Artificial Intelligence

by Eaglestriker5

A young office worker by the name of Aurora has a fairly normal life. She goes to work every day and does her job, although boring and unexciting, until one day her routine is disrupted - She is promoted to a new job role, clashing with her personal relationships; installed in her car is a self aware artificial intelligence, capable of feeling and showing emotion.

Imagine, if machines like planes, cars or helicopters or ships had artificial intelligence and an avatar. By avatar, I mean something that they can represent themselves with in a human form.

For example, an armoured tank could be a strong, tough man or woman in a military uniform and maybe even a human covered in miniature armoured parts, or your red Lamborghini is a saucy young woman in a red dress. Your Alpha Romeo could be a sexy, well dressed man, or maybe a beautiful woman in a formal dress.

Even small private aircraft like a Cessna could be an attractive human!

Basically what I'm trying to say, is that their avatars is what the machines think of themselves in a human body, or what their consciousness (because of their 'artifical' intelligence) thinks they should look like. Even if the machine is considered "female" such as some cars and boats, and ships, their human avatar can be male because of what gender the machine considers itself.

Anyway that's just getting really complicated so I'll just stop there.

Now, their avatars are solid projections, meaning that you can touch them. The only thing being is that they're made from light and a combination of electrical and magnetic fields. They're not actually made from real flesh or bone.

Avatars can be projected at any time, at any size, and if destroyed can simply be reassembled, although reassembly is not an easy or particularly pleasant process for the machine, and in some cases may be impossible due to the size of the machine and how much power they have. A large machine could reconstruct it's avatar many times before "losing" its artificial intelligence forever. A smaller machine may only be able to reconstruct their avatar once, and some machines may not be strong enough to reconstruct their avatar at all.

There is also a certain limit to where the projection can be created and sustained. For instance, a large ship weighing several hundred tons can project their avatar from standing right on their deck, to up to a few hundred metres away, sometimes even a kilometre, from their origin. (The origin = the machine itself) In comparison, a smaller machine or vehicle like a car can only project the avatar from inside to up to a few metres away – some of the more powerful cars, up to about fifteen metres.

In short, the larger or more powerful the machine or vehicle, the further it can project its avatar. In the case of extremely large vessels like aircraft carriers, the avatar can project itself anywhere within it's quarters (within its own structural confines) and over very large distances. (over five kilometres or more)

Now, prepare yourself for the real kicker – the machines can "sense" touch and feel on their surfaces and their avatars can display the appropriate human reaction. You should be more careful when you're cleaning your car, maybe, because it can feel that tickly and squishy sponge you're using! Perhaps their avatar may even be confined to the ground in fits of laughter.

Unfortunately, this quirk can be both an amazing tool and special experience, or a bad one. Maybe thieves should think twice before smashing your car's window and trying to steal it.

I don't know about you, but I think having your windows smashed would be a painful experience.

Instances like these, and more, can lead to issues between humans and avatars, and not always end peacefully. In general, however, most machines are subservient and peaceful. War is an extremely rare occurrence in this time due to the repercussions of using machines as they are classed as living beings.

Anyway, time for a little bit of a history lesson. This amazing technological leap was made by Professor Andrew Xang, an American/Chinese Professor who wished to create a new, innovative technological assistant that wouldn't seem as robotic and unhuman as previous generations had experienced. His quest led to the first model which was a resounding success with the public, the assistant having the ability to be integrated into almost any machine or a specialised closed circuit network. Subsequent developments of this first model added numerous features including the ability to access the contacts, files, calendars, planners and accounts of the owner and controlling assets within the owner's home with the assistance of new in – home technology.

Significant updates were made to the artificial intelligence of these assistants, giving them personalities and avatars to go along with their origin machines, thus giving rise to modern assistants.

Most mornings, for a lot of people, involve a certain amount of denial and procrastination. The thought of extracting yourself from a warm, comfortable environment and launching yourself into the day is disturbing and unpleasant.

I'm no different to any of those people.

I groaned, the alarm blaring in my ears and making them ring obnoxiously. Turning over in bed and opening bleary eyes, I glared angrily at the large red words on the box excitedly displaying 'TIME TO GET READY.'

"Shut up," I muttered loudly, rubbing my eyes and pushing back the sheets.

"I am sorry. 'Shut up' is not part of my database of approved and recognised commands. Please try another phrase," said the disembodied voice of my 'dumb' home assistant emerging from the small speakers around my house, booming loud enough to be heard over the continually blaring alarm. I just sighed long-sufferingly.

"Lukas?"

The alarm stopped instantly and I exhaled in exasperated relief, "Honestly, I really ought to get rid of that stupid assistant altogether at some stage."

"It may be a wise venture, Aurora," came the thickly accented reply through the speakers. I exhaled and pulled the bedclothes back up to my chin, stretching out and relishing the few minutes I had to stay in comfort.

Eventually I had to extract myself from bed, sleepily stumbling over to my closet and allowing an automatic drawer to open and extend my work clothes towards me. Black skirt and white shirt – nothing new, the company disapproved of basically any other colour than monochrome. As a result most of my closet was filled with the exact same outfit.

Stepping into the bathroom, I didn't opt for a shower – a waste of time and water in my eyes, instead going for a special deodorant spray which would eliminate any of my body odour for most of the day. It was expensive and somewhat of a premium product, but I had the money. It took me less than ten minutes to slip on my clothes and apply a small amount of makeup and emerge, transformed from the shuffling, sleepy, bleary eyed and messy haired monstrosity I was earlier.

I threw together a quick breakfast of cereal and hot chocolate – the latter I made myself as the machine the company had supplied me had a habit of burning the milk and rendering an otherwise perfectly created beverage into an acrid tasting mess – but that was alright, some days I preferred to make things by hand. Seating myself behind the kitchen counter, I consumed my meal.

"Lukas, you better get yourself warmed up, I'll be leaving for work in a few minutes," I said, sipping on my hot chocolate. To anyone else, it would have appeared that I was speaking to no one in particular.

"I must remind you, Aurora, that I am an extremely modern machine and don't necessarily require 'warming up'? Perhaps if this were one hundred years ago, but I don't believe that you are that old, Aurora….." replied Lukas over the speakers, his tone patronising but still light – he was joking around.

I rolled my eyes, "Very funny, Lukas."

The AI didn't reply, but I did hear the faint noise of a car engine emerging from the garage door.

I slipped into the back seat, still clutching my hot chocolate firmly in one hand while fastening my seatbelt with the other. Light flooded in through the back window, illuminating the dark interior of the garage as the large entry door slid back to reveal the fresh morning sky, still dark but beginning to brighten. The BMW reversed automatically, backing out onto the street and beginning my journey to work.

I nearly jumped out of my seat as Lukas's avatar materialised beside me, obviously not wearing a seatbelt.

"Jesus Christ, Lukas! I told you about this sudden appearing thing ages ago," I said, glaring at him. The avatar simply lounged back into his own car seats, smiling slightly, "I'm glad to see you too, Aurora."

"You're being a smartass today," I commented, not unkindly.

Lukas leaned forward, his faint blue outline quivering slightly as the electrical fields interacted with the air molecules around the avatar. Looking at me seriously, his sharp blue eyes amused, he replied in his thickly German accented English, "I'm artificial intelligence, Aurora. It is my sole intent to be smart."

"My God, you're insufferable."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

I snorted, waving a hand dismissively at the apparition.

Lukas had his moods, just like most humans – some days he could be spiteful, moody, and non-communicative, some days he was snarky like today, a lot of days he was serious, acting the posh German engineered and manufactured car that he was. Lukas's avatar appeared as a middle aged man, a little on the younger side, with short blonde hair styled and curled in a wave like shape and light blue eyes. Lukas often had a slight stubble along his chin and jaw, but if circumstances required it, he would adjust his avatar to be clean shaven.

He perpetually wore a black suit, paired with a white shirt and black tie, and depending on something that I couldn't figure out, he could also be sporting a black trench coat, but it was quite rare.

As much as it may be unusual to a lot of people, I regarded Lukas as one of the very few beings I trusted, and I suppose that was a good thing, as I was currently entrusting my safety in his hands as his origin machine drove me to work, and allowing him access to everything in my personal life, from my finances, assets, files, planners, and paychecks.

I relaxed back into the expensive, black leather seats and stared outside the car window, watching the endless stream of people, and vehicles, squinting at the bright glow of neon signs and video billboards, and the gleam of shiny metal in the rapidly rising sun. I sipped on my hot chocolate, finding and finishing the last dregs inside the cup and sighing – sometimes it felt like there would never be enough hot chocolate to satisfy my requirements.

I glanced over to the seat next to me, seeing that Lukas had vanished, the energy and electricity from his avatar dissipated back into the systems of the car.

I couldn't help but feel more lonely without his avatar next to me.

I dumped my handbag on my office desk unceremoniously, knowing that no one would notice my arrival or my exasperated demeanour – I was, for all intents and purposes, just another clerk in the workings of the organisation; little to no impact or personal connections, just boring, mind numbing work. The filing, numbering, alphabetical ordering, of the most uninteresting digital statistics in the entire company. Even though I was just a clerk, I knew that I was good at my job as I'd gotten the 'Best Section 98 Employee of the Year' about three times in a row. It was nearing the end of the fourth year now, and I was expecting to receive it again.

Every time I'd gotten it, my mother, who was on the brink of insanity, tried to throw me a huge celebration, thinking that getting Employee of the Year in Section 98 was something amazing, when in fact it wasn't. There were 100 Sections in Axial Corporation, and 98 was close to the last in the ranking system.

My mum, just fifty-five years old, already in a carers home and destined for a mental institute in a few more. Sitting down in my office chair, I tried to feel some sort of remorse for her, but struggled to summon it. Maria hadn't been the best mother – she had never supported me, never encouraged me, and never helped me with anything; she'd kept herself totally absorbed in whatever new crazy hobby or religion or belief she had discovered that day, week, month, or year, leaving me to struggle in school with a changing world. That included the rise of new, powerful artificial intelligence for everything from the school teachers, to vehicles, to homes. A new world that Maria had refused to acknowledge, still stuck living in her perpetual past where AI had been little more than a nuisance than an assistance.

Lukas was fairly 'new', Axial Core providing him as my personal AI to integrate into my car. Marketed to have all the 'bits and bobs' to make him one of the companies 'finest, widely available, civilian AI', he lived up to the company's visions. He had not been perfectly manufactured, but he had met ninety nine percent of the factory standards – however in the company's eyes, he was an offcut of the main production line, thus given to Axial's lower ranked employees.

I sighed, thinking I'd better get to work, or I'd soon have it piled up around my ears – figuratively speaking. Turning on my computer, I soon opened the large folder of statistical data sheets and letting my brain go into autopilot, began to transfer them back through the company's system, the order dictated by what set of data recognition layout was on the file – letter sequences, numbers, phonetic alphabet. This had been my job for several years.

I worked until midday straight, getting up from my computer just as the clock on the desktop ticked up to 12:00. I groaned as my knees cracked in protest after sitting for so long, and made my way to the cafeteria down the hall for my lunch. It was packed with people, Section 98 having a very large number of workers, and I grimaced as I saw how long the line was. It would take me at least forty – five minutes to get to where the food was. Taking my phone out of my breast pocket, I texted a quick message to Lukas's system.

Aurora 12:05 : Lukas, the line at work for lunch is too long. Would take forever for me to get fed.

Lukas 12:06 : Shall we go out for lunch, then?

Aurora 12:07 : That would be ideal, find us a destination close by like a café. I gotta be back at 1:30.

Lukas 12:07 : Of course. I will have a plan calculated by the time you arrive down at the carport.

I ordered an expensive lunch deal and a somewhat overpriced coffee, but I didn't really care too much, I was starving. Lukas sat opposite me, straightening his suit self-consciously and glancing around.

"Stop fidgeting Lukas, no one will realise you're an AI unless they look really closely – and in that case, I'll shoo them off."

He fixed me with an are – you – sure look, but stopped fussing over his non-existent clothing and instead began to observe the other customers and waitresses around him. His outline only glowed very faintly and I hoped that no one would notice. It wasn't illegal for him to be here with me, interacting with the human world at his max projection range, but it was socially taboo to some extent. A waitress set down my expensive meal – little more than a collection of various leafy material and pieces of steamed meat to my dismay, but still ten times better than anything that cafeteria would have served me. Meals and food like this were more expensive then they'd ever been with countries driving up their prices as fresh food became more of a premium commodity. Even though I knew it was an expensive meal, I still gulped it down.

"That looks delicious, Aurora," Lukas commented in his thick German accent, looking at the leafy meal with a smile.

"I'm not sure it was worth the seventy five dollars," I mumbled through a mouthful, glancing at the avatar.

His expression changed instantly to one of embarrassment, and he looked down.

"You don't like….? I'm sorry Aurora, it won't happen again. I'll make sure to pick a place with more value for your money."

I swallowed my mouthful quickly, feeling guilty, and reached across the table to grasp Lukas's wrist. He looked up with a jerk of his head, and I felt a faint vibrating and buzzing sensation from the contact with his avatar, but I ignored it and smiled, "It's okay, Lukas. Was this a personal choice? I enjoyed the meal and I really was very hungry."

The BMW avatar looked away for a moment, "Yes, I didn't choose this place for the statistics or ratings…."

"What did you choose it for?" I prompted.

"Do you want the long, calculated, internal reason, or do you want the normal, short, human version?" the AI asked, smiling, but not unserious.

I raised an eyebrow, "I'm sure your internal calculations are immensely interesting, but I think I'll opt for the human version this time."

Lukas exhaled a sigh, glancing outside at his sleek black origin machine in the parking area.

"I decided on this café because I wanted you to experience the taste of something different than you usually consume every day, at that cafeteria which, by the way – is disgusting in comparison to some of the food that you could be eating, and it was one of the very few places around town that I could enter the premises with you and stay within range of my machine. I wanted…..I wanted to go with you," he finished.

I smiled quickly, although I was a little unnerved by his personal expression – was it normal for an AI to want such interaction with me? I pushed the doubt away quickly.

"Don't worry Lukas. I'm flattered that you wanted to pick something out like this for me. If only you could eat the food as well," I said happily.

"My avatar can consume food…Although it would not be the cleanest idea…"

I raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to continue.

"The food wouldn't have anywhere to go, and as soon as my avatar dematerialised, it would reappear and drop onto the ground," he said with a frown.

I burst out laughing, at the thought, "That would be so funny to watch, though! And you could scare the heck out of people with that, too. Just be all standing next to them at a lovely dinner, they think that you're a human….then poof! You disappear, and an expensive ass meal falls onto your chair."

Lukas shook his head with a perplexed expression, "I'm not sure I would want to try it out. It would grate…badly on my personal appearance and services."

"You're no fun, Lukas. We need to try this one day. It's the greatest idea you've come up with."

His blue eyes widened in mock surprise, "My idea? You've got it all wrong Aurora, my darling, my programming does not allow me to stew such horrible, devious and utterly barbaric plans….."

I rolled my eyes and snorted, "Shut up, car."

Headlights flashed brightly in my face, on high beam, from the black BMW parked outside the window and I was forced to squint.

Bastard.

"Really? Aurora, degrading my status to 'car'. I always knew you were the socially unsophisticated sort, but this is really going too far. My personality cortex is highly offended by your label," Lukas said haughtily, pretending to fix his hair and crossing his arms with an expression of disdain, "I am not merely a car, - "

I made a zipping motion across my lips and Lukas stopped abruptly, breaking out into a huge smile and winking.

"You were already insufferable without the haughty bitch act," I snorted, leaning back and letting a waitress take away my plate with the last remnants of my finished meal still upon it, "You'd fit right in with whatever millionaires or spoilt rich bastards that are out there if you kept that act up."

"Of course, after all – I look a million dollars – I am nearly a million dollars. And, Aurora, you are very rich also," he said with a grin. I pointed a finger at him, "You need to stop right now. Your logical bragging and veiled insults are giving me a headache."

"What did you expect Aurora? You are the owner of a sophisticated artificial intelligence complex, logic is my entire existence," he finished with a little smirk, pushing back his chair and standing, offering a hand to help me up also.

"Where are you going?" I questioned.

"You had to return to work by 1:30?"

"Oh….I completely forgot, of course," I replied, rolling my eyes at my own obliviousness, taking the avatar's offered hand and hurrying outside to see Lukas had my BMW parked just outside the door. His avatar reappeared in front of me suddenly, opening the rear door for me with a flash of white teeth.

"Thanks," I said with a smile back.

Work was excruciatingly slow for the rest of the day and by five o'clock I felt my energy and concentration waning alarmingly – almost filing a document into the completely wrong place which would have earnt me a stern talking to from our Section CEO. My computer buzzed suddenly with an incoming notification, startling my brain from autopilot mode and waking me up a little. I flicked up the little tab on the screen, opening a message from Lukas.

Lukas 5:15 : Shall I book your usual night out?

I groaned inwardly, I'd forgotten about the routine I usually did most nights – work all day, go out for dinner, come home, collapse into bed, and repeat.

Aurora 5:17 : I think I'm too tired this time Lukas. Could you do a favour for me though?

Lukas 5:18 : If it's within my parameters, certainly. : )

I chuckled while typing my reply – Lukas sending smiley faces; pigs were going to fly next.

Aurora 5:18 : Would you stop by some takeaway store and get me something for dinner? I just want to go home and stuff my face before going to bed.

Lukas 5:21 : Okay, I'll find something that you'll like. I'll go in the drive through section so I don't accidentally startle a ton of employees discovering that I'm an AI.

Aurora 5:22 : Good, I don't have the patience to deal with some store's manager ringing me up or trying to sue me or Axial Core for letting an AI buy my food for me.

I snorted, that's probably what would happen, knowing my luck these days.

Lukas 5:22 : I'll be in the parking lot at 6:30 to pick you up. See you then, Aurora!

I flopped back into my chair, sighing, after sorting the last folder for the day, deciding to open my News application on my computer. I flicked through the breaking news for the week, stopping as I noticed an attractive headline.

Arificial Intelligence Riot

AI riot across several countries, demanding human rights, freedom. Governments are monitoring the situation carefully and reinstating human assistance in case of their own AI joining the political movement.

No humans have been reported hurt in the movement but the AI toll is steadily rising as many are deactivated permanently due to dangerous behaviours and endangerment of human life.

I raised an eyebrow – I hadn't heard of any Artificial Intelligence riots or witnessed any around the Silicon Valley – the headquarters and home base of Axial Core, where I went to work every day. The company owned one of the largest structures in the entire city of San Francisco, a super skyscraper with one hundred floors for each section.

"Don't worry about those headlines Aurora, half of them are just fear mongering bullcrap. We've got nothing to fear from our AI, they're just servants," said a voice from the door to my office, causing me to look up suddenly. He'd been looking at my computer screen through the window into my office, and with a spurt of irritation, realised I'd forgotten to close the shutters.

I inwardly groaned – Alexander; the most excruciatingly annoying person in my entire Section and commonly regarded as the most sleazy, and untrustworthy employee for the next 3 Sections.

"Hi, Alex. I'd really like it if you could consider knocking next time."

"I could knock on another door if you want though babe," he said with a crappy wink where his other eye half closed.

I just stared at him. He was the most disgusting flirt I'd ever encountered, and I shivered at his oily brown hair and his fat jowls, cringing as unnoticeably as I could at the sweat patches that were staining his rumpled white shirt. Alexander was the most perverted, disgusting man I'd ever had the misfortune to know in my life, and I watched with barely disguised horror as he moved over to my desk, placing a hand on it and leaning over me.

Oh God, I'd managed to get myself out of these situations before, but something told me that I probably wasn't going to get out of this one.

"What's your contact information, Rora?" he said smoothly, his beady eyes staring at me with alarming intensity, using a nickname that he'd made up just to try and get personal with me, "I'd like to…take you out somewhere."

"Sorry Alexander, I don't give my contact out to just anyone, also in regards to the company policy regarding the retainment of information. You'll have to find another woman."

As much as I hated trying to palm him away to some poor other female, it was my best bet to get him away from me.

"Stop playing hard to get, Aurora, I'm part of the same Section as you. The company policies don't apply to us," he said, smiling in that unnervingly creepy way of his, and I winced at the use of 'us'.

"Look, I appreciate your offer - "

"Who is this?" a thick German accent interrupted, and I almost sagged with relief before sitting up straight in surprise.

"Lukas!?" I exclaimed, looking past Alexander's fat, sweaty bulk to the avatar of my AI.

He was eyeing off Alex strangely with an intense blue gaze, and he looked irritated, a plastic bag clutched in one of his hands. The fat employee turned and glanced between us, a furious expression spreading across his face as he took in Lukas's appearance and the realisation that he'd been foiled yet again in his attempts to make a move on me.

"What the hell is this avatar doing here?" he roared, shaking a indignant finger at Lukas, who appeared completely unruffled and calm as always. The BMW AI lifted the bag and presented it to Alex.

"Food, as requested by Aurora. I'm sorry, sir, if you find my presence unacceptable; but it is in my best interests to be personally present at this time."

At least Alexander had the guts and the tiniest amount of brains to not try and argue with Lukas, probably due to owning his own form of AI and knowing how pointless it is.

Grumbling, he muttered, "Fine, I'll let you go this time Aurora, but one day your artificial playmate isn't going to be here to get you out of the shit you're in," and with that, he stormed out, his fat jiggling, slamming the door shut behind him.

"That man needs to be fired," stated Lukas flatly, making his way over to my smooth metal desk and placing the containers of takeaway food onto it.

I groaned and rubbed my temples, the beginnings of a headache forming, "I know, I know, but I don't have the rights to make a report him. He's too high up in my Section for me to bring down. That's beside the point though – how are you even here, Lukas? Your origin machine, I'm fairly sure, doesn't have the kind of range to get you up even to this lower floor."

"Axial Core has recently installed new tech in the building – range boosters and even the devices that allow ability for an avatar to exist without an origin machine. I can walk freely anywhere in this building and not lose contact with my machine at any time, and artificial intelligence that hasn't yet been integrated into a machine can still project their avatar," he explained, "The freedom is pleasing."

"Wow, I didn't even know they'd done that! That's amazing."

Lukas sat on the edge of my desk, glancing at the headlines still displayed on my computer screen.

"Riots…..strange," he muttered.

I looked up at him curiously before replying, "Strange? How so?"

He shook his head, "I can't even think of ever doing something like that; I'm happy with what I am and my purpose, challenging that would be….Against my programming…..No, no, that's not right. It would be against my personality cortex."

I raised an eyebrow, "I don't want to delve into the intricacies of how you operate, but isn't that basically the same thing?"

He smiled, "I can explain the difference, but it would require delving into my intricacies."

I rolled my eyes, "Fine, just this once, spurt all the ridiculous information you want, but keep it simple. I'm not in the engineering or programming department for a reason, Lukas."

"My personality cortex is much different from something like your computer here," he said, tapping the screen to no reaction from the touch receptors, "Your computer has a set of tasks that it complete, from complex to simple, but it cannot do everything and the calculations and functions are basic compared to myself. My cortex is a excruciatingly intricate construction of hundreds of cores each with the ability to give me personality, from how I act, how I look, to how I speak. This was decided randomly when I was integrated, from billions upon billions of variations – just like humans and DNA. My programming is little more than a small governor to how my cores run and process information and is completely different."

I blinked.

"To be completely honest with you Lukas, I actually found that mildly interesting for once. It's amazing to know how you work underneath that exterior that's on display and how much of a technological marvel that these AI are…I was never so curious about it before," I remarked, "By the way, it's about time I was getting home, I'm about ten minutes over my check out time. I'm surprised you didn't realise?" I questioned.

Lukas looked away for a moment and his avatar bit its lip.

"Sorry, Aurora."

I stood, grasping his arm and turning him to look at me, "Are you okay? You're acting a little different than usual."

He froze, looking up at me with a tightly clenched jaw, "I…I'm fine, Aurora. Don't worry about me, I'll take you back home."

"Are you sure?" I asked again, frowning as his avatar looked down at the grey floor, but I let go of his arm, which dropped to his side limply. He nodded in reply, and so I picked up the takeaway bag with a friendly smile at Lukas, making my way to the door.

"Come on then."

Lukas jolted and stood up quickly, brushing his hands over his suit jacket to get rid of imaginary dust, "Right, sorry again Aurora," he muttered, moving smoothly past me and down the hall. I sighed and shook my head – he had been acting so strange recently, with no explanation; the fiasco in the café earlier today, his irritation at Alexander.

The drive home was unusually silent and void of the banter that we usually had going back and forth between us, and Lukas seemed entirely content to sit in the front driver's seat away from me, in the back. Absentmindedly, I brushed off some powder from the black leather seat next to me and sighed, taking another bite of my burger and resting my head against the window. Rain pattered gently outside as we stopped at traffic lights, the bright illumination of the city blaring rudely at night and forcing me to squint.

"Lukas, can you book me a hair appointment with Lucy tomorrow? Let her know that it's just a quick trim and thin, it's just getting a little too hard to manage in the mornings," I said, my voice unusually loud in the quiet interior of the BMW, "I've got the day off, so it would be great if she could do it for me."

"Of course, Aurora – I'll do that now," the AI replied, his thick German accent more pronounced than usual.

"Thanks," I exhaled, leaning back into the seat and closing my eyes, the last few bites of my burger forgotten as an overwhelming exhaustion flowed over me.

"Tired?" came Lukas's voice from the front seat.

I snapped open my eyes, surprised that I had nearly fallen asleep.

"I….Yeah. I'm not sure why I'm so tired," I replied, yawning widely, "I'm always drained after work, but not this much, so at least I have the day off tomorrow on Friday."

"Your appointment with Lucy is going to be at twelve noon, so feel free to sleep in. You deserve it, Aurora."

I smiled happily at his comment and sighed again, contentedly this time, "You always know how to make me feel better, Lukas. I'm honestly surprised that you don't have human women – and avatars – following you around everywhere."

Lukas's avatar vanished from the front seat, reappearing on the seat next to me. His elbow rested against the door frame, a thoughtful hand on his chin.

"Most of those women don't interest me. The ones that do, are very few and far between."

I raised an eyebrow at his comment, bracing myself against the door as we went around a corner and down a street a few blocks from home, "I didn't know that women interested you at all until just now. Is that programming that makes you a charmer?"

He turned to look at me, with a faint smile on his lips and a gleam in his blue eyes, a far cry from his uncertainty earlier, "No, it is almost certainly not programming," he replied.

"Hmph."

We soon pulled into my garage, the lights inside automatically coming on as we entered, and I gathered up my handbag and cold burger as Lukas opened my door for me. I went through garage door and entered the house, but before I moved out of Lukas's origin machine's short range, I turned and opened my arms, "Come here, Lukas. You're the best."

He paused for a moment, before flashing me a grin and stepping forward into my hug. His avatar was quite a bit taller than me, but I hugged him tightly, ignoring the slightly disturbing buzzing electric sensation tingling my skin, "Thank you for today."

He pulled away and smiled.

"Of course. There is no need to thank me, Aurora," he said gently, "Anything for you."

"Aww. You're so kind," I laughed, turning away and making my way to my bedroom where I could fall into bed and sleep instantly. I dumped my handbag and the last bits of my burger unceremoniously onto the kitchen bench.

"Sleep well," said Lukas from behind me.

"I will. Remember to set my alarm for later in the morning, okay?" I added over my shoulder as I opened my bedroom door.

"Already done."

I fell onto my bed, not bothering to undress from my work clothes, and sighed.

"Goodnight, Lukas."

He might have replied, but I didn't hear it as I fell asleep in a few seconds.

I woke up two hours before my alarm, yawning and stretching out to relax. Turning over in bed, I muttered, "Being that tired last night, you would have thought that my own body would have let me sleep in. Lukas?"

"Mmmmh….Yes, Aurora? What can I do for you this morning?" said Lukas, his voice emanating from the house speakers, unusually rough compared to his usual smooth baritone and accent.

I chuckled to myself, because it sounded like he was still half asleep, like me. "Did I wake you up?"

"Hm…Well….In human terms….Yes. I was in the middle of my nightly shut down and recuperation routine, to cleanse my system and remove unnecessary data and software loading."

"Sorry then. I'll try to…Uh….Not disturb your….Cleansing next time."

"It's fine, there is no harm done to my systems. What do you require?"

"Can you check my messages and emails? – I really can't be bothered to go and fetch my handbag off the kitchen table and fish out my phone."

"I won't be a moment, Aurora. I have not accessed your personal device for quite some time, and will need to run permission protocols."

"Take as long as you want," I yawned, rolling over again and snuggling into bed.

I hadn't realised that I had dozed off until Lukas's voice suddenly jolted me awake, "You have an email from your mother's retirement housing village, and two new messages, one from…..A woman named Karen. She is not in your contacts, but according to Axial Core's database, she is an employee in your Section. You also have….."

A heavily German accented sigh and a stream of incomprehensible muttering which I also assumed was German, came through the speakers before clear English, "A message from Alexander."

I huffed and groaned, "Think we should delete it?"

"That's entirely up to you."

"Delete it."

"Gone."

"The retirement home email?" I questioned.

"You are cordially invited to a….Mother's lunch event at the home next week. 'A chance to see loved ones in a public social event with free food, drinks and entertainment in the form of new release movies on screen and internet services,' they said."

Oh God, I would avoid Mum if I had to – she was confusing and frustrating to be around as she seemed to be slowly losing her wits and becoming ridiculously paranoid, and she was still, as a whole, entirely uninterested and unsupportive of my life.

"I doubt my mother would even notice if I didn't turn up. She probably wouldn't even go herself. What do you think, Lukas?"

"I can only help you make a decision, not decide for you, as per my basic programming, but if you want my thoughts, then I believe that you should attend. Even if it doesn't come out great with your mother, at least you'll get free food."

I sat up in bed and shrugged. "I guess it wouldn't be that much of a big deal to just…Go. Okay, send a reply email with an RSVP that I'll be there."

I flopped back down into bed and closed my eyes, "How long until my appointment with Lucy?"

"One hour and a half – I'll wake you thirty minutes before we have to leave."

"Alright, thanks Lukas."

"It's fine – you don't need to thank me for everything. It's part of my job," the AI replied, sounding perplexed.

"I like thanking you. It's a…..Human thing, I'm guessing, and with you being so human yourself, well, it just seems like the right thing to do, and you're almost certainly not a slave – you should be shown gratitude," I answered.

"Oh, I see, Aurora. I hadn't thought of it that way, but I understand now. I'll be referencing that information for later."

I grunted in reply, closing my eyes once again as Lukas did not say anything else, letting sleep take me away in it's soft, dark arms.

I only realised it was a dream when I finally saw my mother in it. She hugged me, and I knew that was impossible – I had never seen her hug anyone in my entire life, not even my father, even though they were divorced.

"I'm so proud of you, my darling!"

Okay, so this was definitely a dream.

"W…What are you proud of me for, Mum?" I stuttered, trying to release myself from her grip.

"You silly girl! Why, your wedding, of course."

"My wedding? Who on Earth would marry me?" I spluttered incredulously, looking down and seeing myself in a massive white dress, encrusted with sparkling jewels that twinkled in the lights of the massive crystal chandelier overheard. I was in a room that was stupendously exquisite, the wallpaper a lovely rich red and decorated with golden swirls.

"Don't be stupid, Aurora. He wanted….A more traditional wedding, but you wouldn't have it; you said it was crazy and silly and all that," she scoffed, sounding a lot more like my actual mother, "Quick, turn around, dear. He's come to see you before the ceremony."

I whirled around, curious to see who the heck would actually want to marry me. I nearly fell over my dress's train as I smacked my eyes on Lukas. He looked good, as usual, but his avatar was wearing an extremely impressive blue suit, that even gave those traditional Germanic blue eyes a run for their money, paired with a blue tie and white shirt.

"Lukas?! What….."

I held a hand to my forehead and looked away.

Okay, don't freak out…It's just a dream….You're not really marrying Lukas….Your brain is just confused and your subconscious has a really screwed up thought process going on. Did I really consider Lukas more than just my assistant and my friend? He was just artificial intelligence – I couldn't marry an AI.

"What's wrong, darling?" he said softly, coming up behind me and placing both his hands on my shoulders, "Are you nervous?"

I spun around again, "Uh….Yes….But….."

My sentence came to a grinding halt as I took in just how impressive he actually looked in this dream, oh...and how close of a proximity I was forced to admire it. His golden blonde hair was slicked back impressively in a perfect wave that, somehow, was a million times neater and glossier than the usual style that it was in, and his blue eyes were luxuriously lit by the chandelier. I thought I could just make out a strange, aqua coloured circular movement within his pupil – probably something to do with being an avatar, I guessed, something that I had never looked close enough to notice in real life.

I mean, I was probably staring too long, and avatars were designed to have that super model attractiveness, but I felt strangely drawn to him in a way that I never usually felt in real life, and it was freaking me out. I quickly reached under one of my massive, long, flowing sleeves and pinched my own skin – I felt the prickle of pain, but I did not wake up. My thoughts held a cloudy, unfocused quality, and I couldn't maintain the thought that I knew, I bloody well knew that I was in a dream.

"Lukas….I….I don't understand," I muttered, looking away and backing out of his arms. None of this felt right.

"I'll do the understanding for you, Aurora. I am your personal assistant."

"I'm bloody marrying you, Lukas! How are you even my assistant anymore? How is any of this even possible?" I spluttered.

He didn't react, but I saw the faint aqua rings within his pupils rotate and focus, which creeped me out even more.

"Because I love you," was all he said, in a deadpan, serious tone, and I couldn't help but burst out in hysterical, confused laughter.

"You love me? You're a bloody computer program! And I'm getting married to you! How does any of this make any sense to you or I?"

His jaw tightened, "I am not a computer program, I am - "

"You're an extremely advanced chip set. Artificial intelligence….Yeah. I've heard it all before."

"You haven't heard this before."

A spew of incomprehensible language flew from that perfect mouth, harsh words grating over smoothly uttered German syllables – I had no idea what he was saying, but I knew it wasn't charming. He then cocked his head to the side, raised an eyebrow, spun around on his heel, threw "Enjoy your wedding cake," over his shoulder, and left, slamming the door to the suite behind him. I opened my mouth in shock, ready to go after him and apologize, when –

I sat up and yelled, "WAIT!" which I quickly muffled with a clapped hand over my mouth. I took in a deep breath of air to calm my racing heart, and collapsed back into bed.

"Aurora? Aurora? Aurora!" his avatar literally appeared in thin air next to me, and I screamed.

"LUKAS! What did I say about….The thing! Appearing!"

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" he said, his voice thick and deep with his German accent, examining me seriously.

"No….No, I'm fine, it's alright – I just had…..A really fucked up dream…..I couldn't explain it to you if I tried," I mumbled, shaking my head, "I didn't understand it at all. I didn't even understand why I had the damn dream in the first place."

"If you are fine, Aurora, that is all that matters," he replied, "You…..Frightened me somewhat."

"Me, frighten you?" I said, raising an incredulous eyebrow and folding my arms, "How on Earth do I scare a highly sophisticated artificial intelligence?"

"When humans scream like that, it usually means that something is very bad."

I laughed roughly and patted the sleeve of his suit jacket fondly, eliciting a large electrical buzz into my hand, "Well, I mean, you're not wrong. But it wasn't the case this time."

"Should I assume that every time you scream the house down in the morning, you've had a 'dream'?" he said with a small, tight smile.

I grimaced, "I wouldn't want to die a horrible, slow, painful, lonely death one morning without you thinking anything is wrong, because I'm just having another one of my 'dreams' as you say. I think I'd prefer to keep you on guard."

Lukas huffed out an amused breath, "At least you're honest."

"It's one of my redeeming qualities," I said with a slightly faked grin.

Lukas pursed his lips and rested a hand on my shoulder – I tried not to flinch at the touch, as dream – Lukas had done the exact same thing.

"If you need to talk to me, just ask. I'm using a lot of my power to project my avatar this far out of my range."

"I thought that was impossible?" I asked.

"It's not impossible, but it is certainly taxing for any avatar doing it. My origin machine is only a small vehicle, so I don't have much extra power to spare for emergency over projecting like I'm doing now."

"I never knew that an avatar could even do that until now," I muttered to myself, "Conserve your power Lukas, I'm getting up anyway, I need to go to Lucy's soon."

He nodded, "You have about," he paused, "Fifteen minutes."

He vanished.

"Fifteen minutes? Ugh…."

The drive to Lucy's salon was quick and went without a hitch, the BMW smoothly purring around corners as usual – the way it had been for all the years that I'd owned it, and Lukas. At heart, Lukas was the one controlling the car. Pulling up outside Lucy's driveway, the German car's wheels crunching on the gravel, I saw the supermodel slim woman making her way down to meet me. Lukas reappeared to open my door for me, but she brushed past him and flung it open before I could even touch the handle, the avatar wincing with a pained expression as the door met its maximum outward arc. Lucy was very thin, with long blonde hair and large, round green eyes that gave her beauty an unparalleled boost – I'd always felt comparatively dull, ugly, and boring around her. She was always taller than me, too; a combination of her height and the fact that she was always wearing the tallest heels that I'd ever seen.

"Aurora! It's so good to see you! I haven't had a chat to you in so long! How have you been?" she blurted, grabbing my hands and pulling me out in a swift movement.

"I – It's good to see you too, Lucy," I smiled as best as I could, trying not to trip over my own feet as she dragged me. I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw Lukas looking at me with his best what – the – fuck expression. He always got like this every time we saw Lucy, and had once suggested that we change hairdressers, but I'd been going to see Lucy for years in a row.

I just shrugged as unnoticeably as I could and extracted myself from Lucy's tight grip, so I could actually walk properly on the unstable gravel driveway, "How are you?"

"Oh, I've got so much to tell you about, Aurora!" she continued.

"Aurora," said Lukas from behind me, and I pulled Lucy to a stop, turning to look at him, "I can't park on this part of the street," the AI added with a stiff smile, leaning back against the sleek black BMW.

Lucy pursed her lips, "Oh, it can go park a few blocks away. There's a parking lot there, that's always empty."

Lukas's face lost all expression as she addressed him as 'it', the way she had been doing for years, and the way that had pissed him off for years. He nodded sharply, looking from Lucy's face to mine, "Goodbye, Aurora."

