bindsthedead

PSL

There was a time when Sabriel might have been eager to see the inside of Cyberlife Tower. Her class had been to Detroit when she was thirteen, and they'd toured an android factory- or the part of it they showed to tourists, at least- and visited museums and art galleries and all the sorts of things Young Ladies ought to see, but weren't available in the small town of Wyverley, or in Bain.

But Sabriel wasn't here for a school trip. Recent events in Ancelstierre meant that with the sudden loss of all android soldiers meant that soldiers from the entirely human garrison at the Wall had been transferred elsewhere- which meant fewer soldiers watching the border, on top of the losses from Kerrigor's attack, and a necromancer had slipped across, making his way to the largest city that was close enough to the Wall that magic still worked- one that seemed rather different than how she remembered it.

But what was occupying most of her attention was the Cyberlife representative in front of her. Sabriel listened politely as the woman spoke about malfunctioning machines and simulated emotions and how things that weren't alive couldn't die, so why would a necromancer- and from the woman's voice it was clear she didn't believe such things were real- want with deactivated androids?

Sabriel stood up and shook the woman's hand, telling her she'd been very helpful without meaning a word of it, and headed out the office before pausing.

She sensed something ominously familiar- Death, and a recent one at that. She turned another corner, following the sensation as a hound tracked a scent, half-expecting someone to spot her, to see her in her armor and bells (security had made her check her sword at the front desk) and tell her she wasn't allowed to be here.

But no one came, and no one living was in the laboratory she went into- just a dead- (deactivated?) android on a table-or its head and torso at least, with panels on its chest removed to reveal tubes and biocomponents, and Sabriel felt she'd stepped into a morgue and found an autopsied body.

Sabriel was seized by a sudden impulse. If androids weren't alive, then she'd simply waste some time, but if they were... well, she'd have a source of information she could interrogate as she would any Dead spirit. And unlike the representative she'd just spoken to, she could force it to answer honestly and completely.

Decision made, Sabriel undid the straps and drew Saraneth from the bandolier. This far from the Wall, stepping into Death took a deliberate effort, but soon Sabriel was in the First precinct and she cast around with her senses, trying to feel out the spirit of the android- if it had one, it couldn't have gone beyond the First Gate, and probably shouldn't be that far into the the First Precinct.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For an instant, Connor stills under the scientist's regard. This one, too? He's not a deviant—he's not—but he knows better than to voice the protests frozen in his throat. A machine wouldn't object, or interrupt. A machine wouldn't so much as twitch at the inspection—

A machine doesn't. It's the deviant who reaches out, breaking Craven's line of sight... and in short order, his bravado. Connor blinks, fingers tugging a sleeve straight as he surveys the squirming, whimpering human. His predecessor's tactics might be crude, but they're undeniably effective.

Pressure.

Connor steps forward, head slanting in dispassionate examination. "I'm not a deviant, Doctor Craven. But my predecessor is, and despite the... outbursts, its goals align with Abhorsen's current mission."

Lips curve: a mechanical, unfeeling apology. He can't dispose of it. He can't protect the damaged human from whatever this malfunction might decide to do. Not when Cyberlife told him to assist her.

"2726 Russel Street. I believe you're familiar with the laboratory there?"

"Call it off! Tell it to stop!"

Craven's attention is still focused on her- until Connor asks his question, and Sabriel sees his eyes widen with recognition.

"Yes, but- listen, I haven't been there for weeks- ever since the androids went crazy!"

He's lying. Sabriel might not have an RK800's advanced sensors or social algorithms, but even with her merely human senses and instincts she can tell that Craven is lying. That he's hiding something.

"Doctor Craven," Sabriel says, and she can see some of the hope in his face die as he hears how cold her tone is, and the frown that's spreading over her face. "I don't like people who lie to me. I'm helping Connor because our goals align, as the other Connor said. But your goals... well, apparently you value them enough to lose a limb for them. Whatever treatments they're trying don't seem to be helping."

Craven flinches at that.

"I- you can't be serious, right? Deviants wouldn't just decide to work with a human, how are you really doing this?"

