Chapter 46: The First Sin (Part 2)

"When was the last time I visited Pascal's village?" Alexander wondered aloud as the air-limo he was riding in descended from the Bunker towards the Machine settlement. "And not because I was going to see Blue?"

After a while, he was unable to come up with an answer. "It's been a while," he murmured to himself as he looked out the window.

Pascal's village, or Gear Town as it was apparently now known, had grown over the years of peace. The old amusement park had been fully enveloped by the settlement, and new buildings had been constructed alongside the giant trees of the forest which sprawled out in every direction. Solar panels peaked out from between the branches of trees and windmills lazily spun in clearings.

It was an idyllic community, and one that had a surprising amount of individuality and creativity mixed into their buildings and crafts. Given that its inhabitants were all quite similar to each other, appearance wise, that was quite the feat and gave it a colorful, lively vibe that in Alexander's opinion many of the androids could take inspiration from.

Several minutes later, his ride landed on the outskirts of the village. There was a small welcoming party of Machines waiting for their arrival, including Pascal.

"Hello, Alexander," Pascal said, greeting the human as he got out of the hover-car. "White sent a message ahead, explaining what you wanted to do."

"Yeah. I'm sorry about this," Alexander said. "I wish to see the body, the store, and any security feeds you might have regarding the incident."

"Of course, we are glad to help," Pascal said cheerfully. "We are also very glad to know that this matter is being taken seriously."

"You are our friends and allies. I want this to become a positive experience for future interactions between our two groups," Alexander told her truthfully.

"So, you are saying that if one of yours is indeed responsible for this crime, you will punish them?" a Machine from Pascal's group asked, drawing attention to it.

Alexander had to blink in surprise when he saw it was an Elite Variant Medium Biped, its dark red and purple paint job faded but still visible.

"Yes, that is correct," Alexander replied, getting over his shock. "If they are guilty, they must be punished."

"We have heard promises like this before. Rarely have the androids honored them," the Machine replied dourly.

"This time will be different," Alexander promised.

"How so?" it demanded.

"Because I will make sure of it."

It stared at Alexander for a long time before giving a jerky nod and stalking off, half of the Machines in the group breaking away to follow it.

"Who was that?" 7E demanded, hand resting on the hilt of her weapon.

"I was under the impression that it was impossible for Elites to break away from the Network and gain independence. That they were tied too closely to the Red Girls to ever be free," 23E added, also curious.

"That is Cleaver. He is from an enclave of Machines that came to us six years ago from Germany. His group have had poor dealings with the Resistance in the past," Pascal revealed, and Alexander could hear the apprehension in her tone. "Please do not take offense. He is merely cautious."

"More like caustic," 7E snorted.

"As for his independence… that, I do not know. Cleaver has never shared how he became free with anyone, as far as I am aware. But I have respected his desire of privacy," Pascal continued.

"Does he have a large following?" Alexander asked, worried.

"Yes. His enclave consisted of a thousand Machine Lifeforms who are still very loyal to him. He is also far more willing to fight back if things go wrong which had made him popular among a percentage of the Machines. For now, though, he is an advocate for a 'wait and see' approach. He wants to know what the androids will do now that this is the first time a crime of this magnitude has happened. Will it break the treaty? Will the androids betray us? Cleaver wants to know. And depending on the outcome, he may leave the village and try to form his own, independent settlement."

Pascal's words made Alexander and his two guards frown.

'That's not good,' Alexander decided. 'If they are too aggressive, then they might not hesitate in striking back against the androids if I don't handle this correctly.'

"Pascal, please assure Cleaver and the other Machines who think like him that I shall do my best to uncover the truth and punish whoever is responsible," Alexander repeated, stressing this to his friend.

The leader of the Machine village nodded. "Then, the first thing to do is examine the body, correct? I admit to being new to this, so I did my best to download a number of media based on investigative and forensics as well as involving legal proceedings."

"Well, if you think that will help," Alexander said. "Can you show me the crime scene first, though?"

Pascal nodded and took us over to the next area. There was a lot of Machines watching us as we walked over to a quaint little hut that had the a sign shaped like an open book hanging over the entrance.

