Disclaimer: Quotes taken from the video game are in Bold. Obviously I do not own DBH or its characters. I'm just having fun with a fantastic video game.

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Chapter 3: Meeting Kamski

November 9th, 2038 - 11:17 AM

Connor sat inside the car belonging to his partner, Lieutenant Hank Anderson. He and the lieutenant had become acquaintances over the past few days, perhaps even friends. For some reason CyberLife wasn't pleased with this course of action. His handler, Amanda, seemed almost upset that he had saved Hank's life the previous day.

Amanda's displeasure didn't fully compute with what he understood his mission to be. Understanding and eliminating deviants would help humans. And after all, wasn't his whole purpose to be on their side?

Yesterday dashed the last of CyberLife's hopes in keeping android deviance under wraps. A group of androids had banded together, calling for freedom and equal rights publicly for all of Detroit and the world to see.

Connor and Hank were more desperate than ever to find the cause of deviancy. So the lieutenant arranged a meeting with CyberLife's retired founder, Elijah Kamski, at his home on the outskirts of town.

Hank stood in the snow in front of Kamski's home, taking a call while he told Connor to wait in the car. Connor could read signs of distress in the Lieutenant's features and wondered what had made his partner so upset. It wasn't directly essential to the mission, but facilitating their friendship was important to the android, so he exited the Oldsmobile and joined Hank in the snow as he ended the call.

"Is everything okay, Lieutenant?"

Hank turned toward him pensively. "Chris was on patrol last night. He was attacked by a bunch of deviants." He paused with a peculiar expression. "He said he was saved by Markus himself."

Markus was the leader of the deviants who had broken into Stratford Tower. Connor had discovered this during yesterday's investigation, but for some reason he'd kept the information to himself. It now appeared to be moot however, as that information was now public.

"Is Chris okay?"

"Yeah, he's in shock, but… he's alive."

Connor felt relief for the officer. Though he didn't know him too well, at least he hadn't been prone to reactive outbursts - unlike Gavin - and had a good head on his shoulders.

Hank began to walk toward Kamski's door, and Connor followed. "Kamski left CyberLife ten years ago. Why did you want to meet him?"

The lieutenant let out a sigh. "This guy created the first android to pass the Turing test. And he's the founder of CyberLife. Anybody can tell us about deviants, it's him…" He rang the doorbell and stepped back beside Connor.

A female android with blond hair neatly swept back and crystal blue eyes greeted them at the door and led them inside to a foyer. Connor stared at her, unsure of what to make of the android, but there was something pleasant about her that made him not want to look away.

"I'll let Elijah know you're here, but please make yourself comfortable."

Connor's eyes lingered after her for a moment. Then he inspected the room and its contents. The structural design of the foyer was stoic and relatively bare, but it had just enough decor to appear professional and inviting.

"Nice girl," Hank mused aloud.

"You're right," Connor replied distantly. "She's really pretty."

He scolded himself internally for remarking about the girl's looks in such a flippant manner. Connor was supposed to be analytical, totally focused on his mission, and here he was losing focus over another android.

Surveying the room, his eyes fell on a photo that seemed familiar. He approached with a sense of foreboding, and his eyes widened in shock. "Amanda." It was his mentor, his confidante, but as he scanned the photo, Connor realized his error. This Amanda exhibited more advanced signs of aging and had passed away over eleven years ago. A hint of betrayal budded in his circuits, but Connor suppressed it. He'd discuss it with Amanda later.

The lieutenant gazed around the room and turned toward him. "So you're about to meet your maker, Connor. How does it feel?"

"I don't know," he answered candidly. "I'll tell you when I see him."

Hank glanced out into the snowy landscape, carrying a wistful expression. "Sometimes I wish I could meet my creator face to face… I'd have a couple of things I'd wanna tell him."

Connor thought back to the night after their case at the Eden Club. Hank had compared RA9 to the android's equivalent of God. Connor of course knew about thousands of human religions, but to think there was some kind of afterlife for androids was an idea he couldn't fathom. RA9, it still plagued him. Was RA9 the android known as Markus? Was it a glitch in certain androids' programming?

The blonde android returned, distracting his thoughts. "Elijah will see you now."

He followed Hank into another room - this one with a pool, and his eyes widened. Two more blonde females, identical to the first, lounged in the red-lit water. Kamski must have had quite the affinity for that particular model. As their creator he may have even designed them to appear like the ideal woman, at least subjectively. Connor wasn't sure his preference would have been blonde-haired or blue-eyed, though he still found all three of the female androids pleasant to the eye.

"Mister Kamski?" Hank saved him any more internal conflict by calling down to the end of the pool.

"Just a moment, please." A man called from the other side and began to swim the length of the water, then doubling back once more before emerging.

The first android approached Kamski with a thin, moisture-wicking robe, and Connor assessed his maker. He felt very little as he stared at the man - detached and cold - as if Kamski had nothing to do with his existence at all.

"I'm Lieutenant Anderson. This is Connor." Hank motioned subtly in his direction.

Kamsky clasped his hands together in front of them. "What can I do for you, Lieutenant?"

"Sir, we're investigating deviants. I know you left CyberLife years ago, but I was hoping you'd be able to tell us something we don't know…"

"Deviants," Kamski spoke with deliberate care. "Fascinating, aren't they? Perfect beings with infinite intelligence, and now they have free will…"

Connor got the impression that none of this surprised the man.

"Machines are so superior to us, confrontation was inevitable... Humanity's greatest achievement threatens to be its downfall. Isn't it ironic?" Kamski finished with a laugh.

