Chapter Two
When we arrived back at the lab Kennex nodded his head at Dorian to take me inside. I knew what he was doing; he was calling his captain to tell her about me. "She already knows, man." I got out of the car.
Dorian and I walked in to see Six putting his shirt back on. He turned and looked at me. "What did you do, Casper?" he asked.
"Broke a table."
He looked at Martin. Martin just shook his head. Dr. Lom looked at all of us with confusion.
"Did you pay for it?" Martin looked at me.
"Of course. I'm not that much of an asshole, Martin. How was the bondage session? Everyone feel good, now?" Six laughed, Martin just shook his head again and Dr. Lom still had a confused look on his face.
"Yes, I'm quite bowled over. Six is an incredible android." Dr. Lom looked at Dorian. "He's as good as you, Dorian."
Kennex came into the lab and gave me a hard look. "Told you. She knew already. Frankly, it's none of anyone's business." I said contemptuously. Six looked at me. "Knock it off, Casper."
He looked at Kennex then Dorian. "I take it the humans didn't play well together, Dorian?"
Dorian had a little smile on his face when he answered. "No, they didn't."
"Let's get going," Kennex practically snarled then walked out of the lab, slamming the door behind him.
"Dr. Lom, I would like to have dinner with you and Dorian one evening. Let me know what works and I'll adjust my schedule." He looked at Dorian with a panic stricken look. "I apologize, Dorian. I know you don't eat. I hope I didn't offend you."
"No, Dr. Martin, I'm not offended. I would like to join you and Rudy for dinner." He turned to us. "John's in a bad mood, so I think we should get going."
Martin went over to Dorian and shook his hand. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Dorian," he turned to Dr. Lom and did the same thing. "Dr. Lom, I know Six will be in good hands. If you have any issues call me," and he gave Dr. Lom his card. "Here are all the numbers you can reach me." He nodded at everyone, gave me a hard look and left.
We walked out and saw that Kennex had the car running. We got in and he started back to the station. Six immediately started scolding me in Navajo. Dorian turned around and looked at us.
"What language is that? I know all languages that are spoken, yet I don't recognize that one."
"It's Navajo. When the white man killed off the Natives Martin was able to save some of the languages. Navajo, Cherokee, Hopi and a few others. If Dr. Lom agrees I can transfer the files to you, if you like," Six offered.
Kennex looked at Dorian. "I don't think that's a good idea, Dorian." I was mildly impressed that Kennex actually thought of Dorian as a partner and not a synthetic after his little comment about Six.
I mimicked him in Navajo. Six shot me a look telling me to be quiet. I shut up. I wanted this nightmare to be over. I looked at my watch. It was an old fashioned analog watch with a metal band and movable bezel. We still had another five hours of this bullshit.
A call came over the radio. "13 Ray, body discovered at 4414 West 165th Street."
Kennex looked at Dorian. "How far out are we?"
"Less than five minutes the way you drive," I piped up from the back seat. "If I was driving it would be two." Six punched my arm again. "Hey, if you keep doing that, I'm gonna bruise."
"Stop baiting him." We stared hard at each other. I looked at him in the rearview mirror. "Sorry, I'm a bitch."
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know." He turned to Dorian. "Answer the call."
"John, Captain Maldonado told us to go right back to the station."
"Answer the call, Dorian. Maldonado will understand."
He answered the call, while Kennex flipped on the police lights. We arrived at W. 165th St. in a little over 4 minutes. We all got out of the car and approached the police tape. Kennex stopped and looked at us. "You guys hang back. No one knows you yet." They left us in front of the building. We walked back to the car.
"Well, what's going on?" Six asked.
"I didn't like the fact that he slighted you, Six. I won't put up with that bullshit. You're more human than I am. He's just a dumb ass. I'll shake it off." I got an evil smile on my face. "If I could just punch him I think that would make me feel better faster."
"No, Casper. Try and get along with the humans. He treats Dorian well. You can see that Kennex treats Dorian like a real partner. I'm sure that some of their conversations are fascinating."
"Yeah, I did see that and I get that he was pissed at Dr. Lom for getting all 'googly-eyed' over Martin, but that didn't give him the right to call you a synthetic."
"I'm not stressed about it and you shouldn't be either. I put him in his place. I look weak if you have to stand up for me."
I shrugged my shoulders. "Okay, you did put him in his place. I just reinforced the fact that you're my partner and he needs to respect you."
He punched my arm again. "Drop it, Casper."
"If you punch me again I'm throwing you down the street."
"You mean, you'll try and throw me down the street. You aren't as strong as me, Casper. I know that burns your ass, but you need someone stronger than you to keep you in line."
I pouted against the car. Several cops were looking over at us. I know what they saw. A tall woman with white skin, dark brown hair to her shoulders, thin, five-ten, straight nose, hazel eyes, dressed in jeans, a green shirt, boots and a jacket standing next to a tall, six-two man who had long black hair that hung to the middle of his back. He had a straight nose, brown eyes and was dressed like me in jeans, a blue shirt, boots and a jacket.
"Dr. Lom told Dorian that he's as good as you. Why did he lie?" I asked.
Six looked at the apartment building. "Dorian charges at Rudy's. I think Rudy likes Dorian and sees him more as a roommate, not as much as an android. I suspect that he didn't want to hurt Dorian's feelings. Why didn't you contradict Rudy?" Six turned to me.
