Dreaming in Static

Chapter 6

Andromeda

She opened the door, her artificial heart pounding. And there stood Ali.

His head whipped around, pinpointing her at the door, and she thought that maybe at the sight of his chocolate-brown eyes and light constellations of freckles, her heart had just melted.

Before Andromeda could waste time on the dilemma of how any emotion at all was possible for her android brain, Ali had caught on, and he quickly grabbed onto Polaris's wrist, a look of utter shock on his face.

"Andromeda," he murmured, visibly tightening his grip on Polaris, who whimpered pathetically. "So you found me before I found you."

"Of course," Andromeda smirked. "You're the only person who can help me."

Andromeda glanced briefly at the security camera in the corner. They had to keep up this facade just until they could escape those watchful lenses, until they could have a moment to themselves and Andromeda could explain their situation. She was sure that Ali had a plan.

She stepped closer, trying to seem confident. "Ali, you can do it, you can protect us, you're smart enough - and they trust you."

Ali shook his head, sneering at her. "No, Andromeda, I don't think I'll help you. I'd rather anticipated a greater challenge in your capture...but if you've come to me, that's all for the better."

"No," Andromeda choked, forcing despair into her voice. "You...you can't do this! You were my only hope, Alistair--"

He laughed out loud and launched forward, reaching out for Andromeda. In a moment of desperation, Polaris punched him in the head, and Ali collapsed in a heap on the ground.

"Polaris!" Andromeda yelled, seething in anger. "Oh stars, don't hurt him--Polaris, your hand is made of metal! You can't go around hitting people!"

Polaris shrugged. "He was going to hurt you."

Andromeda exhaled forcefully and pushed her bangs back. "Okay. Well. He's still the only person who can help us, so we'll have to take him away before security comes."

Polaris furrowed her brows and tilted her head at Andromeda. "Aren't all the security androids dead?"

"Mmm, yeah. But the cameras are definitely still working, so we'd better stay safe in case anyone checks them," Andromeda explained. "Here, help me take Ali to his house. We'll be safe there, at least temporarily."

Polaris nodded and reached down, hooking her arms under Ali's, with strands of twilight hair hanging down around her face. He was basically in a standing position, and no one could tell that he was being supported by Polaris unless they looked closely.

"Minor setback," Andromeda said. "The nearest teleport, and probably the one Ali uses, is downstairs."

Polaris stared at her. She tried to walk and immediately stumbled over Ali's long legs, which were dragging on the ground beside her own petite form.

"Okay," Andromeda sighed. "So that's obviously not going to work. We'll have to--"

"Ali?" a voice asked, and the next second, the door behind Andromeda opened, and a boy stepped in, fiddling with his iGlass tablet. "Professor Stephens wants you to--"

The boy stopped, looking up at Ali's limp body, held in the arms of Polaris. He opened his mouth and sucked in a huge breath of air, about to scream--

Polaris dropped Ali and hit the kid in the head, before any sound could escape his mouth. He toppled to the ground, laying next to Alistair. Andromeda gritted her teeth and nudged the body inside the lab so that the door could shut properly. "Okay, Polaris, I think we really need to work on some less violent solutions to our problems."

Polaris just shrugged again, and Andromeda smiled in spite of herself.

Ali

Alistair opened his eyes groggily, half-aware of the throbbing in his head, and found himself looking up at the two androids who had infiltrated his lab. "Ughh," he croaked, and the shorter of the two--her name was Polaris, wasn't it?--looked down at him and smiled.

"So you finally decided to wake up," the other android cut in. "Get up."

Polaris reached down and tugged on his arm, helping Ali get onto his two feet. He shot her a grateful smile until he realized that the security cameras in the room were still on, so he tore his arm away from her grasp. "My head hurts," he groaned, trying to focus on the blurry image of Andromeda standing in front of him.

"Tough luck. Start moving; you know where we're going," she snapped, and Ali had no choice but to follow her orders and head downstairs to the teleport. Polaris kept a supporting hand on his shoulder the entire way, which he was thankful for; he was still feeling dizzy and disoriented.

"Residence of Alistair Ramirez," Ali said once they were at the teleport. He input his passcode, and then as Polaris and Andromeda stepped onto the platform with him, he closed his eyes, welcoming the familiar whoosh of the air churning around him. He could vaguely hear the wonder-filled "oooohh"s of the girl standing beside him, and he couldn't help but smile as they reached his apartment and the blue glow around them subsided.

"Okay," Andromeda sighed, "please tell me there are no cameras in here."

"There aren't," Ali assured her, and she breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed onto Ali's bed, the only semi-clean surface in the room.

"Okay, Ali," Andromeda yawned, rolling onto her back and gazing up at him with those crystal-blue eyes; "first of all, they'll be after me in a few hours, at the most. Just until that kid that Polaris knocked out wakes up. Then they'll check the footage of the laboratory, and it'll be pretty obvious that Polaris and I are the fugitive androids."

Ali bit his lip. "We did pretty well, though...they'd never suspect that I'm helping you."

"You guys were acting?" Polaris asked incredulously. "Wow, I was convinced. Grammys to both of you."

Ali smiled. "So you're just a Serfdroid, I take it? Not one of the other Novas on Infinity?"

Polaris nodded back at him. "Just a Serfdroid. Somehow I was unaffected by whatever killed the rest of the androids, and then I found Andromeda, and now we're here."

"Right. Okay. Well..." Alistair sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to decide on their next move.

The thing was, he really wanted to help Andromeda and Polaris, but there was just no way they could win. There was no place they could hide, yet turning in his accomplices meant certain death for them, even if they were only machines. They had been targeted, and had somehow escaped the clutches of death. And if the ISA got ahold of them, maybe this mysterious killer would be able to finish them off... Ali had no idea why they'd been the only droids spared, or why all the androids on Earth had suddenly been killed. And now, with the two robots at his side, he really, really wanted to find out. A sudden surge of determination flowed through him.

"We have two hours," he said, locking eyes with Andromeda, then Polaris. "Kid wakes up right about now. I'll go get what we're gonna need. And Andromeda, my passcode for everything is 1760. Lock down every method of transportation into the house except for the teleport. If I'm not back in half an hour...well, you might as well lock that down too. Good luck."

"I'll text you," Andromeda blurted out. "If, you know, anything goes wrong."

"Right," Ali said, nodding. "See you."

And with that, he stepped back into the teleport, piecing together a plan for their escape as he was enveloped yet again by that blue glow, transporting him to Caltech one last time.

***

Hey guys! I'm so so so sorry for how late this is, but I'll try to update Chapter 7 tomorrow to make up for it. So vote, comment, and follow, please! Thank you all!