Thanks to supergeek17 for beta reading this chapter.
That evening after dinner, when it was dark, Daniel left. Kate let out a sad sigh as she watched his car disappear into the darkness before heading back into the house.
As Kate stepped into her room, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up as though she were being watched. She glanced around the room-- she was the sole occupant. Trying to quell her nerves, she checked the windows to make sure they were locked and that the curtains were closed completely, then checked her closet and the bathroom. When she didn't find anything out of place, she dismissed her nerves and panic as groundless paranoia; it certainly wouldn't be the first time she had felt paranoid after Daniel had been there. She always worried someone would have noticed him… that police would end up watching her, waiting for him to come back.
Kate pulled her nightgown out of a dresser drawer and stepped into the bathroom, wrinkling her nose-- Daniel had left his dirty clothes laying in the corner, making the whole room reek of sweat, dirt and cheap labor. "He's twenty-two and he still can't figure out how to take care of his own dirty clothes," she lamented, shaking her head before wrapping the clothes up in the towel he had used and taking them to the washer to deal with tomorrow morning. When she got back to the bathroom, she sprayed a generous amount of Febreeze in the bathroom before shutting the door and pulling her shirt off as she walked over to the bed, where she had set her nightgown.
As she reached to unhook her bra, there was a sudden screech from the computer speakers, as though someone had turned them on and cranked the volume up too fast. Kate's head jerked in the direction of the computer and she was about to walk over to see what had caused the disturbance when a half-mechanical voice demanded, "Will you please put your shirt back on and go somewhere else to change?!"
Kate grabbed her shirt, using it to conceal her chest and looked around franticly trying to figure out where the voice had come from. "Daniel, if this is some sick, twisted prank of yours, I'm going to pound you!" she bellowed. It wouldn't be the first or last time he tried to scare her, and he had been left alone for quite a while that morning-- the little jerk could have easily set something up.
"Your brother has nothing to do with this," the disembodied voice told her.
"Who are you?" Kate demanded, cautiously walking toward the computer then froze when she got close enough to see the computer chip that had been sitting on top of the computer. She rarely used the desktop computer, favoring her laptop, so she hadn't noticed what had happened to it-- Daniel hadn't been trying to trick her earlier; the computer chip looked like it had begun to melt right through the computer's casing and wires from inside of the computer had attached to it.
"My name is Kagerou," the voice replied.
"Where are you?" Kate asked.
"You're staring at me," he replied.
"The computer chip?" Kate asked in disbelief.
"Actually, it's a highly advanced artificial intelligence chip, but in the most basic sense, yes," Kagerou replied, sounding almost insulted.
"So… you're like some type of advanced computer program?" Kate asked.
"No," Kagerou replied shortly. "I'm alive, I'm sentient-- I am not some program or mindless machine."
"You're really alive?" Kate repeated. "What exactly are you?"
"I'm a robot," he answered levelly.
"Where did you come from?" Kate asked.
"I… I don't know," Kagerou replied slowly. "I can't remember."
"Well, why don't I call the police?" Kate suggested, uncertain what to believe or think of the fact that she was having an actual conversation with her computer. "I'm sure if something… er, someone, like you went missing, they'll know about it and be able to get you back where you belong."
"No!" Kagerou cried. "You can't call the police."
"Well, why ever not?" Kate asked.
After a long pause he replied, "I don't know-- I just know that no one else is to find out about me."
"You don't know much of anything, do you? Well, I'm not keeping you here-- you're destroying my computer," Kate snapped as she reached for the phone.
"Don't, please," Kagerou pleaded.
"I'm sorry but you're absolutely freaking me out and you haven't given me a single good reason not to call the police and let them deal with you," Kate replied without looking at the computer as she started to dial the phone.
"Fine, you want a reason? How about your brother?" Kagerou pointed out coldly.
"What about my brother?" Kate asked hesitating just before punching in the last number.
"Based on the e-mails you have saved on this computer, your brother was found guilty of murdering another man, but he managed to escape before his sentencing," Kagerou replied glibly. "He was the man who was here earlier. If you turn me over to the police, I'll tell them everything-- including his location as we speak."
"You have no proof," Kate announced, defiantly lifting her chin. "It would be my word against yours, and I'm sure the police would trust a human more than some glitching machine with a faulty memory."
The computer monitor flickered to life to show images, complete with time and date stamp, of Daniel walking through the room. "How did you get those?" Kate asked, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.
"The same way I can see you-- through the webcam," Kagerou replied, his voice taking on a hard tone. "Now how about you put that phone down, sweetheart?" he asked.
Kate glared at him, or at least at the webcam sitting on top of the monitor, and hung up the phone. "What do you want from me?" she finally asked.
"Just let me stay here and don't tell any one about me," Kagerou answered. "I swear to you, I'll leave as soon as my body has been properly restored. Oh, and one more thing… please for the love of God, put your shirt back on."
Kate blushed as she turned her back to him before slipping the shirt, which she had still had clutched over her chest, back on. "What do you mean, your body restored?" she asked.
"This computer is being slowly altered to reform my body," he explained.
"Just because I set the chip on it? How is that possible?" Kate queried.
"I don't know," he admitted. "All I know is that that seems to be what is happening."
"Do you have any idea why you're having such a hard time remembering things?" Kate asked.
"No… but according to the date on your computer, I was inactive for seven years, so it could be from lack of an energy source for so long," Kagerou mused. "Any unnecessary systems would have been shut down, including less essential memory information, and those systems just haven't come back online yet. Consider it a mild case of amnesia, if you will-- I can remember bits and pieces from before, but nothing seems to connect or make sense."
"Are you sure I shouldn't just call the police?" Kate suggested. "Maybe they would be able to find out where you came from."
"No," Kagerou flatly denied. "I don't know why, but I feel as though no one is to know about me, especially the police or any other form of law enforcement. It's as though my life may have been in danger from someone who was involved with the police." His disembodied voice took on an almost pleading tone. "Please… just wait and see if my memories come back. I swear, I'll explain everything in full then and not a moment later; just let me stay here until my body has been restored."
"Fine," Kate agreed hardly, walking over to him. "But you're sure not staying in my room." So announcing, she disconnected the monitor, keyboard and mouse from the computer, then stopped when she found that the connection to the webcam had merged with the computer so it couldn't be removed.
"Stop disconnecting things!" Kagerou demanded, a nervous edge in his voice. "And don't touch the webcam-- that's the only way I can see."
"Hey, it doesn't even look like I could remove it if I wanted to," Kate replied as she reached to unplug the computer.
"What are you doing!?" Kagerou demanded. "Don't unplug that-- it's my only energy source!"
"Look, I told you: you're not staying in my room," Kate repeated. "If I unplug this, will it shut you down?"
"Not immediately-- I'll be able to stay online for a little while without it… more than long enough to send the video of your brother to the police if you don't plug it back in.," he replied threateningly.
"Fine-- I'll plug you back in, just in the living room," Kate conceded before unplugging the computer and carrying it to the living room, plugging it back in at the end of the couch. "There-- is that good enough for you?"
"Yes, thank you," Kagerou replied, the gratitude in his voice apparently genuine.
"You're welcome, and good night," Kate said before heading back into her room, wondering what on earth she had gotten herself into.