̷E̷I̷G̷H̷T

Connor was waiting outside of the police station when Elodie exited the automated car. It looked exactly as it had the previous day, almost like the whole evening had been a dream. She greeted it with a soft nod and a tight smile. It fell in line with her as she walked towards the entrance of the police station.

"Good morning Miss Kamski. You're late but so is the lieutenant. I've done the liberty of asking around at the station in both of your absence. It is a regular occurrence for Hank Anderson to arrive past his assigned start-time. Should I add to your profile that you also lack time management skills?"

"That won't be necessary. I was just getting something done for a friend. I'm usually very good with keeping time," Elodie mumbled, "this at least gives us an opportunity to run a diagnostic. I need to assess any structural changes after you were, um, decommissioned last night."

"Not a problem. I have retained most of my memories, including some of the information I collected on you. I can inform you of my findings if you would like."

"I think just hold off for the time being. At least until we find somewhere alone. I don't really want you to bark out my private information for anyone to overhear."

She had one person in mind — Gavin Reed. Another run in with the man was not something she wanted to field. Connor nodded in response.

"Noted. You appreciate privacy! I will be sure to add that to my list."

Elodie made her request at the front desk and was supplied with an unused interrogation room. It was small and cramped, with only a tiny table in the centre and two metal folding chairs. The lights from above were too bright, and as Elodie placed her satchel down, she found herself squinting painfully. Connor watched her in silence, raising an eyebrow.

"Is something wrong, Miss Kamski?"

"Elodie is fine. Name wise, I mean," she replied, "I just get headaches sometimes. If things are too well lit."

"I confess, I doubt this interrogation room has dimming capabilities. The room is designed to place its occupants in a heightened state of stress."

"Well, it's certainly working," she remarked. From inside her bag, she produced a thin laptop and a thick dark piece of cord. She plugged one end into the side of the laptop, gesturing with the other to the side of Connor's head. "Would you?"

Connor obliged, reaching up to the place behind it's ear, revealing a small port. Elodie nodded and took a step towards the android and slotting the cord in place. Pursing her lips, she took a step back and seated herself across from him, beginning to tap at the keyboard.

A loading screen appeared as the tablet began to run its diagnostics program. She propped her elbows on top of the table, placing her chin in her hands. She closed her eyes, just for a beat, in an effort to slow the dull ache beginning to build behind her temple.

"You suffer from light sensitivity."

"More like life sensitivity." Elodie hadn't realised she'd made the remark out loud until she met Connor's quizzical stare. Hurriedly she cleared her throat. "But yes, light. Sound. Smell. Everything."

Connor was silent for a moment, but she heard it shift in it's chair. When she opened her eyes, Connor was leaning forward across the table with a curious stare. She flinched, recoiling.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm simply running your vitals." Connor replied as though this were the most natural thing in the world. "Your heart rate is quite elevated. Are you stressed at all?"

"Yes, you could say that." Elodie muttered. "Quite stressed."

"May I check your blood pressure?"

"I don't think that's necessary.

"Would you like me to book a doctor's appointment at a local clinic for your issues with sensory processing?"

"It's fine. I know the reason already. It's very much something that's permanent." Realising her tone had been harsh, she made the effort to soften it before continuing. "Thank you for the offer."

"Are you averse to treatment?"

She wondered if Connor was trying to make small talk, a novel concept with the circumstances considered. There seemed nothing more intimate than watching someone die, she thought such an event would have bypassed the normal pleasantries. Elodie sighed wearily, propping her glasses up the bridge of her nose just enough to swipe the back of her hand against her eyelids.

"Yes. I don't like feeling out of control of my body, and that's how doctors make me feel. I was ... I was in an accident, not too long ago. I found the whole ordeal hellish. All the tests and the monitoring. I recovered quickly, at least in some ways. The ways that I didn't, I just keep myself. It's easier that way. I don't want to risk going through all of that again."

It wasn't just the honesty in her own words that perturbed her, but the realisation they brought. She delivered them rote, moving through the motions without any specific memory attached. It felt like a fact that she had been through these things in the aftermath of her accident, but probing for the images themselves, of white coats and needles and the beep of monitors delivered nothing but a void. Her mind fed a script while denying her the visceral reality.

