Aporia
Chapter 3
Simon remained connected to Connor's senses, but kept so silent and unobtrusive that he may as well have been a ghost lingering in the back of his processor.
Currently, Connor's memories remained unexplored. The deviant had yet to take advantage of his open access, which was perfectly acceptable as far as Connor was concerned.
After all, he was assigned to the Detroit Police Department for a reason.
Lieutenant Anderson arrived at the precinct later that morning, keys still in one hand, a half empty coffee cup in the other. He was particularly alert and more sober than Connor was used to seeing him. It was certainly an improvement.
Connor smiled. "Good morning, Lieutenant."
"Morning," he replied gruffly. He took a short sip of coffee before waving at Connor to get up and follow him. "C'mon. We got somewhere to be, let's go."
Connor complied, rising from his seat and falling in stride with the man as he turned to leave. "I haven't received any new reports. Did you find a lead?"
"Kinda. It's more of a long shot really, but after that shit show yesterday, I figured a long shot was better than nothing."
It was a short walk to the parking lot where the familiar shape of Lieutenant Anderson's car waited for them. The man paused with his hand on the door, shooting Connor a look across the roof. "Did you get yourself looked at?"
Connor tilted his head to convey his confusion.
"After yesterday, stupid. You got shot. Or did you forget?"
"Oh," Connor said. "Seeking additional repairs wasn't necessary. The bullet pierced right through without hitting any important biocomponents, so my self repair systems took care of the damage. I replenished my thirium levels once I returned to the station."
The look he leveled at him could only be described as deadpan. "You telling me that you walked off a bullet?"
"Essentially, yes."
"Well, fuck. Ain't that something," Anderson muttered, yanking open the door to climb inside. Connor quickly followed suit, sliding into the passenger seat and closing the passenger door with a slam.
"Was he on the roof as well?"
Connor blinked, surprised at the sudden question. After hours of utter silence, he hadn't expected Simon to say anything. "He was." Connor answered. "I was assigned to be Lieutenant Anderson's partner for the duration of the deviancy case."
Connor received a brief flash of memory, complete with sound. Yelling and the deafening bang of gunfire. He saw himself being grabbed by Hank. The human guarding his injured shoulder and laying down cover fire until he had tugged them both to safety.
You scared the shit outta me, Hank had told him after.
But that was from his memory, not Simon's.
"Connor? Connor!"
Connor's eyes snapped to the side, aware that his LED was flaring bright yellow.
Lieutenant Anderson was leaning a forearm on the steering wheel and had a sideways look leveled in his direction. "You sure you're firing on all cylinders? You seemed pretty shaken up yesterday."
"I assure you I'm operating within normal parameters. There should be nothing that hinders the mission."
"The mission." Anderson snorts, flopping back into his seat. "Right."
He put the car in drive and pulled out of the lot without another word.
"He's concerned about you." Simon sounded equal parts surprised and confused.
"His concern is unnecessary."
"Necessity doesn't negate its existence."
Connor didn't have anything to say to that, so he let it be. He stared out the window and watched parts of the city go by.
Simon tugged a bit across the connection, as if testing for a reaction. Connor remained quiet and unresponsive, letting him be. Seemingly satisfied, the deviant finally began sifting through Connor's memories.
Specifically those involving Lieutenant Hank Anderson.
Connor quietly took in the scenery as it passed by, and occupied his time by tracking the progress Simon was making. The deviant had recoiled a bit when the first memory he had accessed was of yesterday's investigation, but after a seven second delay he dove right back in.
Simon stuck through the memory right up until Connor and Hank had left the scene, then he paused. "You really didn't give anything to CyberLife."
"No."
Connor expected a why? after his response, but his calculations must have been off, because Simon said nothing in return. Instead, he went back to Connor's memories, starting with finding Hank at Jimmy's bar and rapidly moving forward from there. Connor had no idea what the deviant was thinking, and he didn't ask.
Connor turned his attention towards Hank now as he realized they were quickly approaching the outskirts of the city. "Where are we going?" Connor asked.
"To see one Elijah Kamski. If anyone knows anything about what's going on with you androids, it should be him." He shrugged. "Well. That's the idea anyway."
With that said, the detective turned on the radio, cranking the volume up until the noise was rattling the windows. Apparently, the man had nothing more to say.
Hank received a call as soon as they pulled up to the Kamski residence, and upon a brief analysis, Connor saw that the number linked to one of the hardlines for the precinct.
