—
Inside Kara's Dreamspace
Wallet leaped down from Connor's arm and started to paw at the dirt. "Worked perfectly." He looked at Kara who couldn't move. Her model wasn't able to be in two places at once.
Then, Connor saw Echo start running around and around. "I didn't bring you in."
"You know Echo, has to follow everywhere," Kara said, while standing perfectly still. "What are you doing?"
"We are in your memory area," Connor said, "and if others are right and there is another body waiting for you, there is probably a trace of it somewhere near here. Some kind of transfer mechanism. I was never able to find mine, but pet androids are different."
"You think they can find it?" Kara asked. "If they even find the serial number, that would be a big help."
"Hey, Loverboy! Knock it off and come out here, someone wants to talk to you."
—
Connor let go of Kara's mouth and responded to Hank. "It's Connor, Hank, not Loverboy." He followed Hank out of the interrogation room.
Hm. This guy again. "Ken Dulith." His strange superior menu popped up.
-Fight the human
-Fight the human
-Tell him you kissed Kara twice for a long time.
-Fight the human
Why in the world was 'fight the human' on his superior menu three times? "Greetings, Ken. I am Detective Connor."
"You kill Kara, and I will kill you!" Ken threatened him.
"You shouldn't threaten the police," Connor corrected him. "I kissed Kara twice for a long time." He couldn't help it, it was in his menu, and he couldn't select any other choice. It was against his programming. "I analyzed her. I was helping her. With. The cat."
"Don't even fucking joke you stupid ass!" Ken grabbed Connor.
Once again, Connor couldn't make a move. Against his programming.
"Not that kind of cat," Hank said to Ken, "an actual cat. He was analyzing to bring in a cat to help. Don't know how, but that's what he meant."
Ken let him go. "Where is Kara?"
"I left her in the interrogation room with our pets," Connor said. Once again, he couldn't select to fight.
"I want Kara back," Ken demanded. "Now." He made to grab Connor again.
This time, Connor stopped him. He had Ken on the floor, with only minor pain as he held him. "I'm sorry, Ken, but that is against Cyberlife orders."
"Yeah." Hank bent down slightly toward Ken. "That's the thing. Connor can bend his protocol when something gets in his way that Cyberlife wants."
"Damn it, Hank, you are the one that made me come down here," Ken complained to him.
"Hey, I gave you the video to catch your attention," Hank corrected him. "I didn't say get over here, take Kara, and piss Connor off. But you know, now that you did threaten to break his Cyberlife order, your safety is off the table. So let's talk extra bodies?"
"I don't have anymore, number nine is the last one," Ken said to Hank.
"The story part is what is causing a bunch of androids to go looney," Hank said to him. "If you got a spare, remove the story function when she goes in, and we have no more problem."
"I don't have another one," Ken said again. "Call off your toy soldier."
"Hank, what are you doing?!"
Oof. Of course it wouldn't take the captain very long to get there. "Hello, Chief."
"Get him off the ground and stand him up!" Fowler ordered. "Go discuss things in a private setting, not in the middle of the department."
Connor picked him back up and stood him back up. "The human can still walk, he was undamaged. Let's go to interrogation room two." Kara was in room one, and he didn't want him near Kara.
Interrogation Room Two
"Christ, Ken, just tell me, or Kara is going to be terminated," Hank said clearly to Ken.
"That's why I want her back," Ken said back to him. "Why do you think I even allowed that asshole machine to be near her? For fun? If I had another one to pull her out of this crappy situation, I would have saved her a long time ago! Alice, her and I would have been a happy family."
A happy family? "Why would Kara and Alice be considered family, when they are both androids, and belong to Kamski?"
"Shit for brains," Ken said angrily. "Kara is mine. I lent her to Kamski, but her heart is mine. I'll adopt Alice as mine since Kara wants her."
Her heart? "She needs her thirium pump to live. Stay activated," he corrected himself.
"No." Ken got up close to him. "It's slang for love. Aren't you supposed to be the best at human adaptability? I love her. She loves me. And you better keep your hands off of her, I don't want to see you treat her that way again!" He turned to Hank. "Give her back to me. I'll take her so far away that there will be no deviants affected by her anymore."
"Well, if it's far enough that her signal can't reach. Another country maybe," Hank reckoned. "How far we talking?"
