Just around the corner

They were getting close to the station right by Emily's apartment block. Since the conversation about the android's exceptional eye sight, Garth hadn't said very much at all. He was mulling everything that had happened over and over in his head but he couldn't figure it out. A glitch in his code was one thing, but the android thinking that she was human should have been impossible. And beyond just thinking, the android acted human, with feelings and desires that could never have been programmed into it. Wanting it's memories back. No android would think that way. If there as a malfunction, they were designed to request a recall to the factory. Yet, Garth's code, rather than bricking the machine, had given it life.

Incidentally, although he had seen an android suffer a malfunction and initiate a recall, the government claimed this never happened, just like the out of order elevator in his apartment block never broke down.

"What are you thinking about?" He tested the machine.

"About how dirty this place is." The Android screwed up its face as it stepped around the fourteenth rat carcass. "Will we be at your friend's apartment soon?"

"Yeah, we're nearly there."

A normal Android would only have answered in relation to the services it was meant to provide. A Home Android might answer that it was thinking of which task to prioritize first, or how best to service him. The behavior modification that Garth wrote should have elicited the response of 'how I can best sexually serve you' or 'how much I want you'. Her real answer only confirmed to him even further how wildly off script she was going.

"There's a platform just around this corner-"

"Wait."

Garth was taken aback when the android abruptly grabbed him by the arm and pulled him close to her. Although her body was fake, it felt real. As real as any time he'd felt Emily hug and press up against his side. She felt fleshy, and warm, especially her pillowy chest that pushed against his upper arm and back. He felt his blood rush south and began to remember the reason why he'd ordered her in the first place.

"There's something up ahead."

He peeked around the corner but couldn't see anything. But when he stared a little longer he saw the faintest blinking of a little red light.

"It's getting closer," she warned him.

"Shit, we need to hide."

They both looked around, and the android immediately pointed out the obvious escape route; another steel door painted with the Swan Industries logo and the words 'authorized personnel only' printed below. But that could be like jumping out of the fire into molten lava. Maybe it would be better to face what was coming, although he had no weapon, and no means to defend them.

"That could lead anywhere." He told her.

"It's just a closet."

Garth rubbed a hand over his face.

"So now you can see through walls?"

"When I was looking around, I wished that I could see what was on the other side of the door and it's like...I just could."

They didn't have time for this. If there was no risk of being caught by going through the door then hiding inside was by far the best option. All they had to do was open it but it was secured with an electronic keypad.

"I can feel it calling to me. I think I can open it."

"No, stay in your room. I'll do it."

He knelt beside the electronic lock and pulled a cord out from the side of his wrist watch. He connected it to the underside of the keypad, prompting a hologram keyboard to project from the wrist watch screen. Immediately he began tapping at the air, attempting to bypass the number pin and unlock the door. This way was old fashioned, and he was sure she could do it faster by interfacing directly with the keypad's network, but that would also require her to once again connect to the Global Network and there was no point hiding just to send up a flare to their exact location.

"Garth, it's getting closer."

He typed faster.

"Garth..."

The fear in her voice was evident. She shouldn't even be capable of fear. But she was afraid, and of very natural human things. She was afraid of what was about to happen, of the unknown, of dying.

No. Focus. Focus. He told himself, and continued hacking the lock, with the threat only moments away from closing in on them.