—

Hank watched Connor leave again.

"He's becoming deviant slowly again," Ken said softly. "Not understanding what I do for Kara's welfare."

"Well, you know, you did leave her in a capsule for a few years." Hank couldn't string out Connor, it was true. "You could have taken her to your home after you officially owned her, instead of continuing to play hide her in the capsule."

"She was the only android alive. There was no such thing as deviancy, and I did take her out when we were together," Ken said. "Just us. Nice office dates."

"If she only got plucked out for office dates, don't you think she'd be doing that, whether she liked you or not?" Hank had to point it out. "She was still appeasing a human when she came out."

Ken didn't get riled up. He didn't even seem to respond. "Maybe, but she was something special. She didn't use that Eden program either, so if she was doing it for freedom, then it was still her choice. Your detective didn't look well with her on that video."

"Nah, I ordered it. I was trying to get you to respond," Hank admitted. He looked toward Alice, keeping her in mind. "Are we done talking yet, Ken?"

Ken shook his head.

"Alice, I gotta go for a little while," Hank said gently. "Won't be gone long." Hank led him away from Alice and to his desk. "Okay, where were we? Oh yeah, that video I made. Connor had to do it because I ordered him, and Kara just sort of dealt with it. Not a big deal. It's clear it's not her first kiss or nothing."

"Androids don't like the human mouth," Ken said out of the blue. "I ran tests before the Eden Club, and I ran tests afterward. After Kara, I wanted to know as much as I could to what makes an android become human. If it was always there. I have to phrase questions to them just right." He pulled out a tablet from his suitcase. "I didn't see it at first, but as I ran it more and more, I found connections to things. Like, colors? That four-choice menu Connor runs," Ken said to Hank. "Kamski got the idea from me. I gave four different answers to choose for colors. I'd mix them up each time, red on the bottom or in the middle or on top. Same shape patterns. They would all answer right away, choosing something at random. No corroboration. So, I put them on a delay where they couldn't answer and gave them an if/or statement when the error showed up. They were forced out of time and made a selection. I started to see that if there was no selection, the default choice always remained about the same, even when the colors were mixed around."

"You got androids to actually tell you their favorite colors?" Hank asked. That was pretty good work.

"More than that. I tested to see if it worked across like just the models too. No, it had nothing to do with the models. They were genuinely giving their answer after the default selection time ran out." Ken showed Hank his tablet. "After that, I used it for more than colors. I was curious. I gave them deeper, more meaningful things to figure out."

Hank stared at the tablet of answers. How crazy. "I knew they could breathe, they got lungs." They didn't feel like they breathed in the same way. Shallower maybe? "They hate pressure on top of pressure? What's that?"

"I had to figure out a way to put it to them," Ken said. "I know androids can't feel physical pain, but I wanted to see if there was any stimulus for emotional pain. I ran that test on every android. Small amounts of damage produced less effects, but bigger ones, like pulling apart the head or losing a limb, it's like they know . . . they are being damaged to try and cause them pain?"

"It hurts to know, that they are being hurt." Not physical, but emotional. Hank looked back at the table. Ken had years of results, just sitting there. He hadn't been kicked his feet back in the Eden Club for years at all. "Pressure on top of pressure plus time." The longer an android wasn't whole, the more they felt emotional pain. "Makes sense. Everyone wants to be normal."

Then, some real interesting ones caught his eye. "You're kidding." He showed it to Ken.

"Yeah," Ken said.

"You're shittin' me?"

"No shit," Ken said again. "Kamski covered all aspects. He wanted his androids to stand the test of time. He wanted them to be so perfect to the human body, that if it didn't know it wasn't android? It would almost swear it had been."

"Is that what this is?" Hank looked at the question again. "Did Kamski answer you about it?"

"He just chuckled."

Hank just stared at the tablet. It asked them if there were features all androids had, that no one knew about? Every single one of them stated yes.

Every single one. Kamski put things into the androids that even the repair machines wouldn't know about. "Made sense, all the repair machines are made by Kamski." Lots of interesting data, but remembering how that whole conversation started, he went further down. "Every android?" He pointed to the table.

"Yeah." Ken seemed to notice the question he fell on too. "Biocomponents. Synthetic. I can't explain it. Humans have been doing this for a long time before Kamski's androids became a real thing. It could be emotional? It could be sensors for pressure that Kamski is hiding. Taking away their will, we aren't allowed to see it. I know it though."

Which is why he was afraid of Connor from day one. "Overreaction. Androids hang out with lots of androids, just like people." Still. "Man, knowing this, I can't let Connor just lick that crap anymore."

"Is everything just going over your head? Is that really the only thing you have to say?" Ken stood up. "Kamski took all the years of refinement, with every single damn detail ever known, he pulled that in with his biocomponents and he did this! He did this. Doesn't some part of you hate him?"