"Cute," Alexander couldn't help but say as he entered the shop. There were books all over, but what was adorable as well as eye-catching was that the books weren't on shelves stacked next to each. Instead, the Machine who'd owned the place had taken each book and given it its own little display.

Colorful pieces of cardboard and construction paper had been cut into shapes and then set up around the books depicting scenes from within, and the books themselves had unique little handmade stickers for the genres attached to them.

Horror stories got little ghost stickers, action-adventure stories got a tiny knight with a sword, and historical texts received an image of a scroll. It was extremely cute.

There were many more signs that the Machine owner, Adaline, had truly adored the written word, such as calligraphy banners on the walls or a restored typewriter on its own little shelf.

It was obvious the store wasn't made as a place of business, but more akin to a shrine to books and the art of writing.

"This is Adaline's store?" Alexander asked, just to be sure as he and the YoRHa androids looked around. "It reminds me more of a library, or museum."

"It is. This was her pride and joy," Pascal said. "And yes, it did double as both. If someone merely wanted to borrow a book, they could. If someone wished to purchase one instead, again, they were welcome. Adaline was more concerned with making literature available than making a profit."

"We heard there was an argument between Adaline and Wallflower. Do you know what they were fighting over specifically? And when?" Alexander inquired.

"Witnesses and their recordings report that at 5:17 pm on Tuesday, Adaline and Wallflower reportedly got into a short argument inside the store. Witnesses state that the argument sounded like it was about the book, as it was mentioned several times. Wallflower then storms out at 5:24 pm, and returns to New Babylon. Nothing else happens of note," Pascal states. "The next morning, around half-past midnight, Adaline discovers the theft of the rare book. At first, she believes it was merely borrowed, as the place does act as a pseudo-library, but apparently changes her mind around 7 am. She reports this theft to me, then goes off to confront Wallflower, whom Adaline claims to be the thief."

"Half-past midnight? That's pretty late," Alexander murmured.

"Adaline departs to New Babylon, but never returns. We wait a day before dispatching a search party, which leaves Gear Town around 6:45 am on Thursday, and discover her remains at 8:08 am of the same day."

"Interesting. Please tell us about the book that was stolen, Mayor Pascal. What made it so rare?" 23E inquired, bring up a question Alexander had wanted to know as well.

"I do not know," Pascal replied. "I simply know it was a recent acquisition for the store, as well as being a book about a topic both Adaline and Wallflower were passionate about. And that it was the only copy in existence."

"The only copy?" 7E asked, confused. "How can that be? I thought the Lunar Archives had copies of everything humanity ever wrote?"

"Actually, that's not entirely true," Alexander revealed, causing Machine and android alike to look his way. "While many books were uploaded, some were missed or ignored. Not to mention it was a chaotic time and plenty of archives, both digital and non-digital, had been damaged or outright destroyed by… well, by the White Chlorination Syndrome and then later the aliens, so it's very possible some items were overlooked or the data became so corrupted it was impossible to recover them."

"Okay, then how did it survive all these years?" 7E asked, folding her arms across her chest. "I'd have thought that it would have all rotted away. The books, that is."

"Same reason we still have some old ruins and other human artifacts lying around," Alexander replied. "Maso. It does weird things, one of which being the slowing of entropy on non-organic materials. Things still break down and crumble, but it's slower. Plus, if Maso can cause gravitational anomalies, create lasers, and turn humans to salt, then why can't it preserve a book or two that just so happen to be in the right spot to avoid damage?"

"Alright, fine," 7E said. "I still don't get it, but I'll trust you on this."

"Thank you, 7E. And to be honest, I'm just repeating what Uncle Emil has taught me about Maso. He's the real expert," Alexander stated, before coughing a bit and looking back at the store. "Does this place have a security camera or something?"

"No," Pascal said, shaking her head. "But we asked the Machines in the area and nobody saw anything between the times of the incident."

"And that was when, exactly?" Alexander inquired.

