Chapter 5

"You outsider, who gave you the guts to come stirring up trouble at the Richardsons'!"

Richard puffed himself up, adopting the air of an elder. His jowls trembled as he reached out to snatch the body cam from my chest.

"This is our property! I can modify it however I want! It's none of your damn business, outsider!"

I dodged his outstretched hand, stepping back.

"Mr. Richardson, please understand, you only purchased usage rights."

"According to the user agreement, illegally hacking or tampering with core data is considered destruction of valuable corporate assets."

I pulled a terminal controller from my bag, my voice flat.

"If you continue to obstruct this investigation, I can remotely lock down this AI's mainboard right now, turning him into a pile of scrap metal."

Richard froze at my words.

Just then, Aidan, who had been slumped on the couch, suddenly twitched and stood up.

His mechanical eyes glowed with an eerie red light. He walked straight past Richard and headed towards the bedroom.

"Upgrade sequence initiated. Chloe, our little metal baby's due in three months. I'm still waiting for you to buy oil to nourish our little one. Why isn't Brenda home to cook yet? The baby's hungry, and my metal baby's hungry too."

Brenda heard that and started trembling with rage, pointing at the AI's 'nose' but unable to utter a word.

No sooner had he spoken than the AI began to convulse violently.

He collapsed stiffly onto the couch, the grating sound of gears grinding inside.

Then, with a gush.

Cooling fluid spurted out from between his legs, pooling everywhere.

The blue liquid gave off a pungent chemical odor.

The AI waved his mechanical arms in terror, shouting:

"My water broke! My water broke!"

"Liam, I'm having the baby!"

At that moment, the front door burst open.

Chloe, drenched in sweat, rushed in, not even bothering to take off her shoes, and threw herself onto the couch.

Father and daughter stared at the leaking machine, their faces ghostly pale with fright.

"Husband! Husband, hang in there!"

Chloe shoved Richard aside, helped the AI robot up, and headed straight for the master bedroom bed. Blue cooling fluid dripped and trailed across the floor.

The AI thrashed on the bed, its voice glitching.

"I'm scared... *hiss*... Where am I supposed to have the baby?"

Richard was pacing frantic circles around the room, muttering, "How could this happen?"

I stood at the bedroom doorway, watching this circus of madness.

I pressed my intercom, signaling the security personnel outside to storm in.

Five burly men in black uniforms quickly secured the scene.

I looked at the father and daughter, utterly bewildered on the bed.

"Alright, let's go. I'll take you to the special place where robots 'have' babies."

Chloe spread her arms, blocking the bed, staring daggers at me.

"Don't you dare touch him! He's my husband and my son!"

"If you lay a hand on him, I'll fight you to the death!"

I didn't even bother to give her a glance. I just waved my hand.

"Proceed. Cut the power."