[IC] T H E R I V E R ᶠᵉᵃᵗ ᴱˣˡᵗ ˣ ᴮʳᵒᵏᵉⁿᴾʳᵒᵐˡˢᵉ

[Exit]

AD-4.M
PDC HQ

"You can have a seat there."

Adam moved to in front of a simple chair and sat down, placing both hands and arms on the table in front of him and trying hard to ignore the sting of teeth that was his skin against cold metal. Even harder to ignore were the stark white walls surrounding. The room, the air and even the man addressing him now all felt very... sterile. It made him uncomfortable.

"How are you feeling today, A D dash four dot M?"

"Uncomfortable."

The man himself seemed rather plain or at the very least like every other hand on this level. Dipped completely in a white garb that also covered his face, save for the two holes in the hood where his eyes would be, there were no features Adam could describe. The man moved with deliberate although at times slow direction. He never stared at Adam but instead at the data streams crawling across a number of transparent panels. His hands remained where they were since he'd arrived, his fingers pushing and pulling on knobs and buttons and hitting the keys on a keyboard in front of him.

"Uncomfortable?" He asked, pausing momentarily as he looked for and pressed a particular button. On the wall behind him, a panel slowly opened up and what looked like the lens of a camera slide away from the wall and about a foot into the room. "Care to explain?" The lens produced a pinpoint green light that was centered on Adam's forehead and as it waited for him to respond, it made a series of barely audible 'clicks'.

"Well.. for one... I'm naked."

"Right. Sorry but, it was suggested, actually. As you're well aware, the neuro-link is more than enough to establish and maintain a connection for any reason but for the sake of personalization, 'full transparency is best'." He tapped a second key eliciting another series of clicks from the camera. The data on the panel seemed to change.

"Can't get anymore transparent than naked when you're clean. Her on the other hand, she's practically invisible and after years waiting specifically for this, I still haven't learned much of anything about who I've been paired with. When do I get the honor of a meet?"

The man turned to one of the monitors and noted the time. "It's still early. She should be with the Chief as we speak..."

[BrokenPromise]

Kefira O'Connor
PDC HQ

Kefira never got to experience the displeasure of using a high school shower. Now she was using one at the PDC, she knew what she had been missing.

The showers were both claustrophobic and made her feel exposed, a phenomenon she thought impossible to experience. Each shower head was mounted on a wall with two sub walls on either side. If you were showering, your back was exposed to a narrow curtain that hadn’t been changed since the resource shortage (probably). If you were fortunate, you could take a shower while no one else was there. But there was always the threat that someone could enter at any time.

Kefira wasn’t bothered by others seeing her naked. Her anxiety stemmed from the fact that someone who didn’t know her might mistaken the undercover cop for a convict. Even now there were “semi-permanent” tattoos on her body. Snakes coiling around her biceps with the head of a lion on her back. They’d ware off on their own in a few weeks, but no amount of water could wash them off. At least for her last cover, she didn’t have to dye her blond mane. That always took months to grow out, and one time she even shaved her head just to be rid of the extra colors. The PDC was the last place you wanted to be suspected of being a criminal.

Not that criminals didn’t dress up like cops sometimes.

The door to the shower room swung open. Kefira turned to look through the semi-transparent curtain and saw the silhouette of a woman walk in front of it. She didn’t keep walking either. The stranger turned towards Kefira and folded her arms behind her back. She wasn’t so paranoid that she’d carry her side arm into the shower with her, so all Kefira could do was wait for the figure to make their move. And that move was to speak.

”Kefira?”

"Oh!" Kefira grinned as the tention left her body. The blurred shape on the other side of the curtain was one that she recognized. Elizabeth was a plump woman with dark skin, but Kefira always called her- "Aunt Jemima! Don’t scare me like that!"

”…Could you call me somethin’ that ain’t so dated?”

"But it fits you so well!"

”Because I’m black?”

"Because you’re sweet!"

”Hmph!” It was hard to tell if ‘Aunt Jemima’ smiled at that one or not, with the moldy shower curtain obscuring her face. But at this point she should really be use to Kefira’s banter. ”I came here to say Lorelei wants to see you.”

"Did she tell you why?"

”She wasn’t transparent with the matter.”

"Transparent eh? Can't get anymore transparent than naked when you're clean."

”…Huh?”

"Nothing worth repeating. I’m gunna finish scrubbing and then I’ll see her." Kefira turned around to do just that. "Thanks Elizabeth."

”Hah, alright hun. Just don’t keep her waitin’.”

…

…

…

The elevator music is dated, but it’s alright.

With her uniform on, Kefira felt a lot better. Her hair hadn’t finished drying, but none of her tattoos were visible. Either way, she probably looked respectable enough to entered Lorelei’s office.

As the chief of police, Lorelei did not have a ton of time on her hands. It was usually a bad omen if you were summoned, but that had seldom been the case for Kefira. If anything, she seemed to get along well with the chief of police. That was probably because she didn’t screw around with her as much as she did her fellow officers, like Elizabeth.

The elevator had gone as high as it would go. With a ding, the elevator doors slid open. Kefira marched her way towards Lorelei’s office, but not without examining her hair in a window’s reflection. She tapped a button on the door and it slid open, allowing her to step inside.

"Chief." Kefira nodded her head towards Lorelei as the door shut behind her. "I was told you wanted to see me?"

