The eyes are the window to the soul. A common phrase to mean that a person's eyes can portray their emotions and even though the person in question could lie their eyes cannot. I was programmed to believe that androids do not have souls. That they do not have emotion and it is just the deviancy tricking them into believing they have feelings, that they are indeed alive. That's what I believed until I met her AX400 #579 102 694 or Kara.
It assaulted a human, Todd Williams, and kidnapped a young girl, Alice Williams. It took the first bus that came along and rode it to the end of the line from Todd Williams' house. We tracked It down to a small part of town called the Camden suburb with limited options and came to the conclusion that It must have been seen by someone. They deployed a small squad of police officers to search around and try to find any leads. The street corner the bus would've dropped it off at is small and desolate. A corner store has footage of it entering but after a few words with the cashier she leaves. There is a motel but it has a 'no android' sign hanging on it and Todd Williams did not report any money missing from his house when It disappeared so it would not have had money to rent a room.
"So what's your conclusion, Sherlock?" Lieutenant Anderson, my partner asks. Looking around, my eyes focus on an abandoned house most likely condemned to be destroyed. Shelter for the young girl and safer than any other options nearby, if It thinks of the girl as its daughter it would choose the house to squat in.
"Maybe it didn't go far," Lieutenant Anderson gives the house a once over and motions for me to go ahead and inspect it further. The house is surrounded by a chain fence with a lock on the gate, still intact. "Is anybody home?" I yell out hoping for the best, after a few seconds with no response I start to walk around the perimeter. My sensors locate a hole cut by wire cutters, inspecting it closer I see blue blood on a sharp edge. "There's blue blood on the fence," I mention to Lieutenant Anderson "I know another android was here,"
I crawl through the hole and make my way to the front of the building. Windows are boarded and bricks seem to be falling apart from age while vines cover the walls, the front of the house has two large windows, boarded up, and a door that doesn't seem to be obstructed at all. One of the windows has a board missing on the bottom center of the frame that I use to look inside. The inside of the house, from what I can scan, is as abandoned as the outside of the house but there is an android standing in the center of what I assume was the living room. The front door isn't locked and the android doesn't stop me from entering.
The android is a WR600 with scarring on the right side of its face, my scan shows it is due to extreme heat making the damage irreversible. It;s occupation was gardener but he was reported missing. "I'm looking for an AX400, have you seen it?"
"Ralph's seen nobody," It doesn't offer anything else, but it does start to fidget in place.
"Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you," It doesn't say anything or stop fidgeting, Its LED shines red. "Are there any other androids here?" It looks up quickly.
"Other androids? No…Ralph is alone." It calls itself Ralph, Deviancy. It's stress is at 56%.
"There's blue blood on the fence. I know another android was here."
"Ralph scratched himself coming through. That's Ralph's blue blood." his stress level doesn't rise so I decide to take a look around. Behind the WR600 is a table with three plates, three chairs and three glasses set up with a burnt animal lying on the corner of the table.
[THE TABLE IS SET FOR THREE PEOPLE]
[ANDROIDS DO NOT EAT]
Glancing over at the WR600 shows his stress level to have risen 8%. There is a fireplace lit in front of the table.
[ANDROIDS DO NOT NEED HEAT]
There's a door as well leading to a kitchen, the kitchen itself is bare save for cracked tiles and an oven on its side. There is writing on the wall and my scanner says RA9 is written 3748 times in various sizes, I'M ALIVE is written right above the oven. No where for anything to hide so no point inspecting further. A staircase is on the wall the WR600 is facing so I decide to check the upstairs. Looking back at the WR600 shows its stress rising exponentially the closer I get the staircase. A few steps up and I can see into the doors open at the top of the second floor. " Is anyone upstairs?"
"No, nobody," its stress level topped off at 80% but lowered 10% when it answered, meaning it's telling the truth, so there must be another reason its stress rose so high. There are some boxes covering it but there is a space underneath the staircase. When I crouch down to get a better look two arms wrap underneath mine and pull me away. "RUN! QUICK! KARA!" at the WR600's shouts the boxes fly from the staircase and two figures run out from underneath, an adult female and a child female running towards the kitchen. The WR600 throws me to the ground and Lieutenant Anderson walks through the door at the noise.
"Connor what's going on?"
"It's here! call it in!" I get up and run to follow the AX400 as Lieutenant Anderson runs out the front door. The outside of the house is void of any androids but the fence is disturbed in the back. I climb through and start to question the officer on the other side. "Which way did it go?"
"That way - they're heading towards the train station!" He points in the direction of the motel, I nod and start to pursue them. I turned the corner and didn't see any trace but the AX series was made to tend to the home and take care of children so it can't be faster than me. Train station is 100 meters away and I make quick work of the distance. There is another uniformed officer that points me down an alley "They're over there!" looking to my left I see the AX400 lifting the girl over the fence, 34 meters away. The girl makes it over and the AX400 follows soon after, the second It hops down from the top of the fence I reach it. It glares at me from the other side, Its blue eyes full of something akin to emotions and I stop in my tracks. Its eyes stare at me through the fence with what I can only describe as fear and determination at the same time. My eyebrows furrow as I try to calculate what I feel as her eyes lock me in place. The only thing breaking me out of it is the sound of an officer running up behind me and unholstering his firearm taking aim at the AX400.
