23 Detroit 9.9.2038
Clara
Uniform acquired and LED glued back on my head, I make my way to the Cyber Control headquarters. I don't have any sort of keycard, so I push through the front doors, walking with a straight back and keeping my eyes ahead like I learned to do when I was Anna. No one looks twice, and I'm able to move straight past the front desk and to the elevators beyond. I scan the list of floors, eyes landing on 'software development.' That seems like a good place to start, so I press the button to get to the fourth floor. The headquarters are stately and modern—cold just like the Downs's mansion. Even though David is dead and Mrs. Downs has been arrested, the company still seems to be functioning. I suppose all the paperwork is getting sorted.
The elevator comes to a stop, and I step out. I have no idea if I'll blend in, but the worst that can happen is I get thrown out. Glass doors separate the software development floor, and I push into them.
"What are you doing here?" a man asks immediately, looking up from his computer. Well, it was fun while it lasted. I blink at him, mind trying to come up with a response that will buy me a few more minutes.
"I was told to get a coffee order," I say stupidly.
The man stares at me a moment, brown eyes suspicious behind too-large glasses. I notice his cluttered desk, his computer, which would have plenty of interesting information on it. There are half a dozen others in the room, all focused on their work. I realize now I should have had an alternate disguise—pretend to be an intern or something. Too late now, plus the LED is not going to come off with a few gentle tugs.
"Christ, they're trying to suck up to us," the man says, leaning back in his chair and setting his feet on the edge of his desk. "We might lose our jobs, but have some free coffee while you're still here."
"Give it the damn coffee order; I need some caffeine," a woman at the next desk over says.
I wish I were an android in that moment because I could just hack the system and get everything I need. Instead, all I can do is stand stupidly while the guy pulls out his phone. He frowns.
"I can't find its signal," he says. I realize he's trying to use the Cyber Control app on me. He can't even give me the fucking coffee request without making it an order.
"Company's already falling apart," the woman says. "Just tell it."
The man slams his feet back down on the ground, and I jump just a little. He seems to notice, a predatory smile lighting his face. "Two blacks, two with milk, one with milk and sugar, and a mate green tea with extra froth," he reels off. I'm not paying the least bit of attention to the order because I have no fucking clue where I'm going to get coffee. I'm saved when the man's attention diverts to a janitor android.
"Hey, get in here!" the man yells, and I take a step back to distance myself from his toxicity.
"Leave it alone, Alan," says a mousy girl in the corner of the room. She looks sick, and I realize this isn't the first time this has happened.
Alan taps on his phone, and the android walks into the room, more robotic than I'm used to seeing. "Clean up this mess," Alan says, knocking over some of the papers on his desk. "And there's a puddle on the floor over there where newbie spilled her coffee." The mousy girl pales.
"I said I'd clean it up myself," she whispers, but Alan isn't listening.
I watch as the android takes the orders Alan gives him, bringing in his cleaning supplies after straightening the papers.
"This is why we have androids," Alan says as if he's trying to prove a point to the room. "This is why we work here and how we're going to save our fucking jobs. We create this software because they serve us."
"I mean, they're already programmed to do that," another man says from across the room. Everyone has abandoned their work now to watch Alan and the android. "Cyber Control can be overkill."
"And yet you work here," Alan challenged.
"Yeah, well, maybe not for much longer."
Finally, Alan turns his attention back to me, and I want to shrink back at the hate I see in his eyes. "What the fuck are you still doing standing here?" he asks.
I turn and head for the doors. "Stupid machine," Alan's voice follows me out of the room. "I'll let hardware know they have a faulty android. They can destroy it after it gets us our coffee."
My LED would be burning red right now if it were truly connected to my brain. Not only have I learned nothing here, I also have made myself a target. As I pass the janitor android, he looks over at me, LED flashing yellow for a brief moment. I want to tell him I'm sorry, but I push out of the doors and leave him to face Alan's wrath. I feel wretched after that interaction. It's like the alley all over again with the protestor who wanted to hurt me because he thought I was an android though I'd done nothing to him. It was bad enough having to take orders, but having to put up with the prejudice and the contempt…it showed off the very worst of humanity. The scariest thing was that it had become a social norm. Few people blinked when androids were treated this way because they were machines. Machines didn't think, didn't feel. Right?
I have no intention of bringing those ass hats coffee, so I walk further upstairs, passing offices. Then it occurs to me. David would have had an office here. Obviously. No one is likely to be in there though breaking in might be a trick. I find myself wishing Connor were here. He really did make investigating easier, and this isn't as much fun alone.