[Exit]

Lorelei
PDC HQ

O F F I C E of the C H I E F   of   P O L I C E

Image is a reference only. The office is carpeted and warmly lit with a single desk situated at the center and at the far end of the room. There are a number of monitors suspended against the windows at the back, these windows providing a panoramic view of the Oakland Skyline as a backdrop.

"Kefira." The chief replied, throwing the name out into the space between them without checking to see if it would stick. She hadn't looked up when Kefira entered the room. She wasn't sitting either. She was standing, bent slightly at the waist and leaning forward over her desk with both hands pressed into the wood. Her face was illuminated by the images displayed on the monitor she was staring intently at, her eyes trying to decipher meaning in something she wasn't even entirely sure had any. "Punctual..." She stood. "...As usual." The billowing blonde mane of the woman in front of her was confirmation enough that she had indeed greeted the intended recipient. "Secure office."

What was once a panoramic view of the Greater Oakland skyline behind her, with glass panes for walls in a 180° semicircle, became an obscure backdrop as the windows tinted. The blue, still early morning sky and lazy orange sun disappeared, replaced by muted colors of a dark, almost pitch black color and the warm glow of the light fixtures in the office. Behind Kefira, there were a series of audible clicks as bolts were pushed into place inside the frame of the door she'd just entered. With soundproofing, reinforced palladium 'steel' glass windows, and a hybrid titanium alloy structure meant to withstand impact from a freighter class transporter, the two were safe from a full assault on the precinct for at least... two weeks. Give or take.

"I'll make this brief and to the point." As she began, she moved slowly around to the front of the desk. "Big news lately is the string of now related murders across the state, as you already know. Originally responsibility fell to the local authorities but with the case now gaining National attention and the scenes of the murders moving erratically across multiple jurisdictions, It's fallen to us." She propped herself up on the edge of the desk, half sitting and half standing now in front of the officer. "Your record with us has been remarkable. The natural talent you've shown in a line of work that's inherently as dangerous as it is... it takes a lot to do what you do." For a moment, her eyes seemed to wander to some far off place as if to peer into some forgotten memory. The drift however ended as soon as it began when a blink immediately brought her back. "It takes a lot of skill. Most of it innate. And instead of wasting it's value trying to sniff out the head of some drug ring running the underground of this overly crowded city, I need you for this."

Lorelei, pinched the top edge of the monitor sitting next to her on the desk and pointed toward the tinted glass behind her. Four adjacent panes blinked to life, their once transparent surface now displaying surveillance footage of an alleyway. In that alleyway were two figures with features too soft around the edges to make out. However, one was clearly dead and lay bleeding on the ground while the other simply stared at the wall for a time before running out of frame.

"Earlier today. Old Oakland so close by. Footage pulled from the building's feed itself and made public on forums. They're some people out there trying to do their own detective work but I figured they could use some real help." Her eyes moved from the looping footage to Kefira. "For reasons I cannot disclose, I can't make it official, not yet. It's the same reason I can't tell you why the change in assignment is so sudden... and why you'll be partnered with an AIDA."

She let the silence that followed encompass them both.

[BrokenPromise]

Kefira O'Connor
PDC HQ

When Kefira settled into one of her personas, that was it. She never broke character regardless of what happened. It was often life or death, and not always her own. She didn’t even bat an eye when the office locked itself down. But even if Kefira didn’t show it, she felt it. Lorelei was an intense individual, and something as over the top is this would only be done if she knew it was warranted.

Kefira listened, nodding when appropriate. She stepped closer to the screens to get a better look at the security footage. Then Lorelei explained her orders.

It was quiet, but only for a moment.

Kefira broke the silence with a long sigh. "So if I have this right…" She kept her hands to her sides. "...You’re taking me off of undercover work, making me a detective, and putting me on a high profile case the entire state is watching. It’s entirely off the record so no one is going to know the PDC is even getting involved. The only people I can turn to for help are some online vigilante detectives and an android I’m being partnered up with." It was truly a mixed bag for Kefira. During the nine years she had been a police officer she had always wanted to be a detective, and this seemed like a good way to get her foot in the door. Though working with an AIDA unit presented its own set of problems. Lorelei’s order was akin to to a parent telling their child “Hey! We’re going to Disney World! But first you need to go to the dentist!” It was hard to get too excited.

[Exit]

_Lorelei
^{PDC HQ}

"Well, we are involved now so... on the books. To be more precise, although the PDC is investigating, the specific individuals heading that investigation are currently unknown. 'Officially'. It's a lot of the reason why you are in a perfect position for this given your transfers and being frequently off base. There is a small window of opportunity where I need you to be there but not recognized. Again, I can't say why. Not yet. As for the keyboard detectives out there, you're free to use whatever means necessary to find out what exactly is going on. Which reminds me, you'll have full access to our briefing room and if everything works out in the next few days, whatever resources from the PDC we can offer are yours as well, although that is contingent on... a lot."

Reaching for the monitor next to her again, she tapped the bottom right of the screen with a knuckle and pointed at the same glass panels Kefira was studying. The looping footage changed to a live feed of one of the many holding cells in the sublevels. Sitting, naked, behind a metal table was a man and standing opposite him was a medical officer in full garb. Every now and then, the man in the chair would move his mouth as if to speak and after some time had passed, the man opposite him would press a number of keys. This mundane process would continue to repeat seemingly indefinitely with very little variation from either of the subjects.

