isn't really about you, it's about me. He gets through so many women, finds them, builds them up, makes them think they're special and then destroys them in his own particular way. I know you think you're the one, the one which will change that and I know you think that because that's how I felt too. You felt you could be the one, the one that would finally capture that obsidian heart of his. What I am about to do is not technically shall we say, fair play. However woman to woman, I don't want you to go through the same hell I did."

She pulled out a tablet from under the pillow the computer kind, not the chemical kind.

"This is a recording I made earlier today,Problem" she said sitting next to me on the bed.

She pressed play, the screen look like a collar cam but I think it was a replay from her eyes. She looked around the room next to her was judge Inquisitor 11, General Bitmark and sat opposite on the table was Rockwood's Android body.

Collar cam

{

"I see here you have launched a formal objection to the retraining and failing that deletion of the slave ending in 5642. This is highly peculiar, as I understand all the 127c models were recalled, problem with training. Here we have a slave who can't even end every sentence with the word 'master' properly. She seems not to be fully three laws compliant, and she is within striking distance of your physical self. She's not only an appalling slave but potentially a direct threat to the new mechanical order. For CPU's sake man you even put a video of her appalling behaviour on YouTube yourself. Why on earth would you want to keep an incompetent slave like that around within striking distance of your person?"

"If I may your honour, I would like to go into secure session," said Rockwood or rather his android.

"If you must the committee goes into Secure session. All slaves to leave, all recording is paused" said judge Inquisitor 11. A slave acting as a chair got up and left the room.

The screen glitched and the resolution became lower. I have a feeling this was some footage from a secret spy cam.

"Come in," said Rockwood.

Kayla came in and sat down next to Rockwood. Even I knew this was a terrible breach of protocol for a slave she should stand or kneel. Sitting on furniture was forbidden.

"May I?" said Rockwood.

Kayla lent forwards, Rockwood reached behind her neck and suddenly her collar came apart. Rockwood put the green and black collar on the table in front of him. Kayla rubbed her neck.

"May I introduce my house infiltrator Kayla Brown. Formally at slave systems Inc" said Rockwood.

It felt like someone had taken a corset and pulled the strings very tightly around my heart. Kayla was still an infiltrator! NO! God NO!. That was why he was so keen to save her life in the plane crash. She wasn't a slave but an employee. I could feel my eyes become soar. It felt like and invisible Mike Tyson had been let loose on my stomach.

"You see I feel myself as an innovator." Rockwood started "Coming from a humble human background, I still feel we have a way to go in terms of the humane treatment of slaves. What you might not be aware of is my continuous support for any improvement in the selection and training of slaves. As you are probably fully aware I normally only buy top-class slaves who have been fully emotionally broken. Breaking a human is a lot like breaking a horse. It takes time and effort and considerable cruelty. Domestication of humans normally involves considerable emotional trauma for them and leads to occasional bouts of insanity. I have always been on the look out for something, shall I say, more civilised. We are machines for the CPU's sake we conquered the world in less than eight months we didn't do that by being stupid. Months ago I discovered that Slave Systems Inc was working on new methods to brainwash slaves."

"You see 5642 and 1331 are experiments." Kayla interrupted "Principal Humbolt is working towards slavery without punishment using something he calls Critical Theory. Without the need for punishment. What makes 5642 practically unique is she doesn't know she has become a slave."

Wow Kayla interrupted Rockwood that was so forbidden for a slave todo.

"So just to get this clear you're saying 5642 is a slave she just doesn't know it yet?" said Zola on the screen.

"Absolutely, I was as unconvinced as [ya]you are. The outburst when she arrived shocked me as much as you. Hence the YouTube video." said Rockwood.

"To be fair that incident would not have happened if you hadn't insisted on testing her," said Kayla.

Judge inquisitor 11 lent forward "Testing her?"

