At the start of a new century, we almost always usher in a new era of development and discovery. In the 1900s, we adopted the idea of a horseless carriage we chose to deem forever as the car, and we soon became instilled with more advanced automations- these ideas slowly became known as the first robotic experiments, development, and plans. The 2000s brought new ideas within its first decade, in this era technology advance so quickly we weren't sure what to do with it. Robotics in particular hit a high as quick as the technology itself could advance- the exploration of an Artificial Intelligence became commonplace in robot development, but scientists wanted more.

Who would be the one to create a robot so human-like that there was almost no distinction between the two species?

. . .

The sunlight streamed into Toby's room and into his still closed eyes as if it was trying to tell him how great his day was going to be today.

The thirteen year old boy groaned as he woke- he had rather hoped to sleep in today to be quite honest. Today was going to be the day that he would sleep in a bit, then go to play some virtual hockey on his Microtendony system, watch a little TV, and finally he was going to have lunch with his dad after he finished his demonstration for the- wait… The demonstration!

In a heartbeat, Toby's eyes snapped open and he leaped out of his bed. The kid ran to the bathroom and without stopping brushed his teeth, combed his hair back, put on a clean pair of pants, then rushed back out of the bathroom to the kitchen.

Please let him still be drinking coffee…

Toby clung to the doorframe that led into the kitchen and almost slid from his own velocity. With an exhausted huff, Toby looked around the kitchen and gave a sigh of relief when he saw his father sitting at the table.

"Would you like more coffee Doctor Tenma?" inquired a hovering housebot designed to look like a thin refrigerator although it was programmed to act as a live-in cook.

"No thanks." Toby's father replied with a hand wave.

"Dad!" Toby exclaimed, still at the door. "You haven't left yet!"

Doctor Tenma looked up and saw his son at the door and gave a rather slow blink.

"Toby…" the doctor said before taking another sip of coffee, "Why are you up so early? Saturday is the day you usually sleep in until twelve in the afternoon."

"I wanted to go with you." Toby exclaimed with a wide smile as he went over to his father. "I want to see the look on the Ambassador's face when you show him your new robot!"

Doctor Tenma gave his son another rather slow blink as he took second sip from his coffee mug.

"First of all, the Ambassador is a female." Tenma told his child. "Second, I already told you that you can not come to the demonstration. The robot in question is armed with an advanced weapon system that could harm everyone present should it go haywire."

"But it won't." Toby goaded. "You designed it after all. All the robots you designed have an expectancy rate of twenty years- maybe even more if they keep working!"

"Toby, just because the robots I've designed have yet to break down, it doesn't mean that they are failsafe. Let alone this new one."

"Please Dad, just this once?" Toby begged with wide eyes and his bottom lip whimpering. His father did not back down.

"I said no Toby, and that's final. Do you understand?"

The boy was as stubborn as he was crestfallen, and nodded his head in disappointment.

"Yessir." Toby mumbled.

"Master Tobias," the cook bot spoke up, "Your breakfast is ready."

Without a word, Tenma stood up and started to make his way out the door to work. Every step of the way, Toby watched him with no emotion on his face.

"I'm not hungry." Toby muttered.

"Would you like me to save it for you?" the robot asked. The robot looked around and noticed that Toby was no longer in the room. "Is that a yes, sir?"