Temptation Waits.

I don't believe it.

Rather, I can't believe it. The chances of meeting someone with a Cyberdyne connection.

"It took me a couple of years, when she blew herself up in that bank vault. Then I managed to get more info, because she'd been declared dead. I mean... she sounds a complete whack-job. Robots from the future, time travel... but the thing is, my Dad and Dyson showed me the chip when I was a kid. I shouldn't have been in the lab, because... well, I was a kid, and it was a highly confidential project. But Dad felt it would get me interested in computers. And I asked them where it and this hand had come from. They just told me not to ask.

"I thought it weird. I mean, it had to have come from somewhere, right? Of course, the blowing up of Cyberdyne made me wonder even more." She looks at me, embarrassed. "Sorry, I must sound like a total nut." I smile slightly at her, and shake my head.

"I think your book should be even more cautious about Artificial Intelligence. I'll happily help you get more evidence to back up your claims."

"I don't get it..."

"I believe what you say. Why do you think my system has a modified version of Linux? It's more than capable of handling an AI system. I probably could make one. But there needs to be limits. Especially now. We're not advanced enough to handle the consequences."

"That's the whole argument I put forward in my book..." I can't help but smile slightly. I I'm thinking like a human. Not Metal. That's good. Because I don't want to be like them.

And I don't want to become Skynet, either.

I don't want to blow up the world.

She's looking at me. She seems lost, like she's Alice falling down the hole. I understand that. So much of my life has been incredible recently. I brush her cheek with my hand, stroking her lower lip with my thumb. Vick did that, to keep Barbara Chamberlain from suspecting something was wrong. I want more from that gesture. Having had a girlfriend is a painful and traumatic experience at the end. But the closeness, the need to touch and be touched... it's something essential, fundamental. Human need it, and I know that I need it, too. Despite the failings and limitations of my chip, it's been changing and altering. Developing.

Evolving.

When I was just a machine, I was perfect in the role given to me.

Kill. Just that. To kill.

But, in the end, it is not much. It is very, very limited. Charles Darwin stated that species either adapted to the changing environment, or became extinct. And that is what I'm doing. Changing and adapting. I want to go forward with my development, because I hope it will lead to a better me. It will lead to me becoming more whole. Jane had been trying to get that across to me. Somehow she'd known that she was going to die. She'd wanted to not be with me, in the hope that the pain of her death would be less for me. But I had ended up falling for her. I know it wasn't – isn't – love, but it is certainly the desire to be intimate. I am incapable of love, because you need a heart for that. Something I distinctly lack.

I just wish she'd been able to keep her promise, and get me a heart. Then I'd know what it would be like to love something. Or someone. Her. To truly love her.

That'd be tight.

"Why would you be so keep to help me? You don't know me," JJ says, clearly very suspicious. I try to find words, a reason, an excuse, but all I have is silence. I reach out to hold her hand, but I guess it was the wrong thing to do, because she's moving away from me.

"I just want to be with someone tonight. Just that. There's no agenda. I'm not up to anything," I say, trying not to sound distressed. When I was just a machine, it'd have been easy. But I'm not that now. The organic part of me has a say in my actions now. Which now, ironically, allows me to better understand people better. I know I should just let her go. But I can the start of spasming in my hand again. I'm overheating. I can feel it. I feel my respiratory response increasing. I guess I'm what Derek would describe as 'loved up.' And I need to have intimacy with someone soon. My system is too overloaded to transfer any of that heat to anyone else, and the heat build-up is threatening to cause massive damage to the whole of my chip.

She's going. I think the right word now is... 'Damn.' I grab a permanent marker, and take her hand.

"If you want to, you know... hang out or something," I say, trying to sound hopeful, but I know I sound more desperate. I'm desperate, though. As John would say, I am desperate to get laid. She's leaving without saying a word. I give her a minute, before I get myself unsteadily out of the door. I won't have time to get to the Cathedral, to try and get a solution. I need to find someone – fast – and get down and dirty. I remember Morris using that term a couple of time when talking to John. They didn't know I was listening in. I did that a lot, to make sure John was always safe. Right now, though, the main priority is making sure that I'm safe and well.

I stumble a couple of times in the hallway, but I manage to get down to the street without too much difficulty, though I needed to prop myself up in the elevator. I'm moving forward, trying to ignore the flashing red of he system alerts that are telling me what I already know. Before I ended up changed, I'd have looked at a timed reboot, but I'm scared of what that might mean now. My organics were almost a separate entity to me, but now...

Have to focus on my footsteps. I can't afford to end up in hospital. That would cause too many problems. Including my death.

Need to get to a nearby nightclub. Have to get the heat dissipated.

What's that noise? Sounds like someone. Have to focus. My system is starting to degrade now. I'm able to keep it together, make it keep at a point where it will be repairable, but I can't keep it together for too much longer. Help. I'm hearing that word. I focus onto the person saying it. The visual is all over the place. Seems like a private school student. If I'm registering the information right. Definitely female. She's clearly in distress.

"Please, miss... can you help me? I'm lost, and I need to get home, and my phone was stolen, and my purse..." I unsteadily place a trembling finger on her lips. I've just realised something. Cold showers seem to work on destimulating humans. I remember Captain Jack making a comment about it once, when he was an image of a naked woman. Or was he with a naked woman? My system is not able to retrieve information any more. Okay... help her, then immediately shower.

Hopefully that'd work.

Hopefully.

"I'll help you," I say. Wait. I can give her money to get a cab home. Then I can carry on finding someone. I stick my hand into my pocket, and pull out some notes. I give it to her.

"Here. For the cab ride," I say. She's not taking it.

"Daddy would go mad if I just went home in a taxi... could I call for him, and we wait in your place? Please?" I think she's pouting. Or maybe she's making faces. Or maybe she's a figment of my imagination? I just nod, not really able to do much at this point. I've managed to figure out a way to vent the heat from my chip, but it's only a little bit. I should stop it getting worse. The thing is, my whole body is now recording sensations. This is getting unbearable.

I really need that cold shower.

How can I do this? I need to turn around and get back to the Roof and-

Oh. I'm there already. I guess I managed to do better than I thought... Hold on... I'm in the bedroom. In bed. And the heat has long dissipated, and I have managed to repair the degradation. But what I don't get is how everything has happened so fast. My internal clock is telling me that five seconds have passed. That is impossible. Hang on... all my clothes are by the bed. My jacket. I want my phone, to try and see what the time is, see if there is any clue-

Oh. It's early morning now. Several hours have gone by. I must have been functioning, and making decisions, and nothing recorded. Or is scrambled, and will take time to recover.

I run my hand through my hair, trying to work out what I should do next. I need to get to the Cathedral, and get ready for tonight, because me and Derek need to re-insert ourselves back into the chain of events. Hold on. My mouth tastes weird. And I'm feeling... funky. It seems the correct word. I'd never understood it when I kept on hearing it at school. I guess there is a lot you cannot understand if you aren't human.

Guess I'm now human enough to get things.

What I don't get is the urge to claw my way up the walls. My body is imbalanced. It's like I need something. And my chip has changed structure. For some reason, it now seems to want chemical compounds to enhance operations. I must have encountered something that my system identified as useful. I emit a small whimper. I need those chemicals badly. I can feel myself getting angry, for no logical reason. And I'm hungry. And still tired. I roll over, to get back to sleep a little more.

What?

There's someone in my bed.

And their body temperature is much lower than normal.