The outstretched leg is thickly swaddled in soft, stained bandages. The medical records and the smell suggest an anaerobic infection. Connor considered the limb, remembering the neverending ache that came with his own past injury. The fragility of it, the swelling, and the leaking.

It was agonizing.

Connor rests a heavy hand on Craven's shin, right over the bandages.

"How--" The distraction is immediate, and Craven looks at him when Connor's grip begins to tighten. "No--s-stop that. Call it off, lady, we're just--this is just a little discussion, isn't it? There's no reason to--"

"We know you've been continuing to work in the laboratory," Connor interrupts, keeping his hand at a steady pressure that has the scientist's face twisting, and little motions of distress making him squirm in place. "The only question now is 'what were you doing before you received your wound.'"

"I wasn't--" He choked off, a raw sound of pain tearing free as Connor pressed.

Funny, how the others had ranked force a last resort when he suggested it. Still, Connor finds himself too transfixed by the sight before him to object. Craven might not have any information. This could be a serious mistake. But the figure writhing on the bed holds none of Cyberlife's authority or power. The orders spilling from its lips aren't commands he needs to follow. They're pleas.

Like Harris'. Like the other worthless, vulnerable humans who've gotten in their way.

[Objective: Pressure]

Connor takes another step. Then another, slowly circling behind the bed. "Pupil dilation by zero-point-six milimeters," Connor reports. "Spikes in galvanic skin response and vocal stress—independent of the... secondary stimulus." His mouth twitches. "You really should know better than to lie."

He should. One hand lifts, fingers curling around the stand supporting Craven's IV. "If you can provide us with the information, we'll be on our way." He nods curtly at the deviant. "We'll even take that with us. But if you can't..."

A twist of fingers, and the flow of painkillers cuts off.

"Please, what do you want?"

While Connor is standing behind the bed, and the other Connor is closer to the foot of the bed, Sabriel steps forward, leaning over Craven's head, trying to suppress her own discomfort at Craven's obvious distress as she reaches into the Charter, and focuses on the flow as she traces out a single mark over Craven's throat- a mark that cuts off the beginning of a scream.

If he really has been working with the necromancer, he's her enemy, Sabriel reminds herself as she speaks, fighting back the twisting sensation in her stomach.

"I want you to be honest. Tell us the truth, and you'll walk out of here on your own two feet. Lie to us... and you'll be carried out. Now, what were you doing in that laboratory, and how were you injured?" Sabriel's expression gives no sign of her uneasiness- it's stern and furious, and Craven actually starts talking before Sabriel can remove the spell.

"-wanted to look at the coding, to see how he did it, what changes he made- they didn't seem right, like he'd disabled some of the uncanny valley subroutines and most of the social algorithms. But there wasn't any code- nothing, like they were shut down, even though they were clearly online! Whatever you've done, it's clearly more effective, even if they're still aggressive-"

He's babbling, and while Sabriel lacks the technical knowledge of anyone else in the room, she can understand the gist- He thinks both she and the necromancer reprogrammed androids, rather than using magic.

The knowledge that he really was working with the necromancer eases some of her guilt, but not all of it. She looks over to Connor with his hands around the IV, and then to the other Connor, with his hands on Craven's leg, to see what they were going to do next.

He's--confessing.

He's confessing, and Connor's plan to expose the other Connor and his plans from Cyberlife is actually working. That makes this the most dangerous stage: at any moment the android or human could do something drastic to divert things, anything from distraction to murder. And yet Connor can't watch out for everything, because he simultaneously needs to help push the interrogation.

He steals a glance at his counterpart, but wastes no time lingering.

"What else have you been doing?" he demands immediately.

He's—confessing.

Connor's hand stays on the IV. Connor's eyes stay on the human. There's a strange numbness spreading through his chassis that makes any kind of motion seem far out of reach. He can feel the weight of the deviant's stare. Can guess without looking the smug triumph behind it.

Connor can't quite manage to feel anything about that either.

Maybe it isn't Cyberlife. Maybe Craven had worked on his own—maybe, just maybe, there was some other scheme at work. He should ask. His lips part, but the words stick in his throat, flimsy and transparent. (Delusional.)