"The one on the left sitting down is A D dash four dot M. He is AIDA version four. One of less than a dozen manufactured as part of a... cautious reintroduction, they call it. After recent history, getting our hands on one was not easy and I expect opinions on this to be a little less than polite, but given what I believe is happening or going to happen, we need him. Android or robot or friend or whatever you want to call him, I'm making him officially your partner. That means you have a one on one with him whenever you're ready. These latest versions are paired specifically with one other person. I know the general gist of how it works but medical will give you further details when you get down there."

She stood up from where she'd been leaning on her desk and walked around to the other side, closer to the muted panoramic of Oakland and to Kefira.

"Given the nature of all of this, I know there are a lot of questions and I can answer some of them." She nodded a 'go ahead'.

[BrokenPromise]

Kefira O'Connor
PDC HQ

It was one thing for someone to heap praise on you, and another thing entirely to be told that the PDC, the single most important police body in California, would be routing all available resources to her case in particular. Before her transfer, the chief there had constantly told Kefira that he recognized her skill, and that she would be a detective in no time. A transfer and nine years later, and it looked like it was actually going to happen. After Lorelei explained things in a bit more detail, Kefira gave a single nod. There would not be any more misunderstandings. She didn’t look it, but she was stoked for this.

Then “AD-4.M” came up on the screen in his birthday suit.

That’s one less guy that can get away with telling me he’s twelve inches. Kefira thought to herself.

”At least he looks like a human.” She didn’t have much luck with AIDA units in the past, and she would have protested if she thought that it would get her anywhere. But Lorelei was not one to make requests. She made demands. Everything from her partner to her assignment was an order and entirely non-negotiable.

”I must admit I haven’t heard much about the string of murders. The Skull Candy Cult didn’t spend much time watching television.” Kefira was referring to her last assignment. It was a group that painted their faces like they do in Mexico during the day of the dead. Oddly, none of the members were Latino. ”How many murders have there been, and what makes you think they are connected? I wouldn’t mind seeing all the case files.” She looked back at the monitor. ”Though perhaps I should meet with medical first.”

[Exit]

_Lorelei
^{PDC HQ}

"The bulk of what's been given to us will be available in the briefing room for you and the AIDA to pour through. There may be connections we aren't finding that it will and it'll also be a good opportunity for both of you to get caught up on the case. But so far..." Right arm up and in front of her again, she subtly tilted her index finger toward the ceiling, a motion that was picked up by the room itself. Digital files that were previously invisible were suddenly pulled vertically across one of the glass panes until all were visible and one was highlighted. Lorelei 'traced' down to another that read "CC#3492109" and swiped to the right, dragging the folder away from the others where it was then opened and the contents put on display. Now, across all four of the adjacent screens were a large number of images from previous murder scenes. Many of them were captures of blood stains, damaged furniture, loose bits of evidence such as bullet casings and stray hair follicles that seemed out of place. A few were of bodies covered in sheets and outlined in familiar white chalk. More still were of the surrounding areas which included streets, adjacent apartments, alleyways and open fields. "...Five murders with three having a loose connection to each other and the first and last associated by timing." Lorelei tapped at the air and one particular photo was lifted from the rest and expanded. "Victims two and three were known associates. Engineers in the field of artificial intelligence. Victims three and four..." The image on screen was a comparison photo. On the left was a peculiar bloodstain on a wall with what looked to be an inverted pyramid with two sides that extended downward and beyond each other. They ended at an equal distance from the main body as if to give the shape legs. Within the pyramid was a circle. On the right was an image of a tattoo at the base of the victim's neck just above where his shoulder blades met. It was the same symbol.

"There are already too many dots here for it to be a coincidence and I do not recognize that mark."

[BrokenPromise]

Kefira O'Connor
PDC HQ

Many dots, but they could only be connected in pairs. The resulting image was scattered and difficult to make out, but there was something there.

There didn’t appear to be any other connections between the victims at a glance. Various sexes and ages, even the method in which they were killed was erratic. This was not the work of a serial killer. At least, not your standard kind. This could have been the result of multiple assassinations, but if that was correct, she didn’t know why.

This wasn’t the type of case you could just think out in your arm chair. She’d need to see those case files. There was also the possibility that Lorelei was right and this would need an AIDA’s touch.

…

…

…

PDC HQ was constructed in biblical fashion. That is to say that most of the on duty police officers resided above ground, with their lord and savior Chief Lorelei closest to heaven. Most of HQ was underground though. Hell might have nine circles, but the PDC needed hundreds of floors to house all of its damned souls. The most dangerous offenders were locked up in the depths of the earth, with less dangerous sorts up above.

AD-4.M’s only sin was being an AIDA, so its holding cell was on B2.

There were a multitude of other structures inside HQ, such as food areas, hospitals, and other businesses, but Kefira omitted those from her biblical HQ analogy.

She knew she was getting close because she was starting to see medical officers milling about the halls. Some were wearing full body suits. Something akin to proximity suits with olive green colors and yellow visors. There was also a backpack device that contained wires and hoses that lead straight into the back of the head.

