Markus dropped wearily into the waiting room chair, hunched forward with his elbows on his knees, the old crumpled magazine cradled in blue-stained fingers. His LED spun pale and blue while he replayed Carl's words in his head.
"The world is always changing, Markus. It's up to us to shape what it will become."
He pulled on the page with the toothpaste ad, the crayon message left behind, and he tore it out with precision, folded it, kept it in his back pocket like a treasure.
He could never go home again …
… but someone was waiting for him.
The clock on the wall ticked past four a.m.
While Markus climbed to his feet, prepared to begin the last leg of his journey, the little box radio crackled in the space that followed a jazz solo. A voice spoke crisp and quiet through the speakers:
*We have an update on the ongoing search for Emma Phillips, who went missing fifteen hours ago while in the company of a PL600 android now suspected to be deviant and dangerous. A search party continues to comb the woods in the vicinity of the Phillips residence, but so far has found no trace of the little girl. We've received word that Amanda Stern at CyberLife Tower has deployed the new prototype deviant-hunter android to assist police in the case.*
Treetops rushed like a dark jagged ocean beneath the whirr and howl of a flying machine. The cool night wind roared in Connor's ears, rippled in his suit jacket, flung his tie flapping over his shoulder, while he twisted the handgrips and leaned over the console of a rumbling steel-blue transport.
The house on the hill shone spotlit ahead, flashing red and blue from the cop cars in the front yard, the door wide open in the chill pre-dawn night. Police came and went like ants on patrol; in the woods, rows of flashlights swept the dry leaves and budding branches while an echo of voices cried only a name:
"EMMA!"
A rush of swirling, roaring wind announced the arrival of CyberLife's android. The lieutenant in charge stepped into the yard and stood in the spotlight's glare, an arm raised to shield his face from the blades of wind and leaves churned by the descending aircraft. His jacket billowed, his gray hair flung wild, until the flying object and its passenger came to a quiet rest in the ruined spring grass.
"What the fuck is that?" the lieutenant hollered as he approached, and the android flicked a series of switches that powered down the engine and returned a ringing quiet to the woods.
"It's an RXG7-1200 prototype, commonly known as a hoverbike," was the android's prompt response. He smoothed his hair and straightened his jacket and strode with measured steps into the lieutenant's full view. The android stood cold and passive as the metal he was made of, shadowed by the harsh white light. "You must be Lieutenant Anderson. I'm the android sent by CyberLife. My name is Connor. My mission is to -"
"Shut up and get in here," Hank growled as he stepped aside, and with a gruff gesture he ushered 'Connor' into the house. "The more seconds we lose, the less chance we have of finding that kid alive. What does CyberLife think you're gonna do that hasn't already been done?"
Connor stepped across the threshold; instantly he had a scanned analysis of the visible interior of the house. Emma's appearance was confirmed by a photograph on the mantle, and her height and weight were indicated by the scuffed galoshes left by the door; the dirty outline of a set of treads implied that Emma's sneakers were missing. A map of the area covered the dining room table, held down by buzzing radio equipment; peeking out at the edges lay a few advertisements and spec comparisons of the newest android models. On the floor by the trash lay one ripped half of a business-reply envelope addressed to CyberLife Tower. A scatter of paper and crayon drawings littered the living room carpet: many depicted wild animals from the forest, but one included a yellow-haired smiling android with the name DANIEL scrawled underneath, holding the hand of a little stick-girl only labeled ME.
The parents sat hunched and silent in the living room, their faces turned away.
He didn't miss a beat.
"I've reviewed your search protocol and found that it was written under the assumption of a human abductor," Connor articulated while he listened to the search-team's calls through the radio. "You've failed to consider an android's increased speed, agility, and lack of need for rest. If the PL600 was carrying the child, he could cover twice the distance a human would in the same amount of time." He leveled a steady stare at Lieutenant Anderson's sleepless skepticism. "Your search perimeter is far too small. The PL600 will have generated and executed a number of plausible escape routes since you began - your pattern of search, while effective for humans, is easily predicted by an android and therefore easily avoided, Lieutenant. An element of surprise is crucial in these circumstances."