"Adaline leaves her store for a few hours every night to stargaze. Around 6:30 pm till midnight, she is out of the store. We've confirmed that there was a period around 9 pm and 11 pm where no Machines were in the area, or at least unable to see the bookshop from where they were working. So, we are assuming that the theft occurred during this window of time."

"Stargazing?" Alexander asked, latching onto that part.

"As we do not need to sleep, many Machines have expressed interest in astronomy. An amateur astronomy club has formed and it meets every night from the times I mentioned; 7 pm to midnight," Pascal explained eagerly. "I have gone to a few meetings myself. It was quite fun. Someday, we hope to explore the expanses of space ourselves."

"Well, that would certainly be interesting," Alexander couldn't help but agree. "Still… between 9 and 11 pm… that's not exactly a large window of opportunity."

"That is two hours, which is the average amount of time it would take an android to walk from the center of New Babylon to the center of town here," Pascal pointed out.

"Ah. Well, that does change things," Alexander muttered. "Add in a vehicle and that time changes significantly. Did you hear anything like that in or near the town?"

"We did not hear anything of the sort at the time period in question, and no vehicles entered the town's airspace," Pascal revealed. "However, our auditory sensors are not as capable as those in use by the androids, and thus we can only detect the approach of something if it is within a certain distance of the settlement. If they knew this, they could have avoided being heard that way."

"Hmm. And I bet there are plenty of androids in the city who know the exact range you guys have access to," 23E guessed. It was a fair bet. What android hadn't fought the Machines at some point in their career? It wouldn't be a stretch to assume some had learned all about their enemy, and how best to sneak past them if necessary.

"So, no security or video footage of any kind, then. What about something else? How did the thief enter? Was the door locked?" Alexander inquired.

"Most habitats and buildings in town do not have locks," Pascal claimed. "We have never needed them."

'Well, that might change now,' the mage thought morosely to himself. And wasn't that a kick in the pants?

"Then, did the thief make a mess?" 23E inquired.

"The store was completely untouched, saved for the rare book being missing from its spot."

"Alright, that makes it harder, but also easier. If the suspect has the book in their possession, they're the thief," 7E said. "Case closed."

"Maybe," Alexander hedged. "We don't know for sure the thief would keep the book. Perhaps they hid it because of the commotion the theft caused? Or perhaps the thief planned on planting the book on someone else's person to frame them."

"Ugh!" the tiny Executioner type groaned, holding her head. "I hate these kinds of problems! Why can't I solve them all with good old fashion super-violence?"

"That's just how most things are," Alexander shrugged. He then looked to Pascal. "Can we see the body, next?"

The leader of the village nodded, and escorted them to a new structure Alexander hadn't seen before near the center of town. Given how much things had changed, he wasn't surprised.

"What is this place?" he asked as they entered the building. It was brightly lit, but there were odd things laid out all over it. Framed photographs with little name cards hung on the walls, and there was a metal tombstone in the middle, surrounded by wreathes of white flowers.

"This is the Memorial Mausoleum," Pascal informed the group. "Here, we remember the departed."

She waved a hand around the room. "Here on the walls in this and other rooms are images and names of the Machines who have ceased functioning are recorded, as well as being compiled and stored in a digital archive you can access from here. However, this is not our destination."

Pascal led the trio deeper into the building, down into an underground complex. The walls were lined with metal lockers and storage units, like those used in ancient human coroner offices. It reminded Alexander of some of the hidden bunkers he'd come across during archeological explorations, but at the same time, gave off vibes of a mortuary.

"Here we are, Adaline, 4X-99DY," Pascal announced, coming to a stop in front of one of the cold locker-esque slots on the wall, and unlocking it with a traditional key instead of using a digital lock.

It was then opened up and a tray was slid out, revealing the mortal remains of the Machine known as Adaline.

"Rather than use coffins or human burial rites, we have chosen to entomb our dead down here," Pascal explained. "Unless they requested that their parts be salvaged, they are kept intact, or as intact as possible."

"Oh, jeez," 7E winced as she looked at the 'corpse' of the Machine before us. "What did her in?"

