"Iris," the elderly butler said, "It's t-t-time for you to clean up the kitchen."

He was very old, older than Iris who was only three years old. His age was showing from the several speech malfunctions he had, and the creaking of several joints.

"Iris will do them now."

Iris had several jobs in this house, Iris was to clean the hallways, clean the kitchen, and clean the various machinery around the house. Iris has never felt emotions, but Iris was as close to happy as could be living here with Butler and Mother.

Everyday, Iris would spend her days reading in the library when Iris was free. Iris learnt many things in the library, and could remember them all. Butler tells me my Cortex is superior to his, in every way possible, that Iris' very existence was made to be superior to his. Certainly Iris' skin was smooth and soft whereas his was hard and metallic, and no one would be able to tell Iris was an android at all if Iris didn't show them her Core Cortex.

Iris was superior to Butler and very precious to Mother, so that when Mother scowls or beats Iris or shouts at Iris, Butler says that it was her way of showing affection for how superior Iris was. If there was one thing that Iris wasn't superior at, was that Iris' tear ducts are constantly malfunctioning. Often after Mothers affections, Iris' tear ducts would be unable to regulate the flow of fluid flowing out.

Butler says it's caused by Iris' memory Cortex. Butler tells Iris her memory Cortex wasn't wiped properly, that's why Iris could see things Iris had no recollection of. He says this causes glitches in the tear duct regulatory sequence.

Butler would help Iris with this, he would tap Iris' head and rub it. After a while the flow would stop. Iris has asked Butler to teach her how to do this, but Butler never does.

Iris was as close to happy as Iris could be. One day, someone came by the house. How they did so Iris doesn't know because the house was hidden. Mother hid me in the closet and told me not to come out, so Iris did.

There was several loud noises, Iris could hear Mother screaming. Iris wanted to go out, but Mother ordered Iris to stay inside. There was so much noise, and then everything was silent. There were several alarms activated, Iris knew it was the fire alarm. But the system did not turn on, it just kept ringing.

Eventually, Iris could hear Mother calling softly for me. When I opened the door Iris saw Butler on the floor broken. Mother had something coming out of her chest, something red was pouring out. Iris read that it was blood, and that if too much is lost Mother will die.

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Iris quickly knelt down to tend to Mothers wounds, but Mother stopped Iris.

"Iris..." Mother said softly. It was the softest she had ever spoken to me.

"Yes Mistress."

"...Call...me mother..."

Mother disliked it when Iris called her Mother, so Iris usually calls Mother Mistress. But Mother told Iris to call her mother, so Iris will.

"Mother."

"Iris I...should have...loved you more. I wasted this...second chance."

"Mother?"

"Go...basement. Wait there."

"Yes Mother. When should Iris leave?"

"When you...finish recording...everything."

Iris was about to leave when Mother held my hands.

"Live well, as best you can...Iris. I love...you." Mother said as her eyes grew dimmer. Her hands fell by her side and Iris just looked at her. Iris' tear ducts malfunctioned again as Iris headed down into the basement.

The basement was restricted, and Iris was told not to come here. But now Mother told Iris to come here to 'record everything' so that's what Iris will do. The basement was cold and dark, but Mother liked it that way.

Once inside, the doors closed and locked behind Iris. The alarms could not be heard here and Iris was just pacing about, as Iris picked everything up and analysed it and stored it inside Iris' Cortex and then placed it back exactly as it was.

Iris did just that, running from top to bottom for each shelf. Iris stopped when she reached a small file called Project Iris. Iris had never read her own project file before. Mother would never let her. But Iris' orders were to record, so Iris gently opened the file and began recording.

The more Iris read, the more Iris' tear ducts malfunctioned. For the first time, Iris experienced something in her biological Cortex. Iris did not know what it was. Internal diagnostics reveal nothing but Iris knew something was wrong.

Iris had read about this, but Iris was sure this only happened to people like Mother. Iris felt heartbreak. But nothing was broken, but Iris was sure something was broken. Iris sat there as Iris' memory Cortex malfunctioned again.

"Iris is...Iris..Ir...I...Mother...am...I...dying?"

A protocol started in Iris'...in my head. Iris...I walked to the table and opened...my...source port and plugged in to the system. The program ran automatically as Iris' clothes were stripped and lasers cut into the skin and peeled it off.

Iris could see various things going on in the background and I was very confused. Some parts were interchanged with others and some were totally replaced by new inputs. Many of these inputs were designed based on the human body, but were modified heavily. Once the upgrades were done, I was re-skinned with a new material. It looked like a liquid, but it was actually millions of robots.

I was clothed in a dress made of similar material. I ran various programs in my head and learnt that I would now require ingesting various forms of liquids and carbon based products like mother, which would help me generate mana to power these parts and regenerate these nano machines should I require it. I learnt my entire body was also rebuilt and made of similar material, and was stronger and faster compared to previously.

Still the tear ducts continued to malfunction through it all. And I remembered my mothers tender grasp, it reminded me of when I was younger when she would do the same.

Younger?

I was only three years old, but I remember it was after my fifth birthday when Mother cried. I remember she held me as I lay on the bed and said to her.

"Mother, am I dying?"

"No Iris," she said, "I will build you a better body."