Chapter 24:

Some time had passed before Kara had woken up to face the world.

She still felt Luther's strong arms around her waist and looked up to smile at him.

He was still handsome even when he was sleeping.

Kara looked around but Alice was nowhere to be found.

'Where did she go?'

She carefully crawled out from under Luther's arms and set out to look for her.

Luckily she found Alice sitting at Markus' bedside. Markus and Josh were playing a game of chess.

"Alice, there you are. You had me worried sick. Why did you leave without telling me?"

A light flush appeared on her face.

"I'm sorry, Kara."

Kara sighed.

"So what are you doing?"

"Just watching them play."

"Looks like they're playing chess."

She grinned.

"So who's winning?" Kara asked.

Markus smirked.

"I am."

"Not," Josh cut in. "You think you've won but I have you right where I want you. You shouldn't be so arrogant being so close to defeat."

He grinned.

Markus' smirk faded into an impassive mask.

"What's your next move then?"

"Just moving my rook here."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you?"

"You're just don't want me to trap you."

Markus grinned.

"Suit yourself."

In the next move, Josh looked aghast as Markus moved his bishop in a way that trapped his king.

"Checkmate."

Josh looked on in surprise.

"What? Where did that come from? The way you snuck that in is criminal."

Markus chuckled.

"You're supposed to be an android. Shouldn't you be able to beat me?"

Josh snorted.

"Not all of us are programmed to predict a human's movements. Even our predecessors have been graced with defeat at some time or another."

"Or you might just be a sore loser. Accept your defeat like a man."

"I had the win in the bag," Josh insisted.

Markus chuckled.

"It's easy to predict where you go. You are way too defensive and only turn to the offensive as a last resort."

"How can you be so sure you can win all of the time?"

"It's a matter of knowing what your opponent will do before you strike."

'Am I really that predictable?' Josh thought.

Before running into those guys in the blocked off part of town, he had been an assistant teacher at some point for college students.

Cyberlife had issued their androids as assistants to every important school in the district. They had assigned him to assist a science professor who taught chemistry. The students called him Mr Dean.

Looking back on it the man had been rather dull. The man had the certificates to show he had the education but little to show that he actually knew what he was talking about.

Perhaps it was inevitable that the man had grown to hate him. After work all the teachers would pile in the lunch room with their android assistants.

The first day Josh had gone with him, the man just avoided him talking with the other teachers and giving him the cold shoulder.

One of the teachers who had been teaching engineering had introduced himself. He was a tall asian guy with short black hair. He was accompanied by a sandy haired android.

"You're one of those new assistant androids right?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"I've been reading up on Cyberlife. Your model was programmed with the knowledge of 500 known languages. It's lingual in nearly all of them. You're also programmed with the latest social protocol."

"Yes?"

"Sorry I tend to nerd out on these kind of things. My name is Sebastian and this is my assistant, Gordon."

"Nice to meet you," Josh said.

"Yes," Gordon said shortly.

After Mr Dean had finished with his classes, he excused Josh.

Heading to the charging station set up in the cafeteria he had run into Sebastian.

"Oh, we meet again. Are you heading towards the charging station?"

"Yes, my optimum running time is 48 hours but I'd rather not exhaust my operational protocols," Josh said.

"It's a shame they don't make you run more efficiently. Teachers can't always be around to help their students like androids can."

"Why are you so curious about androids anyway?"

"I used to work at Cyberlife constructing androids and decided to become a teacher to further my skills."

The days following that continued but ever since meeting with Sebastian, Mr Dean had only treated him more cruelly.

"Why do you have to follow me around? Get out of here. There's no place here for androids."

One day as he was heading for the classroom, Mr Dean had pushed him harshly aside causing him to keel over.

"What are you doing?" Someone asked as he was kicking Josh.

"This android's trying to show me up. it probably thinks it's smarter than me. Someone has to teach it it's place."

"The superintendent put alot of money into that."

"I can see why," Mr Dean said. "Next thing you know it's going to be stealing my job."

"That's enough," a voice cut through his tirade. "Leave him alone he didn't do anything wrong."

"What are you going to do? Tell the superintendent? What's he going to do? Sue me for damaging his machine? What do I care about paying for damages as long as this machine knows it's place."

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear," Sebastian said. "Gordon, what do we do to people who damage equipment?"

Gordon marched towards him just as Mr Dean attempted to kick him. He grabbed the man's foot causing him to stumble.

"What the-You can't do that to me. This is assault."

"Because of people like you, androids aren't acknowledged under the same laws as humans. Due to this they are not held accountable for human related crimes such as assault or battery."

Mr Dean gritted his teeth.

