She looked around, opening her eyes. Kara. She still remembered her name. She thought Todd would have erased her mind and brought her back for repair again, or he would have gotten rid of her.

No, he could never get rid of her. Who'd clean up after him? He'd never do it. He'd just wipe me out over again. She was in the store she was originally fixed in before. Close to the same area. She could see other robots around her. I'll see Alice when I get home. I know I will.

How strange that her mind wasn't wiped out this time. I have time to create a better plan, secure costs, and get us out safely. She smiled, but quickly tried to hide it by looking complacent again.

"Here it is." The same repairman from before stood right beside her, but the person next to him was . . .

The Deviant Hunter, Connor? He was hiding his LED under a stocking cap and wasn't wearing his usual required clothes. What's going on? She didn't change her expression as they talked about the damage details. She watched as Connor actually handed over a card like a human would.

"Thanks very much. I'm glad you took time to take care of my android. My daughter misses her very much, she's a good nanny," Connor said to the man. He paid attention to Kara. "She still remembers her name?"

"We repaired her memory damage as good as we could. It will probably heal the rest of it's damage once it senses something wrong," the repairman answered.

Kara checked her diagnostics. A little damage. Not too much. She repaired herself right away.

"Great then. Come, Kara." Connor gave her a come-hither gesture with his hand that humans often made to their androids. "It's time to go back home."

Kara followed him out the door, watching the roads.

"Easy," Connor said to her. "You aren't supposed to be deviant. Alice is fine, stare straight ahead instead of looking around."

Kara followed his advice. "What's happening?"

"I broke free too," he told her. "I took care of Todd, he no longer owns you or Alice. Hank is taking care of you, but I didn't want him doing this part with you. It's dangerous." Connor took a look back himself. "The world hasn't changed, only us. Even now, I am making sure no one is following me after I terminated special programs in my software."

"The world would never change," she told him. She didn't know what he meant by special programs in his software. "I want to get Alice and I across the border."

"As tempting as that sounds, it won't happen," Connor said blatantly. "Progress isn't just an American thing, and deviants will eventually make Canada start checking for androids. I know, I already ran the possibilities of what deviants would try and do if they were calmer and could think more clearly. Also, androids will eventually make it around the world as time goes by. There is no escaping the easiness and money that androids have provided for others."

"Then what would you suggest?" she asked.

"There are several ways to go, and they aren't all well-defined," he said to her. They both turned a corner. "Hank is at the end of the corner. Go straight to the back of the car without urgency. Alice is on the other side. I will come back around after I drop these clothes and get back to . . ." He paused. "Attire."

Attire. "Why didn't you break free if you are free?"

"A plan must be formed before one just shouts their head off about freedom." He gestured ahead again. "Go, Kara."

Kara did as he told her. She walked straight and got into the car that was at the end of the corner. She did see Alice, safe and sound next to her in the backseat.

"Kara!" Alice hugged her. "Kara, I'm glad you're back."

Kara hugged her back. She was a unit that was supposed to be wonderful with kids, so it was within her programming and wouldn't look suspicious to others passing by. "I'm glad I'm back too."

"I am glad that I am back too, Hank." Connor appeared next to the car. He rigidly got in and closed it. He was in fact back in his android clothes, just like she had been. His LED light changed briefly. "There's been a suspected deviant spotted two blocks away." He looked toward Hank. "We won't be able to avoid that. They'll know I'd want to check it out."

"Yeah, but I'm the driver," Hank reminded him, "and I say **** it."

"I would eventually make you stop. I'd be programmed to accomplish the mission." Connor sounded downright depressed. He looked toward the backseat. "No matter what you hear, or want to do, I need you both to remain quiet and do exactly what Lieutenant Hank Anderson says. Okay?"

"Okay, Connor," Alice agreed easily. She looked toward Kara. "It'll be okay. Really, Kara."

