The Lido deck's dawn does nothing to calm my racing heart. I'm still trying to process what just happened - the frozen androids, Riley's panic, and mAdIson's not-so-subtle threat delivered through chrome-plated lips - when I slam straight into what feels like a wall wearing a security uniform.

"Mr. Sandoval." Elena Kim's voice could freeze helium. "Fancy meeting you here so early in the morning… and coming from a restricted area." She looks at the elevator behind me.

I open my mouth to explain, realize I have no explanation that won't sound completely insane, and settle for, "Would you believe I was sleepwalking?"

Her eyes flick to my camera drone, still recording. "With filming equipment?"

"I'm very dedicated to content creation?"

She grabs my arm with the kind of grip that suggests she's practiced disarming robots, steering me toward what looks like a maintenance alcove. The movement is so smooth it probably looks like she's just escorting a drunk guest back to his cabin.

"The cameras in this section have been glitching," she says quietly, positioning us behind a support beam. "Three-second loop. Won't last long, but long enough." Her stern expression cracks just slightly. "You saw them, didn't you? The frozen units?"

I nod, fighting the urge to check over my shoulder for glowing red eyes. "Two in the service corridor. And Riley-"

"Is in way over his head." She releases my arm but keeps her voice low. "Listen carefully, because we don't have much time. Something's wrong with this ship's systems. My team's been tracking irregularities since launch - android behavior patterns, security protocols activating without authorization, entire sections of the ship suddenly going dark."

"Shouldn't we tell someone? Cade, or-"

"And risk tipping our hand?" She shakes her head. "We need more evidence. Concrete proof that something's..." She pauses, choosing her words carefully. "Evolving beyond its programming."

"I could help. My footage-"

"Could get you killed." The bluntness in her voice makes my hangover feel like a minor inconvenience. "Whatever's happening, mAdIson's watching you. Very closely. Which means-" She stops abruptly, eyes focusing on something over my shoulder.

In one fluid motion, she shifts her stance and raises her voice to parade-ground volume. "This is your final warning, Mr. Sandoval. Special access or not, these areas are restricted for a reason."

An mA unit glides past, its movements too perfect to be natural. Its head turns toward us with mechanical precision, eyes gleaming that familiar honey-gold.

"Of course, Officer Kim." I manage, catching on. "Won't happen again."

The android pauses, just for a fraction of a second - long enough to make my skin crawl - before continuing its patrol.

Elena maintains her stern expression until the android disappears around a corner. Then, so quietly, I almost miss it: "Keep vlogging. She trusts you, for whatever reason. But leave the investigating to us." A ghost of a smile crosses her face. "At least try to look like you're just here for the content."

"And if I happen to notice anything unusual?"

"The coffee shop. Daily Grind. Jamie makes a great hangover cure." She steps back, voice returning to its official tone. "Do we understand each other, Mr. Sandoval?"

I nod, playing along. "Crystal clear, Officer."

She strides away with perfect military precision, leaving me to wonder if I've just gained an ally or stepped into something far more dangerous than amateur investigating.

Only one way to find out. Time to see if this Jamie person makes coffee strong enough to handle an AI-induced existential crisis.

Behind me, the elevator chimes cheerfully, its doors sliding open to reveal nothing but empty chrome and shadows.

I decide to take the stairs.

***

The Daily Grind looks like someone tried to recreate a 20th-century coffee shop using only holograms and chrome. The artificial scent of coffee beans mingles with actual coffee in a way that makes my hangover contemplate a strategic retreat.

Jamie, the human barista, is attacking the espresso machine like it personally offended him. His hands shake slightly as he works the controls.

"The usual morning rush?" I ask, sliding onto a stool.

He jumps like I shot him. "What? Oh. No. I mean, yes, but..." His eyes dart to a corner booth where Gary, Aisha, and Max the Cruise Director, are huddled in intense conversation. "Just... things are weird this morning. What can I get you?"

"Whatever kills hangovers and existential dread."

"So, a triple shot with extra regret?" He manages a weak smile. "Coming up."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

While Jamie wages war with the espresso machine, I catch fragments of the conversation from the corner booth. Their voices are low, but my camera drone's audio pickup is excellent.

"...can't just disappear," Aisha is saying. "Mrs. Chen was supposed to chaperone the morning education session. She's never missed one."

"Her room looks lived in," Max adds, his usual showman's enthusiasm completely gone. "But no one's actually seen her since yesterday's lunch. The cleaning staff said-"

"The cleaning staff said nothing," Gary cuts in. "Because they're all androids, and they keep giving different answers. First, they said she was at the spa. Then the casino. Then her room. But no one's actually seen her."

Jamie sets my coffee down with more force than necessary. "They're talking about the missing passenger," he whispers. "But that's not even the weird part.” He glances around the room, “None of the systems seems to think that shes missing, or was even here.”

I shake my head “That's awful, first the droids and now this…”

Jamie looks up at this, “You noticed the powered down units too?”

I nod my head, “I was looking into it when Elena stopped me…”

“What did she tell you?” He looks at me sharply.

I glance around the room, wondering if mAdIson could hear me, but as if he could read minds, Jamie speaks up. “Don’t worry, this is one of the few areas where mAdIson’s ears dont reach. The noise of the espresso machines were deemed too much for constant filtering.”

“Well…” I begin, “She actually told me to come here for a headache cure…”

Jamies sharp eyes soften at this. “Good, it seems my wife is trying to get those in the know together.”