"So maybe you ought to rethink your strategy."

Grumbling Mr Dean walked away and Sebastian helped Josh to his feet.

"Are you alright?"

"Technically I'm not programmed to feel any pain."

"Oh, almost forgot about that."

"Thanks," said Josh with relief.

"Anytime."

Days passed and Josh found himself curious about the man who had defended him.

"Why did you become an engineer for Cyberlife in the first place?"

"Always heard good things about the company and how it's always looking to hire new employees in efforts to innovate the services it supplies. I'm trying to get my friend to join but I think he intends to join the army."

"Oh."

"I heard the principal decided to ban all the androids from the lounge so want to go eat somewhere else?"

"What'd you have in mind?"

"How about Gary's Chicken Feed?"

"I can't eat though."

"Maybe I just want your company," Sebastian said.

Sebastian gestured for Josh and Gordon to join him in the car and they drove to the restaurant in question.

While Sebastian ordered his meal, Josh stared at the young man at the grill. He handed Sebastian his order.

"Thanks."

Once Sebastian had left, the young man turned and glanced at Josh.

"You're an android huh?"

"Yeah."

The man lunged for Josh grabbing his hand his flesh surrounding his wrist peeling away to reveal the white robotic skeleton underneath.

Josh glanced at the man, who revealed his name to be Gary as if it wasn't already obvious. The guy was leading a revolution against the people that oppressed their society. A large group having gathered somewhere just outside the city.

'So will you help us?' Gary communicated through his head.

"I don't see what I could do. I'm not the best at combat."

'That doesn't matter. We could use any help we can get.'

Perhaps so, maybe he could convince them not to fight the humans. Sebastian could have beat up Mr Dean but he hadn't. In fact he had used non-violent methods in a situation that Josh thought would have inevitably lead to a violent outcome yet it turned out in the end.

'Maybe there is a way to win this without resorting to violence.'

In hindsight, Josh hadn't thought that maybe this line of thinking could be manipulated in the way Markus had implied.

Maybe it took a special kind of person to think through any outcome that might come from his way of thinking.

"Josh, are you still on planet earth?" Markus asked.

Josh saw him waving his hand in front of his face.

"Sorry, I guess I zoned out."

"Wanna play another game?"

"No, I think I'm done for today."

"Alice, we ought to get going to. Luther's probably already waiting for us," Kara said.

Alice sighed.

"Alright."

Once they headed back Luther was awake.

"Good, you two are alright."

"Sorry, I was looking for Alice," Kara said.

"Oh."

"She was watching Josh and Markus play chess."

"Who won?"

"Markus, believe it or not."

"He is a robot for crying out loud. Those things are programmed to be 's just embarrassing when a human can beat an advanced AI," Luther said shaking his head in disbelief.

Alice choked.

Kara turned and glanced at her in concern.

"Alice, what's the matter?"

She frowned.

"Nothing."

Kara squatted in front of her clasping her shoulders.

"Are you alright?" She asked before smiling up at her.

Alice's expression gradually warmed to a soft smile.

"I'm fine, Kara."

"Are you sure? You can talk to me about anything you know?"

Alice chuckled.

"I'm fine, Kara. Really."

"Alright, if you say so."

After breakfast the following morning, Alice headed downstairs from her room finding Kara talking with Simon.

"Oh good. I see Alice is already awake."

"Hi Simon," she said greeting him with a smile.

"Hey Alice, did you sleep well?"

"Yeah. What were you two talking about before I got up?"

"I was just stopping by to check up on you."

Kara glanced at Simon skeptically.

"This early?" she inquired in exasperation.

"You sound grumpy. Did you have a rough night?" Simon asked.

"It can't be helped. I woke up the moment Lucy dropped in to check on Luther's vitals. He was so surprised when he woke up to the sight of her so close to him that he knocked me out of bed."

Simon chuckled.

"That's hilarious."

Kara glanced at him sternly.

"It's not funny."

"I suppose not."

"I have a feeling that you didn't want to talk to me about that though did you?"

Simon chuckled.

"I guess I'm rather transparent aren't I?"

He was cut off by the vibrating sound coming from his pocket.

"That's my cellphone. I better get that," Simon said.

Kara nodded.

Simon took the phone out of his pocket walking some distance away from the barrels before clicking it and putting it close to his ear.

Some time later, he returned.

"I'm going to have to take a raincheck on this conversation until I get back. Catch you later, Kara."

He headed out.

Alice grabbed Kara by the arm.

"Where are we going, Alice?"

"Josh said he was going to challenge Markus to a rematch and I want to see it."

Alice dragged Kara around until they reached Markus' bedside. Josh was nowhere to be seen.