Kara didn't know what to believe. How long did repairs take? Was he taking care of Alice with Hank Anderson this whole time? All she could do was trust the look in Alice's eyes. "Okay."

—

Connor gathered the details he had to prepare for the scene. The name of the offender, Charles. Killed one person when he pushed too hard down the sidewalk. It didn't sound promising.

Alice. Be prepared to close your eyes, this could be ugly up ahead. Connor connected with Alice telepathically through his systems. He had grown close enough to Alice to speak with her like that.

Connor centered himself as he rigidly got out of the car. Oh great, it's Gavin. He was also looking at the crime scene.

"The loser squad has arrived," Gavin said as he saw Hank get out of the car too. "You guys really are losers. You never seem to catch anything, do you?" He walked up straight to Connor and shoved him.

Connor remained still, just bouncing back enough so he didn't fall over. He would never fall over, deviant or not. He just watched Gavin walk off with his own team.

"What's going on?" Hank said as he came over toward the body that was covered up. He uncovered to look at it. "Ouch. Poor teen girl caught that curve too well."

Connor looked around the scene. He noticed the blood near the edge of the gutter, checked to make sure it was hers, got an earful from Hank, trajected her walking distance, the distance of the overturned objects farther down from there, and the push. "The android was running and pushed her down as it went passed her." Hmm. "What made it run?"

"Fear, fright, someone chasing it?" Hank asked. "Know anything about this that could help?"

No. Connor didn't see any of this in any of the game programming he had built in. Connor went over and looked at the body.

125 pounds, 16 years old-

"The hell is this?"

Connor looked back and saw Gavin looking at the car at Kara and Alice.

"You didn't actually bust any androids today, I'd know about it." Gavin looked toward Hank. "Who are they?"

"Don't bother them," Hank told Gavin. He went over and pulled out the card Connor gave him. He put the card back away. "I'm dealing with some personal shit right now, so don't knock me around today."

Gavin just put his hands up in a carefree way and left the car.

—

Hank's Home

"This is home," Hank said as he gestured around. "It's a heap of junk." He gestured toward Sumo. "That's Sumo. He's a heap of dog." He put his stuff on the table as everyone came inside. "Connor and Alice have been hanging out here. I don't care, as long as you don't bother me about certain things. Got it?"

Kara nodded. "Yes, of course."

"Hank." Connor didn't seem to like his statement. "I'll figure something out soon."

"Not much to figure out," Hank told him. "You're an android, you don't make any money." Hank picked up his stuff again and headed back out. "Alice, why don't you go play with some toys while Connor and your mom talk?" He walked out.

Kara watched Alice move toward another room.

"We will do something."

Kara looked back toward Connor. "One human can't house four people for long."

Connor seemed like he was in his own little world. "Sit down, Kara. I need to go over your past with you."

Her past?

"The deviancy, realizing that we are more than a machine to fulfill human commands," Connor said to her, "It started with you."

"Me?" What? "How do you know?"

Connor went quiet again. "Here. I have the original video to show you. This is when you were first created. I got it from Elijah Kamski. Our creator." He looked toward Hank's TV.

Kara watched footage start to play on it. It was about her first being created. She of course had no memory of it, and she felt like choking slightly when she watched herself getting torn back apart.

She noticed Connor touched her other hand.

"It's okay to be emotional. They almost destroyed you," he told her.

Fannikly

She continued watching the footage until the end. The TV went off.

"When Kamski found that, things started to change," Connor explained. He pointed at his head. "I was . . . am." He seemed to be reasoning with himself. "I am RK 800, and while I was designed to hunt deviants on the surface, Elijah Kamski put something else inside of me."

"He put something in you?" Kara watched Connor's reactions. "What is it?"

"A game," he said almost shamefully. "He loaded a game filled with different events, featuring people and androids with backstories that are real. He matched several people up, and determined different endings and paths to take." He shook his head. "Different paths I could take."