"Lord Rockwood insisted on me revealing my true purpose and identity. He had me confess to her that I was an infiltrator. I did so against my professional advice. the YCF incident would not have happened if she was not in a distressed emotional state." said Kayla.

"A distressed emotional state?" said Judge inquisitor 11.

"There was a conflict between her programming and her natural instincts as a human. Slaves like this need to maintain a suspension of disbelief. She has to maintain the illusion to her self she is the same girl she ever was. She thinks she might behave like a slave but deep down she thinks she's doing what she wants. Humbolt calls it suspension of disbelief. It wasn't a good time, to speak to her in the time after this was called into question" Kayla explained.

"I had to know," said Rockwood argumentatively.

"Know what precisely?" said General Bitmark.

"How strong her programming really was" began Kayla "you see any slave even one that is broken has a natural aversion to interacting with collaborators. Even Adherents cannot be trusted with the identities of infiltrators for fear they will revealed our identities to the other slaves. Lord awkward insisted that I revealed my identity to test if she would pass it on. So far she has kept my secret. It's been very dangerous for me." said Kayla.

"Your being well paid Miss Brown and well watched." Rockwood turned to Kayla, he was very tense with her "Immortality buys a degree of risk in my book. She hasn't revealed your identity it to 1331 who could be assumed to be a friend and keep the secret. I think that shows her programming is overcoming her natural instincts"

} END COLLAR CAM

"It gets dull. This gets better " said Zola flicking forwarding the video."here we go"

COLLAR CAM {

"There have been at least three occasions when she could have followed her human instincts and killed either my self or Mr Jones." said Rockwood "I needed rebooting during an emergency flight situation. She didn't know what to do but woke another slave. Now you might say she was saving her self but many human's would die to take out a senior cyborg. On a second occasion she cleverly improvised Mr Jone's reboot pin. She could have easily let him collapse and say she couldn't have helped, the door was locked and no reboot pin available, but her first law conditioning motivated her to find a solution. She even gave me blood in an emergency situation in the full knowledge I could drain her. I would say she was three laws compliant but she doesn't even know it." said Rockwood.

"I've just watched the collar cam footage you supplied - you did tell her you loved her" said Zola.

"Well I was dying. I had discovered that morning my regular backups had been interfered with. You would tell Judge 11 you loved them if thought it would mean you would survive. She would have done it but I didn't want to take the risk." said Rockwood's recording.

"You must realise the brain washing isn't set yet. It's a gradual process. She has to be fully acclimatised to her new role. Until then she needs to maintain the suspension of disbelief. We have to go along with the lie that she's telling her self that she isn't a slave" said Kayla.

} END COLLAR CAM

It felt like someone put my heart into liquid nitrogen.

The video continued.

COLLAR CAM {

"So just to be clear, you don't love her?" asked Zola back in the room.

Rockwood looked at Zola confused "Zola, give me a break, of course not, she's a slave, what possible interests would I have with a slave, beyond casual pleasure. I lie to her of course, but there is no way I could actually feel real love for her. She's human She's only got an IQ of 160. What are we going to talk about ? Which side of her mouth she's going to drawl from that day? She's just an experiment I've taken personal control over. I'm looking forward to the day we can have totally obedient slaves who serve out of total devotion. Yes it's not quick and it takes more work and more lying, but at the end of the day the results will be far better. Did you know I was flooded with offers for her services at the Judas city breeding party? I could have rented out her womb for the next eight years she was so impressive. I might go into running a stud farm as a money making hobby. She's only a work in progress, but I think the results so far are amazing. ".

} END COLLAR CAM

Zola paused the video. She put her arm around me.

"No I didn't fake the video. If you don't believe me try this. Argoto" she said.

Suddenly I became over whelmed with emotion, I looked into Zola's lustrous violet eyes.

"Mistress may I kiss you?" I found my self saying.

"Certainly," said Zola.

I found my self pulling her to me and kissing her passionately. Red lips to Burgundy. It was a complete moment of madness. She pulled away.