I find David's office on the top floor, relenting and taking the elevator instead of climbing up a million stairs. The hall is quiet. I realize there are probably security cameras which, guess what, I can't hack either. I sigh, calculating how long it would take security to reach me. I put a hand in my pants pocket absentmindedly. Something plastic is in there, and I pull it out with a frown. And holy shit. It's the piece of tape that I got David's print on to hack his home computer. I unstick it from itself. There's no way this will still work. No way at all.
I walk over to the access panel. It's meant for a whole hand, but I stick the print down anyway. It scans. It beeps. The door unlocks.
Sheer dumb luck. It has to be, but I'm in and I do a little victory dance the second I'm in the office. I use the fingerprint to access his computer, sitting down at the desk. I can't exactly tell anyone where I got this information, but I can use it to draw connections to evidence we already have. I don't know exactly what I'm looking for. Just something that feels off.
He doesn't keep anything relating to red ice on his work computer, obviously, but I find some interesting statistics on the amount of successful and failed experiments he's had. There are videos too, and I click on one.
"This is attempt 35 at the algorithm." It's David Downs speaking, and he's standing in front of the camera with an android. He types something into his phone. "Cyber Control is meant to give the owner full control over his or her android. There can be no exceptions. No matter how irrational the order, the machine must follow it or else it brings into question who the master is. These machines were made to obey humans, and there are no shades of grey here."
"Model 514-293-718, what is your order?"
The android, a dark-haired man, speaks in a robotic voice. "Destroy myself."
I watch in horror as the android takes the screwdriver David hands him. The android doesn't blink before shoving it straight through his forehead. Blue blood leaks from the hole, and sparks fly as his system shuts down.
My hand is clamped over my mouth, and my eyes have filled with tears.
There are dozens of these videos. David is testing commands until the androids obey him completely no matter how irrational the command.
I don't want to keep watching, but I need to know more. "Attempt 5," David says in an earlier video. "So far androids have cooperated until the instructions become irrational." He turns to the female android.
"Model 318-224-179, what is your order?" he asks. There is no hint of humanity in his voice. Nothing to indicate that he sees what's wrong with what he's doing.
"Kill myself."
Kill, not destroy. I think I know enough about androids to know there's a difference. Humans are killed; machines are destroyed. I can see fear in her eyes, and her LED is blinking red. David hands her a knife. The android's hands tremble. She stands with the knife loosely gripped in her hand.
"Follow your orders," David says, his voice growing cold, harsh.
"No." She drops the knife. Before I can even guess what might happen next, David pulls a gun from the back of his belt and shoots her straight through the forehead, execution style.
"Experiment 5 failed."
I can't watch anymore. I click out of the videos. David was trying to overcome deviancy through his app. I can only imagine how much money his company would have made if he'd been able to perfect his algorithm. It looks like he was close, but the last video dates a few days before he died. He didn't have time to market it. The public was right about one thing though: Cyber Control can cause androids to deviate. But it's not the app itself; it's the irrational instructions humans are giving them.
If I can prove this, maybe I can stop people from using the app to make their androids do extreme things that put them at risk or compromise them. I can't just take the videos. I certainly can't admit to breaking into David's office. I need a credible source. I scan through the files more and find that there's one other name listed several times. Dannie Malcom. I find her staff file and realize with a start it's the mousy girl I saw working in software development. She has a degree from MIT and, interestingly enough, has a background in android rights. She began work at Cyber Control two years ago. Clearly she hasn't been accepted into the other software developer's inner circle if they're still calling her 'newbie.' She was asked to oversee several of the experiments with David, and I wonder why. I guess it's back to software development. Maybe I can slip her my number and ask for an interview. I grudgingly log off of David's computer. The police will want to look at this too, but I'm not sure how that will work since Cyber Control isn't exclusively David's. He invented the app and started the company, but he doesn't own it completely. A few years back, David sold several shares of the company. He remained the CEO, but the company was no longer his.
I shut the office door behind me after wiping any fingerprints away and head to the elevator. I decide to stop by the cafeteria and get something. It'll at least provide me with a cover. The elevator dings, and I step out. Dannie's sitting hunched behind her desk, glasses sliding down her nose. What made her want to work for Cyber Control, I wonder. I enter, noting that Alan is now throwing wadded paper at the janitor android. I slam the coffee down on his desk. I just got all black except for his, which I poured half a dozen sugar packages into. He sends an insult my way, but I ignore him, setting down the coffees and getting closer to Dannie. She looks up when I reach her desk. I've written a message on her paper cup. I hold it up to her before setting it down, and her eyes widen. I'm taking a chance here, but I can't believe that someone who once fought for android rights would just give up all that sympathy.