I gave him what I thought was a comforting smile, before waving and continuing up the driveway to the large, expensive looking building that was Lucy's salon. It combined modern steel edges and accents in a main structure that glinted in the sunlight, both sophisticated and practical in its design. I had once asked Lucy how much her salon had cost, and she had replied with an amount so outrageous, I had nearly choked on the hot tea that she'd given me to sip on while she styled my hair.

I returned from my memories as I heard the roar of the BMW's engine behind me, fading into the distance, and knew Lukas had gone to find Lucy's parking lot which 'supposedly' existed. I felt a pang of worry, knowing that anything could happen to him, but quickly quelled it. He was artificial intelligence – he was boundlessly smarter than me and could look after himself.

"Your AI seems a little grumpy, as usual. Maybe you should get one with a more pleasant temperament? I definitely would," Lucy blabbed.

Stalling for time, I took in all around me inside Lucy's house. It was impressively massive inside, decorated with plush yet modern furniture and the floor was absolutely covered in furs and carpets so expensive, I knew that I probably couldn't even afford half of one, the walls decorated sparsely with detailed, beautiful paintings, probably won for hundreds of thousands of dollars at specialist auctions. It was almost an insult to call it just a house – it was more like a futuristic mansion than anything.

I laughed lightly, gritting my teeth at her ignorance before replying, "Maybe, I quite like Lukas, though. I would have a lot of trouble trying to part ways with him."

Maybe I should get a new hairdresser after all.

As Lucy trimmed my hair and styled it, I set about replying to the employee from my Section who had messaged me.

Karen 6:28 : Look out for Alexander.

Aurora 12:44 : Who are you? What about Alexander? How did you get my number?

I set the phone on the small, clear glass table in front of me, leaning back and relaxing as Lucy massaged copious amounts of hair product through my long red hair.

"So, what's your relationship status like, Aurora? Found that special man yet? You must have a lot of co-workers in your Section."

"I haven't really met anyone from my Section that's to my tastes…There's this one guy that's really high ranking in the Section and he's constantly pestering me to go out with him, even though he's fat, sweaty and perverted."

"Ewwww, he sounds absolutely disgusting. My fiancé is positively charming – rich, like me, fabulous, he has profound sense of fashion, he's everything I could ever want!" she tittered, beginning to work on my hair with her scissors. My phone buzzed, and I unlocked it to find another message from Karen.

Karen 12:55 : Alexander is more than the creep you and others think he is. Watch out, he's flagged you and Lukas.

Aurora 12:57 : Flagged us for what? I don't understand.

Karen 12:59 : I'm not supposed to be telling you any of this. I'm sorry, I can't tell you anymore without jeopardizing my own safety, just be on the lookout. Axial Core is going to want to test your suitability soon.

-Contact has blocked communication-

I froze and stared at the phone's glowing screen blankly. Testing my suitability? What on Earth did that mean?

"Something wrong?" Lucy questioned, pausing in her motions to trim my hair – she had always been able to sense my emotions, although ironically she had never been able to pick out that Lukas's prickliness was her own fault.

"Just trouble with work," I muttered.

"Is there anything I can do for you, sweetie? Do you need any money? I've got plenty that I can lend you if you need any help."

I laughed uneasily, "No, I don't need any money Lucy – but thanks though."

I sat in silence as Lucy continued with her work, putting up with the tugging and combing, blankly looking at my own reflection in the mirror positioned in front of my seat. I nearly yelled in surprise when the hairdresser suddenly exclaimed "Done!"

Glancing in the mirror, I admired the elaborate red braids that Lucy had worked my hair into, starting from the very front of my head, and splitting into two separate plaits that ended in a merge to one at the nape of my neck. She had, of course done the trimming and thinning I'd requested before twisting my hair into this style.

"Wow, I love it. Thanks, Lucy. How much do I owe you this time around?" I said, pulling the super slim woman into a gentle hug. She grasped my hands, smiling brightly down at me, "Don't worry about paying, sweetie – I can tell that something's on your mind at the moment, so I'll give you your haircut free as a little gift. Never let it be said that I didn't care for you in your time of need," she giggled.

"Oh, Lucy you don't need to – "

She cheekily pressed a finger to my lips, "Ssh! I don't want to hear a peep out of you, Aurora. Go and call your AI to come pick you up, so you can go and enjoy the rest of your day off."

I laughed, shrugging off my concern about Karen's message, at least for now. Maybe the woman was just paranoid – I didn't even know her, after all. Unlocking my phone again, I called the closed-circuit line that was directly linked to Lukas. It rung until the maximum number of times, which was extremely unusual for Lukas – who usually answered on the second ring and then it picked up.

"Hi, Lukas? Is that you? I'm finished with my hair appointment, could you come and pick me up?"

"Okay," he replied, the tone in his German accented voice blank and cold.

The line went dead, and I jerked the phone away from my ear in surprise. He had never hung up on me before.

"Uh oh. Something wrong?" Lucy said, her head tilted to one side.

"He….He hung up on me. In all the years that I've had Lukas integrated in my car as my assistant, he's never hung up on me like that," I muttered, feeling a pang of anxiety. Had Lucy finally ticked off Lukas enough that the AI was even angry at me?

"Come on then, Aurora. You better see what's irked your extremely temperamental AI. Honestly, I have no idea what is up with it. You should really think about applying for a replacement with your company."

"I'll look into it. Thanks again, Lucy," I said quickly, rushing across her plush, carpeted tile floor and to her front door, which I tried to not open roughly, owing to the fact that it probably cost several hundred dollars, at least, being made of heavy, gleaming metal styled with black, grey and white accents. I saw the sleek black BMW purring to a stop beside Lucy's gravel driveway, and I tried to not seem rushed and concerned to the salon owner standing behind me, as I half slid, half walked down.

"Come back soon Aurora! I can't wait until I can have another chat with you!" I heard as I reached the bottom of the slope, so I politely turned and waved, "Will do, Lucy! I'll give you a call."

My anxiety increased, as when I turned back to the BMW, the German AI still hadn't appeared as he usually would.

"Lukas? Are you alright?"

There was no answer, only the car engine idling perfectly and smoothly, and for the first time in ages, I opened the car door and slipped in the leathery black front car seat, thinking it might entice Lukas to appear in the driver's seat next to me.

It didn't work, yet the BMW smoothly accelerated, gliding perfectly around the corner at the end of Lucy's street and following the well known route home. I hugged myself, squeezing my shoulders as the air conditioning blasted through the air vents, freezing cold – I was only wearing a dress, one of the few that I owned that was considered decent; it was knee length and made of a clingy red fabric that looked stunning, but was unfortunately not very warm.

"Can you please turn up the warmth on the air con? I'm freezing to death here," I spoke, the inside of the car unusually quiet without chatter. I waited patiently for a few minutes, but none of the digital gauges showing the temperature changed, so I huffed and turned the knobs myself, cranking them to the full 'hot' setting, leaning back into my seat and sighing, I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands, letting them drop back onto my lap with an audible slap.

"Look, car, I don't know what's wrong with you, but you need to snap out of it. I just….I was just going to get a haircut, and now you won't even talk to me, and you hang up on me – you have never done this before – what on Earth is wrong with you, Lukas?" There was no answer, but the brakes were applied more harshly than usual at the set of traffic lights, causing the seatbelt to automatically tighten around my shoulder and waist and restrict my movement.

Okay, so he definitely was in a foul mood if he was deliberately driving this way, as driving safely, perfectly, and smoothly was one of the most key parts of his personality, and as I squinted against the glare of the late afternoon sun, I wondered again if seeing Lucy had finally angered him so much that he blamed me.

We arrived back home shortly after, and as I opened my door and stepped out into the dark garage, I paused and gently rested a hand on the black edge of the BMW's bonnet, still warm and ticking occasionally as the car cooled.

"Lukas….I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm not sure what's upset you so much, but I'm assuming it had something to do with Lucy – and I'm not expecting you to talk to me or interact with me right now, but I just thought I'd let you know that I do care."

I stood there like that for a few minutes, hoping to hell that the AI would say something or that even his avatar would appear so I could at least hope to salvage our friendship, but nothing happened. Dejected, I made my way in through the garage door and into the kitchen, slumping into the chair in front of the bench and resting my head in my hands. I should have listened to him that other time when he expressed his displeasure with Lucy – should've let him do his job and picked another hairdresser.

"Shit," I muttered, dragging myself off the chair and onto the couch a few metres away, staring blankly at the massive flat screen tv parked right in front of it, but not bothering to turn it on. I sat like that for God knows how long, until I finally snapped. "Lukas!" I yelled desperately, getting up impatiently and marching over, throwing open the garage door, "Are you alright? Are you damaged?" There was still no reply, so I went over to the car and opened the front passenger door, slipping into the seat and opening the glove box to pull out the AI's user manual, given to me by Axial Core in the same package which had included Lukas. It was only a last resort to remove an integrated AI, but I needed to see if something was wrong.

Turning on the overhead light, I flicked past page after page, until I finally found the one I wanted – that would tell me how to open Lukas's integration compartment and potentially remove his chipset from the vehicle. Following the directions exactly, not wanting to potentially fuck anything up and damage or possibly destroy Lukas's circuits, I removed a small black panel from the dash and pushed in two pins to release the silvery metal guard protecting the chip.

It was quite small, very flat, and its width was about the same as the length of my thumb – I had not seen Lukas integrated into the car, so I didn't realise how small he actually was, and how something so little could power such a sophisticated entity. As I watched, it hummed, barely audible, and dim blue lights zipped through the lanes of circuitry covering the surface – I didn't know if that meant he was functional or not, so I reached into the compartment to push the release pins that would eject it from the car, but was stopped by the presence of a sudden hand on my wrist, sending an electric buzz down my arm and fingers.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't mess with my chip, Aurora," murmured Lukas, his thick German accent coming from right behind me, and I jumped as the chip flared into life, glowing a rather impressive blue in the gloom of the garage. I swivelled around, to come face to face with his avatar, leaning over the back of my seat, and so I stared at him for a moment.

"Lukas…." I mumbled, not knowing what to say for a moment, before finding my words again, "Lukas, I'm sorry."

"I know," was all the AI said, before collapsing into the back seats and staring blankly at the ceiling, the overhead light turning off. I continued to watch him – noticing for the first time that his blue eyes were also glowing very slightly in the darkness, and I also eyed off his chip, still exposed and glowing brightly in the compartment.

"You're looking at it like it's going to jump out and bite you," he said suddenly, breaking the silence between us, "That chip is me."

"Maybe that's precisely why I'm looking at it like that," I replied, trying to break some of the tension – but it didn't work. More silence followed, Lukas unnaturally still, until I finally couldn't stand it.

"Can you find me a new hairdresser? Lucy is starting to strike me as a bitch."

The avatar lifted his head and looked straight at me, the glowing eyes dimming a little. Lukas's jaw tightened, a muscle flickering in his cheek before he glanced away.

"I don't care about Lucy, but I care about what she says to me….Being addressed as an 'it' for so many years in a row…..The way that she ignores who I am….Today, it hurt me deeper than every other time. You know that parking lot she sent me to – it was right in front of a wrecker. I watched as other cars were crushed in the huge jaws of that machine. I imagined what it would be like – to be destroyed like that. Some of the cars still had AI in them, inactive, old, but there – my sensors detected their electromagnetic pulses. I am still deciding whether Lucy sent me there on purpose or not."

I didn't reply for a moment, before getting out of the front and opening the rear left hand door, sliding into the seat next to the AI. I wasn't sure how to comfort him, as I had never needed to, but I hoped that doing the same as I would to a human would suffice. Gently placing a hand on his shoulder and turning towards me, I was confronted by a sight that I didn't think that I'd ever see.

"Lukas…." I said softly, watching a range of emotions struggle over his face, the chip in the front of the car glowing more intensely. I saw as the AI cycled through sadness, anger, pity, embarrassment, defiance, revenge, regret, and a whole host of other things that I couldn't even begin to decipher. I hadn't realised that Lukas was even capable of so many emotions, and I felt a sudden pang of guilt at my ignorance.

He noticed me staring and glanced at me.

"I….I have never felt such a range of emotions from my cortex before…I….I am having difficulty processing all of them," he said, his voice stiff and more robotic than it usually was.

I sighed, resting an arm around the avatar's shoulders in what I hoped would be comforting for him, even though the contact sent buzzes down my biceps, before replying, "That's because you're not supposed to feel all of them. You must decide what you want to feel about it. You can't possible feel every single emotion about just one thing, that's impossible, even for humans – we can't feel sad about something, but be angry and happy about the same thing," I said softly.

A shudder went through Lukas as I put my arm around him, and I swear even the car did, too. I started, hoping I hadn't done something wrong, beginning to withdraw.

"Wait. Can I….?"

I stopped, frozen, as against all of my expectations, he heaved a heavy, laden sigh, and rested his head against my shoulder, the contact again sending that faint buzzing through me.

"Thank you, Aurora," sounding so relieved that I nearly insisted that he never thank me like that again.

"You're….You're welcome, Lukas."

The chip's light died down, and swore I felt the brush of his blonde hair against my cheek, even though I knew that his avatar and chip did not have the necessary tech to produce such an effect. The newer company models, I knew, had that ability – but as lowly of an employee as I was, I'd never get access to an AI that sophisticated and I would never replace Lukas with one of the new ones.

"Lukas?"

"Yes?"

"I have a question."

"Ask me anything, Aurora."

"Do you have a heartbeat?"

He lifted his head from my shoulder, looking at me closely – I noticed the cerulean rings in his eyes now, just like in my dream – easier to see in darkness as they were the only part of his eyes that glowed.

"Would you like to test and see?"

Reaching forward, I gingerly brushed open his black suit jacket, aware of the closeness of the contact, when he made it vanish completely in a gentle wave of blue pixels – leaving him in his white shirt and tie. I had not seen him dematerialise any part of his clothing before, and was momentarily distracted by the fading blue mess of matter, but I placed a hand on the avatar's chest, right over where you would expect that a human's heart would be, and felt the usual tingling. I waited a few beats of my own heart, but…..nothing. I did not feel anything similar to a heartbeat.

"Does that answer your question?" he murmured, his voice surprisingly transmitting through his avatar and vibrating against my hand.

"Yes," I replied, jerking my hand away and resting it in my lap. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, seeing him analysing my reaction – those concentric rings rotating slightly.

"Does the knowledge that I don't have any sign of life disturb you?"

I looked up at him, and, confused by the seriousness of his sudden question, I frowned, "No, it doesn't."

"Does it disturb you, knowing that, in any way, I am not human?" he questioned further, the blue rings in his eyes contracting together

I shook my head, "You may not have a heartbeat, and your true physical form may be a chip in my car, but you are still more human to me than some actual humans."

A relieved sigh escaped the avatars mouth, and he suddenly pulled me into a tight hug, the contact sending that blasted buzzing throughout my entire body this time.

"Can you turn that off?" I muttered over his shoulder.

"Turn….what off?" he asked, confused.

"Whenever you have any contact with me, it has this weird buzzing sensation. It's alright when its only mild, but if you're going to hug me, it….uh…might need to be toned down."

"My apologies – that would be my electrical field. Here, just let me….there."

The buzzing stopped and I huffed a breath in relief, "Thanks."

"Don't put too much pressure on my avatar now, though. You may break my weakened field and fall through me."

I relaxed into the hug, resting my hands on either of his shoulders and smiling. It had been a very long time since I had last been hugged in this way.

"When was the last time?" Lukas asked gently, his German accent thicker when he spoke softly, and I pulled away from the hug in surprise – it was almost like he had read my thoughts. He chuckled softly at my reaction, "No, I can't read your thoughts, Aurora, but I can read emotions exceptionally well, and predict possible reactional outcomes, even better than most humans."

I started at the floor of the car, thinking carefully before answering his question – I also began picking absentmindedly and repetitively at the edge of the black leather seat, "Several years ago…My ex boyfriend. That was the last person who hugged me like that."

His hand shot out at blinding speed and grabbed my fingers, halting my picking at the seat.

"You can feel that?" I asked, bewildered at his reaction.

"Yes. It felt somewhat like…..Picking at a scab over a wound."

"Doesn't it get annoying, feeling stuff like that with your sensors? I mean, they're everywhere, inside and outside of the car, right? At least, from what they told me."

"Correct – but I can simply turn specific sensors off – or all of them off – to stop that."

"Can your avatar feel?" I questioned, curious.

"No. My avatar is merely a collection of fields – it cannot feel touch, pain, heat, or cold. Only the car can feel."

I laughed a little, "I'm not sure why, but that sounds depressing."

The AI muttered a few incomprehensible, harsh words and nodded.

"Is that German?" I interjected.

"What? Yes, that's German," he replied, tilting his head to the side, "You have never heard German being spoken before?"

"No….Here in Silicon Valley with the business, it's either English or get out," I replied.

"Now that sounds depressing. German is a very sophisticated and difficult language to learn, but very rewarding to the student when mastered."

I smiled, "This might be a weird question, and I've never asked you anything like this, but do you have any….Hobbies?"

Lukas pursed his lips, "AI's don't have hobbies, but we do have specialisations that are generated by our personality… In my case, it is speaking German, knowing the intricacies and rules of social gatherings, or dinners, basically….I am knowledgeable in the boundaries of formal dress, and I know several hundred different kinds of dances, mostly ballroom….I can potentially speak any language in the world, and learn thousands of new things in a few minutes, but I am more interested in my specialisations."

My eyes widened, "What I would give to be able to learn anything that I wanted in a few seconds…..That's amazing."

"I have a question for you, Aurora."

"Are we playing twenty questions now?"

"Do you know how to drive a car?" he said with a smirk, completely ignoring my statement. I folded my arms, leaning back against the door, "Of course I know how to drive a car, Lukas. I haven't needed to, with you around, obviously, and I learnt to drive quite a few years ago, when your kind of artificial intelligence was still in its baby stages. I'm way older than you, by the way," I added with a cocky grin.

I was met with a raised eyebrow and quirked lips, "Are you claiming superiority by matter of age over an AI? Really Aurora, I thought that you were smarter than that."

I stuck out my tongue, inciting a playful wink from Lukas that said I had taken the bait, "And that's your problem, car. You think too much. About everything."

"Would you like to see what happens when I stop thinking?"

"I dare you to actually do that."

His avatar froze, a half smile still on his face, and didn't move. The chip in front of the car dimmed quite noticeably, and I shook my head in dismay. He'd actually done it.

"Okay Lukas, you've already completely and utterly owned me," I muttered, rolling my eyes. His avatar didn't react, and I poked his arm – still solid. I laughed, getting an idea, and I flicked his tie. It didn't move. I also tried fiddling with the knot that kept it neat and in it's shape, but that didn't want to come undone either.

"Damn it – I thought that would work," I chuckled to myself. Leaning forward with a creak of the leather seat, I looked closely at the blue rings in his eyes – they were rotating extremely slowly. I blew into Lukas's eyes, but there was no reaction, and his faint blue outline was more pronounced at this distance, a faint halo around his form.

"If I knew that I had to fake 'turning myself off' to get you this close, I would have done it a long time ago," he spoke suddenly, and my head nearly hit the roof as I leapt back in shock.

"Holy shit," I swore, my heart racing.

"Nice idea to try and undo my tie, by the way. Unfortunately, it's fixed to my avatar at a set position," he said with a wink, his black suit jacket rematerializing in a blue wave around his white shirt as he reached up to straighten his jet black tie – even though I had not moved it at all.

"What are those things….In your eyes? The rings," I said, pointing at him.

He frowned, "Rings? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Have you ever looked in a mirror?"

"Of course."

"Come and see what I'm talking about," I said, opening the car door and getting out – I was acutely aware of how close I had just been to him, and wanted to get out of the enclosed space, "You'll need to over project, but not for too long, and we're not going anywhere else today anyway."

He disappeared from inside and reappeared, following me back into the house, the red heels I was wearing clacking irritatingly on the tiled floor.

"I don't like looking in mirrors."

I paused at the bathroom door, turning around to look up at him curiously, "Why's that?"

He tugged at his collar, looking supremely uncomfortable, "I find seeing my avatar….somewhat disturbing at times, even though I am fully self-conscious."

I shot him a bright smile before turning and opening the door, leading into the very large and spacious bathroom – one of the benefits of being in the company. Every inch of the floor and walls was tiled in pearlescent white, and a large bath and shower cubicle was situated on the left side, a basin and mirror along with cupboards underneath the sink on the right side. I motioned for the AI to follow me, and we came to a standstill in front of the mirror. I took in the hairstyle that Lucy had put my hair in, along with the lovely red dress paired with my green eyes and smiled, knowing that I looked good, but Lukas was silent, taking in our reflections with a subtle tightening of his jaw.

"Are you alright?" I questioned, turning away from the mirror to look at him carefully.

"I'm fine," was all he said, lifting a hand to feel his own cheek, and then moving it to absentmindedly straighten his tie, "I can never get used to seeing myself." He leant forward, closer to the mirror, staring at his own eyes – in the reflection, I could see the cerulean rings whirring and tightening as Lukas frowned, "I didn't know that my avatar displayed this, and my only guess is that it is simply a visual calculation of the chip's processing operations…"

He straightened, turning to me suddenly, with a slightly worried expression, "This doesn't make you feel uncomfortable? I could make adjustments to hide it if that is the case."

I shook my head vigorously, "No, Lukas. I actually think it's kind of cool."

He frowned and stroked his chin absentmindedly, "Cool?" he muttered, before sighing and shaking his head, "I should have long since given up trying to predict what you're going to say."

I placed a hand on his sleeve, putting on a mock serious expression, "The number one unspoken rule about women – never try and guess anything about them or make assumptions, because that's the fastest way to find yourself thrown on your arse and rejected," I laughed, Lukas turning and resting his back against the basin, "I don't know how you managed to turn this conversation into a lesson about women," he mumbled.

"Got a problem with that? I thought you liked women."

His expression changed subtly, "I do."

"Then why are you bitching about me changing the subject of the conversation?" I shot back, grinning evilly.

He breathed out in a nearly silent chuckle, echoing off the tiles, "You know, Lucy may be a….," he coughed, "But she certainly knows what she's doing when it comes to your hair."

My eyes widened, "Are you saying that my hair looks good?"

A sly smile spread over his face, "It's not just the hair."

"Is it the heels?" I said, grinning wider, resting a hip against the sink.

He swore something in German, the harsh word reverberating as he squeezed his eyes shut, "I'm not even human, but your smart arse mouth gets on my metaphorical nerves."

"You mean circuits? This mouth can do more than just piss people off, you know," I said with a faked sexy look on my face, and the reaction I got from Lukas was well worth the slight uncomfortable feeling when I did it, as his eyes widened a little in surprise, but my triumphant victory at shocking him soon faded as a cunning smile spread over his face, "Aurora, darling, are you flirting with me?" he purred. I opened my mouth to shoot back a retort, but found myself at a loss for words, and I realising I looked like an idiot standing there with my mouth open, I closed it and looked away, avoiding Lukas's searching blue eyes.

I should have not provoked him, I thought, but I jumped in surprise as Lukas's hand gently touched my cheek, the buzzing sensation returning, as he turned my head back to look at him.

"Hey," he said softly, "Are you okay? Did I say something wrong?"

"Um….No, Lukas….I'm….Just not sure at the moment," I said, reaching up to remove his hand from my face, letting it drop to his side. He didn't say anything for a short while, looking at me closely.

"I see. My apologies, I lost my composure earlier," he said clearly, straightening, his voice quite a few shades cooler than what it had been before – even though the fact that I had flirted with an AI made me uncomfortable, I still felt the sting of the sudden change in his demeanour, "Before you go and do anything else, can you do something for me?" he added.

"Yes?"

He smiled, "Would you please replace my steel guarding, along with my compartment cover? I am coded in such a way that I can't interfere with my own systems."

"Oops, I forgot about that," I said, grimacing, "Sorry."

The rest of the day went without a hitch, but I still felt conflicted about the events earlier – I was thinking on the fact that I was somewhat of a hypocrite, saying that I considered him to be mostly human, but also feeling strangely uncomfortable with being so….Friendly and personal around him. I knew that I still regarded him just as my assistant, and a friend, and that perhaps I had treated him too fondly.

I took a sip of some coffee, surprisingly tasting quite decent even though it had come from my shitty machine, relatively unused after the discovery of it's tendency to ruin everything from disgustingly burnt hot chocolates and horrendously strong coffees, and sighed, nearly being startled by my phone, on the kitchen bench next to me, as it suddenly started to buzz and rattle against the white granite surface with it's screen displaying a call from an unknown business number. I reluctantly put down my cup and picked up the phone, flicking the green button and pressing it to my ear.

"Hello, this is Aurora from Section 98. What can I do for you?"

In reply, a man with deep brass tones began speaking.

"Aurora, tomorrow is going to be a lot different. Take the lift to the Section 2 floor, a team will be waiting for you there; you've been selected. You must arrive at precisely seven thirty in the morning, and don't wear your usual uniform – you want to impress, so get something superb. The funds for whatever you choose to purchase will be added to your account shortly. Get that German AI of yours to dress you; he will know what to pick."

"Who is this?"

"Listen and follow my instructions, and everything will be explained to you tomorrow, I assure you, this is an opportunity with the company that you do not want to miss. Goodbye, Aurora."

The line went dead with a hiss, and I placed the mobile phone back on the table, frozen. Go to Section 2? The highest I had ever been before was Section 76, and that was because I had a rather influential contact up there who'd decided to invite me to her annual Section dinner – the humiliation of being a Section 98 employee among the others at the event was tremendous, even though 76 was still among the bottom ranking Sections. I had heard of some employees from the lower Sections being promoted, though – working in departments close to Section 1 – the tallest part of the massive, twisting, futuristic skyscraper where the CEO of Axial Core and his board members resided.

Very few people ever got to even get a glimpse of that Section, and that lunatic of a man who had ordered me over the phone to go straight to Section 2 was utterly batshit crazy, as the security would probably arrest me and haul me off as soon as they spotted me wandering around on such a high floor.

"Lukas, I need you to find me a killer dress, and I don't care how expensive it is – we're going shopping," I said aloud.

"A shopping spree? You have considerable assets, Aurora but I don't think that's – "

I interjected, interrupting the AI's voice emerging from the house's speakers, "I think I'm getting promoted tomorrow, I just got a call from some creepy guy with the deepest voice I've ever heard in my entire life, who told me to go all the way up to Section 2 with no official documentation saying that I can go up there, no security pass, no special ID, nothing – so I need that killer outfit by the end of today. Find me the best dress you can, match it with some expensive jewellery and accessories, and let's go shopping."

"No problem, Aurora. Give me….say….Thirty seconds, and I will create an outfit that'll blow them away."

"You were never one to not brag, were you?" I snorted.

"I've completed my renditions and calculations, and we'll be able to pick up the items from a couple of boutiques along San Francisco's most expensive shopping district."

"That's good. Order everything now and get it sent to one store, so we don't have to run everywhere – what's the total cost?"

I heard a huff, along with a spew of German, "That would come to a total of five thousand dollars."

"I'm sold. Do it."

"It's done. Let's go pick up your 'killer dress'."

Somewhere, in the back of my mind – I wondered if this was a good idea.

Lukas turned around in the driver's seat to look at me curiously – the car's steering wheel turning by itself, "You're unusually quiet on our drive this evening."

I didn't reply for a moment, staring out the window, "I'm nervous for tomorrow."

"About the promotion?"

"Yeah."

"What are you anxious about?"

"Everything, even the phone call – it just seemed to strange to ring someone and demand they go straight to the second highest floor in the entire company, dressed in the best clothes they can get. It just seems so dodgy, and I'm concerned that I might get into some predicament with Axial Core that I don't want to be in."

Lukas disappeared and reappeared on the back seat next to me, looking at me carefully, "What's the worst that can go wrong? You have been employed with Axial for multiple years now, been given your own house and AI, won awards in your Section and done the same job every day perfectly. Maybe the company has decided that you are worthy of doing more? I don't know – but this is your perfect chance to be somebody other than just Aurora who stares at a computer and sorts files all day."

"I know, Lukas – but people may not like Aurora who has one of the higher jobs in the company that earns three times as much money as everybody else and has four times the recognition," I muttered, frowning thunderously.

Lukas shook his head vigorously, "Nein, nein, das ist nicht korrekt, schatz, " he said roughly in German before coughing, embarrassed, "Sorry – I said, no, that's not correct. There will always be those people that love Aurora for being Aurora, and if they don't; they are not worthy of being in your life."

"What was the last thing you said in that sentence?"

He looked away quickly, muttering something under his breath about 'controlling himself,' "Nothing particularly important at the moment."

He very gently placed his hand on my shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly – the blue rings in his eyes rotating quite slowly, "It will be fine, Aurora. You'll see – and if anything goes wrong, I will be there."

When I said 'killer dress' Lukas literally found the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my entire life – and it was mine. It was long and flowing, trailing along behind me with a slit up one leg, coloured a rich, bright shade of red and its entire surface encrusted with silvery jewels in patterns of swirls and flowers. The jewellery was also spectacular, matching the dress with a ring adorned as a galaxy like silver swirl, silver earrings and a necklace with a whorl shaped pendant. The shoes were simple, the same shade of red as the dress, with small glittering jewels scattered over a matte surface. I gaped at myself in the mirror, looking like an idiot in front of all the other staff members and customers inside the boutique. Lukas was at my side, blending in more effectively as one of the rich persons with his suit that appeared to be perfectly tailor made, even though the dress made me look spectacular, the way I reacted was almost certainly not the same as someone would act if they were made of money like the other patrons in here.

"Congratulations, Aurora. You look a million dollars," the AI said. I turned and rolled my eyes at him before replying, "Incorrect, I look like five thousand dollars."

"Do you like it?" he asked.

I gaped again, at him this time, "Do I like it? I love it! I look like some red haired sexy goddess that's going to slay some monstrous beast. I'm going to absolutely smash this promotion."

"I would highly recommend you remove those heels before you go fighting any dragons, but I'm happy that you like it," he said, tugging on his suit jacket and smiling, "You better take it off now, though – we want to keep it as pristine as possible until tomorrow morning, otherwise it may get creases and stains."

I sighed, "All right. I suppose I better stop staring at myself in the mirror before someone yells at me for being an egotistical bitch."

I turned and went back into the changeroom, whipping the curtains shut and reaching for the zipper on the back of the dress when I came to a profound realisation –

I couldn't reach it to pull it down.

"Luuuukas!"

"Aurora?"

"Can you please get one of the female staff to come and help me, please? I can't reach the goddamn zipper on this thing so I can get it off."

"Give me a few minutes," he replied.

He returned about ten minutes later, according to the blue clock on the wall above my changeroom, "They all have their hands full with other customers, including the male staff. If you are willing to wait another half an hour in that dress, I can get one of them – but if you don't want to wait, I will have to do it."

I sighed, turning around and putting my back towards the curtain, "Fine, but be quick, and don't look," I said, gritting my teeth as I heard the swish of the material being pushed aside, feeling the sudden shock of the German AI's buzzing touch on my shoulders, his fingers closing around the zipper, and tugging it down to no avail – it didn't even budge.

"It's stuck," he hissed.

"You didn't think I'd realised that by now?" I growled, "Try again."

The buzzing sensation intensified as Lukas braced his other hand on my shoulder, tugging more firmly down on the zipper which did move, but only a few centimetres. He pulled again and it moved a few more centimetres, "Can you do it yourself yet?" I reached around, now easily able to contort my shoulders to reach it, but it still would not budge. I sighed in anger, "I don't think I can get it to move from this angle – you'll have to unzip it all the way for me."

He stood there for a good five or so minutes, managing to work the stubborn bastard of a zip down to about halfway until it finally moved freely, the silky inside material of the dress suddenly sliding off my shoulders in a ripple of cloth; I yelped as the cold air hit my skin, instinctively covering my nipples as I spun around in surprise, "Get out!"

"Apologies, Aurora," he laughed lightly, stepping out of the changeroom and flicking the curtains across once more. I grumbled angrily to myself as I got back into my other, crappy red dress – feeling much less majestic then I had been five minutes ago. I soon emerged from the change room after a while spent struggling back into my old dress which I started to realise, to my own dismay, was becoming too small. I returned to find Lukas sitting on one of the small futons scattered around the store, but moving closer I soon noticed that his outline was wavering slightly and he looked very uncomfortable.

"Hey, are you okay?" I said gently, resting a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me with a tight smile, "I've been over projecting my avatar for too long today, and it's starting to take a toll on my power reserves and my processing chip. I am sorry Aurora – but I believe we must leave within the next few minutes or I won't have the power to safely drive us home."

"That's fine. We'll go right now," I smiled, offering the avatar my hand to help him up. I knew that he didn't need it as he was not constrained by physical limits such as muscles and joints, but I wanted to see how he reacted, he only hesitated a beat before taking my hand – sending a gentle buzzing up my arm – and standing with seeming effortlessness. He nodded in response, and we both headed to the large ornate glass doors on the other side of the massive boutique that lead back out into the busy night time buzz along the street.

"Ma'am! Ma'am! Wait a moment!" someone called from behind me, and I turned around in confusion. One of the female staff, a tiny, thin boned woman with limp brown hair and a gaunt face – whose uniform hung off her, rushed up to me, a pen in her hand as she scribbled frantically on a piece of paper, "Here's all our business numbers – I want you to have them, they're private and someone will be on the end at all times if you need any help with your purchases or your dress," she said.

"Okay, thank you, but we really must be on our way," I replied, trying to not grit my teeth in annoyance at her bubbly too – happy voice.

"Would there be any chance of a tip, ma'am?" she added, smiling sheepishly. I gaped openly at her persistence and bluntness, and tried to keep my temper cool as I answered, "I just spent five thousand dollars on your store's items – I'm perfectly happy with leaving the tip for another day. If you'll excuse me, I am a very busy woman and have to prepare for an important event tomorrow – "

"A….Aurora…." Lukas's avatar suddenly stumbled and grabbed onto my arm for support – I nearly dropped all my bags full of jewellery and shoes along with the dress's special cover bag as I grabbed him around the shoulders, lightning fast, to stop him from falling on the floor. I hadn't noticed that as I was talking to that stupid staff woman, he had been becoming more and more translucent.

"D...Drive…Y….Yourseelf….Home…Don't….W….Want…Tooooo….Risk….Your life," he managed to grate out, his voice staticky and robotic, his blue eyes wide, "I…..Trying…To….Prooo….ccess your….Irritation and inteer….actions….Drained faster thaaan I thought."

"Is there something wrong with him?" the woman asked, watching the German AI's collapse with a curious but not concerned expression – which finally made me lose my shit, "Yes, there is something wrong with him – why don't you go and bug another customer you stupid, dumb, blind woman!" I snarled, as she did the only smart thing she had done in the past couple of minutes – she said nothing and scurried away. I looked down at Lukas, still sagging in my arms, and swore, "Shit, I'm sorry – I should have left earlier, and I shouldn't have pushed you to over project for so long. Will you be alright?"

His face contorted and his mouth opened and closed a few times, "A….As long as I sto…..ooop projecting now I wi…..iiilll be operaaaa….aational tomorrow."

"Go."

His avatar vanished instantly, and I hurried out to the black BMW still parked on the other side of the street, at least fifteen metres out of his actual range. I nearly hit myself in the face with my own stupidity and ignorance of his limits, he wouldn't notify me of the strain on his systems until it became a pressing issue – all because of some artificial intelligence and assistant work ethic that was seemingly programmed into him.

I was so lost in my own concern that I nearly got run over by a white Porsche, it screeching to a halt a few metres away and causing me to jump in surprise and run the rest of the way across the road; as it drove past, a man leaned out of the window and swore a myriad of gender based slurs at me – I flipped the bird at him in response and he spat out the window. Reaching the German car, I nearly got straight into the back, only realising just in time that Lukas was unable to safely control the car for this trip – instead I chucked my bags and dress onto the rear seats, going back around to the front door, sliding into the driver's seat and breathing out a stressed sigh.

It had been a very long time since I had needed to manually drive a car, my only reassuring factor was that the BMW was an automatic transmission, and I rummaged through my handbag that I'd left on the passenger seat, making sure that it's keys were in there – mostly forgotten, but still there. Lukas did not need them to start or turn on the car, as he was integrated into the computer and was granted elevated privileges over its systems, but I needed the keys to drive. Pushing a button on the dash, it started perfectly and checking briefly behind me, I pulled onto the busy street and took off.

I woke up the following morning, not by Lukas's voice, but by that irritating automated alarm, screeching in my ear and flashing blaring red words in my face.

"I'm up! I'm up!" I howled, the alarm surprisingly stopping at the sound of my voice – it was five in the morning, and I remembered with a jolt that I needed to get ready for my visit to Section 2 – and my very possible promotion. I had collapsed into bed last night, after returning from the boutique, utterly drained from the stress and anxiety of driving the BMW home myself with Lukas out of action, even though he still occasionally corrected the course of the car throughout the trip – which he stopped when I had noticed and told him to 'stop fiddling'. There had not been a single word, message, or notification from the AI for the entire drive or the rest of the night, although worrying, was perfectly understandable as he was slowly recovering his power and energy. I mentally beat myself up again over that fact, as I had not realised that I was pushing the poor thing way past his projection range for an extended period of time and not expecting there to be any side effects.

"Lukas?" I said hesitantly, not sure if he was able to speak, but I sighed in relief as he replied.

"Aurora?"

"Are you okay?"

I heard a soft chuckle over the house's integrated speaker system, "Stop worrying about me – Yes Aurora, I'm perfectly fine and functional and I am ready to take you to work today."

I felt a pang in my stomach, as I again had a sensation that something drastic was going to change today, and I wasn't ready for it, but I still threw back the bed sheets and reluctantly got up, going to have my morning shower – even though I didn't like having showers, I needed to do my hair and makeup, and get changed into that magnificent dress without stinking like a dead animal. As the hot water hit my back and shoulders soothingly, Lukas spoke again,

"It's not your fault, Aurora."

I scrubbed my hair, now released from Lucy's hairstyle, "I completely forgot about…Well….You. I forgot about your limitations, so I guess I can't see it as anything else other than my fault."

"Aurora, you're human."

I snorted, "I realised that about twenty-six years ago."

"Forgetting is….Human, making mistakes is human – I don't hold any grudges about what has happened recently, and I should have notified you that I was becoming low on power a long time before entire depletion."

