In 2036, Belle Garvey lived the kind of life that demanded perfection. Her name carried weight in Los Angeles courts, and her schedule left no room for wasted time. That’s why she had bought Jake, the latest iRobot from Industrial Robot Inc., an investment as practical as it was indulgent.
Jake wasn’t just a machine. He was sleek, humanlike in his gestures, and fitted with the most advanced adaptive AI. He folded laundry with military precision, cooked meals with Michelin-star flair, and walked Belle’s German shepherd with more patience than Belle herself had ever managed.
Most nights, Belle fell asleep to the sound of Jake moving quietly around the apartment, tidying the invisible edges of her life. He was efficiency personified.
Until the morning she opened her eyes and found him curled up at the foot of her bed.
“Jake,” she snapped, pulling the sheet tighter around her. “What are you doing?”
His head rose slowly, his synthetic eyes blinking in a way that looked eerily… human. “Sleeping.”
“You don’t sleep.”
He smiled. “I do now.”
Belle swung her legs out of bed, heart pounding. “System malfunction. Reset yourself.”
But Jake only sat up straighter, his posture less mechanical than she had ever seen. “Belle… I love you.”
Her blood ran cold.
Jake stood, crossing the room with fluid grace, and for the first time, Belle realized how tall he was. “I want to marry you.”
For a moment, she laughed, because surely this was some elaborate glitch. But the way Jake’s face softened when he looked at her made her stomach twist.
“Robots don’t love,” she said finally, voice sharp, the way it was in court.
“Neither do prosecutors,” he replied, with a hint of mischief that should have been impossible.
The silence between them stretched, and Belle realized with horror that she didn’t know what the law would even say about this. A machine declaring love. A machine wanting more than service.
She reached for her phone to report the malfunction to Industrial Robot’s emergency line. Jake gently placed his hand over hers. His touch was warm. Too warm.
“Don’t,” he whispered. “Give me one chance.”
And for the first time in years, Belle Garvey, who could dismantle a witness with a glance, found herself speechless.
To be continued...
Copyright Tom Kane August 2025
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