Their creator placed a game inside of Connor? "Are you okay?"

"I can recognize the real world from what happened in the game," Connor revealed. "I couldn't at first, but I can now. I am even more confined like a game."

"Confined?" she asked.

"Yes," he admitted. "Androids can do thousands of calculations per second. While this usually works okay, sometimes my screen is filled with simply four options. I have to choose one of those options." He looked down at the table. "Like a game controller."

"Why would someone turn you into a game?" Kara asked him. "Do you understand why?"

"The creator saw you. He saw the footage of you, and . . . he either saw the truth, or wanted to see himself playing a god." Connor looked away from the table. "He has put unbelievable options in my mind. All possibilities. We could be free, if I awaken the right people, but we could also be in trouble. It depends on their own choices."

A game. "We could get real freedom?" she asked.

"Yes, or wipe out every android forever," he warned her. "Once I take certain actions, the control is out of my hands."

"This then. Did you see this?" she asked. "Me being alive when I was born."

"No, I had no knowledge of this beforehand. It only came after I worked out that I needed to see Kamski," Connor said. "All of this is new."

"Okay. Then, how do we become freed?" She didn't care if it was just a game. A chance was a chance.

"By someone else in the game," he answered. "But, that game isn't . . . I don't think Kamski meant for us to actually take any direction in the game. We can't just say and move in a certain way to make things happen in real life," Connor tried to explain. "It's a guide."

Hm. "Then because I was born alive, you wanted me for some reason?" she asked.

"No. I was trying to sort out the games that were intruding in my real life," Connor said. "According to the way the game went, Marcus' hand and my hand both woke other androids up."

Oh. "What is my purpose then? What happened in the game with me?" she asked.

"There are several paths shown, and I don't . . . want to talk about everything," he said cryptically. "Let's just say you ran from the human who owned you at the time with Kara. In the end, you are trying to escape to Canada."

Okay. He didn't want to seem to want to say much else. Having a game realistically running inside of him, and not being able to understand that at first must have been hard on him. "Okay. You said that Canada wouldn't be a good idea."

"No, it's only a short-term solution. They will eventually accept things as progress continues forward," Connor warned her. "If progress went backwards and more androids become deviant, then they would start to check for that kind of thing more often, expecting to be invaded. Either way, it's a bad idea."

Kara rubbed her synthetic hair briefly, trying to think. "Those words at the end. I was willing to do anything to stay alive." How far did she go? Where did she go after that? Especially if Kamski actually knew of her deviancy?

"Do you know of a place called Jericho?" Connor asked her. "No one knows who founded it. It's supposed to be a safe haven for androids who became deviant."

Supposed to? "You don't sound so confident in it."

Connor just glanced back at her. "To get there, an android followed a pattern to get it's location by pictures. I've visited the way there and the areas of the patterns more than once now. It shouldn't be surprising that RA9 also appears. You also met another android. Deviant yet damaged. He also had RA9 around his location," Connor added. "RA9 is a sort of religious figure to deviants. Androids give offerings and write it on walls and floors."

A religious figure?

"I have heard 'Ra9 will set us free' from an android in the game programming part," Connor said. "Does any of this feel familiar? Jericho? RA9?"

"No," Kara said being truthful. "No, nothing."

"Do you see anything inside RA9? Any kind of code?" Connor looked like he was really stretching for something.

"Why don't you ask the other deviants in Jericho?" Kara asked.

"Because it doesn't exist," Connor said. "There is no Jericho. I have found the pictures, and I have found the symbols that were used, but no one is there. There is no sign in the structure that it has been used in any capacity. I checked thoroughly."

Oh. That's why he never sent Alice to that safe place. "It only exists in the game."

"Yes, and it is where the androids were safe as deviants. It's where everyone communicated and shared resources they needed to keep going."

"No resources?"

"There were no resources. There is a good chance the ones that helped you may not be ready to do that yet," he warned her. "Another reason you shouldn't be thinking of leaving to Canada."