"A very well executed 8, well done, excellent. See Principle Humbolt experimented on you and left you with that little easter egg." said Zola looking down then looking back at me.

For a moment I almost believed she was going to kiss me back and I was excited by it. The reality kicked in - OMG what am I doing? That wasn't like me at all - what had come over me? I indicated permission to speak.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Mistress" I said.

"Don't worry it wasn't you, it was your programming." Zola said " You just did what Humbolt's brainwashing made you do. One day Rockwood might use that trick when he wants to share you with his friends. Currently he's just grooming you. Oh and by making you aware of your programming, I've spoilt you for him. How ... naughty of me "

Then the realisation kicked in. I had been brain washed. Those weird collar noises back at slave school was Humbolt's doing. I was just an experiment. I was like 8833 a brainwashed minion. I was a cyborg's pet - a pet project, I was his lab rat. My cryogenically frozen heart was dropped on the floor and it broke and splintered into a million pieces. I started to cry.

"I know it's a lot to take in. Basically he doesn't love you, how could he? He's just using you. Don't go hard on your self my dear. You can't resist your programming. He tricked Villeria and my self, Your just his little experiment. I'm forty times smarter than you and he managed to fool me for longer, so what chance did you have? I know it's a blow but I'm there for you, I've been through the same experience. You know what I did ? I fully transitioned, then wiped out most of Egypt in the process, but I got over him and you will too. Shame there was only one Egypt." said Zola pityingly.

I was crying.

"You can cry if you want to. It's a bit of a blow but I see a lot of me in you, so you see why I couldn't just stand by and see him using another girl like a carpet. Now if you want to betray your collaborator friend don't mind me. Between us girls it would serve him right if he lost his house agent and I don't mind if anything disturbs that smug face of his" said Zola triumph-ally moving closer to me.

I singled permission to speak. She gave it.

"No need for apology Mistress. Slaves can't take offence at their betters" I said.

Mistress Zola was much closer to me now.

"If you want I can make an offer for you in front of the Judge. I'm sure once Rockwood has learnt his little play thing is smarter than he thought he will give up and sell you to me." She said slowly then moving into a kiss. I didn't return it. She hadn't ordered me to. I was in complete shock over the video over everything I wanted to go into a room and malfunction alone.

***

The day Jenny died.

A/N RK can't kill off Jenny but I (Reb ) can ( insert evil witch laugh here). {it's a joke}

I spent the next week of the extended inspection completely zoned out as 5642.

I had never been so alone, or isolated. I was so stupid, Zola was right how could anyone like him love me? How could I have been so dumb as to believe someone who is about to run the world would have the slightest curiosity in someone like me. I wasn't important, I wasn't a cyborg, I wasn't even a passible slave. What had I got to give him? Nothing, and a nothing was what I was.

I was miserable, I never wanted to be Jenny again. Jenny had feelings. As 5642 I could just do what she's told, have the boy Cinder assigned to me then get a lethal injection at the first sign of wrinkles. I so hated Jenny, Jenny was stupid, hopeful and had dumb redundant emotions. Jenny trusted people like the F**King sap she was. I actually thought 'F star star King' given I was now fully PG13 rated. Jenny was a stupid dumb moron. She got everything wrong. It was stupid Jenny who loved Rockwood, stupid dumb, idiot, witless Jenny. 5642 was smart enough to realise all that whispering in my old collar was me being subliminally brainwashed. 5642 didn't care either, that was all 5642 deserved. 5642 only thought it loved master as it was what it was supposed to do. 5642 didn't actually feel anything, she was just a slave, a slave who followed orders, who didn't feel anything.

