Fass had a taste of the braised meat. It was the same as the one he ate the other day.
The two ate in silence. When they were done, Fass continued to fix Nicholas. Nathan sat at the side and watched for a bit before going off to look for a place to nap.
Fass adjusted the temperature and humidity in the room then had the robot bring a blanket over to cover Nathan with.
Much later, Fass had a newly-constructed Nicholas in front of him. He rebooted Nicholas and set him in motion.
Now, he had a pair of big and bright eyes that allowed him to make simple and realistic facial expressions. It was no longer just the two black circles from before. It could even change colors according to his surroundings.
After learning that Nicholas had broken down due to the cold temperature, Fass changed his original motherboard, processors, and other internal parts to materials that were frost-hardy. He also put in some additional features and updated the system.
Nicholas’ processors were now more advanced and he had a faster response time. No matter what Fass did, he had to be precise to the dot.
A series of tests were conducted, and it was now time to see the final result.
He looked at Nicholas and asked, “What is your name? What is your model?”
Nicholas answered accurately, “Nicholas Fletcher. B-1 Educational Robot.”
“Who is your user?”
“User settings. My mother is Sophia Edwards. My brother is Nathan Fletcher. My father is Michael Fletcher.”
Fass pulled his brows together. Your first master is a woman?
“What is your mission?”
“Protect Mom and Nate.”
Fass thought, I’ll take him apart again and make some changes, then restart him and test him again.
He glanced over at Nathan who was sound asleep, then back at Nicholas. He disassembled him once more, put on safety glasses, and welded in a new part inside of Nicholas.
Finally, Fass took the tiger hat that Nathan was wearing and put it back on Nicholas. The system was done restarting. Nicholas’ eyes lit up and he was functioning normally again. He moved his robotic arm and it was more reactive. Lifting his head, he looked at Fass and said, “Thank you, Fass.”
Fass had programmed an automatic deletion of his memories here once he stepped outside, including the videos, documents, and maintenance log.
When Nicholas went to wake Nathan up, Nathan was thrilled to see an alert and active Nicholas in front of him and immediately hugged him.
Nicholas, who was now back in perfect condition, stretched out his robotic arm to take Nathan’s hand so they could go home together. He turned around to wave at Fass, “Thank you, Fass. We have to go home for dinner now.”
Fass nodded and smiled. “Go on home now, Nate. Don’t forget our promise. Don’t tell anyone about what you saw today.”
Nathan nodded and started to head out. After taking two steps, though, he stopped abruptly and turned around. “Thank you, Fass.”
After that, Nathan went home happily with Nicholas. Nicholas was even more intelligent and incredible than before. He can change colors too! This is amazing!
Later that night, Linus came home from work and saw Fass sitting in the living room. While he was taking off his overcoat, he said, “Cooper, my housewarming is in two days. Do you want to stay for it?”
Fass did not answer him. His gaze shifted to the small object on the coffee table in front of him. Linus also looked down—it was a tiny memory card.
Linus felt a tug in his chest, but he still looked indifferent on the outside. “What is that?”
Fass looked at Linus’ expression but did not see any changes. “An internal analysis chart from a military compound.”
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