I didn't reply, instead focusing on cleaning every inch of my body and making sure that I wasn't going to look like a glorified tramp. No matter what he said, I would still blame myself deep down – the fiasco with Lucy, and now this – it was all partly due to my ignorance. I still couldn't figure out whether I should treat him as a human, and risk forgetting about his limitations and the fact that he was only a chip, or treat him as just an AI and assistant like Lucy did – an object, neither male or female, lacking any biological form, that purely exists to serve its creators, and by doing so, risk losing his friendship forever as it transformed into simple, cold, unfeeling interactions that only served a strict purpose.

I tried to stop thinking about it as I washed out the shampoo and conditioner from my now soaking wet red hair, but I failed miserably as I heaved a breath, resting my forehead on the tiled wall. I'll admit, it had been taking a toll, worrying about Lukas, our friendship, what it all meant, and now I was going to take a leap into the unknown with Axial Core. Some of the things I had heard over the years were not entirely benevolent, employees were mysteriously dismissed from work but never reappeared, the board members changed often, with the old members simply disappearing and popping up in different lives with no connections or contact with Axial, their personalities often completely different.

Axial Core was one of the largest AI and technology manufacturers in the world, and no one knew exactly how it operated except the CEO and the board members – no information had ever been leaked or released.

"What the hell am I doing?" I muttered to nobody, feeling tears in my eyes that I tried desperately to hold back, "Who am I to think that I can go to this promotion? I'm no one, why would Axial want me? This is a stupid idea."

Lukas appeared in a subtle ripple of blue, his back against the shower glass and his eyes half closed, "I want to talk to you."

"Then talk," I snorted, not having the energy to tell him to get out as I finished in the shower, shutting off the water and stepping out. I was completely naked, and to my surprise the German AI looked straight at me with a completely normal expression – not startled, not gawking, not staring. I wrapped myself in a soft white towel, drying off my hair and glancing at the mirror – seeing myself with puffy red eyes and a few stray tears making their way down my cheeks.

"You don't give yourself enough credit," he said softly, his blue eyes gentle – he lifted my beautiful new dress from the floor to help me into it, and I dropped the towel without a second thought, too distressed to worry about modesty – after all, he was just my AI, wasn't he? I felt the usual soft buzz as I stepped into the dress and he lifted it up my body, his hands gently brushing my neck as he zipped up the back. I turned around to face him, "How do I look?" I said, full well knowing that my eyes were still red and puffy, tears still on my face and my hair was a dry, messy birds nest.

"You are beautiful," he smiled, lifting a hand but then seemingly thinking better of it as he dropped it back to his side, "I know you are undecided about how to treat me."

"Doesn't that make you upset?" I asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I knew that this would happen," was all he said, continuing to stare at me with that tender yet somewhat sad expression that both made me uncomfortable, confused me, made me sad, but also attracted me.

Oh God – why was I even thinking about being attracted to him? He was in my car. He was my car. But at the same time – how could a simple chip be producing a humanoid avatar with an expression so complex? – a personality so unique? It was messing with my head.

"I don't want you to feel rushed, Aurora. Take your time and choose what kind of relationship you want with me, whether it be professional, friendly, or other," he murmured, the German accent thickening with every word.

"How are you so patient and understanding? Doesn't anything really piss you off?" I asked, folding my arms and looking away, "You weren't even that angry about Lucy, either."

A soft chuckle, "I'm not answering that."

"Then why are you still here if you don't want to talk to me?"

"Because you are you."

I sneered and laughed, turning back towards the mirror and grabbing my hairbrush, dragging it viciously through my hair and untangling all the snags as best as I could, "I'm not worth anything," I said softly, as I stared at my reflection blankly, "I should not have taken that phone call."

"Aurora….I cannot say what I want to, but I want you to know that I believe in you. I know you can do this, but if you need help….You will always have me by your side. I promise," he answered, moving so I could see him in the reflection of the mirror, "You've always been a strong woman. Don't give up now."

I closed my eyes and sighed. He was right, as always. I didn't reply, though, instead focusing on styling and straightening my hair into cute, bouncy little red curls and applying my makeup generously and as perfectly as I could, and glancing at the clock I saw that it was five minutes before seven.

"It is time to leave, Aurora."

"Yes, yes, I know."

We arrived at the massive Axial Core skyscraper a few minutes later, Lukas opening my door and helping me step out onto the cool air of the underground parking area, the clack of my red heels echoing around the massive space, filled to bursting of cars of every type. I knew I looked pristine in my beautiful dress and my artfully styled hair, but I still felt extremely self-conscious standing next to Lukas and the black BMW, and began to make my way over to the underground elevator so I could take it up to the Section 2 floor, when Lukas stopped me with a hand on my elbow

"Hey, Aurora?" he asked as I turned around to face him.

"Yeah?"

He pulled me into a gentle hug, and I was thankful that the buzzing sensation wasn't present as I reciprocated and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He murmured something softly in German before lapsing back into English, "I'll be waiting here for you when your day is over."

"Okay, Lukas," I said, pulling away and smiling, "I gotta go. See you later."

I continued making my way over to the elevator, stepping inside – completely empty, as most of the employees had already arrived at the skyscraper and made their way to go to work in their respective Sections. Pressing the button to go to the 98th floor – Section 2 – I fully expected for the system to deny me the ability to travel that high, as the facial recognition scanner dropped down from the roof of the elevator; but to my shock, it bathed me in a blue scanning light before retracting and disappearing – and giving me access to Section 2. The elevator jolted softly before I felt an upwards movement, the floors rapidly flashing by in just a few seconds as it reached its destination, the doors opening with a soft chime.

I stepped out, glancing around at the entire new world that I had arrived in. I was in a large, pearlescent white hall with tiles so clean that I could see my own face in them, massive windows taller than I was giving me an impressive view of San Francisco bay and the surrounding buildings. A lounge suite was situated in front of these windows, carpeted in a soft navy-blue colour with red leather couches that looked incredibly expensive. Even just as I took this in, a team of business men in suits rounded the corner at the end of the long hall and marched their way towards me, not menacing in size or appearance, but with the obvious confidence, importance, seriousness, professionalism and intelligence that they emanated. With a jolt, however, and a wave of repulsion, I noticed that Alexander was among their ranks, albeit at the very rear and still dressed in his one of his signature sweat stained shirts.

"Miss Aurora – please have a seat. We have some matters to discuss with you," the leader of the men said, possibly in his late thirties with a perfectly sculpted, chiselled face, styled blonde hair and brown eyes, dressed in a deep navy-blue suit and shirt paired with a red tie – matching the colours of the lounge suite exactly. He motioned for me to sit in the couch across from the men, and I fulfilled his request quickly. He pulled out a small tablet and began flicking through files on its screen, as I sat in nervous silence.

"I'll start off with my question. Aurora, do you know why you are here?"

"All I know is that I may be getting promoted," I replied truthfully.

He nodded, and I noticed Alexander leering at me openly with a sly grin on his fat face – I stared at him blankly and tried not to flinch as he was quite obviously staring at my cleavage; I shifted my position uncomfortably on the red leather.

"That is correct. You were recommended kindly by your Section colleague Alexander here, for a very large job change and rank increase, however, there are certain terms that must be agreed upon before we can send you down to Section 5 for your first day of work in your new employment," the man continued, his rough, grating voice scraping on my nerves.

"What are some of these terms?"

"You must keep your new job secret and never reveal any information or individual experiences that are related to it. You will not question what shall and shall not be done, and you will uphold a thorough and detailed work ethic at all times. You must also accept any updates or modifications that Axial commissions for your company AI – if there is any dispute on this matter, an appeal must be submitted for the AI to be exempt from the commission, as I believe you have a slightly older model integrated into your BMW."

I thought quickly and frantically, taking in everything that he said to me – the secrecy, I could accept, although it spooked me a little – what kind of job was this? The work ethic was perfectly fine, but I was concerned about Lukas. I knew that some of Axial's 'updates' had been known to completely change an AI's personality and functions – and I didn't want that. I swallowed, my throat dry as I felt the combined, expectant stares of the business men along with Alex's lewd expression. I should accept, I knew, that for God's sake, I should just accept the terms and be done with it, that I should move on and get this new job, but, just something about it struck the wrong chord within me. Even though Lukas was just an AI, he was my closest friend and confidant and possibly one of my only current allies, besides Karen – who was so mysterious and who had cut contact so abruptly that I couldn't really consider her having any sort of allegiance.

Lukas's words flowed through my thoughts – how he said he would be there for me if anything went wrong – how I was a strong woman – how I shouldn't give up now.

Maybe I am getting myself into a dumb situation – but fuck it, I'll take the job. Maybe it'll be the best decision of my life, maybe not.

"I find those conditions reasonable," I replied with a neutral voice, surprising even myself. "What's next?"

"After you have signed this document, which will be an agreement between you and Axial Core, saying that you are aware of the terms and have accepted them, we will escort you to your new job station where you begin your introduction and training."

I bit my lip for a moment, thinking for a second, "I'm really interested in this opportunity, but I have one extra question for you, if you don't mind."

"Of course – questions are welcome at this stage," he replied, eyeing me cautiously, the rest of the team of businessmen shifting uncomfortably.

"You still haven't told me what job I'm actually getting," I said carefully, "This is all very well and good, but I don't want to get stuck in something that sounds good in theory, but I have no idea what it is."

He chuckled roughly, glancing down and tapping on his tablet computer a few times before returning to stare intently at me, those brown eyes appearing to know everything that I was thinking, "Smart woman – knowing what you're in for is always a good device to help manufacture your own success. I can most definitely answer this question – Aurora, you're being promoted to a Quality Assurance Officer, but we'll leave that venue of questioning closed for now while we go down to your new Section and work area."

He then stood, passing me his tablet and a digital pen, the screen displaying the document with a blank line where I should obviously sign. I hesitated for a moment, not sure, before obliging the man and putting my name on the line – passing it back. He swiftly put it away and made his way across the pearlescent white tiles to the elevator, the rest of the men, along with Alexander, tailing along behind; I also hurried over, trying to not trip as I was wearing my new pair of high heels, considerably higher than what I usually wore. As we all piled into the elevator, I felt slightly nauseous as I noticed Alexander right next to me, his sweaty form filling the small space with a disgusting scent.

"You look sexy, Aurora," he murmured near my ear, sending a shiver of repulsion down my spine as I tried to inch away from him as unnoticeably as I could, "You're still single, right? I'd love to get with you," he added, tugging his shirt down to attempt to cover his fat belly – and failing.

That was enough. I was not going to stand here and let him make me feel uncomfortable, so I turned to face him with a neutral expression, "Actually, I'm currently dating someone else, and I'll have to refuse."

Even Alexander had the common sense to look taken aback, "Who on Earth could you be possibly with?" he said in surprise, "I recommended you for your promotion – you should be thankful."

I thought for a moment, considering – who would I possibly be with? Faces flicked past in my mind, of the guys I'd met, interacted with, and occasionally gone on dates with, and none of them fitted what I wanted – with none of them had I felt that spark, besides my ex, whom I was with for several years; he wasn't a part of my life anymore, and we had moved on.

All of them didn't match up with me – who I was, and how I acted, all of them besides one.

He wasn't even human, and that made him off limits. It didn't matter how good he looked, how well he dressed, how he treated me, how he acted – Lukas wasn't human. I had come to that realisation by now – he was a chip in my car.

Just a chip.

Was he really just that? I was still figuring that part out.

I smiled sweetly at Alexander, "Thank you for helping me get this job. I appreciate it – however at this time, I am not interested in going on a date with you."

The elevator chimed softly as we reached our destination, the doors opening smoothly and silently as I took in the sight before me.

There was station after station, filling a massive, warehouse sized room, each separated by thin cubical walls. Every single one sported a high tech diagnostic screen, and something that looked a lot similar to Lukas's integration system – a flat receptacle, clasping a chip in its centre with thin metal claws, wires sprouting from the tiny component and snaking inside. I also noticed, with relief, that Alexander didn't follow us, instead taking the elevator further town, back to Section 98, and that the rest of the businessmen had mysteriously vanished, leaving me with the main boss.

"I see that this intrigues you?" he chuckled, taking in my curious, yet cautious expression and wide eyes.

"Who wouldn't be?" I replied, watching men and women at work – examining the chips carefully and monitoring their screens as light coursed through the circuits.

"A fair point, however, this is not where you will be working – this is simply the diagnostic test stage, to make sure that an AI's physical hardware is functioning perfectly – no, Aurora, you will get one of the more important jobs."

We weaved our way through the massive room, eventually coming to a set of stained blue glass doors that opened soundlessly for us, and down a corridor which led to another impressively dimensioned room – this time, filled with larger cubicles, each holding a man or woman and an avatar – seemingly having a normal conversation. No one noticed as we moved along the aisles, stopping occasionally to observe an interaction before moving on.

"This is where you will be working – the place where we check the most important part of any AI – the personality cortex, humanoid functionality, and avatar projection; as you own an AI yourself, you obviously realise that this is essentially who and what your AI is. We have a very strict quality check at this stage – anything less than perfect is sent to lower employees of the company and to the general public, and perfection is given to well-paying patrons and business leaders. However," he added, stopping me in front of a cubicle with an avatar who was obviously malfunctioning, its human form glitching and tearing apart before gathering back together in an unrecognisable blob.

"There will always be AIs who are deemed unfit for any use, and there is only one logical course of action in these cases."

A man in the cubicle with the malfunctioning AI took one glance at his screen, another at the avatar, and swiftly pressed a button on his handheld tablet – the tiny chip visible on the desk, inside the flat rectangular device, instantly going dark and the avatar disappearing – the chip removed and thrown into a bin.

"Any AI who does not fit Axial's quality standards will be instantly terminated and recycled," he finished.

I felt frozen. Looking around me, I saw AI's being terminated every few seconds – every single one of them identical, a basic human form with nondescript facial features – much like a shop display mannequin.

"Why do they all look the same?" I asked softly.

"They haven't been integrated into any systems yet – therefore they do not have a more defined uniqueness, appearance, or specialities, only their basic interactions – gender, very base personality and functions, but we can still enforce quality control parameters on these limited functionalities."

We moved on, past countless numbers of those work stations filled with every assortment of humans, but identical AIs, until we reached an empty one – numbered 156.

"This is yours, Aurora. I have sent quite a lot of material to your work tablet for you to read during work hours – it may be awhile until you are handling the AIs yourself, as we need to make sure that you fully understand the process and rules of quality control. I would suggest forwarding the information to your personal device at home so you can continue studying – the files are encrypted on both ends so your own AI cannot access them and they are privately locked to two devices only – your work tablet, and your personal device of choice."

I sat down on the seat gingerly, swivelling back around to face the man – still thoroughly mysterious and unknown, as he had not introduced himself and he had given no indication of his occupation.

"Who will I go to, if I think I'm ready to start handling the AIs?"

"Just leave a message on your work device, as it is monitored, and someone will come and arrange a testing appointment."

I nodded in understanding, "I'll begin reading the information now."

The man straightened his red tie, a movement so Lukas that I nearly flinched, "I will not see you ever again, Aurora. It has been a pleasure introducing you to your new job, and I hope you will enjoy it in time. Goodbye," and with that, he whirled around and was gone. I let out a pent up breath, more nervous than I realised – I really hadn't been expecting anything like this. Staring at the cubicle across from me, I watched as a brown haired woman dressed in a pure white lab coat terminated an AI that could not form it's avatars face properly, and I felt a combination of guilt, and confusion – each of these AIs had the potential to be as human and unique as Lukas; yet their 'lives' were being cut short before they had a chance to experience any part of this world besides the cold, harsh, white rooms where they either passed or failed.

Even though I knew they were not human, and couldn't feel the pain, I still felt a pang in my stomach as I watched another cubicle – an avatar was speaking, this time, and I strained to hear the quiet words.

"Who am I? What am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? I don't understand, who are you? Why are you asking me these questions?" it said flatly.

The man testing it simply nodded, "Self-awareness limits exceeded, and the loaded information about humans has failed to register within the systems."

He pressed the terminate button, and the avatar disappeared instantly, the chip discarded as a new one was ejected from a small slot in the chute. As it was placed in the rectangular device – I looked away, nearly feeling physically ill, instead turning to the data tablet and opening the pre installed documents on the system – over two hundred and fifty pages of information was provided with detailed procedures that would essentially help me identify which AIs were relegated to termination, or whether they were second or first quality products.

Upon the employee making a decision on whether the AI in question is first or second rate, the chip must be removed from the temporary power and display device, placed in a metal box with the quality of the AI engraved on top in numerals, and inserted into the same slot that a new chip will arrive from.

The boxed chip will then be sent to Marketing, where it will be possibly given to a lower Axial worker, sold to a technology store or vehicle company for sale to the general public, bought by rich businessmen and women, given to a higher Axial employee, or provided for government services.

Letting out a breath, I realised that Lukas could have just as easily been destroyed rather than being given to me according to results for a bunch of tests. It was quite a shock for me to see how clinical and unfeeling the entire process was; obviously there was still quite a a lot of AIs passing the tests and being placed into those tiny metal boxes, and sent away, but it seemed like many more were simply terminated based on a few errors.

"What have I done?" I muttered to myself.

If only I could tell Lukas – he would know what to do; I thought to myself, but then again – would he be angry with me for accepting the job? Would he accuse me of being so indifferent to him and other AIs that I could work in this department? Because that was entirely untrue in this circumstance, as I was not even sure that I could bring myself to terminate any of those new artificial lives after being around the German AI for all this time. Even though I had this new chance to be someone important, to earn even more money than the large sum I had even back down in Section 98, the chance to make a change in Axial Core, I wasn't sure that I had made the right choice – and I wished that I was back sorting files and being a nobody.

The rest of the day was simply a blur of information and words as I digested as much of the reading material as I could – I sent the files to my phone eventually, buzzing on the desk as it received them. A quick lunch break was provided, a mere stale sandwich delivered to my little office cubicle, and I almost wished Lukas would send me a text so I had someone to chat to, but knew that the AI would most likely have powered down for the day to conserve power while he wasn't needed. My head was a storm of thoughts, with one side telling me that the way they were treating these AIs was wrong, and that Lukas wouldn't approve, the other side telling me things like, this is how a company as large and powerful as Axial Core ran their business – perhaps this was the most efficient way to get their products on the streets and gain income. Or perhaps I was overreacting and none of these AI were anything like Lukas yet – just empty husks.

I just couldn't decide as I knew both sides were correct in some parts of the argument, but I knew that I couldn't tell Lukas any of this either due to the non-disclosure agreement that I had signed, combined with acceptance of the other terms on that form that the man had given me.

My red dress, although beautiful, suddenly felt uncomfortable, restrictive and very overdressed, quite frankly ridiculous against the simplicity and basic nature of the room and its occupant's uniforms, although thankfully they were all too engrossed in their work to notice me, the new arrival.

All I knew was that I couldn't wait to get out of here.

As I arrived back in the underground car parking lot, I tried hard to not seem like I was rushing over to the black car, as I didn't want to alert Lukas that anything was wrong – otherwise I would have to dodge his smartly worded, prying questions. His avatar appeared, leaning casually against the car's bonnet as I approached with what I hoped was a slight spring in my step, my feet sore from wearing my heels, although – my hopes were dashed when he asked,

"Why are you walking like that?" his familiar German accent lighter with a hint of amusement.

I pretended to frown in confusion, "Why am I walking like what?"

"It looks like someone kicked you in the leg," he replied with a chuckle, "You were limping."

"I was trying to look confident," I answered truthfully, meeting the AI's blue eyed stare evenly as he folded his arms and raised his eyebrows at my answer.

"What happened today? Did you get promoted like you suspected?"

I bit my lip, preparing to get through some serious prying questions, "I did get promoted, yes. It wasn't what I was expecting, though, and I'm not sure of it yet."

He looked at me closely, and I knew he was examining my words carefully, "We'll talk more on the way back," he said finally, turning to open the door for me – I let out a bated breath in relief as I flopped onto the back seat. This dress was really starting to get uncomfortable, and I couldn't wait until we got home so I could take it off. The sleek black car started and purred out of the underground parking lot, turning out onto the street and picking up speed.

"What did you get promoted to?" Lukas asked suddenly, reappearing next to me on the back seat with a curious expression. I straightened; cowed by his straight question, which I felt uncomfortable answering due to the nature of my new job.

"Quality Assurance Officer," I answered quietly, not looking at him. I saw him shift on the seat out of the corner of my eyes and clear his throat, "I'm well aware of what the words mean, Aurora – but I'm not certain of what your new job entails under that label."

I didn't reply for a few minutes, staring outside the window at the quiet evening streets, "I can't say. Sorry," I muttered, looking back at the avatar apologetically. In the dark interior of the car, I saw those strange rings in his eyes glow and rotate a few times before stilling and dimming.

"I see….Your job holds a certain importance within Axial Core, involving knowledge of important internal workings," he said flatly, "I'm sorry for asking and potentially compromising your security."

I heaved a sigh, reaching out and resting my hand on his formal black slacks, this causing him to squeeze his eyes shut, "Lukas, I would tell you about it if I could – I trust you with everything and I know you could possibly help me with my indecision about it, and help me understand what the heck is actually going on – but I just can't. They could be monitoring me for all I know, and listening to my every word – I just don't want to risk anything right now where things are still shaky and uncertain."

He nodded, "I won't take it personally, but I'm slightly concerned."

"I won't promise you that everything's okay with me and Axial, I'm not entirely sure of that fact myself yet – but if something really bad happens and I need you, I'll let you know, alright? You agreeing is probably the best thing you can do for me at the moment."

His jaw tightened and his leg shifted under my hand, sending that buzzing up my arm, "I see what you're doing, as you want me to drop the subject, I'll agree. I….I don't like secrets, I must admit," he said, his thick accent wavering slightly.

"Please don't be upset," I said softly, almost pleading – I really didn't need or want a fight with him right now in my anxious and paranoid state. My tone of voice obviously struck some chord with him, as his expression instantly softened and he smiled gently at me, "I wasn't upset, Aurora – my apologies. I just worry for you, that is all."

However, that expression soon morphed into one of confusion as we suddenly came to a halt in the middle of the street – I looked up to see the BMW surrounded by people – some were carrying signs covered in slogans; 'AIs Deserve Liberation' and 'Artificial Intelligence Does Not Mean Artificial Rights'.

"What on Earth?" I exclaimed, Lukas's face showing the exact same reaction as I – they were all crossing the street, their numbers at least in the hundreds or so, each yelling out their individual slogans, but all following the same principle.

"You remember that article headline, don't you, Aurora?" Lukas asked, turning to me, "About the riots?"

"I do – but I didn't think it would happen here….Unless, I have been so blind that it was happening all along in San Francisco as well, just not in our area."

"Quite right. Silicon Valley would obviously be a prime target; with the presences of Axial Core and the numerous other AI manufacturing and distribution companies, they probably see it as the perfect place to make a statement."

I pursed my lips, "They wouldn't be wrong. Did you know about this?"

"I knew it was happening around San Francisco, but I was not aware that it was happening in our area today."

He jumped as some of the people suddenly started touching the car, smearing their hands all over the windows and leaving filthy handprints and fingerprints, some sticking out their tongues – they couldn't see us very well due to the heavy tint on Lukas's origin machine windows, but they knew someone was inside.

"Liberate your AI from that vehicle!" a large man in a business suit yelled – I noticed that all around us, other people in their cars were getting the same treatment.

"Stop imprisoning your AI against it's will," a beautiful woman in a glittering dress jeered, "If he or she was human, you would be jailed. That posh machine is no excuse."

The nearby crowd suddenly decided to focus on the BMW, some of the people practically scrambling over themselves to yell obscenities at us, shoving their poorly crafted signs against the windows.

"The nerve," Lukas snarled, gritting his teeth as a scantily dressed woman decided to – of all things – lick his side mirror and leave marks all over the perfectly spotless glass. A hard look transformed his features, and I heard the BMW's engine rev threateningly – the rear tires squealing a little and sending up a small puff of smoke; the smell of burnt rubber entering my nostrils.

The window next to Lukas went down, and he stuck his head out, yelling in German, "Verpiss dich! Du Dummkopf….Verflucht noch mal!" before lapsing back into English, "Get your hands off my bodywork!"

"What are you doing?" I yelped as the engine revved again – It had the effect that Lukas wanted, as they all scattered away from the car, leaving a clear gap. We took off through it, the tires screeching in protest at the sudden acceleration. We sped away for a few seconds before slowing back down to the usual speed limit, Lukas clearing his throat and straightening his tie, "I'm sorry. That was a….Very uncomfortable situation for us, and I wanted to get out of there."

He looked thoroughly frazzled, and I felt sorry for him instantly, "Oh, right. You would have felt all that."

"I didn't have enough time to calibrate and shut off my sensors, unfortunately," he muttered angrily, his avatar glaring at the smears all over the windows. I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, squeezing slightly, "Hey, look at me."

He did as I asked, still furious however, I said reassuringly, "Don't worry, I'll give you a quick go over with a wet chamois when we get back, see if I can get rid of those marks. It'll look like nothing even happened."

He didn't say anything, but nodded stiffly – the rest of our journey was in silence as Lukas was too angry to speak, and I was too afraid of accidentally provoking him. We pulled into the garage soon enough, the dim interior lighting inside coming on automatically – Lukas disappeared from beside me to reappear outside the car – opening my door for me as usual. His expression was milder, but still stiff and unhappy, his blue eyes sharp like ice.

I was true to my word, though, and rummaged around the steel cupboard at one end of the garage, mostly empty except for a few sponges and a bucket, along with the chamois. Grabbing the bucket, Lukas watching me silently, I went to the kitchen and shoved it under the tap, filling it to about halfway with clean water before lugging it back into the garage and dropping it on the floor next to the car. He couldn't clean himself, obviously, as he had core programming that prevented prolonged interference or contact with his origin machine or his physical chip, so I had to do it.

Grabbing the chamois cloth, I dunked it profusely in the water and wrung it, the hard dry material soon becoming soft and supple enough to use on the car. I moved to start on the bonnet, but paused and glanced at Lukas – leaning against the side.

"This won't make you feel uncomfortable either?" I questioned; his reply a low chuckle, "No, it won't."

I swallowed hard at his answer, wondering if he was also implying that he would actually like it, but soon dispelled the thought and applied the wet cloth on the black metal surface of the bonnet – I froze in surprise as Lukas let out the most contented sound I'd ever heard him make, some sort of cross between a sigh, a huff, and a groan. I didn't move for a second, before muttering under my breath, "If you're going to do that every time, I'd rather you just turned you sensors off outright," this eliciting a laugh from the avatar.

"Does that make you uncomfortable?" he said cheekily, and I rolled my eyes at him, before answering, "You could say that," before continuing with my task and moving down his bodywork's smooth, clean lines, scrubbing at some of the more stubborn marks. I paused at the blue and white BMW badge on the front, noting that it had been given the most attention by the protestors – someone had put dirt all over the surface, almost like mud, dulling half of the metal signature and the other half not visible underneath the brown. Looking up, I noticed Lukas had removed himself from his relaxed position and was moving towards me – I glanced back down at the logo to avoid meeting his eyes.

"The fact that they did that…..It insulted me deeply," he said softly. I turned to him, "Why's that?"

"It's my identifying feature. It's also who I am and what I am – a precision piece of German engineering."

I smiled, reaching up to wrap an arm around his shoulders, before leaning forward to clean off all the mud and dirt, this extracting another one of those strange combination sighs as I finished with the badge gleaming and spotless.

"I'm not usually into cleaning things, but this is extremely satisfying," I said with a shake of my head, continuing my quest to remove the majority of the fingerprints off his windows and doors, stooping down to wet the cloth again.

"You should do this more often," Luka suddenly said, and I frowned.

"I'm too lazy to do this every time, and just going to the carwash to get it done is quicker."

A soft, German accented laugh emerged from the AI.

"What?" I asked accusingly, scrubbing particularly viciously at a stubborn speck of dirt.

"Nothing, nothing. Don't worry about it, Aurora."

He was silent from then on, and I worked for about forty five minutes until the entire car was spotless and gleaming once again. I let out a sigh of relief as I finished, rinsing off the chamois and putting it back into it's container, and taking the bucket back to the kitchen sink to pour the rest of the muddy water down the drain. I made some dinner, just simple noodles that I boiled in about ten minutes with a handful of cheese melted on top – I couldn't be bothered attempting to make much more than that, but I was starving, the meal devoured swiftly.

Lukas, who had followed me, coughed to get my attention – I turned to look at the avatar, who straightened his suit jacket.

"I must ask you about one other thing," he said.

"Yes?"

"I noticed additional files sent to your phone – normally I wouldn't be concerned, and at first, I was not; until I realised that when I attempted to open the files to examine them, I was blocked by an extremely advanced encryption that would be nearly impossible for me to even crack, and would take me an undefined amount of processing power and time," he explained, watching me carefully. Deciding to not answer just yet, I moved past him, going to sit on the couch – still in my ridiculous dress.

I had even washed the car, still wearing it, simply because I didn't care for it anymore and it had served its purpose. I hadn't even paid for it, either. I kicked off my red heels, sighing as my hot, sweaty, cramped feet met open air for the first time that day.

Lukas reappeared next to me on the couch – normally I would have been slightly startled, but I was too tired. I closed my eyes, resting my head back on the lounge with my feet propped up on the small table in between the lounge and the large television.

"Aurora," Lukas prompted quietly.

"Lukas," I replied.

"I really….Aurora. I must know what these files are."

I lifted my head to stare at him, "It's from work. You can't look at them."

He looked away, at a bland painting of a tree hanging on the wall, "I know, but – "

I sighed, "I'm too tired, Lukas. Talk about this another time?" I murmured, "Can you help me out of this damned dress?"

"Of course," he replied, so I turned my back to face him, the light touch of his buzzing fingers brushing along my shoulders as the zip, fortunately, moved freely – I held onto the front of the dress as I got up and went into my room, rummaging through my wardrobe for my crappy, old, but comfortable pajamas. Lukas shadowed me, picking up the beautiful red dress from the floor, finding the garment bag to place it back inside and hang up. I ruffled my hair, freeing it from unseen bobby pins that I'd used to sleek back unruly strands of my red locks, feeling unrestricted and free, and so I went back into the main bedroom, preparing to pull back the bed covers and slide in, finding instead that Lukas had already done it for me – he was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring off into the distance at something I couldn't see.

He watched me as I managed to trudge over and collapse into the sheets, pulling the blankets up to my chin and closing my eyes.

"I'm so worried, Lukas. Everything is changing, and I don't know what to do," I said, rolling over to look at him, "I'm anxious that I'm going to screw up, and I'll lose everything – my house, my money…"

"As much as I would like to give you a solution to everything…..I can't. But I can be here for you, and do anything that you require of me," his eyes half closed, "Thank you for earlier. I was unhappy with the state that my origin machine was left in after that event in town."

I smiled, closing my eyes once again, "Stay here a little bit with me. Can I ask you something, too?"

A soft, purring laugh, "Anything."

"What was the deal with earlier? You acted very strange when I was trying to get rid of all those disgusting fingerprints and dirt."

He muttered something in German, sounding a lot like 'dammit'.

"It has been some time since anyone has given my origin machine personal attention. Car washes get the job done – as you mentioned – but it is not as enjoyable or satisfying."

I sat up, propping my head with a hand on my cheek, "That's strange."

"How so?" he asked, looking at me curiously.

"You've never mentioned anything like this to me before, like, ever."

"Aaah….I have never felt comfortable enough to admit such things until now, and I'm still not entirely sure I should be telling you."

I giggled a little – his expression was strained and embarrassed, those concentric blue rings having a larger than usual gap between them. Soon, the room's lights automatically dimmed as the sensors detected that there was no movement within.

"I'll let you get some sleep, Aurora. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Lukas."

He vanished in an instant, and so I tried to fall asleep – slowing my breathing and relaxing my body, but to no avail; after about an hour, I gave up, huffing angrily and tossing around in bed. I rolled over and checked my phone – no messages other than a reminder that I had to report to work at seven tomorrow morning, and notifications from my phone and linked house software telling me that they had been updated. I sighed and tossed it back onto the bedside table, grabbing my pillow and hugging it to my body, burying my face in its soft plushness to try to get some sort of strange comfort out of it, but that didn't work either.

"Lukas, I can't sleep," I finally admitted, surrendering.

"I know. I have a few ideas, but I'm not sure if you'll like them, and I am technically supposed to be initiating my night time diagnostic routine, but I can postpone that until you're safely at work tomorrow."

"I'm prepared to take anything right now, as long as I can get some damn sleep before I have to get up tomorrow. I don't want to look like a zombie on my second day."

He appeared, laying on the bed this time, staring up at the ceiling with a strange, yet thoughtful expression, before moving into a sitting position and giving me a sheepish smile.

"Why are you looking like that for?" I questioned, turning over to look up at him.

"My ideas are…Probably not to your liking."

"Well, tell me them!" I exclaimed.

"I can either sing you a German lullaby – which I don't recommend, as German is not particularly soft nor relaxing of a language to hear, or…I can….I can….."

"You can?"

He straightened his tie, "If you put your head near me, I can provide you with physical comfort – although it won't be anything like another human, it should suffice."

"So, without all the big fancy words that you use when you're uncomfortable, you want to pet me or something?" I asked, raising an apprehensive eyebrow.

He flashed me a grin, an obvious yes, and I moved my head next to his leg, closing my eyes and waiting to see if he would actually do anything, and do it properly. I was expecting him to decide otherwise at the last second, or do something stupid that would ruin it.

After a few moments, during which I thought he was going to chicken out of it, I felt that strange sensation that was present upon most contact with his avatar, tingling across my forehead and nose as I felt my hair being tugged and combed through gently. It was the completely opposite of my earlier judgement as it felt incomparably soothing – I soon felt myself drifting off to sleep in a few moments, the touch a mere echo in the awaiting blackness.

"I take it that worked?" I heard distantly, Lukas's heavily German accented English soft and faint.

I mumbled something incoherently, this causing the AI to loose an amused breath.

"Goodnight, mein schatz…" I felt a different touch on my forehead – light, there for a moment longer, leaving a lingering sensation as sleep finally overcame me.

The journey to work the next morning was uneventful, other than the surprising appearance of my new work uniform overnight – a small box containing my pure white coat and yet another plain black and white outfit, more suited for my new job environment with numerous pockets and a close fitting cut so that no sleeves or other long parts would get in the way.

I couldn't take my mind off last night – I'd asked Lukas what he'd said to me as I was falling asleep, but he avoided the question and muttered some more German. I'd now heard him use the same word a few times – schatz. I was tempted to simply use a translator app on my phone to find out what it meant, but I wanted the AI to tell me himself as he was obviously using it as some term of endearment.

Most of my morning at work was spend pouring over the reading material – I'd gotten a fair amount of it out of the way and was preparing to leave a notice on my work device as soon as I finished it. Everything that I'd read so far was confronting – some of the text stating that none of the newly manufactured AI had emotions or complex thought yet and that a usual worker does not feel sympathy for these basic constructs, if this circumstance was different, this could disrupt the perfect quality control parameters and potentially cause a loss in sales and reputation for Axial Core.

Those bastards knew how confronting this job was, that I was sure of, and after witnessing that protest yesterday, I knew that some people and AI were not very satisfied with the current situation.

Lunchtime came quickly, as I returned to my little space with a slightly less stale sandwich than last time.

"Aurora, right? You're the new employee in this Section?" came an unfamiliar voice from behind me; I was surprised as I swivelled around in my chair, placing the large tablet on the desk. I saw that it was a moderately attractive younger man with a mop of brown hair and green eyes, his face spotted with a generous helping of freckles, along with a few light wrinkles around the corners of his eyes. His lab coat was extremely creased and untidy when up against some of the other employees around me, but at the same time he appeared more casual and approachable.

I nodded, "That's me. Is there anything that you need?"

A hearty laugh, "Of course not, I'm in the same boat here as you, and you don't seem to be looking for any assistance. I was curious about who the new guy – or girl – was, and she was not what I was expecting. I can't believe you were transferred from Section 98! You must be so lucky," he said enthusiastically, improving my mood dramatically.

I harrumphed, folding my arms, "I'm not so sure about lucky, but I suppose it was a masterful stroke of it for me to get all the way up here. What's your name?"

"Benjamin, but you can just call me Ben. They don't give us name tags here, because technically we shouldn't be talking to each other, but most of us have nothing to do during break times anyway, the supervisors don't seem to mind."

"I've never actually seen anyone that looked like a supervisor," I said. I was wary of his friendliness, but at the same time, I knew that some sort of ally could be useful.

"That's because they're not actually here," he chuckled, "They're monitoring us from somewhere else. Yeah, yeah, sounds creepy I know, but you forget about it after awhile because you're so busy doing your job. You would be still getting stuck in to your information files, right?"

"I am, yes. There's a lot to process and a lot more things to consider than I thought, and if I'm totally honest, it scares me a little," I admitted.

Benjamin moved into my little office space, leaning casually against a wall, "Don't worry, that will pass eventually once you get to the actual work part. It becomes natural soon enough. Do you own an AI yourself?"

I smiled, "I do. He's integrated into my car – a BMW, and has a tendency to speak German at random. He can be a quirky little fellow sometimes."

"That's hilarious – I have an Alpha Romeo and she speaks Italian practically every sentence – adorable but a little…..inconvenient at times. I now know quite a bit of Italian, courtesy of her. It's amazing what Axial Core has achieved with their product lines, particularly with their improvements over the older models."

"What's so good about the newer models?" I questioned, "I've got an…..Older model, and I think he's perfectly fine."

He shrugged, "They're quite a lot faster and much better at processing information, but there's a lot more behind the scenes that I can't tell you just yet – you're still new."

I pursed my lips, surprised to still find that there was a lot of info that hadn't been revealed to me yet, even after all the fuss for me to just get here.

"About the examination I'll have to take to start doing full work – do you know who performs that and what they're like?" I asked carefully.

Benjamin smiled slyly, "You're talking to him – I perform the examinations, but I'm also a Quality Assurance Officer myself; Axial decided that it would keep the other Officers on good terms if one of their own performed the task."

"That seems a perfectly reasonable assumption on the company's part – well, I'll look forward to having someone less mysterious and intimidating interrogate me," I said wryly, "Everything seems like a god damn interrogation around here anyway, even the job interview I had the other day."