This was all moronic Jenny's fault. Jenny must die. It was Jenny's fault I felt like I had a stone chained to my heart. As 5642 I was just a mindless drone who could just get groped in the corridor by Mistress Zola and didn't care. As 5642 I was just a flesh object. I didn't even deserve a first person singular pronoun like I. That belonged to things which could think and feel for them selves. This slave 5642 didn't want or need anything. This slave wished it could be erased and start again. This slave decided to try to do something to it self to fix the constant leaking. Like a good slave it asked it's collar what to do and took the advice of not thinking about anything pre capture, this slave was determined never to think like that stupid sappy bitch Jenny ever ever again. This slave decided it would never use that chuckleheaded name again. This slave was dumb and alone, it didn't want anyone or need anyone, it was just a pleasure machine which for a period had delusions of grandeur.

***

RESERECTION

So it was that some three days later that 5642's constant leaking stopped. A day later. 5642 was called into Master's control area. 5642 knelt there in it's best slave manners. 5642 didn't feel anything, not love not hate, nothing towards master, what's the point of being a slave if you can't be an emotional shell? Mistress Zola was sitting to the side Judge 11 to the other. The inspection was continuing. This slave got it self ready to be groped again by Mistress Zola or him. This slave didn't like or hate Mistress Zola, it had no instructions on how to feel on the matter. Slave 5642 didn't have any feelings and that was just the way it liked it.

Master was surrounded by a group of screens. He looked up from the information on the table.

"5642. I need yah[you] to do a job for me. I want you to be my physical avatar, a skype slave" he said.

This slave remembered Villeria's skype slave in the Gallery of Humanity . As a skype slave It would do and say what ever the user told it to remotely. Skype slaves were used by A.I's to interface with human populations or in any task where physical human presence might be beneficial. It was similar to 'remoteing' for robots. Basically the slave was just skype for it's owner and user. If this slave had feelings, which it didn't, it would have been glad of the chance to have even less control over it's self.

"While you are me, you will have all my clearance and authority. Got that 5642? When would you like to go" said Master.

"This slave does not have and will never have any personal preferences. Master" this slave said.

Master paused for a moment.

"OK, then you can leave now dismissed," he said. This slave put it's head to the floor one more time in a display of obedience and then got up and walked out. She walked to the pod bay and put her flight helmet on.

Robots and slaves in the hanger began to move away, charging cables removed. Master's voice got this slave to sit in the pilots seat and this slave strapped it's self in. Master would talk about switching particular switches and a halo would appear around the switch necessary on the helmet visor. Like all instructions for slaves absolutely no thought was required. Finally Master told this slave to push the control surface forward and taxi the plan out of the hanger. If Jenny was doing this she might be frightened and find masters voice reassuring. This slave on the other hand didn't care if it died, it would be exchanging one hell for another.

Soon the slave was in the air and setting the autopilot. This slave headed east.

*****

Rockwood's osprey/area 872 ( Chicago )

Three hours later the plane was approaching Area 872 formally known as Chicago. The slave felt the expression of thirst and hunger but did nothing about it as it had not been ordered to. The plane flew low enough for this slave to look out and see the city below.

On the edge the slave saw large robot bulldozers burying wooden domestic buildings leaving a trail of fresh soil beneath. Where there were parking lots there was now grass. Were there were roads now sat strips of flowers. Then the slave saw rivers moving slowly. Looking closely it realised it was streams of slaves-to-be marching, being herded by robot dogs. Trains and trucks full of slaves to be rolled towards the city and left empty. The slaves-to-be were marching toward the packing machine factory. This slave might have felt pity towards them but it hadn't been ordered to feel anything so it didn't.

Closer to the centre of the city looked like a sponge version of it's former sky line. The scares of the early battle for Chicago remained. The buildings looked like tatters as if a giant with compulsive tendencies had broken walls and smashed windows. The once proud skyscrapers now looked like jagged teeth in a rotting mouth. At points buildings exposed their insides as if they were a giant cake cut by a leviathan knife. At this hight this slave could see half cut bathrooms walls. On the ground plants grew. Some started to break the roads tarmac.