Hank put the tablet down. "I don't know what to say."

"He wanted something to give the appearance of 'being human' to serve us. That's it, that's what he said in all of his videos and media endorsements," Ken ranted, "but it's not! There is no fucking reason he would put all of that into every single one of his androids!"

"Well? This one isn't going off, even in deviants," Hank said as he pointed to the tablet.

"He isn't turning the blockers off until they gain freedom." Ken sat back down. "Do you know why he did all of this?"

No idea. Crazy ass fucker to Hank.

"Pollution. The loss of bees. Humanity. It's at its brink," Ken said. "Kamski believes that at its current capacity level for knowledge, humanity will wipe itself out relatively soon. We'll be a spot on the history map, just like the jurassic era. We'll be the homosapien era."

"Can't argue with that," Hank admitted. Yeah, humans were killing themselves off.

"They aren't just taking servers jobs, they are taking science jobs, and Kamski was really wanting them to take on the leader jobs. To lead us out of destruction. To save this planet. Androids . . . should take over the Earth, and the humans will slowly fade out into extinction over the years, instead of taking everything with us."

"He gave them every step he could." Incredible. Hank suspected, but he never knew. No one would ever guess.

"He kept the blockers off because I told him to. Especially in this kind of unrest between androids and humans? It'd be cruel to turn them on. Imagine if they were on at the recycling center?"

"So, I'm starting to see this relationship between the two of you now." Hank scooted the tablet away. "You found Kara being some test runner. You eventually got Kamski to help you into Eden's Club. You kept being you, kept running tests on androids because of your curiosity. You told Kamski about your discoveries, and well, he didn't have much choice but to start fitting you into his life. Am I right?"

"When he took Kara, I could have blown up his entire secret plans," Ken agreed. "He didn't keep her away for long, helping me to see more from Kara's point of view. I followed them around instead, but Kara was still my girlfriend. Even without a capsule."

"Well, yeah, who doesn't like freedom?" If she just left out Ken at that point, he had so much information to spill out. Did Kara know all this information too? "Did you share all this with Kara too?"

"She was never far from my desk. She knew, and she helped me at times with what to ask," Ken admitted. "I'm not exactly a genius."

"Well, you're a good guy, you just need to show it more," Hank said. "Like not smacking my partner and calling him a fucker, an asshole, or just a machine all the time. Jesus, Ken. You even know this shit."

"He's around her," Ken said, like it justified it.

"Not anymore. Now, he's probably your only fucking chance to find her," Hank warned him. "Start treating him with some respect."

"I know, I know. One day though, Kamski should kick it all on. It would be enough to wake everyone up without the little virus," Ken told Hank. "That's what I believe. He doesn't, he thinks it would just drive them insane. Either belief, we are stuck. We have to create a world where humans and androids can both live together peacefully."

"Or, androids will get wiped out," Hank said.

"Or, humans. It could turn the tide real quick with their intellect. That's not what Kamski wanted either. Androids were made to help, not destroy us."

"Well, I think I'll rest a little harder tonight thanks to having this nightmare fuel. Anything else before you leave?" Hank asked. "If you can't help, you have to go. You and Connor don't get along."

"I want any papers, forms or fees that I can fill out for Alice," Ken said one more time. "Send them to my business address."

"Knowing what you know," Hank said to him. "Knowing everything you know, why the hell do you own Eden's Club?"

"Oh. There's always new stuff to learn, to discover hiding inside of them," Ken said. "I can't get that information randomly from just owning a couple of androids." He got up and left. See you, Hank."

Prick. Asshole. Hank dealt with him to learn what he had. Ken could say what he wanted about Kamski, but just running the Eden's Club still, just to source data?

Useful, yeah, but enough was enough. He should have sold off that place and did something with the androids years ago. Hank left his desk to watch Connor walk back toward the cell. "Anything?"

"Not yet, Hank," Connor said. "You?"

A ton, but he shouldn't tell Connor until he was deviant again. "A new order. Don't just stick stuff into your mouth randomly anymore."

Connor looked confused. "Liquid analysis?"

"If a human wouldn't taste it, don't let me see you put it in your mouth," Hank said. "I've had it up to here with that. It's gross. That's an order."

"That could ruin an investigation, Hank. It's a very useful procedure."

"Unless it has to be done," Hank conceded.

"May I ask why you've put such a strange order on me?" Connor asked.

He used to not ask. You were right, Connor, it's slowly happening. It happened before though too. Twice. Yet, Hank trusted Connor. If Connor said it would break the machine completely?

He had to trust in that. "Nah, you can't. Just don't do it."

"Fine, Hank." A little rougher than Connor probably meant. "You ordered me to dance with Kara. You ordered me to analyze Kara. Now, I can't use one of my most useful abilities because it's gross to you, and it's an order! I'll go try to locate Kara again."