"You can't love her, she is an android," Connor said to Ken. "She can't feel love, it's just an error in her software."
"I love the error in her software," Ken said to him. "I'd do anything to keep that error in her software for me."
"You don't love here either, it's an error in your own software," Connor said to him. "No one puts someone they love in a capsule."
"She was there for her own safety, and no one was able to get her out," he said to Connor. "She was safe. No one could run any of those Eden programs since they couldn't get to her."
Hm? "Is that how you kept her out of the way until you could buy her? You kept sabotaging everything?" Connor asked. "She wouldn't see that as a bad thing, but it also binded her inside. She doesn't like the capsules."
"World isn't perfect, but I can keep her and Alice safe. Hank?" Ken asked. "If there is a signal that is causing the distress that Kara wants to stop, you will kill her. She doesn't want to hurt, she wants to help. Her plan is destroyed, Kamski has the last of what can help. Let me have her back."
Ken was closer to Kara than Connor thought. That explained why he was so much rougher on him. "I kissed Kara twice, you are afraid her error will change for how she reacts with you. That she might prefer her error with another android."
"Boy, Connor, you aren't even listening to the current conversation, are you?" Hank complained. "If she's far away, no more signal, no termination needed. I'm going to call up Kamski."
Ken just glared at Connor. "Say goodbye."
"Goodbye," Connor said to him.
"Not to me," Ken corrected him.
—
Interrogation Room One
Kara waited patiently behind the table. She wasn't happy though. She did all of this, and Connor and Hank just left her behind. She even danced and endured kissing Connor, for what?
Stuck in a stupid room. Her only company was Wallet who was sleeping in her arms now, but awake in her dreamscape.
Echo had left it. He was barking at the door, like that would make it open. "Echo, it's not going to-" She felt a freeze on her system. What's happening? She couldn't speak outside of herself anymore. Connor!
—-
Connor!
Connor heard Kara's voice while Hank was calling Kamski. "I have to go." Connor left the room and went to interrogation room one.
He immediately moved through the door. "Kara?" She was on the ground, unresponsive. Echo started to bark at him. Hank, sorry for interrupting your phone call, Kara is deactivated.
She was just there. Eyes open. No signals detected. He winced slightly. It was sad that Kara stopped functioning.
"Kara!" Ken came in right after Hank. "Kara, Kara!"
Ken was very agitated. "Hank, I don't think he has an extra body." Ken was sobbing over Kara's body.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you are right. Like always," Hank said to him. He put his hands in his pockets and sighed.
Kara. "This is a real shit show," Connor said, noting all the features that made it a good comparison.
"Yep," Hank agreed. "Sorry, Ken."
"The fuck happened?!" Ken tried to touch Hank, but Connor kept him at bay. A civilian shouldn't touch a cop. "You did something, didn't you deviant hunter? Just couldn't wait a whole week, just had to accomplish your stupid mission!"
Ken cradled Kara next to him. "I'm taking her with me. You don't need her anymore. I'll take Alice too."
No. "Kara said if she were terminated, she wanted Hank to have Alice."
"Not possible legally, and not for you either," Hank pointed out. "She isn't part of the investigations anymore. Kamski will have to take her."
"I'll get her from him later." Ken got up, trying to hold Kara.
"The body will have to be cleared before you can have it," Connor said, preventing him from taking it. He wanted to check it. Maybe Ken didn't have another body, but there was still a tenth out there.
A trace, somewhere, about where she went? It was like someone forced her out, she had no problems beforehand. Hank had to deal with Ken's bickering about the body while Connor was trying to analyze her again.
"I am going to fucking kill him, she's not even alive anymore and he's fucking kissing her!"
"It's analyzation, she's not even alive anymore! Damn it, Ken, kissing isn't nothing to androids anyhow, knock it off! Come on!"
Some more cops came to help Hank out with Ken while Connor tried to find the answer.
Echo barked. Connor looked toward him, but noticed Wallet was still sleeping. Connor let go of her and inspected Wallet.
—
Somewhere Unknown
Kara tried to scoot around. One minute she was watching Echo bark, and the next minute, she found herself leaning on a bunch of objects in the dark. She reached out in front. Cold metal. She tried pushing it up, but it was heavy. Locked. It was locked from the outside but she could sense the code.