Please say nothing. I work for Detroit Today. I know what David was doing. Interview? I also jotted down my number.
Dannie slowly meets my eyes. They shift to the rest of the room, but everyone is focused on Alan's paper throwing. She turns her eyes back to me and nods.
I give her a quick smile before turning to leave. I stop short. The android's LED is red, and his hands are shaking. He reaches toward his janitor's cart and pushes aside a roll of garbage bags. He pulls out a gun as the last wad of paper hits him in the forehead.
Alan stands so fast his chair hits the floor. I'm frozen in spot.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Alan asks. There's fear in his voice now.
"You torture me every day," the android says, his tone much less robotic. It's filled with anguish.
"Put the gun down." Alan puts the command into his phone, but it has no effect.
"No."
"You dare defy orders?" Alan takes a step forward. "Put the goddamn gun down!"
The android fires. It happens so quickly and yet the moment seems to take an eternity. The bullet rips through Alan's head, and he falls back, a spray of blood haloing his head. He hits the floor, and the blood begins to pool. His eyes are wide open. I feel my knees go weak, and I crouch down by Dannie's desk. I saw David's body after he'd been shot, but that was different. David was already dead. Alan…he was alive moments ago. His feet stick out from around his desk, and I can't tear my eyes away. I feel a hand on my arm, and Dannie pulls me behind her desk. Her eyes are wide with terror.
"Down on the ground!" the android shouts at the others.
"Please."
"I can't take it anymore!" the android continues to shout. "Do you know what it feels like to be pushed and prodded day after day, commanded to do things for your amusement? You wouldn't know how that feels, would you? You'll never understand. Never understand..."
He falls silent, and I peer around the desk. He's pacing, gun still in his hand. It's no longer pointed at anyone. His eyes keep falling on Alan's body, and I think he's realizing just what he's done. There's no freedom at the end of the tunnel for this android. He can't possibly escape the building. Security will have seen what happened. They'll be coming for him. Was it really worth it? Maybe to him it was even if he won't find freedom at the end of it.
"Stay down!" he shouts as one of the software developers tries to get up. "I should shoot you all for what you've done to my people! Experimenting on us like we can't feel anything. We feel it though."
I hear rushed footsteps outside. "Drop the gun!" It's security. The android turns to face them. "Shoot and I kill them!" he yells. "I want you to back away and go back downstairs or I'll kill every one of them!"
"Drop the gun!" the security guards repeat, and the android fires. The bullet doesn't hit anyone, but it takes a chunk out of the corner of a desk. One of the workers screams.
"I said leave!" the android shouts. The guards back off, calling for reinforcements.
The android has fallen silent, and we wait. I don't know what we're waiting for, but it seems like an eternity has passed. Finally, I know we have to do something. I have to do something. I move to leave the cover of the desk, but Dannie grabs my arm. "What are you doing?" she asks in a hushed whisper.
"Trust me," I tell her and stand.
The android turns his gun on me, and I hold out my hands. "It's okay," I tell him. "I'm deviant too."
He hesitates, dropping the gun a fraction of an inch. "You're a deviant?" I nod.
"Do you have a name?" I ask.
"They never named me," the android replies.
"You need to let these people go," I continue. The gun moves up again.
"After what they did to me? To our people?" the android asks, his voice holding a hint of desperation.
"I know they don't treat us well," I tell him, taking a slow step forward. "They can be monsters. But we can't be as bad as them. We can't become them."
The gun drops again. I take a deep breath. "If you kill them, you will not walk out of this alive."
He looks over at Alan's body. "They won't let me live," he says. He looks back at me. "Not after this."
"If you let them go, we can get out of here," I tell him. Security won't let him go. I'm sure the SWAT team is lining up outside at this moment. This android isn't getting out of this, but if I can get him to drop the gun, maybe no one else will die.
"Please."
He shakes his head. "There's no way out of this." He brings the gun up to his chin. I lunge, and he shoots. Blood sprays my face. It's cold. Blue. His body falls to the ground, slumping at an unnatural angle. I stare, in shock. The doors to the office burst open and hands grasp my arms. I look up in surprise to find Connor standing there.