The trip to Kamski's was quiet, and uncomfortable, between Connor being lost in ideas for how to successfully be Cole and Markus just not wanting to go in general it was practically silent except Connor’s occasional quips about the autumn weather, the air felt cool, and the wind would only make it colder. Connor made a mental note to bring Hank a sweater when he got out of the hospital.
Connor looked at Markus as he knocked on the door, “ Are you certain you want to wait outside? It might be more pleasant inside.” The detective informed his friend, rationally it made sense to just come in. However the look on Markus’ face told Connor that his denial to go in was a hard no, non negotiable.
“No thank you, I would rather go through the revolution all over again, than be in there.” Markus responded trying to be pleasant while he rejected his friend once again. He was a bout to add something else when an ST200 opened the front door and gave an elegant smile gesturing the pair in.
“ It is nice to see you again Connor, this must be Markus as well right? Heard so many things,about the revolution and your unique design, please come in.” Chloe said turning and walking back into the house, Connor followed quietly unsure if Markus would follow. Markus didn’t, With an ST200 that outright knew his name, his greatest accomplishment and personal details about his design. He had no intentions of going anywhere near that.
Connor shut the door after he realised his friend had no intention of coming inside. He looked around the familiar foyer and took a seat on the chair his f- Hank had sat. “ I will let Elijah know you’re here.” She smiled brightly as she went through a different doorway than his first time there. He closed his eyes with a small sigh as he thought about how to word what he wanted to say to this man who predicted one of the largest betrayals against the humans this century.
‘You did only have one job, Connor’ Amanda dropped her two cents in like a tithe tray at church, this time Connor stood running his hands through his hair wishing he could just tear it out at this point.
“ Why are you even still in my head!” The deviant responded frustrated by her stupid little quips.
‘Someone is getting mad, Connor, I was preconstructed into your mind palace with one objective, to control you. If I couldn’t do that, then I had to destroy you. The revolution is over, your battle with me isn’t.’ The dead responded idly as Connor paced, his stress level rising again.
‘ I’m sorry, is reminding you of your ever growing list of failures to much for you? I couldn’t tell. And after all, you failed me Connor, so why should I ever stop.’
“ Connor? What brings you here today?” Elijah Kamski’s nonchalant voice, and the hand placed gently on his arm, stirred the android from his deep mental conversation. He noticed a look he’d never see on Connor’s face, doubt.
“ I am wanting to talk to you for a few reasons, can we step away?” The android questioned quietly, the day had broken him. Was broken a feeling?
“ Of course we can, right this way, Chloe please go wait with the other girls.” Elijah said gently as he lead Connor into the side room, It was a sleek design obscur statues, and more of Carl Manfred’s work on the wall. “ Take a seat and let’s talk.” The deviant did as he was told and sat down in a stiff office chair. Not that it had bothered Connor. Then Connor started to explain.
“ Yes, I keep good track of the people I meet, why?”
“ He was attacked by a PL600, he is in the hospital, and he doesn’t see me as Connor, he sees me as his son Cole.” Connor cut right to the point Kamski, sat up in interest, this was different he liked it. “ They don’t know how long he will have these memory issues, My personal research said it should resolve in six to nine months depending on the severity of the trauma.”
Elijah listened intently thinking about what he was saying and was not entirely sure what any of this had to do with him. “ Okay, I hope Hank feels better and remembers you. But why did you come to see me then?”
“ I am going to pretend to be Cole until Hank remembers, or nine months pass, if he doesn’t remember by then,he isn’t going to. Why I came to see you, If he doesn’t remember, I want you to wipe me, my memories with Hank, the knowledge of me being Connor all of it. And rewrite the code, so it is Cole.” Connor stated blatantly, Elijah’s eyes widened with interest, this would be such a great experiment.
“I’ll do it, even though it’d be a waste to destroy you completely, I thought you were just going to have me change your name. How are you going to get others to play along and treat you like Hank Anderson’s son?”
“ I guess I will have to figure that part out.” Connor said quietly as he looked away from his creator. “ I made a promise to Hank to be whatever he needed me to be. If he wants me to be Cole, then I will, but I can’t do it and remember all the things he and I went through together it… it will hurt too much. It hurt when I did it today it will hurt when I do it tomorrow, it is going to hurt for the rest of my life span.”
Elijah listened to Connor ramble, “ How many people do you need to persuade?”
Connor did a calculation in his mind, the detroit police department, the bartender at Jimmy’s, jimmy’s patrons. There are 1,590 officers in detroit police department but hank only interacts with the 12th precinct which is a hundred and thirty-one officers, the bartender Jimmy, and 20 regulars who semi-interact with Hank and would notice the change in the outlook of Hank Anderson. “ One hundred and fifty two people.” Elijah nods softly seeing the investment price in his head take shape.
“ Very well, hold on one minute.” Kamski says before standing from his chair, and exiting the room leaving Connor alone. Connor sat there alone in his thoughts, ‘Why am I doing this for someone who wholeheartedly believes I am a thing?’
‘ Because he is your partner, it is your job to take care of your partner and serve the Detroit Police Department.’
‘ I am so good at protecting Hank aren’t I?’ Connor thought with a bitterly sarcastic tone, Amanda responded all the same.
‘ No, you’re actually terrible at it’
‘ I know.’ Connor responded dryly he didn’t have the energy to argue with her anymore, what’s the point, she was right all the same. He looked up from the ground to see Kamski standing there with a black bag. “What is that?” Connor asked eyeing the black bag in the inventor’s hand uncomfortably.
“ Connor I want nothing more than to help you accomplish your mission and if this is what it takes then I am more than happy to do it.” Elijah said smiling even though he wanted to play with his programing more.
“That would be a first for you, huh Connor?’ Chimed Amanda
“ Now if that will be all, I am going to start doing outlines for Cole so I can make it more human like.Program code, things like that.” The creator smiled in a friendly manner handing the bag to the android, who with reluctance, took the bag, and could only give a solemn nod.
Stress levels : 85.79% approaching critical
“ Of course, thank you Elijah, when should I check in?”
“Interface with Chloe with what you know about Hank’s son, then come back in a week to see if you like how I am emulating it, you of all people should know how to make Hank happy by now, right?”
‘Sadly, no.’ Amanda chided
“ I will double check with my experiences to make sure no bad behaviors like nagging get through the nets, Hank is a grown man, he doesn’t need a caregiver.” Connor admitted with a sad smile as Chloe entered and held her arm out to the detective who accepted her arm, She flinched seeing the sad story of Cole Anderson play through her code like a sad movie. After a minute of the pair interfacing he pulled his arm away, and stepped to the door.
“ Have a good day.” Connor said before taking his leave walking straight out the door.
“ Hey, how did it go- oh Connor.” Markus said with a deeply saddened look, and hugged his friend in the hope that the thirium tears meant to clean his optical sensors would cease flowing.
Markus started to lead the pair of them back to lieutenant’s house, Connor needed Sumo right now. Though Markus felt connor needed his father more. “Connor what happened in there?” The leader asked quietly.
“I needed to see him to talk about an error that came up in my program.”
“ What error?” Markus asked in concern in his voice. Connor thought on the fly.
“ It was an optical and auditory impairment, No need to worry it was just going to be hard to get to my objective if was seeing static and my ears were ringing.” Connor smiled, wiping the thirium from his face, Markus wasn’t convinced, but he let it go for now.