[Moon Child] Escapism

[Number One]

One smiled a little as he finished with one cut and moved on to another. He carefully numbed it and began in on it, blinking once or twice before he answered. He nodded a little.

"Not all AHSE's are equipped with it..." he said quietly. "Most are only privvy to the files their owners allow them access to..." he paused again as he slid a particularly large piece of metal from her face. He grimaced and numbed her a little more just to make sure it didn't hurt. "I happen to be the property of the Doctor who created the AHSE's. So I'm privvy to whatever I see fit. I looked you up on the police archives, it listed you on the C.F.F. team. With honors," he noted, dropping another metal bit into the sink. He smiled. "I could know everything about you if I wanted...but I'd prefer to hear it from the source..." he said, tilting her head a little more to see better. He stayed quiet for a moment before he dropped another peice of metal.

"So you've...never owned one of us?"

[Kylie Alexander]

Kylie thought long and hard. She actually had been doing some soul searching for quite some time on her life, her job, how she saw people, how she thought people saw her...she wasn't really sure if she knew who she was anymore which was why she had been slightly ambivilant in how she lived her life anymore. How she worked. She knew it was stupid to think it, but she had been seeing something that made her want to think twice about what she did, despite knowing that these artificial creations were nothing but that, creations. For some reason it made killing them, er, destroying them a lot easier. But perhaps not as much as she would have liked.

"No." She answered after a long pause, the only sound comiing from small specks of metal dropping into the sink and the running water. This was an odd realization for her as she stood there next to him. He felt warm, like a person, he breathed like a human, he felt like one, he talked like one, looked like one, but in reality he wasn't. She had always been afar when nearing a bot, which also made things easier to do when working for if she were to get up close...she would have not wanted to harm them, not after seeing how real they looked.

"I never saw a need to own one."

[Number One]

One smiled a little. He nodded a little as he worked.

"Most people use us to take care of their house, do their job for them," he said, giving her examples. "I and some of my friends have been utilized as sexual companions. I suppose our uses are limitless, if your mind is limitless..." he paused, rinsing off his tweasers before turning back to work again. "Although..." he said thoughtfully. "I appreciate those who find no need for us. It helps."

He didn't exactly know why it helped. But inside of him, he felt that it did. Helped their cause, helped them survive...something. It was a new emotion he couldn't explain. Maybe he would ask her about those later.

"Are you hurting too badly? Do you want me to wait for a moment so you can stand and get some air?"

[Kylie Alexander]

Kylie bit her lower lip as she felt her back slightly ache, but figured she'd felt worse before in her life. She answered his question with a 'no' and wanted him to continue working. She didn't know why but this little moment was allowing her to be insightful and see how she reacted with another AI, who she wasn't actually going to shoot. It kind of relieved her, knowing that she wasn't going to do anything to the AI, sorta.

Suddenly she laughed lightly.

"Guess I needed one for the facial mess." That was true, but it was an uncomfortable truth. Uncomfortable because she was expecting to give him something in return for helping her when she was turning them into the dogs of the CFF. Men who could really not care about life, mechanical or not. But then again, she didn't either...sorta.

"So, like, you are used as a sex robot?" She laughed lightly. Why was that so funny? Perhaps because they had more control over what they did, hell they might have even been able to be better than a man, or woman, in bed. Now that was something she would have loved to have checked out...well before this whole artificial being war took over.

[Number One]

One nodded, although he didn't understand why it was humorous. He continued picking out the little tiny piecies of metal. If he didn't get them all out, they would fester and it would be the worse for her.

"Yes, I suppose you could say that," he said, matter-of-factly. As far as he knew, it wasn't anything to be ashamed of. But then again, he didn't really know any better. He leaned a little more forward to see better. He magnified his vision again to see the little peices of metal on the skin. "We--well, my model--was equipped with the hardware, sensors, internal workings, outer organs, and electrical signals in the brain mechanism to respond to arousal, perform the operation, and achieve the muscular contractions necessary for sexual intercourse," he explained scientifically, but a little absentmindedly as he continued to concentrate on his task. Then he chuckled just a little. "Mind you, most of sex is the general 'idea' and mechanics of it, half of us don't even know how to do it unless we are shown..."

He moved on to the third cut on her face, somewhere near her chin and ran water over it with his fingers. He chewed his bottom lip as his mind wandered a little. He furrowed his brow a little.

"And some human simply can't find companionship. Some of us are programmed to be companions specifically...not all of us, but some of us..." he continued to explain. "Are you alright?"

[Kylie Alexander]

Kylie listened intently, as if she could do anything else, and found him very interesting to be talking with. He was nothing like she had perceived, well AI's in general. He was something completely opposite of what she had figured and it was a startling insight for her, but a good one at that. In a way, that is. If people she worked with knew what she was doing at that moment she would be dead before she could even explain the incident. She sighed out and shook her head, furrowing her brow slightly.

"You make it sound so uninteresting, you know." She grinned and looked over at him, which she realized wasn't the best idea she had had all day. He was too human, she could swear she saw a pulse on the side of his neck, that she wasn't looking into artficial eyes, that he wasn't full of internal wiring and mechanical substances.

"I am fine." She responded when the question registered. She began to think that perhaps they weren't all that bad. What he was doing was incredible, but she could see the threat of many nurses and doctors losing their jobs over something like him, but in a way they could have been able to live in unity and work together, right? She was not liking how her mind was working at that moment, it was too close to being sympathetic for him and that was practically against the law.