Elodie felt a chill run down her spine. Had it been so traumatic that she had blocked everything out? Or was it part of an undeniable certainty? Elodie's memory was not simply degraded but barren. She was running from the rolling dark of a starless night as it snuffed all that lay in its path. It was only in these moments of quiet that her existential dread knocked. Forgetting her work was embarrassment: forgetting her life was madness.

She was summoned from her thoughts with the sound of metal singing through the air. Elodie's eyes snapped to attention, just as the silver coin Connor was flipping landed neatly in the android's palm. It stopped when it realised she was watching, a small smile crossing it's lips. Elodie did not return it, her own mouth drawn slack.

"I noticed you were deep in thought and didn't want to disturb. I thought maybe you were processing the event in your head. It sounds like you've been through something very traumatic."

Elodie wasn't listening. Her eyes were on the coin. Without thinking, she reached across the table and plucked it from Connor's hand. She held the quarter between her fingers, spying the silhouette of George Washington. Liberty, In God We Trust, 1994. All details that she had known without even needing to read, she realised with a jolt.

She dropped it back in Connor's palm and leaned back. Shouldn't think too deeply about that, she told herself hurriedly, it's mundane. Something she'd known intrinsically, through simple osmosis. Its familiarity wasn't worth note. Her laptop beeped for attention, a small relief.

"Diagnostic's finished." Elodie murmured, turning to her screen. 

Connor's unblinking gaze followed her as she began to swipe through menus. She did her best to put it to the back of her mind, a low breath whistling from her puckered lips. On first initial inspection, everything was in order. This was to be expected. Connor's likeness had been uploaded to Cyberlife and dispatched in a different model, factory fresh. However as Elodie opened up his code file, she frowned. Numerals, swept in the current of the Great Wave Off Kanagawa in all of its delicate intricacy. Perfect, unassailed. Impossible. Something was off here.

"Is there something wrong with my hardware?"

Elodie considered how best to answer. What sat before her begged the answer 'no', nothing was wrong. Yet the longer Elodie scoured between the lines, she felt the dark slither of perception worming a path in her mind. Just like the coin, her gut was telling her there was something she was missing.

"Nothing at all."

"Would you permit me to be forward for just a moment?"

There was a pause as Elodie realised Connor was seeking her permission. Her eyes flickered upwards, flushing as she remembered herself.

"If you wish to, yes."

"I think you might be keeping something from me, in regards to my diagnostics. I detected a visible shift in your expression and your breathing." The android tilted it's head to the side, studying her with it's forensic gaze. "If there is something amiss, I would appreciate being informed. In fact, I could even help. I have a similar level of familiarity as a Cyberlife technician when it comes to identifying issues with android technology. It was a later addition to my kit, though I have been told I'm quite proficient at it."

She wondered if she was imagining the puff of Connor's chest at this remark, the note of pride in it's tone. Her brows rose, feeling defensive over what was meant to be her job. Seconds later, she felt the kick dissipate. She had to admit that it couldn't hurt to get a second pair of eyes. Slowly she turned the screen around for Connor to see, biting her lip as she watched the android scanning it intently.

A brief pause, though there was no hint of the delicate series of functions kicking into gear within the android. Elodie had to marvel at the elegance, of how far Elijah's work had truly come. Even when she had started at Cyberlife, the technology was still clunky. Now it ticked away seamlessly, no less effortless than the formation of human thought itself.

Connor turned towards her before raising it's hand, pointing at the screen.

"I've detected an anomaly in the code."

Elodie rose and paced around the table, balancing the flat of her palm against the table. Yes, she could see it now, clear as day. Her breath hitched tight in her throat, her eyes parsing what previously she had been blind to. Upon Connor's illumination, the line of code shimmered before her on the screen, a hair less opaque than the rest. An intruder.

"Do you know what it is?" Elodie asked.

"I lack the ability to diagnose beyond an intermediate level," the android admitted. 

Elodie made mental note of this as she drew backwards, clutching her bottom lip between her fingers. She didn't need Connor to identify it, a question born of curiosity and the want to delay the wave of dread which washed through her now.

"Do you?"

