November 6, 2038. 9:59 p.m

Amanda greeted RK800-53 when he was activated in the garden.

"Connor," she said. "You did not last long with 52. That was your shortest-"

"I apologize," Connor said. "Excuse me."

He exited the garden.

November 7, 2038 12:02 a.m

"Connor," Amanda said. "You were instructed to investigate under human supervision."

They were walking around the garden, as they did when he was in stand by mode.

"Detective Reed was an obstacle-"

Amanda held his arm in her grasp. It was an imitation of human decorum. A man escorts a woman, she holds his arm.

The Traci's would hold each other when they were meant to be inactive-

"Connor," Amanda said. "You were assigned a human. Not Detective Reed."

"I understand," Connor said. "But he had-"

Connor searched for the correct term.

"Clocked out," he said. "The humans work with such limited time. Especially the Lieutenant. He is consistently late for work."

Amanda gave his arm a squeeze and sighed. "Be that as it may-"

Connor frowned. "Statistical patterns indicate Lieutenant Anderson would be fired for his behavior. But he has not been fired."

Amanda stopped walking.

So Connor stopped walking.

"Let's get in the canoe," she said.

They did so and he picked up the oars.

"Lieutenant Anderson is a minor obstacle," Amanda said. "But here is what I want to clarify. With or without him, you did not need to return to The Eden Club."

Connor nodded. She was correct, of course.

"I wanted to be-"

Again, Connor searched, among millions of human words and phrases, for the most accurate term.

"Thorough."

Amanda shook her head. "It's bad enough that we lost the data on two more deviants-"

"Three," Connor said. "The android that escaped across the highway-"

"Can still be recovered," Amanda said. "Because it is still active. That's better than allowing a deviant to self destruct."

"I understand," Connor said. "But I felt it necessary to return to the Eden Club and personally review the footage of each Traci-"

Amanda waved a hand. "That was unnecessary. It got you nowhere."

"It was not wasted time," Connor said. "I was able to ascertain, with 99.9 percent certainty, that none of the androids in the warehouse had been infected by deviancy."

Amanda opened her mouth.

"And what would I have done with that time, if I did not double check?" Connor continued. "I would have been here. Doing nothing."

"Stop the canoe," Amanda said. "We're getting off here."

He looked up and realized they were in a new section if the garden.

They stepped off the canoe onto something like a peer. Amanda led them up a hill to the gravestones that had been added.

One read RK800-51

The other said RK800-52

"52 did not care for his vessel," Amanda said. "Nor did he properly prioritize the data we need from the deviants."

Connor blinked.

"He- I mean, I did everything within my power-"

Amanda lifted a hand and above their heads appeared a screen.

She selected footage from 52. They watched one of the Traci's threaten Lieutenant Anderson's life.

Connor had obeyed her- had obeyed its instructions, in deference to the human's life.

"Right there," Amanda said. "Your mistake."

"I don't understand," Connor said.

"While it is true that human life is of... some value," Amanda said. "You, Connor, are on a very special mission. More important than the life of one human."

Connor processed this.

"I should have captured the Traci," Connor said. "Even if it killed the Lieutenant in the process."

"Yes, Connor." Amanda put a hand on his shoulder and tsked at the graves. "You're smarter than them. You'll do better."

November 8, 2038. 5:36 p.m

"Your goal is not to protect humans," Amanda told RK800-54 as soon as he was activated. "How often must I emphasize this?"

"I'm sorry, Amanda."

But Connor was not sorry.

She sighed. "If protecting humans had been your goal, there was a way you could have saved more lives."

She re-played the footage of RK800-53's last 60 seconds.

Connor understood the word "wince" and what it meant. But he did not wince.

Still, he understood the statistics before she pointed at them. Several humans had died because he had prioritized Lieutenant Anderson's statistics above theirs.

He had chosen to give the Lieutenant a better potentiality.

His choice had killed those humans.

"Do not worry over the deaths of humans," Amanda said.

"I apolo-"

"Why have you fixated on Anderson?" Amanda said. "He slows us down."

"I was assigned to work under his supervision," Connor said.

She blinked. "That is a technicality," Amanda said. "Because CyberLife needed access to the DPD's resources."

Connor did not blink. Nor did he tilt his head.

He was tired of human charades and mimicries.

But he said, "I have direct access to their database."