Hank clenched his jaw and hissed a noisy, frustrated breath. "Goddammit," he snarled while he spun away and rushed back to the map on the table, a radio receiver in one hand and a red marker in the other. "Chris, I need you to split up your group, head southwest and north." He released the radio button and looked over his shoulder. "Hey android, whatever you're called, what -" Hank, squinting, turned in-place to find he was alone. "Where the fuck did he go?"
Connor stepped out through the broken kitchen door and scanned the drying mud of the backyard. The police had compressed the ground with trails of heavy bootprints, but beneath them were the unmistakable tread of Emma's sneakers and the mark of an android's shoes. Connor took off at a run for the edge of the woods, following the meager trail; he bolted between the trees and leaped his way over rocks and roots - and when the footprints disappeared into the rough of the forest, he never slowed down. A broken twig, a bit of turned earth, a partial tread on the edge of a rock: all of these led the way without need for pause. His vision flickered among scanners and heat-signatures and infrared sensors - the trees in his head flashed blue and green and black and violet - and even in the deep darkness of the woods his every step fell quick and unyielding.
In the dark, Connor's LED flashed bright blue. "The girl is complicit," he said aloud while he raced under cascading vines and vaulted over a fallen trunk. Dry leaves rustled and flung in his wake. "There's evidence she led the way at certain junctions. She won't respond to your calls. This isn't a kidnapping, it's a runaway."
*How the hell did you get this frequency?* the lieutenant's voice growled in his head. *Nevermind. Chris, did you get that?*
*Loud and clear.*
A new analysis flashed behind Connor's eyes. The probability of this PL600 being deviant had significantly dropped. The child could have decided on her own to run, and had instructed the android to accompany her. If this scenario was confirmed the truth, then CyberLife's involvement was a waste of time and valuable resources.
Hank's voice snapped over the radio frequency: *Parents say Emma sometimes hides out at a treehouse by the lake. Reed, that's your area.*
*We checked it out, Hank, it was empty.*
"Did you check the roof?" Connor called while he slid sideways down a rocky incline.
*Who the fuck is that?*
*Just answer the goddamn question, Reed. Did ya check the roof?*
*No. I'll turn back.*
"I'm close," Connor announced. Between the trees he caught the shimmer of starlight on the water. "I'll check the treehouse."
*You, android!* Hank snarled. *If you find anything you report it and you step aside and you wait for us to handle it, you got it? You lay a finger on that little girl and I'll rip you a new cooling system.*
"I'm here for the deviant, Lieutenant." Connor slowed his pace and lowered his voice, quiet over a carpet of fallen leaves, as the dark shape of the treehouse shifted into view. "The human child is not my concern."
Silence hissed over the radio.
*Reed.* Hank's voice had taken a grim tone. *Get your ass back to the lake.*
*On my way.*
As the sky began to fade to shades of gray - a herald of the approaching dawn - Connor paused at the edge of a still and silent clearing. The young grass here had been trampled an hour ago by Reed's passing search party; their footprints marked a wide trail around the edge of the mirrored lake.
From this angle, there was no indication of anyone else having come this way. He would have to get closer.
Connor's silent approach was the only movement save for the gentle shiver of water against the muddy lakeside - as if time and sound hung suspended, breathless, trapped between the realities of night and day.
The treehouse gaped vacant and dark, a hollow shell cradled in the boughs of an old oak.
Connor switched to thermal scanners - the grass and trees turned to shades of deep blue - and he tipped back his head to scan the roof of the treehouse … and the child-shaped glow of yellow and green that lay quiet atop the rough shingles.
He curled his fingers around a rung of the rope ladder, and the wood above creaked as he climbed. At the top, Connor braced himself against the doorway and clambered higher, over the edge of the silent roof -
- overhead, gunmetal flashed in the dark -
*BANG*
A child screamed.