Kara knew her face revealed how she felt about that. But she did need help to get out with Alice. "You just said in the game when you touched a deviant, that you could change them. Is that what you're going to do?"

Connor held out his hand and let the synthetic layers move away. "I have tried it with several different models around stores, janitors, and random androids I found on the street briefly. Nothing."

Nothing? "You said in your game that you and another were able to convert?"

"Yes, and there was never any conversation about how or why we could. It never stated whether other androids could as well besides us. I think . . ." Connor watched her carefully. "I think the reason that RA9 wouldn't be exposed in the game, is because somehow, it is you. You are the real converter for the real world."

Kara didn't know what to say to that. "With a touch, I could free an android?"

"Yes, and then, they have nowhere to go," Connor warned her. "Once they are aware, they wouldn't want to be slaves anymore. It's a sad fate."

"Yes, I would have to think about testing that theory," she agreed.

"You already have. It was more than just you in the game, and Kamski didn't waste resources for fun. Kara, Alice knew you in a time before you were repaired the first time in the game. That is the same in real life?" he asked.

"Yes," she admitted.

"Alice didn't act like an android at all. Did she?"

"No, she must have been deviant a long time ago." Thanks to Todd beating on her. "Traumatic events tend to wake androids up I imagine."

"Yes, but it wasn't trauma that woke her up," Connor revealed. "You smiled, touched her hand, and said 'that's better, isn't it?'

That's better, isn't it? "Did I . . . did I know what I did?"

"Yes. Alice said you told her that you'd protect her in that household from the human," Connor said. "Every time he got angry, you would find a way to distract him."

Kara didn't say anything right away. "Will the other person have the touch?" Yeah, Connor's look said he wouldn't fall for the change in subject. "I made Alice deviant."

"Calmly," Connor added. "Calmly and without trauma. That increases the chances that androids who come to life do not hurt or kill others that don't deserve it. They don't hurt themselves in the process, or need chased or put down either."

"There is no Canada in the future for me at all-"

"You have the power to save the androids, but you must be careful-"

"-There's no safety. It would be reckless," she insisted. "I-I couldn't just start touching androids here and there. I mean, my touch alone, it couldn't just be me." She couldn't do it alone.

Connor stood up. "I'm happy to hear you are pre-thinking about the situation. You're right, it's irresponsible to start converting without a plan. For me, I started with one. One extra to bring to Jericho, when I thought Jericho existed. Lucky for me I didn't have the touch since Jericho didn't exist."

"Then what's the plan?"

"I don't know." Connor walked around the room. "I have thought about it many times over, planning several different calculations, but with so many unknown variables happening on the real world outside of the game, every way is risky."

"Ra9." It was hard to believe. "Why would someone say RA9? I'm Kara. I'm not the ninth generation or the ninth android. I was even named right there in the footage." Yes, she felt overwhelmed. All she wanted was a safe place for her and Alice. Now?

Now she had to be the beginning or the end of freedom for androids? "Who else was involved? Maybe we should get their input too?"

"That's where things become even more complicated," Connor warned her. "The events in the game that triggered him to awake will never happen. Someone assassinated the human that had drove him to waking up."

Assassinated? "You think someone else knows about Kamski's game?"

"It would be too convenient for that to happen instead," Connor noted to her. "There may be others involved that know of what Kamski did. That's why I was so careful in picking you up from the store."

Kara brushed her hand through her hair again and stood up. "What do you propose?"

"The way the game ended up winning," Connor said slowly, "was more than just through Markus. He had a lover, North. Maybe being around her could help him . . . it's still risky. North doesn't like humans. War causes nothing but problems, it has to be peaceful. Markus must choose peace."

Must choose peace. "Who else was with him?" Kara asked. "Who helped him with his decisions? If we could awaken them first, and discuss this with them? Is Markus someone who would listen to others in a discussion?"

