Unreality

2. Dawn

'Is this the place?'

'Affirmative.'

Amidst the hazy morning fog, a large and sumptuous mansion lay past a long and luxuriant garden. At the gate, there was a black-haired man, enveloped in a dark gray trench coat, observing the boundaries of the expansive residence before him.

'I can see why it doesn't seem to have caused much of an uproar this time around — not when it took place in a house as large and isolated as this.'

'Yes. The extent to which it may have affected its residents, however, remains as potentially dangerous as with any other case.'

'I'm aware of that.'

The person this man was talking to was, in fact, not a person at all, but rather what was known as a droid, a floating mechanical device — shaped in the form of a sphere about as large as a human head — which had been imbued with artificial intelligence.

With no gatekeeper in sight, the man nonchalantly made his way inside, crossing the expansive garden with broad steps, which were always followed closely by the spherical droid floating at head level behind him.

In a matter of seconds, they reached the front door, where the man was quick to ring the doorbell, albeit to no response. After a couple more tries, an elderly male voice finally made itself heard on the other side.

'Who is it?'

The man in the dark trench coat raised his voice, 'I'm with Ethos, the Alpha Federation's Special Command Forces. I need to speak to the owners of this place.'

'...What for?'

Although his mysterious interlocutor could not see it, his response caused a very slight frown to form on the man's face.

'I am not at discretion to say until I am certain of whom I am addressing. Open the door, please.'

'Just a moment.'

The man sighed. It seemed everywhere he went lately, Ethos' name was received with hesitation at best, and abhorrence at worst.

He waited something like two minutes, at which point the droid behind him spoke in its monotone mechanical voice, 'Someone approaches from the left.'

Emerging from between the garden's leafy bushes, an elderly man revealed himself, dressed in what could be identified as a butler's garb.

'Good morning, sir,' he greeted with squinted eyes and a smile. 'May I see your identification, so that my master may be at ease regarding your identity?'

The man in the dark trench coat was hardly enamored by this request, but acquiesced anyway, fetching some manner of ID from one of his pockets and showing it to the butler.

'Hmm... Mr. Virgil York, is it?'

'That's right,' replied the man himself, impassively.

It was then that the droid intervened in the conversation, addressing the elderly man receiving them, 'Excuse me. You may not be aware of this, but my mere presence ought to be enough to ascertain the veracity of this man's identity, as none but Ethos agents are accompanied by AI Partners such as myself.'

'Oh my, how peculiar...' commented the butler, 'and you are, sir?'

'I belong to the 200-Series of intelligent, observational droids, commonly referred to as AI Partners. However, when we are bestowed upon an agent, we do receive the equivalent of human names, mine being Joshua. I am pleased to meet you.'