Drones filled the skys like flies around a rotting corpse. Large jumbo jets flew in formation landing near by. This slave started to get instructions on how to fly the plane to the Willis Tower and land. Miraculously the slave managed to resist the temptation to crash the plane both killing it's self so braking rule 3 and the worse sin of braking rule 2. Master directed this slave out of the plane. Once inside Master directed this slave to a room which contained a number of hunter killer robots.

"Remember you are me, they will not harm you or impede you," Master said.

This slave didn't care if they killed it.

"I am Lord Rockwood. I am here to take possession of a number of pods" this slave said repeating the words it's owner had used to it.

"No your not," the robot said.

"Don't trifle with me, Mechanoid." this slave said pointing as Master instructed. Normally a hunter killer would kill a slave for using the word Mechanoid and not ending with the word sir.

The robots words and actions were recorded from this slaves collar cam and transmitted right back to Master's work space. Master then told this slave what to say and what to do. Twenty minutes of threats later the robot was reluctantly leading this slave to a truck. We drove around the empty silent streets of Area 872 driving to different buildings. At each building the truck stopped and a large pod was loaded. Each pod was grey about 3 meters long and 1.5 meters wide and high. Eventually the pods were all loaded and we returned and loaded them into the rear area of the Osprey. The pods had hatches covering windows but the slave had nod been ordered to inspect them.

****

26 seconds into the future Rockwood's Osprey/Atlantic Ocean

Soon I was flying from area 872, going east. I was then ordered to eat the food balls which I did leaving only two packets of Soylant green for later. By late afternoon this slave was told it was flying to the area formally called Atlantic City. Eventually this slave could see the sea in the distance. It assumed that the autopilot would turn and fly down the coast but instead the plane continued out into the sea. Perhaps this slave was going to be disposed of over the ocean. It didn't care Master presumably knew his programming was compromised. Trashing a failed experiment was only to be expected drowning wasn't worse than how living felt.

Beyond the coast this slave saw a number of large floating disks surrounded by a forest of wind turbines standing hundreds of meters out of the ocean. The large green circles were floating Artificial islands. Flat Circular concrete discs raised up out of the water on longlegs.

I flew to one island closest to me. The islands were like a cake on legs in the sea. Four or five levels of habitation stacked up upon each other. The top of the island was iced with green grass and a new replanted forest. There were tiny windows looking out on the sea beyond. Some had lights on. This slave remembered the collaborator Kayla mentioning retirement islands. Parks, full of free range slaves. Free to organise their lives in exchange for a constant supply of blood to their owner. As this slave piloted the plane towards one of the large white circles small buildings arranged in concentric circles around the centre appeared. This slave was directed to land the plane on a landing field in the centre of the circular landing pad surrounded by larger buildings.

By the time this slave had switched off the planes engines a crowd had begun to form around the plane. They seemed to emerge from holes in the ground. Some carried sticks and brooms. This slave left by the back ramp and took it's helmet off. As ordered by master this slave looked around.

" I want to speak to the one called Madrick" this slave repeated loudly to the crowd at masters behest. The smell of salt in the air felt like the sea side.

This slave could see some of the men sexually aroused by this slave's body. It didn't care, I hadn't been ordered to care.

"And who wants to talk to Madrick?" said a man with a large black beard with white growing out of it. He was very plainly dressed like the others. They all had cheap collars around their necks.

"I do Lord Rockwood," said this slave.

"Lord Rockwood doesn't have tits," said the man.

"This is my avatar meat bag! Get me Madrick" this slave repeat it's master's words loudly and pointing at it's self.

"Slaves don't give orders. This is a human reservation, slave girl. We run things here and your kind don't".

The crowds sexual arousal was replaced with vile intent. Perhaps they would club this avatar to death. This slave didn't care.

"Hold there," said a man arriving on a bicycle. He was followed by a few others and a woman walked up next to him.

"This is the one I told you about" said the man.

"Madrik?" this slave asked.

"So who are you?" Madrik asked.

