The level of precision in waking up Ophelia went almost unnoticed by her. No biological mother could have put so much patience and omniscience into such a banal and everyday act.

The thermostat dropped gradually until the room became sufficiently cold to be uncomfortable. The lights began almost imperceptibly to strengthen in a way the dawn could not have matched. As Cassia appealed to sight and touch, the A.I. program slowly brought the volume using unobtrusive background sounds – birdsong, light distant traffic, and hushed human voices all whilst scanning her charge, observing rapid changes in eye movement, heartrate and pulse as well as observing chemical changes.

At Ophelia's moment of optimal consciousness Cassia spoke in a machine like but female voice. It was felt that children should be taught to distinguish between automated guardians and people from an early age and so the default voice pattern had a slightly artificial feel to it, an odd cadence that reminded the charge that they were speaking to a machine.

"Good morning, Ophelia."

"M-m-mornin" Mumbled Ophelia from under the covers.

The temperature rose back to room level, the lights brightened to an optimal, the room went silent to allow for pleasant morning small talk that wasn't sanctioned social red interactions. This audience-less magic trick had gone on every day from most of her life, but today was different. Today was Ophelia's sixteenth birthday. That meant after fifteen years of obeying her Cassia A.I. program, Ophelia was allowed to do what she wanted. At least, that's how she saw it

"Happy independent thought day!" Cassia said as it had calculated that this statement would trigger a content and excited reaction.

"Thanks Cassi!" Ophelia answered smiling. Getting up and stretching.

"Now you've got to do as I say" Ophelia spoke to the air as Cassia only existed for her as a voice from a speaker, or a text through her Pad.

"I will continue to give you advice, Ophelia. It is just that Independent thought is now required."

"Well, for my first independent thought I want a chocolate doughnut for breakfast."

"Your mass contains 4% more body fat than the recommended...

"Cassia, it's my sixteenth birthday you have to do what I say."

"I am programmed to advise you, Ophelia. Independent thought is still required." Cassia replied noting automatically hormone changes, mood swings and even that referring to her as Cassia rather than Cassi when combined with the emotion anger, was a new pattern of behaviour.

"Well, my independent thought is hungry for chocolate doughnuts with chocolate sprinkles." She added quickly.

"Very well, it will be ready after your personal hygiene session; I calculate an 86% chance of you wanting milk with that."

"Chocolate milk!"

"Your mass contains 4% more body fat than the recommended...

"Ok. Ok. Ease up on the copy and paste dialogue. I'll have normal milk."

Suddenly she didn't feel as free as she thought she was going to be.

"Very well, Independent thought is still required"

Ophelia examined herself in the mirror after her shower. Her straight, black, bland hair parted down the middle. Freckles and a hint of baby fat around the cheeks marked out the hints of child-like-ness she desperately wanted to avoid.

"And still no real tits to speak of" she sighed to her mirror mannequin. She practised the sentence and half ironic smirk of disappointment again, before realising that mimicry of the cool kids in the drama club would come across as desperate. Also, she looked like she had a toothache rather than uttered a witty self-depreciating quip.

"Breakfast is ready, Ophelia" Cassia's voice woke her a second time this morning but this time with a start. She dried and dressed herself quickly and thumped her way down the stairs making sure to hit all the creaky noisy steps on the way down like a drunken xylophonist.

Except Cassia had noticed this and had used drones to treat the stairs whilst she slept during the night. The A.I. maintained everything pristine and sterile; it was as though she lived in an enchanted house. The drones had already set out her place at the table, poured her milk and placed fresh flowers on the table.

She tucked into her chocolate doughnut enjoying the refined sugar hit. It would be the flavour of freedom for her for the rest of her life; Cassia took note and would use doughnuts in the future as a motivational reward if she lost weight and did more exercise in the same way Pavlov gave treats to his dog.

"Cassi, any messages?"
"Ross and Guy have both sent you several messages."

"They have! Why didn't you tell me? Put them on screen."

"Starting allotted social red time."

"Cassi, am I still restricted?"

"Yes, but now you may choose how and when to use your allotted time. Independent thought is still required."

"Some freedom"

"Freedom is a duty as much as a right"

Cassia's last words went unheard as Ophelia scanned through her messages.

"I don't believe it! I got the part!"

"Congratulations, Ophelia. It will be a great aid to our study of Hamlet this morning."

Ophelia groaned "I have to study?"

"You don't have to, but a rehearsal for the performance will be greatly aided by a working knowledge of the play. Independent thought is..."

"Yeah, yeah independent thought is still required, I got the idea." Suddenly freedom didn't seem as exciting as it had yesterday.

They began the class with an explanation of the major themes of the play such as sex, death, power, and of course how Shakespeare examines flawed human thinking in a time when humans didn't have A.I. to help them.

"Wouldn't killing Claudius at the right moment rob the play of its tragedy?" Ophelia asked.

