[1] initiation

My sister was locked into a chair behind the metallic sliding doors that were 2.859 meters in front of me.

I'd spent my time estimating the distance, getting lost in numbers, trying desperately to distract myself, to take my mind off reality. Except I couldn't do that. Especially not when I knew exactly what the bots were about to do to me.

Any second now and they'd escort me inside too. I'd join her. I'd sit still and wait for them to chuck a needle in my neck and then the world would end and start again. The Trial.

I could tell you about my racing heartbeats and the nausea creeping up my throat, and you'd easily tell that I was terrified as shit. But as I waited here, sitting on a three-seater bench with my robot mom and dad at either sides, I realized something-my robot mom was holding my hand and I was holding it back. Reciprocating. Fingers curved around her cold metallic palm with a drowning person's desperation. That was when I knew how scared I was; I'd never have done something like that until now.

My sister, Scarlett, had always told me I shouldn't expect comfort from our bot parents. They were the third class of robots and, much like the rest-except the fourth class-had no emotions. No real love. Just programmed to take care of us and keep us alive. Programmed to pretend they loved us. Sometimes this idea hurt.

Something beeped. I snapped my head up, stared straight at the sliding doors. They parted just enough for Techno, another third class robot, to come in, then they closed behind him. He looked at me with his palm held in my direction. "Jake," he said, "your turn."

The moment I rose to my feet, the universe spun in my eyes. I walked towards Techno, and maybe it was the quake in my knees or the racing pulse at my neck, but I didn't find it in me to turn back to my bot parents. No goodbye, no hug. Nothing. It would be just a semblance anyway.

Techno stood with his polished arms rigid at either sides of his metallic humanoid body. His white pupils shifted and turned; he was analyzing. Processing. "You're hiding your dart in your pocket," he said. "Hand it over."

"I-"

"Now."

Well, I'd tried my chance. This dart was golden; I'd never missed the bullseye with it. Ever. So I just...liked always keeping it in my pocket. Any other day I would've been a stubborn idiot, tried to negotiate, then gotten myself punished. The usual. But today the synthesized edge in Techno's electronic voice was sharper than ever. Today there was something much more important than my weird attachment to a dart.

So I gave it to Techno, my eyes downcast.

He nodded. Then he stepped behind me, caught my arms, and maneuvered me a little to the left until I was standing directly opposite the iris scanner attached to the door. With one finger, he angled my chin upwards. Now my eye was perfectly aligned with the scanner; a thread-thin red lazer burned into it and just about blinded me. Couple silent seconds. The lazer turned into green. It beeped. The doors parted an inch, releasing a low whistle, then opened all the way through.

Techno's frigid palm pressed onto my back. Sighing shakily, I crossed the room's threshold. Scarlett came into view, locked into the chair like I'd imagined. Her gaze caught mine. For a moment, her clenched hands relaxed and her brown eyes softened. I tried to smile, but I couldn't.

Techno passed by me and stood beside the second chair. Mine. He touched the headrest, so I approached and sat. He aligned my arms and legs along the chair, through metallic loops at my ankles and wrists. As soon as he pressed a button, the metal arches locked in place. Locked my limbs. Then, he turned his back on me while he fetched something.

When he faced me again, I asked, "Why do you have to lock us like this?"

"In case you try to do anything stupid. Human tendencies."

Far-fetched. I'd never bother. And Scarlett...well, she wouldn't risk it either, but she certainly looked like she would. With that perpetual frown and bitter 'screw you all' countenance, I'd always felt she might spontaneously start punching a bot. Even now, with Trial only a few minutes away, she wore the same expression. And she could keep it on for eternity and I'd still know that deep down she was terrified too.

Techno continued working, surrounded by flashing screens and monitors and electronic rings. Last minute tests. Just to make sure we'd be ready. I didn't think I'd ever be ready.

A needle pierced my arm. I squeaked, unaware that Techno had already prepared the syringe. This caught Scarlett's attention. I knew it would. She snapped her head in my direction, lifting it a little off the headrest, and stared at me like Techno had killed me. Always worried about me, as if I was her responsibility. Sometimes I felt like she considered me younger than her, even though we were both sixteen, bred in vitro at the same time.

I shook my head. Slowly, she leant back again, the end of her braided brown hair dangling down the edge of her chair.

Techno passed the blood sample to another bot beside him. With a sharp device, he implanted a biometric cardiac monitor chip into my arm; now, just like Scarlett's, my heart rate was translated onto the screen lining the wall behind me. I couldn't see the graph but I could hear the noise, and god was that shit fast.

So now the background was a melody of our heartbeats. Scarlett's and mine. Everyone could hear. Everyone could see. And everyone could tell mine was thumping harder.