"We need to understand how androids become deviants," Connor pressed. "Do you know anything that could help us?"

Kamski turned his attention to Connor for the first time since he and Hank had walked in. "All ideas are viruses that spread like epidemics. Is the desire to be free a contagious disease?"

Hank groaned, "Listen, I didn't come here to talk philosophy. The machines you created may be planning a revolution. Either you can tell us something that'll be helpful, or we will be on our way."

Kamski wasn't at all fazed and turned his focus back to Connor. "And what about you, Connor? Whose side are you on?"

He wasn't sure how to answer at first. He was there to help fix the problem with the androids, to help the humans, to help CyberLife. But none of that was relevant. "It's not about me, Mr. Kamski. All I want is to solve this case."

Kamski chuckled to himself. "Well, that's what you're programmed to say, but you–" he stepped closer until he was eleven point six inches from Connor's face. "–what do you really want?"

Connor shifted uncomfortably under his maker's scrutinous stare. "What I want… is not important."

He studied Connor's face for a moment. Then he motioned for the pretty android to join them. "Chloe?" She approached instantly. "I'm sure you're familiar with the Turing test. Mere formality, simple question of algorithms and computing capacity." He stood back, positioning Chloe carefully with her feet parallel to her shoulders. "What interests me… is whether machines are capable of empathy."

Connor didn't like where the conversation was headed.

"I call it 'The Kamski Test'. It's very simple, you'll see." He turned to Chloe with an air of almost reverence. "Magnificent, isn't it? One of the first intelligent models developed by CyberLife. Young–" He stroked the girl's cheek. "–and beautiful forever. A flower that will never wither…"

He turned back to Connor and Hank with a shrug.

"But what is it, really? Piece of plastic imitating a human?" He turned to pull something from a nearby console drawer. "Or a living being with a soul?"

Kamski lifted a custom handgun from the drawer, and Connor felt himself freeze, fully understanding this so-called 'Kamsky Test'. Chloe didn't even blink, obediently falling to her knees a few feet in front of Conner.

"It's up to you to answer that fascinating question, Connor."

Kamski placed the gun in Connor's hand, guiding it toward Chloe, and he felt his bio-component rise above its normal rate.

"Destroy this machine, and I'll tell you all I know."

He stared toward the wide-eyed Chloe android. She was no deviant, obeying Kamsky without question. Surely this wasn't something CyberLife would expect of him.

"Or spare it… if you feel it's alive, but you'll leave here without having learnt anything from me."

Connor's stress level surged. CyberLife was counting on him to find out more about deviants, but to kill a blameless android who had done nothing?

"Okay, I think we're done here," Hank interrupted. "Come on, Connor. Let's go. Sorry to get you outta your pool."

"What's more important to you, Connor," Kamski murmured, "Your investigation, or the life of this android." Chloe peered up at him blankly. "Decide who you are - an obedient machine, or a living being. Endowed. With Free Will."

Connor blinked several times. He didn't want to shoot the girl in front of him. She did nothing, but he was a machine. He'd been taught his role from the beginning. If he didn't help CyberLife discover more about the deviants, they'd be right back at square one in their investigation.

"That's enough!" Hank shouted. "Connor, we're leaving."

"Pull the trigger–" Kamski whispered beside him.

"CONNOR… don't."

"–and I'll tell you what you wanna know."

His eyes didn't leave Chloe's. Her gaze was so wide and innocent. He recalled another girl who had once looked at him in a similar way. Her eyes hadn't been blue, but they'd shone with that same inculpable gleam as they stood together in an elevator. The little girl who had given him a quarter.

Connor pulled back with a gasp, unable to take Chloe's life, and Kamski stared at him with wonder.

"Fascinating." He took the gun and circled in front of him. "CyberLife's last chance to save humanity… is itself a deviant."

It almost felt like he was running out of air. "I'm…" Connor's circuits fired back and forth. He wasn't. He couldn't. "I'm not a deviant!"

"You preferred to spare a machine rather than accomplish your mission." He took Chloe's hand, lifting her from the ground. "You saw a living being in this android. You showed empathy."

Chloe obediently departed the room, and Kamski was left in front of him.

"A war is coming. And you'll have to choose your side. Will you betray your own people… or stand up against your creators?"

Connor stared at Kamski with cold eyes, wishing he'd never met his creator.

"What could be worse than having to choose between two evils?"

Hank crossed in front of them and put an arm around Connor, pulling him away from Kamski. "Let's get out of here."

As they were nearly out the door, Kamski called out. "By the way, I always leave an emergency exit in my programs. You never know…"

Connor didn't care what his riddles and vague words meant anymore. His mind was in a frenzy.

They stepped out into the snow, and he strode quickly toward the car, but they hadn't made it far before the lieutenant confronted him.

"Why didn't you shoot?"

Connor's voice was trembling as he turned around. "I just saw that girl's eyes, and I couldn't. That's all."

"You're always saying you would do anything to accomplish your mission." Hank eyed him strangely. "That was our chance to learn something, and you let it go…"

"Yeah, I know what I should've done," Connor yelled at his partner. "I told you. I couldn't. I'm sorry, okay?"

To his immense surprise Hank actually smiled. "Well, maybe you did the right thing."

Connor didn't know what to say after that. He'd never felt so much conflict in his entire existence - which, granted, wasn't very long, but he still felt it in its full measure.

And why wasn't Hank disappointed? There were so many questions Connor no longer knew how to answer, and with these newfound revelations, he escaped to the car in silence.

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