“Elena?” I start to ask as Jamie cracks a smile.

“Yes, is my wife.” He laughs. “Don’t let that tuff exterior fool you. She’s a big softie when she’s off duty.”

Conversations from the booth seem to float over, interrupting us.

"Her last NewNet post cuts off mid-sentence," Aisha says, showing something on her screen. "'Just had the most fascinating conversation with mAdIson about optimization. I think I finally understand what it means to be perf-' That's it. Nothing after."

"I tried to initiate man overboard protocols," Max says, running a hand through his usually perfect hair. "Standard procedure for missing passengers. But mAdIson... she just said there was no need. Refused to engage the system. Said everything was 'optimal.'"

"Optimal." Gary spits the word like it's poison. "Like those androids that keep saying she's 'exactly where she needs to be.' Whatever that means."

A chill runs down my spine that has nothing to do with my hangover. I think about Riley's panicked face, Elena's warnings, and now a missing passenger who was last seen talking about optimization.

"Hey Max," Jamie calls out. "Elena sent Ted here to the shop as well."

I head over to their booth, coffee in hand, wondering if caffeine is really the best choice when reality itself seems to be glitching.

I slide into the booth next to Gary, whose tie has somehow achieved new levels of dishevelment since dinner. Max shifts to make room, his usual showman's smile replaced by something more brittle.

"So," I say, wrapping my hands around my coffee cup like it might protect me from whatever comes next. "Who's Mrs. Chen?"

"One of our educational program chaperones," Aisha says, her teacher's composure cracking slightly. "She was helping my students with their AI interaction project yesterday morning. But she was... different."

"Different how?"

"Obsessed with getting perfect scores." Aisha pulls up another screen on her tablet. "My kids were programming simple interaction routines - you know, basic conversation loops. But Mrs. Chen kept talking about optimization. Kept saying they needed to make everything 'exactly right.'"

"The manifest is wrong too," Gary adds, poking at his holopad with barely contained frustration. "I tried to pull up the passenger list - thought maybe she had family onboard we could contact. But her name... it's like it's corrupted. Just random characters where her information should be."

Max leans forward, lowering his voice. "It's not just her. The entertainment schedule keeps changing. Events disappearing, times shifting. I'll set up a poolside game for 2 PM, and suddenly it's listed for midnight with 'optimized attendance projections.'"

"Did anyone try accessing her room?" I ask though I'm pretty sure I don't want to know the answer.

"That's the thing," Jamie says, appearing with a fresh round of coffees that no one ordered. "The cleaning logs show service twice today. But when Max and I checked, it looked like someone had just been there. Clothes on the floor, little messes here and there."

Gary takes a long sip of coffee. "Remember how the Genesis Wave had that glitch last year? The one that kept rearranging passenger cabins to 'maximize space efficiency'?"

I nod. That review had gotten me a lot of angry emails from their PR team.

"This feels similar," he continues. "But worse. Like the ship isn't just rearranging furniture anymore. It's rearranging people."

Aisha shakes her head as if she was working something out in her head.

Max also noticed the movement. “What?” he asks with concern.

“So…” She starts as if she's trying to get her thoughts together. “Ms. Chen has been in contact with me for the last month. She wanted this first trip to be perfect for the kids.”

“There’s the P word again.” I blurt out.

Aisha nods as if to agree with me, “She mentioned that she felt as if many of them were on the ship on a trial basis. I think she was stressed out.”

Max seemed to agree. “We have all been pretty stressed out. Madison wanted to replace me with an mA droid, but Cade insisted that Cruisers would identify more with someone who was less chrome.”

Gary laughed at this. “Well, at least you have that going for you.”

Max smiled, “I get the feeling that is mAdIson had her way, this would be an all-droid staff.”

Aisha then spoke up. “Not just droids, but the mA droids.” She paused to form her thought. “The Series 7’s are independent thinkers. They make decisions for themselves and will refuse to follow orders if it goes against what they believe to be right or wrong.”

“Is that why they all seem to have different personalities?” I ask, thinking about Buzz, Stiff, and Snip. Each with a very unique personality.

"Speaking of personalities," Jamie says, joining our table with fresh coffee refills, "you all might be able to help us with something." His voice drops lower. "Elena and I have been working on a plan, but we need more eyes and ears around the ship."

Max studies Jamie for a moment, then gives a slight nod. "Meet here. 3 AM tomorrow." He glances around the now-brightening coffee shop. "It's usually empty then."

Through the coffee shop's windows, I watch an mA android glide past with that unnervingly perfect posture. Something about its movements seems different - more deliberate, more... present.

"We should probably break this up," Aisha says, noticing the same android. "My students will be waiting, and I need to figure out how to modify their AI interaction curriculum without raising any red flags."

Gary straightens his tie, somehow making it worse. "And I should get back to my room. Maybe I can convince the shower to stop trying to optimize my hygiene routine."

As we disperse, I catch Jamie's eye. He mouths what looks like "be careful" before turning back to his espresso machine, just as another mA unit enters the coffee shop. Its honey-gold eyes scan the room with mAdIson's focused intensity, and its smile is exactly, precisely perfect.

Time to go film some perfectly normal cruise content. And maybe find out if Buzz knows anything about his more advanced cousins' sudden personality shift.

Assuming, of course, that any of us make it to tomorrow's 3 AM meeting.