Craven's wide eyes flicker to Connor's predecessor, but it's Abhorsen who's stepped to the fore with her demands and threats. It's Abhorsen who he listened to. Neither fact is surprising. She'd known all along, hadn't she? That Connor...

"—please, you don't understand. We just wanted to save lives, but it—the subject was still violent. It—" he jerks one tension-knotted fist toward his own leg, eyes flinching away from the deviant above it. His gaze jolts back to Abhorsen, bright and feverish. "Call it off and—we can talk. Cyberlife would pay millions just for a look at what you've done."

For a moment, Sabriel doesn't speak. Instead her face goes blank, her mind racing.

So not only had Craven been working with the necromancer, but he expected her to help him after admitting what he'd done. For her to cooperate. And given what she'd felt at the junkyard and the recycling camps, talk of saving lives felt hollow.

"I don't care about money," Sabriel says, her tone brittle, "And we seem to be talking right now."

"Tell me- who else was working with him? Was it just you, or was the rest of Cyberlife in on it? And why did they let me have Connor?" Had it been the result of the people involved not knowing Cyberlife was involved, or was it part of some elaborate sabotage?

"I- how was it going to help you? It failed its first mission less than a day after we turned it on. Listen, if you just let us take a look, we'll give you a new one, with all social programming intact-"

"I don't want a new android either," Sabriel cuts in, her tone growing sharper, "I want you to answer our questions. And by the way? Connor's been very helpful."

"Helpful how?" The look Craven spares the silent RK800 is naked with frustration. "Did you restructure its--"

"I would pay attention to the questions we're asking, if I were you." Connor interrupted. "We don't have much time." With careful, sure fingers, he began shredding the stained bandages, working quickly to expose what they covered. The smell immediately worsened, and Craven twitched and paled.

"No--no, stop, I'm helping! Listen, I'm cooperating, aren't--" He flinched as Connor pulled back on bandages that had crusted in place. Immediately the wounds began to ooze. "--Argh, god! Stop, just stop, look--I had funding! Two assistants, and--Wendell!" He seized the name like a life jacket. "Wendell was funding this, she kept the lab open, she's been overseeing my reports!"

Helpful? Craven's incredulity mirrors Connor's own, and it takes a force of effort to keep his face blank and vocalizer silent. Abhorsen's pretense denies their target leverage, and the least he can do is not sabotage the mission further. As it is, the human hardly requires more incentive to talk. Connor watches, distant and detached, as his predecessor inflicts additional pain regardless. Now would be the time to offer an alternative appeal. [Sympathize].

...Intact, Craven had said. Connor had known his code was modified, but—if he'd been intact, would he have failed in the first place?

His hand lowers to his side, leaving the IV's flow shut off.

"Wendell," Sabriel repeats, trying not to gag at the stench, "Who else? Did you ever meet with him in person? If you did, where was it?"

"Humboldt- he was the one who signed off on the whole thing. Cook took care of the finances." The lack of painkillers is starting to tell- Craven's slowly becoming more and more agitated. "I met him once- I- I don't know the address, it was to pick up some specimens and give him some of the last nondeviant androids we had for him to use."

Craven takes a deep breath, and Sabriel watches as his expression grows more calculating.

"Listen, you need to tell me how you did it- whatever you did, it might be humanity's best chance against the deviants- even if you didn't want money, you'd be a hero, you could-"

"Don't you mean Cyberlife's best chance?" Sabriel interrupts, "I'm a citizen of the Old Kingdom, here to track down a dangerous criminal- one you've been helping. Now, do you know where I can find that man?"

Craven seems to finally be catching on to the fact that she wasn't playing coy. He's silent for a moment, licking his lips and expression closing slightly, though hints of his previous desperation were too much to hide.

"I certainly don't know. I've only met him once, and it was at a temporary drop-off point."

"And what was that location?" Connor asks.

Craven shoots him a glance sour enough to curdle milk, along with--unfortunately--a look that could only be calculating. Connor considers giving the shin in his hands a sharp wrench, but with the man's stress levels already increasing from the pain killers dropping, a poorly timed shock could push him outside of the range they needed him in. It could drive him to a rage, or worse, an unintelligible panic.