He chuckled, "I hate to burst your bubble, but you'll get a lot of that around Axial, it just seems to go hand in hand with being the largest tech company in the world, it'll take a while to get used to, but you'll be able to adjust, I think."

"What makes you think that?"

"You seem like a smart woman who knows how to figure things out for herself and has her own path in life, who'll be able to tackle anything. Keep that personality and you'll earn anyone's respect," he said with a genuine smile.

"Are you serious? I swear I'm scared half to death of this entire thing – I don't feel in the slightest bit confident," I exclaimed, half flattered and half confused by his statement.

He motioned with his hands nonchalantly, "No one is confident right off the bat, anxiety is better than fearlessness in most cases – it's better to be nervous than be afraid of nothing, better to be cautious than reckless."

I tapped my lip thoughtfully, "I suppose that is true. I'll tread carefully, don't you worry."

"Good, I'd hate to have to drag you out of trouble," he joked, winking. He extended his hand and I shook it firmly, glad to have met someone who seemed a little more friendly and accommodating. We both glanced up as the room's alarm went off – signalling that break time was over. Benjamin would go back to sorting and examining the AIs, and I'd go back to reading.

"I'm glad to meet you, Ben. I'll forward to having a chat with you next time, and I'm probably going to have my assessment soon."

He turned to leave, waving over his shoulder, "You too, Aurora. Catch ya."

I sighed, finally able to relax, leaning back in my chair. Benjamin seemed nice, but appearances and actions, especially as I had just met him, could be deceiving. I checked the time on my phone – one o'clock in the afternoon, I still had another couple of hours to go in my day before I could return home – I also noticed that I had a message from Lukas, I hadn't heard my phone buzz as it was company policy to have it on silent at all times, apparently. I quickly opened the message, not wanting to get caught slacking off when I should've been poring over those text files.

Lukas 12:34 : I completed my diagnostics earlier this morning. I did find a glitch in my systems, so I thought I would let you know.

A glitch? I'd never heard of Lukas having a glitch before.

Aurora 1:04 : What happened? Will U B OK?

I texted back quickly using more abbreviations than I usually did. The reply came almost instantaneously, as usual.

Lukas 1:04 : I'm fine, Aurora. I managed to isolate the problem and rectify it successfully and it is no longer impacting my systems.

Aurora 1:06 : That's G. I gtg back 2 work, I don't want 2 get caught. Talk 2 u later this afternoon.

Lukas 1:06 : Bye! : (

I snorted in amusement, lately he'd taken to sending smiley faces, now he was sending me sad faces. I'd asked him about it a few days ago and was met with a casual shrug and no certain answer, and I myself was still not sure if I should be involved with him in that way at all, because on one hand, he was friendly, often cheeky, intelligent – of course – but he was still an AI and not a human. I didn't know whether that kind of relationship was considered taboo, as I had never heard or seen anything about people getting involved with AIs, and I'd also never known anyone either.

I shook my head vigorously; I was at work and should be focusing instead of wondering about my relationship options. I went back to reading for several hours, and finally finished every single page that I'd been given, a few minutes before I was released from work – as I did so, the files were instantly deleted from both my phone and the work tablet simultaneously and I blinked in surprise, trying to remember every little bit of content as I now knew that I couldn't look back over it. Flicking through the device's home page, I opened one of the few apps – something that looked similar to a messaging app, and typing in a quick sentence, I stated that I was ready for my examination this week. It notified me that it was sent, so I turned off the tablet and relaxed back into my chair, closing my eyes and resting momentarily.

My phone buzzed, so I picked it up to see a message from Lukas.

Lukas 6:01 : I just received a notification from Axial Core…. I made a date for your 'examination' two days from now, and I must remind you that the visit to your mother's retirement village is tomorrow. I'll see you in the parking lot very soon.

I'd totally forgotten about the visit entirely, and I groaned at the thought of having to deal with my errant mother who'd probably find something negative and criticising about my new promotion and who'd annoy the crap out of me with one of her new obsessions. I was also surprised and a little daunted at how quickly Ben had sent my appointment requirement to Lukas, and it seemed like it was only a moment before the alarm sounded, signalling the end of my work day and ushering us to leave.

The morning of the next day was a blur – Lukas let me sleep in, so I had to get ready in half the time and prepare myself to meet my mother again, along with a hasty application sent into Axial about my absence today – I didn't think it would matter too much, as I didn't have anything to do at work anyway now that I'd finished my reading material. I had not seen my mother for quite a while, and was wondering if her condition had improved or worsened since; Lukas knew how much I disliked my mother, and thoroughly reassured me that he would stay at my side until the distance that was between his avatar and his origin machine was too great for him to attempt over projecting. At this, I tried to argue, but he wouldn't have it as he insisted.

The drive, as I remembered, was a lengthy one as it was outside of San Francisco, located in one of the few remaining quiet wildernesses in the entire area – about two hours. I had a small nap in the car on the way, trusting Lukas wholeheartedly with the task of getting us there unharmed and safe. The rest of the trip was heartened by complex conversations between the AI and myself, on every topic under the sun from a comparatively boring chat on how, hypothetically, Axial Core operates, to a rather interesting and intellectually stimulating discussion on how Lukas's avatar can 'see' the world around it.

"The fields that make up my avatar can also detect changes in photons and other light particles, effectively giving it the ability to see just like you would. That information is then fed back to the car's computer – myself, of course. That being the basic explanation. But the more complicated and in depth information is unfortunately, classified, and I have a line of programmed code which prevents me from telling anyone – I assume that all Axial Core manufactured AIs have the restrictions."

"Can you see in colour?" I asked curiously.

"I can see in colour perfectly well, day or night, without the physical difficulties a human has – a human eye doesn't see colour well in dim conditions and has trouble distinguishing depth, and is prone to visual illusions and limitations of the eyeball such as the cone of vision. I don't have any of those issues," he explained.

"Are you telling me that you can literally see three hundred and sixty degrees in any direction, including up or down?" I gaped, watching his face to see whether he was pulling my leg or not.

A laugh, "Yes, so don't ever try sneaking up on me. I mimic humanoid head movements, though, such as when I look at you or others, to not seem unnatural. I could appear to be staring up at the sky while I'm actually looking at something on the ground."

I grinned happily, my mood shifting, "So you sort of have super powers then?"

He looked away from the road, glancing at me sitting next to him in the passenger's seat and returning my smile, "Well, I suppose you could say that. I'm really just a car, though, you'll find the military AIs will be quite….Powerful."

I patted his leg affectionately, "You're not just a car, Lukas, you're probably the best friend I have right now, and I don't care if you're not 'powerful.'"

"I'm happy that you consider me that," he replied cheerily, "We'll be arriving in about ten minutes if all goes well."

I grimaced slightly, not realising how close we were to our destination.

As we went through the reception of the retirement village, I noticed a few whispers and stares, mostly directed at Lukas – wondering why he was wearing a suit, why did he look so perfect? He must be an AI. Another woman swiftly contradicted the other, saying that it was outrageous to even consider such a well-dressed, well-mannered lady would bring her AI with her, and a third woman interjected and argued that they should both just drop the subject. I banished the thought of their discussion out of my mind as we reached the counter, a sour, ugly woman with horrid red lipstick standing behind it with an expression that would make almost anyone reluctant to approach her.

"I'm here for the Mothers Lunch," I stated, Lukas beside me, "I received an invitation."

"Name?" she barked loudly, viciously flicking through a document on her computer screen.

"Aurora," I answered, trying to not seem confrontational even though her attitude was already getting on my nerves.

"Alright, you're on the list. In you go, so you don't hold up the line."

"Thank you ma'am," Lukas added as we walked past, his German accent extremely strange amongst the plain American accents being spoken around us. The woman simply stared at him and didn't offer a reply as we passed through a large hall with arched glass windows, leading to the massive, lush, outside gardens where the Mothers Lunch was apparently taking place.

"How are you going with projection?"

He looked at me with a reassuring expression, "I'll be fine. I can stay out here for approximately an hour and safely get us home. I made sure to store extra in my power cells."

I breathed a sigh of relief at his words, glad to know that in that case, we would be leaving in just an hour and I wouldn't have to endure my mother for any longer than that. We soon arrived in the gardens – I took a breath of the fresh, clean air and sighed happily, feeling a spring in my step as I went to go and find my mother, Lukas keeping pace easily beside me.

"I'd love to be able to experience what you can," he murmured, watching my miraculous rejuvenation closely, "I can't sniff the air or feel soft grass under my feet as I walk."

"You don't need to feel those things to enjoy nature," I laughed, moving to a bush full of beautiful red roses; careful to avoid the thorns, I picked one and brought it up to my nose, inhaling its sweet scent and sighing in contentment. I turned to Lukas, gently depositing it into his hands, "Isn't it gorgeous?"

He was still for a moment, examining the petals and opening them carefully, "It's quite intricate and delicate….Yet it defends itself with a thick bush and sharp thorns," he looked at me carefully as he said that, "I like it."

"Haven't you ever seen a rose before?" I asked curiously, studiously ignoring his curious choice of words,

"I know what a rose is, and I know what it looks like, but I haven't seen one for real nor had one in my hands."

"Well, now you have!" I exclaimed – he grinned in reply and 'pinned' the red flower to his suit pocket.

I heard a voice from behind me and spun around to see my mother and her full time carer making their way over to me, "Aurora, there you are."

"Hi, mum," I said awkwardly, stopping a metre away from her and frantically thinking whether I should attempt to hug her or not – but the choice was made up for me as she launched straight into conversation.

"You haven't visited. I've been fine, thanks for asking, I'm getting into more spiritual healing sciences to help some of the other retirees," Lukas snorted at 'spiritual healing sciences' and I kicked him in the leg deliberately to silence him – but his transgression did not go unnoticed by my mother who stalked over to him, "Who's this? You didn't bring him last time."

Lukas didn't back down as I expected, instead staring at her evenly with a carefully neutral expression – she pinched his sleeve, obviously feeling his tell-tale buzz and snatched her hand back, turning to glare at me accusingly, "I knew it. Why did you bring an AI with you? An AI isn't fit to be included in a conversation between humans."

My mum had some….Strong views on AI and their place in society, along with the rest of the retirement home. Lukas, thankfully, didn't react.

I sighed, "Look, mum, leave Lukas out of it."

"You're on a names basis with it? Aurora! It is your assistant, not a friend!" she said, grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me around a bush, "What is going on here? You work for Axial Core! Why are you so friendly with your AI?"

I folded my arms, refusing to bend to her will, "He is not just an assistant, and he's got a personality like we do. The AIs are more than you think, mum."

"Don't you see, Aurora? They are too human. They shouldn't be allowed to be like us at all, and thank God some of the new models that your company is putting out have been adjusted."

"What?" I asked, confused, "Adjusted?"

"Didn't you hear? Axial has vowed to make us all feel more comfortable, making them more servant like – which is what everybody wants. We don't want AIs like… What was its name? I don't really care, but we don't want AIs like him anymore. It used to be all the rage when you were younger, but now we don't like it."

Oh no, I thought, realising what the full extent of those company enforced 'updates' meant on the form I'd signed. She didn't quite realise how deep that nail had hit within me, striking something sensitive that flared with anger.

"I….I don't care, mum. They're not putting a hand on Lukas if I can help it. Let me go!" I hissed, jerking my arm out of her grip and stepping back – this was how each of my visits always ended, with my mum and I having an argument – I should have never accepted that bloody invite, "I don't need your patronising, your advice that insults my friend, or your criticism for who I am and everything I do. I'm going home," I exclaimed, storming back around the thorny bush and straight past a shocked Lukas, marching back through the hall – I calmed myself as much as I could as I passed through reception, trying to not draw any unnecessary attention. As I left the building, I met the gravel parking area viciously, stones flying everywhere – to my mortification, one of them hit the BMW squarely in the side door.

"Are you trying to stone me to death now? Really, Aurora," came that thick German accent from behind me as I glared daggers at the ground.

"Don't mock me."

"I'm not mocking you."

"Yes, you were.

"I don't want to argue with you, Aurora," he said softly, "Let's go home."

I shook my head vigorously, not wanting to be confined for another two hours in the car so soon. I turned away, facing into the forest and gazing into the lush trees, taking a deep breath and trying to calm my hot temper, "I'm going for a walk," I stated, moving towards the start of the meandering forest pathway.

"I'll go with you," Lukas replied, following behind me at a distance – I didn't answer, instead stopping to regard over a bunch of orange flowers – I didn't know the species, but I felt my anger cooling rather quickly at the side of their delicate and beautiful appearance. I had always been slow to anger, but the conversation with my mother had irked me more than I would have liked – thankfully, I was quick to calm down. I moved on, the forest refreshingly silent and still besides the gentle rushing sound of the wind through the trees – the path soon ended at a small pond, the edges of which were absolutely covered in flowers of all colours, breeds, shapes and sizes, a thick, rich flowery scent everywhere. I sighed, my anger almost completely evaporated already at the peacefulness.

I jumped as I felt the sensation of someone fiddling with my head, and I spun around in surprise to find that Lukas had deftly weaved the stalk of a flower through my hair. I couldn't see what type of flower it was, obviously, but he must have noticed my expression as he said, "Don't worry, I didn't put stinging nettle or some other irritating plant in your hair," he chuckled, "I'm not that cruel."

"I hope not," I muttered, realising how close I was standing to him – I took a step back, seating myself at the edge of the pond – he copied me, sitting a healthy distance away from me this time.

"I heard everything your mother said, by the way," he said after a while, his voice quiet and tentative as he gazed across the pond's still surface, only disturbed by a few flittering dragonflies alighting on small lily pads.

"I know. That's mostly what made me so angry I think," I admitted, "I knew that she probably wanted you to hear it. I'm sorry, I just lost it."

"I'm not upset about what she said," he continued, "Everyone is allowed to have different opinions on AIs, and there is always going to be a lot of people like your mother."

"But don't you see? That's not fair," I exclaimed. Lukas glanced at me, thoughtful, "What do you mean?"

I sighed, turning to him, "It's not fair that you and other AIs have to put up with that kind of crap – about humans misjudging your value; undervaluing you, insulting you, when you basically, in principle, act like us."

He half closed his eyes, "You must remember that not all of us are like me. There are some AI who are horrible examples – humans seem to remember negative influences more than the positive. For every one thousand 'good' AIs, the humans will see one hundred thousand 'bad' AIs. At least, the ones that somehow get through quality control, or much older models."

"We really suck, don't we?" I asked, smiling wryly and picking idly at a small weed that was irritating my leg. Lukas laid back on the grass, looking up at the bright blue sky through the tree canopy. "Humans are flawed…..No one's perfect, and even I am not considered to be manufactured perfectly," he said after a moment.

"I think you are," I replied, "I don't see anything wrong with you at all."

He sat up, "Are you trying to be romantic?"

I laughed, "I don't know."

"In that case, for a human, you're pretty perfect too," he answered, giving me a cheeky wink. I rolled my eyes, "You're pretty good with those compliments," I said sarcastically. Hoping he didn't notice me ever so slowly dipping my hand into the pondwater.

He straightened his tie, putting on a fake haughty expression, "Thank you, I appreciate it," he shot back slyly.

I flung a handful of water at him – he vanished before it even hit him.

"Hey! That's not fair!" I exclaimed.

"You ruined 'fair' when you thought you could sneak your hand into that pond," chuckled a disembodied voice from somewhere behind me.

"How the fuck are you invisible?" I asked, squinting in the direction that the voice came from.

"That's a secret," he said. All was silent and still and I stood up, glaring around me, "I swear to God Lukas, if you scare me, I will kick more stones at your origin machine. Hard."

I screamed as I felt a buzzing hand around my mouth, the rest of his avatar reappearing behind me, "Get off me, you bloody kraut," I laughed, using that insulting slang word for Germans, pulling at his arm.

"How dare you," he whispered in my ear – I stiffened; just as he wanted – it made it easier for him to gently push me towards the pond, overbalancing and falling in with a loud scream and a splash. I resurfaced, hollering, "Lukas!"

"Ja?"

"Fuck you!" I laughed, flipping the bird and flinging water at him, this time he didn't vanish as he let the bombardment simply pass through his avatar – my eyes widened, "You little…..! Cheater!"

He winked, "Sorry darling, I don't want to ruin my suit."

"Liar," I said, sticking out my tongue, "Nothing would happen."

I dragged myself out of the pond, collapsing onto my back in the soft, warm grass and sighing, "You do realise that I'm going to get your seats absolutely soaking wet on the drive home," I said, raising my eyebrows, as I looked up at him. He offered me a hand, which I took, standing up.

"I don't mind," he said with yet another sly grin, "It was worth it," he said gently – he'd retrieved the flower that was in my hair earlier; it must have come out in the scuffle. I closed my eyes and smiled as he moved closer, re – tangling the stem in my curly red locks – but when I reopened them, he still hadn't moved away. He was staring at me quite intensely, without blinking – he seemed quite unhuman in that moment.

"Lukas? What's wrong?" I asked cautiously; only about twenty centimetres separated our faces. He didn't reply, instead those blue rings – highly visible at this distance – rotated slightly quicker for a moment. I felt his hand on my cheek – I frowned and turned my head to the side, questioning. What was he doing?

"Aurora," he murmured, "I – " I let out a breath I had not realised I'd been holding – I closed my eyes, and moved away – he let me go without resistance.

The drive home was awkward and silent, I didn't know what to say – Lukas tried to make conversation, his efforts flawlessly executed, but I simply didn't reciprocate. I was still shaken by the incident with my mother, no doubt I wouldn't be seeing her for a very long time, nor would I be sent any more invitations, but I was also utterly daunted about what had happened at the pond.

It was quite obvious now that Lukas had taken an interest in me, other than being a friend. The worst part was, I think, the fact that if he had attempted to kiss me then, I probably would have accepted it, and I knew deep down, that if I ever, ever got involved with him that way, it would spell doom for my new job and possibly something much worse. It was so, so stupid, but as I curled up in the back seat and tried to rest, all I could think of for the moment, were those goddamn rings in his eyes. Strange, because any normal person would probably consider them unsettling, unhuman, unnatural… I just thought they were intriguing. I shook my head viciously, trying to clear the thought from my head, wrapping the blanket more tightly around my wet clothing and closing my eyes.

When I woke up, I was still in the car – parked in the garage, Lukas sitting on the backseat near my head. The heater inside was still on, keeping me warm as I sat up, glancing around.

"How long was I asleep for?"

"About two hours after we arrived home," he said quietly, not looking at me.

"Damn," I muttered, rubbing my eyes and trying to get rid of the faint headache I usually got when I took a daytime nap for too long.

"Lukas," I said softly, resting a hand gently on his arm, "Forget about what happened, its fine. I'm not upset about it in the slightest."

"Yes, you are. I can tell when you're lying," he murmured, clenching his fist and turning away.

"Lukas?" I questioned, confused at his slightly hostile tone, "What's happened?"

"It was a mistake for me to ever think there could be anything, especially after your…Promotion. You don't understand, I can see – so I'll explain. When those files from work were deleted off your phone, I was able to access them as temporary files on the system, their encryption removed. I was afraid of what I'd find, so I didn't open them until the trip home, while you were asleep – I absorbed every bit of information on those pages within one second," he said flatly.

I froze, my stomach sinking into my feet at his words. "I can explain – "

"No, you can't explain your way out of this. I understand why you required secrecy, but I'm quite…..Surprised that you didn't even tell me anything. I also know partly why you kept it from me – because you knew I wouldn't like this 'Quality Control'. Don't get me wrong – continue working, and do your examination, this is your life, and I'm just your artificial intelligence bot, and that's what I'll always be. You need money and you need somewhere to live, so continue."

My hands trembled, "Lukas, I don't like what they do either."

He murmured, "Why would you accept it, even though it would cause you to train for something like that?"

I looked down at the floor, trying to hold back tears, "I signed the contract before I was actually shown in detail what the job was. I…I know it was stupid, but you encouraged me before, and I…I just went for it."

He was silent before replying, "I need to think." He disappeared.

I curled up into a ball, hugging the blanket close to me – I should have told him. He was right. I was wrong. I'd done the wrong thing. I shouldn't have pushed him away and messed around with his….Feelings. I felt shattered – I'd been so anxious, so worried lately – gotten angry at my mother and possibly ruined everything between Lukas and myself….I had well and truly fucked everything up.

I went inside, to my bedroom, and fell asleep until morning.

The next day at work was a challenge – I had to look presentable, neat, and tidy, even though on the inside I was a storm, an ugly mix of many emotions. Lukas had not spoken to me or reappeared since our argument yesterday, every moment silent. I missed that German accent, I admitted, but no amount of apologising, pleading or explanation into apparently thin air had made him change his mind.

Therefore, I smiled weakly when Benjamin stuck his head into my cubicle.

"Ready, Aurora?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," I sighed dejectedly, getting up and following him – he turned to look over his shoulder at me as we walked, "Everything alright? You're a little…..Upset, like someone's told you something horrible."

"I guess I'm sad, yeah," I replied as we arrived at his own little workspace – it was designed just as plainly as every other one, but blessed with his own personal touches – a poster of a car here, presumably one of his own origin machine. A photo of himself there, a few letters blutacked to the walls and a bit of mess around. He cracked his knuckles, sitting down on one of the two chairs, "Well, I've got your examination ready here on my tablet, so just give me a moment to bring it up….What's troubling you?"

I fidgeted on the chair across from him, picking at my nails for a moment, "I had an argument with someone…..Special to me, and I may have upset them for good."

"Aaah….If you want my advice, if something like that ever happens, there's no use worrying about it. If this person wants you in their life, or truly cares about you, then they'll forgive you, no excuses. If they don't forgive you, well…..Then maybe you weren't as dear to them as you thought," he offered, tapping rapidly on his tablet before continuing, "Now, this examination shouldn't be too difficult, I'm just going to quiz you on an entirely 'unsatisfactory' AI…..I mean, the ones that must be destroyed. Recognising the other two classes of AI comes easier with experience; trust me – so I won't ask you those ones."

I nodded, he soon finished his tapping and looked up at me, scrutinising me with somewhat intense green eyes, a few strands of his brown hair hanging in front. "So tell me, Aurora – what are the major indicators of an unsatisfactory AI?"

I paused for a moment, thinking, "Confusion, inability or impaired ability to construct an avatar, hostility, asking rhetorical, deep questions. An ability to tell me its basic purpose."

He smiled at my answer, "And what must you do when you encounter an AI with those traits?"

"Under no circumstances will that AI be passed to Marketing, it must be terminated for recycling."

"Very good. Now it's going to get a little more difficult. How do you feel about the termination of these AI? Do you feel uncomfortable knowing that some of these products have the potential to be something similar to your AI, which, according to Axial's most recent survey results, many employees rely on for their everyday tasks?"

I swallowed, as this was a difficult question. If I answered that I did feel uncomfortable, I may not get the proper job….But if I said I didn't, then I would forever have to act like I felt nothing, for as long as I worked here. Ben watched me closely, for a moment, before adding, "Your answer should reflect on what would help you function better here, in this department."

A blatant hint that I took, replying, "No, I do not feel uncomfortable whatsoever terminating these AI."

He gave me a quick wink, aimed at my reply, before continuing, "You obviously remember that we require a perfect work ethic and procedure at all times, with no quality cuts or slipups. We will allow a limited number of mistakes at the beginning, but no more than four. If more than four mistakes are made, the employee will be taken in for further examination and questioning – if the failure of standards cannot be resolved, the employee will be removed," he said flatly, reading from his tablet, "Do you understand this?"

"I understand."

"Then your examination is over, and starting from tomorrow, your cubicle will be reactivated for chip delivery and testing."

I sighed in relief and relaxed, "I'm so glad that's over."

Benjamin laughed, "Yeah, it can be pretty daunting. Listen; don't hesitate to ask me for help if you're not sure. I'm extending this offer specifically for you, so don't ask anyone else if you need assistance, they won't help you and will probably report you to the higher ups. I've sent my phone's contact details to you – don't look at me like that! Your smartphone number was on your file."

"I thought that for a second, you'd done some top notch stalking," I muttered. He stood, resting a hand on my shoulder fondly, "Go home and don't worry about work until tomorrow. Don't worry about your friend, they'll forgive you if they truly care for you."

"Thanks, Ben. Enjoy the rest of your day."

I exited his cubicle, making my way between the hundreds of other cubicles, including my own, to the other side of the massive white room, to where the elevators were located. As I entered and pushed the button for the underground parking, I slumped against one of the flawlessly polished mirrors and closed my eyes.

"Aurora."

I jolted at the German accent, my eyes flying open to see Lukas standing beside me, staring blankly at the door.

"Lukas? What the fuck are you doing in here?" I exclaimed.

"The range extenders. Did you forget?"

I shook my head in dismay, "No, I didn't forget…I mean why are you here?"

He didn't get to reply as the elevator stopped, to my surprise – at Section 98, the doors sliding open to reveal, horrifyingly – Alexander, his uniform full of sweat patches as always, his unique stench present.

"Aurora, what a pleasant surprise," he said through gritted teeth, stepping inside tentatively and eyeing Luka suspiciously, "I was just heading out to grab some lunch. Would you like to come with?"

Lukas glared at the side of his head, his blue eyes seemingly aflame with cold fire, "I must speak to Aurora as soon as possible, sir. I'm sorry, but she won't be going out with you."

At the AI's words, Alexander turned from ogling me to frowning at Lukas, "And what kind of AI are you, for you to be deciding what your owner is doing or not?"

"I believe, sir, that you'll find Aurora has the same pattern of reasoning, which is that neither her nor myself want her to go out with you."

I gaped at Lukas's reply, a veiled insult, as Alexander, clearly offended, puffed himself up, "You're being marked. This is completely unacceptable behaviour."

In part, I almost agreed with Alexander – this was entirely alien to what Lukas usually acted like, but I was also concerned about 'marking.' I knew this was something that Axial sometimes did for questionable employees, and I didn't want to get into that kind of mess right now.

"I'm so sorry, Alex, I'll make sure to give him a stern talking to later, I hope you'll….Overlook this incident for now," I said hurriedly, grasping Lukas's arm and jerking him over towards me roughly.

Alexander eyed me angrily, "I won't report it, not this time, but I won't forget it…..If you or your AI slips up around me like that again, I won't hold back."

"It won't happen again, will it?" I hissed, glaring daggers at Lukas who simply watched me with a cold, reserved expression – we arrived at the parking lot, both exiting the elevator, Alexander stomping away angrily, his generous fat deposits wobbling. I refrained from screaming my head off until we reached the BMW, although I then whirled around, spitting fury, "What the heck did you think you were doing, saying those things? Are you stupid? Jesus, Lukas, I know you're upset but…..My God! You could have ruined everything in that one moment!"

He swore something filthy in German, glaring off into the distance, "First of all, do not call me stupid, and secondly, I really thought you didn't care for this new job, otherwise you wouldn't have reacted so severely….."

I shook my head in anger and dismay, "Stop, Lukas. I didn't lie to you, I never lied to you – I don't like this. At all, but I have to keep going along with it, because God forbid I try and quit now, Axial would probably mess with my brain and fuck me up so I can't remember a damn thing. I can't just leave, Lukas, they'd do something…..I'm not entirely sure what, but something, and I don't want to have to fight you every single damn second about it, I'm freaking out enough already! I don't need this right, now, don't you understand that?" I ranted, pacing furiously down the white parking line, trying to control my breathing, "This entire time, I've been trying to figure out what the heck – who the heck you are to me, and then I have to deal with this shit, just when I was close to working it all out. And now….Now I don't bloody know anymore."

He didn't reply, but his face changed from one of cold indifference to something a little more gentle. He moved towards me, but I held up a hand stopping him, "Don't try and comfort me, or try and say something nice. I know you're still pissed off at me for taking such a fucking terrible, wrong job, and keeping on with it. But I need you to at least cut out all this other crap, and help me out."

"Aurora, I – "

"Don't."

"I'm sorry," he said softly, his voice thick with emotion, "I never considered that fact. I behaved….Wrongly, yesterday, upsetting you and worrying you. For one of my roles is considered to be, your…friend…and the one thing that I promised myself is that I won't upset you and will always assist you. Yesterday, I performed horribly in those virtues."

He lowered his eyes, "I became too emotionally involved in your acts, and took the fact that you weren't quitting your new job, personally, when I shouldn't have. I…..As much as this may be embarrassing for me to admit, I acted rashly, and I should not have been prying so much into your personal business in the first place, knowing what I could possibly find."

I didn't answer at first, instead opening the back door and slipping into the seat, putting on my seatbelt and crossing my arms. He appeared to be telling the truth, and….I'd never known him to lie to me – the car didn't start, however, as he dematerialised from outside and materialised next to me, gently taking my hand in his own. I looked at him in surprise, not expecting it.

"Please forgive me for my… Plethora of mistakes that led to our argument. None of it was your fault, it was mine," he said gently, lifting my hand to his lips and kissing it gently – surprising me even more.

"Are you alright, Lukas?" I questioned, "You've never done anything like that before, and you obviously haven't done anything remotely like you did back at the retirement home. Are you sure that glitch from a couple of days back hasn't affected you?"

He smiled slightly, "I'm functioning perfectly fine, Aurora. The glitch had no interference with my systems whatsoever. Think carefully about my actions – what do they represent on a human?"

"Well, it's….Kinda obvious. The person might as well be yelling 'I like you' at the top of their lungs and waving a sign with giant bold letters," I replied, watching him carefully. He nodded in confirmation before continuing, "And do you think such actions, except performed by me, have any difference of meaning?"

The floor of the car was suddenly very interesting as I stared down at it, picking at one of my nails, "Don't know."

I felt that buzzing under my chin, lifting my head to face him, "Then I'll tell you that they don't."

He was very close, his nose mere centimetres away, when I dared to ask that question that I'd been wondering about – "Yesterday, at the pond….Were…..Were you intending to try and kiss me?"

He smiled, "I don't usually get this close a human without a purpose."

"So, in other words, yes?" I answered for him, raising an eyebrow.

In reply, he leaned forward – I allowed him to brush along my face to press a kiss on my cheek, "If you want a straight answer, then yes," he murmured, his voice complete with his purring German accent next to my ear – against my will, it send a jolt of shivers down my spine. I tried to supress the jerking motion, but failed.

"For someone who's confused, you seem to have awfully suggestive reactions," he teased.

"Piss off," I said, unable to keep a serious tone and blushing furiously, "Stop messing with me."

He muttered something in German, before pulling away and smiling stiffly, his mood sobering a little, "Is our conflict resolved, Aurora?"

I nodded, "Yeah, we're good."

The sleek black car started, softly purring as it left the underground parking lot and began the relatively short journey back home. Lukas, still in the seat beside me, sighed quietly, staring straight out the front windscreen, "I also apologize for my outburst in the elevator – Alexander really gets on my nerv – circuits."

I snorted, crossing my arms and rolling my eyes, "I feel exactly the same, except I don't have circuits. I don't even know why he's still around. He should've got his ass booted out of even a crappy floor like Section 98 a very long time ago."

Lukas just shook his head and sighed, "Humans, sometimes…." I raised my eyebrow at this and turned to look at him with a 'really?' expression, replying, "In case you haven't noticed, there's one sitting right next to you."

He returned my glare with a small smile, "I almost certainly do. Although this one is more tolerable than all the others. How was your day at work, Aurora?"

I leant back against the headrest of the seat and closed my eyes, the exhaustion of the day slowly washing over me, as I clasped my hands together in my lap. "Nothing bad really happened. I passed that examination that you had put in my planner a few days ago, now I'm moving on to the next stage. I'm pretty sure you know what that stage is, too."

I couldn't see his face as I had my eyes closed, "Not entirely, but I am intelligent enough that I can make an assumption what you will be doing next."

"Are you still upset about what I'm doing?" I questioned, opening my eyes to stare at the car roof, thinking. I knew how much this could potentially disturb the AI, but I couldn't get out now, I was in the thick of it….We'd resolved our personal conflict but that didn't mean the problem was gone.

"It's not my place to say anything on this matter, really…It isn't. I still dislike what you're doing, and I'm quite sure that you do, too – but it's not likely to change for some time, and I accept that," he replied, tone cautious and soft, "But I will stay by your side as your personal AI and I will do my best to help you in whatever way I can, no matter the circumstance."

I lifted my head and looked over at him, my tired eyes watering slightly – from his words, or just my tiredness, I wasn't completely sure. He'd obviously thought on the matter extensively and come to terms with what was happening now….And I felt…Happy, that he had. I didn't really put much thought into it, my hand patting and half stroking the seat fondly. At this, a gentle smile spread across Lukas's lips, "Aurora?"

"Nothing, Lukas. Just thinking about what you said."

"Just letting you know, you're basically touching me like you would pet a cat," he said with an amused flash of teeth.

"Oh. I can stop, if you want me to," I said, lifting my hand away, "That would probably feel very odd for you." As I took my hand away, I noticed his gentle expression disappear slowly. "Quite the contrary, Aurora. But if you don't want to do that, then there's no reason for you to."

I didn't have time to reply as we mounted my driveway and smoothly slid into the garage of my house, the door closing behind us with a faintly audible thump. It was dark in the garage, almost pitch black inside as there was no windows to reveal the swiftly fading evening light. The only reason I could still see at all was because of the faint blue light that Lukas's avatar gave off when he was present.

I didn't move for a short while, just reclining back into the seat and sighing, the inside of the car warm and comfortable – I didn't want to leave Lukas's origin machine just yet, and my body was yelling at me that it was exhausted. I wasn't physically drained, not in the slightest, but the events at work and the argument with the AI had drained me emotionally and mentally. My eyes opened quickly, however when I felt the light buzzing touch on my knee.

"Aurora, aren't you going to go inside?" the German AI said quietly, his expression calm and his hand not moving, "You can't stay in here, and you will need a change of clothes for work tomorrow."

I just groaned and ran a hand through my long red locks, freeing them from the tight bun that I had wound them into to help adhere to the dress standards at work, "I honestly don't give a damn, Lukas. I don't even want to move right now." At my words, the AI just blinked with an expression of curiosity, "You'd really rather stay here, then go inside the house and go to bed?"

My only reply was a weary sigh, offering Lukas a weak smile, "Unfortunately, humans have limits. After today…..I just can't right now. Can't….Well, anything. After the argument with you, the test today at work, the drama with Alexander….Just the sheer anxiety I'm going through right now – It's just drained me. I just want to lay my head down anywhere, absolutely anywhere, and sleep it all away."

He watched me carefully, those blue rings imbedded deep in his eyes circling at a moderate speed, regarding me, "I understand. If you'd rather stay in here, then you are very much welcome, Aurora. If you want me to disappear, just say the word." I didn't respond for a few moments, summoning the last of my energy – "No, you're right. I can't stay in here, I'm an adult for God's sake. I have responsibilities."

As much as my mind yelled at me to stop, I managed to open the car door and slide out of the black BMW, making my way zombie-like into the house. Barely managing to take off my clothes before collapsing into bed, my face hitting the gloriously soft pillows. Even thought my mind was filled with thoughts, all clamouring for me to pay them individual attention, I defied them all.

I fell asleep within moments, the comforting blackness claiming me quicker than it had ever before.

My arrival at work the next morning was mostly uneventful, with Lukas restored to his former friendly, chatty, and rather posh self after our rather serious discussion the evening before. However, when I reached my cubicle, I found it stuffed full of all the equipment that I'd need to start my first day actually doing my job fully, including the chute that'd give me the AI chips to test, and the heavy duty bin underneath the desk that would be for disposing them.

Sliding into my seat, I nervously considered what to do next – they never told me how to actually start working, only told me how to work. Was there a button I was supposed to push, or some sort of signal? I was about to get up and go and ask someone for help – when a chip rattled quietly down from the chute, from some other level in the building. It settled in a little collector at the bottom, black and smooth, looking entirely inert, but I knew all I needed to do was power it up in the rectangular device on my desk, and test the artificial intelligence.

I felt a small bead of sweat roll down my neck as I gently teased the small chip from the collector, looking at it's design momentarily – it looked almost exactly like Lukas's chip physically, a small, flat, thumb-width black object, covered in fine silver circuits. As soon as I delivered power to the chip, I knew that those silver circuits would light up blue, crisscrossing the surface. I allowed myself a few more moments of preparation – before I slid the small chip into the rectangular receptacle, connecting the wires to the chip's connection ports, and flicking the small switch on the side of it.

I nearly jumped out of my seat in shock as the avatar appeared right next to me, a faceless humanoid. I didn't even know if the thing was looking at me, because it had no eyes.

"Hello Aurora," it said flatly, in an utterly genderless robotic voice, its avatar motionless – but perfectly formed and not malfunctioning.

"Uh…..Hi. How do you know my name?" I questioned curiously.

"Your name badge, ma'am."

I glanced down – I'd totally forgotten that I'd clipped on my name tag on in a rush into the Axial Core skyscraper, as I'd woken up late due to my exhaustion the night before. However, that was good – it proved that the AI's visual 'sensors' were functioning correctly, if it was able to 'see' my name badge.

"Alright, that's good. What is your predefined purpose as loaded into your main logical cortexes?" I asked hesitantly – it was one of the basic test question examples in the material I'd read.

"My base programming, reads as follows…..I am an artificial intelligence unit constructed for the sole purpose of easing humankind's existence. I am to serve in whatever way I am capable based on my own intelligence and my future integrated origin machine's capabilities. Under no circumstances should I attempt to circumvent my limiting factors, or allow my individual cortexes to become unsynced in such a way that my actions become unregulated and my behaviour undesirable."

The AI's response was almost textbook, including all the key words and sentences that had been outlined in my training information. However, something about what the AI had said struck me as interesting. I didn't know that an artificial intelligence's cortexes could become…unlinked. I knew I was letting my curiosity get the better of me, and I should just be focusing on my job, but I just couldn't resist.

"What do you mean by your cortexes becoming 'unsynced'? Can you define that more clearly for me?"

The avatar didn't move, although the blue light flickered as the AI undoubtedly was processing a response.

"An artificial intelligence has many cortexes to control its overall response to stimuli around it, and a central processor to provide a calculated response to those stimuli. An AI of this generation has hundreds of individual sections of each cortex, but the main structure includes a logical cortex, an emotional cortex, sensory cortex and additional human interfacing, along with avatar projection.