Adaline had been a Small Stubby, and was thus smaller than Blue or other medium sized bipeds, and had large, flat feet that made walking a chore. Had she been standing, her head still would have come up to Alexander's chest, though.

However, something had been jammed into her own 'chest' area and then ripped upwards slightly, creating a wide, jagged hole in the center of the Machine. Not enough to slice the Machine in half, but large enough to cause massive damage to the head. Internal components had been damaged badly by the attack, with pieces shattered and bent.

"I take it there was no chance to extract data from her memory banks?" Alexander asked, eyeing the destruction inflicted on the Machine's torso.

"No. The core, along with the central intelligence processor, suffered critical failure almost immediately after Adaline was attacked," Pascal reported sadly.

"What did this?" 23E inquired curiously, running a finger along the jagged edge where the chest had been ruptured.

"Based on the damage, as well as what we found nearby, it was a power tool," Pascal revealed. "A Mark 19 Geophane Material Cutter, to be precise. It's a specialized construction power tool that is used by the androids, and it was found still lodged inside Adaline. We think whoever killed her wasn't able to extracted it and just abandoned it."

"And you know it belonged to Wallflower how, exactly?" Alexander asked.

"It still had her biometric telemetry logged into the system. The power tool couldn't be activated by anyone other than her."

"Oof, that's… pretty damning," 23E grunted.

"But would the murderer really leave their weapon at the scene of the crime? Seems sloppy to me," Alexander pointed out.

"It could have been done in a moment of, I dunno, passion? Like, they were super angry and just… reacted poorly," 7E suggested.

"Possible," Alexander hummed. "Where was she found?"

"Adaline's body was discovered twenty minutes away from New Babylon, in a ditch on the side of the road. It looked as if she had just been shoved there and left, without any attempt to hide her."

Alexander sighed. "Well, that's very… unfortunate."

"So, we're off to arrest that Wallflower gal, then?" 7E asked, looking at Alexander curiously.

"No. First we're going to see the scene of the crime. And then, we are going to investigate and question her," Alexander declared. "Don't do this recklessly. All the evidence has to be gathered. Speaking of which, Pascal, can you send us all the data you have on this incident?"

Pascal nodded, and then 7E and 23E both said aloud, "Data sharing complete!"

"Great!" Alexander said. "Now, to New Babylon city. Wallflower lives there, right?"

"She does, in an apartment complex," 23E replied.

"Then let's go," Alexander hummed. "We'll stop by the crime scene on the way over."

The trio let Pascal lead them back to where their luxury car was parked. Once inside, they piled in and 23E took over as the chauffer.

The place where Adaline had been killed had been turned into a curious combination of cordoned off police scene, complete with yellow 'do not cross!' holographic tape, and a shrine, with flowers piled up high around a photograph of the deceased Machine Lifeform.

"Scan the area," Alexander ordered. "See what we can find."

"Well, here's something!" 7E called out, drawing attention her way. "Check this out!"

The spot where Adaline had been murdered was marked with a glow-in-the-dark outline of the Machine Lifeform.

But what had gotten 7E's attention, and Alexander blinked as he saw a pair of boot prints deeply embedded in the dirt.

"How did that get here?" he asked.

"An android stood here. Or maybe they landed? It kinda looks like what happens when an android lands after jumping down from a high place," 7E mused. She peered at them closely. "Looks like whoever the prints belong to came from New Babylon."

"Adaline must have noticed them and turned to greet them, because the damage happened to her front, but we know the attack likely occurred when she was returning home after confronting Wallflower. Perhaps she recognized them, and that's why she didn't try to run?" 23E suggested.

"Makes sense to me, I certainly would run away if somebody I didn't know was running at me with a weapon. Now take some scans of it," Alexander requested, going back to examining the crime scene.

Sadly, there wasn't anything left. No oil or scrap or other marks that could be evidence. Only the mysterious pair of boot prints directly in front of the victim's outline.

"That's all we can do for now," he said, shaking his head. "Come on, let's go and see what Wallflower has to say for herself."

The trio returned to their hover-vehicle and very carefully flew into the sky so as not to disturb the area any more than they already had.