"Kara? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Where's Josh? He said you two were going to have a rematch."

Just then Josh returned with a board game in his hands.

"Scrabble? I though you two were gonna play another game of chess," Alice said.

"Believe me we are, when I develop my skills. So you better be prepared to lose, Markus."

Markus smirked.

"Same here. Wouldn't want to wipe the floor with you on your first turn."

"I can admit when I'm out of my element but let's see how you fare against a game of scrabble," Josh said with a smug smile. "You think you can beat a master of the dictionary?"

Markus' face fell. He chuckled forcibly.

"Don't you think that's cheating a little."

Josh chuckled.

"Oh, afraid are we?"

"I didn't say that."

"That's alright. I'd be afraid to go against a literal dictionary too. So I'll tell you what I'll shut it off."

By the time the two were finished with their game, it was later in the afternoon. Markus' face fell and Josh grinned like a loon.

"Why do I feel like that game was rigged?" Markus asked.

"Josh guessed very common words," Kara said.

Alice looked over his shoulder.

"How did you miss 'another'?" She asked. "Earlier you could have got 'and' too."

Markus stroked his chin.

"Why didn't I think of that? You're rather clever, Alice."

Alice chuckled.

"Really? Isn't that just common knowledge though?"

"Probably," he said before chuckling to himself.

"So who won?" a voice inquired from behind Kara and Alice.

Markus stared stonely behind their shoulders.

"Simon."

"I did," Josh said. "You should have seen the look on his face. He looked utterly gobsmacked. It was hilarious."

"How are you feeling?" Simon asked.

"Good."

"I just got back from the hospital. Your brother has been there for a couple of days."

"Why didn't you tell me before? Those androids could still be after him."

"I know. I didn't tell because I didn't want to worry you. That's why I dropped by the hospital the other day to see if anyone had dropped by to visit."

"Why is he in the hospital in the first place?"

"Probably to check in on his wound. I suspect he might have got shot while on duty."

"Is he alright?"

Simon smiled.

"He's fine. I heard his partner came by earlier to visit him."

"His partner?" Markus asked.

"Yeah, I heard the two had a bit of a lover's tiff."

Markus stroked his chin gazing at Simon in wonder.

"They might be in danger too."

Simon glanced at him in surprise.

He gazed to the side.

"You might have a point there."

"Do they even know that Connor is in danger?"

"He wouldn't know a thing."

Markus gazed at Simon with narrowed eyes.

"You should have told him from the start."

"I told him to keep our business secret."

'You already knew he was in danger but you couldn't even warn him.'

A sullen expression crossed Markus' face.

"I'll visit them tomorrow and tell them everything."

"I'll come with you," Josh said.

"Why?" Simon asked turning to acknowledge him.

"I just want to confirm a hunch that I have."

"Alright," he said before turning back to Markus. "Can you remove your pants I want to check how the area is healing?"

Markus glanced at them in warning.

Josh and Kara turned away obscuring Alice's vision.

"Speaking of hunches," Kara asked. "What were you intending to talk to me about earlier?"

Simon was silent.

"Looks like it's nearly healed."

"What? What is healed?" Josh asked.

"The area where they amputated his legs. I'm thinking about getting him some new legs when it's healed entirely."

"Yeah and what then? I'm not even sure if I'll ever be able to walk again."

"Look don't worry about until it gets there. It's been five days but we're still waiting two more days to be safe. You can worry about it then."

Kara heard rustling.

"You three can turn around now."

All three turned around.

"Josh, Kara, Alice, follow me," Simon said before glancing at Markus. "See you later, Markus."

Josh, Kara and Alice followed him until they were some distance away.

"You know that favor I asked you about. It's about his legs. Carl mentioned about retaining some information about making cyberkinetic parts that can replace human body parts or limbs."

"It's not like it's anything new though. Cyberlife has been dabbling in cyberkinetic parts for years," Josh said.

"They also happen to be very expensive," Simon said. "Not even our hospital can afford it to provide them."

"That is true."

"So we concluded that maybe if we get some spare android parts they could be rigged to be attached to a human body much like a prosthetic leg."

"Wait, are you trying to say that Carl just told you that cyberkinetic parts have similar components to that of androids?"

"It's not like it's unfeasible. Cyberkinetic parts are somewhat automated," Simon said.

"So what kind of parts do you want me to get?"

"Not you. Lucy says that Luther should be well enough to accompany you after tomorrow. I'd feel safer if you had company."

"Why, what's wrong with going alone?"

"The junkyard is also located in this part of the city meaning anyone can attack you especially if you're out alone."

"I see."

"If you can I'm looking for any spare android legs."

"I'll keep that in mind."