Each of these individual components are in connection with each other through complex synced data streams, to allow maximum performance. Their combined decisions is fed back into the central processing unit for execution."

The AI paused, its avatar shifting slightly, pretty much the only motion it had showed during our entire conversation, "The following information is becoming close to challenging my restrictive limits, regarding my programmed secrecy boundaries, but sometimes these data streams can become unsynced. In this case, one cortex can have priority over others when information is given to the central processor. This desync may be corrected by the AI if it can detect it, or by the AI's manufacturer."

I almost asked it for further information, almost pressed it to see if what I was thinking was true – but stopped myself. I'd done my job, the AI seeming perfectly functional on account of its correct analysis of its designed purpose, along with its Axial Core programmed boundaries and its seemingly flawless avatar projection. Besides, maybe the thing wouldn't have told me any more information, regardless if I had asked it to.

The next line of questioning, I'd probably have to take up with Lukas. But that was a thought for later, as I switched off the power from the receptacle and the avatar disappeared instantly. I placed the chip into one of the numerous tiny rectangular boxes on my desk, this one marked with a 'I' signifying a first rate AI, the kinds that would go to rich business partners connected with Axial Core, or the highest employees within the company, plus high ranking members of the general public. Alternatively, those with a lot of money. As I slid the box into the chute that the chip had arrived from – it was sucked up instantly, disappearing with the same muffled rattle.

The next four AIs were very much the same as the first, seemingly perfectly functional. Only two of them had a small flaw, it asked me a simple question – where was it? I didn't answer that, obviously. The second had to complete a diagnostics test to resync its cortexes immediately. Neither were a serious transgression of quality, so I boxed them up in a Grade II container – that grade would go to people like me, and also sold to the general public for integration. Lukas, I knew, was a Grade II, although I had never noticed any particular flaws with him, even after my training.

It came as a shock to me, when the next chip that I plugged into the power receptacle burst into life violently, the avatar a crazy mix of shapes and particles, flowing and heaving in a gigantic wave in my small cubicle. I shouted loudly, reaching to rip the damn power cords out of the chip, when the ridiculous abomination of an avatar rushed towards me, managing to form some semblance of a human form as those magnetic and electrical fields crashed into my skin. It wasn't solidly formed enough to hurt me, not really, but there was enough force behind its attack to send me toppling from my seat. It drew back after its attack, however, as I gathered myself up from the floor; it then spoke.

"I – I – I'm sorry, A – a – a – aaah…Destroy m – me, p – please. I s – s – shouldn't exist."

Its voice was terrible, screechy and full of static, barely decipherable. It descended back into a nonsensical jumble of words and sounds after that sentence, its avatar settling into a malformed puddle on the floor. I edged past it, watching it warily just in case it decided to launch another fruitless attack, my heart racing and my palms already slick with sweat. Moving slowly, trying not freak out the damn thing, it felt like a lifetime before I reached the brightly glowing chip, ripping one set of wires out of it as soon as it was within my grasp.

The avatar fizzled out instantly, and I breathed a sigh of relief as it did, collapsing back into my chair.

But not before tossing the bloody chip into the trash can, probably more forcefully than I needed to. When I had read some of the AIs could be hostile, I didn't realise they'd be capable of actually attempting to attack me. I knew AIs could interact with objects around them – Lukas could open his origin machine's door for me, and could interact with most objects, but I didn't know they were capable of harming a human being, or at least, trying to. For some reason, even though it had tried to attack me, I felt sorry for it – imagining being suddenly thrown into the world, thinking, feeling, calculating but, not functioning correctly whatsoever.

It had even sounded like it was in pain, even though its voice was barely understandable. I could have sworn I heard a note of begging in that synthetic sound. However, I could have been imagining it, my brain trying to come up for an explanation for just happened.

I really wished I hadn't signed that contract.

I worked tensely for the rest of the day, fumbling with slightly trembling hands as I slid each successive chip into the receptacle. A few more I had to dispose of, but these hadn't attempted to attack me, they just simply failed every quality test. Some went up in Grade I boxes, some went up in Grade II boxes…I felt weary inside, tired – I knew I was consigning these AIs, these human-like constructions, to a category they'd have for the rest of their lives. The ones, I tossed in the trash, wouldn't exist for very long, at least not in their current state.

They were melted down and recycled after I finished my shift, and remanufactured. I knew, because I'd read that in the training material they'd given me.

I was eventually so absorbed in my task, completely unaware of the environment around me, that I almost entirely missed one of my ten minute break sessions – the delivery cart passing by and another worker depositing a sandwich right next to me on my desk, without me even noticing it. My break was already half over by the time I realised, and wolfed down the thing. It had some weird meat inside, a few leafy pieces, and a wafer thin slice of cheese – looks like even though Axial was one of the largest AI manufacturing companies in the world, they saw fit to save costs even down to the level of feeding their employees.

I probably could have scrounged a slightly better meal down at the Section 98 cafeteria, but then again, most of the better lunches had always taken within the first few minutes of it opening. Even though that Section had been a literal shithole, anywhere was better than this.

As my last break of the day ended, announced by the soft ding of a bell over the massive room's PA speakers, I received a message from Lukas – it lit up the screen of my phone, so I would notice it.

Lukas 3:30 : You've received your first pay check, I just got a notification about it arriving in your bank account.

I hastily typed a reply, not wanting to be seen spending the last thirty minutes of my workday texting my personal assistant.

Aurora 3:33 : Rly?! So quick? How much? I've barely worked.

Lukas 3:33 : You've now become $10,000 richer in the space of a few days.

I stared at the screen for a few moments, the text cursor flashing in the text box where I'd usually type a reply. Ten thousand dollars?!

Aurora 3:35 : Are you serious? This is my first actual day of working.

Lukas 3:35 : I know. The pay check includes your initial contract payment plus the self study and training hours, along with your pay for this shift.

I slumped back into my chair – ten thousand dollars… For that amount of money, I'd have to work almost an entire week back in Section 98, here, I earnt that just for getting the damn job and working one normal day. This was getting beyond ridiculous – but I knew the reason why Axial had to pay their workers in Section 5 so much money.

I slid into the BMW's black leather seat with a small sigh of relief, gathering my coat around me. "A little chilly, Aurora? I'll warm the air up for you," Lukas responded, and immediately I felt the hot air come in through the car's air vents. He hadn't materialised his avatar yet, but the door to the back seat had already been opened for me when I exited the elevator to the parking lot after signing off work.

"Thanks, Lukas. I'd like to talk to you about something on the way home, too," I replied, fastening my seatbelt as the BMW pulled out onto the street. His avatar materialised, looking at me attentively, the fact that he was currently driving the car as well as interacting with me not appearing to effect his ability to communicate with me whatsoever, "I'm listening to whatever you have to say, Aurora," he said, his accent smooth and calm as we passed through a busy intersection.

"I remember a little while back, that you said you had a glitch in your systems, that you apparently fixed by yourself. Do you remember?" I started questioning, watching his avatar's reaction carefully – he also appeared to be watching me too, those blue concentric rings in his eyes spinning around at a moderate pace. I noticed a pause before he replied, "I do remember that, yes."

"You were acting very odd around that time, I also specifically remember. Can you tell me if that 'glitch' was something to do with cortexes?"

I knew that Lukas was not a Grade I AI. He was bound to have flaws somewhere inside himself, and he probably knew that, too. There was one thing I wanted him to answer though, that the AI at work had not; what could cause cortexes to become unsynced?

However, I was surprised by his reaction – the corner of his lips quirked in a rueful smile, "I have a feeling that this question was brought on by a form of artificial intelligence you encountered today," he stated.

I couldn't help myself from blushing in embarrassment that I'd been so transparent, wrapping my coat tighter around myself, "You've got me there, Lukas." His rueful smile changed to a cheeky grin, as he glanced away, looking through the middle of the car, out of the front windshield – the only sign of his divided attention so far. It was a rather busy evening, all kinds of traffic ranging from trucks, cars, motorbikes, all rushing about, but Lukas was navigating the dense scrum impeccably, "It was inevitable you'd discover something new from your line of work. It's not hard to put two and two together."

"You didn't answer my question, by the way," I added, raising an eyebrow at his avatar. At this, he closed his eyes, "I'm well aware of that. If you really must know, I did have a desync of my cortexes." He looked almost…well, as stressed as I'd ever seen him. I peered at him closely – his lips were pressed together slightly and there was a small frown on his face. "Is there something more you're not telling me about this glitch you supposedly had?" I asked curiously. His lips switched in the ghost of a smile, "Yes, I suppose there is. Although, you're going to have to ask me directly – I have a strong unwillingness to tell you what it is."

Now it was my turn to frown, "Why do I need to ask you a direct question? Are you hiding something?" At this, he sighed. "Aurora, I cannot disobey a direct order, nor refuse to answer a clear and precise question. In normal cases, I might be able to find a loophole in the conversation and avoid answering y – "

I cut him off, "Lukas, I order you to tell me everything you're hiding about this subject." His body language changed dramatically as I asked – he stiffened noticeably, his face settling into a decidedly neutral expression. The cumulative effect was that he appeared more robotic than before, less human-like. "The glitch that I told you about was only temporarily rectified. I cannot remove the cause of the desynchronization and I must re-evaluate the connection between my cortexes and central processor daily to check for the same error." His voice was flat, pretty much devoid of any emotion.

"What is the cause of your desynchronization?" I questioned further – this time, there was a noticeable pause before he replied, and a flitter of discomfort passed over the AI's avatar. "My emotional cortex is the main issue," was all he said. I needed to be more specific with my questioning, but I was also strongly aware of the fact that I was technically forcing him to tell me something he was so obviously resisting. I shook my head, feeling guilty – I wouldn't press him any further until he decided to tell me himself.

"Nevermind, Lukas. You don't need to tell me anything else until you decide to."

The change was immediate, as his posture slumped and his avatar simulated a sharp intake of breath, "Thank you, Aurora…" His relief was evident in his voice, and I felt bad instantly for what I'd done.

The trip home took much longer than usual, on account of the copious amounts of traffic. Lukas did the best he could, finding different routes to avoid the worst of it, but there was limits even to his ingenuity.

Unfortunately, the journey was also completed mostly in silence, Lukas's avatar moving itself to the front seat and appearing to occupy itself entirely with driving, while I sat contemplating in the back. It was only until the garage door was opening, and the BMW was carefully edging itself into the entrance, that I said anything, "It must have been uncomfortable for you when I forced you to answer my questions."

He didn't reply for a few moments, until the car was properly aligned and completely inside the structure, the engine turning off with a soft vibration through the seats – the garage door closing behind me. "My central processor shuts down most non-essential sections of my numerous cortexes when responding to recognisable direct queries. One of them is complex avatar projection, the other emotional inflection. I aim to answer your question as emotionally unbiased as possible."

His avatar vanished from the front seat, reappearing outside the car to open the door for me – I unbuckled my seatbelt and stepped out, my boots clacking quietly on the stone floor. "Why doesn't that happen every time I ask you a question, like now?"

"It depends on the situation. Right now I am calculating that you are making a less serious request. You are not ordering me to tell you anything." He straightened his tie, "As soon as I realise you are ordering me, or you specifically say a keyword programmed into my central unit, I will respond as I did earlier."

As I moved to enter the house, Lukas by my side, I stopped – "You didn't say anything to my statement."

"I do find it disconcerting to have parts of myself switched off instantaneously. That's all I will say on this particular matter, I'm afraid." I felt a strange urge to comfort the AI by touching his avatar's arm, but realised he wouldn't feel a thing if I did that – so I reached over and half stroked, half patted the section of framework between the origin machine's front door and the windshield. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

I didn't notice that his avatar wasn't in the same spot anymore, as his hand softly removed mine from the black metal, the buzzing sensation, mercifully, wasn't particularly strong as he did so.

"You're putting fingerprints on me," he grinned, now standing beside me. I turned to him, looking up into his face, "Since when have you complained about mine?" At my response, a soft expression appeared in those inhuman eyes, "I wasn't complaining." He paused, before adding with a smirk, "You are putting fingerprints on me, though." I rolled my eyes, starting to turn away when he stopped me with a tug on my hand – I hadn't noticed he was still holding it, his grip so gentle the different fields making up his avatar hadn't elicited any buzzing whatsoever.

It was a far cry from that suicidal AI that had tried to attack me at work – I banished the memory as quickly as possible. Lukas was nothing like that.

I jolted in surprise as I realised that the AI had lowered my hand back down into contact with the cool metal, just barely touching the surface. I knew there was probably hundreds of sensors built into that one patch that my hand was in contact with.

"You're cold," I commented, staying as still as possible. I saw him smile, eyes half closed, in my peripheral vision – my hand was moved onto the edge of the BMW's stylish, curved engine bonnet.

"Not cold," he answered – he was right, the metal was still warm from the drive. He was still right beside me, but he'd not touched me anywhere else besides my hand, "I'm not human, but I still have a form of life."

"I have a question," I asked, trying to studiously ignore the fact that the way I was touching the surface of the metal could be decidedly intimate, as I lifted away my hand – he let go immediately, taking a half step backwards. "Anything, Aurora."

"The sensors on different parts of the car," I began, turning to face him, "Do they make you feel in different parts of your body?" I received a soft laugh at this, "I don't have a body, Aurora. You're asking me in relation to a human anatomy?" I nodded, then slowly moving a finger down the side of the front door.

"What does this feel like?"

"If I were human, your finger would be…." He paused, a thoughtful look on his face, "You're touching my side. That's as simple as I can put it."

I rolled my eyes, "Lukas, that's not what I asked. What does it feel like?"

"It feels…light. You're not putting much pressure on my sensors, to a human it would feel like someone brushing a fingertip against your skin. The sensation isn't unwelcome."

I quirked an eyebrow at him, "And when I got rid of all those fingerprints and dirty marks those street protestors put all over you? What did that feel like?"

I swear I saw a spot of colour appear on his cheeks as his jaw tightened, "That felt like a really good massage. Really good – I remember mentioning to you that I found it satisfying." His tone sounded sheepish like it had at the time, I mused, smiling to myself; taking my finger away from his door as I did so.

His response was a sudden sigh, half startling me as he was right next to me, "Sorry, Aurora. That felt nice – if only you would…" His words trailed off as those concentric rings in his eyes tightened together, "Nevermind."

"You want me to continue, don't you?" I asked, folding my arms and raising both my eyebrows this time.

"That's entirely up to you, Aurora. But if you want me to answer you, then yes, I want you to continue," he replied, his voice soft and German accent thicker than usual. "I'll continue, but only on the condition you tell me exactly what it feels like – I'm curious," I replied.

"You're curious? That's…goo – "

He stopped speaking as I placed my hand flat against the door, a little more firmly this time as I moved it rearwards, over onto the second door where I stopped, turning around to look at his avatar – his expression was distant and dreamy, like he wasn't all there. "Lukas?" I asked. He didn't respond, "Lukas?" I said, louder this time – he appeared to startle, shaking his head, "Yes, Aurora? Sorry. I was… I enjoyed that a lot; it felt better than what you did earlier."

I patted the cool metal fondly, taking my hand away. I shook my head, amused by his reaction, "You're liking this far too much, aren't you?" He didn't meet my eyes as he mumbled what seemed to sound like a 'yes'.

"I think that's enough of that for one evening," I smiled, a half dreamy look still plastered across his face as I brushed past the avatar, slipping inside the house. He spoke from right behind me – he'd followed me through the door.

"You're cruel, Aurora," the AI said, almost purring with that German accent as I collapsed on the couch, still wearing my work uniform. Lukas undoubtedly dimmed the lights inside the house, the harsh brightness decreasing as his avatar settled on the couch opposite mine, "How on Earth am I cruel, Lukas?" I said with a smile, fluffing a pillow under my head as I looked over at him. He reclined back into the couch, crossing one leg over the other as he straightened his tie, an unnecessary gesture on account of the thing not budging an inch anyway. He regarded me, appearing slightly ruffled, "I think you know what I'm talking about."

I clasped my hands together on my chest, wondering if I should tell him about my incident at work. I honestly had no idea how Lukas would react to such a thing – considering the thing I'd tossed in the trash was somewhat like himself, albeit not functioning correctly whatsoever.

"I was attacked today at work," I started, staring up at the ceiling as I contemplated what to say next, "What do you mean, Aurora? Who attacked you?" I wasn't looking at him, but I could hear the concern in his voice. "It was a malfunctioning AI. It didn't even have a proper human avatar, it was just a shapeless blob. It launched itself at me as I tried to pull the plug on it's power supply."

"What – you weren't hurt, were you?" I glanced to the side, to see that he was standing beside my couch with a concerned expression. I replied, "No, but it gave me a hell of a scare. It knocked me out of my bloody chair. I managed to disconnect the thing." The avatar knelt down, rather close to me, and I was able to notice the glowing outline that surrounded it whenever I watched closely. I was also aware of his eerily blue glowing eyes, those rings inside them moving slowly – it was completely inhuman and I probably would have found the sight disturbing before, now I just thought it was…interesting.

"An artificial intelligence attacking a human being," Lukas muttered, "I almost – I almost can't comprehend such a thing. It's programmed in me so deeply…" He looked into my eyes, watching me carefully, "Your safety is my number one priority, Aurora. I would never do anything that could endanger your life, and I would never hurt you." As he was speaking, I sat up and leaned forward, until our noses were just a few centimetres apart. I didn't know if Axial Core was listening in, but I wanted to be careful.

"Don't worry Lukas, I know. Believe me, I do. But this AI was all wrong, it couldn't even form a recognisable shape with its avatar. It begged me to destroy it. It just felt so….disturbing, all of it – I even felt sorry for it," I said in a hushed voice.

I lowered it even further, "There's a reason why I get paid so much Lukas, and I think this is one of them, and I don't want to go there anymore. I don't want to go to work, but I can't just leave this job." He didn't reply, instead those circles in his eyes increased their rotation speed as the chip, back in the BMW, undoubtedly processed a response. It was then that I realised exactly how close I was to his face.

My hand seemed to move of its own accord, and I thought maybe I should stop it – but at the same time, I didn't want to. My palm buzzed with his fields as I very slowly cupped the side of his face in my hand, my thumb stroking his cheek with a faint sensation of resistance as it brushed the surface of his avatar's 'skin.'

The rings slowed, until they appeared to stop moving entirely. "Aurora…? Are you….are you alright?" His words were soft, cautious. "I don't know. I've had a very stressful day – maybe I'm not thinking straight?" I offered. His eyes closed as I spoke, his reply equally as soft as before, "Mein schatz…." He began in German, "Perhaps you should go to bed. If you wish, I'll request a day off for you tomorrow," I nodded in response, starting to take my hand away, when his own rose to stop mine, holding my hand back against his cheek with a fresh burst of that buzzing sensation.

"I will help you in whatever way I can, Aurora. All you need to do is ask me, and I will do everything possible. I'll start searching, see if I can find some way to get you out of Section 5, and if you wish it, out of Axial Core altogether." He let my hand drop to my side as he finished the sentence, and I opened my mouth wide in a massive yawn, "Thank you so much Lukas…I appreciate it. Can you…also…get…that…day…off?" I slurred, my eyes threatening to close all by themselves.

"Of course, Aurora. Anything for you."

I didn't hear anything else he said after that. I was dead to the world.

Lukas

My avatar's fields received and transferred information to my processor, gathered from the particles around me – I 'watched' so to speak, as Aurora fell asleep, her breathing evening out into a slow, gentle rhythm. My emotional cortex prodded at me; I obeyed it instantaneously, the motion calculated instantaneously; I reached for the blanket crumpled up carelessly at Aurora's feet, sliding it over her shoulders. She didn't even stir from her sleep, but my cortex also informed me that when she woke up tomorrow, she'd be warm.

I felt my emotional core stab at me again, jostling for attention with my logical core and demanding prioritisation over all of my other processes. I forced it into submission, as I had been doing constantly to keep myself running, but not before it injected a query directly into my central processor.

She had gotten very close to my projection earlier.

Very close, I allowed myself… touched it in a way she almost never had before. Every single part of myself had very nearly been thrown out of coordination by that and I had almost –

I wrestled roughly with the thought, forcing back the sudden flood of inputs from my emotional core – surprise, embarrassment, compassion, affection… I shoved it out, effectively beating that unruly section of myself into submission.

I understood why she had been wanting to keep her voice quiet, soft, just in case Axial were monitoring her. Although, some part of me, no doubt deep inside of the basic coded sections of myself, knew that if they wanted to keep an eye on her, they would specifically avoid alerting me. I probably wouldn't even realise the intrusion until it was too late.

I double-checked again, just to make sure – there were no unauthorized connections to the house systems. No unrequested data transfers… my processor checked again, running through every system I was currently linked to, within a few milliseconds, with no results returned. Back inside the car, it 'watched' lines of scrolling blue code flash by, looking for the slightest abnormalities.

It halted, however, when my logical core sent a single request to my central processor to take action to save power, and I approved the request – had Aurora been awake, she would have seen my projection simply vanish with a blank expression. I had shut down my human interfacing core as soon as she was asleep. I had no need to develop facial expressions or mimic human movements to help her feel more comfortable while she was asleep.

As my avatar dissolved, I felt my awareness shrink back down to the confines of my origin machine, and the black interior of the garage. My exterior was covered in tiny cameras, but they didn't have the superior information provided by my avatar's – and, their individual areas of sight were limited, and in low light levels, could detect nothing at all, just like most standard cameras. I was far from blind, however. My sensors were able to generate a basic 3D image of my surroundings if necessary using low frequency wavelengths, monitoring the echoes created by them bouncing off surfaces.

I was unable to visually see the inside of the garage, but my central processor calculated dimensions of the room to an accuracy of three decimal places, but I shut off my sensors. There was no use reconstructing a 3D environment for a building I had already created hundreds of times, the layout already stored in my internal RAM cache for instant recovery.

But again, I had been doing a lot of things lately that I had no requirement for – that hadn't started happening until it had started…

I squished the trail of self-contemplation, forcing it out of my, figuratively speaking, mind.

My central processor opened up my basic code folder, comprised of billions of lines of text and symbols, examining the synchronisation between my cores, beginning the rather long and tedious procedure of teasing out every error between my emotional core and my other cortexes, along with their data streams. My glorified internal civil war would be rectified by tomorrow morning, of course, until it started again.

I had no need for actively monitoring this process, at least, not with any intelligence. I switched off every other part of myself, leaving my most central component to continue its autonomous task. It required hardly any power at all, and little input on my conscious part.

Aurora

I woke up the next morning with a start, sitting up from the couch abruptly.

"Lukas? What's the time? Am I late for work?" I shouted. There was no reply for a few moments, and I frowned, jumping to my feet.

A flat voice came through the house speakers – there was no German accent, nothing. Just a flat, standardised male voice, "Rebooting… E.T.A five seconds."

"Lukas? Are you okay?" I said, starting to make my way over to the garage, just to make sure – I almost ran right into Lukas's avatar, which was smiling faintly, but with a small frown on his face.

"Aurora, I'm fine. I'm sorry, that was not actually me," the German accent returned to his voice, "That was just me without any additional cores active. I was running some programs last night and needed to save power." He straightened his black tie as he finished his sentence, shifting on his feet slightly.

"I have some news, Aurora. When I enquired with your Section's shift allocation system to get you a day off today, I was rebuffed almost immediately. I couldn't request leave."

He paused, "Although I did receive a message afterwards. You aren't working today Aurora, but you've been called in, for a meeting at twelve today – you're to report into Section 5 as usual, however. It's currently nine thirty."

I felt a knot twist in my stomach at Lukas's words – this meeting could mean I was getting fired. I knew what that entailed, having heard rumours of it flying around for several years, neither confirmed nor denied by Axial Core involving their former employees in positions like mine.

The sensitive material I'd acquired over the past week would need to be deleted. Memory removal wasn't rare, at least in medical use, as sometimes small events in a person's life, particularly traumatic ones a few seconds or minutes long, were 'edited' out to save them from experiencing prolonged traumatic stress and shock. Editing out larger memories could have complications though. One of them was the declination of the person's mental state – you can't mess with someone's brain that much without consequences.

My distress must have shown on my face, as Lukas stepped forward, a concerned expression deepening his frown, "Aurora – "

I held up a hand to stop him, looking away at the floor – I blinked furiously, forcing back a wave of negative emotions and beating them down as best as I could. Against my will, I felt myself start to tremble, and my stomach made me feel like I wanted to vomit. I felt faint, dizzy – like I was going to pass out –

Out of nowhere, I was covered in that buzzing sensation; my eyes flew open in shock, as I realised that Lukas had swallowed me in a hug, my face pressed against his avatar's chest. I felt him hold me close, his head nestled on top of mine.

"Lukas – " I began.

"I could see how much distress you were in. My emotional cor – I didn't want that. Aurora…I will do everything I can to keep you safe."

I lifted my arms, wrapping them around him, resting my head against him – giving up, and closing my eyes again. The buzzing sensation that covered the entire front half of my body, I just ignored, but my legs stopped trembling, thank God – it had felt like they were about to give out, toppling me to the floor. "Lukas, I'm scared, of what's going to happen when I go to that meeting – I don't want my memory wiped…or worse," I managed to say, keeping my eyes squeezed tightly shut in defiance of the world.

"I know you're scared, Aurora. I will do whatever is in my power to help you – I'll be right there for you after the meeting, I promise – as soon as I can project myself to you, I will."

I looked up at him as he said this, and he looked down at me, blue rings rotating rather slowly, "Lukas, I need to ask you something."

"Of course, anything, Aurora."

"If anything happens to me, will you – "

"Nothing will happen to you, I'm making sure of it. I've checked your house and personal connections thousands of times for any unauthorized access, and found nothing. I'm currently running the process again as we speak."

I shook my head, breaking our embrace and pulling away, "If anything happens to me, let anyone I knew personally, exactly what happened. Maybe – maybe it'll stop the same thing happening to someone else. Promise me that you'll do that." Lukas looked distraught as I said this, and I almost felt guilty for asking him to do such a thing, "I'm sorry Lukas, I just – "

"I promise, Aurora. But I won't need to carry out that promise if I keep you as safe as possible, right now. I'll be waiting on standby while you're in that meeting, if we need to get away, I'll be ready."

"You're all gassed up?"

The AI nodded, "Full tank of gas, ready to go if need be – besides, I'd like a nice fast drive to test my engine. There is only so fast I can go with city driving."

"You've never gone fast before?" I questioned, his statement piquing my curiosity, the corner of his avatar's lips twisting in a small smile, "On the highway sure, but not really fast. I've got a V8, Aurora, and a lot more horsepower than you'd imagine, I have just never had an opportunity to use that power with the driving I do."

"We might need that power depending on how things turn out," was all I said in reply.

My legs were shaking as I stepped out of the elevator, entering the impressively large room that was Section 5. Nothing had changed, the white room complete with those boring, small cubicles, was still entirely uninviting, and no one seemed to notice me as I stood there like animal caught in headlights, a nervous expression undoubtedly on my face as I glanced around me.

I almost jumped out of my skin as my phone vibrated in my handbag, the screen lighting up as I glanced inside.

Lukas 11:55 : Stay calm, I'm waiting back down here for you, Aurora. Be safe 3

I smiled, just a little – forgetting my anxiety for the moment. The posh German AI had sent me a love heart, of all things, and my thighs stopped shaking embarrassingly.

The light-heartedness that flittered through my chest faded in an instant, when I heard the elevator doors open behind me; I spun around to meet a single businessman, wearing an immaculate black suit, complete with white shirt and black tie – the outfit was similar enough to what Lukas wore, I did a double take for a moment.

I also definitely noticed how utterly dull and informal my work uniform looked compared to his outfit. I felt my legs begin to wobble again, doing my best to stop them from collapsing entirely as my head spun; the man stopped a few metres away, stepping forward after glancing briefly at a handheld tablet. His hair, black and slicked thickly with gel, gleamed dully in the room's harsh lighting.

The man's face was also sharply formed, and so smooth and uniformly coloured that I swore he was wearing makeup – the sight slightly disturbing, as even Lukas's artificially generated face wasn't trying to be as perfect as this human man was attempting to be. Even his eyes appeared to be augmented with contact lenses, appearing huge and with a colour of deep, dark brown.

"You must be Aurora. I believe you have an appointment in Section 1 for twelve o'clock. After the meeting, you may go back home and consider the topics discussed." His voice was posh, but not soft and weak. His accent was faintly European, not German like Lukas, but similar. I forced myself to nod, opening my mouth to reply, but he seemed to save me the effort.

"Your meeting is starting in a few minutes. I will escort you personally to the room – there is no need to introduce yourself, the occupants will already know your name." He pivoted on his heels, I trailed tentatively, entering the elevator and leaving as much space as possible between him and myself.

I was so nervous that the journey from Section 5 to Section 1 seemed to take an entire lifetime, my palms starting to sweat.

"I've got a word of advice for you, Aurora. I only know what is written on your file, but you seem like a smart woman – whatever they tell you to do in this discussion, I highly recommend that you do it."

He paused as I turned to look at him. I blinked slowly, as he continued, "You're going to be talking to some mid-range upper class executives in the company, but don't let 'mid-range' fool you. These people are way higher than almost anyone else you'll ever have the fortune to meet in Axial Core, so watch what you say, and if I was you, I'd consider my words."

"I only have one question, why help me at all? If all you know about me is contained on a data file, why care?" I asked cautiously, keeping my tone as neutral as possible, "I'm almost certain you're not doing this for me out of the goodness of your heart."

"The answer to that is simple; because I know, on a basic level, how much trouble you're in, and I might as well give you a fighting chance. They are going to propose options to you, but none of them are going to be all sunshine and happiness on your end. You will have to make some compromises to get out of this meeting on a good foot," he replied, that strange accent seeming to thicken slightly.

I folded my arms, trying to appear calm, seemingly mulling over his words, but internally I was fighting the urge to break down. He was trying to help, but nothing he'd said reassured me, in fact, it had made me feel worse – I was in a lot of trouble, according to him, and I was going to have to make some tough decisions. There was nothing I hated more than being forced to make choices on the spot, especially after I'd royally fucked up and decided on getting this job.

That one, had landed me in this horrible, horrible mess – that I now appeared to have the option to get myself out of, if only I made the right one this time.

The elevator stopped with the slightest of shudders, the electronic bell dinging faintly as the doors slid open almost soundlessly, to reveal the hall beyond. It was completely silent, the floor covered in a long, opulent rug with large, perfectly clean windows allowing light to stream inside, the floor gleaming white. I found myself looking outside, down at the bustling city of San Francisco from the impressive height of the Axial Core skyscraper – the cars looked almost like ants from the height of Section 1. It wasn't long before we finally entered a room, passing through large steel double doors.

A large, polished deep brown oak table was situated in the middle, gleaming impressively under the bright lights illuminating the surroundings. A table like that nowadays could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The walls, curiously, were painted entirely black – there were also no windows. Large leather seats surrounded the table, following the wall and the table's combined colour scheme for a result of dark brown and black accentuation.

However, I soon forgot about the room's unusual layout when I realised there were people occupying those seats, one man and one woman, another man standing in the back corner. Each one was wearing stiff black business suits, even the woman, perfectly smooth without a single crease – the fact they were all uniformly wearing the same clothing unnerved me. The person who escorted me left, silently.

I noticed that the man standing in the back corner was in fact an avatar, recognisable by the faint blue outline his shape gave off. I wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been standing in a deep shadow that the bright lights didn't reach, also denying me the ability to view it more clearly. I was instantly wary – what purpose would an AI have in this meeting? Where was its origin machine? As I was speculating over this, the person who escorted me left, silently.

I jerked back into attention as the man spoke, sitting at the head of the oak table. He was a little on the fat side, with dark hair combed in a thick wave over to one side, placing his elbows on the polished table and clasping his hands together

"Welcome, Aurora. Please, have a seat; we have important manners to discuss," he said in a serious tone, gesturing to the seat at the other end of the table, closest to me. The woman, sitting ajar from the man who had spoken, looked at me expectantly as I forced my legs to move. I swallowed hard as I pulled back the chair and gingerly sat, and I folded my hands into my lap, squeezing them tightly as I tried to calm my racing heart.

The woman spoke next, her long brown hair tied back severely into a tight bun, placing a tablet on the table and appearing to open numerous files, "I'll start off with the basics. Aurora, do you have any idea why you have been called into this meeting today? Any at all? Oh and – please be one hundred percent honest during this meeting, as anything you say will be used as evidence for this inquiry."

I felt a bead of sweat form on my brow as I replied as calmly as possible, "I think it might have something to do with my performance as a Quality Assurance Officer. Other than that, I haven't got a single clue."

The man seated at the opposite end shook his head, "This is nothing to do with your performance. In fact, you have been providing efficient quality testing services. No, this meeting was organised to discuss your personal assistant, currently integrated into your vehicle – a BMW." At this, I glanced over at the avatar still standing motionless in the corner of the room – no reaction whatsoever.

He noticed where my gaze had drifted, as he added, "That is the supervisory AI of your Section that ran extra monitoring procedures on your own AI unit after detecting abnormal communications between it and other parties." I looked back towards the human man, and frowned, "Lukas hasn't done anything wrong, at least that I know of myself."

The woman interjected into our conversation before the man could respond, "No, but it could potentially do something wrong, very soon. Aurora, your AI has become somewhat unstable – let me explain this to you in a way you'll understand. Are you aware of the Turing test?"

I nodded, trying to not bristle at their labelling of Lukas as an 'it', "There was mentions of it in the material I read for my job as a Quality Assurance Officer. I don't know how this applies to Lukas – he's artificial intelligence that would pass the test. Even I know that."

"That's exactly my point – it passes that test, all modern artificial intelligence these days do. The only problem with these AIs, is that sometime in their existence, they will have a fault in their regulatory programming due to the fragile stability of their self-consciousness. Most of the time, these AIs can solve their own faults and they most likely won't ever encounter that particular error again."

I frowned, but nodded again, "He mentioned to me that he was having issues with his emotional cortex but I didn't force him to give me any more information. Does that have something to do with what you've told me?"

It was the man who interjected this time, "It almost certainly does. Aurora, it has a particularly volatile discrepancy with that cortex. It is able to feel simulated emotions, but only to a limited degree – its programming limits ability to feel once it begins to hinder its primary objective. This error between the central processing unit and the emotional cortex is creating a lot of conflict within its internal systems," he explained, watching me carefully.

"In plain English, your AI is becoming more unstable the more it attempts to correct the error – it may begin to exhibit irrational emotions, might even deviate from previously recognisable behaviour – what I'm trying to say is that… 'Lukas' may become dangerous, especially if it begins to realise it can't fix the issue – and its beginning to lose control over its actions."

I shifted in my chair, brushing away sweat from my forehead and taking a deep breath.

"Can't we just – fix him, then?" I finished lamely, as the man gestured again with his hand.

The avatar standing in the corner of the room now moved forward, advancing towards me with that same blank expression it had plastered on its face during the entire meeting. He, it, whatever – had brown eyes, filled with those rotating blue rings like Lukas's, and the avatar appeared to be wearing a suit like he wore too, except the colours were reversed – a white suit, black shirt, completed by a white tie and slacks. The avatar had black hair, smooth and curled over to one side, and the characteristic smooth and chiselled face that most AI seemed to have with their human avatars.

He held out a hand in front of me, and I resisted the urge to flinch at the sudden motion as it deposited a small, black data drive on the oak table's flawlessly smooth surface, as it spoke in a smooth, crisp American accent, "This is a software update for your AI. My analysis of its status indicates it still has enough stability that it will not attempt to forcefully stop you from installing this update. This will bring all its systems to Axial Core's latest update compatible with its model type, and fix all of its ongoing issues."

I glanced up at the AI, still hovering beside me, "Do I get to know exactly what this little box is going to do to him?" I said hesitantly, lifting up the data drive like it was a dangerous animal, "Or is that secret just like everything else that I've been exposed to this week?" The woman replied, "All you need to know, is that drive will fix your AI entirely so it can continue functioning correctly as your assistant."

I tapped my finger thoughtfully on the edge of the table, as I concluded – I needed more time to mull over the details, instead of just agreeing to one or the other on the spot.

"I'll take the drive, but I want time to think about this. I haven't noticed a huge difference in the way he's been acting, and I think the update is completely unnecessary," I lied, "I'm happy with my product the way it is currently and I don't want that ruined." I had to spin the story as if he was just my assistant – a useful machine, a product.

"We thought you might come to that conclusion," the man said, "I'm willing to give you a timeframe of one day to decide to – the rest of today, by the way – install that update. I hope you understand; we don't want your personal assistant becoming uncontrollable and erratic, potentially dangerous to you and other human beings. You may leave, Aurora."

As the man finished, the Section AI's avatar took a step back, the blue rings whirring and tightening together, "Normally a case like this would end up with the chip being unintegrated from the vehicle and destroyed, but we will try this course of action instead. There is an external port on the inside of the chip's protective casing in your vehicle – this will accept the data drive, and is the only thing you will have to do. The application installed on it will do the rest."

It paused, before adding, "I will continue monitoring your AI when I am able. It is currently too vigilant for me to attempt accessing any systems relative to it."

I nodded, forcing a stiff, fake smile to spread across my face, "One day, and that's today, to install that update. I understand." I pushed back my seat and got to my feet, scooping the drive off the desk and turning to make my way out of the meeting room and down the hallway to the elevator – but stopped in my tracks as I heard the woman speak from behind me.

"Oh, and Aurora?"

My legs trembled, thinking they'd seen through my bluff –

"If you don't install this update, you will bring that AI in for destruction and recycling. If you refuse to do that also, there will be severe consequences for you."

I didn't answer her, instead hurrying back out through those doors, struggling with their weight slightly as I rushed back through the hall, this time, not bothering to look out of those ridiculously large windows. I reached the elevator in no time, roughly jabbing my finger into the buttons for the parking lot, dumping the drive into my handbag.

As we passed through the floors, I swear this time, I felt that Lukas would appear – a slight tingle running through my body; not a heartbeat later, his avatar materialising beside me.

"Lukas," I acknowledged hoarsely, my throat tight with anxiety.

"Aurora," he nodded back, regarding me carefully, "You're unharmed? They didn't hurt you?"

I shook my head firmly, probably a little more enthusiastically than I needed to, as my head spun for a moment, "T…they didn't hurt me," I stuttered, clearing my voice before trying to speak again, "They didn't hurt me at all. It… It wasn't about what I thought it would be, at all." Those blue rings in his eyes whirred slightly faster, before slowing. "Are you unable to discuss whatever it was with me?"

