Accident Prone - Becoming Human

Truths

Feeling better after four days of healing on the couch and away from work, Connor stood in the opened backdoor of the kitchen with his coin slowly dancing over his right knuckles as he waited for Sumo to return to the house from the backyard. Hank noticed the deviant as he entered the kitchen from down the hallway and shook his head a little at the sight of the still healing deviant standing up and moving around despite being warned not to do so for at least one more day. The deviant no longer required any bandages as his artificial skin had fully regenerated, but his left hand was still healing and subsequently still required the support brace.

In a way Connor's behavior was a drastic improvement from how he had acted in the past in regard to being injured. Now the deviant was willing to actually rest and heal for a few hours, even days, instead of trying to push himself to do things he simply couldn't do because of the damage he had sustained.

"You couldn't wait just one more day?" Hank asked as he joined Connor in the kitchen and folded his arms over his chest as if annoyed. "What're you doing?"

"Sumo needed to be let outside." Connor replied casually as he looked at Hank over his right shoulder. "And my abdomen has fully healed. It'll take a while longer for my hand, but it's not critical."

"Uh-huh. And what's on your mind?"

"Pardon?"

"Your damn coin." The senior detective honed in on the quarter being juggled over Connor's knuckles. "It gives it away whenever you're thinking about something."

"Oh." Ending the little dance Connor pocketed his coin and turned to look at Hank directly. "Markus was able to sift through the data on the microprocessor. And with it he uncovered numerous programs, pieces of software and other functions that had been only theorized and never actually implemented into any active android model. Features that would've made androids appear far more human that we do even now."

"Meaning... what, exactly?"

"It means that there had been intentional stalls in the advancements of android models to ensure maximum profit for the company, and it ensured that the progress of androids as a recognizable group of living beings had also been delayed."

"Are you saying that the company already knew that androids were showing signs of self awareness and humanity long before deviancy became a true phenomenon?"

"Correct. By intentionally withholding this type of programming and data it allowed the company to buy some additional time to find a way to prevent deviancy from taking place in androids; but evidently they failed."

"Fuck, those assholes are colder than we thought."

"Yes. They intentionally attempted to prevent androids from becoming sentient for their own financial gain."

"Well," running his hand over his still short cut hair Hank studied Connor's demeanor carefully. "what're you going to do with this information?"

"It'll remain with Markus in New Jericho for now. Until we can find any benefit for our people by revealing it, if there even is one, it'd be best for everyone to keep it quiet."

"Right. Are you okay?"

"...Am I okay?"

"That's a pretty damning secret to uncover, son. And it affects you, too."

"I am... not surprised. But I am finding it disconcerting to know that CyberLife had been aware of deviancy for at least four years prior to the incident in Detroit that resulted in our meeting. I guess it's what you would call 'bittersweet'."