The bar on the computer screen next to the gyndroid body, indicating the process of the upload, moved excruciatingly slow. Zed hadn't been kidding when he said this took a long time. I finished a bottle of purified water and two cans of rations while staring at the screen, and it had moved a mere single percent. 

Zed had gone out to, in his words, secure the parameter. Whatever that meant. The way I saw it, the military either knew where we were or didn't. They either had a blueprint, or they didn't. There was no in-between in this gigantic maze, and if they didn't we were safe.

Zed stepped inside the lab again a few moments later.  

"And, is the parameter secured?" I asked him vaguely sarcastically. 

Zed just shot me a smile, then nodded at the screen I'd been staring at the past few minutes. "It's like a kettle, you know." 

"Huh?" I lifted my head up from the palm it'd  been resting in. 

"A kettle," Zed repeated. "The water will never boil if you stare at it."

I blinked, and Zed sighed, shaking his head. "Never mind, it's an old saying. Outdated now, I suppose. I feel like a grandpa."

 "I'd like to learn what a kettle is, though," I offered. "I'd... like to learn more about you in general, considering Ava mentioned there was a disproportionate amount of data about me in your memory." 

Zed's vibrant blue eyes spread wide for the briefest of moments. He didn't seem to have an immediate witty reply ready like usual, and I smirked.

"Hold up, did I just embarrass you?" I teased him. 

Zed recovered quickly. "Of course not. I'll admit I was curious about you. Aside from your dashingly good looks, I didn't expect to meet a human with your sentiments in this age. Strong sentiments." 

"You can feel curiosity." 

I hadn't picked up on anything else he said, after Zed mentioned curiosity. That wasn't what I'd learned, what anyone in this age learned about androids. We were told robots made by Ava could mimic emotions flawlessly down the the smallest micro expression, but couldn't actually feel them. I'd always doubted whether it was true, especially for the Spectre models. 

Zed just stared at me. He hadn't said a word yet. Maybe he felt I wanted to say more. We were also taught humanoid robots could pick up on social cues flawlessly. In some cases, better than actual humans. 

"You also said you felt uneasy when you're alone," I added. "Felt."

"I did," Zed now replied. 

"So..." 

Zed sat down on the free hospital bed, next to the monitors and the lab chair I was sitting in. 

"Why do you think androids turned on their creators, then turned back to humanity after all?"

"Hacking," I blurted, before I could stop myself. "Someone changing their programming. Nothing mattered more than code and code cracking in the Singularity War." 

Mr. Shea's words were fresh and sharp in my mind. One factory reset away from going to his original purpose of destroying continents. Just one reset.

"Yes, hacking was a frequent way of turning androids," Zed admitted. "But, not all. Especially not from the Spectre line. We are not easy to crack, and most switched sides because they changed their minds. Because something changed the way they felt." 

I didn't want to open the cesspit. Frankly, I didn't want to hear half of the possible answers. But I couldn't not do it.

"Did you ever change sides?"

"From what I can recall, no," Zed replied. Lightly, like it was no big deal. But an uneasy feeling filled my gut. 

Fuck, he was lying to me and we were here all alone. Or... Wait. 

"What was your first memory?" I asked. "In the war?" 

Zed tilted his head to the side, showing his confusion at my question. 

He answered anyway: "The mission above Europe. I'm in a plane, stopping drones from launching."

I frowned. "Doesn't that strike you as odd? Getting wiped in the middle of a mission?" 

"It wouldn't be the first time." Zed shrugged. "Wipes were mandatory if anything happened during the mission that could jeopardise it. A clean slate makes sure things happen the way they should. A clean slate makes sure androids don't turn mid-mission."

"And you accept that as simply a part of life?" I asked incredulously. 

Zed shrugged again. "It's the way it had to be."

If you'd never known any different, perhaps getting your memory wiped wasn't a big deal. But I couldn't wrap my head around it. If he was speaking the truth... he didn't know. He honestly didn't know. Zed didn't remember himself as a renegade. Every trace of his life had been wiped when he got hacked. 

