All good stories should start with 'once upon a time'. This isn't a good story, but let's stick to tradition…

Once upon a time, there was a woman named Amanda Stern. She was a professor for computer science at Colebridge university and her star pupil at the time was a young boy named Elijah Kamski.

The young boy grew up with a rich but distant father that couldn't be impressed by anything, not even the intellect of his only son. So our little Elijah wanted for nothing in his life, except for the proud recognition of a parent.

As luck would have it though, our Dr. Stern took a shine to the brilliant boy. Seeing his potential, she wanted to encourage him to shine even brighter by telling him what he could achieve, if only he worked hard enough. So she waxed poetically about the brilliant successes of one of her previous star students, a women by the name of Maria Kelly, who had successfully completed a doctorate degree in both computer science and mathematics only to start her own company, creating and selling amazing new inventions that had revolutionised both the medical and industrial world.

But what our encouraging mentor figure didn't notice in all her rapture, was the envy filling little Elijah's eyes - and our little boy was very envious indeed!

Time: May 23rd 2018

Location: Colebridge University

Slamming the door of his dorm room, 16 year old Elijah Kamski let out a scream of frustration.

He could still hear Dr. Stern's words in his head like an ever repeating mantra.

'You've got so much potential, Elijah. Work hard and one day you'll be just as great as Maria.'

He sneered in disgust, staring gloomily across the grounds behind his dormitory. Always stupid Maria. He would show her!

He would make her see that he was already just as great as that woman she always raved on about! Whatever that bint had done, he could do a hundred times better!

Hitting the wall next to his desk in anger, he made himself a silent promise. He would prove that he was greater than that fucking Maria Kelly has ever been, company or no company!

Shaking the pins and needles out of his abused hand, he had a sudden idea.

With a victorious smirk he pulled out his phone.

And so Elijah Kamski went on to create his own company, called Cyberlife.

That alone would not have led to anything bad, if not for a man in another town.

That man - you have to know - also had everything a man could want in life: A brilliant wife, who owned her own successful company called 'Kinetics industries' and a brilliant son who had been lucky enough to have his mother's intelligence.

Oh, but did I say everything? No, everything but what he really wanted, namely the attention of his wife. You see, this man was Andrew Kelly, the dissatisfied husband of Maria Kelly.

And his wife was so busy with the company, her research as well as homeschooling their son, that she simply didn't have enough time for Andrew.

And thus they fought. Often and badly. Until they finally divorced, leaving their son devastated.

Andrew did not fare well on his own. He had problems with gambling and alcohol, you see? And now, cut off from his wife's money, he feared the sharks coming to collect their due.

And then, one fateful day, just as Andrew came over to get the last of his possessions, he remembered his wife's incomplete research project and thought to himself 'I could sell this and solve all my troubles' - and he knew just to whom.

But how to get his hands on it?

Time: June 2nd 2020

Location: Chicago

With frustrated curses Andrew Kelly gathered the last of his possessions from the living room, throwing them carelessly into an old box that sat open on the fireplace mantle, his mind spinning frantically.

Just that morning Mason had called to remind him of the 'consequences' of not paying up soon. He knew what that meant.

And just a month ago he had thought that everything would go smoothly. Then came the sudden divorce and left him empty handed.

If only he could get his hands on that project Maria had always been going on about!

It must be worth a fortune, if only he could have gotten her to sell it. But that paranoid bitch wouldn't even hear about it! It was a damn shame that she guarded her terminal like a dragon would their gold.

The soft opening of a door behind him drew his attention, just as he had closed the box. Turning around he saw the frail form of his son wandering curiously into the room.

"Dad? I thought you weren't coming back. Mum said she'd skin you if you ever came back here."

James tapped his fingers together in fluttering motions, as his gaze wandered timidly hopeful over his father's form and back away. Andrew watched this, his heart aching slightly.

Then a sudden idea flew through his mind.

This was it! This was his chance, if he went about it right!

Fixing a bright smile on his face, he cheerfully walked over to envelope his tensing son in a tight hug.

"James my boy! You're just the person I've been looking for. Listen, I want to make peace with your mum. Bury the hatchet so to speak, so I wanted to surprise her with a present. But to do that, I'll need your help."

He held his son by his slim shoulders, staring down at him intently.

"Do you remember that project, your mum is always on about? You know - the one her company can't seem to implement properly?"

A shy nod answered him.

"Well, I know a guy that could help. But I need those codes and your mum can't know. It wouldn't be a surprise otherwise."

He winked winningly.

"So I need you to get me a copy without your mum noticing. You think you can do that for your dad?"

The tapping of James' fingers grew faster and he shifted slightly under the grip of his father.

"But that's Not Allowed. Mum said so."

Andrew let sadness cover his face and replied quietly, "But don't you want mum and I to get back together? This is my only chance to make things right. I can't do this without you."

James' breathing sped up as he looked around the room in indecision.

"Please. I love you. I don't want to lose you and your mum because of some stupid fight."

After long seconds the boy nodded.

"Ok, I'll help you. Wait here."

And with those words he ran from the room, not noticing his father's victorious smirk.

And the son - naive in all things human, but gifted with any kind of code or machinery - trusted his father and retrieved a copy of his mother's project.