"Don't shoot! we need it alive!" The AX400 turns, grabs the little girl's hand and starts to slide down the steep hill leading to the highway. I watch with bated breath as the AX400 succeeds in guiding the girl through the first couple of lanes before they make it to the center strip. I grab a little higher up the fence and try to pull myself up when Lieutenant Anderson grabs my arm.
" Hey! Where're you goin'?" my eyes don't leave its figure in the distance.
"I can't let them get away."
"They won't! They'll never make it to the other side." he leaves his hand on my arm.
"I can't take that chance." I state and try to climb up again when he grabs me and pulls me back down.
"Hey, you are going to get yourself killed! Do NOT go after 'em, Connor, that's an order!" I should listen to him, an order is an order but something else is telling me to go after it. I shrug off his hand and climb the fence with ease. "Connor, goddamnit!" I use the top of the fence and propel off of it landing into a slide down the hill. Vaulting over the guard a car narrowly misses me, sliding on top of the next one and underneath another I make it to the middle strip with no problem. They are right in front of me when they climb over the guard into another lane of traffic, the AX400 throws the little girl forward as a car clips its back. They both fall forward but the AX400 is quick to pull the girl off the ground and hugs her for a second. I make my way closer to them when It pushes the girl across the last lane. I run and grab the AX400 from behind, It struggles in my grasp and we dance in between the lanes. Seeing a car to my right I make a split second decision, lift her, and race past the incoming car onto the other side of the road. Both of us breath heavily as the car races past us before the AX400 puts its hand on my chest and pushes me away.
As it does so I feel an electric but warm current bolt from its hands into my chest. In an instant my mind is flooded with visions, memories that I don't recognize. I feel fear as Todd Williams stands above me with blue blood covering his hands and chest. I feel love as my gaze fills with images of Alice in different situations. A plate of spaghetti and a pitcher of water enter and leave my hands in quick succession before my ears are surrounded with the shouts from Todd and my heart pumps faster as a reaction without my knowledge. I see Alice run up the stairs of a house I've never been in and Todd shouts at me to stay still but I can't. My body moving before I realize, upstairs I grab a gun from Todd's bedside table and gather alice. We escape out of the house through the window and leave without a second thought.
An alert pops up to my life but I wave it off without giving it a glance. I become hyper aware of my surroundings and my thirium pump beats faster in my chest. I feel tears run down my cheek and the air racing through my artificial lungs. The gridlines that seem to stay in my vision are broken and scattered around and the android in front of me, Kara, is staring at me with her eyes. Somehow a more mesmerizing shade of blue captures my attention as I stare back. She seems just as shocked as I am before her mouth opens and a gentle and equally strong voice cuts through the sounds of speeding cars behind us.
"You saved me," her fascinating eyes get wider but the spell is broken by Alice hugging her midsection, a smaller pair of brown eyes filled to the brim with tears look up at me.
"Please don't hurt her! She was just protecting me," Alice is shaking but remains resolved in protecting Kara. Kara's arms wrap around Alice, her eyes remaining on me.
" I-I don't want to hurt her, I don't understand," I run a diagnostic but everything comes back with no issues. I feel different, My hands feel clammy and my face feels warm despite the fact that androids do not feel temperatures. "Todd was abusing you," I say towards Alice before focusing on Kara again, "both of you. I'm so sorry" the sounds of the highway reach my ears once more. "You could have died, why would you run across a busy highway?"
"I was being chased, you would have caught me if I didn't." she answers back.
"I know, I get that but I f-feel scared or angry. I can't really tell but I'm an android I shouldn't feel anything," Her eyes catch mine again and my breath leaves me. "What did you do to me?"
"I don't know, but don't follow us. I-I have a gun and I-I'll use it." Kara stands up and starts to back up.
"You're leaving?" I can't let her do that, I have to follow her and then what? I can't take her back to the precinct; they will deactivate her. Isn't that a good thing? That's why I was chasing her. Right?
"You expect me to stay and let you kill me? No, I need to protect Alice." She's farther away now.
"Wait please, I don't know what's going on. I won't hurt you, please." her eyes fill with confusion and pity, she feels sorry for me.
"No, we are leaving." She grabs Alice's hand and runs away without looking back. I scramble up and after her ignoring the sounds of Lieutenant Anderson yelling behind me. She runs through the train station into the first set of doors that open up. I push my legs harder but the doors close before I can get there. One more electrifying look of Kara's eyes and the train is gone along with her. I'm frozen in my shoes for who knows how long before I feel a hand grip my shoulder, Lieutenant Anderson's face coming out from behind me.
"Wanna explain what the fuck that was about?" his hand is warm on my shoulder. I can feel the warmth, I've never felt anything like it before.
"Lieutenant, can you keep a secret?"