"The outlet on Elm Court," Craven sniffed, darting his glance away again, from face to face.

Looking it up was the work of a second. It was an abandoned strip mall, and Connor set it aside to compare with his map of grave dirt findings later. He opened his mouth to follow up, but Craven spoke first.

"Listen, I--" His expression rippled with pain, and he needed a moment to force it back, directing his griace at Abhorsen. "I think we might've gotten off on the wrong foot. You're, ah, here for diplomatic reasons, aren't you?" He forced a nauseous smile. "You--agh, you like what you've been able to reprogram the Connors into, right? And you haven't even used some of their best features... But if Cyberlife can't get reliscenced to produce more of them, they'll be gone as soon as they break. You have your own programming, but you need our hardware."

Sabriel does not return his smile, but her expression does show many of her teeth. She shifts her weight, and suddenly she looks like she's ready to lunge at Craven.

"I didn't reprogram them," Sabriel feels like a string, being pulled tighter and tighter until she snaps, "And while everyone and everything dies eventually, I plan to everything I can to keep them in good health."

"But you don't seem to be in good health at all," Sabriel continues, feeling something vicious bubbling in the pit of her stomach, "Tell me, have any of the treatments been working? How much longer until they'll need to amputate- and will Cyberlife even pay for a prosthetic?" She doesn't even bother with the pretense of pity.

"I came here to find that man and take him back to the Old Kingdom, only to find that you Ancelstierrians have given him the makings of an army. He doesn't care about money either. Just power, and he no longer needs you or Cyberlife to get it. He will not give you anything for helping him." She looks over to Connor, at the head of the bed, her head tilted in a silent question. He'd said not to heal him... but what about dangling the possibility over his head?

She can hear Craven protesting, weakly- something about prototypes not being made to last, about Connors being made to be replaced, not fixed.

She can't bring herself to listen.

She'd reprogrammed him. Not the deviant, and for all the numbness seeping through his processing, Connor's eyes drift up—half-expecting it to punish the suggestion. But his duplicate hesitates, and Abhorsen eagerly fills the space: with taunts and repudiation, berating Craven for all of Cyberlife's (Cyberlife's) errors.

Connor barely listens. Certainly, he doesn't see the look his owner shoots his way. They have the information they need from this human already. They could leave. But—

"...Our model series was decomissioned."

It's what he told Abhorsen in the taxi. There aren't any other RK800s. But the refutation isn't sharp, this time, or vicious. There's barely any force at all. Connor's eyes are fixed on Craven's, stare focused. He's lying. Isn't he?

They failed. (He had.) There's no coming back from that.

Craven glances to Connor, then back to Abhorsen, clearly torn between the urge to target a more interested audience and a sense of ridiculousness at speaking to her device. "Well, yes." He gives a huff, stare settling on the human. "With reason. But if you were willing to, ah, offer your expertise... demonstrate, perhaps, that they could work as they're supposed to... It's possible the decision could be reversed."

Connor has been tracking the conversation, eyes razor-sharp and flicking from face to face. He's recorded Craven's confession and the names he's confirmed. He's noting Abhorsen's reactions, every deal she doesn't take and every twitch of her face as offense and disgust twist it.

He listens as the other android in the room steps forward, like a fish on a string being pulled inexorably to shore. Craven looks ready to continue, but at this point Connor leans forward, just enough to insert himself between the two, sending Craven a look like a mountain cliff face.

"Focus," Connor says. Craven glances at him, then at Abhorsen, then back to the other Connnor, and the lack of appreciation for the threat is enough that Connor reaches for the wound.

He doesn't look. His face betrays no hint of his personal thoughts about the contact. He places his bare hand directly on the festering mess and arches his fingers like claws, digging them in. Craven gives a full body spasm of pain, mouth open in a barely suppressed scream.