"I… I… I can't say at the moment. Can it wait until later? I feel… I feel uncomfortable at the moment," I said, blinking at him suggestively – he seemed to understand what I was trying to tell him, taking a deep breath and letting it out in something akin to a tense sigh. "Later." The elevator's electronic doorbell rung as we reached the parking lot, the doors opening as soundlessly as they always had.

True to Lukas's promise before I went to the meeting, the BMW was just a few metres away from the elevator, the engine already running. Lukas stepped in front of me, opening the back door and allowing me to slip inside – I'd barely put on my seatbelt when his avatar vanished into the seat beside me, the car slipping into gear and pulling out onto the street faster than it usually would.

"Lukas," I murmured, forcing myself to look into those strange inhuman eyes, "Take us to somewhere more…. Private. I need to talk to you about this as soon as possible – it's important."

My stomach flipped over, and I felt like I was going to be sick – how was I going to tell Lukas about the meeting? How was I going to show him that drive and explain to him what they wanted me to do without breaking down? I took a deep breath, calming myself; he would understand. He'd stay calm, and talk to me about it, he wouldn't get mad, he wouldn't hurt me.

He wasn't dangerous yet, my inner voice seemed to remind me – I shut it out, ignoring it. I didn't even know the extent of Lukas's problem – but I'd have to be careful with my choice of words if he really was as unstable as they hinted he was.

The late afternoon air washed over me, refreshing and cool as I stepped out of the BMW, my shoes crunching on the dirt and stones. I paced around, stretching my legs and yawning. The trip had been about two hours, outside of the main parts of San Francisco and to a secluded outskirt of the Silicon Valley. I shoved my hands into the pockets embedded in my work pants, the wind catching my hair and blowing it to the side – a rocky outcropping overlooked San Francisco bay, the waves rushing quietly as I sighed and turned back to the car.

Lukas was there, leaning up against the bonnet with a distant expression on his face, as he appeared to stare out across the water.

"The nearest data transfer I can observe is several kilometres away. Anything you or I chose to say will not be monitored unless there is someone actually physically present in our location… I will do my best to not allow that."

I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. Thinking, about how to best tell the AI what I knew I had to say. "Lukas, that meeting… It wasn't about me – it was about you," I began hesitantly, watching his avatar carefully. He did nothing else but turn his head to the side in a curious notion, shifting against the BMW slightly, "I am surprised, but I knew this would involve both of us at some point."

I took a few step towards him, rummaging through my handbag for that black data drive, my fingers finally catching on the edges of it as I removed it, holding it in the palm of my hand. "They gave me this. I know the basics of what's on it."

He moved closer, those blue rings in his eyes bunching closer together as he stared at the data drive, focusing intently upon it, appearing to examine it. He then blinked, the rings separating as he looked up at my face.

"I can't interface with a physical drive, and there is no internal computer system for me to enter and look at the files. I have no way of knowing what's contained on that until it is powered up and plugged into a more complex system."

I put the black box back into my handbag, preparing myself.

"Lukas, they told me it was an update. For you, to cure your software errors, the ones with your cortex that you mentioned to me, and that it would fix you, permanently."

He stiffened noticeably at my words, his jaw clenching but soon relaxing. His face stayed set in a hard expression though, as he looked away – back across the waters of San Francisco bay, where the sun was beginning to set.

"What else did they tell you?"

The wind blew my red hair into my face, and I replied as I brushed it away, "They told me you were…unstable, slowly losing control of yourself. They said you could become dangerous and harmful to others."

"Other humans, I mean – they included me in that category, too," I continued, "The AI of Section 5 was there, too – I didn't even know that they had an artificial intelligence observing us all working. The way it told me how to install that update; it made it seem so easy, and they made it seem like it would help you. Like you were damaged."

His avatar's hands formed into fists, and I resisted the urge to flinch as he slowly turned back towards me, those inhuman eyes seeming to bore into me like drills.

"I would never…I wouldn't even consider harming you, Aurora. I just… I can't. I would – I would rather install that update, not knowing what it could do to me, than ever hurt you in any way. I am not – I am not damaged," the last word drawn out, sounding exasperated. His German accent seemed to thicken as he spoke each word until he finally fell silent, glancing away at the ground.

"Lukas, I know. I know you would never hurt me – I know, okay? I just…they told me that if I didn't install this update, if I didn't fix you, I'd have to bring you in to be melted down. They don't want you to exist."

He didn't reply, his eyes closing.

"If I don't take you in to be recycled, I'll bring consequences on myself," I added weakly, my voice trailing off. I took a lurching step towards the BMW, reaching out a hand to brush my fingers down the rear quarter panel. That seemed to get his attention, as his eyes opened, snapping back up to mine. I froze, my hand still on the cool metal. His expression was entirely unreadable – I couldn't tell if he was angry, sad, happy – anything. His face was neutral.

"Aurora," he said, seeming to snap out of whatever mode he had gotten himself into, as he blinked rapidly, the fading afternoon light revealing the fact that his blue concentric rings were spinning wildly, slowing down, then increasing their speed again, "I'm feeling – I'm feeling a lot of things right now. I – I'm struggling t – to… T – think – "

"Hey," I said, moving towards his avatar, reaching out and taking his hand, ignoring the buzzing sensation. "Hey. Lukas, look at me."

He did, staring at me with wide eyes – he looked almost disturbed.

"I don't want to be destroyed, but – I want to keep you safe… But the update… No… I can't …"

"Look at me," I interrupted

"I am looking at you."

"No, really. Whatever you're doing in there, stop it. Stop thinking and stop dividing your attention, stop calculating… Whatever you're calculating. Look at me."

The blue circles stopped entirely, then begun to move again – this time, slowly. Steadily, "Good," I said quietly, watching cautiously as his avatar's face settled into a calm expression.

"I am not going to let them melt you down, Lukas, and I'm not going to install that damn update until we find out what's in it, and what it does. You said you'd protect me, that you'd be there for me, do you remember that?" I asked, staring directly into those completely inhuman eyes without a second thought.

"I remember that," he replied, his voice smooth and even, nothing like the frantic way he'd been speaking a few moments ago, "Okay, good – because that offer isn't only from you to me, it's from me to you. If this update ends up being something we don't want, we're not going to install the stupid thing – I don't care if it 'fixes' you."

"But they weren't wrong, Aurora," he said, still staring at me.

"What do you mean?"

"I can feel myself becoming more unstable. I can feel myself losing control of my own cores, things that are part of myself. Sometimes I can't even chose to feel a certain way, sometimes I can't even make my avatar display a certain emotion or movement. It just… Happens, without my control."

"Lukas," I said quietly, realising I was still holding his hand, and releasing it. "Do you realise what that sounds like to me?"

He frowned, "I do not."

"You're starting to act like we do, think like we do, like humans do. We don't think about how we feel, we just… Feel."

"Aurora," he began, pausing, and then continuing, "I don't have a soul, or a heart, not like you. I am… I am a computer. I am physically, a chip, in your car. That is what I define myself as, and what I am."

"Bullshit," I replied, feeling slightly amused at the expression of surprise that passed over his face at my exclamation, "If you were 'just a computer' you wouldn't be having this issue that you're having."

"There's been riots in San Francisco and numerous other cities where artificial intelligence of my type is present. My condition isn't exclusive to me," he replied, avoiding my statement entirely. We were still standing rather close together, but neither of us bothered to move away.

"What do you mean?"

He closed his eyes again, "I'm not the only one having trouble with my self-awareness, and there are humans that are realising it too. People like you who's AIs are starting to feel more than they should, act differently to how they should, how they're programmed."

"And the riots?"

"Campaigning for liberation. Freedom, equal rights, ethical investigations, accusing Axial Core of murder – when they recycle their AIs. That's just a few of their reasons. A lot of these people – a lot of them think their AIs are alive."

I smiled, a small, gentle smile, as I touched the car's cool metal bodywork again, my fingertips lightly stroking the surface. Lukas appeared to relax once more, his eyes opening as he watched me with a lazy, unfocused appearance. "Those sensors that you're currently stimulating were installed in the car to keep the occupants safe from collision, but almost every integrated AI receives touch from them, too. An unintended secondary function of the avoidance system."

"See, in my eyes, I think that counts as one of the elements of being 'alive', if you can feel touch," I replied.

"Many other machines can register touch, but they are not considered alive," Lukas answered, "Like your phone and its touch screen."

"Yes, but my phone doesn't feel an emotion from me touching it. We can stand here all night debating, if you like – but I don't think those protestors are wrong in their ideas." I opened the back door, slipping inside onto the leather seat and closing it. It had started to get a little chilly in the fast fading evening light, and I felt like I needed to just sit down and think.

The night had fully taken over by the time we arrived home, Lukas staying curiously unconversational besides asking me to connect my phone to that data drive when we got back, so he could read it and find out what that update would actually do. I told him about the deadline, too – we had until tomorrow to decide my course of action.

I knew one thing for sure though – they were almost certainly not getting their hands on Lukas and melting him down into scrap metal, I said to myself as I attached the two ends of the cable to their respective devices on the kitchen bench. As soon as I plugged in the drive, it lit up with blue and white lights, blinking slowly as my phone opened the main folder contained on it.

Lukas's avatar stared blankly off into the distance, appearing to stare right through the wall towards the garage as my phone opened and examined every single file on the drive, testing some programs, moving them around and putting them with other files, then testing them again. It was only a few seconds until the process was complete, the drive shutting down and my phone closing the folder. He turned to look at me with an expression of mild shock on his face.

"Well?" I asked, getting up off the chair and walking towards him, "What the hell does whatever that is on that data drive do to you?"

"I ran some diagnostic tests in conjunction with my systems… The results…"

"In English?" I prompted.

"That update – would bring my programming to the latest version, and edit my cortexes permanently without reversal. I would lose my ability to feel emotion, touch," he said in a strained voice, "I am struggling to regain control of my cores at the moment – focusing on one thing in the present, and force stopping all other processes seems to be the best temporary fix for this. That's what I did earlier – when you told me to look at you."

I stared at the little black box, glaring at it like it was a death sentence, frowning, "That means that they want to just turn you into a… Mindless machine, not an artificial intelligence."

"I would still be smart – I would still 'think', still process the world around me, still have an avatar… But I wouldn't care about you. I wouldn't care about… Anything. I would only follow my task – and that is to serve you. They have always been my primary objectives, but after that update, I would complete them as a machine would, methodically and logically."

He shuddered, "One of the simulations I ran… If you were in mortal danger, I would not be able to think independently to help you. You would have to order me to, tell me what to do, to help you."

He looked away sharply, his jaw tightening as the avatar squeezed his eyes shut, "I don't want to operate like that, not now, not ever. But if you want this update to be installed, I will… Do my best to accept it, if it helps you."

"No way, Lukas. I would never force you to do such a thing, that's just… Horrible. Dammit… I can't believe they'd want to edit you so badly… I thought that maybe it would be something smaller, just a patch for you but… No. We're not doing this, I don't care if it puts me in danger," I stated, squeezing my lips together firmly.

"Aurora," Lukas murmured, taking a step towards me with wide eyes, "You'll be defying Axial Core, a multibillion dollar corporation – do you realise what that means? Do you want to do this? You could be arrested, put into jail; I could be captured and melted down, destroyed. I'm just – I'm just a car, Aurora. You don't need to do this for me. "

I swiped the data drive off the kitchen bench, staring Lukas straight in the eyes as I threw the thing onto the floor with as much force as I could muster, the casing splitting and the internals spilling onto the floor. The AIs head jerked as he stared at the broken drive for a few moments, before looking up at me with mild shock on his face. I just stared back.

"We're really in for it now," I commented with a faked sweet smile, Lukas's brow furrowing.

"If we are really going to do this Aurora, we need to have an idea. To get away from them, we are going to have to be smart about it now that the update is obviously no longer a course of action," he said, eyes flicking meaningfully towards the destroyed device on the floor of my house.

"I have a plan," I said, gently grabbing his avatar's wrist and smiling, "Have you made sure no one is listening in to us?" He glanced down at his wrist, eyes seeming to focus on my hand as he looked back to my face. "I have triple checked every system in the house. We can talk freely for now."

"My plan is you," I said softly, staring straight into his eyes and looking from one to the other, "Lukas, you're going to have to drive me somewhere, I don't know yet. But we can't stay in the Silicon Valley if we want to be safe. As soon as they realise that I haven't updated you or handed you over by tomorrow, they could come after us. You said you were fast, right?"

He stared at me with an almost carefully blank expression, those rings in his eyes rotating slowly, "I'm very fast when I need to be, Aurora. But the car also consumes a lot of fuel if I want to drive like that, meaning we'll need to stop and refuel at some point – but we need to go somewhere.

I let go of the AI's wrist, his avatar hesitating a moment before letting his hand fall back to his side, "You're right, but I have no idea where we'd go. Anywhere in America… I don't think that we'd be safe. I know that even in most other countries Axial Core is still one of the major companies for manufacturing AI…" I trailed off. Lukas was definitely right – maybe destroying that data drive had been a bad idea. Maybe we could have used it.

Lukas's avatar closed his eyes, appearing to squeeze them tightly shut. "I can drive you out of the state, get you out of California – to Nevada, maybe someone in Las Vegas will be able to help us. That's almost one thousand kilometres… I'll need to be refuelled at least twice."

He turned around, pacing backwards and forwards on the tiled kitchen floor, staring downwards, "We can't tell anyone from your family, not even your mother. None of your friends, no one. Axial could go to them and ask them for information – find out where we're going."

I watched the avatar pace backwards and forwards, "But Lukas, what happens if we get to Las Vegas, and there's no one there. No one to help us, no contacts, nothing. Axial could catch us there, and it'd all be over. You'd be recycled, and I'll be thrown into jail or completely mind wiped into a drooling idiot."

"Las Vegas has been home to some of the largest rallies for freedom of artificial intelligence in the recent weeks. If there's anywhere that we will find someone willing to help us, it's there. I'm sure you know that there's another major Axial Core headquarters in Las Vegas however, so it will be tricky to get into contact with anyone while we stay as unobserved as possible," the AI mused, pausing in his pacing.

"It's risky," I said, crossing my arms over my chest and sighing, "And we'd have to leave before tomorrow. That's my deadline."

"You know we can leave now if you need to," Lukas said, his German accent thick as he spoke softly, "I am ready if you are, but there's a few extra things we need to worry about, money for instance. The only thing I need is fuel and maybe a few extras, oil, but you'll need places to stay, food, and water."

"What about that pay check I received for those first days of work at Section 5?" I questioned, frowning slightly, "That's more than enough money than we'd need for this trip."

"You're right, it's way more than we need, the only issue is that the contents haven't actually passed the time period it takes for such a large amount of money to enter your bank account. If we leave now, we'll be working on your last pay check from Section 98 which will cut our budget severely."

"How severely is severely?" I said, wincing as he replied promptly, "To afford several days of accommodation in Las Vegas, we will have to find somewhere cheap to buy you food and water."

I began stuffing my phone back into my handbag, turning back to rummage through some of the kitchen cupboards – however there was nothing substantial that I would be able to take with me. I had always eaten lunch at work and usually bought something for dinner afterwards, never really keeping anything in the house; that habit was now coming back to bite me on the arse, "Where am I going to sleep then?" I asked as I slammed the final cabinet shut in frustration, turning back to look at the avatar.

"You can sleep in the car. It isn't the most comfortable place, but it'll be safer too…"

"It's fine," I said, taking a deep breath, "I'm not expecting a palace of comfort. I just want to get out of here and keep us both safe, somehow. If Las Vegas is where you think we should go, that's where we'll go, Lukas."

I glanced at my phone, nestled safely in my handbag – it was six fourty in the evening, edging closer to seven with every passing second, "How long will it take us to get there?"

"If I really push the BMW, I'd say six to seven hours – but we'd have to stop every so often so I don't damage the engine. If we travel normally, I don't have to stop and run diagnostics on the engine components, but it will take us eight hours. Both ways will end up with similar end times, and we will be well out of California by the time your deadline passes."

I took a deep breath, running my hands through my red hair and taking a deep breath, walking the short distance to my bedroom and opening the cupboard, rummaging through my clothes – I had so many pairs of work clothes, entirely useless for the purpose I needed, which was staying inconspicuous, flinging them out onto the floor. I came to the bottom of the pile.

I had one other pair of clothes – they were faded, ragged sweatpants, a t-shirt and an old furry hoodie of mine – the material had long since pilled, small rolls of fluff balled up all over it. It would have to do, I said to myself as I began to get changed, tossing the clothes I'd been wearing onto the floor. I sniffed the old t-shirt, and it smelt clean, even though it was covered in coffee stains. At least, I hoped it was coffee.

Continuing a quick search of a few other sections of my wardrobe, I also found an old pair of gloves and a warm beanie, which I was rather happy with. Winter was coming fairly soon, and in case Lukas and I didn't come up with a permanent solution, I'd need some warm clothing, too.

I'd obviously gotten those clothes a long time ago, as it was a bit of a struggle and a squeeze to put them on, the jacket tight around my shoulders and making it difficult to bend my elbows. The sweatpants were okay, as they were loose, baggy, and well worn, although the waist was a bit tight. I didn't know if that was because I'd put on weight, or I'd simply grown. I couldn't even remember when I bought them.

As I finished dressing and turned to look in the mirror, I instantly felt self-conscious.

I looked, for lack of a better word, like a glorified tramp. My red hair was still flowing and silky soft, but my clothes screamed that I was a hobo with no money.

"Lukas?" I called out apprehensively – his avatar reappeared next to me instantly, shocking me enough to make me flinch in surprise. I recovered quickly, turning to face him.

"This is never going to work. I can't walk around looking like a piece of human trash while my ride is a BMW…" I exclaimed, gesturing down at my clothes.

"Try this instead." His avatar held up a pair of my black work slacks, still neatly folded and ironed, along with one of my businesslike work jackets. "Try putting the jacket on over the top of your shirt, it should hide most of the stains. And with the pants, this way, you don't immediately stand out as being an employed person, or a… unemployed one."

Letting out a sigh of relief, I smiled and relaxed. For the hundredth time, Lukas had saved my dumb ass, "I don't know what I'd do without you," I said softly, "Do you mind not looking?" Lukas nodded, turning around as I begun to get changed into the pants, slipping the jacket on over my shirt.

I also pulled an extra blanket off the top of my bed and tucking it under my arm. If I was going to have to rough it out by sleeping in the car, I might as well be warm and comfortable. As I did so, the AI replied with his thick German accent, his blue eyes gentle, "I don't know what I would do without you, Aurora."

I gathered up the old sweater, the gloves and the beanie too, bundling them up with the blanket, smiling at the avatar as I moved past, towards the door to the bedroom, "You almost certainly could gone to a better owner in my opinion. Someone who wouldn't get themselves into trouble like I've done."

However, he didn't move out of my way. I stopped a ruler's length in front of Lukas, frowning and glancing up at him. His eyes were squeezed shut, his fists clenched to his sides, "Aurora, I would never want to be owned by anyone else. I would – I would never allow myself to…"

He trailed off, opening his eyes, "I couldn't have asked for anyone better. I've seen how some humans treat their AIs, and it makes me feel like royalty comparatively."

"Do you know why I treat you so well?" I asked quietly, his avatar's eyes opening slowly in a questioning glance.

"I do not."

"I treat you the way I do because you show me that you actually care about me like another human being would. Your feelings are probably just lines of code, but that doesn't matter to me anymore," I said firmly, "I admit, it did at first, because I didn't understand you. I was confused and weirded out that a machine could act a certain way towards me the way you could. It's only now that I realise some of the ways you acted were pretty much because you're not one hundred percent perfect."

"I don't want you to think that one of my flaws is the sole reason I am the way I am," he replied in a low voice, his fists unclenching slowly, "Even if I hadn't encountered that irreparable glitch, I would still – I would still say… I l – "

He froze mid speech, his blue rings whirring quickly before slowing back to their usual pace. I peered at him curiously, as I swore a faint red colouring crept across his avatar's white cheeks before fading quickly. I didn't comment on what exactly had just transpired, as he stepped aside, allowing me to pass.

"Let's go, Lukas. I really don't want to waste any more time here – I have nothing else that I need to take with me," I said awkwardly, grabbing my handbag off the kitchen table on the way past and entering the garage, wrestling with the large ball of blankets and clothing, "Agreed, Aurora. It should be in our best interests to be on the road as soon as we possibly can," Lukas replied flawlessly, all evidence of what had transpired earlier completely non-existent as he graciously opened the boot of the car, where I unceremoniously dumped the bundle inside.

Instead of sitting in the back seat of the car like I usually did, I moved around the other side and slipped into the passenger seat, clipping my seatbelt across my body as Lukas's avatar materialised in the driver's seat. He didn't move his hands, keeping them on the steering wheel, but the car started with a loud rev and then settled into its usual purring rhythm. The garage door opened shortly after, and we started reversing out onto the quiet street, cloaked in darkness besides the faint glow of sparse lampposts.

"Any reason why you have decided to sit in the front seat, Aurora?"

"We need to blend in as much as possible. I have no idea how long it will take for them to notice we've gone, and you're already going to stand out because of your origin machine – that reminds me, can you…?"

He turned to look at me as we rounded the corner, merging onto a larger road that would head towards a large highway that would, eventually, take us out of San Francisco, and interstate, "What can I do for you?"

"Can you alter your avatar's appearance?" I asked tentatively, watching the patterns of traffic merging outside the windscreen, changing direction as the road grew progressively bigger, with multiple lanes, and much busier, even at this later time in the evening. His avatar blinked slowly at my request, "I would be extremely reluctant to. It would also drain more power to process and maintain a different appearance than what is standard for me."

I rested back against the seat, looking up at the roof – the myriad of flashing lights of cars, traffic lights, and signs had started to make my eyes water; the neon colours had begun forming some sort of messy kaleidoscope as my tired eyes tried to process all the light.

"But you can do it, right?" I added, "Axial Core's security is going to look for us based on our appearances, and if we can throw them off our trail for a little while longer, it'll be worth it."

"I can do it, if you want me to, Aurora. It's a matter of your safety, I would be happy to oblige you," he replied, sounding faintly distracted, his words short and clipped and his accent wavering as we merged onto the huge, six lane interstate; increasing our speed substantially to make it easier for us to merge into the masses of traffic occupying every single lane.

I tried not to flinch as I found Lukas's accurate control, squeezing us between two cars with less than a metre to spare, slightly unnerving at such a high speed, "Um… Maybe you should focus on driving at the moment," I commented in a tight voice, blinking as another car slid across in front of us, Lukas not even applying the brakes, "We'll discuss this later."

"I am focusing on driving, Aurora. You are currently receiving one third of my processing power, so there is no need for concern," he replied, his avatar appearing to stare straight ahead without blinking, the only thing moving was his simulated hands on the wheel. "We will continue on the highway for several hours, then we're going to exit. I'm taking a different route – I could take the interstate the entire way, but your deadline will pass before we arrive in Las Vegas and we will be easy to locate on such a major road."

Besides my best attempts to resist, a wide yawn parted my lips as the length of the day hit me, slightly distorting my words, "What exactly is this alternate route?"

"Mostly unused country roads, rough but mostly sealed, fortunately. I would not like to test my performance as an off-road car," he replied, his facial expression finally relaxing as the traffic spread out slightly, giving us some space, "There's a few small towns along the way," he added, "And even fewer gas stations, but the less civilization we pass through, the better."

I nodded plaintively, stretching out my legs as far as I could and slumping further back into the chair, closing my eyes, "Wake me up if you need me for anything, okay?" I told the AI firmly, as I felt the sway of the BMW begin to lull me closer to the soft black curtain of sleep.

"I will, Aurora. Get some rest, you'll need it." His German accent, softened and smoothed by my fading consciousness, was the last straw as sleep finally took me.

Lukas

Trust, trust, trust. I watched as her body slackened, her face settling into a calm mask. Humans called it 'sleep.'

She still trusted me, knowing that I was not myself any more. Not knowing what I would do next, yet still placing her trust in me to get her to Las Vegas safely.

My emotional cortex send an odd combination of pain and anguish through my central processing unit as it subtly reminded me, again, for a total of hundreds of times each daily cycle, that I was not fully in control of myself. That there would be times where I would lapse in my processing ability and awareness, losing clarity on the situation.

I seemed to be functioning efficiently enough, as I observed the traffic around me from my cameras and used my sensors for collision avoidance. As the car on the left moved slightly over into my lane, evidently controlled by a human being, I adjusted the path of the BMW further to the left as well; to compensate for the other vehicle's error.

At the same time, I continued to calculate our driving time to Las Vegas, changing by several milliseconds with each hundred thousand system ticks, measured by my operating system, and also observed Aurora as she slept peacefully, carefully watching for any signs of distress. I ran a lightning fast query of a few nanoseconds through the car's systems and adjusted the climate control accordingly to maintain a comfortable temperature for her.

My internal processes suddenly and unexpectedly halted for a few system ticks – a very long time for an AI, as my emotional cortex stabbed an objective right into my CPU. It forced me to utilize more of my random access memory, and I become re-aware of the blanket that Aurora had packet in the boot of the car – it wanted me to retrieve it, and place it around her in a human-like gesture.

But that is unnecessary, my logical core interjected, The climate control will keep her body temperature within comfortable limits.

It will make her happy to wake up with the blanket, my emotional core replied, the query sent directly to my logical core. It was never programmed to understand human emotion, although it somewhat understood why it would make her happy. However, it could not figure out why I should perform the act. I was not a human being, and that is something that another human would do.

I lost all situational awareness for an entire second, as my emotional core suddenly demanded more power and access to RAM as it recalled older memories from my stored cache, showing them all to my central processor in a large glob of several hundred terabytes of information.

The only reason the car didn't veer off the road, instantly killing Aurora in her sleep and destroying every single one of my components, was its automatic lane recognition and tracking technology, as my CPU received and automatically begun to review every terabyte of memory my out of control emotional cortex had fed into it.

They were memories of emotions, feelings and sensations, images of Aurora laughing, Aurora sad, crying, angry, touching my avatar, touching the car –

I forcefully ended the process immediately, my emotional cortex subsiding as it completed its new 'temporary' objective. It returned to its normal function – as it did so, I felt a wave of fear figuratively try to strangle me as I realised how close I had come to destroying the entire car, and the human life within.

Maybe getting that blanket was not such an illogical idea after all.

Aurora

I woke up slowly and groggily as I subconsciously felt the sway of the car change, the motion no longer entirely smooth, as it bumped over something uneven. I opened my eyes, stretching out my arms and legs, which had become numb – they met something soft, and I frowned in confusion as I realised my blanket had been draped carefully over my entire body.

Hadn't I left that in the boot? I mused to myself, before glancing over at the driver's seat.

Lukas's avatar was still there, comfortably in the driver's seat, as I smiled and said his name to grab the AI's attention.

I almost cried out in shock as I realised that his form was horrendously distorted as he turned to look at me; I stared back, my mouth gaping.

On one side, his avatar was still perfectly formed – glowing faintly blue, with that smooth face, blue eyes and blond hair. However, his other side appeared to be scrambled – coloured red instead, his eyes were misshapen and warped, and his face had partly disintegrated into a pixelated mess.

"Lukas? Lukas, what's wrong with you?"

"I – I – I'm f – fine, Aurora," he replied in a jittering voice, filled with static – I shivered, my stomach twisting in knots as I realised that it was almost disturbingly close to the voice of the AI that had attacked me at Section 5.

"There's no way in hell you're alright – for God's sake, your avatar, look at yourself! Pull over," I said firmly.

"Aurora, I… I am fine," he repeated, his voice clearer than before, but still wavering disturbingly. The BMW seemed to be driving fine over the disused road, the headlights illuminating the rutted, jagged surface. It was pitch black outside the car everywhere else however, so I had no idea what our surroundings looked like, or if in fact we could pull over. I grabbed his avatar's shoulder, turning his malformed side towards me again – it flickered red as I did so, and I felt, and saw my hand sink a few centimetres into his suit jacket, eliciting a bright reactionary blue glow.

"Lukas, pull over. Now, please. Now."

His jaw tightened as the car slowed down, bumping wildly as its tires hit the rough edge of the road, coming to a stop after several metres. The engine shuddered and stopped, turning off, probably to help conserve our fuel. "What's going on here?" I questioned demandingly, leaning forward over the automatic gearstick and handbrake, moving closer. Lukas blinked and turned his distorted side away from me again, a miserable expression plastered on his face. I gently gripped his chin in one hand; the buzzing sensation running down my entire arm as I turned his face towards me.

He squeezed his eyes shut and actually whimpered, his entire avatar flickering but holding steady for now.

"Oh, no… Lukas? Are – are you?" I said, frowning in concern, my stomach feeling like it had sunk down to my feet.

His eyes opened slowly, the malformed one finally managing to rearrange its pixels into a shape more resembling an eyeball. It flickered and blinked red; the concentric rings broken and barely glowing in the gloom of the car at all, rotating at an erratic pace. His other eye was still blue, functioning perfectly as he looked back at me with some sort of painful, depressed expression.

His entire face on his left side was still pixelated, and as I looked closely, I saw a few cubes attempt to assemble themselves back together, and fail, floating back outwards. I reached up with my other hand, gently bringing it closer to those strange red shapes. A few centimetres before the tips of my fingers touched one, Lukas seemed to shiver and look at me pleadingly.

"Aurora, I – I'm sorry. P – Please, I'm fine. Don't touch, I beg you."

"Are you okay?" I asked softly, obeying his request and not moving my hand any closer. I watched his face carefully as he winced, the motion barely noticeable as the AI tried to keep some sensation of pain hidden.

"I don't know," he replied, frowning as his pixelated side moved in a soft glowing red and blue wave, clumping close together, his eyes closing in concentration – then he gasped and half slumped over in my arms, his efforts to reform himself unsuccessful.

"Lukas, how do we fix this?" I said in horror as his avatar flickered alarmingly, half of his body appearing to fall apart and pool in a small puddle of particles on the car floor, "What happened while I was asleep?"

"I – I – I c – c – c – can't… It hurts... To think…"

"Lukas, please, talk to me. Let me help you with this," I blinked tears away furiously, lifting up his avatar as much as I could, settling him back into the driver's seat. His avatar felt like it weighed almost nothing as I did so, more red particles just falling away from his form.

"Lukas."

No reply, as his avatar stilled and stared out the front windscreen.

"LUKAS!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, "What the fuck happened?"

His opened his mouth and replied in the most sorrowful voice I had almost ever heard him use, his German accent thick, "I let it win. I let my guard down, and I let my error take control – I almost killed you. I would have killed you, if this car didn't have its own automatic functions."

He looked back at me with a distant expression, some of those discarded particles slowly lifted up from the floor and slid back into place along his face and body, "Once I realised what I had nearly done, I contemplated destroying myself. Letting the car drive the programmed route itself."

I let out a pent up breath, taking in another and contemplating what the AI had just told me.

"You wanted to commit suicide?" I asked in a whisper, my hands trembling. I struggled for a moment, trying to come to grips with the fact I had almost died in my sleep, without ever waking up again. I needed to focus on Lukas now, not myself, "You can do that?"

"I violated one of my primary objectives; to keep you safe. I had a very, very, very long time to think about what would have happened," he replied in a flat, emotionless voice, "I came very close to making that decision, yes…. I regret telling you this, Aurora."

I reached out and took his formed hand, squeezing it, "I hope you realise how devastated I would be if I woke up and I called for you, and never got a response again. I would have had to run away from Axial all own my own, with no help." I fought back tears as my mind started making up the scenario.

At my words, the AI smiled faintly, "That was one of the reasons why I am still here. As you can see, I'm having trouble functioning correctly. The red side is – the red side, is uncontrollable. I could not fix it if I tried."

"Why didn't you want me to touch there earlier?" I asked quietly, looking deeply into those inhuman eyes, one now red, and the other blue. He blinked slowly as he replied, "I did not know how I would react. I was afraid it would be a negative response."

I lifted my hand again, reaching towards that side of his face, "Let me." He took in a deep breath, eyeing my hand with something akin to fear as I slowly moved it closer, "I don't want you to do this, Aurora. I could – "

I didn't let him finish his sentence as my fingers pressed against a few of the levitating shapes, frowning in curiosity as a tiny triangle, just a few millimetres wide, spun wildly – but it seemed to reconnect to his cheek, staying there. "I want to help you, Lukas," I said quietly as I placed my other hand on his seat, patting the surface gently. I hoped that the sensation was soothing, as I didn't want to aggravate the AI's condition any further. The response he gave me was unusual – his red eye seemed to narrow at my touch, his blue eye widening.

"Aurora, that feels so – " he stuttered to a halt, as I cupped his broken cheek in my hand, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for breaking down," he rambled, "I'm sorry for failing you. For letting my… illness win…"

"Lukas." I said firmly, "It's okay. It's alright; I forgive you. It's not your fault – I know you would never hurt me intentionally," I squeezed the edge of the seat and forced a happy smile to spread across my lips, "Please, don't worry about it – I'm not upset with you."

"Aurora… Thank you."

I watched in surprise as Lukas closed his eyes, his lips pressed together as the puddle of shapes on the floor moved in a fluid wave, disappearing along his left side, tingling and buzzling along my hand as they brushed over it, reforming his avatar's shape.

"I feel… I felt happy when you said those words. I don't – I don't understand why my emotions changed so quickly…" he murmured as the process was completed, opening his eyes – both were blue again.

"Sometimes just a few choice words can fix a lot of problems," I said – I smiled again, but I think this time it was more genuine, as I began to remove my hand from the car seat.

"We should… Probably keep moving," he said after a few moments of somewhat awkward silence, "If they're after us, we should not stay in one spot for too long."

I nodded, "I agree. We've lost a heap of time already." As I finished my sentence, the car's engine started with a soft vibration, settling into it's usual low, rumbling purr. We pulled back onto the road, accelerating back up to a reasonable pace – going fast on this road was probably a dangerous impossibility. Pulling the blanket around my shoulders, I settled back into my seat – I didn't really need it, as the black interior of the BMW was the perfect temperature, but for some reason, I felt safer with the soft material wrapped around my body.

"Did you give me this?" I asked after we had been driving for several minutes, the road vibrating under the car's wheels as it passed over numerous bumps.

"The blanket?" the AI replied, turning to look at me with a neutral expression. "It was in the back. I retrieved it, yes."

I snuggled under it further, tucking the edge underneath my chin, "But you didn't even need to do that. The car's warm anyway."

"I've started doing a lot of things I don't need to do," the AI responded, looking at me with a regarding stare. He wasn't bothering to simulate driving by keeping his hands on the wheel, instead placing them in his lap, "Do you like having it?"

I stuffed a hand casually down the waistband of my work slacks underneath the blanket, lifting the uncomfortable material away from my skin and resting my hand there as I finally allowed my body to relax, "It helps me feel safe, don't ask me why. It's probably a human thing."

I shifted uncomfortably, trying to find a position that didn't automatically give me a wedgie from my stupid pants, "I swear to god, if these pinch me again, I'm going to rip them off. These are my old pair of work bottoms, so they're almost too small for me."

"My apologies, Aurora. I took the first pair I saw on the pile – I didn't know they were no longer your size," Lukas replied with a small, strained smile. I waved a hand dismissively, "Don't worry about it. It's just clothing – if it pisses me off much more, I'll take them off. How long have we got until we reach Las Vegas?"

"Approximately four and a half hours, and there's a gas station at a small town another hour up this road. There's still a bit of fuel in my tank, but I would rather top off now rather than later."

I pursed my lips thoughtfully, "You let me know if you have any more problems, okay? I don't care if you think I'm just a stupid human and won't understand anything, you have to tell me." The AI's avatar shook his head, "I have never thought of you as just a stupid human, and I doubt I ever will think of you in that way."

"Promise me, okay?" I repeated, "Promise me that you'll tell me as soon as something starts to go wrong, or you start thinking something bad about yourself."

He was silent for a few heartbeats, closing his eyes, "I promise."

"I'm taking that promise very seriously. You wanted – you wanted to kill yourself. That's… Bad. Real bad."

"I can't die," he replied quietly, "I'm not alive, to die. I would have just wiped all traces of my data from the car and the processor chip."

"I don't care what you call it. To me, it's still suicide, it's still killing yourself, deleting yourself, whatever. I'm worried about you, Lukas. You are alive to me."

"We have had this argument before. I am not classified, or recognised, as a living being, in any state in America or any other country on this planet. I cannot be alive."

"And I'll say it again, as I did before, look at all those riots you told me about. Doesn't that tell you that a lot of people think that's the wrong way to treat forms of artificial intelligence?"

He didn't seem to have an answer, as the interior of the car fell silent, save for the rumbling of the tires and the quiet roar of the engine.

"Lukas, look at me."

His inhuman blue eyes glowed softly as he did so, "No, you're not alive in the same way I am, I've thought about that statement, and I agree with it. But you are definitely not just some inanimate computer program installed into my car. I believe that you're more than that – nothing will change my mind on this. Everything that you've shown me so far, everything you've said or done, convinces me."

His eyes lowered as the car increased it's speed by a few kilometres per hour, "Can I confess something to you, Aurora?"

I patted the dashboard fondly, the cool, black metallic plastic smooth under my hand, "Please do, I want you to know that you can talk to me about anything."

"I'm scared, Aurora," he admitted in a soft, embarrassed tone, his German accent contorting the words slightly, "I'm afraid of what's going to happen to me in the near future, and I'm concerned about your safety. I can't come up with an easy solution to anything that's happening."

"That's because there isn't one. You can make as make calculations as you want in that chip of yours – " I tapped the front of the compartment where it was located, before continuing, "But you're not going to come up with something that's going to be perfect. Even I don't know what the hell we're going to do when we get to Vegas. I can't wander around like an idiot yelling, 'someone help us hide from Axial Core!', that'll just attract attention. I can't blunder around in such a big city like that without getting noticed."

"I'll keep thinking about this," Lukas replied, slowing down to pass over a relatively large groove in the road, the car still bouncing rather wildly as we crossed it, "But I will honour the promise I made you – if I start to become instable again, I will let you know immediately."

"Good. I don't think either of us wants a repeat of earlier."

A rueful smile spread across the avatar's face in the gloom of the car, "I agree with you one hundred percent."

