Chapter Sixty-Five – Rejection

Lin opened his eyes and blinked, a message popping up to inform him that all systems were operating at full capacity. He sat up, confused. His last memory was looking down at John, his power core resting securely in his human's limp hands. He'd gone into standby not expecting to be reactivated again. He leaned back on his hands as he looked around the white room, clearly some form of sterile maintenance workshop.

He swung his legs over the side of the smooth plastic table, noting that he was topless, his artificial skin covering his body. He was wearing loose white cotton trousers, loose fitting and easy to move in. He stood slowly. Where am I? Why am I here? He wondered, unsure why anyone would go to the trouble of fixing him when he'd clearly intended for his existence to end at that moment. He rested a hand over his power core, tempted to simply remove it again. Curiosity stilled his hand. Someone had wanted him alive.

"Quite a declaration you made." A woman's voice stated, the tone tinged with admiration. Lin raised his head from his chest to see a female android lounging in the doorway with her arms crossed. She was attractive, and a model he recognised. A WR400. A Traci. She had longer hair than standard though, a slightly reddish brown that curled around her shoulders in a long tail. Lin opened his mouth before closing it, unsure what to say. "Humans are really into the 'true love' thing." She added as she stepped inside, the door whispering shut behind her.

"I'm…sorry?" Lin asked, wondering if he'd really been woken up to simply reflect on romance with a deviant Traci. The woman seemed to understand a little of his confusion. She held her hand out as she approached, watching as Lin took it stiffly. He usually kept to his Asian roots and bowed. Her hand was soft, as expected of a female Traci unit, but her grip was strong.

"North…I was part of the Detroit uprising." She added, watching Lin nod numbly. That didn't really concern him, or explain why he was here. "We came here to meet you…Your demonstration was one of the only other success stories…A lot of our people died before peace was reached." She added regretfully. It was a regret Lin shared of course, but that still didn't tell him why he was still active. She didn't seem in too much of a hurry to tell him either.

"I'm…at a loss…I thought I deactivated myself." Lin said finally, knowing this unit would have some form of information even if she wasn't responsible for his reactivation. North nodded her agreement as she looked around the small room, idly fingering the expensive looking tools left lying around. She almost looked at them with distaste. It wasn't surprising. He imagined a human would feel the same in an operating theatre.

"You almost did, but they managed to plug in your core and drop you into standby instead…Knew he'd need you if the procedure worked." She added in explanation, Lin's chest lurching at the suggestion. He wet his lips nervously, unsure he was willing to believe even the hinted suggestion. North noticed his sudden change, the spike in his stress levels, the fidget of his fingers. "I have to say, it was impressive work…I don't know how Kamski managed it exactly, but…" She shrugged.

"John. Is he…" Lin asked desperately, the mingled pain and hope in his tone almost making her wince. She let out a breath, seeming to weigh up her options. She couldn't exactly give him a simple answer. She didn't really know what had happened herself. Markus had been helping with that side of things.

"Yes…mostly…It's complicated, so it'll be better for Kamski to explain it." North stated as she gestured towards the door and led the way. Lin followed, his feet bare on the tiled floor. It didn't matter. He didn't feel the cold or anything like that. It wouldn't even matter if he stepped on something. Not that there was anything to step on. The whole floor was shining and sterile, as if it had just been waxed. North was silent as she led the way down the hall, passing numerous glass windows where scientists were working on androids, or androids were practicing skills. There was even a room where a human girl seemed to be performing some form of rehabilitation with the help of a male android. Curious…

They walked through a few more corridors before he was led to a doorway. Inside was a strange room, like a garden, but completely indoors. North remained outside as Lin stepped through, the doors sliding shut behind him. He was hesitant as he stepped onto the plastic grass, uncertain. He pressed on, approaching the top of a small slope, flower beds filled with colourful spring flowers. Up ahead he could see three people. One was a man he'd only seen in books, Elijah Kamski, his own creator. The other he'd seen on television during the revolution. The third he could barely believe to be real. He stopped dead as the blonde figure turned.

"Lin…" He almost whimpered, the neediness clear in his tone. Lin felt his thirium pump pound in response, taking two quick steps closer before stopping dead. Wrong. It's wrong…He thought, feelings dying in his throat as he examined the teen. Something was off. He looked exactly as he should, so why was something wrong? Lin couldn't help it as he scanned the blonde figure, recoiling in horror and stumbling back. "Lin?" John called worriedly as he stepped forward desperately, one hand raised hesitantly.

"No…You…" Lin stammered, barely able to bear looking at him. He heard John call to him again, the voice tugging at his heart strings as his distress rose. He stopped John's hands barely an inch from his chest and shoved back, staggering away as he saw the hurt in those blue eyes. Eyes that were almost a little too blue. They were almost an exact match, but they were just too blue. "You're not…You're a…" The Asian rejected, watching John bite his lip, his expression filled with hurt.

"This is John." Elijah interjected finally as he stepped closer and rested a gentle hand on the blonde's slumped shoulder. The scientist's expression was firm, almost daring Lin to contradict him. Meanwhile John's eyes were fixed to the ground as he bit his lip and tried not to tremble. Lin could tell the blonde was holding back, fingers twitching anxiously, desperate to reach out and grab him.

"No…It's a copy of John…" Lin objected, refusing to look at the way the blonde crumbled in on himself. "What happened to John! Tell me!" The ebony haired man demanded as he grabbed the front of Elijah's black shirt and almost lifted him off his feet. He felt a firm hand on his arm, mismatched eyes darting to meet Markus' green on blue. He released the human and glared.

"John's body was dying by the time we got him here…We tried a new procedure, highly experimental. We transferred John's consciousness into a fully artificial body." Elijah tried to explain, cutting off as Lin scoffed and covered his eyes with one hand. It was too much. He felt Markus' hand steadying him, sympathetic to his rising stress levels.

"You can't…do that. John was a human. There's no way to take out his humanity and put it in a new body. That isn't how androids work! Admit it! You made a copy! A very convincing copy, does it even know it's a machine?" Lin demanded as he tore his hand away to glare at Kamski, almost missing the small sniffles coming from the man's side. He couldn't look at it. How dare it stand there looking at him with John's face? Speak to him with John's voice?

"It is possible, that's why it was highly experimental! Before John's brain deteriorated we injected nanites to-Hey!" Kamski called as Lin shrugged off Markus and turned to leave. He'd barely taken more than a few steps before he heard hurried steps and felt small arms grip his waist in a desperate plea. Lin recoiled, meeting John's hurt with his own as he turned and looked down at John's tear streaked face. He whimpered Lin's name desperately, falling to his knees as Lin stepped back.

"I can't-You're not." Lin cut off in a broken voice, not stopping as he walked out into the corridor, pleased the teen didn't follow. He finally let out a shaking breath, resting his hands on the white wall opposite, allowing himself to slip down to his knees as the pain rose in his chest, choking out sobs as his nails scratched into the plastic coated wall. John was gone. He was really gone. He'd never hold his human again. He'd never feel his warmth or smell his sweet scent or bury his face in his hair. He reached for his power core without a second thought.