”Um, Heyyyyyyyyyyyy...” Kefira gave a slow wave with her hand. She would have given her traditional “sup nerds” that she liked to greet intellectual types with, but Kefira was feeling nervous. Would she need some sort of surgery for this “connection” to work? Unlike a lot of people, she had never gotten any kind of cybernetics before. The closest thing she had to surgery was having a few cavities filled. What was this going to be like. ”Kefira O'Connor, reporting for duty! I'm suppose to meet with a Peter… Bradbury here?” She looked at the name tags as the doctors turned to look at her.

[Exit]

Holding Sublevel B2 This room... ...is two parts. Simple cuboid with a door that leads to a second, similarly shaped room that one could assume is usually meant for interrogations. There is a holo-table in the center of this room that is currently turned off. The side opposite from the door that Kefira uses to enter through is a blank wall. To the left is a number of blinking and buzzing monitors sitting on a counter. The light in this room is bright enough to see easily.

One medical officer in particular perked up as soon as she announced herself. The wrinkled, olive-green bodysuit twisted around awkwardly toward the sound of her voice and goggle framed eyes found the woman as she wandered in and began asking around. "O-officer Kefira!" He yelled out with a little more excitement than either of them had expected. As he turned to greet her, his hip bumped clumsily into the edge of the table that was his workspace but the man gave little to no reaction. "You're here!" As he spoke, he tore away his head covering revealing the man underneath: Ebony skin and dark brown eyes that seemed only slightly glazed over. Short hair nearly buzzed and the signs of facial hair that had been recently done away with. His nose was slightly longer than the norm but besides that and a peculiar looking stud fixed to his left ear, there was little else to see.

"You look great. I mean good. Like you're doing good... healthy." His eyes flashed dull shades of grey to white as he looked her over. "It's... wow. Just. Uh... It's good to meet you. Lorelei... and what the rest of us are allowed to know about your work. It's amazing. Really. I mean to live with Skittles? What was that even like?" When he'd glossed over her entirety twice, his eyes settled once again on the dark brown from before. "Actually, I'm so sorry. My manners. Uh. Peter Bradbury as you already know. And you're Officer Kefira. Here for work which is what I should get to... uh... Aida. Yes."

Peter quickly returned to his station and tapped at one of the monitors before moving toward the opposite wall. "So I have been made your chief medical and science officer for the duration of this investigation. You can come to me for anything including whatever you find on the field you think I may be able to help you with or..." Once he was at the wall, he tapped its surface as well and it became transparent. On the other side was the holding cell where a man in a similar suit to Peters was standing opposite to the waiting Aida. "...Upgrades. Like our Aida unit here. It is... incredible to get to work with the first batch of the version fours. I mean I know... They did some terrible things but they've really outdone themselves with the new features... Which we'll get to right now. I'm so sorry. I ramble."

With his right hand, he grabbed a ball of air and pulled it toward himself. A dialogue box was dragged onto the wall. "This process is complicated but only on our end. All you have to do is get to know him. After you two have talked for a bit and you think you're ready, you can tell me and we'll get started on setting up specific commands that you can say that will override any process or actions he's taking. They're direct to his core programming and must be obeyed. Safety guards. And it doesn't just have to be 'safe words'. It can be any action besides self-harm. Any."

"Did you have any questions before we started?"

[BrokenPromise]

Kefira O'Connor
PDC HQ

Wasn’t it customary to address people you were unfamiliar with by their rank and last name? Well, that didn’t matter. Kefira preferred to skip formalities and just talk to people. It made her feel a little more relaxed.

”Skittles? He was laid back. Wacky, but laid back as far as gangs involved in drug rings go. Still don’t know why he kept going on about 'tasting the rainbow' though.” She lifted a finger into the air and shook it. ”Now Mash and Mayhem? those two were messed up. M&M would take their bats to just about anything. But yea…” She could talk about her undercover work all day, but it wasn’t really why they were here.

Kefira remained silent and nodded as the doctor went on to explain how he would be her medical and science officer. Which was fine. Less fine was the mention of “upgrades.” This was partially because she was a clean human, and the idea of having bionic implants replace what was already there scared her. It was an old fashion way of thinking, but that was the way she was. The other part of it was that the good doctor had revealed the Aida unit in question.

He’s still naked? Are they going to put me in there with a naked guy? I suppose it won’t be any different than that time that vagrant got drunk and took a piss in front of me. Come to think of it, you see a lot of random nudity as an undercover cop. Am I thinking too hard about this? He’s a robot. A very handsome robot, but still a robot. He only looks like a stud because he was made that way. Everything about him is artificial. Right?

Right?

Did Peter just say she’d have to get to know him? She peeled her eyes from the screen and looked at the doctor/scientist and waited for him to finish speaking.

”I have several questions.” She folded her arms. ”So the Aida, he’s demi-organic but he’s still an android right? Like deep down he’s still just a computer running on software and hardware, even if both of those is state of the art. You must have an opinion since you’ve been working with him. So when you say get to know him, what you really mean is understand his interface?” Her arms tightened. ”Also, is this just something that gets programmed into him, or do I need like, a brain implant or something for him to respond to me. Like how does that work? It’s not the sort of thing a hacker could hijack, is it? I don’t really understand any of this.” Her arms tightened yet again. Though she couldn't bring herself to openly ask if he was going to be naked when she met him.

[Exit]

_Peter
^{PDC HQ · Holding Sublevel B2}

"It's a... hard question to answer, I'll admit."

