Steward Nikolas Lyons! The Rones enter the city of Huron at the peril of us all.

"What?" Nick ripped his face from under the machine. The work shed was lined with all sorts of twenty-first century antique motherboards, microwaves, cappuccino machines, and key-making machines.

And none of them could speak.

The Rones lie about their true intent. They enter the city of Huron at the peril of us all.

Nick dropped the nanodriver. He really had heard a voice. More specifically, he'd heard a woman's voice. It couldn't have been his mom. She was out on one of her global shopping trips with his dad, which he'd counted on. She didn't like it when Nick got into their shed and started messing around with the antique electronic devices. Neither did the fire marshal. But he had to finish his machine. It would change everything for him.

The Rones lie about their true intent. They enter the city of Huron at the peril of us all.

"I'm losing my mind," Nick said, wiping the blond hair out of his face. "I can't lose my mind, not yet at least. Finish the machine. Get off this planet. Then I can lose my mind."

In order to finish his machine, Nick had resorted to the Nick Lyons's living-dead power formula: three parts soda, two parts energy drink, and six parts chocolate syrup, chased down with Pepto-Bismol. But that wouldn't cause hallucinations . . . right?

The Rones lie about their true intent. They enter the city of Huron at the peril of us all.

Nick looked down to his feet. The voice had come from under the floorboards. "Ha, ha, Tim. Funny. I can hear you under there."

The Rones lie about their true intent. They enter the city of Huron at the peril of us all.

He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again.

"I will not hear voices. . . . I can't hear voices."

"You seem disturbed, Nick?" said a motherly digital voice. A white box with two multi-purpose arms and the holographic head of a middle-aged woman floated toward him. It was Nick's nannydrone. There had been enough "incidences" involving the blowing up of old tech that the fire marshal insisted Nick's parents post a nannydrone at his side at all times. Didn't help much though. The drone was as dumb as a box of bolts.

Nick found the nanodriver wedged between a crate and the wall

Nick found the nanodriver wedged between a crate and the wall. He grabbed it, wiped off the dust and cobwebs, and went back to work.

"Again, why are you disturbed, Nick," the nannydrone said.

"I'm not disturbed. I'm busy." Nick got down to a knee and undid one of the machine's screws with his finger. "Got to finish the machine."

"I believe you are disturbed," the nannydrone said. It extended a multipurpose arm with a small probe. The probe activated its bioscanner, a fan-shaped laser, and shoved it between Nick's face and the machine. The laser swept back and forth, blinding him several times.

"Nick," the nannydrone said. "I ran a full neuroscan, and it says you are not being honest with me. Something has disturbed you. It seems you are experiencing delusions, Nick? Is there anything I can do? How might I make you happy today?"

"Hug a power line." Nick swatted the probe away.

"Please wait while I process your request . . ." A clock symbol appeared over her face. "I am sorry, Nick Lyons. I cannot perform such a task."

"Of course you can't. Wanna know why? That would actually make me happy."

"Oh dear, Nick. My biorhythm sensors now tell me you have been upset by an unidentified object within this very room."

"Really?" Nick smacked his forehead. "Wonder who that could be?"

"I am formulating a solution to your happiness, Nick," the nannydrone explained. "This solution today is brought to you by Pappy's Pudding Fingers. Lick your way to happiness. Due to a decreased level of serotonin in your brain, dilated pupils, and small but noticeable constipation—"

"Gross," Nick said.

"You would be best served by having a Pappy's Pudding Finger. Chocolate."

The nannydrone buzzed to a locked fridge by the bathroom. Its multipurpose hand flipped and inserted a key. As part of an attempt to open another profit stream, the manufacturer, Lifedrone, distributed complimentary Pappy's products with their nannydrones.

"Here is a Pappy's Pudding Finger on a stick. No charge to you." The nannydrone rose to meet him eye-level. It held the Pudding Finger between its fingers. "Enjoy, Nick."

"I don't want it," he said.

Ignoring him, the nannydrone unwrapped the pudding finger and smooshed it to his mouth. "I can order a month's supply whenever you'd like, Nick."

He ducked away. "Stop."

"Lifedrone and Pappy's have joined to offer a special deal just for you, Nick." The nannydrone shadowed him and smooshed the pudding finger to his lips again and again. "Yummy, yummy to the tummy, Nick."

"Dude, seriously." Nick wiped the pudding finger from his cheek.

"See, yummy, Nick," SMOOSH came the sound of the nannydrone smashing the Pudding Finger into his cheek. "So yummy." SMOOSH. "Yummy, yummy." SMOOSH. SMOOSH. SMOOSH.

"I don't have time for this," Nick smacked the nannydrone's arm. "I have a demonstration this afternoon. The machine isn't ready. Tim's disappeared as usual, and I'm hearing voices. So. Get. Out. Of. My. Face!"

"But . . ." The nannydrone lowered the pudding finger slowly, "everyone wants a Pappy's Pudding Finger, Nick."

He sighed and said under his voice, "I really need to get off this planet."

The nannydrone floated higher, its anti-grav motors purring as it studied Nick. He knew it was computing some way to get him to taste the pudding finger sample. He could hear the motors move closer, it leaned in slowly, cautiously . . .

SMOOSH. The pudding finger rammed into his left ear.

"THAT'S IT!" Nick yelled and leapt to his feet. He went over to the nannydrone's mini-fridge and picked it up.

"What are you doing with that mini-fridge, Nick?" the nannydrone said. "It is property of Lifedrone."

He marched to the large window overlooking Hiker's Canyon and said, "Open window." The glass swooshed open. He peered out the window to a fifty-foot drop.

"There are nearly three thousand dollars of Lifedrone's products in the mini-fridge, Nick." The nannydrone put up two concerned plastic arms.

"Yeah, I know," Nick said. "And what's your primary protocol?"

"To observe and protect you, Nick." The nannydrone slowly moved toward the mini-fridge precariously hanging out of the window.

"Wow," Nick said. "That's a total lie. I didn't know drones could lie." He began to tip the mini-fridge over.

"Disengaging deflect program," the nannydrone said. "You are correct, Nick. My primary protocol is to try and sell you low cost snacks at high end prices."

"So if I chuck this over the canyon, you'd have to save it?"

"Yes. I would have to save the Lifedrone produ—"

Nick raised his hand and let the mini-fridge tip over. It tumbled three times in the air.

BANGG!!

The first boulder snapped the door open, flinging Pappy's products into the air.

BANGG!! BANGG!

The second boulder sent the door flying away.

It continued to bang and bounce against the granite boulders until a pine tree stopped it.

The nannydrone lit its propulsions and flew out the window with arms outstretched. For a moment, it actually crested into the air, but Nick knew that while Lifedrone had installed their machines with many of the latest flight technologies, one technology it had not bothered to develop was the anti-gravitation system. It could only hover at five feet. Hiker's canyon was fifty-five feet.

The nannydrone fell like a piano.

WHEEEBOOM!! It blew up on impact.