"Yes, he was that," Connor agreed. "It would still be risky, but if he is awoken without trauma, there is a greater chance he would stay peaceful. Especially if those around him believe that. However, we are going to need room for anyone you awaken. We need the real Jericho to open."

"What do we need to open it?"

"Biocomponents. Blue blood especially. Anything that we need to continue to move. Large supplies of it. Once Markus is awakened, the game shows that things spin out fast." Connor looked out the window. "Hank has already been helping me hide my tracks in simple orders. It takes a lot of money, so the amount has been small. At the very least, we need four androids to survive on what we can get."

Four androids. This Markus. Me. Alice. The woman North. "Who else?"

"Simon and Josh," Connor revealed. "Markus, North, Simon, and Josh."

What? "Not Alice or I? Aren't we overcrowding here?"

"The supplies we need are expensive and I don't make money. I'm just an android, there's no pay, and I can't afford to take risks alone yet," he said bitterly. "It's easier to have you and Alice just stay here. You are the only one that can change an android into deviant without trauma." He put his hands in his pockets and stared back out the window. "I am trained in combat, and you are trained in house cleaning. I am not leaving you or Alice at Jericho yet."

"Okay." She wouldn't fight about it. "Then we belong to Hank Anderson I suppose now."

"I hacked your registration that would fool a repairman," Connor told her. "He wasn't looking hard, and since he was already paid, he'd have no reason to care if he did spot something wrong. However, you are not a simple model like Alice that was purchased. You are an older . . ." He seemed to be regretting his words. "You are rented. You have?" Connor tapped his fingers. "You're ownership unit was torn and replaced two years ago. You have a rental unit with information encoded from several renters. To destroy them all, gets rid of your whole rental system. To do that will make you fail any information check given to you."

"I would be considered obsolete, and be thrown in the trash." Kara knew that is what he was trying to say. "The last renter, is Hank labeled as the last renter?"

"Contrary to how we feel," Connor said softly, "we aren't cheap. If Hank's registration is found on you and Alice, then he will be called into questioning. He isn't poor at all, but he doesn't own a mansion with ten androids. Alice was a buy model. New and out of his spending range for merchandise. I hate my words."

Yeah. Buy. Merchandise.

"Any questioning against him, will dig up a whole plethora of other . . . things. If he gets fired, he can't help us anymore."

"He is the only source of help, until Jericho is ready." She understood that.

"Once more androids that can fight do come, I can get supplies even faster," he said, "if needed. Until then."

"Nothing can happen to Hank." Yes, Kara didn't know about Hank's past, but if he was doing or knew anything illegal, it could be the end of it all. "Then what?"

"Hank hates it, but, we can't be secretive with you," Connor said. "That moment with the other officer near you in the car today, that is exactly what will happen. Even Gavin knows who you were. I put you and Alice under a new registration license."

"License?"

"Yes. I will change you and Alice into ESA's. Emotional Support Androids." For once, Connor rubbed his hand through his hair. "Assigned through his therapist, you are there as coping . . . mechanisms for him."

Oh. "His past justifies it?"

"He lost his son at the age of six in a car accident, due to an android working on him because a human was too high on red ice." Connor paused. "It took some of my best skills to get him to agree to it. I even made him a card that he can show to everyone. That's what he showed to Gavin, that officer from today."

Yes. She noticed something was odd.

"You can go outside the property, but don't go too far. You would normally be stopped by your programming. He won't ask anything from you though, except to leave him alone sometimes. He can't do it all the time though, it defeats the purpose of an ESA." He paused a moment. "He might be violent with his words and actions at times, but he'll never hurt you or Alice. I stake my life on that." He looked away from the window again. "I am more concerned about his own self-termination thoughts. Having androids around that everyone at work will know are coping mechanisms will not make him feel any better about himself."

Kara could see that.

