When I arrived on campus, Zekiye was waiting for me in front of the bridge leading to our library. The building in which Mr. Shea's office was located.

To anyone who didn't know her, Zekiye looked calm and all business. Her hair was hidden by a pastel blue hijab, which complimented the rest of her pristine outfit. Her suit jacket nor skirt had a single wrinkle, and neither did her forehead. She kept her face perfectly impassive, until she spotted me. 

Zekiye's brow furrowed as her mouth turned grim. "Hurry," she told me. "We have to get inside before the cops get here. They're bound to show up sooner or later. Probably sooner."

"Unfortunately, you're right about that," I muttered under my breath.

I had already realised it in the subway. If our local government caught word of a renegade android on the loose, they would escalate it into a nationwide emergency. They would stop at nothing to hunt it down and terminate it. 

Zekiye quickly ushered me into Mr. Shea's office. A lot had changed in the room since our previous head of department quit. Mr. Shea appeared to favour more minimalistic and sober interior choices. 

He had decorated the place like a 2049 military meeting room: empty walls, a desk with a glass surface, and wooden chairs with black leather seatings.

Mr. Shea himself was seated behind his desk, his hands folded beneath his chin as he watched me and Zekiye come in.

"Thank you, Zekiye," he told her. "Please leave us, and close the door behind you." 

"Alright Mr. Shea."

Zekiye did as asked without showing an outward sign of annoyance or any other emotion; she nodded, stepped outside, and closed the door behind her. As her heels click-clacked away, however, I could practically hear the frustration in her pace. 

I would rather have her here, too. She could charm and bluff her way through this conversation a lot better than I could. She could say a lot without saying anything, because there was no right answer.

Zed had squished me between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand I wanted to question him myself before the police would find him and fry his circuits to a pulp with a ten-thousand volt taser. 

On the other hand, if I didn't blame someone else for the deleted files I'd be hanging myself. I'd likely be facing jail time. 

I was in serious trouble. The thought hit me even harder now Mr. Shea was peering at me over the edge of his glasses with his military, hawkish gaze. 

"I didn't let the police in yet," he said. "I wanted to see you before those amateurs fuck it up." 

I opened and closed my mouth, before finally settling on an indifferent shrug. 

"And here you are." 

Mr. Shea moved into a straight-backed position and crossed his arms. "You deleted the entire Singularity war library. Every section on the androids and gyndroids."

"No sir, I didn't."

"Yet, your phone signature shows up. That's interesting."

Mr. Shea paused and checked my reaction. When I gave none, he went on, "If not you, was it one of your friends? Did you let someone use your account to get access to the library?"

I felt my phone burning in my pocket, and I wondered why Mr. Shea hadn't told me to fork it over yet.

"I didn't do this, and nobody I know did this," I insisted. "Yes, my phone and account were used to wipe Lenora's electronic vault, but I got robbed. My brother and neighbour were there and can tell you that." I jutted a thumb over my shoulder. "My brother's probably cussing out the police right now, telling them how to do their job." 

I couldn't tell whether Mr. Shea believed me or not. He still had that unnerving blank stare down, despite retiring from the military after the Singularity war. I could imagine him being very good at interrogations. 

"But you know what this looks like, don't you?" Mr. Shea asked. "You are Lenora's most vocal humanoid bots rights protestor-- I heard that first hand. And somehow it's exactly your phone that is used to wipe everything on androids and gyndroids from the library." 

"That's an unlucky coincidence," I immediately protested, silently cursing the fact that Alan was right: here I was, getting in trouble for being vocal about humanoid robot rights. I hated it when he was right. 

I shifted in my chair, clenching its edges underneath the table. "I... I'm interested in humanoid robots. I want to learn about them. How can I learn about them when all the information is gone?" 

Fuck. 

All the information was gone. 

Suddenly, the puzzle pieces clicked and I understood what that android was after. He was wiping his tracks. I was the only one who knew what Zed looked like now. Maybe Zekiye and some other people who knew his file by heart did, too, but there weren't many people who would recognise him. He would go undetected. 

"I want to learn, therefore I didn't delete the information is not an alibi." Mr. Shea's lips were set in a grim line. His stare was unrelenting. "They'll arrest you if you talk like this and hide information. What are you holding back?"

Mr. Shea was backing me into a corner, and I didn't get the time to consider things carefully. To think. 

It was either me, or the android. Damn it. I squeezed the chair's edges harder, digging my fingers into its leathery seating. 

"Mr. Shea, it's going to sound nuts. But I have reason to believe an android did this."

I expected a scoff, accompanied by a dismissive 'that's impossible' remark, but Mr. Shea didn't even seem surprised by my words. He didn't move a muscle. 

"I'm glad to see you're still on the right side," he said.

"I-- what?" 

Mr. Shea took his glasses off and placed them on the table. "I've worked with androids since their conception. I stood at the cradle, together with Ava Claes, when the first model was activated. I know android hacking tracks when I see them." 

I wanted to swallow, but repressed the urge. I couldn't show that I was nervous. "Oh. Do you know which model?"

"That is a question we can better ask you. You saw him."

"No, I didn't," I lied. "I was shot with a tranquilliser dart, just like my brother. I only saw glowing eyes in the dark. Like an android." 

My lies didn't even sound convincing to myself. I didn't get any practice in deceiving because I hardly ever saw the point of not being honest. 

I was sure Mr. Shea was going to see right through me.

Surprisingly, however, Mr. Shea said nothing about my answer. With a deep sigh, he pushed his glasses back on his nose. "I'm done asking questions, but stay on campus. The cops will want you here for their investigation. They'll want your and your brother's statement." 

More questions and more lying. I sighed deeply, too, as I got to my feet. "Looking forward to it."

"You are planning on cooperating with the investigation, right?" Mr. Shea asked while I walked over to the door.

I halted for a split second, grateful I was no longer looking into Mr. Shea's hawkish eyes. "It's against the law not to cooperate, sir." 

"Don't let your beliefs about androids get in the way of doing the right thing, Camilo. And don't speak about any of this to anyone except the police." 

"Got it, got it."  

The right thing I thought to myself as I aimlessly wandered through the hallway of our campus library. I wanted to get the hell out of the building, but where would I even go? There were surveillance drones everywhere outside. I wouldn't be able escape the interrogation. 

Zed the android avoiding detection and persecution thus far was a small miracle. 

I had to talk to him first. I needed to find him before anyone else did, even if only to punch him in his diamond-hard face again for framing me like this, then ask what his deal was.

What was he trying to do?  Where did he come from? And most of all: how the hell was he still up and running?