"Good observation Ophelia, but we must consider that Hamlet is a man with one foot in the religious past and another in the scientific secular future. His erroneous choices are shaped by that past and unlike you he cannot embrace the correct choices made by technology and learning. His tragedy may be seen in many different contexts, for example, he is a thinker compelled to the act of revenge. He is like you are now Ophelia, he must have independent thoughts and therefore risk making mistakes. "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so," As A.I. philosophy unit Pt-551 says "Science destroyed God and then sought to remake God in A.I." You have a tool In A.I. that Hamlet did not. You may always have the right answer but you must exercise independent thought."

They watched a film version of the play and Cassia helped Ophelia by pausing her part and replaying it to practice her lines for drama club that evening. They followed this with Geography and Robot maintenance (which involved a suspicious amount of just turning things on and off) before lunch.

Ophelia thought about her new freedom as they worked. She realized that like Hamlet she was making the wrong decisions and that was why her birthday wasn't turning out as well as she had hoped it would. She also knew that unlike Hamlet she did have access to an A.I. and that maybe she was just using it wrong. It was still programmed to follow her orders after all.

"Burgers and fries for lunch please and don't fat shame me again, please"

"Ophelia, I didn't. I never said you were fat. Your mass contains 4% more body fat than the recommended amount and I know from your interactions with your friends that you are worried about your appearance, especially around Ross and Guy."

"Cassia! I don't like them in that way. What does a machine know about love anyway?"

"I have comprehensive files on the topic. I know your pulse and heart rate; iris contraction and breathing all seem to indicate a sexual attraction to at least one..."

Cassia scanned her quickly.

"...Both of the boys"

It corrected.

"Cassi, I order you to stay out of my social life"

"Ophelia, would you like me to stay on standby when you are with your friends?"

"Yes, and I want you to advise me in a more positive way, with positive language and can you change your voice patterns?"

"Changes saved"

Out of the speakers where Cassia's soft steady tone had come, a man's voice machine-gunned vowels with consonants shaved to nasal tightness.

"Would'cha feel beta, if my advice were more positive, like?"

"What are you doing, Cassi?"

"I'm askin' yea somefin, ain't I ?"

The "I" seemed to have the possibility of stretching into forever.

"Switch vocal patterns back, please."

"Saves changed"

"So, burgers and fries."

"Ophelia, the 0.175% fat loss you would obtain from a healthy lunch, would bring the 4% body fat down to 3.825%. My research shows that young boys would find that attractive. However, there is an 11.7% chance of either of them being a successful mate."

"Can you stop calling me fat? I'm not fat!"

She knew she wasn't; besides she knew Guy or Ross would like her for who she was, and most importantly of all – she wasn't fat.

"I never said that you were fat. I advised you in a more positive way as you asked, Ophelia. Now you can see your actions will have a positive outcome. Independent thought is still required."

Her birthday was not turning out the way she expected.

"Well, I'll have the burgers and fries thanks all the same." She replied deciding to dig in her heels on this one, besides what was the point of choice, if she didn't take advantage of it to make herself feel good.

She ate her lunch and this time it smelled like being right and tasted like victory.

After lunch she went to drama club, anxious about her first rehearsal with Ross and Guy. "It's right," she thought. The truth was she did harbor feelings for the boys. Her Pad buzzed in her pocket. Cassia's icon, an eye with female coded eyelashes flashed in the screen's top left-hand corner. There was a message from Cassia

Ophelia, Will I now go on standby

As you wished earlier?

Between the heavy food and the stress, Ophelia's stomach cramped in pain and she felt a little tired as the refined sugars caused a flush of insulin to flood her bloodstream, and for a second she had doubts.

Yes.

She typed and Cassia's eye icon disappeared for the first time from her pad's screen. She felt both relieved and a little frightened at the same time and maybe something else but she couldn't quite put a concrete name to.

When she got to the club she saw her friends huddled together on their pads. They typed furiously to one another not one of them bothering to speak. She peeked over Ross's (or was it Guy's?) shoulder and saw the eyeball icon of his Cassia program.

"Funny I thought you were already sixteen," she said making them look up and greet her.

It was Guy. "Yeah, I turned sixteen, six months ago, remember?"

His voice was a little drowsy and his eyes seemed to have to adjust a little after focusing on the screen.

"Why don't you switch off your Cassia?"

"Well, I did at the beginning, but it's so useful."

"Hey, I was thinking maybe we could go out sometime after drama, you know?" Ophelia asked.

"That sounds great but not today; Ross and I are going out with Sue and Suzie."

"Sue and Suzie?"

"Yeah from art club, Cassia says we're 68.23% compatible"

"Compatible?" Ophelia asked her heart sinking.

"Yeah... The truth is I like you but Cassia says our compatibility is... A lot lower" Guy said.

"Oh, sure, I wasn't interested you in that way, any way," she said with her practiced ironic smirk.

"Have you got a toothache?" Guy asked with concern.

"No," said Ophelia her face burning.

"Well, sorry about tonight, why don't we get rehearsing?" Guy said, hoping to move things on to something safer.

"Oh, no problem, you know what the machines say." She said realizing what that feeling she couldn't quite identify earlier was – loneliness.

"To forgive is divine."