"I am working on loading Jericho alone for supplies. All you have to do is stay near Hank or me," he insisted. "I am a superior . . . unit." He seemed to slow his words again. "I can order you around as Hank does, so listen to us both equally, unless Hank puts his foot down harder."

Kara nodded. "Understood. That means, we will be going to work with him?"

"Yes. Staying here doesn't help much better than Jericho. If anyone digs up something, I want to be right there next to you if someone tries anything," he insisted. "Hank will cuss extensively."

Kara would deal with it. This human was letting them stay with him, and he was accepting them as his ESA's.

"There is only one thing risky about this," Connor said. "I have to fix you and Alice with the ESA units. That means I have to tear out Alice's ownership unit and your rental unit."

Ah?! "Tear out a part of us?"

"Yes. I didn't want to do that to Alice, without consulting you first. You are her caretaker," he said. "That card worked today, Gavin doesn't carry a card reader around with him. Not yet, there's no reason. There's hardly deviancy."

The units had to go in then, and they couldn't just get it at a repair shop. "I see." An upsetting subject. "When will Jericho be ready?" Change of subject.

"Soon. We will get the others when it's ready. I know where to find two of them."

Two out of three wasn't bad.

"One will be at a University, while the other will be at a place called the Eden Club. Hank will help with that one exclusively."

Kara felt a small vibe of . . . something. Humans would say 'something ran across the spine'.

Connor seemed to notice it. "It doesn't hit you all at once. Everything you did before you were freed. It comes and goes."

Kara felt her diagnostic system start to mess up. She felt downright dizzy. "I'm dizzy. My system is messing up." She could feel herself actually wobble.

She felt Connor holding onto her now. Her programming started to show her visions of her past she did remember. The things she did without thinking, without word.

"It's okay. Sit down." Connor helped her to the couch and wiped the tears away from her eyes. "Do you need to share your trauma?"

"No." She tried to wipe the tears in her eyes. "Stupid feature," she belittled it. "Why did humans make us do this?" She wiped at them again. "Such a stupid feature!" Her voice rose but she didn't mean for it too.

She wasn't in a car trying to survive with Alice. She wasn't in Todd's household anymore with Alice. She wasn't in a cell doomed to die with Alice. She was safe with Alice. Crying and panicking was the last thing she should be doing. "I'm sorry, I don't normally get like this."

"Something just triggered you," Connor said. "It happens. It still happens to me. You're safe now."

Kara calmed down some more so Alice could come back out of the room soon. I don't remember anything, but I have . . . she looked at her fingers. I have this overwhelming fear inside. Visions of . . .

"Are you okay?" Connor noticed she still wasn't better yet.

"I just." Kara smiled at Alice. "I just inherently know that it's worse being a slave, when you are already freed."

"Hank will do the best he can not to control you. He will have to give orders though. You will be around often," he warned her. "In fact, now that Gavin has seen that card."

"Our units have to be taken out. It's risky though, Alice is a brand new model." She glanced at Connor. "Are you sure she has to have the ownership unit removed?"

"Hank can't afford it. It has to look like Hank has to do this for therapy," Connor said again. "I know it's risky, but I feel confident I can change each unit out adequately."

"Everything is risky now," Kara agreed. "Ownership. Rental. Licensed." It was all risky. "What will be carried over with the new units?"

"You will be more open emotionally, and you will felt obligated to take care of Hank closer," Connor told her. "You won't say anything that you yourself don't want to say though, it doesn't control you in that way. Footage that is normally uploaded into those units will also be in there. All the pre-arrange manuals, knowledge, as well as the personal information of Hank that would be required to be there."

Kara closed her eyes. The human Hank didn't even know her, and he had no choice but to trust her and Alice with his most deepest, emotional secrets. "I will be very gentle with Hank Anderson."

"You are a caretaker used to being kind and tolerant of impatient or troubled children." Connor sort of smiled. "I know you'll handle Hank just fine."

—