Echo barked at Hank, twice, then followed Connor.

—

Paris

Markus looked toward Simon as they continued to play chess. He could tell that he had to say something. "I know."

"Support is a little over half," Simon said to Markus. "That is the best it's been since things started to go sideways with the humans. Kara's videos have given us the edge."

"I know." Markus made a move, but only on the board. "Check."

"Markus." North was also nearby. "I agree with Simon."

"That's a first." Simon couldn't help himself. "Markus, this is the time to organize. I know some root groups in Detroit. There aren't much, or many in each. They are survivors who became deviant during or after the revolution."

"We've found some luck here too," North told Simon.

"Markus." Carl called over from the TV. "You have to decide things for yourself, but you do have to decide."

All Markus wanted was to live peacefully with Carl for the rest of his days. Carl was home. He couldn't mess up with him. Kara did all of the work to bring the confidence back, and he was supposed to step up and use that? "Kara did all the work. It should include her."

"She doesn't want to be part of it," Simon said. "She is with the Deviant Hunter. The move is up to others."

"You, Markus," North insisted. "You can handle it this time."

Markus just . . . "It feels like retreading broken ground. What if something happens, and we lose humanity's . . ." Faith.

"If. If something happens, someone else will handle it," North said. "Not me, not again."

"Not me," Simon insisted. "I don't make a great leader."

"If I go down . . . Connor should take it over." Yeah, Markus saw everyone's heads turn. "Once he's deviant for good."

"That is really risky, Markus!" North didn't agree.

"Connor is the one that got everything moving. He's got what it takes." They didn't look good at all. "We can measure his capacity and make sure he's not changing back. If I go before then, then someone will have to take over."

"I can't, Markus, I messed the whole thing up before," North said softly. "I was so pathetic, Connor didn't even bother killing me."

"Maybe one of the leaders of the organizations already founded?" Simon suggested. "It would bring us closer together, and the best one would be selected for backup leader."

Yeah, there was a plan. "Okay." Okay.

Okay. Officially? "Do you think Detroit, the androids left in it, would really want me back?"

"Yes! Yes, oh yes," Simon insisted. "Knocking you down because of software problems, didn't change the emotion you installed in them. It was your speeches, the way you spoke to them, that made a difference."

"I said we should have our own state, and we deserved to have our own Cyberlife machines," Markus reminded him. "I thought of what we wanted, but not what we needed in the slimmest way."

"Go for it, Markus," Carl insisted. "Free your people, however you have to."

"Carl." Markus didn't want to leave him again. Whether he went back home to Detroit to organize those groups, or stayed in Paris to find the organizations there? Either way, he couldn't stay with Carl. It'd be too dangerous.

Markus stood up, like he used to, to make a speech to Jericho. It was just to Simon and North, but it felt right. "Detroit is where we started our mark. Detroit is where Kara stayed. Detroit is our birthplace." He put his fist into the air. The fist was the sign he once used.

Simon and North followed his lead, pushing their fists in the air.

"We are with you, Markus," North insisted. "All the way."

—

To Kara

She went from a small forest, to a place that made it much clearer where she had been. She had continually walked until she found something real.

Cherokee Seneca. Why in the world am I near a suburb in Kentucky? She leaned against a wall, hiding in the darkness. Connor didn't like to sleep, but picking such a late time to connect? He probably wasn't there.

Still. Someone out there held her in storage, and she didn't know who. It was worth checking.

—

Kara's Dreamscape

When she appeared, she heard a familiar bark before the meow. Echo? "Connor?" She turned around. He was heading down the bridge to her. "I'm in a suburb near Louisville, Kentucky called Cherokee Seneca."

"Great news. Did anyone follow you?" He asked.

"I don't think so. I don't know who put me in that place," she admitted. "They will probably start looking for me."

"Hank and I will be coming for you. I need your new serial number."

Kara gave him her number. "I tried to figure out something earlier. I analyzed a tree. I didn't know what to do with the information."

"Sometimes, it's just information," Connor added. "Other times, it's really important, but Hank just banned me from using it myself."

Banned? "Why?"

"It's gross to him." Connor sounded indignant. "Unless I only analyze things a human would want to taste, then I can't analyze it."

Oh. Ken must have talked to him. "Do you have any idea who would stuff me in Kentucky?"

"You scanned the biocomponent boxes?"

"Yes."

"Scan the dates they were bought."

Kara checked the dates. "All of them are in 2026-2027." Did he have an idea?

"No one keeps old parts inside of a shed," Connor said. "They must have been the newest thing. Someone locked you up, that had you as something precious, as well as the latest biocomponents in 2027 and never came back for you."

"It's 2038, Connor." What he said didn't make much sense. "I wasn't born until 2032. No one would have me in 2027."

"True, the dates don't line up at all. I don't know why I recommended that. You were stored in an old storage container with several out-of-date parts. Why would you be stored with older parts? Were they collector parts?"

