Deviant Heart

Chapter 4: The Revival

November 6th, 2038 9:56 am

Connor blinked open his eyes, finding himself in his Mind Palace, the Zen Garden. He must go find Amanda and speak with her. Before he could get very far, something off to the side caught his eye. He walked closer to investigate.

It was a faux rock made of metal, and had a blue hand scanner on it. The faux rock rested below a real rock arch. It was some kind of magic stone. He started to gently lay his hand on it, but snapped it back when the machine made a popping noise. He continued his search, choosing to ignore the strange hand scanner for the moment.

Connor spotted Amanda standing on the large platform in the middle of the garden, so he made his way over to her, crossing a bridge to do so. Amanda was an older African-American woman, with black hair styled in a mohawk made of buns. She wore a long white tunic and white pants with white shoes, a blue scarf draped over her left shoulder. On her neck and forearms were a strange, white squared jewelry design. She had a look on her face that said 'You can never impress me, good luck.'

Connor stood behind her as he greeted her. "Hello, Amanda."

The woman looked over and gave a tiny smile to the prototype. "Connor... It's good to see you." He gave a small smile back.

Amanda looked back and smelled the roses she was caring for. "Your predecessor was unfortunately destroyed... It knew deviants could be unpredictable, but it wasn't careful enough... I hope you won't make the same mistake," she said to him.

"I don't intend to," Connor assured her.

Amanda turned around to fully face the android. "When a Connor model is destroyed, it's memory is transferred to the next one, but some data can be lost in the process. Avoid being destroyed," Connor gave a slight nod. "It will be better for you and for your investigation."

"I understand," Connor replied.

She turned back to her roses as she started questioning Connor. "The interrogation seemed... challenging... What did you think of the deviant?"

Connor decided to discuss how it was traumatized. "It showed signs of PTSD after being abused by its owner, as if its original program had been completely replaced by new instructions."

"This... Lieutenant Anderson has been officially assigned to the deviancy case along with his partner," Amanda changed the subject. "What do you think of him?"

Connor decided to give an unsure observation.

"He's obviously not what I was expecting. But, I don't have enough information yet to form a definitive opinion."

She gave a quiet hum. "And his partner? Detective Manfred? What do you make of her?"

Connor thought for a moment. How should he respond? Should he give her an intriguing answer? An unsure answer? An unpleasant answer? Or an uncaring answer?

Connor decided to give an intriguing answer.

"Detective Manfred is quite... Intriguing, and unique. She treats not only me, but other androids as though we were humans, not machines. It's quite odd."

Amanda is quiet a moment before turning to him. "Unfortunately, we have no choice but to work with them. What do you think is the best approach?"

Connor decided to answer in the "adapting" way.

"I will adapt to their personalities," he answered as Amanda turned back to her roses. "It is in the best interest of the investigation that I avoid conflict and try to accommodate the Lieutenant's psychology as well as the Detective's odd attitude."