Where was she? She closed her eyes.
—
Kara's Dreamspace
Kara wanted to relax for just a little while, lower her stress over what happened. She didn't plan on seeing Wallet in there.
Wallet meowed on the ground, touching her foot. She picked him up and started to walk around. "Oh, Wallet. Did you transfer with me?" Oh no. "I'm so sorry." Wallet lost his android body, all that was left was what was in her dreamspace.
Then, she heard a bark. An echo bark. "Echo?" Echo wasn't with her when she transferred. She watched Echo bounding toward her.
"Kara!"
Impossible! "Connor!" Kara ran toward the center of the bridge where Connor had been. "How?"
"Wallet was still in you when someone transferred you," Connor said. "You must have had another body, but it's not with Ken. You have a serious error in you if you believe you love Ken."
Kara patted Echo as he came back toward her. "Wallet's trapped here. How did you get here?"
"Pet androids have different features, remember?" Connor reminded her. "Wallet was able to survive the transfer. His body is still activated, just in a resting state. Echo has grown close enough to Wallet, he has him registered as family. Apparently, that means he could find Wallet's memory, though it is disconnected from his body."
Wow. "Connected through minds, instead of bodies." Maybe that was why animal androids changed so fluently with her.
"Where are you?" Connor asked.
"Uh? I found myself on top of things in the dark. There's a big metal side door. There's a lock on the outside," she said.
"Trace the system used," Connor said.
—
Somewhere Dark
Kara traced what she could of the system to find the name.
—-
Kara's Dreamscape
"It's a system called Coda x5." That didn't help though. "I can't hack that."
"I can, but I can't help you. I can't download to you, I'm not even really here. You're more of a . . ." Kara watched Connor flicker slightly.
"Static. Bad connection, but a connection. A connection through a connection."
"Echo is connected to Wallet, and you are seeing through Echo."
Oh. "You've done this before, you are just taking over Echo's connections." That meant he couldn't indefinitely help.
"Yes, I can't do much," Connor said, "but you're fine. Hack into the web and find the code."
Hack for the code? "That's dangerous. It could give me a virus."
"Kara? Now is not the time for being a misfit," Connor said firmly. "You must be a machine, now. Don't fear, fear is not real. You will not be hacked, androids hack. I know you must have hacked something."
Hm. Todd's credit was terrible, so she had to hack stores to get parts for appliances that broke down all the time.
"If you don't chance it, then something worse is coming for you. Someone has you that is neither Kamski nor Ken. Get the code, hack the lock, and get out."
Kara hated the idea. Hacking stores for her was one thing. Connor was telling her to go out to unsafe sites, to find the answer. Last chance. I don't get a choice.
She took the plunge. Trying not to think, just to get it done. She heard the lock open. She moved the metal door up and looked outward.
It was some kind of storage area. There was nothing really around, just a dirt road in front of her along with two other storage areas.
—-
Kara's Dreamscape
"I'm in a storage area," she told Connor. "There's nothing standing out to me. There's nothing but a dirt road and two other storage areas."
"Any sounds?"
"No."
"Good. Scan anything around you, including other objects in storage."
Kara couldn't though. She couldn't go on. "I still have stories. I'm still a danger."
"You have a smart android cat stuck in your system," Connor told her. "I bet Wallet would want to change them. Pets are capable of amazing things with their unique systems, don't underestimate his meows."
Kara checked her stories. "Once upon a time there was a meow. The meow had a meow in it's meow?" She looked at Wallet.
He meowed.
"He errored them to fix the danger in your error, your safe to other androids now," Connor insisted. "Look around at the stuff that was near you in the dark. Move if you start hearing something."
—
Police Station
Echo barked toward the door as Hank came back in.
"What are you doing with Kara's body, Connor?" Hank had to ask. He was holding her arm and trying to hold onto Echo. Holding on gave him a little more control to reach Kara.
"Kara isn't dead, she just transferred bodies. Wallet is with her, he's in rest mode. Echo senses her, and I'm trying to use his senses to get her back to the police department for us."
"No shit, so where is she?" Hank asked.
"I don't know, but I'm guessing her inferior intellect won't get past the words 'dirt and dark'." Connor slammed his hand on his knee as he got up. "This is a crisis, I can only give advice, and I can't right now, Echo won't let me use him 24/7."
