If you get angry with him you only need to press the switch and Lasse will sleep until you want him to wake up."

The eighth wonder of the world stood and smiled servilely in front of Torsten in a way which was both mechanical and human. It was an extraordinary smile. Lasse was definitely stylish. His hair was real human hair imported from a poor country in Asia. His eyes were bright and had a frightening reality; he blinked regularly and could close them. He could chew, laugh and bite. He could put his tongue out and clench his fists so hard he became the perfect bodyguard. But when he was in a good mood his hands were as soft as velvet and the whole of his skin was just like human skin.

He was in fact an exact copy of a human child. At least he seemed to be. His heart and brain each contained a small computer.

Furthermore, he had muscles, veins and arteries through which flowed a reddish liquid. And he could catch a cold. "As soon as the robots have taken over the care of old people, my job will be much easier," Linda promised her son.

"Then I can be home when you return from school; make cocoa with double cream and bake cakes. If only it was possible to explain to those old cranks in the long-term wards that a robot is a much better nurse than a person."

"Well, the old men will probably agree, said Francisco."

"It is the old women who are the problem. They are so emotional, they don't know their own best. Those terrible bitches you go to are almost robots themselves and yet they stir up trouble and grumble."