Chapter Text
“Why didn’t you shoot?”
Connor felt the LED on his right temple blink, showing a yellow light for a brief moment before returning to its usual blue color. Even if his programming had been designed to make him capable of anticipating humans’ behavior in most part of the situations, there were two people that he had serious difficulties to read as clearly as the rest.
One of them was lieutenant Hank Anderson. The first time Connor met him in that bar his initial analysis concluded that the man was irritating, definitely difficult to work with, and probably incompetent. However, as they worked together to catch deviants, Connor soon discovered that his initial analysis had been quite wrong, because even if Hank had his flaws, such as his way to use alcohol to deal with his personal problems or his incapacity to correctly address his superiors, the man was really good in his job. Also, he was one of the few humans that most respected Connor, as if he sometimes forgot what Connor perfectly knew: that he was just a machine designed to fulfill his mission at any cost.
And the second person in that group of people difficult to read was Amanda, who was able to make questions that sometimes provoked certain instability in Connor’s system, such as the one she had just formulated.
Connor rapidly evaluated how to better answer the question, thing that proved to be more difficult than usual because, for once, he didn’t have a clear answer to give. Why hadn’t he killed those two androids? Hank had asked him the same thing the previous night, and Connor hadn’t been able to come up with a satisfying explanation. The only thing he knew was that, for the first time since he was activared, after learning that those two androids just wanted to escape to be together, something inside him had stopped him from pulling the trigger. But what that something was, Connor didn’t know. Not yet at least.
Realizing that Amanda was beginning to get impatient, Connor updated his priorities, leaving the analysis of possible causes for failing his mission in the Eden Club for later and deciding that the best course of action now was to give a provisional answer.
“They were just too far away”
Connor grabbed again the paddles to keep moving the small boat along the water. He detected a light frown on Amanda’s face, which indicated him that his answer hadn’t been very well received. Connor prepared a new set of possible excuses but Amanda saved him the trouble of using them by telling him about his next mission. Apparently, a group of androids had managed to infiltrate the Stratford Building in order to send a message to the humans. Connor’s mission was, therefore, to identify the androids and capture them before people start panicking.
When Amanda finished speaking Connor rowed the boat towards the shore and helped Amanda to leave the small boat. He was about to abandon the garden when Amanda called for him again.
“Just one thing before you go, Connor. Up till now you have obtained excellent results in the investigation, and for that reason I will let this incident in the Eden Club slide. However…”, Amanda’s tone acquired a hint of warning, “…I really hope you do not disappoint me again”
Connor faced Amanda and bowed humbly.
“I won’t, Amanda. I will find those deviants and bring them to justice”
Amanda smiled, this time satisfied with the answer, and turned around to begin to walk along the garden. Connor turned around too and walked towards the exit, determined to fulfill his mission this time without fail
After riding the elevator towards the 79th floor of the Stratford Building, and after Hank irritatingly stole Connor’s coin from him, both were filled in with the last information that the police had reunited: that same morning around 1.57 p.m. the security guards were assaulted by four androids whose plan was to broadcast a message to the humans. After doing so, the androids had run towards the roof where they had fled by using parachutes. The good news was that there hadn’t been any human casualties, so panic hadn’t spread throughout the town yet as Amanda had feared.
Connor listened to the conversation that Hank and the police officer were having as discreetly as always. He followed them inside the control room, where they were introduced to FBI Special Agent Perkins, and after the man “subtly” threatened Hank to take over the investigation, Connor began searching clues on his own.
Connor ignored for the moment the impressive screen installed in the room that showed the skinless face of an android, and decided to check the cameras first. It didn’t take him much to find some valuable information, since the four androids had been recorded while waiting outside the room just before beginning the assault. The faces of two of them were easy to detect and Connor was able to identify a PJ500 android and PL600 android. The other two though were wearing caps, making impossible the identification, although Connor could see that one of the unidentified androids was female.
After gathering some more not-very-useful clues, Connor finally approached the big screen. Hank was also observing it, and after obtaining a confirmation nod from the inspector Connor reproduced the recording, letting the voice of the skinless android fill the room once again.
“We ask that you recognize our dignity, our hopes, and our rights. Together, we can live in peace and build a better future, for humans and androids. This message is the hope of a people. You gave us life. And now the time has come for you to give us freedom”
For second time that day, Connor felt his LED turn on yellow for a brief instant. If he had been human, his reaction would have been to gulp for sure, because that android’s speech had made Connor unable to avert his eyes from him, and not just for the words that the android had chosen to use, but also for that calmed determination that those words carried.
It took Connor a little to notice that Hank had asked him a question. Connor answered in time but his focus was still on that mysterious android whose voice had managed to… what would it be the best word to describe it? Captivate. Yes: to captivate him in just an instant.
Connor then proceeded to analyze that android’s face. He discovered that the android’s right blue eye had been replaced recently, but what caused Connor’s LED to be about to change once again was that he didn’t just manage to get the android’s model (RK200), but also his name and his former owner.
“Did you see something?”
Connor knew that he had to tell Hank about all his findings, since knowing that android’s name and the name of the human to whom he previously belonged was surely crucial information to try to track that android, who besides was probably the leader of the group. If he gave Hank that information, they would have a solid lead to follow, and if he informed Amanda about it, he would recover part of her trust for sure.
Yes, Connor knew that the logical thing to do was to tell Hank everything.
And for that reason, he couldn’t possibly explain the next words that escaped his mouth.
“I identified its model and serial number”
Connor didn’t know how his LED didn’t blink at that moment, because he was perfectly aware that he had just said a lie. And he hadn’t lied to protect a human, since that would be the only situation that would have justified such an act, he had lied because…
Why had he just lied?
“Anything else I should know?”
Connor looked at Hank. Now it was his chance to rectify. To tell what he actually knew.
But once again, he failed to do what he was supposed to.
“No. Nothing”
It was evident that Hank suspected something, but for some reason the man decided not to press the matter and pretend to be investigating something else.
Connor turned his attention to the screen once again, fixing his brown eyes on the android’s bicolor ones.
‘Alright’, Connor thought, ‘at least, since it seems that I cannot tell anyone about you, let’s see what I can find about you on my own. Markus’