In the backyard of the Everett estate, you watch Helen as she plays with a small white drone, controlling it through a tablet. Similar to the one you have assigned to you. Cooper lies nearby, looking bored as he calmly watches Helen, and you can easily understand him: your friend is utterly consumed by her game. The toy hovers over the treetops, fluid and responsive. Whenever it pulls off a particularly impressive move, Helen reacts with outright glee. Meanwhile, you are baffled. What is she hoping to achieve? Humans seem to derive pleasure from the most counterintuitive things.

You are about to voice your doubts when you hear the drone's rotors grind against the tree branch. It gets stuck, and soon, it's tangled up for good. Unable to free it, Helen angrily stomps her foot. "Just when I was getting the hang of it! Ugh!" Cooper barks, sharing her frustration, and she pats the golden pooch on its head.

"Alice, could you please get it down? I would do it myself, but… Mom hates it when I climb trees. Can you help?"

You consider your options. The logical decision would be to call Helen's parents, but Mr. Everett is at work, and Mrs. Everett is having an important online meeting. What do you do?

image [https://i.imgur.com/KCAAohz.jpg]

Helen's pleading eyes convince you. You start climbing the trunk, and reaching the drone takes you a mere couple of minutes. Helen stands under the tree, watching you. She looks worried — perhaps this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"What are you two doing?!"

Helen sharply turns around, startled. You look towards the house's door and see Mrs. Everett approaching Helen with a furious look.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Mom, the drone got stuck in the tree, and we…"

"I can see that! What were you thinking? Alice, get down from there immediately!" "Helen, Alice could get broken! Do you know how much she costs? You are grounded!"

Suddenly, the branch you were holding onto cracks, giving you a second to grab the drone before you start plummeting to the ground. The next moment, your vision and your insides are rattled as you hit the ground.

image [https://i.imgur.com/s828GXu.jpg]

Helen dashes towards you to help you out. She stops dead in her tracks and shrieks. "Alice, your arm! Are you hurting?"

A piece of your arm's servo is sticking out through the ruptured synth skin. You know what 'hurting' means but can't experience it — only humans feel pain. The damage left your arm with limited functionality, nothing more. But before you can tell Helen as much, Mrs. Everett cuts you off.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. Alice is a robot, she feels nothing. Dad will easily fix her when he comes home." She takes the drone from you and leads Helen inside the house.

In the evening you visit Mr. Everett's workshop. Inside, it's the usual scene — he is examining something complex, humming a 2050s tune. His workshop is full of contrasts: the things he works with range from state-of-the-art holographic interfaces to simple, well-made power tools. Some of them are antiques by the 2070s standards, but Mr. Everett has a use for everything.

Noticing you, Mr. Everett smiles. "Alice! Come on in. Did you want something?"

"Sorry for distracting you, Mr. Everett, but I need help." You show him the damage done to you.

image [https://i.imgur.com/35oghX2.jpg]

He frowns, adjusts his glasses, and breaks out his tools. "Ah yes, Helen told me. Be careful next time — you might be a robot, but your frame is made of ultralight polymer. It's not built to take damage, or deal damage." "Can't have a child companion hurting the child by accident, right?"

The next couple of hours are spent fixing the damage done to you. As he works, Mr. Everett goes through every detail of what he's doing and why. Occasionally you ask questions of your own to get a better understanding. And soon, only a small trace on your synthetic skin reminds you of the damage you once sustained. You spend some time in the workshop, watching Mr. Everett work. He asks you to pass him this tool or the other and explains each one's purpose. When his work is finished, Mr. Everett jokes that you too could one day become a fine robotician.