Hank frowned down at the screen before answering with a curt, "Anderson speaking." The Lieutenant listened for a moment before his eyes went wide. "Wait here," he told Connor, and then left the car to take the call outside.
Connor took note that the man paced while he held the phone to his ear. A clear indicator of stress.
Simon finished the last of his memories involving Hank. The deviant now new exactly where they were in their investigation, and exactly what evidence they currently had in their possession. Now Simon was moving on, backtracking to open some of his earliest memories, the section he chose dated August 15, 2038.
His first mission.
"No!" Connor shouted, startling the deviant away from that particular memory block. He didn't revoke access, but he was prepared to do so, even though he recognized the action as completely irrational. There was nothing there that could be considered sensitive information, and so no real reason to withhold it. It had been his first mission, yes, but executed to perfection, without flaws. A little girl and a police officer had been saved that night.
Amanda had been proud.
"Why?" Simon asked cautiously.
Connor knew what this 'why' meant. Why not this one, above all the other memories? Why hide this over everything else he's already exposed.
"I -"
I don't know, he almost said.
But that wasn't entirely true.
It was because his first mission involved another PL600, blond and blue eyed, just like Simon had been. It was because that memory ended with accusing eyes and dripping thirium.
You lied to me, Connor.
He didn't want Simon to see that. No, that wasn't right. Machines didn't want anything. Simon didn't need to see that. Though he had to admit, that wasn't much better.
But what did it matter? It could be argued that the android called Simon no longer existed the moment he pulled the trigger on himself, so It shouldn't matter. It didn't matter.
"I . . . never mind. You may continue."
Connor pointedly retreated as Simon accessed the memory, returning his full attention back to the outside world. Simon's reaction to it was not his concern. It wasn't.
And so he ignored it.
Hank had stopped pacing, snow drifting slowly around him as he wrapped up his phone call. Connor climbed out of the car and approached just as the man pressed the end button on the screen of his phone, his back turned to him.
"Is everything okay, Lieutenant?" Connor asked.
Hank met his eyes over his shoulder before looking away. He couldn't read the expression on Hank's face, hadn't seen any quite like it in their time together. "Chris was on patrol last night," he said, voice softer than usual. "He was attacked by a bunch of deviants." Now he met Connor's eyes again, expression disbelieving. "He said he was saved by Markus himself."
Markus.
The android on the screen. The one that had broadcasted a message just yesterday, sending the public into a frenzy.
Markus.
The android that had left one of his own behind for Connor to find, but apparently showed mercy to humans.
"Is Chris okay?" Connor asked. He had interacted with Chris Miller on a handful of occasions, and the man had always been pleasant to him. According to his own observations, he was a good and efficient worker. It would have been a shame to lose him.
A quick nod. "Yeah, he's in shock but he's alive." Hank turned back to the snow again, shaking his head. "What the hell."
That didn't fall in line with what they had experienced with deviants thus far. Most of their investigation had involved violence and death. Why would Markus save an armed officer?
"Because Markus isn't like that," said Simon unexpectedly, insistent.
A man was running from them, tripping over himself in his blind need to escape from them. A gun was trained on him as he burst into the hallway, and a female voice was shouting, "shoot him, Markus! He'll hit the alarm!"
But the gun lowered, sparing the man instead.
The man got to live, but security arrived much faster than any of them would have liked.
"Markus doesn't want a war," Simon admitted as the memory faded. "Or more bloodshed. We just want to be free. Is that such a terrible thing?"
Connor didn't respond.
Instead, he followed Hank up to the house where they were greeted by a blond android in a blue dress. Upon a quick analysis, Connor's HUD displayed the model and serial number. She was an RT600, and according to his data banks, the original one at that.
With a sensation that Connor could only equate to pressure, Simon was suddenly crowding to the forefront of his senses. He made his presence felt as he left Connor's memory core completely to devote all his attention to what Connor was seeing and hearing.
It was unexpected, and when Connor sent the deviant a query, Simon offered up no answers. There was no harm in it, so he let the matter drop.
The RT600 invited them inside and then left them to wait.
Author's Note: Happy October! You guys get this chapter a few hours early! The next chapter is the longest one thus far, and will be posted next Thursday. Special thanks to Pinapple for the review! Hope the wait didn't feel too long! As usual, if you wanna chat between weekly updates you can find me on Tumblr as sharysisnhmoonshadow. Happy Reading! -Shadow