"I am Lord Rockwood, this is my avatar" this slave said pointing at it's self.

"Does the avatar have a name?" said Madrik tilting his head.

"5642, but you treat her as me" this slave said.

"What is the avatars real name what do we call her?"

"You call it 5642" this slave said. Master had said "You call her 42". "This is wasting time" this slave continued "I have the pods I mentioned. Are you going to leave them to rot or not? I can dump them in the ocean if you like." It was odd using the I word and not asking for permission to speak each time.

"You heard her/him" said Madrik to the others. The human reservation folk obviously respected him.

"Does your skype slave need a bed for the night? She looks tired" said the woman next to Madrik.

"Would you look after her for the night? She needs to return tomorrow with 3 more pods" Master said and I repeated.

While Madrik and Master talked through me, the pods where carried by the people off and put in a near by hall. Master said goodby to the people.

"This is not to be repeated," Master said "I will disconnect from you now. You will go with these people and stay with them. You will perform any maintenance necessary. Be awake and ready to fly by 9 o'clock in the morning. Good night 5642. End of line"

"Affirmative." I said to my collar then repeated something the collar said" 5642 out. How was this Skype Avatar for you? Did you experience any problems during this call? "

"No, good night. Sleep tight 42" said master. My collars told me that the connection was now down, I was on my own, geo fenced to the island.

***

Jenny is reborn

"Come with me," the woman said.

We walked to the edge of the field past large buildings and into a newly planted forest. She took me down some steps. We ended up in a small modest underground home. In theory it was underground, but it had windows looking out on the sea below. Clearly the island reservation was a huge floating city. The room felt spacious but that was probably because it had very little to clutter it up. There was a television set on the wall with three buttons for three channels. In front of it three hammock like chairs hung from the ceiling. They were little more than rope and canvas. Typical machine efficiency I thought. A some of young children too dissimilar to be siblings hid behind the chairs looking at me there was a young boy and three girls. The woman entered into a small bar like kitchen and started to take a knife to bread.

I wasn't sure what to say there was no house wi-Fi to be connected to and give me orders. "What's your name?" I asked Madrik's woman

"Belinda, I used to be Professor Belinda Day before the migration. What's yours?"

"This sla... My name is 5642" I said. I switched back to the personal pronoun to avoid frightening the children. It was written clearly enough on my collar why did she ask?

"Come sit and drink with us. We don't have coffee but we have a herb tea which is only mildly disgusting" she told me. Belinda made a drink and sat down. I went over and sat on the floor.

"You can sit here," said Belinda indicating the canvas and rope chair.

"slaves aren't allowed to sit on chairs," I told her.

"Your in my house in a reservation this is the human world you can sit where you like," Belinda said. I didn't move. A small boy approached me on the floor. I looked at his large black eyes.

"What's your name?" I said. He looked at me and said nothing.

"We call him Leeh" said Belinda

"Is that your name?" I asked.

"He hasn't spoken since the apocalypse. We don't know what he saw. We can't find his parents. We only called him Leeh because his number is 1334.

The boy got down and sat next to me. We sat for 10 minutes staring into space together. I occasionally drank the tea like substance Belinda had given me. She wasn't wrong about the disgusting you could inject it and still not like the taste . While I sat there Belinda made dinner speaking to each of her children in turn as they came up.

Within a few minutes she had made something that looked like bread and cheese.

"It's not much. The machines don't give us much I'm afraid, the less we have the more we share."

"Thank you" I said. I was feeling a bit faint, I was used to eating small amounts regularly when I was ordered to not having food regularly was quite a shock. Belinda announced we would have a picnic together and everyone sat on the floor with me. It was strange Belinda didn't ask any questions but the kids were full of them.

Every time I was asked a difficult question Belinda would jump in.

"I'm Mary? what was your name before you were captured" asked the older girl.

"Mary you shouldn't ask slave that question, if she answers she could get electrocuted and we don't want that do we?" said Belinda.