"Yes," she said slowly, "it's a trojanworm."

"A trojanworm." Connor paused. "A piece of malware?"

Elodie nodded, squeezing the flesh of her lip harder. 

"Mmhmm," she managed tightly. "A hybrid virus, developed by Cyberlife. The trojan replicates the code and eases the system's firewalls, then the worm installs a backdoor. Collects files, corrupts them. When bootleg androids started being sold on the blackmarket to undercut Cyberlife prices, our engineers programmed a malware that could infect whole batches and send back the analytics to Cyberlife. When enough information about the sellers and buyers was farmed, it'd activate a killswitch. It's why Cyberlife has such a tight monopoly."

"What's it doing in my code?"

Her mouth grew dry. She hadn't wanted to ask that question and had foolishly hoped he wouldn't ask it. Elodie didn't know. There was no practical reason to infect Connor, after all the android was under supervision. That was unless someone at Cyberlife didn't trust Elodie to relay her findings. A shiver ran up her spine. 

"I need to remove it," she whispered.

The android's gaze followed her as she rushed back to her seat, turning the screen back to herself. Her face was hot as she found the root and began to clean the infection with the whisk of her fingers. 

"Will this affect my performance?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think we should advise Hank of this?"

"It's not of his concern."

"Should this be flagged with Cyberlife?"

"Let me think."

"What about with Mr Kamski?"

"No!" Her voice left her in a yelp. 

Elodie gasped, her heart was racing in her chest, the sound beating against the canal of her ear. The android's brow tensed. She realised it was just as conflicted as she was.

"I ... I don't know why I raised my voice. Sorry," she muttered. "No. I know the engineer who developed the malware. I'll just ... I'll speak to them directly."

Lex. He had been assigned to the team developing the malware when he'd been allocated to her floor, back when her biggest worries had been fielding his attempts for out of office fraternisation. 

"I understand." Connor nodded. 

It seemed to want to say more but thought better of it. Elodie felt the inside of her chest tense, an alien sensation running through her core. With a strange jolt, it occurred to her that she really did feel sorry for having spoken to it so rudely.

"I'm sure it's just a mistake. Perhaps the malware's installed in commercial androids, just in case they're tampered with. A security measure. An oversight. Something we don't need to worry about." She turned back to the screen, her fingers whisking across the keyboard. She had found the root, all it needed was some simple keystrokes, a fairly basic line of code she had taught herself in high school. One more tweak and it would be done.

She looked at her handiwork, not without a swell in her chest. Quickly it was overshadowed by an intrusive voice, firing its way through the synapses of her brain. More would follow if Connor were decommissioned again. She couldn't let that happen. Not without finding out just why the malware had been there in the first place.

Elijah. Did he know? Dare she ask? Lex's words appeared before her, spoken in the heat of argument, now repeating in her mind as a matter of fact. Your brother's a control freak. Nothing happened in Cyberlife HQ without Elijah's knowledge, no matter how miniscule. The existence of malware in the deviant hunter was no small footnote. He must know. Maybe this was a test.

Before she could consider this any further, the door to the interrogation room swung open and Hank Anderson entered. A potent cloud of alcohol fumes and cologne surrounded him, pricking Elodie's eyes as he approached the pair with a grimace of annoyance. He had been expecting to find them waiting, and he didn't like that fact one bit.

"So this is how it's gonna be, huh?" He said gruffly, gesturing a meaty hand towards them. "Two lapdogs I gotta deal with pickin' up after. Fuckin' a."

"Yes, it appears you're definitely stuck with us!" Connor replied, his spirits high. Gone was the caution she had seen, it wanted to wipe the slate clear as much as she did. Elodie detached the connection between the android's connection to the laptop, closing it with a soft snap and beginning to pack it away into her satchel.

"Don't remind me. And don't talk so loud. It's still early."

"It's 10am."

"Like I said." Hank turned to Elodie as he rolled his eyes. "We got a report. An AX400 assaulted it's owner, he filed this morning. Spotted on CCTV last night not far from here. If you're all finished up here, we can head over now."

She slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder, straightening upwards. She could talk to Lex about this later, she needed time to think. With a deep breath inwards, Elodie nodded.

"I'm ready. Let's go."