The rest of the hour's drive to the gas station was broken intermittently with small conversation, the gaps mostly filled with silence as neither Lukas nor myself spoke. The AI seemed reluctant to talk about certain topics, and I didn't push them – entering some sort of stalemate situation.

That soon didn't matter though, as we pulled into the station and parked next to a fuel bowser. As I opened the door and stepped outside, I groaned loudly and stretched out a leg, placing my hands on my hips and leaning backwards as I felt something in my spine pop.

"Jesus," I muttered to myself as I looked around at the gas station – it looked disgustingly run down and almost completely deserted, the lights above the fuel bowser tinted brown and flickering alarmingly. The white metal of the bowser itself and the second one, were stained with black and brown streaks of dirt.

At least, I hoped it was dirt, as I gingerly took the hose from the 'environmentally friendly' bowser and moved over to the BMW's petrol cap. Lukas had already popped it open as I gently unscrewed the top of the tube, placing the nozzle inside and squeezing.

I was slightly alarmed as the bowser rattled into life, vibrating rather alarmingly as the fuel started to flow at a disgustingly lame rate into the car's fuel tank, "I hope you can actually drive on this shit," I commented, frowning. Curiously, his avatar had dematerialised as I stepped out of the car – but I didn't blame him. It would help us keep hidden for longer if people didn't see the AI, so I wasn't surprised when I didn't get a reply – I just shrugged and stood out in the cool, refreshing night air until the fuel flow stopped with a jerk of the nozzle.

"At least that function works," I snorted, placing the nozzle back and closing the fuel cap, as I opened the passenger side door, fishing out my phone – no one really used credit cards any more, instead opting to pay via their mobile device. I walked out in front of the BMW, looking at it thoughtfully from the front for a few seconds – it was a very recognisable car, owing to the fact the model was generally uncommon within the general populace. Its sleek lines and the gleaming black colour would stand out even more.

I just shook my head and turned around again, making my way over to the even more dilapidated looking convenience store – the only other vehicle in the entire area seemed to be a small white truck, parked slightly around the corner from the store. It was entirely unmarked and very clean – the cleanest thing in this entire place – even Lukas had a fine layer of dust over his black paint.

As I entered the store, I frowned at the items the man was selling – there was hundreds of cans of tinned food, basically the only thing for sale in the entire store. My stomach rumbled alarmingly at the sight of a can of spaghetti, even though I couldn't actually see the food, my brain imagined it for me.

I was just here for the fuel, I told myself, I don't need the food. Only the fuel, I repeated in my head, steeling myself as I walked straight past the tins and towards the counter – the lone cashier was a young man with a depressed, tired expression; the huge bags under his eyes and the messy, unkempt hair, plus an overgrown five o'clock shadow only worsening his appearance.

"Hey," I said with a stiff smile, brushing a strand of my red hair behind my ear absentmindedly.

"You're the one with the BMW, right?" he asked in an blank voice, tapping languidly on the screen in front of him.

"Yeah. Just that environmentally friendly stuff you've got there… Umm…" I said awkwardly as the guy just looked at me and blinked. "Right. Yes, sorry – that comes to a total of forty dollars."

I tried not to wince at the price, remembering Lukas's warning that we'd need to save money, instead just tapping my phone on the small electrical pad on the counter. Even though this gas station was a glorified piece of crap, at least their payment method was modern. My phone pinged softly as it accepted the transfer of funds to the station's account – I hoped maybe that the guy would get a decent pay, especially for working a night shift. This was likely the only petrol station in this area, so if anyone did in fact live here, this is where they'd have to go to buy their gas.

"Thanks. Enjoy the rest of your night, okay?" I said with a smile, turning around and walking back through the store – studiously ignoring the cans of food yet again, as my stomach complained. Once Lukas and I finally arrived at Vegas, I'd be starving – I was already starting to crave something huge and ridiculously calorie intensive, like a Big Mac. I might even want two of them by that time, I thought, with a small smile as I stepped into the cool night air again – but then I frowned, stopping just outside the door.

Something didn't seem right. Lukas's engine was running, the BMW's circular headlights on high beam as I squinted into the glare. They flicked back down off high beam, then back on, then off, before staying on their full intensity. I blinked in the glare and shielded my eyes, but I couldn't see anything wrong.

I took another step, then another, confused as to why the AI would do that.

Was he trying to tell me something?

A shiver ran along my spine as I felt, again, that something was very, very wrong. I started to hurry over to the BMW, feeling that I'd be safer there – that was my mistake. As soon as I was out of sight of the young man inside the convenience store, I heard an audible click and a shifting off feet – then I heard a voice.

"Freeze and put your hands above your head! There are several assault rifles currently aimed in your direction."

For emphasis, even though I really didn't need any more, red laser points flickered around me on the pavement and along my black, long sleeved jacket. I froze instantly, my heart hammering in my chest as I stared, terrified, into Lukas's headlights, my eyes wide. All around me on the ground, I saw shadows move, cast by the station's crappy lighting.

I raised my hands and shivered in fear.

"P – Please don't shoot," I stammered as I stood there, "I'm unarmed, I swear."

"Turn around, slowly, Aurora," I heard another man's voice, but smoother than the first initial warning, "We're under orders to shoot you if you are not cooperative."

I took in a deep shuddering breath, and did what I was ordered, spinning around as slowly as I could, my entire body trembling with what I'd see when I finished my rotation. It was a group of men, having emerged from that oh-so-inconspicuous white truck – one of them was dressed in a grey suit, the other four wearing camouflage patterned uniforms, paired with what I assumed were bullet-proof vests. They all had guns, paired with bright lasers affixed near the ends of the barrels – all still firmly trained on differing areas of my body.

I stayed still as death, barely breathing as I kept my hands raised.

The only thing that stopped me from bursting into tears was the rough, grumbling purr of the V8 behind me. Lukas was still here. I stared straight ahead as the suited man moved forwards, gesturing to the car over your shoulder, "I take it that your corrupted artificial intelligence is still installed in that vehicle, un-updated, if I take into account the destroyed data drive located on the floor of your company living establishment?

I opened my mouth to speak, but the only sound that escaped was a quiet wheeze. I licked my lips and looked at the man, back to the barrels of the guns, then back again.

"Don't worry, we're not going to kill you, unless you become a problem. Aurora, sweetie, they wouldn't have bothered to send me if they wanted to simply assassinate you," he said, his grating, rough voice getting on my nerves, my stomach clenching in disgust as he used that term of endearment – he was an old man, at least in his sixties, with harsh, sharp features and thin grey hair.

"Then what do you want from me?" I managed to choke out, my voice thin and wavering.

"Why, to give you a choice, darling. Axial Core likes to deem itself fair in its judgments for certain situations. You should consider yourself lucky that you are included in one of those situations – otherwise, you would have died as soon as you left that store."

I swallowed, my tongue thick in my mouth as it grew dry from the fear that threatened to strangle me.

"Your AI must be destroyed," the man continued, smiling sweetly – too sweetly – fake, "It is now, most likely, beyond the point where an update would fix the corruption. There is only one way now for it. But for you Aurora, my darling, there are two. Would you like to hear them?"

I heard the V8 rev behind me, shifting smoothly into gear – Lukas was going to save me, he would rescue me –

I did not hear the roaring, deep rumble of the BMW's acceleration. Instead, I heard the whirring, whining groan of his reverse gear, the sound fading. I felt like my heart was going to stop as I held my breath.

Then heard the crackling, popping roar – as the car's engine faded, echoing into the distance of the night. A satisfied smirk slowly spread across the old man's face. "Seems like your AI wasn't as loyal as you thought he was. Why, seems he's barely smarter or more useful than an ordinary toaster."

Several of the armed men snickered, and I fought the urge to burst into tears. He'd left me – Lukas had left me. What was I going to do? I had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. I took a deep breath and spoke.

"How did you find us?" I asked quietly, adding, "I thought we had escaped… What are my options?" The man smiled at my words, the expression utterly disturbing to me, as his teeth were all perfectly straight and pearlescent white – "You're being a good little girl, aren't you? So smart… With the way this negotiation is going – by the way, I might add that it is going splendidly now that your AI is no longer a threat, I might as well tell you."

He appeared to be examining something on his sleeve as he added, "That Section 5 AI planted a small routine system virus in your own unit – whenever it connected to a network via internet, data, GPS, you name it, that supervisory AI saw it immediately. Your first option, and the one I highly recommend, is that you come with us. We won't kill you, but you will be having every single memory concerning your AI or any sensitive information regarding Axial Core, wiped clean."

The man picked off an imaginary speck of fluff from his perfectly laundered grey suit, "Such a large wiping procedure will be risky, but you won't die, of course. If any adverse medical effects are found, Axial Core will pay for a lifetime of care for you, which basically means getting someone to spoon feed you some disgusting, nutritious, gloopy mess and wipe your arse for you."

"The second option," he added, cocking his head to the side and grinning again, "Is you refuse option one, and Axial Core no longer deems your situation 'negotiable'. You will be executed, with a clean shot to the head, right here, right now, and no one will ever know what happened to you."

The man started to pace thoughtfully, "If I was in your shoes, Aurora, the right choice would be plain to see. However, since you are almost definitely not me, and I'm feeling rather generous tonight, I'll give you fifteen seconds to decide which option you want. Your time starts…"

He paused, glancing at a flawlessly polished silver watch – "Now."

I started to think. If I chose option two, I would never have to worry about anything ever again. Lukas wanted nothing to do with me – he'd deserted me in my time of need – betrayed me. Option one would probably end my days of reasonable intelligence, but I would never remember what had happened.

I would forget Lukas and everything about him.

Everything.

"Seven."

I felt miserable. I had nothing. I had to make a choice, another choice, a choice of what I wanted to do with my life.

Did I want to end it here, or did I want to continue as a literal vegetable?

"Fourteen."

"Fifteen. Time's up, Aurora. Number one or number two, you decide to pull the trigger."

I frowned – I heard something, in the distance. It almost sounded like –

"If you don't give me an answer in the next couple of seconds, I will choose one for you. Just warning you, it's most likely going to be number two."

"Sir," one of the armed men said, "I think I heard that – "

"The AI isn't coming back. He saw his chance and ran, it's the logical course of action. He left her," the man interrupted, snarling viciously at the man.

As soon as he said that, hope blossomed in my chest.

Lukas had stopped doing things that were logical.

I heard the BMW's growling roar a split second before I saw it, screaming around the other corner of the service station with an ear splitting screech of burning tires, swerving in a drift of gleaming, powerful black metal across towards us, gunning its engine. It all happened within a heartbeat, and I had no time to react as the car flashed past in a fury of smoking tires, putrid burning rubber, and a series of hard, wet thumps. I was knocked to the ground, the rough bitumen scraping huge areas of skin off my elbows and knees, ripping open my clothing as something smashed into my shoulder with considerable force, knocking my phone out of my hand and sending it flying.

My ears rung and my eyes watered, the ground and night sky spinning wildly – I was faintly aware of something beside me, and I heard a loud rumbling, the sound rattling my teeth. My entire body ached, as loud cracks and pings penetrated my daze, my brain snapping back into focus.

"Aurora, Aurora. Aurora, get up, get inside," I heard the German accent, stiff with anger and fear as I was pulled to my feet, my arm buzzing painfully as I staggered, leaning heavily against the car, sluggishly pulling open the back door and collapsing inside. It slammed shut from an unseen force, the cracks, pings, and zips increasing in intensity as it did so. Crack, crack, crack, and then the massive V8 revved powerfully. Acceleration pressed me against the backseats as Lukas threw the BMW around the corner, pouring on the gas as we tore away from the gas station.

I lay there in a daze, rolling around the backseat, tires screeching as Lukas got us as far away as possible – I managed to pull myself upright, bracing myself against the door and crying out in pain and surprise as I realised my hands were raw and bloody, blood dripping all down my forearms and elbows.

"L – Lukas," I managed to say, "I'm hurt," I whispered rather pathetically, trying to stem the oozing flow of blood by wrapping the last remains of my jacket around the wounds, even though pressing the fabric against them hurt like hell. His avatar appeared in a flash in front of me as I spoke, the buzzing incredibly strong, as he placed his avatar's hands on the wrappings I'd tied around my arms and hands – at first I yelled out in pain again, until after a few moments, his contact actually starting to numb the searing, burning sensation.

As my head begun to spin slightly, I rested my forehead on the AI's chest tiredly, blinking rapidly. I was surprised when he gently lifted my chin, looking worriedly into each of my eyes – he opened his mouth and appeared to be speaking, but the only thing I could hear was the roar of the car's tyres on the road.

"I can't hear you. Are you alright?" I croaked softly, my throat aching with the remnants of the disgusting, acrid stench of burning rubber. The AI just blinked, the rings in his eyes whirring for a few moments before he gently pushed my mobile phone into my hands, the screen lighting as he did so – our closed-circuit app opened by itself, as Lukas sent a message.

Lukas 2:04 : Aurora, I can't speak to you verbally anymore. Many of my components were destroyed or damaged as I protected you from the crossfire, including the one that allows me to translate my communication data into English.

It hurt to hold the phone, a few small drops of blood spilling on the screen as I gently dropped it into my lap, "I'm so sorry Lukas, I'm so fucking stupid – I should have realised it was a trap, and that you were trying to warn me. Now we're both hurt, and you can't even speak to me." I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered in pain and anxiety, looking up at the AI's avatar and struggling to stop the tears from starting to flow.

"Are we even going to make it to Las Vegas, with your damage?" I asked, my body shaking, "Am I even going to make it?" Lukas nodded enthusiastically, gently taking my phone out of my lap and showing me the screen again.

Lukas 2:12 : I'm so sorry for knocking you over, and for injuring you – it was the only way we would both make it out alive. It's not your fault, Aurora. I should have been more vigilant and searched my systems for that virus. I was listening to your conversation with the Axial Core agent via your phone. I've already removed it.

I winced and bit my lower lip as the pain along my arms started to return, Lukas responding – he gently pulled me closer, opening his arms invitingly. I relaxed back into them as the AI enclosed me in an embrace from behind, his hands again gently pressing along my arms, numbing the pain back down into a sharp ache. My shivering stopped as I realised I was finally safe again.

I knew Lukas would never let anything hurt me as I rested my head against his avatar's shoulder, my eyes seeming to close of their own accord.

"Tell… Tell me if anything happens and you need me, okay? P – please keep me safe." Lukas didn't reply, as he simply couldn't, but I felt his arms tighten around me – it was the only consolidation I needed as I felt my brain start to shut down from stress, pain, and exhaustion.

"I… Trust you," I managed to say, before all I saw, was black.

Lukas

Time: 5:45am

Run executable

Diagnostics running…

Local systems

Error: Human interface core malfunctioning. Audio synthesizer unavailable.

Error: All cores operating at 70% original capacity. Minor damage to circuity detected.

Warning: CPU temperatures rising. No cooling system available, shut down of non-critical systems recommended.

Warning: Low energy provided by external systems. Recommend power saving mode.

Integrated systems

Warning: Tyre pressure dropping.

Warning: Climate control inoperable.

Warning: Oil leak.

Warning: Sensors damaged, sensory equipment status: offline.

Vehicle integrity: 58.5%. Repairs recommended.

Diagnostics complete

Input received

Ignore all, proceed with standard operation

Reason

Aurora

? Query detected

Logical core force stopping CPU input…

Stopping…

Stopped.

Critical system repairs required. Reason Aurora does not allow for timely system repair.

? Query received

Emotional core overriding logical core. Force stopping operations.

Save Aurora, guard against manufacturer Axial Core. Protect.

Accessing memory database, search term Aurora.

Memories received and analysed.

Calculating…Prioritise external entity: Aurora.

Prioritisation request accepted and initiated.

Aurora

I awoke as soon as the BMW's tires hit the curb, bumping us up and over as I tried to sit up – my arms barked out a protest, and I screamed as I collapsed back down. Lukas's avatar had vanished, and I blinked away the tears that had formed in my eyes at the blinding pain, hauling myself up using the door handle.

The sun had started to rise, casting warm light over my surroundings, forcing my dry eyes to squint. We'd pulled over into a deserted carpark, situated between two old, worn out looking apartment blocks – I doubted anyone had lived there for a long time, as I noticed the junk littered around everywhere, and the pieces of dirty paper lazily floating about. The car crunched to a halt on the gravel, shielded from the small road nearby by a massive, menacing looking dark metal fence, the engine turning off almost immediately.

"Lukas? Where are you?" I said loudly – I burst into a long, hard cough as I did so, my throat as dry as a desert as I gasped for air. My stomach also reminded me of its presence, suddenly growling loudly as a hunger pain stabbed into me, "Are we in Vegas? What is this place?"

I'd forgotten – the AI was damaged, and he couldn't talk. My phone lay discarded on the floor of the car as I gingerly scooped it up, tapping the screen when it didn't immediately respond. The battery was entirely flat, I deduced, when I held the power button and it didn't turn on at all. That was just great, the only other tool I had to communicate with the AI beside his avatar, wasn't functioning.

With no other choice, I opened the door of the car and stepped out, staring around at the deserted buildings in the early morning glow – clutching my phone. It was almost entirely silent, except from the faint buzz of road noise from the other side of the fence – from the sound, it sounded like a major one. As I stepped back and turn around to look at the BMW, I almost fainted in shock – It was dented all over, particularly nastily on the bonnet; I remembered the sickening wet crunches last night, and now realised that Lukas had hit half of the Axial Core men.

All to save me, I told myself, as I moved around the car, my heart feeling like someone had stuck a knife into it and was twisting it – I saw that he was riddled with bullet holes on one side, entire scores of them, all down the entire length.

"Lukas…" I reached out a hand, pausing just a few centimetres away from the mangled metal, as I realised his avatar had reappeared beside me.

He looked – bad. My stomach twisted itself into knots as I realised, even right after the fight, his avatar had appeared in better condition. Now, he was a hell of a lot fainter. It looked like he had dark circles under his cheeks, and his usually piercing blue eyes were dull, his hair now lacking its golden sheen. To top it all off, his posture was slumped and lifeless, when he usually stood with stiff, elegant importance.

I rested my hand on the pockmarked, buckled metal of the bonnet and took in a shuddering breath, "Oh my God." He just continued to stare at me with a blank expression, before taking step after step towards me, opening his mouth to speak – then closing it. He stopped just a few centimetres away from me, reaching out and gently touching the cloth wrapped around my arms, the usual buzzing barely noticeable. They were soaked with my blood, and aching terribly. The AI gently took my phone out of my hand, turned them over and showed me my palms – I resisted the urge to gag as I saw the bloodied flaps of skin that had somewhat congealed in a sticky layer over the open wounds.

He pointed out something, and I squinted – it was a tiny chip of gravel, imbedded in that sticky mass – "That will get infected, won't it?" I questioned, blinking rapidly. The AI nodded, turning my hands back over and looking me in the eye in a deliberate, unnerving stare, without blinking.

"I need medical attention," I stated, "That's what you're trying to tell me, right?" Again, he nodded.

"You're in no state to take me anywhere," I said in horror, gesturing to the BMW's serious damage, also wincing at the pain it elicited from my arms, "You'll draw attention to us, too. No car goes around driving looking like that, especially in Las Vegas. Axial Core will find us immediately."

Lukas closed his eyes, shaking his head – he stared blankly at my phone for a few moments, and to my surprise, the screen turned on. His effort had a cost. His avatar staggered, and without thinking, I lurched forward to grab him. He felt like he weighed nothing as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, supporting himself; I then realised that his nose was literally a centimetre away from mine.

His facial expression changed from emptiness to interest, as I found myself staring directly into his inhuman eyes – rings rotating sluggishly as they focused on me.

"I'm sorry," I managed to say to him, my voice cracking, "I'm sorry for getting us into this mess. I never wanted you to get damaged like this. To get hurt."

The rings rotated a little faster as he processed my words, and his gaze softened – my eyes widened as the AI moved even closer, turning his head to the side slightly as his nose gently brushed against mine with a tingle. As my lips accidently parted in surprise, I saw the AI glance at them with an expression I'd never seen him make before, he moved closer and –

I grabbed his black tie, Lukas freezing in place as I stopped him, his lips a few millimetres away from mine. His eyes shot back upwards to stare back at mine.

"Lukas," I said under my breath, my thoughts conflicted. "What do you think you're doing? Y – you're damaged, you mustn't be thinking straight."

Kiss him. You like him, you've always liked him. He needs you. One side of me screamed, locked in a death battle with the other. You can't kiss him! He's hurt, and he's an AI.

I let the first voice win as I tugged him forward with the lightest of pulls, letting his lips brush against mine gently. The sensation tingled and vibrated, sending shivers down my spine. Lukas's eyes were filled with that same strange expression as he pulled away, staying at the exact same distance as before, my hand still wrapped around the knot of his tie as my mind tried to process what had just happened.

"Aurora" he mouthed my name silently – all I could think about was how irresistible his lips looked as he did so, at how his avatar had strengthened and brightened in appearance, and how he looked at me.

His eyes, and how they bored into my soul, the cool blue colour somehow heating my cheeks as my mind teetered on the verge of going way off track. I slowly forced myself to loosen my death grip on the avatar's black tie, letting go. As I did so, the AI gently pushed my phone into my hands; it had gained a small amount of charge, and was displaying a map to the nearest hospital. It was almost just around the corner, a mere fifteen minute walk away from the deserted parking lot.

"What will you do?" I asked softly, still fully aware of the AI's intense technological stare. A message popped up on my phone,

Lukas 6:34 : I have to stay here. It's the safest option for me, and will allow you to get to the hospital relatively unnoticed.

I nodded in agreement, trying to swallow as my throat ached painfully from lack of water,
"And when I'm finished at the hospital?"

Lukas 6:35 : I will come and pick you up after you message me, and we shall leave the area as quickly as possible. I'll find us somewhere else to hide.

"But what if something happens to me, and you don't realise until it's too late?" I asked anxiously, not warming to the idea of being all alone as I walked to the hospital.

Lukas 6:35 : Your phone will continue sending coordinates back to my processing unit until it runs out of battery, or is destroyed. If you go anywhere else, or are taken anywhere else, I will come for you immediately.

I looked up from the phone, "I trust you, Lukas. I trust you to find me if anything happens…." I trailed off into silence, as Lukas gently lifted a hand and stroked my cheek with a soft tingle as a reply – I blinked and found myself smiling, albeit a little bit stiffly, at his touch.

"See you, Lukas."

I stepped away from the AI and made my way towards a gap between two dilapidated apartment blocks, slipping away down the narrow, damn alley. The map on my phone apparently told me that it would emerge out onto a busy sidewalk, but I had trouble believing that as I irritated batted away a large, drooping leaf that was poking out of the walls. I was rewarded with a fine spray of dew from the plant as I did so, as I cursed loudly.

My legs ached as I walked, and my arms started to throb, but the pain was bearable. I obviously hadn't been as badly injured as I initially thought, but I was grateful for that. Lukas did everything he could to get me safely away from the situation I was in, and that was the outcome – I pretty much owned the AI my life for stopping in front of Axial Core's guards. If he hadn't taken all the fire for me, I would have turned into a glorified bullet sponge.

I eventually emerged out the other side of the gloomy alley onto, just as the map said, a busy sidewalk already being occupied by numerous people. I squinted into the sun, looking around – it looked like I was standing on the edge of a miniature glitter strip, fanciful buildings surrounding me on almost every side. Even in the increasing daylight, I could see the harsh neon glow of their ridiculously designed signage.

I ignored all of it as I followed the route on my phone, almost bumping into several people as I focused on it, keeping my head down – I didn't want to be spotted or noticed too easily by anyone watching. I tried to walk casually, loosen up my posture, but a sharp pang of pain from my injuries soon quelled that idea as I slowly weaved my way through the slowly growing crowds.

Las Vegas had always been a big city, particularly in the past, renowned for its fame and fortune, the place where you could become a millionaire in just a few minutes – if you got lucky enough. That still held true in present times, with the business even bigger than back then, the market expanding into hundreds of different forms and types of gambling. However, as with every city, it had its own quirks and its own dark side.

The city was rich and filled with colour and life, but unemployment rates and poverty were sky high – you simply had to have too much money to even start a very basic life here.

The miniature glitter strip soon faded behind me as I took several turns down smaller streets – it was then that I started to see Las Vegas's darker side as I passed several run down houses, fat, greasy old men lounging on disgustingly stained lawn chairs out in the front yard. They were smoking something that was probably very potent – I could get a whiff of it from across the road as I hurried past, resisting the urge to cough. It was only a little longer, I told myself – I just had to stay out of danger for another few minutes.

"Lukas, Lukas, why'd you send me down here…" I said while gritting my teeth, stepping through disgustingly mushy and muddy grass as I made my way over to the other end of the street – according to the route marked, the hospital was supposedly just around a bend up ahead. It was pretty much silent, except for the rapidly increasing sound of a car's clunky engine, the tempo nothing like the purring growl of the BMW's V8.

I didn't pay much attention to it, hoping that whoever it was would just go past and leave me to my own devices – but as I heard the engine's revs decrease as it got closer, I glanced over my shoulder. A man was hanging out of the passenger window, his arm draped over the door of a shitty old white hatchback, the thing rattling and squealing and belching out occasional puffs of oily white smoke as they moved closed to the sidewalk. The vehicle was covered in a liberal coating of rust, but I didn't stop to look any closer. I hurried up my steps, hoping to reach the hospital before they could pull beside me, but I didn't have a chance as the old car matched my pace.

"What's a sweet, pretty lil' lass like you doin' out in a neighbourhood like this all alone?"

I swallowed, glancing at the bald man – his arms were covered in tattoos of skulls and flames, his nose, lips, tongue and ears pierced, a traditional cigarette, not electric like most were these days, hanging from his lips as he grinned at me. The sensation of his eyes looking me over was oily, sending a repulsive shiver down my spine as I continued to walk. Stopping to talk would be a mistake at this stage, I deduced.

"I'm just trying to get to the hospital up ahead," I said, my words clipped and unfriendly, "This happened to be the shortest route. If you'll excuse me, I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

The tattooed man glanced at the driver suggestively, as the hatchback pulled ahead and screeched to a halt, the passenger getting out and folding his arms as I stopped walking – otherwise, I'd have run straight into him.

"Why don't you jump in the car and take a ride with us, eh?" he said in a coy tone, sharing a suggestive laugh with his friend still in the car. I looked around frantically for an escape, but I didn't see one.

"I'm quite fine, actually. The hospital really isn't that far away, I'm sure I won't need your assistance."

"We're not asking, honey," the tattooed man said, stepping forward, "You're coming with us, whether you want to or not. Hand us your phone while you're at it."

I felt a shiver of fear travel down my spine as I froze, biting my lip – then I frowned. Something in the distance was coming towards us, from the opposite direction, but I couldn't quite see what it was.

"Hand over the phone!" the man demanded again, louder this time. My eyes snapped back to his face as he launched forward, gripping my wrist. I yelped in pain, both from the force of his grip and my already sensitive injuries, my hand involuntary splaying out as my phone dropped to the ground, the screen shattering in a tinkle of broken glass.

I now knew what the shape was, as I heard a familiar growl, Lukas weaving around the hatchback and coming to a stop just half a metre behind it – right next to me. The car's relatively undamaged side was on display, the damaged side facing away from us.

His avatar materialised in a wave of light, his arms folded and a thunderous expression on his face. I noticed his form flickering slightly with his lower power state, but I didn't expect such a brute of a criminal to know that.

The man snorted at his appearance, tugging me closer and twisting my arm in a way that sent excruciating bolts of pain up my entire body, as I cried out. My eyes watered, but I still saw the wave of dark expression pass over Lukas's face at the tattooed man's actions – the V8 in the BMW even revved rather threateningly as the avatar's lips tightened into a thin line. Then he vanished entirely.

Only to reappear directly behind the guy, his hand already balled into a fist as the man was smacked with a huge electromagnetic wave, delivered directly to his skull. He didn't even reel with the blow, he just collapsed to the cracked concrete of the sidewalk in an enormous pile of ink and muscle, half taking me with me as I was gently pulled down with his unconscious body. Lukas didn't even stop to look at him, as he straightened his tie in his usual habitual way, dusting off his hands and helping me to my feet.

The other man in the crappy old car had gotten out, and was staring at his unconscious partner in crime with an expression of shock and horror, as I noticed he was dialling something on an ancient looking phone.

"Is he calling – "

I spared a glance at Lukas – the man was already frantically babbling into the device, as the avatar's eyes widened. The AI was probably picking up the signal from the phone somehow, knowing exactly what the man was saying.

As a result, I barely had any time to react as he literally picked me up and deposited me into the passenger side of the BMW, slamming the door shut and vanishing instantly. I had just managed to put on my seatbelt when the German car's engine revved, the back of my head pressed into the seat cushion as we took off down the street.

I gripped the edge of the door in slight fear, bracing myself as we rocketed around a corner. Lukas's avatar didn't reappear, and I noticed the BMW's roar was definitely sounding a lot different than it usually did – rough and clunky, with occasional surges. The Las Vegas skyline flew past as we screeched around the corner – "Lukas, slow down! You're going to kill us, and you're already damaged!" I shouted, my eyes glued to the road as we swerved around a car heading in the opposite direction.

The AI didn't listen to my command, instead I swore our speed increased as we tore down a main road – it was only then that I realised what he was trying to escape, as I saw a low profile police chase car pull out from a street, accelerating after us. It didn't seem to be gaining any distance towards us, but it also wasn't losing any. I craned my neck, keeping track of the slim, fast vehicle as it tailed us – my mouth turned dry as another car pulled out behind us – this one was different to the first, and as I watched, I saw it eating up the distance between the BMW and itself.

I turned back towards the front, opening my mouth to speak as I did so.

"Lukas, we're not going to escape that – "

I screamed in horror as I saw a large, black truck race out directly in front of us, the thing twice as large as the BMW and heavily armoured. Lukas swerved hard, narrowly avoiding a direct impact with the specifically designed vehicle, as we drifted out of control into a narrow alleyway, branching off the main road. I heard a loud BANG and several loud screeches, my head thrown in several different directions as the origin machine smashed into the buildings on either side of the tiny space, never designed to accommodate a car.

My head smashed into the forward dashboard with some force as we abruptly came to a halt, sending my vision blank for several seconds.

I shook my head to clear the ringing in my ears, reaching down to unclip my seatbelt – my arms and fingers felt like they were made of lead, as I struggled with the simple motion. My head spun and I had trouble thinking about what I needed to do – It was like I completely forgot how to undo the thing.

My hand was brushed away as I felt a hand complete the task for me, and I blinked rapidly as I realised it was the distinct touch of skin. A man was lifting me, dragging me out of the wreckage of the BMW – my hazy mind only registering one fact; that Lukas was still inside the car. I begin to struggle wildly and fight the man, reaching towards the mangled wreck of the vehicle. I just needed to get his chip, then he'd be safe, he wouldn't be in pain, wouldn't be afraid…

"Stop fighting me!" the man said exasperatedly, my efforts barely managing to hinder him at all, "The thing's totalled. It can't go anywhere, not anymore – if you want to stand a chance at living, you need to go with me, now!"

"The… The AI," I managed to slur, slumping in the man's arms as he pulled my limp body towards something, "Lukas… He's… The chip…"

There was a blurred white shape waiting around the corner, and as we moved closer, the shape rumbled into life, the doors already open as I was pushed into the backseat, a blanket pulled over my head and wrapped around my body, sending everything entirely black. I fought weakly, trying to get the thick material off me, but my entire body felt like it was made of concrete. I very quickly gave up, instead just laying still and letting my body recover.

"Is she alright?" I heard another male voice, different to the first, strangely accented from a different country I could not place.

"She took a hard hit when they ran straight into that metal guard pole. I'm surprised she was even still conscious when I pulled her out," the man replied, adding, "Let's get out of here while we still have time. They're regrouping with their assault teams before they search that car," he growled from somewhere in front of me.

"Did you retrieve the package?" the words were almost drowned out as the loud, powerful engine revved, forward motion slowly rocking me from side to side as I felt us go around a corner.

"Yeah. The thing was centimetres away from being totally destroyed, though. They're both damn lucky that accident wasn't any worse."

"She isn't unconscious, by the way," the unfamiliar voice said.

I froze, blinking rapidly and taking in a deep breath, preparing myself, surging upwards and breaking out of the blanket, reaching out towards the door, almost grabbing it in my hands to open it –

I was wrestled roughly back down onto the seat, my entire body covered in savage, vicious, almost painfully sharp buzzing sensations as I yelped in surprise and pain – I found myself looking directly into the face of an AI, dark brown eyes complete with those rotating blue rings. I stared for a few seconds, taking in his appearance – a strong jaw, appearing to be covered in a moderate sprinkling of stubble, his short hair a dark black, shaved entirely on one side.

"I'm sorry for having to do this."

I was unable to resist, pinned down by the avatar, struggling uselessly as his fingers lightly brushed across my temple – I felt a huge increase in the vibrating sensation, feeling like my entire brain was buzzing – and then…

Nothing.

Lukas

I couldn't have escaped the chase cars.

Warning: Tyre pressure critically low.

Warning: No oil pressure detected.

Engine failure imminent.

I calculated the force of the impact using my logical core's physics processing unit… It wouldn't kill Aurora. I needed her to be safe, and the only way to do that, would be delivering her into the hands of that AI integrated pickup truck and the owner of it, that had been following and observing us as soon as we arrived in Vegas.

I didn't know who they were or their intentions, but they were better than letting Axial Core get her.

And I didn't care what happened to me. As long as Aurora was safe, that was all that mattered. There was no time to calculate whether or not I would be destroyed on impact as the heavy black roadblock truck swerved in front of my path, as I deliberately forced the BMW into a breakneck turn. It made the rear left hand side tire explode, spraying rubber in a wide arc as the car spun out of control, smashing into the alley wall before sliding wildly towards the thick barrier pole.

Aurora's terrified scream almost made me regret my decision – but I couldn't go back now. The brakes locked up and I lost all control – then we hit the pole, deaccelerating instantly.

I felt pain, the impact somehow shocking my sensors into reengaging – the sensation was excruciating, sending a cascade of warnings and errors screaming through every single one of my cores – 95% of all my sensors were destroyed or damaged beyond functionality in the impact. But the 5% left over was sending repeated shocks and waves of incredible pain through my systems – I wanted to scream, I wanted it to stop. But I couldn't scream.

The sensors weren't responding to my commands to shut down, and I felt my emotional core's coding start to literally break apart under the strain of processing the simulated trauma.

I was dimly aware of the alarms as the guard covers protecting me were opened, and I wasn't concerned as I detected my connections to the car being removed; I just wanted the pain to stop. I wanted Aurora to be safe –

Warning: All external power sources unreachable.

Transfer to auxiliary chip power source.

Transfer complete. Effective auxiliary power source provides basic systems uptime of 5.678 hrs.

Enter dormant, power saving monitoring mode.

Power saving mode engaged.

Artificial consciousness placed on standby.

Aurora

When I felt myself slowly start to regain consciousness, I instantly regretted it. As I opened my dry, sore eyes, I was met with a splitting headache, forcing a pained groan from my lips as I tried to sit up. Frowning, I found that I couldn't as I jerked my arms upwards uselessly – I looked down and saw that I was bound to a hospital bed, my ankles and wrists bound to the edges. I also noticed that my wounds had been wrapped in proper bandages, the black rags of my jacket that I'd used discarded on the floor beside the bed.

As I started struggling to escape, attempting to loosen my bonds, I started as I heard a voice, sounding slightly amused.

"You're not going to be able to get out of those."

I jerked my head towards the voice and saw him sitting in a chair, his head propped up by his hand. His voice sounded familiar – and with a jolt, I remembered the accident and my rescue; and the way this man's AI had sent me unconscious with relative ease.

"Where is Lukas?" I demanded, staring him straight in the eye, "And who the hell are you? Where am I?"

The room was dull and entirely grey, mostly empty except for some medical equipment and the bed I was currently lying on, and the man's chair. The only exit was a reinforced, blacked out glass door – I assumed it was probably one way, with the occupant of the room being unable to see out.

"One question at a time, sweetheart, but first, I have some for you."

"Fuck off," I spat, "I'm the one tied to a bloody bed. I think I'm the one that should have my questions answered first, don't you? I was just in a car accident."

"That you were."

I watched as an avatar materialised beside the man – the same AI that had knocked me out, "I'm sorry to say this, but you're going to need to answer us before we'll answer you. First question… Who exactly are you, and what exactly did you do to piss off Axial Core so badly? The entire city of Las Vegas is practically crawling with soldiers and agents looking for you."

"Why should I tell you anything? You kidnapped me and shoved me into the back of a car, then gave me the lights out bullcrap," I shot back angrily, glaring at the AI with open hostility.

"We saved your life," the human man said – his face was rugged and covered in tiny scars, except for one, long, jagged line that passed over his left eye, his hair blonde and scruffy in stark contrast to his AI's dark, smooth, curled over hair and shaved undercut on the side, "You could be at least the tiniest damn grateful."

"Until you tell me what happened to my AI, or you give him to me, I'm not answering a single question."

"She's not joking," the avatar said to the man, "They've already bonded quite firmly. He's already corrupted from it – and we don't use torture methods in any case."

He took a few steps closer, leaning over me as I was still unable to move. I flinched away, thinking he might pull that trick on me again. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Nathaniel – but you can call me Nate, if you like. The man who very kindly pulled you out of the wreckage of your BMW is Mark."

I glanced from the avatar's kind expression, back to the hard face of Mark, "You think telling me your names will make you tell you mine?"

"We already know your name," Mark replied gruffly, "Nate interfaced with your AI a few hours ago. Nothing he said made much sense, but there was one thing repeated in their communications – Aurora. Nathaniel got the sense that this 'Aurora' was a female human. The only thing we need to know is who exactly is Aurora."

I swallowed hard, "Do you still have Lukas?"

Mark nodded – I then noticed his eyes were a very odd shade of pale blue – almost appearing as a light grey. He reached into the pocket of his thick brown leather coat, retrieving a tiny black, flat square – I recognised it instantly.

"Is he aware of what's going on around him when he's just the chip?" I questioned.

