The Android Chronicles Book One: The Android Defense by Marling Sloan Page B

have happened to my dad, but we
didn’t find anything. Do you know why the Mind Portal box isn’t
opening?”
    “No,” Luke said. “It should
open easily.”
    “It’s not,” Mandelie said.
“Something’s keeping the lid stuck.”
    “That is
strange.”
    “I’m beginning to feel a
little hopeless,” Mandelie said. “The police are acting like
they’ve given up looking for my father. I don’t know what to
do.”
    “Come to Adventis,” Luke
said. “On a visit. We can talk, face to face.”
    “How is that
possible?”
    “Tomorrow, three o’clock,”
Luke said. “Wear sunglasses and some kind of disguise. I will meet
you in front of the glass front doors of the building.”
    “Okay,” Mandelie said.
“Let’s hope it works. Good night, Luke.”
    “Good night, Miss
Miles.”
    Luke opened his eyes as his
communication console blinked. He tried to remain awake, but the
softness of the sheets beneath him activated his sleep state and he
drifted to sleep.

    “So how’s the learning curve
with Luke going?” Damian said, taking a sip from his glass of
brandy as he eyed Lina, sitting across the table from him. All
around them, waiters in white uniform floated around the confines
of Da Silvano.
    Lina smirked. She looked
more like a model than ever in her long, softly shimmering black
dress, her blond hair falling around her face.
    “You mean his learning
curve, or mine?”
    Damian smiled.
    “Yours, of
course.”
    Lina laughed, in a slightly
tipsy way.
    “I’m going to pretend I
didn’t even hear that. But he’s quite impressive, of course. He
looked at five of our product lines today and gave me a list of
possible upgrades for them, off the top of his head.”
    “Good,” Damian said. “He’s
keeping up his end of the bargain.”
    “He’s hot too,” Lina said,
with an alcohol-fueled smile. “Like, really hot.”
    “Don’t get too close to
him,” Damian said. There was a warning in his voice. “He’s an
android. I’m your boss.”
    “Who could forget?” Lina
said, and hiccupped.

    Luke awoke at his usual time
of eight o’clock in the morning, as his internal alarm went off. He
shut it off and rose from the bed. The electric current running
through him began to warm up.
    He went into the bathroom
and took a long shower. He emerged from it with a towel wrapped
around his waist. He opened the door and nearly dropped his towel
in surprise when Miranda walked right into him, carrying a box of
soap which fell out of her arms.
    “Oh! I’m sorry, sir,” she
said. “I was bringing you some new soap for the bathroom. I didn’t
know you were in it.”
    Luke sighed.
    “It’s alright,” he said. “Go
ahead.”
    He walked into his dressing
room and shut the door behind him, locking it securely. He pulled
on a dark blue sweater and dark jeans. When he was fully dressed he
emerged and saw Miranda setting his breakfast plates carefully on
the table.
    “Adventis didn’t lie when
they said the Fantastic Domestics were unfailing in their duties,”
Luke said, sitting down on the couch.
    Miranda beamed.
    “I never fail in my duties,
sir.”
    “If you don’t mind me
asking, how long have you been in existence?” Luke said.
    “I was fully assembled
nearly five months ago,” Miranda said. “What about you?”
    “Two years,” Luke said. “And
thirty one days.”
    “You must miss your old
home,” Miranda said.
    “There’s not much to go back
to,” Luke said. “The man who designed me is missing. But I miss …
certain parts of my old home.”
    Miranda pulled a feather
duster from her apron and began dusting the couch.
    “I hope I will stay here at
Adventis,” she said. “But I can’t be sure. When the Fantastic
Domestics are finally available for public purchase, I may have to
go somewhere else. All I hope is that whoever I go to is a kind
possessor.”
    “If I am still here when the
Fantastic Domestics are put on the market, I will request that you
continue to be my attendant,”