"Dorian has incredible blue eyes and I love the blue in his face when he's 'communing with the electronic universe'. It's not my place to contradict Dr. Lom."
Six smiled. "You like Dorian, too."
I huffed. "Yes. So what?" I growled at him.
Six laughed. "You and your soft spot for droids."
I huffed again. "I don't have any soft spots. You know this. I'm heartless."
"I'll tell Dorian later that I'm better than him. You can't treat him like he's fragile."
"Can Martin upgrade him?" I asked.
"I'm sure he could. But that would be Dorian's decision. Plus, I think Captain Maldonado would have something to say about that. Dorian is police property. She took some heat for re-commissioning him. The DRN series had some flaws. I know you read the reports."
"Does Martin have an opinion?"
"I didn't talk to him about it. I can."
Kennex and Dorian were walking back to the car. We all got in and Kennex drove back to the station. I saw Dorian was doing something, as his face had blue lines going through it, and Kennex probably didn't want us to know. That was fine. Six was right and I just needed to drop it.
"Kennex." I got his attention. He looked at me in the rearview mirror.
"Sorry about threatening to kick your ass." He nodded slightly and looked back at the road. We walked in to the precinct. Dorian and Kennex walked to Kennex's desk while Six and I walked back to Maldonado's office. She waved us in. We stood in front of her desk while she scanned the report from Dr. Lom.
"Okay. Rudy seems to think that you're fine, Six. Let's get you set up." We followed her out of her office. She gave me a desk across from Kennex. Great. She gave me passwords for the system, codes for a car and arranged to have an MX give us a tour of the precinct. I didn't bother to tell her we already knew the layout. When we came back I set up for a new day. I really expected her to have me ride along with someone until we got up to speed. Next thing I knew that's what she did.
"I'm going to have you and Six ride along with Kennex and Dorian for a couple of days. It's just until you get used to the city." She looked at Kennex. "John, it's just for a couple of days." She turned and walked up the stairs back to her office. I looked at Six. He laughed in my face.
"You had to have known that was coming, Casper," he told me in Cherokee.
"Fuck you, Six," I replied back in Hopi.
"If you two have finished." Kennex shot us a look.
"Yeah, were done," I told him. "What did you need from us, Kennex?"
Dorian showed us the surveillance footage from the crime scene. He had picked up on something that was off. We started to discuss while Six pulled all the files on the victim. Next thing I knew it was seven o'clock and a voice rang out telling all the MX's to report to the recharging area.
"Where are you staying?" Kennex questioned. "I can drop you off before I drop off Dorian."
Ok, that was an olive branch that I was going to take. I gave him the address. It was close to his place.
"Where does Six charge?" Kennex asked me.
"He stays with me. I've already got him set up."
Dorian looked at Kennex. Kennex stared back. "No, I live alone."
I figured that they had had a conversation about living arrangements. Interesting. I wondered how Dorian got out of charging with the MX's. Kennex must have asked for a favor from Maldonado. We walked back to the car and got in. Kennex started it up and pulled away.
"Thanks, Detective Kennex. What time do you get in? Casper and I will meet you at the precinct," Six offered.
Kennex looked startled that Six was talking to him. My hands clenched into fists. Six touched my arm and I settled back.
"I'll pick you up. I'll call around 7. Give me your number."
Six rattled off both of our numbers. "Dorian," he said. Dorian turned around. "Here's a frequency you can have. I don't think Detective Kennex will be able to use it." He gave Dorian a frequency that I knew that wasn't his, but one he could access. Kennex pulled up in front of our building. We got out and took the elevator to the top floor. Since we were the only ones on that floor the elevator opened up to a single door. It was set in a spacious foyer and was set to open on my bioscan or Six's frequency, his real one. It opened and I headed for the kitchen with Six right behind me. I started to gather the items I would need to make a light snack before bed. The noodles had been the only other thing I had that day and I was a little hungry. I turned the oven on and got out a pan and some pita. I coated it with olive oil, cut it up, put it in the oven and set the timer for five minutes.
"What?" I asked Six as he leaned against the counter looking at me.
"Nothing. I just like looking at you."
"You're so full of shit your eyes are brown."
He laughed. "That would be a little hard as I don't have a human digestive system, Casper. Esthetically speaking, you are very beautiful."
"Let me guess, I need to get laid and you want to facilitate that."
"Yes. I scanned you and you are a little 'uptight'."
"Don't do that. You know I hate that." I turned away as the timer went off. I flipped the pita and set the timer for four minutes. Six just looked at me. I rolled my eyes. "Okay, I'll find someone to fuck. Happy?"
He came over and kissed me on the top of my head. "Yes. Maybe you should fuck Kennex. I didn't scan him, but he seems a little 'uptight' as well."
I looked at him in shock. "Are you fucking kidding me? No way in hell. We work together. That always ends badly. Remember what happened with Jones? He still won't talk to me, even if it's about work. I'll just go to a sexbot. No harm no foul."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm going to charge," he said and walked out of the room toward his charging station that was set up in the room across from mine.
My timer went off, I got out the hummus I made before we left, retrieved the pita and sat down at the island to eat before going to bed. Six was right I needed to get laid.