Flying over New Babylon, Alexander took a closer look at it, getting a nice view from above. Construction was going well, and dozens of skyscrapers had been built all over in neat, orderly rows. There were plenty of smaller buildings as well, some with different styles and fancy decorations. Several combinations of styles had been incorporated into the first human city in millennia, creating several unique districts. And all of it was connected by clean streets and roads that crisscrossed the city.

There were also dozens of sites where construction was still undergoing, revealing that as much work had been done, there was still plenty of things to do until it was ready for human habitation.

"There it is. She's on the third floor of that building," 23E announced as she landed on the street right next to one of the android-rated apartment complexes.

"Well, here we are, Apartment 333, Cutlery Tower," 7E said, looking at the door.

"Wallflower's in here, is she?" Alexander mused. "Alright, let's see if she's home."

He knocked on the door politely. A few seconds later, there was noise on the other side, and the stomp of boots on linoleum was audible to the trio.

"What do you want?" a voice called out as the door opened, revealing the android they'd come to question. Unlike in her photo, her pinkish hair was messy and ill-kempt and there were more stains on her clothes than before. If Alexander was honest, she looked like a wreck.

"I told you YoRHa bitches to leave me alone!" the gynoid named Wallflower shouted as soon as she spotted 7E and 23E standing on her doorstep.

'It seems that Wallflower doesn't exactly live up to her name,' Alexander thought with amusement. He then gave a delicate cough to grab her notice.

The Resistance member's attention had been so focused on the black and white gothic Lolita clad gynoids that she hadn't even noticed Alexander, and upon hearing him clear his throat, she turned her gaze his way, a no doubt scathing retort on her lips, yet she froze up as soon as she saw just who exactly the E-types had been escorting.

"S-Sir Alexander!" Wallflower gasped out. "W-what are you doing here?!"

"White, I mean, Commander White, informed me about what is going on right now," Alexander informed Wallflower. "When I heard about it, I decided to come down to investigate."

"Investigate…? Does that mean you'll find out who killed Adaline?!" Wallflower uttered, hope flashing in her eyes.

"I… yes, that's it," Alexander said slowly.

The engineer slumped in relief, a faint sob escaping her. "Thank you… thank you!" she mumbled.

"I think it is clear there are some facts I'm missing," Alexander admitted, mind thrown for a loop. "May I come in?"

"Yeah… yeah, sure," Wallflower muttered, standing up straight and motioning for her three visitors to enter. "Uh, please pardon the mess."

"I've seen worse," Alexander said as he went inside, and meant it. Gone were the days of dirty, dingy shacks or sterile cubicle-apartments, which had been the two choices for living quarters before the war ended and New Babylon was dreamt up.

Now, though, androids could live in actual cozy apartments. They were small, the average single-person apartments consisting of merely four rooms. They were a small living room with walk-in kitchen (although since they didn't need to eat, it also included a washer and dryer for clothes), and in the back there was a narrow room for a bed with a shower station-cubicle for washing next door.

Despite the lack of space it still had just enough space for personalization.

Wallflower's living space was also much more organized than either 9S or A2's rooms. Uncle Nines tended to have a lot of clutter from his various research topics lying about, and Alexander's mother didn't care where her tools or clothes were when she was done with them.

In contrast, Wallflower had everything neatly arranged, with most of the free space taken up with shelving units on the walls containing an assortment of books. There was even an old-fashioned typewriter sitting proudly on a shelf that looked refurbished.

'Huh, Adaline had one of those typewriters as well. Could that be a connection?'

"You like books, I see," Alexander commented as he was led to an arm chair, the only piece of furniture in the living room area.

"Yes, that's right," Wallflower, and her gruff tone took on a whimsical quality. "I find it amazing how a bunch of squiggly lines and symbols can evoke powerful feelings and take a reader on countless adventures, as well as teaching and educate, all at once. It's like math, but for emotions."

"That's an excellent way to describe it," Alexander praised, and Wallflower smiled shyly at that.

"Thank you, Sir Alexander."