So Mr. Kelly went and sold it to the upcoming star of the technological world, Elijah Kamski, and skipped town, never contacting his son again.

Kamski, who finally saw his chance to prove to his mentor that he was better than Maria Kelly - now Maria Abanathy - had ever managed to be, grabbed this opportunity with both hands.

And as he worked behind the scenes to take the already stagnating competition of 'Kinetics industries' out of business, he officially went on 'vacation' to a friend of his - a painter named Carl Manfred. There he used all of his true engineering genius to incorporate Maria's project successfully into a machine.

And one year later he presented his crowning jewel to the world: Chloe - the first android to solve the Turing test.

Maria, who in the meantime had lost her company and secluded herself and her son from the world in shame, took one look at the code and became enraged. This thief had stolen her work! Rage soon turned into desperation, as nobody would believe her, thinking her envious and mentally unbalanced.

So in a last attempt, she called her old mentor and godmother of her child.

Time: August 14th 2022

Location: Chicago

Fretfully rocking back and forth, head gripped between his clenching hands as stress overwhelmed him, 14 year old James Abernathy sat on the ground next to the couch. He listened as his mum screamed in shrill tones at his godmother and he felt guilt and fear tightening his guts into knots.

"There. You see it, don't you? I'm telling you, Amanda, I'm not mad! This is my code. I have stared at it for so long I would know it anywhere!"

"Let me take a look, dear. And calm down, would you? You're scaring James."

A long pause. He could hear his godmother clicking through multiple pages of code, humming thoughtfully, while his mum kept pacing up and down in front of the fireplace in agitation.

"Oh, Elijah. What have you done, you stupid boy?" Was Amanda's sad comment, before she turned her attention back to his mum. "I believe you, dear. I've seen enough of your code over the years to tell it apart from Elijah's."

At those words, Maria froze on the spot, drawing in a sharp breath and spinning around.

"Elijah, you call him? You know him?!"

Amanda tried to regain her calm composure.

"Of course I know him, he was my student until a few years ago. I always thought he had a lot of potential. I-''

With an enraged scream, his mum threw one of dad's old decorative boxes from the mantle to the ground, where it shattered apart.

"I knew it! I always knew it! You were in on this too, weren't you?! You snake!"

James watched with wide eyes as his mum dropped to the floor in a heap, trying to gather up the different items his dad had forgotten to collect, her hands trembling and tears running down her worn face.

Amanda's voice tried to sound soothing but missed by a fraction.

"How could I have gotten my hands on your code, never mind known about it? You've never told me and we haven't seen each other in years! Good lord, Maria! Calm down. Look at what you're doing to your poor son!"

James' eyes widened in guilty fear as he met his mother's gaze.

Both froze for a long second, until his mum murmured softly, "My son… I was asking myself how that dirty thief got his hands on my work. And I was to blind to even consider it."

She grew progressively louder and angrier as she carried on, a manic gleam entering her eyes and one hand folding distractedly around his dad's old gun.

"I birthed you. I taught you. I loved you! And this is how you thank me?! Your own mother?!"

James was frozen under that stare, guilt and fear glueing him in place, as he frantically wrung his shaking hands.

"I didn't mean it, mum! Dad said it was a surprise!"

With shrill laughter, his mother got to her feet, ignoring Amanda's desperate calls in the background.

"A surprise, hmm?"

She finally noticed the loaded gun clutched tightly in her shaking hand.

"I'll show you a surprise, you traitorous little bastard!"

She cocked the gun and took aim, while James could only lift his fearfully trembling hand in front of his face in horrified defence.

"Mum, No-"

An ear splitting 'bang' was followed by ringing silence, then James fell backwards to the ground with a pained groan, left hand shot through cleanly and pressed tightly to the left side of his face, as waves upon waves of blood poured between his fingers and seeped into his hair.

With a quiet whimper that slowly grew into a deranged wail, the gun was cocked a second time, before it went off with another ear splitting 'bang' and blood splattered across the stones of the unlit fireplace.

If this was one of those old Greek legends, that would have been a fittingly tragic ending, wouldn't it?

But this isn't ancient Greece, so - sadly - our tale continues…

Our poor, traumatised Amanda did not leave her godson's side for the entire journey to the hospital, gripping his hand tightly and only letting go when they wheeled him in for emergency surgery.

James flatlined three times that night and was in a deep coma by the next morning.

Amanda did not leave his bedside for two days, shock slowly transforming into bone deep rage and determination. You see, while she blamed Elijah for Maria's death, she also saw it as her obligation to correct the mistakes of her misguided student and punish him accordingly. Aware of the news blowing him up as the next messiah of technological evolution, she knew that her statement alone wouldn't change anything.

And - not wanting to make herself a possible target by taking care of young James - she got into contact with a few former colleagues of Maria.

In a matter of days she managed to enact her hasty plan.

She organised for James Abernathy to be declared dead and set up second identities for the both of them, while her contacts in the medical community worked on adapting one of Maria's old implant designs for the young boy.

And so, one year later, I woke up from my coma under the identity of 'Elliot Joshua Kimble' - stepson of 'Jennifer Kimble' - with a cybernetic brain implant that also functioned as an eye replacement, shoved into my head and an artificial left hand.