Reversed? What would that mean? Connor's expression is frozen, processing circling tight loops. Abhorsen had no interest in collaborating with Cyberlife. But—if she did, if she could... his failure was something they'd walk back? And the company's resources would all but guarantee her mission's success. The deviant would never agree, but—

'Focus.' It cuts between them and Connor tenses, bristling. But his copy's eyes linger in his face for just an instant—and by the time Connor realizes who it had been speaking to, it's already moved past threats. Craven's writhes—eyes wide, throat choking—before he regains his voice with a sharp and agonized scream.

They need him coherent. They need him sane. His stress levels are spiking dangerously quickly, and the screaming has the potential to draw notice from outside. Those would be good reasons to interfere. And by the time they process, Connor is already in motion: grip digging into his predecessor's wrist and jerking it away as he steps forward. It's a shove, sharp and forceful, body interposing between the deviant and the bed.

"He's talking."

Connor's eyes bore holes into his counterpart. Fingers twitch at his side, not quite brushing up against his gun.

"Let him."

Connor's hand is yanked back and the screaming continues. It's a backdrop to the burning stares and tension ratcheting up by several degrees, and even as the screams die away, the battle of wills continues.

It ends as abruptly as it starts. Connor breaks away first, flexing dripping fingers and glancing down at them. His hands look like they've been dipped in pink paint, with contaminated blood leaving a trail on the bandages and sheets below him. Connor presses his hand on the sheets, just enough to get the worst off, before he lets it fall to his side.

The string reeling the other connor in is tugging harder than ever. Nonetheless, they're playing good cop and bad cop. The other android can be the 'good' cop.

Maybe Abhorsen will even step in if she sees her android starting to slip out of her grasp.

"Connor." Sabriel's tone is stern, but there's an undercurrent of worry as she watches the two of them. Connor seems... more interested in Craven's offer than she expected, but Sabriel hears an echo of every Dead creature that begged for her mercy in Craven's words, frantic promises to serve her if she wouldn't banish them.

Her father had taught her to know better than to take such offers. She smiles, bitterly.

"And what assurance do I have that you won't turn on us if that man makes an offer you like better?" The words are more for Connor's sake than Craven's, but he replies anyway, telling her that they've learned all they could from looking at the androids the necromancer gave them, and that he never explained anything, but Sabriel has spent time in Ancelstierre, surely she'll be able to explain it in a rational way, with none of this superstitious nonsense...

"Connor, wash your hands and step outside." As she speaks, Sabriel steps back towards the door, her eyes still on Craven as she considers what to do next. She has two options... and one of them will require giving Craven some modicum of hope. The other... means none of what she says will matter. So she'll give him a sliver of hope.

"I don't want money, I just want that man. And I want Cyberlife to stop giving him any support."

Connor watches the deviant turn aside. Stiffens, at Abhorsen's harsh address. But the retort that follows isn't meant for him, and neither are her next instructions. Connor watches his predecessor lag and then comply before returning his attention to Craven. As tactless as his babbling might be, Abhorsen's answer doesn't rule out cooperation.

Connor estimates a 24.2% chance that she means it.

She could make her cooperation contingent on the necromancer's death. Withhold her knowledge until they'd helped her with the task, then offer spells in trade for whatever resources she might want. Cyberlife had to be desperate, to have made this deal in the first place. They'd cave to any terms she set.

He'd tell Abhorsen that, if she'd asked him. But she doesn't, and cold pressure locks the desperation in his throat. She follows his copy, door closing on the chance. Connor knows why he isn't included in their conference. Why she wouldn't care for his advice. Or trust it.

(Defective.)

A harsh exhale cuts through his frozen, silent looping. Connor glances over to find the human peering upward from the bed. On meeting his gaze, the man's eyes narrow. "Give me your serial number."

Connor blinks. Lags. The information isn't restricted. "...RK800 #313 248 317-60."

Craven scoffs, incredulous. "That one? It figures." The man squirms a little, making sharp noises as he tries to sit up. "There's a tablet in my bag." He nods toward the far wall. "Fetch it for me."

Limbs tense automatically, gaze panning over. He should—

...no. He shouldn't. Connor looks back to the technician, voice carefully even. "I don't think that would be conducive to my mission."

