He wrapped his coat around him better and walked along the fence line. The soldiers looked cold, watching the android camp. Connor wondered if he would see spring.
He found an area that was relatively concealed. There were a few androids nearby, but most of them were in standby mode. Connor sat against one of the boxes and stepped into the Zen Garden.
The weather inside the garden emulated the world outside, only with one difference. Connor could feel the cold here. He shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. He hadn't come here since he had been shot.
He walked forward, looking down the path. One way lead to the blue stone he now recognized as the emergency exit Kamski had installed. The other way lead to the graves of his past.
Connor was shocked to see Amanda standing, looking at the gravestones. She was wrapped in a thick shawl against the cold, but otherwise looked the same as always. Connor stepped beside her hesitantly.
"This is your legacy, Connor." She said, disappointed. "A row of failures, each more disappointing than the last."
Connor read each of the tombstones, reflecting on her words. Each one represented an iteration of himself. The first had been willing to throw himself from a building to accomplish his mission, but as time had continued, he had learned what it was like to truly be alive. With that had come the fear of death.
"Each time I died, I came back better than before." Connor said, his lips were numb from the cold. "Each new iteration of me was less and less under CyberLife's control."
Amanda's face darkened, her eyes warning him against speaking so freely. Connor was shocked by the anger it stirred up in him.
"You were the only person that mattered to me." Connor found himself saying. "I thought you cared about me, and wanted what was best for me. You were using me."
He had clung to her, trying to make her proud. Until recently, she had been everything to him. The only constant friend he had had. The only one to call him Connor. He had tried so hard to be what she wanted him to be.
"You were the most promising technology CyberLife had to offer." Amanda replied, still dignified. "If you had been able to overcome your deviancy, you would have changed android AI. We could have refined the process down, creating deviant-immune androids."
The thought of anyone else going through the same training he had made Connor feel sick. The thought of having millions of androids like him deployed across the world was even worse.
"That will never happen." Connor said. "Even if I die, and the androids are all destroyed, CyberLife will never have that kind of freedom. Not with my memories of it out in the open."
"You've spent less than 2 months integrated with humans, and you are already placing that much hope on them?" Amanda asked, raising an eyebrow.
"They can change, Amanda. I've seen them change." Hank Anderson, someone who hated androids, had changed. "There are good people out there."
"Like your Lieutenant Anderson?" Amanda asked. "A drunk who can't even take care of himself won't save you."
Connor shook his head. He couldn't feel his fingers and toes anymore. There was a cold wind, despite the lightness of the snowfall. He couldn't stand it for much longer. He needed to leave soon.
"You were made by Kamski." Connor said. "You were a program used to test AI in new models before they were finished being built."
Amanda narrowed her eyes at the change of topic. "Once CyberLife perfected their AI software, they recycled this program. Integrating my program into your system was a test to see if I could be used to help remove deviancy after it had affected an android."
"Than you've failed your mission, too." Connor looked back towards the exit. He needed to go. The cold was numbing his mind, and his cold face was making it difficult to speak clearly. "You're just like me, a program on borrowed time."
Amanda didn't seem to like the similarity. Connor didn't care. He hated her for what she had done to him. He didn't know why he had come back here. It was cold and reminded him of things he hated.
"Good bye, Amanda." Connor said, forcing himself to stand tall. "I won't be coming back here."
He turned and exited the program. Blinking at the harsh lights surrounding the camp, he was glad for the inability to feel cold. His body had accumulated snow, like others sitting nearby. He dusted himself off and went to walk the perimeter.
As he walked, he listened. Inside one of the tents, an android had started singing. It was becoming a more common occurrence. Connor listened somberly as he walked. The song was repetitive, more focused on the emotions it portrayed than the complexity of the words.
"Hold on just a little while longer. Everything will be alright."
Without the Captain
Beginne am Anfang
