1 Ready for life.

beep... beep...

[It's seven am now, time to wake up], rang a mechanical voice, neither male nor female.

"uggh.. what day is it?"

[Monday, December 7. Today you will get your test results for last semester.]

"It's in the afternoon, let me sleep for now."

[Breakfast is prepared, you should eat it before it gets cold.]

Roza woke up with a start, "Damn, I told you not to prepare food without permission. Do you want to waste the food and my credits?"

[You are restricted from changing work parameters.]

"I hate these cheap robotic AI, can't even change a damn thing."

Roza mumbled to himself about how the school was too cheap and how he was thankful he won't have to deal with this anymore, while he proceeded to the bathroom. Soon the sound of running water filled the room.

A TechCorp robot on wheels, rolled in from the kitchen to serve the breakfast. It had a green paint job with a large 'blue gear' logo painted on its head, truly the cheapest model available in the market.

Roza finished with his morning routine and sat down on the table for breakfast. Canned vegetables, mixed fruit juice and packaged sandwich, that was all you got in the standard box.

"Hey Sandra, call Tony."

[Dialling Tony Murdoch]

beep.. beep.. beep.. beep..katcha!

"Hello?" came a feminine voice from the other end.

Roza was confused, " Hello, where's Tony?"

"Master Tony is asleep please call again later." the call was aborted before Roza could say anything.

"What the..... WTF was that! He got a maid?" Roza was not happy.

"Hey Sandra, call Tony"

[Dialling Tony Murdoch]

beep.. beep.. beep.. beep.. katcha!

"Emergency! Emergency! Tony where are you?" before any greetings could be exchanged Roza tried to fake an emergency.

"Master Tony is asleep please.."

Roza cut in before she could finish, "Master my a**, asleep my a**, it's an emergency here, wake him up now!"

"Are you sure it's an emergency?"

"Yes."

The line went silent. Roza was a bit uneasy because he lied, even though he was sure Tony won't file a lawsuit against him for faking an emergency.

About half a minute later a low voice came through the line, " Hello, Roza, what happened? are you okay?"

"I'm not okay brother."

"What happened?" there was concern in Tony's voice.

"We get our results in the afternoon and this dorm manager woke me up now, then I found out my brother got a maid to accompany him. My heart is both broken and burning with jealousy." Roza spoke in a pitiful voice.

"It's not a maid, dad upgraded the house manager yesterday."

" What? so lucky bro, she didn't even wanna wake you up."

"so you woke me up with an emergency alarm just because..?"

"What just because? since I'm awake you come down to the school and accompany me."

"fk off!! I'm gonna go back to bed. Don't call back, I'm blocking you till noon."

beep.

Roza sat there staring at his half finished glass of juice. You could see the helplessness in his eyes. He downed the rest of the juice and started pondering on how he should spend the morning. He glanced around his room, the grey synthetic building blocks provided no excitement. He even looked back to his old water heated bed and considered having a nap. Finally he shook his head and decided to visit the school park.

The park was at the east corner of the school compound, there you could see quite a variety of flowers, many of them genetically modified to bloom throughout the year. Roza walked around the park once before he sat down and started fiddling with his cell communicator. "Hey Kedia, call dad."

He brought the device to his ears, only to hear the standard rings followed by, "The person you are trying to call is not available to respond, please try again later."

"Sigh.. dad, what happened to you?" Roza murmured to himself while staring at the violet flowers across the path. After some time his eyes were slowly filled with determination, it seemed like he had decided something finally.

About a year has passed since Roza had a conversation with his dad, he missed him a lot but couldn't get a leave from school on his own. The State Juvenile Care and Education centre is a boarding school and apparently his dad had paid for his course already hence he wasn't even kicked out. He some time wished that if his fees was not paid, he could get kicked and get a chance to go meet his dad. He couldn't understand why his dad won't talk to him, maybe he didn't want him anymore, he assumed.

But everything will be clear soon because Roza has finished his course and can leave school after getting his results and other certificates. He will be able to go and meet his father in a couple of days, that's why he has been very cheerful these days.

"Hey Roza, good morning, fancy meeting you in the park." came a sweet voice. Roza lifted his head up to see Anne, one of his classmates, walking towards him.

"Good morning Anne, what's up?"

"Nothing much, just came for a run." Anne sat beside Roza on the park bench, breathing heavily.

The scent of her body drifting in his nose made Roza pause for a bit.

"Why are you playing around with your cell here? you should run around a bit since you came to the park."

"Ohh, I was just nervous about the results today. My physical training score is above standard anyway."

"Huh! Roza, the top student of our class, nervous about results? stop kidding me."

"Hehehe. well I was nervous that you'll beat me this time."

"Please... I can only beat you in a 100m sprint."

They just sat there in silence for some time. When her breathing stabilized Anne asked, " Are you coming to the dance party next week?"

"uh! Not sure, I was planning to visit my dad after results. Maybe I won't be back by then."

"How far is your dad?"

"He is working in Courtlyn."

"That just two states away, you can return with enough time."

"Yes but if he asks me to stay I will, we are meeting after five years."

"Oh..." Anne was visibly disappointed. She is a fine young woman by any standard, but her advances were never reciprocated by Roza. She also has grown accustomed to his lack of interest to romance, after all she never saw him approach a girl in the past.

"I must go back now Roza, hope to see you again."

"Good bye Anne, see you."

Roza sat there alone, lost in his own thoughts until his cell rang, announcing a new mail. Looking down, he found a broadcast mail from the school, asking final year students to assemble in class for their exam results.

"Time for real life Roza!" with that, he began walking towards the dorms.