The Successful Experiment

"Mommy, please look at me. Please turn around", Little Mindy requested her mother repeatedly.

Her mom had been sitting silently and still in her bedroom for 3 days at a stretch. Mindy was confused and could not comprehend her mother's odd behavior.

Mindy, who stood right behind her mom was now about to run out of the room and call her father who had instructed everyone to never knock on the door where he works, no matter what.

Just then, Mindy's mom, Diane made a strange noise. It sounded like an electronic system had turned on. That was indeed true. The 'mom' was reconfiguring her face, rebooting her system, and setting up her facial configurations according to Diane's skin tone, age, features, and expressions.

A small beep was heard when the configuration was done, and Diane turned around.

She looked normal to Mindy. Mindy ran towards her mom and hugged her expressing joy that her mom was ok and requested her to serve her some breakfast as she had not eaten anything since her 'mom was not keeping well'.

Apparently, the 5-year-old Mindy did not understand that this was not her mom, it was indeed a humanoid configured to look like her mother. The 'mom' now responded, "Breakfast! Sure. That's what I am here for. I will serve you breakfast in the next 10.36 minutes. Please wait at the dining table". The humanoid walked out of the room followed by a happy Mindy who jumped and skipped around her mother as she went downstairs with her.

Rob was watching all this from his control room. Finally, he was relieved to see his daughter Mindy happy, who had missed her mother terribly over the last three days. Rob, a techno-freak, had turned his basement into a laboratory in their three-storied house. He had been working on his secret experiment for the last 5 years, ever since he had left his job with the biggest robotics firm in the country to pursue his ambition by himself. He hardly stepped out of the house or spent any time with his family and friends. He dedicated all his time to the work he was doing and aimed to achieve something great in this field someday. But his wife Diane had patiently waited, spending the last five years taking care of their house and their child all by herself. She was exhausting her finances now and needed emotional and financial support, which her husband was unable to provide. Rob had strictly instructed Diane not to enter his lab at any point. All the food she prepared or other necessary items were sent down to Rob via a service elevator. He technically lived inside the basement having all the things he needed right there. And this lifestyle of his had continued for five full years.

Diane was losing her patience now. One day, as she received a warning call from their bank regarding some pending hefty bills, she barged inside Rob's laboratory and shouted at him, accusing him of wasting her and their daughter's lives. She accused him of being a bad husband and a terrible father who doesn't care for their child. Rob was equally angry about seeing Diane trespass into his personal space. He hit her head with a heavy metallic spare part which he had bought online to be used in his experiment. As Diane fell to the ground and bled, Rob started to strangulate her in a fit of rage, killing her in the next 5 minutes.

His experiment was about to be completed in the next couple of days as soon as his humanoid who could change its voice, face, features, and mannerisms was ready. He placed it in Diane's room and enabled the configuration to make it look and behave like Diane. The humanoid could also progress in age as the human it was impersonating would grow old.

In the meanwhile, he had combusted Diane's lifeless body removing all the traces of the horrific act he had committed.

Watching Mindy and his 'new wife' from the control room, Rob said, "Look, Diane, you thought I am a terrible father who doesn't care about his daughter. I gave her a new mommy. She will love my daughter and tell her hundreds of bedtime stories. She will be able to educate her on any subject in this world and protect her from any danger.

Above all, I have given her a mommy who doesn't argue like you did; a mommy who will behave and obey all her life".

Rob smirked looking at his 'successful experiment' preparing breakfast for them.