A few days later, Liam’s parents headed to their domain’s spaceport, accompanied by some guards. They boarded a specially chartered shuttle, but sat some distance apart. The lavish shuttle would take them into space, where they would board a greater ship that was headed for the Capital Planet in the center of the Empire’s vast territory. The capital was far more developed than some count’s planet deep in the outskirts.
The two sat without looking at each other; they didn’t seem particularly close. While reading an electronic newspaper, Cliff spat, “You got him a doll? What kind of mother are you?”
Meanwhile, Darcie drank tea as though she couldn’t care less what he had to say. There was no love in their relationship. Their marriage had been one of political convenience.
“That child’s nothing more than a product of my genes. How am I supposed to love him with a face like that, and when I didn’t even give birth to him myself?”
Liam had been produced artificially using his parents’ DNA. To both of them, he was nothing but an heir.
Darcie continued, “Besides, you’re one to talk. You think it’s okay to just foist everything off onto your five-year-old child?”
“Well, did you want to stay?”
“Are you kidding?” Darcie took another sip of tea, then voiced her many frustrations. “If I hadn’t known I’d be able to get out later, I never would have married into this country bumpkin house. We’ve got no money and nothing but problems. It’s just terrible. Of course, I don’t feel great about fooling an ignorant child. Giving him that doll was the least I could do, don’t you think?”
Cliff smiled. “He’ll just be a laughingstock. A noble with a doll at his side? People are going to talk about him behind his back his entire life.”
“Whatever, it’s got nothing to do with me. I’m done with him now that he’s the lord.”
Having maid robots—sometimes called dolls—was looked down upon in noble society. It was common for anyone who possessed one to be scorned.
“It’ll do him more good than any old servant, though,” Darcie said. “It’s not like we have any knights or retainers to give him. Plus, if something happens to him, then we’ll have to come back, and I do not want that.”
“True. Wouldn’t want that.”
“Is it really okay to just force everything onto a child, though? We’re not going to get in trouble for that?” Darcie was more worried about her own future than Liam’s.
Cliff grabbed some booze he’d ordered from a crew member and gulped it down. He loosened his collar, clearly feeling relieved to be free of his responsibilities. “Don’t worry about it. There’s precedent, and I got approval from the Imperial Court. Plenty of people do the same thing, it’s fine. Nowadays, nobody cares who’s lord, and nobody wants to rule that backwater planet anyway, so who’ll complain?”
The Empire had approved of Cliff giving his title and assets to a five-year-old. It was an unusual occurrence, but there was a reason for it.
“The Empire doesn’t want anything to do with the boonies either. Long as somebody’s in charge and doing their duty, they don’t care.”
The Intergalactic Empire was so vast that it was almost impossible to govern all of it. It didn’t help that the Empire was historically resistant to using artificial intelligence to assist with governance; the use of AI of any type was kept to an absolute minimum. This was because in this world, humanity had nearly been wiped out by the artificial intelligence they’d created. Humanity had once been ruled by AIs, and the people who rose up against them had created the Empire.
Therefore, the nobility didn’t approve of things like maid robots, which utilized artificial intelligence. The current trend was that they would be used if needed, but only at a bare minimum.
Darcie looked down at their planet from the shuttle’s window—the planet ruled by the House Banfield. It hardly looked like a civilization capable of space travel. The planet’s level of development had been forcibly restricted, and the people there lived under a vast amount of debt.
“Liam will probably be furious when he finds out what he’s been saddled with.”
Cliff was starting to turn a little red from the potent drink. “He’ll just push it off onto his own kid and flee to the capital, like me.”
A planet no one would be happy ruling over. That was Count Banfield’s domain.
✦ ✦ ✦
At five years old, I had become a count who ruled over a planet.
“Now that’s power. I’m basically a king.”
There were many counts in the Empire, so the Banfields were just one of a great number of families of the same rank. But inside my own territory, I was the supreme ruler.
Seated in the chair in my office, which was much too large for my child’s body, I received a report from my butler, Brian.
“Your maid robot has arrived, Master Liam.”
Brian had served the Banfield family for a long time, and he handled all household matters. He was a slender man approaching old age who maintained his appearance more than adequately for his station. He was the kind of man who would have made me nervous in my past life, but in this one, my authority superseded his, so I spoke down to him even though I was a child.
“Bring her here, then.”
“Yes, sir. Come in.”
The door to my office opened and the maid robot I had modeled in 3D appeared before me. She strode in gracefully, her posture perfect. I’d been expecting to see a robot that looked just like the image I’d created, but her beauty far exceeded my expectations.