CHAPTER NINE

"No, Connor. Stop doing that," I sighed when he ran his finger along a white stain on the wall and placed it on his tongue. "Just because you have a sensor there, doesn't mean that you should test everything that you see."

When his LED returned to blue, he gave me a rather puppy-like look. "But then, how am I to know what this is?"

I shook my head in exasperation. "It doesn't matter what it is. It's probably been there for ages."

"No, the street was recently cleaned," he stated. "This was left by the Aves species."

Nausea hit me quick. "Y-You mean… You just put bird poop into your mouth?!"

He tilted his head. "I do not understand. I believe that my line of logic to be apt." His LED was turning yellow as he tried to figure out what he had done wrong.

I opened my mouth to retort, but found myself unable to reprimand him. After all, his logic came from my own programming. I must've missed something… "Never mind, Connor… Let's move on."

He nodded, following me down the street to the park. This was where Simon and I had been assaulted a few months ago. I had waited this long to come back here, but I thought this was as good of time as any. I couldn't avoid there forever. Besides, those people were everywhere. The protests were louder than ever and the counter protests were matching them. It was unfortunate whenever they got into physical altercations. In fact, there have been multiple fatalities already.

It was unfortunate that peaceful protests always seemed to end in violence. It only took a couple of bad apples to ruin the cause.

When we arrived at the park, there were already two different groups of protesters there. No children could be seen in the playground and joggers steered clear of the mobs.

I didn't have any intentions to antagonise them, but it seemed that they didn't think that as one of the groups approached us with their picket signs.

"Come on, Connor," I sighed. "We'll come here another day."

I didn't want to confront them. This was going to be a good day and they weren't going to ruin that.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!"

I walked faster.

"You rude, bitch!"

Suddenly, there was a thump and a cry of pain that made me turn around to find Connor standing calmly beside the fallen body of the haggard man with a large beer belly.

"It is unwise to attack an unsuspecting woman who has her back turned. In fact, it is best if you never raise your fist at anyone ever again, sir," Connor told the man.

"D-Did you guys see that?! The android attacked me!" the man shouted.

The protesters all gathered around, jeering.

I frowned. "And no one seems concerned that he was going to attack me if it hadn't been for said android?!" I exclaimed in indignation, watching as several of them actually began to look uncomfortable. "We don't want any trouble. We want to have a walk around the park like everyone else, but we'll leave to respect your space, alright?"

None of them said a word when we walked away. "You weren't surprised with the attack. May I assume that this has happened to you before?" He kept close to my back as we continued on our way.

"Yeah," I sighed. "But it didn't turn out as favourable for me, last time. Simon and I had quite a beating."

"Ah… What series is Simon?" he asked.

"He's a PL600 series, so he's not meant to handle situations like these," I explained. "But considering everything, I think we turned out pretty well."

He looked thoughtful, his LED was yellow was he processed everywhere.

"I never thanked you, did I? I think you did pretty well, too." I smiled at him. "Your reflex is spectacular. He would've gotten to me if you hadn't been here, so thank you, Connor."

He smiled back. "I was only doing my job. There is no need to thank me."

We walked to the old antique shop where I knew he would enjoy looking and scanning at everything. "If you break anything, I'll have to pay for it, so please, refrain from doing so. Most of these are priceless and no paycheque would be able to cover the cost."

"I will not damage anything. I promise." With that, he eagerly went down the aisle to the back corner to look at an old boot with far too much fascination.

"Ah… You're here, again," Mr. Wilson hobbled over with his walker. "You've been away for so long, I thought you were never going to come back."

I smiled. "That will never happen. I love books far too much. I noticed that you have some new ones in stock. Where do you get these?"

He chuckled. "If I told you, then you would never come here, again."

Shaking my head, I laughed as well. "Not as long as you still have books for me."

I ran my hand down a leather spine. There was some water damage, but nothing too bad.

"Who's the young man you came in here with? Have you finally found yourself a boyfriend?" he asked, slowly walking to the side to have another peek at Connor.

"Nothing like that, Mr. Wilson. Connor is an android I made at CyberLife. That's why you haven't seen me for so long. Lately, I've been taking him out to see how he interacts with the general public," I explained, sliding one of the books off the dusty shelf and carefully turned the pages. The crisp, yellow leaves were extremely brittle. There weren't going to be many turns left in it. That was unfortunate… Soon, there wasn't going to be any more books left.

And that was a very depressing thought.

I replaced the book back on the shelf, and perused another, until I found what I was looking for.

"Oscar Wilde, he was an Irish playwright and poet who was very controversial for his time. He died on November thirtieth, nineteen hundred of meni – "

I put my hand over his mouth before he could continue any longer. "No need. I know who he was. I'm actually a big fan of his work and this won't be my first copy, but this isn't the same edition, so I want it."

With the stack of five books in my arms, I slowly made my way to the cash register where Mr. Wilson was sitting with a tablet in his hand. Even he wasn't able to get away from all the technology. The news can only be accessed digitally.

"Here." I handed him my VIVA card. He slowly charged the amount before giving it back to me.

"Allow me to assist you." Connor easily took the books from me and carried them in one hand.

I turned to him. "Did you want anything? I can get it for you."

He shook his head. "That will not be necessary. I have no use for material items and nowhere to place them. My greatest possession is my knowledge."

Glancing down at my watch, I realised that it was just about time for Connor to return to CyberLife. That was unfortunate. I had a good time just walking around with him. "Tomorrow, I'll take you out and you can meet Simon. I think the two of you will get along well."