"ok, Josh. What are you doing here?" Lynn held a firm grip on her make shift weapon, not ready to fully let her guard down yet. Hands up in surrender, his voice shook "I just need a place to hide, I didn't know anyone lived here". He looked terrible, his clothes were torn in multiple places and she could see the stain of thirium on the front of his shirt. He was favoring his right side, possibly hiding more injuries. The desire to help him stabbed Lynn's gut like a red-hot poker. Perhaps she had been wallowing in self pity over her past actions too long. Or maybe this was a chance to help someone, like she never got to help the others. He saw her eyes glance down to the blue on his shirt. Self-consciously he turned, attempting to hide the wound, but the action made him twitch uncomfortably. "You're injured". She lowered her weapon. She didn't want to hurt him, and from the look of things, he didn't want to hurt her either.
"Lynn we have to help him" Sam's voice made Lynn jump. "Sam! I told you to stay hidden" Sam's eyes went past Lynn to where Josh still lay on the floor. He took a small step forward, towards the bleeding android who still looked at them like they were going to attack him at any moment. Sam reached out his hand, the layer of synthetic skin peeling away as he stretched his arm towards Josh. Moving slowly like one would approach a wounded animal, Sam held his hand out, waiting for Josh to meet him half way. Josh's eyes flickered to Lynn before coming to a decision and lifting his hand to meet Sam's. A moment of silence passed but when Josh pulled his hand away, he looked up at Lynn again, now with a new respect for her in his eyes. "What did you do?" she put her hand on Sam's shoulder "I showed him what you did for me, I don't think he is scared of you anymore". Lynn chuckled a bit "Come on kid, you could have let me be intimidating for a little while" Sam smiled up at her "Lynn, I don't think you can pull off intimidating. You want to help him too, don't lie.". He was right, something inside of her knew, she could help and more than that, she wanted to.
Lynn took a deep breath and turned towards Josh, who was watching them. Waiting for their next move before he decided his own. Lynn crouched down near him and held her hands out to show she had no intention of doing him any harm. "I can see you're hurt, I want to help you. Will you let me?" Josh looked between her and Sam, the panic finally starting to ebb away. Lynn stood and offered her hand down to Josh. He took it and she pulled him to his feet, mindful to watch his left side. "Ok josh, let's get you patched up".
They could hear the Rain drizzle down outside, creating a peaceful atmosphere inside the shop. Josh now sat on one of the unopened crates they had found, the skin on his chest peeled away while Lynn worked to reattach severed wires and check that his heart was still fully functional. Sam sat close by, his feet dangling off the edge of a crate. He had been bombarding Josh with questions while Lynn worked. "You worked in a school? What did you do there?" Josh chuckled, he liked Sam's enthusiasm. "I was a lecturer, I taught college students history" Lynn pushed an out of line panel back in place on Josh's back. "So what made you leave?" Josh hesitated, it was obviously still a fresh memory "Sam! That's rude. Josh you don't have to talk about it". He shook his head "No it's ok Lynn" He looked sad, mournful for the life he had lost. "Humans are unpredictable. Sometimes they do bad things, but I don't think that makes them all bad people" Lynn double checked her work, Josh's words were far too kind to belong to someone who had suffered at human hands. "I believe someday humans and android can live in peace, together." She looked up at him "Do you really believe that?" He stared back at her, no hesitation in his eyes now "Yes, I do". The faith he had in a peaceful future was amazing, she wanted to have such faith.
She cleared her throat, they needed a change of subject. "Looks like you are all patched up" She handed her tools to Sam "Can you put these away for me?" Sam smiled brightly and bounced off the crate "Yes lynn!". Sam took the small tool chest and spun to go back to the main shop. With Sam out of ear shot, Lynn turned back to Josh "What will you do now?". Josh's face turned thoughtful and serious "I've heard from other androids, there's a place to go if you seek freedom. A safe place" hope blossomed in Lynn's chest. This was a chance, they couldn't stay in the shop forever. It was safe for the moment but who knew when the next human would get curious. "Josh, I know we only just met but I have to ask. Can Sam and I come with you?" Josh's mouth turned up in an amused grin "Like you need to ask. You've helped me so much already. Let's find Jericho." Relief flooded thru her and she breathed a deep sigh.
The relief was quickly replaced with alarm when a crash echoed thru the room, her and Josh exchanged a frightened look. Sam. They darted from the room in the direction Sam had gone, unsure of what they were walking in to. Turning the corner Lynn was attempting to combat the rising panic, but the sight of Sam, face down on the floor tipped her over the edge "Sam!". She darted to him and dropped to her knees, no response came. She pulled him to her and turned him on to his back. His LED flashed red and a blank stare was present on his face. Lynn shook his shoulders calling out his name, attempting to gain any reaction saying that he could hear her. She felt a hand squeeze hard on her shoulder, startled she looked over at Josh. In her desperation to get to Sam she had forgotten Josh was here "Lynn you have to calm down, you can help him but only if you calm down". He was right, she could help him. She swallowed her panic and laid Sam on the ground, rolling up his shirt away from his stomach. She could help Sam, she just had to breath and keep calm.
She deactivated the skin around the panel she needed to access and pushed it open. Instantly thirium swelled from the new opening, this was wrong. Thirium inside androids was very contained, for there to be any leaking out like this was a sign something important had been disconnected. She choked down the fear rising up inside her, if she lost her nerve now Sam would die. Not giving herself a chance to hesitate, Lynn reached in to the opening and attempted to find the lost connection. Josh kept encouraging her with words and offers to help anyway she needed. Finally her hand brushed against a disconnected hose, she could feel the thirium running freely from it. She lifted her head to search the shop, all the parts they had found here wouldn't fit an android, especially one Sam's size. They were going to have to improvise. That's when Lynn spotted what she needed "Josh! Hand me that electrical tape"
Josh dove for the tape and handed it out to Lynn "Josh listen, I'm going to hold these two hoses together and I need you to tape around it as quickly as you can" Josh nodded, determination filled his features. Lynn returned his determined nod, she grasped the hose tightly. It was difficult to see where the other end was with the dark blue liquid covering the whole area, but Lynn found it and held firm. She lifted it and linked the two pieces together. Josh was quick in his task, wrapping a generous amount of tape around it, securing the breach and stopping the bleeding. For now. They held their breath and waited. One second, two seconds, three seconds of silence. Finally Sam gasped and blinked hard, both Lynn and Josh let out the breaths they had been holding. Lynn pulled Sam to her and cried tears of relief. "Lynn I don't feel good" Lynn knew they were going to have to find a more permanent solution, that tape wasn't going to hold forever. They needed parts and blue blood to replace what Sam had lost.
A cyber life store was out of the question and nobody would deal with an android anyway. It seemed Jericho was the best place for them to go if they wanted to save Sam's life. Lynn lifted her face away from Sam's shoulder and looked towards Josh "Thank you Josh" He smiled at her. Josh reached out a hand to rub Sam's back soothingly. Sam would need rest after all that had happened, Josh and Lynn discussed letting Sam rest for the night and head out in the morning. It was going to be one hell of a trip.
