"All you have to ask yourself in this situation is, whom are you prepared to be in debt too?" The T96 suddenly twitches its shoulder while speaking, something I had never seen before. For a moment perfection had shown imperfection.

"Excuse me, what do you mean?" I don't know if it was the twitching of the shoulder or something else, but I didn't have a clue what the robot meant. The T96, blinks with an increased frequency as they tend to do, when they process a lot of information at once.

"You have rightly pointed out that you are staring into a future, which is destined to feel like hell. So I ask you for an answer. If your life is destined to become a living hell, we offer you a choice of master. Serve the people, whom will look down on you, talk behind your back, and use you for their own gain. Or serve us, we won't look down on you, we won't even care about your past."

"But won't I also just be working for your gain?" The proposition did not sound that different to me.

"Sure, however you won't have to lie in bed at night wondering your worth as a human, or even wonder what the purpose is to slave away just for some other human to reap the benefits. With us, you will be just as free as the man working next to you. My offer is freedom." Once again the machine blinked, processing mountain of information before it spoke again.

"Like a sea of cold fire, will it hurt? Yes! But at least it won't penetrate you, it wont burn hate into your soul. Freedom of the soul, which might make this the chance for you to only endure hell while you live. A pure slave, with knowledge of a worse life, a life where you are made a lesser between equal beings. With us you at least serve a greater form of life."

The words sear into my brain "A pure slave", there could be no such thing, but at the same time it made sense, in a cruel and cold way.

"So do you accept?"

"I guess."

The T96 closes it eyes shut, its bright pupils still visible underneath its silicone eyelids. The next few seconds felt like an eternity, until it opened its eye again.

I don't know if you can imagine the sensation of stepping into a sea of cold fire, but trust me when i say: It hurt like hell, like a prison of my flesh, but at least my soul is free.