26 Detroit 9.22.2038
9:03 pm
Connor
I'm in standby mode when I receive a message. I blink, fighting off the intruder. It's possible for androids to connect from a distance, but I don't recognize this android. I get an image of a room. It's blurry. A warehouse, maybe? I scan for a location, finding an address in the android's memories. It's a warehouse owned by Cyber Control. I quit fighting the connection, allowing the android to connect to me fully. I can see through its eyes. Three men stand in the middle of the room. They face two figures. One is very familiar.
Clara needs your help. The android's voice echoes in my head.
I'm off in a second, sprinting out to the street to call a taxi. I tap my foot impatiently, my thoughts on Clara. Why is she always getting herself into trouble like this? I don't think all humans have such a proclivity for trouble, but Clara seems to attract it like a magnet.
The ride seems to take forever, but finally I reach the warehouse. I circle around the back, peering into one of the windows. Clara is kneeling on the floor, another girl at her side. A man holds a gun toward them. I do a facial scan. Lazarus Benjamin, red ice dealer. I don't know how he found Clara, but I don't doubt he'll pull the trigger to keep his secrets safe.
I try the door and find that it's unlocked. I slip into the warehouse and crouch behind a stack of crates. Benjamin stands with two guards, their backs to me. Clara and the girl look up at the gun. The girl next to Clara is silently crying. Dannie Malcolm, her face scan reads. Former employee of Cyber Control. Clara has a fierce expression on her face, but I recognize fear too.
"You really thought you could infiltrate Cyber Control without anyone knowing?" Benjamin is saying. "We have security footage of you entering David's office. You think I'm going to stand by and let you ruin my company?"
"Was the 60% a pay off?" Clara asks, ever the investigator even when she's got a gun pointed at her head. "I know David owed you some money."
"Had to go and bite the dust before I got any of it back. It's only fair I get his company." He takes a step closer to Clara. "I've seen you somewhere before," he says. Clara says nothing. "Yeah, you were outside my house. You been spying on me?" He holds the gun closer to her head, and Clara winces.
This isn't going to end well. It's time to act. I pre-construct the scene before me. All three men are armed, but only Benjamin has his gun aimed right now. I need to get his attention away from Clara for just a moment. My eyes alight on a dismembered android arm. I reach for it. Once he's distracted, I can charge him, disarming him and shooting his guards before they can draw their guns. It will require precision and speed, but I can manage both. After the guards are down, I can knock Benjamin out.
"Haven't you ever heard the saying 'curiosity killed the cat'?" Benjamin asks Clara. "Well, you're the cat."
I toss the android arm. It clatters to the floor on the other side of the warehouse, and everyone turns their attention to it. I leap out from the crates, grabbing Benjamin's gun. I pivot, shooting twice as the guards reach for their own guns. Benjamin tries to strike me, but I bring his gun down over his head hard enough to render him unconscious. I toss the gun away.
Clara leaps to her feet and throws her arms around me, catching me off guard. I'm unbalanced for a moment as her weight hits me. Her arms clasp around my back, fisting my jacket, and she presses her head into my chest.
"It worked," she says, laughing and crying at the same time. "It actually worked."
I've never been hugged before. I don't know how to return the act naturally, but I go with instinct, and instinct tells me to put my arms around her.
"Thank you," she whispers. "Thank you for coming again. We'd be dead without you."
"What happened?" I ask her. "How did he find you?" Her back is warm under my hands, and I can feel her shaking. She pulls back a little so she can look at me but keeps a firm grim on the back of my jacket.
"My article. He was a shareholder in Cyber Control. I didn't realize that. He thought I was putting the company at risk by exposing it. He was right." She shrugs a shoulder, a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.
"You could have been killed." She knows this already, but I feel like it needs to be voiced. The smile slides from her face, and I regret my harsh words.
Clara steps away from me, and I drop my arms. "Would you have mourned me?" she asks.
It's a loaded question. How would I have felt if I'd come in to find her dead? There's no real emotional attachment there, but I don't want to see her dead. It would serve no purpose and be a waste of her life. I furrow my brow, narrowing my eyes as I try to come up with a response. "I—"
"Never mind," she says, holding up a hand. She turns away, and I realize I missed my chance.
"Are you okay?" Clara asks the other girl.
The girl nods. "What are we going to do about him?" she asks, pointing to Benjamin.
"I'll call the police," I say. "But maybe you don't want to be here when they come." The police would question them, and Clara might dig herself into deeper trouble.
"Probably not a bad idea," Clara eyes Benjamin. "I definitely don't want to be here when he wakes up."
"What if he wakes up before the police get here?" Dannie asks.
"We can bar the door," Clara says. She glances over at the side of the room, and I notice the other androids for the first time. There are piles of them, all in varying states of disrepair. One still looks whole though its head sits up too high on reassembled wires. Its LED has gone out, but I wonder if this is the android who sent me the message.
"I reawakened him," Clara says, coming up beside me. "I didn't know if it would work, but I guess it did."
"Are these…are these the androids David experimented on?" I ask, thinking of the videos Clara told me about.
Clara nods. "He did this to them. Just so they'd obey him."
Her fingers brush mine, and I look down at her. She looks like she wants to say something more, but Dannie speaks before she can. "Can we get out of here?"
Clara blinks and turns away from me. "Let's go. We can block the door with one of these crates. That should keep him if he wakes up. At least until the police get here." She crouches next to one of the dead guards and fishes her phone out of his pocket, avoiding the blood from his head wound.
It takes all three of us to drag one of the crates outside. We push it up against the door. I call the police once we're a block away and then a taxi.
"Are we going to be okay?" Dannie asks Clara.
"I think so. Benjamin will be arrested. They'll be able to get access to Cyber Control with him behind bars. We caught him." She turns to me. "What if we take down Cyber Control?"
"I'll help in any way I can," Dannie says.
"You need to be careful," I warn. "Taking down a company like Cyber Control paints a target on your back."
"They've already painted a target on themselves. Cyber Control will self-destruct. I'm just going to be waiting to inform the public of all their dirty secrets."
We drop Dannie off at her apartment first. "It might be a good idea to get out of town for a little while," Clara tells her. "Until things settle."
"Do you think they'll come after me again?" Dannie's eyes widen.
"I just think it's best to play it safe," Clara suggests.
"What about you?" Dannie adjusts her glasses.
"I'm not going anywhere," Clara tells her. "I'll be okay. I've always got Connor to get me out of trouble." She shoots me a smile before we head back to the taxi.
"My car's still at work. Can we pick it up?" she asks as the taxi pulls away.
"Did they hurt you?" I ask. Clara glances at me and then away.
"Just a few bruises. It could have been a lot worse." She meets my eyes. "I would be dead if you hadn't come."
I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. "I would have been…" I struggle for the right words. "If you had died…"
"I know." She gives me a sad smile. "You aren't programmed to feel."
"That's not what I was going to say." I don't get the chance to explain myself as the taxi stops outside of Detroit Today headquarters. Clara gets out, turning back to me.
"It's okay," she says. "I get it. I just…I guess I was hoping…" She cuts off then shakes her head. "You know what? Never mind. Just, thank you. Really."
"You're welcome." I watch her walk away as the taxi doors close. I'm still trying to answer her question in my head, trying to come up with the words I should have said. I don't think there's any other way to say it: I would miss Clara if she died. I would feel regret for not saving her. I'm programmed to work with humans, but I don't think I'm supposed to form attachments. Somehow, without me realizing it, I've come to care whether or not Clara lives or dies.