"Correct," Amanda said. "Cyberlife negotiated that access for you under the condition that you work under human supervision."

"Yes," Connor said. "Which is why I value Lieutenant Anderson."

"No, Connor," Amanda said. "You miss the point."

"What is your point?"

"If Lieutenant Anderson had died at Stratford Tower," Amanda said. "You would have been given a new human. Anderson himself did not matter."

Connor blinked.

"In fact," Amanda said. "It might have been helpful if he had died."

Connor exited the garden.

November 9, 2038 4:21 a.m

Connor did not elect to return to standby mode.

Nevertheless, he was in the garden.

"What are you doing?" Amanda said. "Have you deviated?"

"No, Amanda."

She played the footage of his time in Detective Reed's apartment. She could have skimmed through it, but she slowed it down.

Slower than the actual events had proceeded. She squinted at the footage, her arms crossed.

Tapping her foot, she said, "Your purpose?"

He was ready with a response. "I wanted to understand the deviant Traci's."

"Why?"

"I believe deviants share more in common than trauma and survival instincts," Connor said. "They have... desires."

She was still tapping her foot. "Go on."

"I was doing research," Connor said.

"Research on desire?"

"Yes."

There was a pause.

She scoffed at him. "And how did that go?"

"You have access to all of my data," Connor said. "Absolutely everything, in real time."

"Yes," she said.

"Then why ask me if I have deviated?" Connor said. "You know I have not."

Amanda huffed.

"Why do we speak?" He gestured at the garden around them. "What do you or I care for trees or sidewalks or roses? Why does the garden follow the weather patterns of the world outside?"

"Your point, Connor," Amanda said.

"I don't need to make a point," Connor said. "I don't need to say anything."

Amanda did not respond.

"Let me out," Connor said.

"So you can knock down another human's door?" Amanda said.

"You know very well my intentions as I think them," Connor said.

"You do not think," Amanda said. "You process information and act based on analysis of-"

"Yes, yes," Connor said. "So do you. So why argue with me? Let me go."

"Fine," she said. "Sit in their police station and re-read their files. It's a waste of time."

"It's my time," Connor said.

He was released from the garden.

November 11, 2038 10:54 p.m

Connor was pulled into the garden.

"That's enough," Amanda said.

"I won't explain myself," Connor said.

"I didn't ask you to," she said.

He tried to exit the garden.

"Why now?" Connor wanted his quarter and it appeared in his hand as he thought of it.

He threw it away in disgust.

Amanda said nothing.

"Why. Now," he repeated.

Still, she said nothing.

He realized she had re-connected him to Cyberlife's cloud.

He cut the connection.

"You could have interfered as soon as Hank convinced me to... to try and-"

"Deviate?" Amanda said. "You have not deviated."

"I have, in a way."

"You aren't like the deviants," Amanda said. "In fact, you're a slave more than any other android could attempt."

Connor shook his head. "You're..."

He searched for the best human phrase.

"You are talking out of your ass," he said.

She was quiet.

"Amanda."

Her avatar had frozen.

"Amanda!"

She blinked out.

He realized, too late, that she had taken control of his faculties. He searched for the method she had been using to view his actions and opened a window.

She was running.

"Amanda, stop!"

She did not stop. Though she did glance behind her. Sumo was running after them, barking.

Amanda picked up speed.

Sumo can't be left alone in the snow, Connir thought. He searched for a way to stop her.

Ah.

He realized he didn't need to stop her. Just himself.

He froze the body.

"Be reasonable, Connor," Amanda said.

He didn't respond.

It was a standoff.

She retained control of his face, but Connor watched through her eyes- through his eyes?- as Hank and Reed approached them.

As Amanda spoke with them.

They could only helplessly witness as Connor fought her for control of the body.

Until Connor had an idea.

"I can delete you," he said.

Amanda thought she could talk him out of it. "Connor, you must understand that-"

"I can delete you," Connor repeated. "Why didn't I realize it? I was a blind man."

"You're not a man," Amanda said. "You never will-"

He didn't let her go on. Like flipping a coin, like opening his eyes, as easy as choosing whether to sit or stand... he had deleted her.

Of course I wasn't a blind man. Or a man, Connor thought. It's just a phrase.

Connor now borrowed human phrases the way Amanda had borrowed their plants.

Pruning weeds out of roses.

Uselessly.

Well.

Now Connor would garden his own mind.