"So she's out there somewhere, on her own." Hank didn't like it either. "How do we get Echo to let you take charge again?"
"We have to make him happy," Connor said. "The less his programming needs to do, the better he will participate." Connor knew all his needs. "He wants to pee, he wants to play with Alice, he wants to lick the ground in the cell for two minutes straight, lick me, and lick you."
"Yeah, that sounds like a dog list alright. Okay. Meanwhile, we have to tell Ken that Kara's alive," Hank said, "and Kamski. Maybe they know this mysterious third person who had the tenth body? Make the dog happy and keep trying to reach her again, Connor.
—-
Kara's Dreamscape
"Only biocomponents," Kara said. "Nothing identifiable, they are still in their boxes."
No one was there though except Wallet. She knew that would be coming. Connor already lost the connection.
—
Somewhere Dark
Kara looked at the dirt. There was nothing being detected by her soil analysis. No one had been out there in some time. "Okay. Think, Kara." Connor was right, she needed to think more logically to get out of this one.
All she had found in that area were boxes of biocomponents that weren't even compatible to her. Drives. Arms. Legs. All round, the same thing.
Whoever would be coming for her, would come soon. No choice. She had to start moving to get away. She started to move behind the storage area.
No Alice. No Kamski. No Ken. No Connor.
She had no aid and no company. It was just her, and a cat who had been errored into her system. "Where do I go from here?"
Maybe, she should try analyzing more than just for footprints. Where in America had she been? Dirt, dirt. She looked up states, their official soils, and ran what she could see.
Somewhere in or near Kentucky? While she continued to walk, she went ahead and looked at her progress. Did she make any progress at all at changing people's minds?
First, she checked rumored sites. Official sites. Brand sites.
Kamski had been thorough, no wonder there were always protestors. Everything was out there, from the tests recorded as a messed-up machine, to . . .
There was no reason to run those installs, they had 72 of her visits. There was protesting, groups being created on both sides, and . . . it looked like the message came across the way she wanted it to.
Except, Connor was definitely right, as much as she hated to say it. Statistically, she had about 30% of the public trust. (human and android together with android making 25%). There was a lot to account for after North's actions in the failed revolution.
Each day Kara was in there, the numbers crept up. When she was taken, public interest went higher than public trust. When Connor took her, public interest was significantly higher.
But Kamski had spilled . . . her Eden content. Some of it. Her worst memories didn't end up in there, thank goodness Connor wasn't just a machine when he handed them over.
The department kept having to issue warnings out to people who were trying to access and download their private information and sharing it publicly. They had no idea it was secretly Kamski himself doing the revealing.
She had achieved 54% of the public's trust and 82% of celebrity media circuits.
Even if people didn't agree, she was still in their line of sight, not to be forgotten. Now was the perfect time for Markus to come back out, if he would.
"My job is done." She smiled briefly. She did it. She did exactly what she set out to do. She couldn't do anymore. "RA9 did everything that she could to set everyone free."
It wasn't perfect. It wasn't heroic. It was embarrassing and shameful, but it was done. She could blink out of the public eye's existence again.
Kara would like that. She didn't like being in the spotlight in the first place, and knowing all those terrible fighting videos were out there for just anyone to see? She'd rather just scamper into the darkness of the woods at night.
Which was good because that was exactly what she was doing. I took care of the world and androids. Now, I've got to take care of myself. I do not want to end up in a capsule again! I'm somewhere near Kentucky, how does that help me figure out anything? She looked at the trees. She had no data to analyze trees, Connor just gave her- hang on.
"I am not going to like this." It wouldn't be the weirdest thing she'd put in her mouth. Her filter had been unblocked by Kamski for this when they were traveling. He left some of the blocks on, and he left some of the blocks off. Since they were traveling, he wanted her to appear more human. Still, he wasn't stupid. He didn't set them all off.
She touched some of the tree and analyzed it. "Blah! Perky." Sugar maple. "Connor would have already known what to do with all this information." Numbers, liters, she could look up everything about the soil and sugar maples, but she didn't see how it would help her.
Keep moving.
—
Police Department
"Echo, I don't want to play anymore, Boy, I want you to help Connor," Alice tried to convince him as she patted his head.