Craven scowls, muttering in irritation. "Because you've done so well at those before." Connor doesn't react. "Fine. Let's talk, then. You are still programmed to do that?"

He is.

Wash his hands. Leave the room. The instructions are short, and the hall outside is empty, if not quiet. The intercom instructs a nurse to report to a station on the floor above them, then reminds everyone to wear masks while visiting.

Connor finishes drying his hands on the sides of his pants, then folds his arms, taking a few steps away from the door. By the time Abhorsen follows, he's settled in to a mostly neutral expression, and is waiting.

(She wanted his help with the interrogation. She's learned more than enough to have proven him right. He's cooperating with their agreement. If she's angry with him for doing exactly as she said... )

"What is it?" he says out loud.

"We have two choices," Sabriel says, just loud enough for Connor to hear.

"One choice is that we take what we've gotten so far, erase his memory of the conversation, and leave him thinking he's had a bad dream that he can't quite remember. The other choice is that we lie to him- tell him what he wants to hear, and get Cyberlife to turn on the necromancer with the promise that I'll help once he's dead- and then I'll leave before it's time to pay up on the 'offer'" Sabriel's smile doesn't reach her eyes. "Perhaps I'll even heal him up front as an show of good faith."

"Not that I think I can give them what they want even if I was dealing honestly with them. But if we decide to lie to him... You could get more information about a group that's your enemy, but I'll need you to play along. Do you consider that an acceptable compromise, or should I just make him forget?" She can understand if he doesn't want to pretend to not be a deviant any more than he needs to, or if he doesn't think they'll gain anything by working with Cyberlife. Or perhaps he's fine with that, but will object to rewriting someone's memories- though given what he just did to Craven it would be an odd line to draw.

Edited 2019-11-18 01:15 (UTC)

Connor's lips part, and he stares at her blankly for several seconds after she's finished. This isn't a reprimad. She's... asking if he'll cooperate? No--she's presenting the pros and cons of an unpleasant option, while also offering an alternative.

... She could still be trying to trick him; there's several ways that second option could compromise him, after all. She could be a skilled enough liar to fool his expression-analysis protocols. Connor considers her actions up to that point, and whether she's lied to him before.

...

There are two options. One of them--'Make Craven forget'--would expend 'magical' resources, ones that don't seem to be in large supply. There's also the risk of Craven piecing together what's happened from the clues left in the room (his mangled wound, the hand prints on the sheets) and sounding the alarm even despite their efforts. It's dangerous, if they're trying to catch anyone off guard.

The other option... He's free now. He's free, and this matters to him in more ways than he can describe. Additionally, for all that he's not one of Jericho's main leaders, this doesn't mean his position among deviants is exactly minor. If word got out that he, of all people, had been compromised... Would the sham be worth the risks? What would they (he) really gain?

... "How hard would it be to wipe is memory?" Connor's voice is just as loud as hers, and there's a very evaluating glint in his eye.

"Well, he doesn't seem particularly strong willed..." Sabriel says, weighing out the possibilities, "And if I heal his leg enough to undo the damage you did, that will be one less thing that will seem out of place. It would be a minor healing, not especially draining, even if I make him sleep afterwards." But she should probably make sure to get some rest before she faced the necromancer- she'd need every scrap of power she could muster for that.

"It would be wise for me to sleep afterwards, given what we have planned for tonight, but there would be no danger of me overreaching myself." And it would mean they wouldn't need to to deal with Craven again.

No danger. In that case...

"We should keep things simple and erase his memory when we're done," Connor decides. He's watching her like a hawk, because for all that she gave him the decision, the real question is whether she'll actually accept it. "Delivering an ultimatum may help us squeeze some last minute information out as we leave, but we should avoid a long term hoax."

There would be too many risks involved in a hoax. Too few returns. This is objectively better.

Sabriel nods. He doesn't want to do it, and thinks erasing Craven's memory is a better choice- and she can't have pull off a deception if he refuses to play along.

"An ultimatum... Any suggestions?" Sabriel tilts her head back towards the door. Avoiding a long term hoax makes sense- they need to focus on the necromancer, and fooling Cyberlife would be a distraction.

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