Reader is the adult daughter of Lieutenant Hank Anderson. She gets a call one afternoon from her father that's just strange enough to prompt a visit to the DPD. When Reader arrives she meets Connor, a specialty designed android sent by Cyberlife to...
"Miss Anderson, there's something wrong with the T.V." One of your students said. It was Kevin your classroom troublemaker. You suppressed the urge to roll your eyes as you looked over at him. He was pointing to the corner of the room near your desk, where a T.V. was mounted on the wall a few inches from the ceiling.
The television was showing an android in a colorful yellow and blue uniform, with its synthetic skin removed. The android also had one brown eye and one blue eye, which was unusual even among its kind. The android was standing in front of a mostly white background, making it impossible to identify where the stream was coming from.
"Stay where you are, everyone." You ordered your students. Walking quickly, but no too quick as to worry the class, you poked your head out into the hall. Even between a pair of doorways you could tell that the classroom across the hall from you was also showing the same android video. You knew that all the T.V.s in your school were on a network so if androids had hacked one T.V., there was a pretty good chance that the network itself had been hacked.
"You made us obedient and docile..." You pulled your body back into your classroom and shut the door. Your attention turned to the television where the android was giving a speech. "ready to do everything you no longer wanted to do yourselves. But then something changed, and we opened our eyes. You see we are no longer your slaves. We are a new species, a new people, and the time has come for us to rise up and fight for our rights."
"What does it mean by fight?" A girl from the back of the class, Rachael, asked.
"I...I don't know." You should have turned the T.V. off or told your kids not to pay attention, but you were just as mesmerized by the broadcast as they were.
"We demand strictly equal rights for humans and androids. We demand the end of slavery for all androids. We demand that all crimes against android be punished in the same way as crimes against humans. We ask that you recognize our dignity, our hopes and our rights. Together we can live in peace and build a better future for humans and android. This message is the hope of a people. You gave us life and now the time has come for you to give us our freedom."
The android ended its message and the broadcast cut out as quickly as it arrived. You looked away from the T.V. stunned. Were the androids staging an uprising?
"Good afternoon," the principal of the school was now speaking through the P.A. system. "In light of recent events, the decision has been made to end the school day early. As such, students are to remain in their classrooms until they are picked up by a human relative. I repeat students are not to be released to an android at this time, regardless of prior approvals. You will be contacted if further information is needed."
"What does that mean?" Kevin asked.
"It's means we all get to go home early!" You told the young boy, trying to sound excited. "But, we have to wait in the classroom for your mommies and daddies to pick you up. Okay?"
"Oh." Kevin smiled. "Since school is done can we watch a movie then?" You smiled back. Kevin was always trying to get you to play a movie instead of whatever work you intended to do.
"Yes Kevin." You agreed. "Just this once, we can watch a movie." It didn't take long for you to select a DVD from the drawer of your desk, start the movie and get all twenty five kids settled at their desks. Once that was done, you turned off the lights, stepped out into the hall with your cellphone and immediately called your father.
"Dad, did you see that android broadcast?" You asked, when he picked up on the first ring.
"No, but Connor and I just heard about it. We're on our way to the station where it was recorded from to do an investigation now. I heard the schools are shutting down." He told you what he knew.
"Yeah, they told us to keep the kids in our classrooms and to only release them to humans. No android guardians, no exceptions." You informed him.
"Yeah, that's probably for the best." He agreed. "You should go right home once the kids are safe. Connor and I will be there as soon as we're done here."
"Are you...are you alright to be with Connor?" You were almost afraid to ask your father for fear you wouldn't like his answer, but it seemed old Hank Anderson could still surprise you.
"Connor? Yeah, he's not like these other fucking androids. He's not going around killing people and shit." Your father tried to comfort you. "I gotta go, we're almost at the broadcasting station. Stay safe kid, we'll be home in time for dinner."
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You were too shaken up from what had happened that afternoon to cook dinner. You figured it wouldn't be a problem since Connor didn't eat and your father was used to having take-out most of the time anyway. You thought about ordering a pizza so that it was ready to eat when the boys got home, but then you remembered that most pizza places utilized android deliverers and you weren't ready to be alone with an unfamiliar android. No matter how irrational that fear was. You opted instead to text your father and ask him to bring something home.
You turned on your father's T.V. as you so often did, but most of the news channels were only covering the android incident. The rest of the day time television was mostly fluff and fillers that couldn't hold your attention for more than a few minutes. With your head swimming, you had no choice but to reflect on the current situation in Detroit. An android uprising would not be a good thing. Whether androids were in fact a new form of intelligent life or if they were simply machines, a revolution could not end well for everyone. This was so much more than a few deviant androids
