Sleep Mode

Chapter 9

He could hear them, the voices. The curses and the anger. Connor could feel the cold snow hitting his artificial skin and he could see the blue liquid surrounding him. His senses alerting him that he still wasn't alone, as his skin crawled. His fear rising in his chest as he tried to push himself up from where he lay prone. His joints creaking and moaning from the lack of thirium flowing through them. His eyes adjusted to the dim light and he tried to will his arms to move. He did a scan of his body, trying to find the problem only to come up with none. Stress level rising 46%.

His panic increased as he tried to move, tried to speak, but no words came from his throat. His system was still working, nothing was wrong. Stress level rising 53%.  He could hear the crunching of the snow around him and he saw a familiar pair of shoes enter his vision. Relief flooded him, knowing Hank wouldn't hurt him.

A faint click caught his attention and his eyes rose up to meet the barrel of a gun. Hank's gun. Stress level rising 68%. Connor tried to speak again, only being able to mouth the words he wished to say. He wanted to beg, to cry, Hank was his friend. He wouldn't do this, this wasn't real. Connor kept replaying that thought over and over in his head anything to comfort himself from what he was seeing with his own eyes. He could feel the artificial tears as they started to stream down his face and Hank raised an eyebrow in response.

"You aren't alive. You're just a stupid android." Hank said as his grip tightened on the gun and more tears rushed from Connor's eyes. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, he couldn't fight back. Stress level rising 74%.

Connor shot up as the gun shot rang through his ears, making the blankets that were around him fall off the bed. Tears were streaming down his face, and he could feel himself shaking. Wrapping his arms around himself, he tried to get his artificial breathing under control. There was no snow, there was no thirium coating the ground. Shaking his head the world around him came into view as his eyes adjusted to the room. He was in the spare room, his uniform hung in the open closet and boxes of Cole's stuff were pushed to the left side of the room. The soft sound of the fish tank on the nightstand didn't make him feel any better.

Connor rubbed at his eyes as the tried to regain control of himself and force his stress level down. Throwing the remaining blanket off himself, he swung his feet off the end of the bed before putting his head in his hands. Stress level lowering 62%. He remained like that for a few moments before getting to his feet. Connor slowly opened the bedroom door, peeking out into the hallway noticing how dark the house was, Hank must have gone to bed. Slipping out of the bedroom, Connor glanced at the other bedroom's door noticing it was ajar. He hesitated for a moment before pushing on the old wooden door, noticing Hank fast asleep and wrapped up in his blankets. Sumo's eyes cracked open a bit from where the dog lay on the bed. Slowly, his head rose up getting the androids attention.

Connor shook his head before heading to the living room, taking care to be quiet. A small thud came from the bedroom causing Connor to stop as Sumo pushed the door the rest of the way open. Trotting over to the android he stopped his tail wagging as he waited for Connor to make a move. Reaching down Connor pat Sumo on the head before walking over to the couch. The Saint Bernard gingerly walked after jumping up on the sofa once the android had sat down. Running a hand over his face, Sumo partly laid on Connor trying to get the androids attention.

"I see you." Connor whispered as he scratched the dog behind the ear. Stress level lowering 51%. Grabbing the old remote that Hank needed to have, Connor flipped on the holographic television making sure it was muted. The news came on, and a woman came on the screen talking about an earthquake overseas. Connor turned his attention to Sumo as the dog licked his left hand as the right moved to scratch the canines neck. His shaking slowed and the tears were no longer falling, but it was obvious they had been.