Sparked (The Metal Bones Series Book 1) by Sheena Snow Read Free Book Online Page A

.” I swallowed. “And your parts?”
    Robotatouille nodded.
    Good. At least that wasn’t the problem.
    “Is everything all right now? I mean no more boom-boom?”
    Great, Vienna. Just great. It wasn’t an idiot.
    “I mean,” I amended, looking around the kitchen. “No more exploding . . . things?”
    It nodded again.
    Oh no. What exactly was it nodding its head to again?
    “So everything’s fine then? Right?”
    It nodded, for the third time.
    “Okay, then. Umm, great.”
    Because I love not knowing what caused a massive explosion right in the room next to where I sleep.
    I moved deeper into the kitchen picking up pots and bent down, under the table, to grab one of the bigger ones. As I put it on the pile, I frowned. Four massive fingerprints were on the side on the pot.
    I turned it over in my hands.
    Dad never touched pots and Mom had the tiniest hands ever. I looked at Robotatouille, focusing in on its moderately sized hands arranging pots on the counter. I turned the pot over in my hands.
    So where did these come from?
    I felt something over my shoulder and met Robotatouille’s scowling eyes. Robotatouille narrowed its gaze and gestured at the pot in my hands.
    I slid the pot over to it.
    “I was just trying to help you.” I stood up. “Sorry.”
    I brushed my pants off as I walked toward my room. It didn’t have to act like that. It’s not like I —
    I stopped in my tracks. Wait a minute. Wait. One. Minute. I looked back at Robotatouille, trying to keep my mouth from hanging open.
    It. Had. Scowled . At. Me.
    No way. They were machines, they couldn’t scowl. They couldn’t.
    But this one just did. I stared at the back of its head.
    “You . . . you have feelings.” I clapped my hand over my mouth.
    Did that mean it understood my fight with Mom? That Robotatouille had heard me complaining about having a robot? I smacked my hand against my forehead. That fight was really blowing up in my face.
    I looked back at the robot. Did that mean it hated me now? And if it could hate, could it love?
    As if feeling my eyes on it, Robotatouille turned around to me, as if asking what are you doing still standing there, its eyes now stoic and aloof, much different than a few minutes ago. I averted my gaze.
    I was in deep trouble.
    If I told, what would it do to me? Could it kill me? Could it poison me? Or could it do other things to me? Worse things. Could it get other robots to help it? Did other robots have feelings? Or was it just this one? Was it a glitch in the system?
    No. I rubbed my temples. Emotion wasn’t some glitch in the system. Emotion was too hard to fabricate.
    If Robotatouille could feel, could it think other than what it was programmed? Was it even programmed with anything or had it been acting of its own volition all along?
    The room spun. I leaned my hand against the wall.
    Who else knew? Did anyone else know about this?
    Robotatouille banged on a pot.
    I turned and tried to muster a smile.
    “Dinner?” I eyed the pot it was pointing at. “Oh. Dinner’s done. Okay. Thank you.” I ran my fingers through my ponytail.
    This was awful. I couldn’t live like this. Always wondering what it was thinking and feeling about me. Was it thinking of ways to act on those feelings? And so much for the five-foot perimeter around me. Robotatouille had been hovering over my shoulder. So could it go against orders? Or had Mom lifted the rule already?
    This was bad. So bad.
    I snatched the food and ate in my room but my mind wouldn’t stop working.
    If it has feelings, was this slavery? Should they release robots that have feelings? Do they count as humans? If they do, do they have basic rights, freedoms? Dogs have feelings. Yet they don’t have freedom.
    What if they decided to have a Robot Revolution? Robotatouille’s scowl formed in my mind and a shiver raced up my spine. We wouldn’t have a chance against robots.
    Their level of intellect could change everything.

Chapter 7
    My alarm went off. I was