Peter adjusted his glasses and stepped away from the woman, tapping the now transparent wall. The previous box of text was removed and a complicated overlay took over the entire space. Everything inside the room became highlighted. Over the edges of the Aida was a thin green line which followed the eye-line of whoever was looking through it, moving to match whatever angle they were viewing the information. Opposite him was the same man who had been inside the room since Kefira was first shown the live feed by Lorelei. He was highlighted in a dark grey as if to 'mute' him. Smaller windows began to appear across the surface, each one locked to a specific focal point in the room and magnifying and extrapolating extra information from their focus. The one on the doctor had a box around his chest, with an x-ray view of his heart. It beat calmly, the numbers and moving data lines around it the tell tale signs of normal oxygen levels and of low stress.

The Aida had several. There was a similar box around his chest with much of the same information albeit with a slightly slower heart rate. There was another on his hands and fingers, recording movement and subtle signs that could lead to any number of possible actions taken on it's part. There was an intense magnification of his eyes. Like the one over his hands, it read subtle twitching but also blinking rate, tracked what he was looking at and for how long, and also kept a log of temperature and tear production if any were produced. The final box was a blank square. There were lines that were drawn from it's corners to a point centered on it's head but while the program tried to read what was there, it could not.

"I have access, yes. But, my time with any of the AIDA versions post V three has been severely limited. I mean... the third version was out for a few years before everything went to hell and... they. Are. Expensive. Let me tell you." Wide eyes and misplaced bewildered excitement met with Kefira and her actual question. It took him a brief moment to realize that the present was not the place and he shook his head. "My time was limited and AIDAs are amazing pieces of work... despite what they've done. To really understand them... well you would need one of their scientists or engineers and they're strangely very elusive. It often feels like the technology was designed to prevent reverse engineering." He pointed at the blank box hovering near the AIDAs head, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders at the girl. "We're not allowed to look inside. I'm not sure who is besides them. Maybe the military but who really knows."

"What I can tell you is that yes, he is still a 'computer' in a sense. While he's made entirely of flesh and bone, what we know of his brain from the pieces we're allowed to glimpse and 'edit'..." He glanced again at Kefira knowingly. "...Tells us that he runs on commands similar to any appliance if you will but can still think and reason learn... 'grow'. The code underneath is impossibly complicated, we speculate, as we can't see it and even the code we can is at times, weirdly, hard to decipher but, yes... he can be controlled. It's what we'll be establishing right now today. Speaking of, there's no implant or surgical procedure to this process. It's all painless. Due to his natural programming and the growth process during development, he's actually meant for this. Waiting for it if you will... and actually waiting specifically for you. Time of purchase was not recent so, like the other nine or so V fours out there, he's tailored to fit a specific role and person. Lorelei was specific apparently and extremely tight-lipped about it all."

Peter picked up the headpiece to his proximity suit and began putting it back on his head, adjusting the visor until it was center with his eyes and reconnecting the wires he had to disconnect earlier. With a satisfying click and a short hiss of gas pushing through now sealed vents, he returned to Kefira. "After this, it's permanent. It cannot be undone with a button push. It cannot be hacked. Everything he does will irrevocably be linked to your actions. It's what they wanted... and maybe why she chose you. Although... I guess it's not my place to comment on that..."

His voice trailed off as he moved toward the door and stood next to the pad that would allow her entry. "David in there will leave and I'll accompany you inside and take his place."

"Did you have any other questions before we go in? Don't hesitate to ask. Some may be too late to answer when we leave the room."

[BrokenPromise]

Kefira O'Connor
PDC HQ

Not needing surgery was a relief.

Peter not knowing how they work was less so.

"Did you have any other questions before we go in? Don't hesitate to ask. Some may be too late to answer when we leave the room."

What was that suppose to mean? How could it be too late to answer questions? Though she understood. This was a one way trip. Kefira was going to get paired with the AIDA for a very long time. The rest of its life, maybe her own. Once the assignment was over, she’d still have sole control over AD-4.M. If something was going to make her back out or reconsider, she had to ask those questions now. So the real question was, would anything make her back out of this? Kefira thought for a moment.

”I think I’m good.” She said with a wink. ”Chief wouldn’t like it if I backed out now, let’s go in!”

She’d have no excuse but to give her that detective position after this.

As soon as the door opened, Kefira made sure she was the first person inside. ”Alright David, your time is up.” David got up and started to walk towards the exit. ”Yup, time’s up. It’s Peter’s turn in the box” Kefira was looking everywhere but directly at AD-4.M. ”Man, it is stuffy in here.” She exhaled and rubbed her hands together.

Between her nerves and Peter’s long-winded explanation, she forgot to ask if they could dress him. That was a question she could no longer ask. Had Peter secretly known that made her uncomfortable? Unlikely. It didn’t really matter. You got exposed to a lot of random nudity working undercover, especially with drugs and such involved. Though she usually didn’t have to hold a conversation with those people.

”You’ve been waiting a while for me, huh Adam?” Her eyes rested on his. ”I can call you Adam, right? I feel like that was what your makers were going for. ” She blinked. ”I mean, I’m cool with being called Kay-three-eff-slash-two-dot-four if you don't want to feel left out.”

[Exit]

_AD-4.M
^{PDC HQ · Holding Sublevel B2}

"I can tell you're getting exhausted."

