He found a servant of sorts standing in the center of the kitchen. It was a droid. She seemed to have shut down in the middle of making tea. Had Thomas shut her off to answer the door and forgotten she was making tea? The way he swung between the two personalities made that idea justifiable. He'd try activating her to ask about his luggage. If she had no answer, she might at least know who would.
She was gray-haired and plump. She wore a plaid apron over a loose yellow house dress. Something about her felt familiar. It took a moment for him to understand. She was a mechanical replica of his great-grandmother. Thomas wanted to feel loved, so he'd made the droid in his own grandmother's image. He was a strange and complicated man.
Kyllian found the switch and awoke the droid. She greeted him with a smile. "Good evening, gentleman. May I pour you some tea?"
"No, ma'am," he replied politely, for it seemed as if he was speaking to his great-grandmother. "I'm a guest here. My luggage arrived hours ahead of me, and I can't seem to find it. Would you have clue as to its whereabouts?"
"Thomas, you silly boy. You're always misplacing things. Don't worry. I'll find it for you."
The droid, who obviously thought he was the man of the house, opened a cupboard and began pushing the buttons hidden there. "Wake up, Jacob," she said into the COM link. "Did you take some luggage to a room earlier?"
"Yes, Margaret," a disembodied voice replied.
"Where did you place it? Poor Thomas has lost it."
"Third floor, first room on the right. Thomas said they belonged to a guest."
"Then, that is where I will send him. Thank you ever so much, dear."
Kyllian was unnerved. Those were the names of his great grandparents and the droids spoke as if they were married. This was a house of horrors, and his father had created it.