He smiled back, but once he was seated, his expression shifted to a stern one. "Alright, Wallflower, what I know is the following: a Machine named Adaline owned a book store. Witnesses say there was an argument between you over a rare item. Said item winds up stolen, and Adaline suspected you. The Machine shopkeeper confronts you, but is later found to have been murdered. And the evidence suggests it was your weapon."

"Th-that's correct," Wallflower stammered. "But you're wrong about some things!"

"Please don't interrupt," Alexander requested, and the Resistance member clammed up. Satisfied she'd listened, he continued, "Furthermore, you are refusing to allow YoRHa to access your memories so they can prove it is true or false. This has led to a group of androids rallying around you because they dislike the alliance we've made with the Machines."

"You don't understand!" Wallflower protested. "I can't give my memories to YoRHa because… because I don't have them anymore!"

That caused Alexander to blink in surprise. "What do you mean?" he inquired.

"My memories… have been tampered with," she admitted. "There is a two-hour gap on Tuesday evening, between 9 pm and 11 pm, which was when the robbery took place."

"Two hours? That's the amount of time it would take for a Resistance android to do a trip from here to Gear Town and then return," 7E spoke up, repeating what Pascal had informed the group of earlier. "Less, if you were using a faster mode of transport, like a hovercycle or even a simple ground-truck."

"A-and then, there's a forty-one-minute gap in my memories, between 4:28 pm and 5:09 pm on Wednesday, when Adaline was… was attacked," Wallflower continued to reveal. "But I didn't do it to myself! I swear! I don't have the skills or the tools!"

"That… I've got to admit it, Wallflower, but that doesn't exactly look good for you," Alexander claimed. "The assumption that you deleted your own memories to prevent yourself from being incriminated would definitely be brought up at a trial."

"Well, duh! But that's why I wouldn't do it! Among other reasons!" Wallflower exclaimed. "If I wanted to delete incriminating evidence, it wouldn't have been as sloppily done as what happened to me!"

"And the murder weapon being yours?" 23E asked as Alexander mulled over her answer.

"It wasn't a weapon, it was a power tool," Wallflower replied.

"A Mark 19 Geophane Material Cutter, correct?" 7E inquired, having recalled that being included in the data package.

Wallflower nodded. "That's right. It's a laser-edged rotary saw-like tool capable of slicing through steel beams and blocks of concrete with ease. We use it to assist in construction around New Babylon."

"Was the tool registered to you? Or did you own it outright?" Alexander asked.

"It was a borrowed item from the construction company. I was the last person logged as having used that particular item. I was using it during my shift on Wednesday morning. Before Adaline showed up."

"There's a lot of different ways to use even simple tools as a weapon," Alexander pointed out. "And when you say Adaline showed up, what do you mean?"

"She came to confront me about the robbery. Uh, around 11:53 am, if my internal clock hasn't been tampered with. Adaline wanted to know if I had done it. I told her I hadn't. I was a little bit, okay, I was actually extremely insulted she would even ask me that," Wallflower claimed. "I mean, yes, we had a fight about it in her store, but I would never steal from her! And it wasn't fair of her to show up out of the blue while I was working to confront me about the matter, either. So, yes, we had another loud argument, this time here in New Babylon, down at the construction site. But she left at 1:02 pm, several hours before her death!"

"Do you have any alibis? Anybody to say where you were during the events in question?" 23E inquired.

"I was in my apartment from 7:15 in the evening on Tuesday till 4 am on Wednesday. Aside from the two hours that are missing, I can account for everything else," Wallflower said.

"And then the other incident?"

"I, uh, don't have anyone to vouch for me, either," she admitted. "While there are plenty of security cameras around the city, some places don't have 'em installed yet, and I was really angry with Adaline so I stormed off to the quarry to blow off some steam. That was, uh, at 1:16 pm, if I'm not mistaken. There aren't any cameras in that area and the workers around the city use it to vent and rant because of that. Adaline… she was murdered during my time coming back from the quarry. I guess somebody else from that area might have seen me, but again, I am unsure. I was in the city around 5:14, though."

"Yes, we have camera footage of you entering via New Babylon's western road at that time," 23E confirmed.