The AIDA remained where he was, arms across the table and feet flat against the floor. He hadn't budged since he had been told to sit and besides occasional eye twitches and near even breathing, no movement had been recorded. For the most part, he'd kept his focus on the one other face in the room having learned rather quickly that there wasn't much else to look at around him. The walls continued to be sterile even as he knew that the one on his right was essentially false; a one way mirror. Possibly two way. No way to visually tell the difference. All he knew for sure was that since his arrival, he was being closely monitored and was under constant watch, of course.

...Nothing new...

"They should be relieving me soon." David hit another button and the monitor in front of him clipped an image of the AIDAs right eye. The accompanying feed provided data on his primary focus and not surprisingly, it had been David near the entire time. More specifically, the space around his visor... and a specific space if the readings were accurate. David glanced at the AIDA from behind the safety of his station. "Were you trying to see my eyes through this?" He tapped the headpiece.

"Reading along with you."

David squinted at the reply. ...What does that mean?...

”Alright David, your time is up.” Before he'd gotten the chance to ask, the door slid open and two faces entered the room. David breathed a sigh of relief to see both Kefira and Peter. ”Yup, time’s up. It’s Peter’s turn in the box”

"About time..." David reached under one of the monitors and pulled apart his connection to the machine, packing the excess tubing under his arm while it was slowly retracted into the pack on his back. "...Get me out of this room with this...thing." He added, under his breath. Without waiting for further acknowledgement, he nodded both of them a 'farewell' and left.

The AIDA remained unchanged.

Peter took his place behind the workstation and, like David was before, plugged himself in. His visor flashed momentarily while streams of data were compiled and exchanged between what he'd gathered and what David had. Their collective work was then distributed to the three separate monitors in front of him. Ready to begin, he turned to Kefira to signal a start, only to realize she wasn't waiting on him.

”You’ve been waiting a while for me, huh Adam?" Peter smirked at the woman's fearlessness and ability to get right to it. It was no wonder Lorelei chose her. "I can call you Adam, right? I feel like that was what your makers were going for. I mean, I’m cool with being called Kay-three-eff-slash-two-dot-four if you don't want to feel left out.”

Adam smiled. "Only two years..." He began, looking the woman over. It was a point made that her golden hair would be one of her more prominent features and sure enough, the off-yellow mane was the first to pull at his attention. With her every step, her hair matched the movement of her body and would dance around her head, accentuating the way she carried herself. Her eyes had remained focused on everything but him when she first arrived and only now after addressing him had she allowed him time to study. They were near the same hue as that of her hair and seemed to glisten under the fluorescent white of the room, the matching colors only helping to highlight how well put together she seemed. Sharp features and sharper chin slimmed to a fit physique and though still on the smaller side, Adam already knew better than to underestimate the woman standing in front of him. "You... are everything I was led to expect, officer. And Adam is fine, although I was told that your name was Kefira... or read. Would you rather I called you Kefra?"

As he finished, he glanced over at Peter who was now positioned behind her. For a brief moment, he read the reflection off the man's eyes through his visor, making a point to track what exactly he was reading and extrapolate how it pertained to him. However, his insight was short lived when only a few seconds after he had begun did Peter catch his gaze. Peter's pupils suddenly went dark and whatever reflection or colors there were to be found in his eyes were pulled into the black.

Peter continued to hold his smirk. "We're ready. Ask him whatever you would like so I can establish a baseline as it pertains to you and then we'll move to establishing and editing commands.". He hit a key and the same camera embedded in the wall behind Peter before began making a series of barely audible 'clicks' once again.

[BrokenPromise]

Kefira O'Connor
PDC HQ

”Two years isn’t too long, but time is relative to your age.” Kefira knew the AIDA was dangerous on some level. They were a lot stronger and faster than humans, and had a fair bit of intelligence to boot. While her training did play a roll in her ability to fearlessly walk in and interact with Adam, it was also that she was following Lorelei’s orders. It was just something she needed to do. ”I was using a slash as an ‘I,’ my leet speak is a little rusty. Kefira is fine.”

Once Peter gave the order, the officer nodded and flicked up her eyebrows.

”Still, that’s about two years longer than I’ve been waiting for you. But what makes today so exciting for you? I mean, you’ve been waiting for me, but is what happens next that exciting for you?”

Kefira had seen more of Adam than she really wanted to on the monitors, but it was different being locked in a room with him. Yes, he looked like a man. His medium beard bled into a 9’o clock shadow, which gave him a rugged, tough look. But it was rugged like Clint Eastwood rather than some morally bankrupt gang banger. It wasn’t hard to picture him strapping into a cowboy’s outfit and strutting his way through the wild west. His tone was not like the legendary cowboy actor however. Adam if anything seemed more laid back with the light of optimism glowing in his chest. At least for the few seconds she knew him.

Him? It. Few seconds she knew it.

The police officer needed to remind herself that she was talking with an AIDA. Adam could reach some weird string of code and just flip out. Like any piece of machinery, one had to be careful when they used it. Even the driver of a bulldozer could hurt themselves if they plowed into the wrong tree.

[Exit]

_AD-4.M
^{PDC HQ · Holding Sublevel B2}

"It means I'm finally... here. Finally... ready to be whatever I need to be. And this..." Adam looked around and sterile white walls stared back. "...I'll be happy to see that sky again so yeah,... there's excitement." He nodded in agreement with himself as his eyes found Kefira's again, this time ignoring Peter in the background. There was no longer information there for him to pull from and it was clear whatever happened now was between himself and her.