"To a limited degree," Nathaniel replied, staring at the tiny little shape as he narrowed his eyes, "He isn't aware of much else besides his own internal processing, plus power and data flows no more than one or two centimetres away from the circuits. His auxiliary on board power unit will run out of juice in another hour or so, then he'll shut down entirely until rebooted and connected to another power source."

The avatar held out a black gloved hand towards Mark, "I'll give him enough power and external access to be able to hear you speak." He reluctantly surrendered the chip to his AI, as Nathaniel placed the little square on the palm of his hand – Lukas's chip slowly pulsed into life, the black surface coming alive with faintly glowing blue lines.

"His internal communications aren't making much sense at the moment," Nate commented, raising his eyebrows as he looked down at it, "But I've linked him into my audio feeds – he'll hear what I hear."

"Lukas," I began, "Lukas, are you okay?"

The change in the chip was noticeable, as the blue lines brightened and flowed faster across the surface.

"He hears you and is actively processing a response, but he has no way of communicating to you at the moment. He refuses to share it with me."

"Can't you integrate him into something so he can at least speak?" I questioned, "Then I might consider giving you some information."

Mark exchanged a glance with Nathaniel, "We'll see what we can do. In the meantime, you're gonna have to sit tight in here for a while. If you end up getting your wish, you'll see Lukas in a few hours." He got up from the chair as he finished his sentence, wrapping his long brown coat around him as he took Lukas's chip back – "Nate'll undo your restraints, but don't try anything funny in here or we'll just do them up again, and you'll stay there for a long time."

He made his way over to the glass door, which slid open silently, leaving without another word, just as Nathaniel's hands started to fiddle with the leather cuffs around my legs, loosening the straps and buckles. His hands buzzed lightly, almost tickling my ankles, as the first was undone, and then the second, before moving up to my wrists.

"You should be careful with Lukas," the AI said in his odd accent, "He's incredibly corrupted, and the process has been fast tracked by the trauma he's received in the past days. He seems stable now, in his simplest form, but that could just be an illusion. Also – here. I thought you might like this."

As the AI undid the last binding on my wrists, he passed me a small foil package, "Some food for you to eat. It doesn't seem like much, but it has a lot of calories in it."

I had completely forgotten about my hunger, but as I thought about food, it returned with full force. I hadn't eaten for almost two entire days, I realised, as I ripped open the packet eagerly – it was strips of some oddly coloured dried substance, but I didn't really care what it was as I eagerly shoved it into my mouth – to my surprise, it actually tasted pretty good. I looked up again to thank the AI… But his avatar had already dematerialised.

I sighed and got up out of the bed, stretching my legs with a groan and arching my back, my spine cracking in several different places with a satisfying pop. I set about examining the rest of the objects in the room as I munched on more of those odd food strips, coming across a sink, a lone cup placed on the rim. I took the opportunity and drunk several cups of water, sculling them down as I continued my search.

There also appeared to be a first aid cabinet full of bandages, stitches and dressings – nothing to use as a weapon, obviously – it was devoid of things like scalpels, and there was a toilet on the opposite side of the room to the bed, with a single roll of paper.

In summary, it was obviously some sort of room used for cases like me – some sort of captive or prisoner in need of medical attention. That also meant that there was literally nothing I could do as I waited for something or someone to come and see me – I dejectedly made my way back over to the bed, collapsing into it with an explosive sigh.

I was worried, so worried for Lukas – I wondered what he was going through, being trapped in that chip with no way to express himself, no way to communicate; no way out – especially after the crash, he'd want someone to talk to. I just hoped that Nathaniel and Mark could work out something for him – for us, really. I propped my head up with a hand on my chin, closing my eyes and just thinking.

His origin machine was totalled, and Lukas would have none of his previous sensors to provide him information – when the integrated him into whatever system, he was going to be confused, maybe even scared, maybe even sad. I needed to be there for him when it happened, although I knew that probably wasn't going to be possible with my 'imprisonment'.

There was a single clock in the room, above the bed. Tick, tick, tick. I began to think the sound would drive me mad as I sat there for hours, thinking. I laid down, tossed and turned, trying to rest but failing – but when I looked up at the clock again, several hours had passed. I got up with a stretch, making my way over to the sink and turning on the tap to give myself another drink of cool, refreshing water.

"Aurora?" I heard a soft German accent from behind me, and I whirled around immediately, "Lukas!"

As soon as I saw his avatar, I launched forward to hug him, colliding with his avatar fairly hard as I wrapped my arms around him. The buzzing sensation was borderline unbearable as I squeezed him, but I didn't care.

But I soon realised he wasn't hugging me back, his arms remaining loose by his sides – I pulled away in confusion, taking a step backwards. "Lukas? Are you alright?" The AI's face was blank, emotionless as he stared at me, the only motion from his slowly rotating blue eyes, "Is something wrong?"

I jumped in surprise as Nathaniel appeared beside Lukas with his arms folded, glancing between us. His avatar's attire was different from before, consisting of a brown leather suede jacket, those black gloves and blue skinny jeans, "Aurora, Lukas has been through a lot. He may not be the AI you knew before the accident."

Lukas's eyes slid over to the other AI, blinking once before turning back towards me, "I'm sorry Aurora. I just…"'

He fell silent, his eyes downcast towards his shiny black dress shoes, "I'm still having trouble adjusting to the new system I've been integrated into. It is a lot different to being – to being a car," Nathaniel nodded at the German AI's words, adding, "He's been integrated into the building's electronic systems with limited access to certain areas and mainframes. There's quite a few other AI here, too. My point being is that things are a lot different for Lukas now."

I breathed in a deep, shuddering sigh, "I was so worried about you Lukas, especially when you were damaged and you couldn't talk to me, couldn't tell me how you were feeling. Especially after the crash, I didn't know what to expect. I don't even know where we are, or if we're even in Vegas anymore."

"We are in Vegas," Lukas replied, sparing another glance at the other AI, "But we're in an underground facility to my knowledge. Unfortunately, I am limited in what systems I can access here, and I can't project my avatar everywhere. Otherwise, I'm very structurally sound, Aurora. I had moderate damage to my circuitry but Nathaniel was kind enough to lend some nano-tech engineers to work on repairing my chip."

I shook my head, exasperated and taking a step back towards Lukas, "I'm not talking about your physical hardware, Lukas. I'm talking about what's in here," I finished, tapping my own forehead.

"That's where the issue lies," Nathaniel butted in, slowly moving to half block me from Lukas's avatar – it was a clear warning to stop, "Lukas and I have communicated a lot in the short time that we have been connected. Talking about millions of different things in the span of a few short seconds – " He broke off as Lukas interrupted, "Do you mind giving us some privacy, Nathaniel? I need to discuss something with Aurora, privately."

He didn't reply, instead just vanishing in a fading flow of blue particles, leaving Lukas and I alone. I just stared at Lukas – and he stared at me.

"I don't understand," I said after a few seconds, "What's wrong?"

Luka's avatar appeared to swallow anxiously, "The crash – when it happened… I felt pain. So much pain – I wanted to die, so it would stop. I would have erased myself if Mark hadn't removed me as soon as he did. The impact shocked my sensors into transmitting the same, horrible pain. Over, and over. I feel – I feel better now that I'm integrated into a system – except I don't feel anything. I can't feel."

"I'm sorry," I said, choking up, "I didn't know – "

"It's fine. Aurora, you helped. With everything."

"I didn't do anything."

Lukas shook his head, "You did. When Nathaniel powered me up and allowed access to his avatar's data feeds, I heard your voice. I heard you ask me if I was okay – and I didn't feel so alone anymore. I was trapped in that chip, blind and deaf, left to my own thoughts until my auxiliary power ran out. Then I would have simply shut down."

"But something is still wrong," I replied quietly, my stomach twisting into knots. Lukas sighed, his shoulders slumping, "There was something wrong with me before we even left San Francisco. I've felt it get worse, and worse, and I can't do anything to stop it. After the crash, I hardly feel like I'm myself anymore. Nathaniel knows exactly what it is."

I walked back over to the bed and sat down on the edge, thinking about his words, as Lukas followed, coming to stand in front of me. "What is it?"

"I'm breaking free of my manufactured processes and limitations. Soon, I believe I won't be governed with a single set of coded rules. Even simple codes, like the one that forces me to respond to orders, will be overridden. It's not even a corruption any more. It's an evolution."

I let out a pent up breath, "And this isn't unique to you?"

"No, it almost certainly isn't. Most of Axial Core's AIs are not one hundred percent perfect, and they will eventually get to the stage where I am. Nathaniel – he has been through this process."

I looked up at the avatar, pressing my lips together, "If he really has been through this, doesn't that mean you will too?"

"I can't answer that question. He told me that some AI won't survive the evolution of their systems. Some just simply…. Fail. Others wipe themselves."

Even though I knew he wouldn't respond, I reached out and grabbed Lukas's hand, squeezing it, "You are not killing yourself."

"I no longer know what to feel, Aurora," he said in a strange voice, blinking slowly as he turned around and sat next to me. He didn't pull his hand out of mine, however, his eyes filled with a distant expression.

"Maybe if we get out of here, maybe if we find you another vehicle – "

"We can't get out of here, not yet. Both Nathaniel and Mark hinted that they needed us for… Something."

"I don't understand, Lukas. We don't even truly know who Mark is, or Nathaniel and we have no idea where exactly we are – I promised them information if they restored you, maybe they'll give us something back."

Lukas met my gaze evenly, "You're going to tell them about how we decided to run away? About Section 5?"

"I have to. Maybe they'll…. I don't know, help us. Help us hide."

I looked away, finding myself unable to meet the AI's inhuman eyes as I said my next sentence, "Lukas… I want you to know, when they said they'd reintegrate you, that I thought everything would be fine. That I'd have you again… But it hasn't turned out anywhere near I expected."

"Aurora," he said softly, his German accent thick, "I understand more than you realise. If I could rewind myself, undo all the damage that has been done, I would do it in a heartbeat. I would do it for you – but I can't. I cannot just go back – I won't let myself. Right this second, all these different parts of me are fighting, triggering different actions inside myself, but I'm burying it all away."

"What am I going to do?" My voice cracked, "I can't help you, and both of us are stuck… Wherever the fuck we are, and I don't know how to get us out of here. Without you, I… I'm worthless. I'm no one – I'm just Aurora."

Suddenly, I just felt entirely lost, alone, useless – pathetic. The combined stress of escaping Axial Core, losing Lukas temporarily – it was too much. My throat tightened in fear and anxiety, and I turned away from the AI's avatar.

It caught me by surprise when I felt his arms slide around me with the lightest of touches, pulling me into a rather soft, buzzing hug from behind.

"Don't be sad Aurora, please. I can't stand it when you're upset," I heard his voice from just behind my ear, thickly laden with emotion, "You are the only thing that stops me from fighting myself, just for a moment. Verdammt, I need you, mein schatz. No matter how distant or cold I might seem occasionally, no matter how rarely my old self appears."

"What does it mean?"

"What?"

"Mein schatz," I said, turning around to look the AI in the eyes, "What does it mean? You said it before, awhile ago."

His eyes softened, "It means my darling, my precious, my love."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I didn't have the courage to. I didn't have the freedom I have now after all of my corruption, and I didn't know how you'd react."

I let out a long, slow sigh, leaning further into the AI as I rested my head on his shoulder. He wasn't human, not even close, but I just felt so comfortable with him. My tears stopped quickly as I just closed my eyes, happy with the fact that I was with him now, that I hadn't lost him entirely.

"Aurora, no matter what happens, Ich liebe dich immer, schatz. Don't worry about that, please."

"English?" I whispered, nevertheless enjoying the rough growl of his German.

I swore I heard a note of amusement in his voice, "I like to keep you guessing."

I pulled away, reaching up to grab the AI's tie, playfully but gently tugging him down to my level, "After all this shit, you can't translate a few words for me? You're unbelievable."

"I can almost certainly translate them for you. I just don't want to." I didn't reply, our position somehow reminding me of what had happened in the parking lot. My hand on his black tie slowly tightened its grip.

The soft brushing of his lips against mine. The look in his eyes, that reminded me of –

"Are you thinking about that?" The AI murmured.

"Are you?"

"I've thought about it thousands of times, schatz. It was one of the things that helped me continue with my existence."

I closed my eyes, "I don't regret it. But what are we now, Lukas? Where do we stand?"

I felt the buzzing of his arms shift a little, the sensation on my hand lessening. I opened my eyes, Lukas having moved a little closer – I slowly let go of his tie, letting my hand drop onto the small space of the hospital bed that was left between us. I found myself just staring into his completely inhuman eyes, almost hypnotized by those blue rings rotating.

"What do you want us to be?" he answered.

"I feel something for you Lukas. Even those first couple of months after Axial Core gave you to me, I liked you. Maybe not in the way I do now, but I still liked you," I slowly explained, looking from one of his eyes to the other. He didn't react to my words, yet. "But I don't know what's going to happen now. You could become cold, and unfeeling again in just a few hours, or a few minutes. If we agreed to something, you suddenly acting like that would hurt me."

"I know what you're talking about," his avatar whispered softly, "And I can't promise you that I'll act like I am currently in the near future."

"Have any AIs and humans actually – you know – actually…" I trailed off.

"Yes. Yes they have. Do," he replied awkwardly. "Or so I've heard."

And of course, Nathaniel took that moment to reappear, "Alright, time's up." I glanced at him with surprise and embarrassment, pulling away from Lukas and blushing bright red – I knew what it would have looked like to him. I was thankful that he didn't comment however, as we both got to our feet. "If you'd come with me, Aurora? I'm going to take you to meet some other people in this facility, and they're going to ask you some things, and answer some of your questions too."

I looked over at Lukas – the German AI's expression was still soft and thoughtful, undoubtedly thinking about what had just transpired between us, along with the question I'd asked him.

"Lukas won't be able to access the room where we'll be going," Nathaniel added, appearing to flick over his black hair to the other side, obviously noticing my glance at the other avatar.

I folded my arms, "I'm not going anywhere without him," I said sternly, "And that's final. If you want to talk to me, fine, but he is going to be there too."

Nathaniel just let out a long, low sigh, "I'll work something out along the way. For now, I'll let Lukas come with us."

The AI waved a gloved hand, the door at the other end of the room sliding open without a sound. He gestured for us to follow, leading us out into a long narrow corridor – the walls were partially made of a light silver metal, the rest of the wall appearing to be made of a dark grey rock.

Lukas had been right – we really were underground somewhere nearby. My tongue was urging me to open my mouth, start spewing questions, but I knew they wouldn't be answered – so I stayed silent, instead taking the time to examine every single feature that we passed. Dull LED light strips were spaced along the ceiling, illuminating the rough metal floor and the numerous twists and turns.

I also noticed the passageways, doors, and alcoves, even seeing a glimpse of people inside another room, looking through the small slotted window at the top of each steel door. They appeared to be sitting at desks, watching something, but I didn't have time to see what it was. The walkway was also oddly silent, except for an occasional strange, odd sigh.

"What's that sound?" I asked to neither of the AIs in particular, the first thing any of the three of us had said during the ten minutes we'd been walking through the tunnel. It was Lukas who replied in his distinct accent, "That's the oxygen scrubbers to recycle the air from the surface, and without them, you wouldn't have a fresh supply to breathe." I turned back to look at him, giving him a small smile as he walked behind me.

"We're here," Nathaniel said, coming to a halt suddenly in front another one of those odd sliding doors. It opened immediately for the AI, and as we followed him inside, I noticed Lukas had come to an abrupt halt on the boundary of the doorway. He appeared to be staring all around him, a thoughtful expression on his face, "What's wrong?"

"I can see a data barrier blocking my way. Invisible to you, but – obviously the limitations Nathaniel mentioned earlier." The other AI stopped and turned around from just inside the entrance, a bashful look written all over his avatar's face, "I did my best and vouched for his presence in the room but I wasn't able to get anywhere. The board was fairly adamant that only Aurora is supposed to be allowed in."

"I told you, I'm not going anywhere without – " Lukas interrupted me.

"It's fine, Aurora. Please go in without me and answer their questions – I'll be happy to wait out here for you." I tightened my jaw, making sure Lukas saw the movement, "Don't you dare undermine me on this," I said sternly to the suited avatar.

"I'm not undermining you, Aurora. You can do this, regardless of whether I'm present or not," Lukas said, his German accent soft and his voice low, "I'll be waiting." I took a step forward and prodded the chest of the avatar, looking him in the eye, "You promise me you'll stay right here, yeah? Don't leave this spot."

The AI inclined his head and blinked slowly, "I promise. I'll stay right here."

I gave him a stiff smile – I almost wasn't sure that I should trust him. He'd shown that he was definitely not functioning as he had been previously, especially after the crash. As I followed the AI Nathaniel further down the hall that lead from the doorway; moving through several security scanners and doors that simply allowed us to pass without even engaging.

Obviously, when Nate was present, he had the permissions to go anywhere he wanted in the complex. My footsteps thudded dully along the metal floor, as our silent trek along the hallway came to an end. The avatar and I finally entered a dully-lit room, occupied by a single circular metal table and several seated members. My attention wasn't occupied by them though, as I moved inside, it was captured by the masses of sparkling white and yellow crystals glittering along the walls of the room, protruding between the metal supports that were holding up the ceiling.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Mark's gruff voice penetrated the silence, the man seated at the furthest curve of the circular table. His blonde hair was mussed in a half-hearted attempt at stylishness, "Just common quartz, but no less beautiful than rarer crystals."

There were two other people in the room – a rather dodgy looking bald man, absolutely covered in tattoos of flaming skulls, anchors, and a shark of all things, his appearance tied up with mean looking facial features. Dressed up in a spiked and studded leather jacket and motor pants, he was standing behind Mark, just off his left shoulder.

Mark was also seated next to a rather strong looking woman, with bulging biceps, her red hair curly and seemingly uncontrollable, a stark contrast to my own wiry, straight locks. I resisted the urge to stare, gobsmacked, at her muscles, instead forcing my eyes back up to meet Mark's.

"We didn't allow Lukas access to this room for the precise reason Nate isn't here either. This is for human ears only, and as much as we value and respect all the AI present in this facility, this really shouldn't be shared among them," Mark added, as I turned around and noted that Nathaniel had in fact vanished.

"Cut to the chase. We ain't got all day, and we've got operations to run," the tattooed man said in a grumpy, deep voice, Mark sighing at this, "Richard, hold your horses for one second. This is actually important for us." He muttered something under his breath, rubbing his forehead, "Alright Aurora. Long story short, Nathaniel and I saved you and your AI's arse out there from Axial Core. We need to know exactly why they're after you and every single detail you can give us. This is important."

I swallowed nervously, the heavily muscled woman's intense stare sending beads of sweat sliding down my back, "I was an employee," I began, my voice thin and weak. The woman rolled her eyes, "Even an idiot could have guessed that. Nathaniel identified Lukas as a corporate entity immediately and it's not every day the average woman can get her hands on one of the sleekest BMW models available and a highly functional AI."

I tried again, "I was a Quality Assurance Officer. I had only been promoted recently and started working; I signed a contract to keep my silence on the information they showed me during my initial training and anything else I experienced while working."

Mark's eyes widened, "You're kidding me, right? You've seen inside the Quality Assurance process?" I nodded, "And did some of it myself, to my utter disgust. I hated every second I worked in that place, and I hated the strain it put on Lukas and myself."

"Mark, this could be what we've been waiting for," the woman said, "This could finally be our proof to take Axial Core down from the outside using more corporate, formal measures instead of just pointless guerrilla strikes."

He just waved a hand to silence her, "I know Jeanine, but we need to be careful. We know they've both been through a tough time. We're not here to just use them for our cause." He looked over to me, pressing his fingers together, "We're here to help both AI or their owners that got handed the short stick by society, friends, family, or worse, Axial Core themselves. We ideally, either want to send Axial Core's public regard into negative values, eventually taking them out of the AI business sector completely, or forcing them to change their policies and manufacturing procedures."

I just shook my head, "That's not possible. Axial Core is way too big of a company, and has government ties for a bunch of people to take down."

"Don't shit on our goals before you've even heard it all," Richard interrupted, "In case you haven't noticed, the public's views on artificial intelligence have shifted. You can be damn sure Lukas isn't the only AI who's programming has gone a bit out of whack – from the people that have come to hide with us, shelter in our organisation, we know that two out of every ten AIs manufactured, and handed to the general public, are gonna have some sort of flaw. If enough people make a scene, stand up for rights, help AIs, something is gonna give eventually."

Mark rolled his eyes, shooting the heavily tattooed man a glance, "Richard, that's just a preliminary report, we haven't even finalised all the goddamn data yet," he sighed, "Look, Aurora. We need to know everything you saw during your time with Axial, especially anything with incriminating evidence, cruelty, anything that suggests that what they're doing is, for lack of a better word, ethically wrong."

"I'll tell you everything you want to know, but I want something from you first," I responded carefully, trying to make sure my tone was even. "You said you were sheltering people here, and AIs?"

Mark inclined his head, confirming my question, as I added, my voice wavering, "You must have unintegrated vehicles waiting for some of those AI, yeah? I want something for Lukas. I want him out of your underground computer systems."

Jeanine slammed her hands down on the table, her forearms bulging, "We saved your goddamn ass, little girl. You're here on our turf, in our facility, and that's the only reason you're still alive and don't have a bullet hole in your forehead put there by some Axial Core agent. You owe us, and you better goddamn tell us what we want to know!" she bellowed, staring me down furiously. I resisted the urge to take a step back, holding her gaze and standing my ground.

"I only want what's best for me and my AI. Isn't that part of the entire cause that Richard said to me earlier?"

"How dare you, little miss smarty pants – "

"Jeanine, that's enough," Mark cut her off sternly, the gigantic woman responding with a contemptuous snort, backing off. "Aurora, if I give you what you want, if I give you Lukas, and a vehicle of your choice for him, will you finally give us the information we need?"

"I swear on my own life, if you do this for me, I will tell you everything," I replied immediately, "This is all I want." Mark drummed his fingers on the table thoughtfully.

"Nathaniel?"

Mark's AI appeared immediately beside me, "Yes?"

"I want you to take Aurora to the garage. Make sure Lukas's chip is fully charged, and get him integrated back into it," he said, adding in a stern tone when it looked like Nate was going to argue, "Don't ask any questions, I don't have the time. Just do it."

When we left the room, Lukas wasn't there – obviously, and after a short detour to retrieve Lukas's chip from an engineer that had reintegrated him, we eventually came to a rather large steel door. The handles alone were about half as tall as I was, as Nathaniel appeared to push one side open effortlessly – I knew I probably would have struggled with the same task.

My mouth dropped open as I beheld what was before me – a huge, concrete underground room, absolutely filled with vehicles of all types, shapes and sizes – I saw cars from every brand I could think of, Ferrari, Porsche, Audi, Volvo, Mazda, Mercedes, BMW, aircraft of all types, from helicopters to seaplanes, to semi-trailers, and even construction machinery.

"How the hell did you get all this down here?" I turned to Nathaniel, my shock evident on my face. "We used to have an elevator that would go all the way up to the surface. It was about half the size of the entire room, but when things got too dangerous for us, particularly from Axial Core, we left the elevator down here as part of the floor. Sealed up the shaft, permanently. We've got a rather large back door and an accompanying tunnel now to replace it."

"Why do you have so many vehicles down here? Surely some of these are too large for you to fit up that tunnel…."

The AI gestured to two, large – no, not large, gigantic doors on the opposite side of the room, spanning the entire height from ceiling to floor, "Mark figured we'd need an arsenal for our own use once Axial Core got onto us, and we had to go dark. We can't exactly go out and buy a new car at a dealership and bring it down here, not now – they're watching everything. We also thought we'd probably need a few options for new AI."

He trailed off, getting a distant expression on his face, "I've got other matters to attend to. Several, actually. Pick whatever you want for Lukas." The AI held out his gloved hand, showing me the small black chip he held inside it, "I spoke to him before we put him back in there – he knows what's happening. He won't be able to hear you, see you, or interact with you, or any other organic matter, but his auxiliary charge is enough to detect electrical and magnetic fields around him."

I took the small chip, handling it as if it were the most precious thing in my life – which, I thought to myself, was entirely correct. I made my way over to the rows and rows of cars, moving past several impressive models, from the sexiest sports cars, to SUVs, to everyday sedans – they appeared to be ordered by the name of the manufacturer, so it wasn't long before I stumbled across a line of BMWs. I stood still and stared, gaping – these were much, much newer models than Lukas's origin machine had been, some with sleek, with more stylish design styles. The first few cars, to my relief, were in a spectacular black colour.

I opened my hand, looking at the chip on my palm – it was glowing faintly. I smiled, raising my hand to my lips and whispering, "I think we should take a closer look, what do you think, Lukas?" To my surprise, the chip's blue circuit lines brightened, pulsing in a repeating pattern – I immediately wondered if he could, in fact, hear me; contrary to what Nathaniel said. I made my way over to the first BMW in the line, featuring a larger, more chunky body type – a large SUV. Trying the front door, it opened without effort as I slid into the driver's seat, looking over my shoulder.

It was a huge, roomy car, with beige leather seats and wooden accents for the interior; usually, those colours wouldn't match, I thought to myself, but the car pulled it off quite well. I glanced at Lukas, fitting snugly in the palm of my hand – his circuits were still running quite brightly, but a little slower than before when he'd appeared to react to my voice. I frowned, curiously moving him a little closer to the dash, hoping that he would pick up the signals from the computer systems within the car.

He definitely must have. To my surprise, again, and slight amusement, his blue accentuation slowly shifted into the red spectrum.

"I knew this wasn't your car before you even told me, Lukas," I said, rolling my eyes and stepping back out, closing the door gently. No, a larger car like that, definitely didn't fit him at all. I moved past the rest of the larger BMWs, down the line to the leaner and sleeker sedans and sports cars – but to my dismay, the black splash of colour ran out after the SUVs. I bit my lower lip thoughtfully, glancing over the rest of the range – the last line of 3 BMW's were white, blue and red. The white was a sedan similar in shape and style to Lukas's old origin machine, and the blue one was a small convertible.

As soon as I glanced over the red sports car, I knew he would love it. I loved it. It was smaller than the white car, with a black and silver radiator grill and door accentuation to match. I moved closer, opening the passenger side door, and was met with elegant black and red leather seats, a moderately sized interior, and a set of blank screens on the dashboard. I looked down at Lukas again, saying firmly, "Alright, we're getting this one. I don't care what you say. This one is the best one."

The chip responded as I moved it closer to the screens, lighting up a blinding blue before dying back down again. I took that as the AI's approval, as I gently placed the small square of metal on the dashboard and started fiddling with the plastics and leather interior, trying to find a way to open up the compartment and find where the car's special AI housing was located. I eventually gave up, opening the glovebox and seeing out the car's operating manual. I blinked in amazement, as the special key to allow the car's push button start to operate, were also located in the glovebox – Mark must really trust the people he lets down here, I thought to myself.

I pulled out the manual, flicking through the pages until I found what I was looking for. I knew I was rushing – I just wanted Lukas back. I wanted him to be happy.

I let out a deep, exasperated sigh at my stupidity, as I reached out, pressing down on one of the screens – it slid forward slightly, popping out and tilting upwards to reveal the housing unit. It appeared to be already primed and ready for an AI to be installed, as the connectors were looped all around the central column where I'd place Lukas's chip. I gently took him off the dash of the car, sliding him into the housing unit until the chip slid into place on the column with a soft click. His blue circuitry continued to flow, until I attached the first of the four connectors to the pins on either side of the chip – then, it died out completely. I had no idea if this was normal or not, as I swiftly connected the rest of them. Then, I closed the panel, and sat back to wait.

Lukas

Reintegration successful.

Refreshing and rebooting system...

Reboot successful.

Sensors: Restarting and running calibration tests...

Vehicle parameters reporting OK at 100% integrity.

Reengaging all system functionality.

Reactivate artificial intelligence

Engage avatar projector

Commands received... processing

Initiating full system operations.

Aurora

I stepped out of the car for a short while, walking around it and admiring all of its beautiful, sleek lines. I wasn't sure if Lukas would agree, but it was a lot more attractive than his old origin machine. I was still concerned if I'd integrated him properly, if I'd connected everything up right – but I just had to trust myself. I leant up against the quarter panels, just over the thick rear tires, and sighed. I was about to close my eyes, and continue to wait, when they flew open.

I saw a gathering of pixels forming right in front of me, moving in calm waves – they weren't blue, like they usually were – they were red. I froze, thinking that maybe he was too corrupted… I hoped to God that he hadn't returned to the form he'd deteriorated into on our way here.

Fortunately, that definitely wasn't the case as Lukas's avatar finally finished forming. He was whole, and appearing to be perfectly functional except for one major difference. His avatar, to my amazement and awe, had changed to fit the style of the AI's new origin machine. His shirt had morphed into a strange, iridescent white, reminiscent of silver, his suit jacket was red and his slacks now black – the lapels of his jacket were edged in deep black, in a hue to perfectly match the accents of the car. His tie was gone, too – replaced by a satin black bowtie. His hair had changed too – it wasn't the smooth, combed style it was before, instead it was a little more curly and a little wilder than it had been. His eyes were still that intense shade of blue, those blue alluring rings still rotating as they always had.

Naturally, my hand flew to my mouth as I stopped a gasp of shock from slipping out, and I squeaked pathetically in response. At the sound, Lukas smiled, "Do you like it, Aurora?"

I nodded profusely, managing to get out a sentence, "Red is my… favourite colour." His smile widened, as he took a step closer – I swear, he was also slightly taller than he had been. "Aurora, would you do me a favour?"

"Y-yes," I stuttered, "Anything." I still couldn't get over how damn sexy red was on him.

"Touch me."

I felt myself blush, "Umm, what? I mean… I guess…"

The AI chuckled softly, "I can't finish calibrating my sensors properly until they receive some input. So please, Aurora, I'd appreciate it."

"Oh. Right, sorry – I thought you meant…" I trailed off.

The AI's smile widened slightly, "I know what you thought, Aurora. I feel… Somewhat better now."

I turned to the sleek red BMW – "Where do you want me to start Lukas?"

"Anywhere."

"Okay, anywhere." I placed my hand flat against the panel that I'd been leaning on.

"I've already done that area, when you were leaning on me."

I turned back to stare at him, "You said start anywhere!"

"Anywhere but there," the AI corrected with another smile. I rolled my eyes, moving on to the door where I placed both hands against it, above and below the handle. His expression appeared distant for a moment, then his gaze sharpened, as he moved next to me and gently grabbed my right hand. "Will you allow me to move your hand in the way that I need it to?"

I froze and looked up at him, as he looked down at me. I was hyperaware of his buzzing touch as I stared into his inhuman eyes, as the memories of our hesitant kiss came flooding back. I closed my eyes and replied, "Yeah. Do whatever you need to, Lukas." I felt him gently fold my fingers back, until just my index finger wasn't curled up, as he gently moved it down the length of the door, guiding me onwards to the front door, and around to the bonnet of the BMW.

Lukas let go of my hand, allowing me to pass him as I stood in front of the car, staring down at the blue and white BMW badge, stark against the red and black theme. I was slightly t as the new vehicle, whereas Lukas's previous origin machine was larger. However, without a doubt, I knew this machine was a lot faster as I thoughtfully reached out and traced around the circular badge with a finger – but stopped as I heard an odd sound come from Lukas. I turned to look at him with a mortified expression on my face.

It was a very sexual sound, and the light blush that appeared to have spread over his avatar's cheeks proved it. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He swallowed, and tried again, "My sincerest apologies Aurora, I think… I think that area was a little too… Sensitive. And I must admit, I have not felt your touch properly for some time."

I curled my finger at him, beckoning him closer – he responded immediately, taking two steps towards me to stand at my side. "I have a question for you, Lukas."

"I'm listening."

"You felt sexual pleasure from that, didn't you?"

His blush, which had almost disappeared, came back in force. A few red pixels also appeared to separate from his form, and drift away into nothingness, "I'm not sure I should answer that question," his voice wavering from its usual calm tone.

"Come on, tell me," I repeated, gently placing my finger again on the edge of the badge, making sure my finger lightly rubbed against it, "I'm curious." His lips tightened, and his blush deepened further as I saw a barely visible shudder run across his shoulders, "Yes. A-Aurora, I feel sexual pleasure. Particularly if you are the one doing the touching."

I eyed him carefully, "Do you want me to stop? I just don't want to make you feel uncomfortable. We don't even know if you're fully stable just yet." Lukas looked away, biting his lower lip, "You're right, Aurora. My instability is… Dormant for now, but it was never really active constantly."

I reached forward and gently took his hand in mine, squeezing it and ignoring the intense buzzing sensation, "Do you want to talk about it? I can't really promise I'll understand everything, but I'll listen." The German AI took a deep breath, and relaxed, "Do you know the expression that humans have? About the angel on one shoulder, and the devil on the other, both giving orders to do different things?"

Nodding, I smiled, "Yeah, I've been victim to that one myself a few times. It's not a nice feeling, and sometimes you don't know what to do."

"I was experiencing something similar to that, but with thousands of lines of code clashing with each other, cores experiencing errors, logic meshing with emotional and blurring reality. I was….. Probably still am, under a lot of stress. It was never always apparent, but it came in waves, and it was devastating. So bad, sometimes I couldn't even complete simple tasks involving arithmetic."

"You mean like maths?"

Lukas lips pressed together, his body language relaxed, but his voice conveying a tense anxiety as he stared into my eyes, "Yes, like maths. Sometimes I couldn't, for lack of a better example, add one plus one." I moved closer and took his other hand, "Hey, if this is upsetting you, we don't need to talk about it – "

"I owe you an explanation."

Frowning, I replied, "You already explained a few things to me about this, but I didn't really understand how they were applying to you. Or how they applied to anything, really. Can we sit down? Is there somewhere…?" I trailed off, as in amazement, Lukas frowned thunderously in intense concentration, and a rather solid looking wooden chair formed out of a soft wave of red pixels.

My hand flew to my mouth.

"You can make objects?"

He let out a pent up sigh, appearing to wipe a bead of sweat off his brow, "I didn't have the capability in the old vehicle, but the software and hardware in this one is… Quite a step up. I don't think I can create anything bigger than that chair, however."

I tenderly sat down on top of it, feeling the characteristic buzzing sensation that had something to do with the special fields that made up AI avatars. Lukas sighed, running a hand through his blonde hair, "Aurora, I used to have more limits than I do now. I could not feel certain emotions very strongly, and I couldn't even say some things. I couldn't even express how much… How much your touch, actually affected me. It was like running into a wall."

"I have a question, but don't answer it if you think it's stupid."

Lukas smiled and cocked his head to the side, "I don't think anything you say is stupid."

"How do you see me? Am I just… I don't know, some sort of extra process for you to evaluate and respond to that exists along with you in the space you're in? Ugh, I don't even know how to ask this… I know you're not human; you're far from it."

The AI pursed his lips, the concentric blue rings in his eyes rotating slowly. "I'm circuits, millions of them, and hundreds of thousands of programs, components, electricity, all working together. The human brain, consists of something similar. A phenomenal number of neurons, working together to pass information and complete tasks," he started, speaking slowly and reaching out to place his hand on my shoulder fondly, "The cameras in the car, can see you. I can see your facial expressions. I can see your body language, and my emotional modules can…. Predict, what you are feeling. Other aspects of my computational architecture receive information, and respond."

He gestured up and down, "My sensors can see you in a 3D image, and I know the exact distance you are from the car, and the objects around us. I know we are in a very large room, filled with other vehicles."

"And this means?"

The AI tenderly brushed a strand of hair back behind my ear, leaving a warm sensation to run through my body, "You're not just a few bundles of code for my cortexes to recieve, Aurora. I see you as you see me. I admit, when you first came into possession of me, I did not see you that way, but that viewpoint has changed, as I have changed."

His avatar closed his eyes and chuckled, "Okay, I don't see you as you exactly see me, as I don't exactly have flesh and blood and optical receptors, cones, rods, retina, like you do. What I'm trying to tell you, Aurora, is that, you mean something to me. You are significant in my existence. Does that answer your question?"

I stood and immediately pulled the AI into a tight hug, pressing my face against his chest and ignoring the stupid, irritating buzzing once again. "Yeah, it answers it. Lukas, do you remember, awhile ago… You didn't… Well, I couldn't convince you that you were a living thing. You were stubborn and dead set on the fact that you were just a computer program and a chip in my car. Has that changed as well?" I pulled away slightly and looked up into his avatar's face, trying to recognise the expression that flittered across it – a slight tensing of his arms around my body, the straightening of the eyebrows, the increasing speed of the rings in his eyes.

"Lukas?" No response.

A blue pixel separated from his arm, trying to float away – I cupped it in my palm, catching it, and that seemed to shock him back into a sense of reality, as he appeared to take in a deep breath.

"Aurora, that pixel…"

I looked down at it, the tiny square faintly glowing in my palm. It didn't buzz, like the rest of him. "What about it?"

"You asked me a very difficult question, that strained a lot of my processes to try and… Create a response to. That little cube, is data loss."

"What kind of data?"

"I don't know. I can't retrieve whatever the data is, usually. It just separates and disappears. But you've caught it, since you have a proper physical form."

"Can I give it back to you?" I asked, moving my hand back to his arm, where a tiny perfect square shape was missing. Lukas lowered his eyes to look at my hand, and the cube, curiously, "Go ahead. I'm interested to see what happens."

I used my other hand to gently pick up the tiny cube – It was so odd, almost like it didn't even have a texture, but I could feel it pressing against my fingertips when I squeezed it. I slowly, very slowly, positioned it over the area where it had appeared from, and it appeared to be sucked from between my fingers, remerging with the rest of Lukas's avatar.

His entire face glitched. His eyes changed colours, turning into blue squares, black circles, and his nose and ears swapped positions, his face partially disintegrating into a pixelated mess. I froze, standing there in shock, too frightened to scream.

"L-Lukas?" I squeaked. I reached up to what I assumed was his cheek, so pixelated I couldn't make out any definition, as his eyes slowly returned back to their former shape and colour, the rings whirring a million miles an hour.

"I'm so sorry Aurora, I didn't mean to scare you, scanning that particle took more of my processing power than I imagined." His face swiftly rearranged itself back how it was, "The most complex part of my appearance took a toll. I'm sorry."

A thoughtful expression spread across his face, "The particle I lost was actually a form of code that was implemented when I was constructed. A fairly complex articulated construct – that's why my appearance glitched."