Chapter 10: Break-In

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The dull yellow text on the window changes from it's previous message of: 'on course' to 'arrived at destination' as Connor opens the door to the automatic taxi and exits, ignoring the chirpy feminine voice thanking him for using the service. Once again, it's raining, and water falls from the dark sky despite it only being 07:42pm, though the lack of light is fairly understandable considering the time of year.

Connor steps towards the front door, shoes clacking on the driveway as he walks up to it. He knows from his experience last timeline that the lieutenant wouldn't be answering the doorbell due to being heavily passed out and lying on the floor of the kitchen. Since Connor didn't really fancy having to explain and be responsible for the broken window again, instead of making his way around the side of the house, he instead crouches down and begins to pick the front door's lock. He's not in any particular rush to get inside at all, since he knows for a fact that the lieutenant is just drunk and not in any danger. Or at least he shouldn't be. But Connor doesn't see any reason why this particular situation would have changed any from last timeline. So he takes his time with the mechanism, but even then it only takes a couple of minutes before the door is swinging open.

He takes in the sight of the lieutenant from his space at the porch, who is, as expected, passed out on the floor of the kitchen. But is interrupted by the dog, Sumo, coming up to him curiously, obviously not sensing an ill-intent from the android. Connor's metaphorical heart fills with joy and he leans down, brushing his fingers through the St Bernard's fur, who grunts happily and leans into the touch. A lot of android models were not actually outfitted with touch-sensitivity technology, merely feeling textures and touches as a slight pressure, however, the RK800 models were in fact, given the ability to feel physical sensations almost exactly how humans did due to their sophisticated artificial sensors. To be perfectly honest, at least to Connor, the technology didn't really make much of a difference to his investigations, but he found himself thankful for the additions nonetheless. Linking with other androids, such as the WG700s, sensing how they felt touch as a light pressure with no distinction between textures or temperatures, Connor found himself feeling slight sympathy for them. Should this whole 'going back in time to fix everything' actually end up with androids winning, Connor would have to make a mental note to change that, come up with an upgrade that would allow them to feel touch as he did.

Deciding that he's left the lieutenant unconscious for long enough, Connor stops petting Sumo and stands up, making his way into the kitchen and crouching besides the human. Funnily enough, a quick scan reveals that the lieutenant actually has less alcohol in his system than he did the previous timeline, but Connor doesn't have the time to try and figure out the (probably) insignificant reason why that is, instead just pushing it to the back of his processor and giving the human a shake to try and rouse him. As funny as slapping him would be, he should really be getting going, the Eden Club androids might not stay there much longer. While that would usually be an okay thing for Connor, since they escaped and that's what he wants, he feels that leaving two almost-naked sex androids loose in Detroit with nowhere to go might be a bad idea, he doesn't want them to get hurt, or worse. He wants to help them, but he can't do that if he's late and they've already left like he knows they're planning to.

Slowly, Connor wraps an arm under the lieutenant's shoulder and lifts him up, ignoring the human's half-hearted grumbling as he shifts the man's weight onto his own back. The lieutenant is decently heavy, but nothing that Connor can't handle. Wasn't built to handle? Whatever. On the way to the bathroom the lieutenant's angry, drunken muttering turns into a yell of "Sumo! Attack!" and in response, Sumo barks, a deep sound that rattles inside Connor's audio processors. Causing the lieutenant to slur a "good dog" before once again pitching his voice up and yelling "attack!" Connor, who had completely forgotten this string of events from his old timeline, startles both the lieutenant and himself when he lets loose a short burst of laughter. The lieutenant turns his face towards Connor's, expression puzzled.

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