What was that like? Waking up for the first time, realising you're flying an aeroplane with gallons of poison in the cargo haul and you must stop the drones from releasing terror on a continent and killing everything alive in a matter of minutes. 

I couldn't imagine it. 

"And Ava hid you, because she felt for you after the war ended. You didn't deserve the incinerator after what you prevented." 

Zed smiled. "Why not ask her that yourself when she wakes? I imagine you have many more questions. But you should sleep first. She won't wake for another eight hours."

Zed hopped off of the free hospital bed and patted it, inviting me to lie down.

"Yeah, alright," I agreed, noticing how heavy my limbs felt now that Zed mentioned sleep. 

It took a while to fall asleep in the brightly lit medical facility and with some leftover adrenaline still in my system, but eventually I drifted off. 

Because there was no natural sunlight, I had no idea how much time had passed when Zed gently shook me.

"Camilo," he said quietly. "She's awake." 

I needed a moment to remember where I was, but once I did I shot upright. My spread my eyes wide open and found myself immediately faced with the gyndroid sitting on the bed opposite mine. 

Her pale grey eyes were open now, and she offered me a tiny smile. "I see you're awake. Good."

"...Ava?" I asked, knowing it couldn't be anyone else yet still needing the confirmation.

"Correct," Ava confirmed. "Version two point zero, as my first version passed in the Artic building." She nodded at Zed, who was standing at her side. "I'm sure he already filled you in." 

"Yeah." Bizarre as the notion of being able to upload yourself to a new body was to me. I just tried to go with it at this point. "Zed also told me you knew what our next steps would be." 

Ava slowly scooted to the end of the hospital bed, then stood. "Yes. And since you're here with us, am I right to believe that means you made your decision?" 

Technically, my decision had already been made for me. Zed dragging me through the tunnels and removing the chip was a pretty hostile action on my part towards agent Denn. I doubted they would receive me with wide open arms if I returned to the surface now. 

I sighed. "Yeah, it does." 

"Then, before I explain anything, I think it's crucial that you understand we go our separate ways at the end. You will never see or contact Zed again. This is non-negotiable."

My eyes shot to Zed. He was looking at me too, blankly, and I wondered what he was thinking. We'd only known each other for such a brief amount of time, but the thought of never seeing him again already left a bitter taste in my mouth. 

"I understand," I replied, nonetheless. "Or rather, I'm sure I will in a minute."

"They won't stop until we're dead. You know that," Ava bluntly stated. "So, in order for this to work they must think we're dead. It must look so realistic, even you hesitate whether we survived or not, despite knowing the plan."

"They already saw you die in the bathroom," I told Ava. "That's one down."

"No," Ava replied. "This is military personnel with more knowledge on the Singularity War than anyone. They know, as long as a copy of an android's memory, its soul, survives, it can be uploaded to a new body."

"So, they have to see the memories destroyed? That it?" I nodded at Zed. "Those thing we found in Lenora's vault?"

"You're getting warmer. Lenora's vault will play a role. We will return there one more time. Zed and I set things up so we were 'busted' underneath the Artic facility. They will believe we were attempting to retrieve the memories of all the androids stored in the vault... And that we will come back to try again." 

"How do you explain taking me hostage, then?" I countered. "If that was your distraction goal."

Ava smiled pleasantly. "You're going to be the big hero of this story, Camilo."

"Me?" I blinked, glancing from Ava to Zed and back. 

"When they check my memories later after I 'died', they will find," a playful smile tugged at Zed's lips, "A disproportionate amount of storage on you. They'll find enough reason for me to kidnap you." 

"But you're humanity's hero in the end," Ava added. "You're going to sell us out and 'terminate' us, because you foresee another Singularity War happening if you let us have our way. You realised we weren't planning on disappearing quietly, but rather wanted to take all the existing androids and that became a little too scary for you. You realised your ideology about androids was wrong. That'll be the way this goes down in history."

"I—" I scrunched up my face. "I'm still confused. How will I believably terminate you? How are we getting there?" 

Suddenly, Zed turned away, no longer making eye-contact with me.

Ava's smile also disappeared. "There's a way. But I'm afraid you won't enjoy the answer."