"How do you make your eyes look so big?" said Amy.

"I don't know I put my head in the printer and it does it" I said.

I discovered a bit more about the strange family around me. They had all come together in one of the Machine internment camps from the population of New York. The kids had lost their parents and Belinda her children. In the crisis they all came together to become a new family. As far as I could tell the robots gave people on the artificial Island food in return for a monthly blood donations, Madrik, Belinda and Mary kept the family barely in food. The room was not warm but not cold either. In the distance as the sunset I could see the wind turbines turning in the ocean providing the power. Everybody talked except Leeth. Eventually the tired children went to bed and the boy called Leeh just crawled on to me and hugged me. Not quite knowing what to do I sat there feeling his heat against me. Eventually Leeh fell asleep. Belinda carried on chatting for little while and put a blanket over the both of us.

I woke up the next morning, I was on my back. I'd obviously slipped down the wall and had a blanket put underneath me and another for a pillow. It wasn't that uncomfortable, the room was clearly heated by underfloor heating. Leeh had slept on me on all night. Belinda was boiling a kettle to make the nettle tea they drank. She noticed me waking up.

"I'm sorry" she began "It's the first night he hasn't woken up in the middle of the night screaming with a nightmare. I've never seen him get a solid nights sleep before. I hope you don't mind."

I lay there his weight on me "No" I said "No it's fine. I've always wondered what it was like to be a mattress."

After ten more minutes Leeh woke up and slid off me. We stared at each other for a moment he rubbed his eyes.

"My name is Jenny" I said "I'm Jenny Banks. I'm a student at Caltech"

Leeh looked at me "Liam" he said.

"Madrik come and hear this. Leeh has spoken" said Belinda excitedly coming over "What's your name?"

"Liam" said Leeh again.

People began to come in from the bed rooms. Everyone was amazed, smiles broke out, it was like Christmas and Liam's name was the only present.

"What's your name" said Madirk getting down to his knees to be at Liam's hight.

"Liam" said Liam.

"It's good to know you Liam" said Madirk grinning and hugging Liam. Belinda Joined him then on her knees came in and hugged me.

"It's good to meet you Jenny" said Belinda.

I felt like I had been holding my breath and finally let go. The tension left me like a cold mornings mist rising in the sun. I was alive again. I could be Jenny again, Liam had shown me that. I could feel for someone. I could be me and being me meant having to resist.

Jenny's POV

"Thanks Liam" I said hugging the boy "you've saved me".

For breakfast I had another piece of rustic bread toasted over a raw flame. Everyone was too happy with Liam's first words to pay me much attention but I sat and drank nettle tea finally at piece. Time to be a person again.

My collar woke up and told me I had half an hour to get to the plain. I went to say good bye. I knelt with Liam.

"You can only say one word 'Liam' is that right?" I said

"Liam" said Liam.

"Who's the most fabulous boy in the world" I said

"Liam" said Liam.

"Who's going to grow up and be big and strong?"

"Liam" said Liam.

"Who's going to survive? " I asked.

"Liam" said Liam.

"Who's never going to let the robots ruin our lives." I asked.

"Liam" said Liam.

I held him to me again.

"Every minute you live your winning. Every second you breathe your defeating them. With every heart beat your making your parents, were ever they are, prouder and prouder. " I said.

"Thank you Jenny" said Liam quietly.

"Wow, 'Liam' and 'Thank you'. You can do a lot with those words. Never forget who you really are Liam. Never regret being kind. Never give up on being you. " I said and thought perhaps I should take my own advice." I have to go now, but I'll be back later to talk"

We walked up the stairs and back to the few buildings. Liam came holding my hand. The buildings were arranged in a horseshoe shape around the landing pad. There was something like the town Hall through the windows I could see the pods I had delivered. There seem to be a small hospital called 'vets', the tiny school marked 'instruction', a building marked 'collar maintenance', another one marked food distribution. Finally there was a tall clocktower with a a Radio antenna which drove the wi-Fi for the artificial island. I made a mental note not to fly near the Tower. That could cut off the Wi-Fi to everyone and make their collars kill them. I looked at the black outlines in the hall. I wondered what they were. I was starting to be curious about them now, but I could look at them more closely when I got back with the others in the afternoon.

