​     Seven o'clock P.M.​

​     Adam was showered and immaculately groomed and stepping through the entrance of Livia Montcrief's​ newest skyscraper to join the most exclusive party in Seatrailia in months, a gala announcing the debut of her newest enterprise: MONTCRIEF TECHNOLOGIES. Livia and her people designed it to be a night full of surprises. Adam rode the elevator to the thirtieth floor. As he got off, two robots greeted him. They weren't like the robots Adam used himself back at his compound, which looked more or less like human beings and were controlled by his mega-computer and best friend, Claudia. No, these two were about as tall as chimps, and they had round. volleyball heads with slits for eyes, and they only had four fingers, instead of five, that looked like blocky, rectangular pincers, but, still, robots this sophisticated hadn't been introduced to the general public, yet. 

     Apparently, Livia Montcrief planned to change all of that. 

     That's what this gala was all about, to introduce these affordable yet fully functional robots to the world along with the way-beyond-state-of-the-art technologies behind them.

     But where did Livia get all this technology?

     That's part of the reason Adam had deigned to appear at the gala himself, to find the answer to that question. 

​     "Greeting Adam Forwarder," one of the robots said to Adam. "Welcome to the future." 

     "I've been there many times already, or versions of it, but thank you."

     The other robot took Adam's coat. As Adam entered the auditorium where the main body of the gala was to be held, he heard the robots greet the couple who'd come up in the elevator with him. "Greetings, Jacob and Francis..." 

​     Adam brought no escort, but he knew he wouldn't be alone at this party long. He never was. He was the single most popular personality in Seatraila, if not the world. So, while he did have a moment to himself, 

     "You getting all of this, Claudia?" 

     "It's pretty impressive," Claudia had to admit. There were robots everywhere in this very large auditorium where Livia threw her gala, carrying drinks, serving hors d'oeuvres. Adam heard their polite, high pitched mechanical voices from every part of the room. "Would you like some champagne? It's very good. Would you like a little something to nibble on before the main courses are served? I assure you it will be nothing fattening." 

     And then something happened that truly impressed Adam. One of the robots rolled up to him with a single blue stemmed cocktail glass filled almost to the brim.  

     "It is Bombay Sapphire," the robot said with a voice as innocent as a child's. "We understand that it is your favorite drink." 

     "Indeed, it is. Thank you." Adam took an introductory sip. It was perfect. Not watered down or altered in any manner. Room temperature. "My compliments. It's wonderful. Thank you."  

     The robot bowed in reply. "Our pleasure, sir," it responded, then rolled away, Adam supposed, to go serve another guest. A nice, rocking five piece band played on the other side of the hall, and it took Adam a few moments to realize that they, too, were robots, not human at all. Their movements were just a little bit too precise. Their lead singer, a human figure, sang with great power, but was a little too arthritic in the limbs, in the elbows and wrists especially. Still, impressive. Overhead, there was an aerial show where four robots swung on trapezes in time to the music, athletic figures with flames shooting out of their hands and feet occasionally as part of the act. If they'd been human beings, it would have been an awe inspiring and death defying act to witness, and even as it was...A dozen statues dotted the floor of the auditorium, human figures for the most part, although Adam saw a lion and a gorilla and a surrealistic, twisted something that undulated and could have been just about anything. They, too, were robots. The lion roared. The gorilla tickled its underarm and made an "ooo ooo" sound. A herculean figure flexed his muscles. An Adonis figure posed provocatively with only a loin cloth covering its genitals, although it wasn't really cloth and there probably weren't any genitals, robotic or otherwise. It looked made of marble, like all the figures in the room did. A fountain centerpieced the auditorium, and robots resembling water nymphs danced in the water. Claudia had been using robots for years. If that wasn't the case, however, if Adam was just another billionaire businessperson, he felt sure he'd been thinking, now there's something, robots as supple as humans but superior in that they would work twenty-four hours a day without a break or any need for union wages or medical insurance. They sure would help me improve the bottom line at my enterprise, which is exactly the impression Livia wanted to achieve.

     Still, for all that, to Claudia he muttered, "I've got a real bad feeling about all of this. A year ago, Livia Montcrief's running a software company that's slowly going broke because it can't compete, and all of sudden she's got the technology to create robots like these?"

     "You're thinking Second Claw?" 

     "Why not? And also..."

     "Also what?"

​     "She's insisting on talking to me. She wants to talk to me privately. Why would she..."

​     "You're thinking that..." 

​     "Gideon Goldbody sure didn't want to talk to me first. He just went ahead and tried to take over the world." 

     "You didn't even know Goldbody, while you and Livia..."

     "Yes, there's that. Still, Goldbody was a crazed megalomaniac."

     "And Livia Montcrief isn't?" 

     "I don't see her yet. Perhaps she...uh oh. Here we go."​

CONTINUE