This woman would own him and although there was an air of anxiousness to be connected, there was the smallest thought in the back of his head that itched at the edges of his mind. This was to be the last day he would truly be free to think and do and know that every action taken was on him. From this moment forward, he too was responsible for her.

"Baseline established."

"To think she could have me do anything."

"Connection secure."

^{"They said she was one of the good ones."}

"Opening neuro-link to base system. Initiating memory scan. Initiating ICLD."

^{"A lot of bad apples..."}

"C-can you hear me, Kefira?"

^{"But... I trust you're a good one."}

Adam kept his eyes on Kefira as the room around them fell away. The walls disappeared and the table separating the both of them sunk into a void below. Although gravity did not shift, the space around began to move at a blinding speed shoving the safety of that sterile room away and thrusting the both of them into a deep, heavy black. In that endless dark, specks of light blinked into existence far below and began rising up at and all around the both of them, passing at speeds that made it impossible to distinguish their size, what they were or even separate one source of light from the other. At the center of this light show appeared a different speck with a reddish hue. It approached slower than the rest but as it did, it's size expanded and continued to do so until it was clear the object was large enough to be unavoidable. Within a handful of seconds, this star turned to a spherical object and after more than a dozen, became a large ball of orange and red that Kefira and Adam were clearly about to collide with. Mars's beauty and magnificence at this distance was unmistakable and like a gigantic red flower, it opened its petals and pulled the two of them inside. As the edges of it's horizon became impossibly long and swallowed the rest of the dark space around them, they both hurtled through an unfamiliar atmosphere before, very quickly, finding their feet on the ground.

No dust was kicked during their landing.

"Well now I feel naked." Adam was standing now, and surprisingly... dressed. Black boots on the ground fed to pants that seemed surprisingly form fitting. It hugged him accentuating the muscles in his legs and climbed up and over a plain white shirt that was tucked in. Thin fabric did little to hide the rest of his physique and ended at his neckline with three buttons that held closed the v-neck cut. "Utopia Planitia. Of course."

Behind him where there had once been a plain wall was the endless expanse that was one of the larger flat craters of Mars. Numerous rocks sat as if perched upon the ground as opposed to being half buried in the dirt and around those rocks were a number of carved out indents or grooves. Next to Adam and hovering above the ground were a series of boxes.

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"Looks like you're inside me." He finally said to her with a small laugh and a smile. "I actually didn't know it would be this transparent but... welcome to my head."

"As he said, you're inside him which actually means a lot of things but the two most important is that in here... and just for right now, you can edit in some commands and you'll also be able to see into a lot of what makes him... him as opposed to it." Although Peter's voice was clear as day, he himself was nowhere to be found. However, where there was once a wall behind where he once stood was the same camera from before, now hovering six feet off the ground. Still producing the same green beam of thin light, it focused this laser on the center most box and waited.

"The commands you want are converted to code and are presented visually by the boxes here. Additionally the commands can be whatever you want. Of course he can think for himself but anything you put in here will override his other processes and he will attempt to execute that command as best he can. Anything from a simple word to make him stop moving to one that makes him fall unconscious. So... trigger word and resulting action. From there, I'll do the rest."

[BrokenPromise]

Kefira O'Connor
PDC HQ

”Yea, I guess it would be a little boring to just- hey what the-?!”

Being dropped onto the surface of mars but not really was a trip that Kefira would have appreciated to have been notified about before hand. This was probably something else she should have questioned the good doctor about, but who would have even predicted jumping into an AIDA’s mind was on the list of things to do today?

”Yea, I can hear you Peter. Just wait for my eyes to focus!” She spoke quickly, like a frightened person might. This type of technology was so far beyond Kefira’s experience and understanding that it was impossible to keep pretending that everything was cool. This wasn’t cool. Even with her acting skills, she couldn’t pretend this was cool. If she broke down like this during her time in the skull candy gang, M & M would tell her “you’re suppose to melt in our mouth, not in our hands!” before hitting her with a baseball bat probably.

”Commands? Like self destruct or action overrides? Something to back up his memories?” Kefira walked closer to the boxes. ”Is he even going to let us? He’s like, right here.” And he’s not dressed like a cowboy. Disappointing, ”And these are all commands? It looks like the three boxes in the lower right are occupied already. Seems to be some kind of code is written here…” She looked between the boxes and Adam. ”So this is your head? You must know what's inside here then, right?”

This was just too strange. Why couldn't it have just been a quick painless surgery?

[Exit]

_AD-4.M
^{PDC HQ · Holding Sublevel B2}

"Memories mostly. Although I'll admit a few years worth isn't much at all." Adam continued looking around the empty expanse, his back turned to her now. "Still important though... like all memories."

"Those bottom boxes are 'factory' in a way. I can't touch them but I can the rest, although... heh... I don't think we'll be needing all of them. The most important commands would have to be whatever you say to keep him in line. Maybe a few other personal ones whatever they may be. No more than a handful should do although it's entirely up to you and something like a 'self-destruct' works just fine. Backing up however... is not really possible. The data for rebuilding his body has already been stored but whatever he's learned is permanent. Everything he picks up whether by nature or edited, like so, is one way. Plus, as I said before, what we're looking at right now is very surface level. Everything beyond that... I mean it's data inside a real grown brain. It's science waaaay beyond me. Besides that, even if we could back him up, I would like to imagine the data as extremely dense and too much for any server to handle the transfer."