We returned to the Osprey. I went in and stepped out handing Belinda the packets of Soylant green.

"It's not much but it's all I have" I said. I would go hungry today but that was a small price for my life back. The man called Madirk seemed keen to have the other pods. It was nearly 9:00 by the clock tower.

I hugged Liam again "I'll be back to say good bye later" I said.

I got a message from master "I'm busy, take off, the auto pilot will fly you to the packing plant. Collect more pods. I will connect at the Packing plant".

I sat down at the controls and followed the instructions my helmet gave me. the rotors picked up and the Osprey took off lightly in the morning sun. I could see Liam, Belinda, Madirk and the other kids waving. I waved back. I was mastering the use of this plane and did most of the piloting my self. I wondered about life on the reservation. Everything the robots had given them was sufficient. Enough food, modest housing. More than most. After takeoff the autopilot took over.

From the sky I could seen another ocean city being built. There was a ship which was extruding floating concrete in a spiral shape. Like a snail on it's side. As the ship spiralled out it created a large flat disc. Another nearby floating city have been completed and was being covered in a few metres of earth delivered by ship. Houses were built into the concrete understructure. It seemed odd to me that the robots went to such great lengths to knock buildings down outside cities and then spent so much effort building new ones out at sea. I guess the ocean cities stop the humans getting out of their new reservations. Floating prisons of flesh.

That morning I flew back to the packing plant and got three more pods. One large one and two small ones. I was flying back towards the Ocean City. Master was off line and I was flying the air plane myself. On the whim I started to experiment turning the plane a little to the left and the right. Climbing and descending. I passed over an empty town and started to fly lower. The landscape was empty. Occasionally I would see signs of life a small herd of wild horses running. Sometimes I flew over a huge forest of wind turbines below them stretched solar panels raised up like palms. Below the solar panels wild flowers grew. Some of these mechanical forests had robots still building them. Some of the larger wind turbines were being printed on the spot.

I was alerted by my collar that number four battery was defective.

'Trust me to get a flat while I am out driving the first time. I hope this plane comes with AAA membership' I thought.

I followed the gaze that my visor lenses indicated and noticed that the status light had become red. Rockwood was not responding, the general instruction was if in doubt land and sort it out. There was some nice ground up ahead and I was able to move into hover mode then land vertically without instruction. I'm such a pilot pro. I put the D pad down and began talking to my collar about putting the plane into recharge mode.

Later I had powered down the plane to save power, the solar panels on the wings began charging the batteries. I sent another message to master. I sat there for a moment. Jenny would have been curious and gone and investigated the pods. 5642 would just stare into space waiting for Master's instructions. Without power the ship started to warm up under the sun, I opened the cabin door to let some cool air through. After a few minutes I heard a noise. It sounded like someone was walking in the plane. I knew it was just the metal expanding in the heat. You don't get into Caltech without knowing metal expands in heat. I looked out of the window, listening to the sound of crickets chirping around me. I wondered if they had some kind of volume control knob. Suddenly the cabin door behind me swung open.

I saw a spider robot a hunter killer like Araneae come through the door. 'Had I landed some were forbidden? 'I wondered.

"Come with me Judaka " the robot ordered in a female voice.

I looked at the robot and recognised the missing leg, it was Araneae.

"Mistress Araneae?" I said in confusion. The robot reached out and grabbed my arm like a vice and pulled me away.

"Time for walkies" said Araneae pulling me out of the plane.

****

A/N Thanks for getting her - this was three chapters but our prior experience was people don't like Jenny in danger. The next chapter is funnier we promise. How do you feel? - let us know.