The doors slid open again. Nothing happened for a second. No one spoke and no one breathed. I cocked my neck, trying to figure out who'd entered. Then I saw it. I saw him, for the first time ever.

Epsilon.

All of his bare body was made of impeccably burnished silver. Eyes dark grey like a pair of stormy clouds. In a room full of white-painted and blue-eyed third class robots, he stood out. Rightfully so, though. He was the master after all. The only first class bot. The starting point of this Automation Era.

Epsilon stared straight into my eyes, but then he focused on my left one. The blue one. "How long will it take for them to be ready?" he asked.

"Tests will be done in five minutes, sir. Then they'll be ready." Techno twisted back, grabbed something off the countertop, and looked at Epsilon again. My dart was in his hand. My heart dropped. Shrunk. Froze. One of these or all of them, I couldn't tell. That asshole. "Jake got this dart with him."

Next to Techno, Epsilon looked massive. Taller and broader and more intimidating-everything about him more enhanced than the rest. He eyed the dart. Then, menacingly slow, he took it from Techno and held it up like it was some sort of godsend substance in a tube.

"A dart," Epsilon said. "So what do you want me to do with him, Techno?"

"Is there enough time to punish him, sir?"

"You want me to punish Jake for a dart?" This tone of incredulity in Epsilon's leveled voice stunned me. I tensed so much my neck felt stiff. "Is that necessary right now? Is it a priority?"

Three questions-three punches to the gut. I thought he'd agree immediately to punish me, even right before trial. This was Epsilon. The leader, the one who'd waged a damn war against the human race and wiped them all out. My race. I'd thought he wouldn't allow the slightest mistake to slip. But no...he was ready to overlook. Ready to rethink punishing me. Not what I'd expected. Like, not at all. And it didn't make me feel better. It made him more suspicious.

Techno remained silent for a second. If he had emotions, he'd be as confused as I was. "Normally we punish him when he tries taking it everywhere. He is breaking a rule."

"Normally, yes. Perhaps." Epsilon nodded. "But right now we are not dealing with normal circumstances." He clasped his hands behind his back, almost as naturally as Scarlett or I would. Even his movements were smoother than the other bots. "We don't send them to Trial everyday. I wouldn't waste time punishing him for this."

This made sense and didn't make sense to me at the same time. Yes, today we'd start Trial, and that wasn't an everyday occurrence. Okay. But why would this prompt him to deviate off regulations he'd set himself? He was still a robot, no emotions. Surely he wasn't thinking: poor little Jake, give him a break before trial.

Techno's pupils twisted and turned faster than normal. This was unfamiliar for him too, so unfamiliar it took longer to process.

"Now," Epsilon said, eyes shifting between Scarlett and I. "You know what you have to do in this trial."

We did. Techno had told us. We had a team of fourth class bots to recruit and a battle to win. But no one explained why. Why would they plan something this elaborate to test us? I mean, it was as obvious as the sun: we were inefficient compared to bots. Incapable. Otherwise our kind would've won the war, and Scarlett and I wouldn't be the only two humans alive right now.

"And you know that you either succeed or you die."

I swallowed, hands clammy. They'd never exactly prepared us for this; I could already see myself dying on my first day. Hell, I'd most likely fail even if I'd been trained beforehand.

"I...I have a question, sir," Scarlett said. The way sir came out of her mouth was forced, like she hated glorifying him but knew she had to. "What happens if we win the battle? If we succeed?"

"Everything will be different after this trial. Much different."

That wasn't even exactly an answer to her question. It irked me and it made the hairs on my arms bristle. Different. Different as in what? I wished Epsilon's expression wasn't so unchangeable, so statue-like. Nothing moved except his mouth as he spoke. I couldn't infer anything from it.

"Sir." Techno pointed at a screen behind me. "Tests are done. Everything is normal. They are ready for the sedation."

Epsilon nodded. "Then go ahead."

Just like that. He came in here, threw at me a bucketload of confusion, told us that things would be different after this trial-whatever the hell that meant-and now...go ahead. I didn't even know what I wanted his last words to be. Maybe a more concise clarification. Maybe an alright-this-was-all-a-joke-there's-no-trial-or-shit.

A needle punctured my neck. I let out a quivering breath. Slowly, the world fuzzed around me like a camera lens unfocusing. My eyelids dropped, muscles relaxing. Noises...Some of them melted in my ears, some of them still distinct. With my last bits of consciousness, I wondered where I'd wake up after this. If it'd be somewhere familiar...or if... Everything collapsed in a sheet of black.

"Immediate transfer to Location A. Trial starts when they wake up."

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hi! thoughts, feedback, criticism, i'd love to hear! thank you for reading/voting/commenting <3 and in case you skipped the intro chapter, yes, the narrator is a boy.