SENTIENT

Ambition

"We found the girl," said Detective Tobias Rosenbauer, walking into the interrogation room for the last time. He looked in the eyes of the AX400 model. "It's game over, Grace."

As soon as she heard this, the prerecorded calmness of the android turned into a fire that ate away her state of sentience.

She snapped, crashing her skull that was made of poly-age steel, into Tobias's chin. He was taken aback by the force and fell against the one-way mirror.

"You think you can just beat me up and make me forget?! You're just like that bastard Vincent! Don't fucking touch me! Let me go!" She screamed as four officers dragged her away in cuffs.

Behind the interrogation room mirror, AJ flinched at the sight of this. Connor was there too and even he didn't see that coming.

This violent fits of rage was the reason that the Elliott's have sent their android, Grace, to a CyberLife store for a reset at least twice a month for the last three months.

Tobias walked through the door with a cut on his chin and a handkerchief that was stained red. He fixed his black suit, pushed back his ear-length brown hair to position. He smiled through the pain.

"Way to take one for the team," commented AJ.

"Do you mind if we...?" Tobias spoke to Connor, who understood and give them their space.

"I'll be right out the door," said Connor to AJ, who didn't want him to leave.

She was quick to break eye contact and distract herself with something; pack whatever files she scattered; unload the tapes and reseal them as evidence.

"Look, I know it's hard to trust in this thing that we do," said Tobias, who kept his respectful distance. "I'd be thankful if you would just give me a chance."

He placed his name card on a desk surface, close to where she was standing. Then, walked back to door. She had about five seconds to make up her mind.

"Tobias," she called. "I'm sure you're a good guy."

The drive they made home was the quietest trip they've ever had. AJ was a few blocks away from dropping off Connor. The first few blocks, she took time to think of reasons behind his change of behavior.

Perhaps it was something she said; perhaps she forgot to thanked him for breakfast; even though she remembered she did. Most likely it was the case. Two out of three cases so far, Connor has had to deal with innocent children involved in the tragedy.

"Was it the kids?" AJ finally spoke. She kept her eyes on the road but a few times glanced to see any reaction in his face or behavior.

"Hm?" He turned to AJ and looked at her indifferently.

She spoke in contrite, "Those children in there today, there must be countless of them out there, right?"

He responded flat, "I suppose it is unfortunate."

"Unfortunate?" She repeated. Here we go again, he's speaking words that he's programmed to say, instead of things he really wants to say.

"What do you mean unfortunate? It's awful. It's not supposed to happen. If people cared more, maybe we could've prevented things like this happening – don't you agree?"

The truth is, he was just tired. He's tired of getting inside other people's minds but not understanding what's inside of his own. He's tired of people doing sick and ugly things to vulnerable children. Instead, what came out of his mouth was something his social program made him say;

"It seems to me that the nature of your emotional behavior refrains you from acknowledging the statistics. These perpetrators will heinously abuse 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys before they turn eighteen."

"Emotional behavior?" She wondered when he started using that word.

"I think you can drop me off here," he said, two streets away from his stop.

At this point, Connor unbuckled himself from the passengers' seat and finally stepped out of the Chevy, "Have a good evening, detective."

He disappeared right around the corner, thinking he had proven himself that their ambitions do not align even if the same line of work. After sitting with the engine on for five whole minutes, she still did not get it.

He shut the curtains in the living room close and watch the Chevy drove off from the distance. From the concealment of his suit, he pulled out an item he never owned before. A book by Iain M. Banks titled Consider Phlebas. The one he had stolen from the attic.

The inside of AJ's motel room was best described as disorganized, but her mother would often prefer 'shipwreck'. She unbuckled her belt, unbuttoned her blouse and unhooked her bra. She slipped it out of the black camisole she was wearing and sat on the edge of the bed.

The television noise helps clear the ones inside her cranium. She wondered if she was wrong. She remembers her tendency to overwhelm people sometimes. She got it from her mother, but her father understood this. He might be the only one who had understood.

AJ finally saw the miscalls her mother left her and decided it was time to call her back. The receptionist on the other end of the line patched her to the phone line of the correspondent building, and then there was another receptionist, who would hand the phone to AJ's mother.

"So, you're finally returning my calls?" She started. "When are you going to come visit..."

"Mom, please... I can't... do this tonight. I just got back to my place..."

"I saw what happened on the news, Audrey. It's awful what happened to that poor girl," said Poppy on the phone. "You be careful with these... crooks. You never know when they're gonna get you alone."

"No, mom... I have a partner. Please, don't worry too much about me," said AJ over the speakerphone.

"You never told me about a partner. Well, you haven't told me about a lot of things."

"I'm sorry, mom... I haven't really got time to..."

"How's Detroit so far? Where are you staying? Don't tell me it's one of those filthy motels. Honey, you sound really... uptight."

"Is that... really?"

"This partner of yours, where are they from?"

"I don't know, mom... Detroit, I guess." The correct answer is probably CyberLife, but she didn't want to drag.

"Well, you two, take care of each other, you hear?" Poppy said, her voice dissolved into a cough.

"Mom, are you okay?"

"Yeah... I just... I think there's a flu coming around... I think I'll rest now."

"That's a good idea, mom. I should probably... do that too."

She sat in silence, thinking about getting back in the Chevy and driving back to her partner to sort through what he was going through. Or she could exacerbate the mess she's already done to this partnership.

At the end of the very long day, AJ changed into a clean white blouse, dark trousers, and fresh pair of socks under her boots. She always has her badge and weapon. All she needed was to grab her smartphone and wallet.

She dialed a strange number. The receiver of the call picked up quickly.

"Tobias, do you happen to know a good place to dine that's still open?"