With a manic, rippling flourish, Daniel threw off their camouflage blanket and jumped to his feet, his elbow straightened, a gun pointed gleaming down at Connor's skull while the latter dangled from the edge of the roof, his head flung back, a bullet hole trickling blue between his eyes. "Leave us alone!" Daniel howled, a hand on Emma's back where she clung shivering to his leg.
Connor's gaze snapped clear and cold. He raised his head. Daniel squeezed the trigger again -
*BANG*
The bullet shot wayward; the gun flew spinning high in the air.
Connor pounced like a wolf, caught Daniel in a blur of swift and deadly precision, trapped and slammed him facefirst into the roof while he twisted Daniel's arm from its socket in a cascade of sparks and gushing blue.
Emma screeched, knocked tumbling back by the scuffle; with desperate fingers she clawed at the loose shingles, skidding until she ran out of roof, and she dangled by her fingernails over the edge. Tears streamed down her sobbing face while her feet swung out over empty air.
"Emma -" Daniel, pinned under Connor's knee, reached for her with his remaining hand, stretched desperate to grasp her -
- Connor gripped him like a vice, and in one cold motion he flipped the PL600 hard on his back, dug his fingers into Daniel's abdomen, twisted and yanked.
The pump regulator fell in a spatter of shining blue to the ground.
Connor waited, his hand crushed in his opponent's quivering throat, for Daniel's biocomponents to shut down.
"Help…" Emma whimpered, struggling to maintain her meager grip.
*What's happening?!* Hank's voice called over the radio. *I heard gunshots!*
"EMMA!" Gavin raced around the edge of the lake, stuffing his gun into its holster, and he skidded to a stop under Emma's feet with his arms outstretched. "I got you! It's okay!" His sharp eyes snapped up to the gray-suited android on the roof. "HEY TIN CAN!" he barked. "HELP HER!"
Daniel had gone still.
Connor rose calmly to his feet, and he looked down over the edge of the roof with a passive stare, broken only by the dripping bullet hole in his forehead. "I've captured the deviant."
*Where's Emma? Where's the kid?!* Hank snapped.
Gavin roared again, a snarl on his scarred lip. "Motherfuckin' plastic piece of shit. HEY!"
Connor slung Daniel's limp body over his shoulder while Emma, sobbing, began to slip.
*Hey. Android. CONNOR.*
Connor went still, poised on the roof with the deviant secured, his LED flashing blue, while Lieutenant Anderson's voice rumbled low and threatening in his head, echoed in Gavin's radio:
*That kid's life is worth more than all of you plastic assholes combined. You keep her safe.*
It took Connor a fraction of a second to verify the truth of the lieutenant's words, and to compare the new orders with Amanda's instructions.
Gavin stood ready to catch Emma, and he held his breath - then wheezed in shock when Connor (with the dead deviant on one shoulder) leaped out over the edge of the roof, snatched his free arm around Emma's stomach, and dropped with her fifteen feet to the ground. The android landed like a cat on the grass and set Emma safely to her feet.
"C'mon, it's okay." Gavin dropped to one knee, showing his badge to the hyperventilating little girl who skittered in wide-eyed terror of the deviant-hunter. "Emma. I'm with the police, I'll take you back to your mom and dad, okay?"
Emma choked, shaking violently, her vision blurred by hot tears, but she still saw Daniel's limp dripping body dangling lifeless from Gray-Suit's shoulder. "He was protecting me." Her jaw quivered, and she shivered so violently she collapsed to her hands and knees, while Gavin scrambled forward to secure her gently in his arms. Emma's voice cracked and gurgled with despair. "Daniel …"
Gavin raised the radio to his chin, while he watched the deviant-hunter walk silently away into the woods with his bounty. "I've got her," Gavin spoke into the radio, though his voice was far from triumphant. Emma's tears soaked his shirt. "She's safe."