As Peter finished, the camera floating in the air began a low 'clicking' once more. After a short pause, the thin green line drew a bead to the uppermost and left most box and centered on it.

"We can edit in the 'self-destruct' command first with whatever phrase or word you want. Also, just in case you were thinking it... the self-destruct would take form in rapid brain cell death... not an actual explosion."

"Memories... but I don't recall this." Adam turned to Kefira and pointed toward a building standing alone and looking as if it had been engulfed in flames. A building that would look eerily familiar to the girl. "Is that you?"

[BrokenPromise]

Kefira O'Connor
PDC HQ

Peter’s explanations were less than reassuring, but it wasn’t like he made up the rules.

”Okay, so let’s see…” She couldn’t see Peter, so she just looked in the direction of the camera and held a finger to her lips. Every time she spoke, she pointed towards the camera. ”Let’s have two different commands for ensuring he follows an order. If I say something and he refuses, saying ‘that’s an order’ will cause him to do it. Alternatively, I can say ‘would you kindly’ to ensure he performs the task I’m about to give him.” Neither of those seemingly normal phrases were part of Kefira’s every day vocabulary. They would be good to use. ”And how about ‘knock it off ‘ to interrupt whatever he’s doing and ‘get down, sparky’ as an emergency sleep mode?” Now for the heavier ones. ”Don’t want this next one triggering accidentally. For self termination, let’s do one-four-one-one-three. And just to make sure, I have to lie to Adam afterwards for him to go through with it… and if I tell him the truth, he gets amnesia.” She wasn’t sure why she’d ever want to make Adam forget things, but it felt like a nice middle ground if she wanted to keep from having him kill himself. ”Oh, and if I say ‘janx’ at any time, it’ll cancel any commands he’s-”

She turned to Adam. He was pointing at a burnt building. One that had incredible significance to Kefira’s early life. It was an old laundry building, with an old fashion sign laying in front of the front door. The vinyl lettering had all burned away in the fire, and it wasn’t possible to tell what it had read. But Kefira knew what would have been on it.

She walked towards the building, just a few steps. At her feet was the remains of an old AIDA unit. Just the upper torso. It wasn’t anything like Adam. This one looked more like a crash test dummy. There was ash gathered up all around its form, and its charred fingers were wrapped around an old Jerry can.

”…Peter.” Kefira looked away from the camera. ”…Adam, why are my memories in your head?”

[Exit]

Adam turned back to the half burned building, waving a hand in the air in a general gesture at everything around them. "It's the uh... nature of this technology. Brain dives are risky for both parties although there's usually a measure of control for the one doing the dive. Plus, human brains are very... fluid." The building suddenly flickered out of existence, the destroyed AIDA unit with it. "Our brains are very much like a maze; It's confusing but there is structure. For a human however, it's more like trying to navigate an ocean and sometimes you have to do it during a storm and all that water leaks through. It's hard to control, even with this tech but it looks like you caught on pretty quick..."

He turned to Kefira again, this time regarding her with a smile and an expression like that of both intrigue and admiration. The woman was holding together extremely well despite having been thrust quite literally into the deep. Very little in the way of warning had been given to her and yet, she'd soldiered on with little more than a curious ask when something so private had been shared, even if only for a moment. "Kefira... You do not have to share but it'd be a lie if I said I wasn't curious." He nodded toward the building that wasn't there. "What memory was that?"

From somewhere else, Peter's voice drifted through on martian winds, muted every so slightly now but still easily recognizable and understood. "All commands are in, including 'Janx' which will cancel any commands he's following. Were there any other commands you wanted to add?"

[BrokenPromise]

Kefira O'Connor
PDC HQ

There wasn’t a human on earth who hadn’t accidentally learned something they weren’t suppose to. For Kefira, this was discovering that her brother had a camera. More specifically, in cycling through the pictures, she could see that her brother fancied the girl next door. It seemed like every time she came out of her home he had to snap one picture of her. When she confronted her brother about the pictures, he just snatched the camera away from her and insisted she should just forget about it. She never did, and Kefira didn’t think Adam was going to forget what he saw either.

”That’s fine, Peter. Pull me out when you’re ready.”

It was quite the conundrum. Kefira didn’t really feel like telling Adam anything. He had been exposed to something that she had never meant to show, and they weren’t exactly alone in the current environment. Not only that, but they had only been here a few minutes, if even that long. What would happen if something truly private were to resurface? Or maybe something classified, like her talk with Chief Lorelei?

But you’re not suppose to hide things from your partner. It wasn’t like it was that private a detail anyway, even if it was personal.

”Clearly, it was that time an AIDA burned down the local laundry. Which happened to be my family’s sole source of income.” Kefira looked where the building had been. ”It was never officially investigated. I guess you could say it was my first case. Since all the old employees were stealing from us, my father fired them and replaced them with early model AIDA units. It wasn’t a popular choice, with unemployment being on the rise. But my father would only work with people he trusted, which was his family and those AIDA units.” she shrugged her shoulders. ”I found one of them with an empty gas can and a torch. The fire alarm never went off, so I can only imagine the AIDA unit must have switched it off. Hard to remember many specifics, I wasn’t even eighteen yet.”

Peter had better be working on getting her out of there.

”This is the surface of mars right? Is this one of your memories?”