"You see? I couldn't have done the murder anyways! No way I could have gone back to the construction site to grab my tool without being spotted by some other cameras, or leaving with it!" Wallflower said.

"Well, actually, the construction site is quite close to the quarry. It is possible you could have entered it from there using a backway, avoided the cameras, and then returned it after you did the deed," 7E pointed out.

"Take that back!" Wallflower shouted. "I would never hurt Adaline! Never!"

7E just smiled back, but it was a dangerous smile, and Alexander could see her hand twitching towards her weapons.

"We will have to investigate that further," Alexander declared, attempting to diffuse the situation. "For now, though, the evidence seems to be against you."

"I-I would never, though!" Wallflower whimpered, stepping back from 7E to give Alexander a pleading look.

"Hmm. Then, allow me to ask you this; do you hate the Machine Lifeforms?" Alexander asked.

Wallflower was silent for a few seconds before answering. "Do you know where I was stationed before the war ended?"

"No, I don't," Alexander replied, unsure of where she was going with this.

"I was deployed in the Night Lands, Dream City, to be precise. It was… hellish. Constant attacks at all times of day from different factions of Machines, and then there were the malfunctioning holograms, Illusion Storms, and rogue androids. It was a shifting landscape. So, Sir Alexander, to answer your question? Yes. I do hate Machines," Wallflower replied simply. "How could I not, when I spent over five hundred years fighting against them?"

"However," she continued before Alexander do or say anything else, "Adaline was… different. She wasn't like the other Machines. Even compared to the disconnected units living in that village. She appreciated literature. She loved words. She wanted to someday write her own book, to share the experiences of what it was like for Machines to live under the Network, and then to find themselves free of it. She wished to record their history, their past, now that they had a future."

Wallflower looked down, sorrow in her eyes, and Alexander couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity for her. "Adaline was a Machine, but I was able to forget that when I was with her, discussing poetry, philosophy, and the plots of stories. I don't know if I will be able to ever forgive the other Machines for what I've been through, but thanks to Adaline, I know there are always exceptions to the rule."

Alexander simply nodded, accepting what she said. He knew it would take a long time before relationships between androids and Machines could be universally improved. The fact that Anemone's Resistance camp had had such a good relation with Pascal's group was a minor miracle in and of itself, but it was a start.

Hearing an android who'd had no contact with peaceful Machines admit that despite her hatred, she could still come to accept one of them as a friend, gave the human hope, and he held onto it.

"I will investigate this case carefully, Miss Wallflower," Alexander vowed. "Whatever the outcome, however, please do not lose that feeling you have towards your friend."

With that, he rose. "Have a good day. And please stick around the city for the trial. I don't want to put you under house arrest, so I'm trusting you with this level of freedom."

"Th-thank you!" Wallflower exclaimed, bowing gratefully.

After Alexander and his escorts left the apartment, he waited until he was sure they were far enough away to begin questioning his companions.

"Is what she said true? That her memories were erased?"

"Without a diagnostics check, I cannot be sure. I'm not an S or T-type," 23E replied.

"That said, I don't think she's lying about it," 7E said. "Everything she told us is super easy to verify. I think we should check out where she works to make sure. And maybe see if they have any camera feeds we can check that might have seen something Wallflower missed."

"Good idea," Alexander said. "Lead the way. Where does she work?"

"Construction Lot #91, currently slated to be a site for a materials storage unit," 23E informed him after checking the data for the location.

"So, warehouses? Got it," Alexander nodded. He glanced up at the sky as they left the apartment complex. "You know, it's a nice day. Let's walk."

"As you wish," 23E nodded, 7E smiling in agreement before skipping along as she led the way to Wallflower's workplace.

'I hope we can solve this mystery soon,' Alexander mused to himself, his mind racing as he went over everything he'd learned so far. He was curious to find out what else was there to be found, and privately hoped it was not as bad as it seemed.

It probably was, but hope springs eternal.

&&&&&
Author's Note:
Happy 4th of July, everyone! Enjoy an early chapter!
And thanks to my supporters, including Travis McRice!
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