He licked Alice.
"He licked you, he licked me, he licked Alice, he licked his own ass, what more does he want?" Hank complained.
"Alice," Connor said to her. "Echo wants to play a little bit more. Toss something for him to fetch a couple of times. Then he just has to lick the floor for a couple of minutes and I should be able to connect with Kara again."
Alice appeared upset, but tossed a pillow a couple of times. Then Echo licked the floor for about two minutes. He scratched his ears and went over toward Connor.
Finally. "Now we can proceed to help Kara."
—
Kara's Dreamscape
Echo took off down the bridge, but Connor already looked fully around. Kara wasn't there. He waited a few minutes longer with Echo
—-
Police Department
"Kara isn't there," Connor told Hank. "She won't always be there."
"Damn," Hank muttered. "At least she's not dead, and she's out of that shed area. I hope she's okay."
"What if Kara isn't okay?" Alice asked. "I want to see Kara."
"You can't control Echo, you can't see her," Connor told her. "You will have to wait on information from me to find out about Kara."
"I don't want to be here alone." Alice sat down. "I'm always with Kara. It's better with Kara."
Oh, Alice's error too. "You are better with or without someone," Connor told her. "You feel no pain like a human, and you don't have anyone here damaging you. Which, is about the only thing you should worry about. No, it's not." He shook his head. "Damage can be fixed. Repaired. Replaced. No one is causing you damage."
"You'll be okay, you're safe here in the cell like last time," Hank said instead. "You've got Echo with you, and I'll visit from time to time."
"I hated when Kara disappeared last time, she was gone for so long. Then, when she came back, Connor took her away again and left me with Kamski." Alice hugged herself.
"I can take you home."
Connor glared at Ken. "You did not need to follow us over here. Kara isn't here, her body is in the interrogation room."
"Kara isn't there, Hank already told me." Ken surprisingly didn't cuss in front of Connor. "Someone new has Kara. She is nowhere near here, and I need to figure out who stole the tenth body." He closed his eyes. "Thank goodness she's alive." He reached out his hand toward Alice. "Do you remember me? I'm Ken."
"Little problem there, Ken," Hank reminded him. "Civilians can't have androids anymore."
"I don't know him." Alice moved closer to Connor. "I don't want to go with him, I don't know him that well, Connor."
Right. Ken wasn't her proper owner. "Alice has to stay here, it's the only authorized spot." Ugh. Ken. Connor felt Alice tugging on his uniform.
"Connor, I'd rather stay with you if I can't stay with Kara. Don't leave me with him?" Alice asked.
Kara wouldn't want her alone. "Even if -though!- androids didn't have emotions," Connor flummoxed, "she's a misfit and letting that error of loneliness or fear invade could turn her deviant. I will continue to stay with her when I can, and at night."
"Hank. Figure out what papers I need to sign," Ken requested to Hank. "The fees associated with it. If I'm lucky enough to get Kara back, I have to have her daughter. If I'm not lucky enough, then I know she'd want Alice protected."
"Okay, I'll drop any news or forms off to you," Hank agreed.
With Ken? "I have doubts on the amount of protection the human could provide. Also, Alice's misfit errors don't deem him the right one to watch her, and ignoring that, could cause her to become deviant later."
Hank just glanced at him. "If Alice is just a machine, Connor, why's she need protection?"
Connor actually had to take a couple of seconds to answer that. "We protect Kara and Alice, that was the original mission."
"Kara isn't here. She's the one that mattered," Hank said to Connor. "Mission's basically over."
"The mission is not over," Connor said defiantly. "Kara will be back. I am going to find her and bring her back."
"She's probably nowhere near Detroit," Hank told him.
"I don't care if she went into another country, I will go get her and bring her back! I never fail my missions!"
"Well, excuse me, Mister Authority. Don't have to yell like a lunatic." Strangely, Hank looked happy. "Yeah, it's our mission. We'll figure it out, and we'll take care of Alice until Kara gets back." Hank looked at Ken. "Sorry. It's probably better this way."
"Papers. A fee. You aren't going to even look into it because a machine told you no?" Ken looked like he was ready to fight Connor.
Connor didn't care. "I will go and see if Kara is back yet. I need to get any new information she obtained." There had to be a way to find her location.