Kara scanned what she had picked up from them again. "Just ordinary parts, and the models are still used today." Kara felt nervous though. "Connor. I can't navigate both worlds. I need to return for a moment."

Connor nodded.

Kara checked around herself well. Rechecking her corner and for anyone around her area. Nothing. She went back in quickly. "I'm still safe."

"Are you?" Connor looked serious. "I would put you nowhere near the realm of safe. Someone out there stole your extra body, forced you into coming into it, and they are probably looking for you! You are not safe at all."

Geez, it was like Connor was mad at her. His emotions were running high.

"Kara. I hate to say it, but I have to." Connor looked like he was fighting against what he just said. "I need you to be as machine as possible right now. Cross out of this area, don't stay. I will find you with Hank when we get close to there. Don't stand around, just move."

Hm? "Do you know who took me?"

"I did a cross reference of your information and this place. Ed Peppers lives here."

Ed Peppers? "Who's Ed Peppers?"

Connor just looked at her like she was an idiot. "If you hate the Eden Club programs you had installed, I'm sure you don't want to stick around to the past owner before Ken!"

Ed Peppers owned Eden Club?

"Run!" Connor commanded. "I'll come back in three hours. Don't stop. Don't do that tired thing and rent a hotel, just walk, just get out. I will head your way and we will get you."

No stopping. Constant pace. Anything. Anything to not go back to the capsules. "I don't want to go back to the capsules. I can't go back to the capsules." She could feel herself crying. "I hate the capsules."

"I can't comfort you." Connor definitely did not sound like a machine. "I can't touch you. I can't install anything to you, I can't do anything. I'm not there." Connor stomped his foot. "Run. Just, run. Now. Now!"

Kara nodded and left her space.

—

Police Department

Connor went back toward Alice again. "Alice? I have to leave with Hank, but we are going to get Kara." Alice ran toward him and gave him a hug. "I have to take Echo. He's an important tie to Kara."

"I know. I understand. I'll be brave if it means I can get Kara back." She gave him a deeper hug. "Please get her back. I know she must be all alone and scared too."

"Oh, little misfit. She'll be okay, we just need to get to her. Keep your errors in check. I mean it, there better not be any damage from you," Connor warned her. "Be good, okay?"

Connor left the police department with Echo. It was a tighter squeeze, but he still got Echo onto his little Cyberlife shuttle.

Damn it. "Now is not the time for this." There were rumors that Markus, the unknown prototype that made that speech at Channel 16 News might be returning. "They might be true," he said to Echo. "Someone leaked all our information and tests on Kara." Leaked it straight to the public! Neither he nor Hank told her how far everyone had seen.

It was so fast, less than a day and the world had already hacked into her private Eden Club videos. It caused a huge reaction, and it seemed to still be the latest thing on news stations.

But. That isn't what kept bugging his program. He didn't care how the public was reacting to it. Those were her videos. She did not appreciate those states. Those were not her states. They were programs, but they weren't her original programs. They were not her!

She had apologized so much, not knowing what had happened. No memory of it, just standing there, being an instrument to that program. Connor believed it was right to follow programming, it caused less deviancy and better care for humans.

But with her? She just broke all the rules. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he just couldn't . . . "We've got to get the first flight out, Echo, we have to get her now." Echo barked. "That isn't where she belongs. She belongs in Detroit, in her cell with Alice."

When he arrived at Hank's house, he didn't even get to bark at the door. Echo was using his echo location at the front door over and over.

"Connor? What the fuck?" Hank complained as he rubbed his face. "It's 3:00 in the morning."

"I found Kara, we need to go to Cherokee Seneca in Kentucky."

Hank just had a weird look. "Great, that's about five hours away by car at least. First thing tomorrow, we'll get a flight and we can go pick her up."

"No, we can't wait, Ed Peppers lives there!" Connor said firmly. "He was in charge of her Eden Club programming. We have to go drive there now." He expected Hank to be more willing to go now.

"It's just programming, Connor. Isn't it? We can get her tomorrow."

Hank. Damn it, not this weird stuff from him again. "It's not her preferred programming. We need to get to her so we can get her back."

"For the mission?"

"Of course for the mission, Hank!"

"Or because you maybe care a little more than you should about her well being with that creep?"

Connor didn't know how to answer that. "Please, Hank. I just want- I just think- it's a smart idea to get her right away for the best success. I? I know it's a long trip. I'm sorry. If we want to get her successfully, we must get her now."

Hank caved in. "Alright, Connor. I gotta get dressed and we'll get her."

Connor examined him. "I will have to get us a bigger bus."

"Nah, I just look like shit because of the time. I knew you'd find her. I knew to be ready when you did." He knocked him playfully on the shoulder. "I can't have Black Lamb until you get yours back."

—