"You look so damn real." She said mindlessly, but it was a true statement. It was so true that it bothered her. Bothered her because she might have developed a little attraction for his face.

[Number One]

One laughed a little, looking down into her eyes and blinking a few times. He turned attention back to the last cut on her face as he worked and he nodded a little.

"Well, I am made from real substances, modeled after real humans. My skin was grown from human cells, as were my eyes and every other real organ in my body," he said, nodding a little. "My brain and heart are the only true artificials...well, and my skeleton. My bones are actually reinforced steel, and other various metals I would bore you to talk about...again," he said, smiling as he carefully rinsed her cut. He shook his head. "For all the work the Doctor put into me, I ought to look pretty real."

Slowly, One slipped out the last peice of metal he saw, and dropped it into the sink rinsing the tweasers and then her face, squeezing her neck just a little to indicate she could stand straight. He quickly washed his hands with soap and then stood straight to look at her.

"You might want to put ice on those, to keep them from swelling. And clear stitches will certainly not hurt you," he said, tucking hair behind his ear and blinking his eyes slowly. He paused in what he was saying as he looked at her. She didn't look like she would turn them in...but she did work for the C.F.F. and he had learned never to trust anyone who worked for them. They would as soon shoot an AI as look at them.

"I apologize I don't have any liquid stitches with me. All of my belongings got left as the last building we inhabited..."

[Kylie Alexander]

Kylie stood as soon as she felt him squeeze. She groaned out slightly, feeling as if her back was about to break, but knowing it wasn't going to do any such thing. She rubbed a small ache and looked over at him as he talked, which she actually enjoyed hearng, it had been something intelligent and nice, which she rarely heard with the people she hung out with. They always seemed to never stop talking about how much they hate this, or that, how they want to kill everyone or hurt something. Quite a switch.

"That's okay." She said with a soft sigh. Was she going to do it? Was she really going to turn them in? By law she had to, but spending a little time with the robot she kind of got to see who he was, or programmed to be, and she was impressed. She frowned. What was she thinking? She had a duty for her country! Her job! Her safety! Certainly that considering what had just happened.

"You can go into the living room." She said with a nod. "I have something I have to do." She grabbed a paper towel and wiped away the wetness on her face. She tossed it into the sink and turned around, walking back into the hall to her small closet. She couldn't turn on her friends, her work, her country...her governent. The law was set in stone and she had to. She reached down and grabbed another small handgun she kept for personal use and quickly cocked it before standing up from hre kneeling position. She shut the door and walked swiftly back to the kitchen and out the patio doors.

Kylie felt bad for doing this, but she had to, if not for everything she stood for then at least for her own safety in the unstable future of that damned robot. She lifted her right hand that held her gun and pointed it at the body as she walked, finding the head of the robot and quickly began firing one right after the other, shooting the being in the head, the chest, anywhere she figured life might still have crept through it.

[Number One]

One heard the shots from where he stood and his stomach turned inside out. Despite fatigue, despite mental tire, he tore through the house and out the patio door, tripping on the door stop.

He heard the wires and bullets clashing before he saw it. He leapt off of the porch and towards the woman with the gun, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her away, bending over the torn, broken, sparking, bleeding body of his once companion. His eyes didn't believe what they were processing. The woman he had just saved had killed a helpless being that was no threat to her. An AI who just needed help.

One didn't understand the emotion he was feeling. It was a pressure in his chest, it was a watering of his eyes, and his face felt hot suddenly, flushing red as he clenched his jaw and turned around to the human woman with the gun. He looked up the description of the emotion and realized, as the warm drops of salt and water slid from his eyes, that he was furious.

"What was that?" he asked, his voice oddly calm, even though he wasn't feeling calm. He stared at the woman so hard he was sure he was going to burn a hole in her face. "What was that!?" he screamed. So loud in fact, that he hurt his own ears. He pointed at the body of Twenty. "That AI was my friend! She wasn't hurting you, she wasn't hurting anyone! She needed my help! Not bullets in her!"

He swallowed, his mind a race of thoughts and emotions as he wiped hard at the tears that were now on his face.

"She can feel, you know! She felt those bullets," he said. "Would you shoot a human with a broken leg?! So why would you shoot an AI with a broken circuit?" he shook his head. "C.F.F. or not, I saved your life. The least you could have done was shoot me! I could at least try to defend myself which is more than she could do..." he said.

One was very much aware that if he wanted to, he could probably take care of this woman in no time flat. He stepped forward with hate in his body before he realized that he didn't want to. Unlike this woman, he wouldn't hurt her just because he could. He shook his head, stood back and held out his hands.

"Finish it then," he said. "Go ahead and get rid of me too, since I can't be allowed to roam free anymore. God forbid, I save any other human being's life," he shoved past her, not caring if she shot him in the back, head, leg, whatever. He was getting the other robots and they were leaving. If not peacefully, than by force.

[Kylie Alexander]

Kylie suddenly felt remorse for her quickened thoughts of death and destruction, after all it was what she was trained to do! Plus it wasn't very good having a robot lying idle on her lawn. Enforcement could have spotted it on their random searches from the air and located it. That would have caused major drama with them searching her home and finding them all there. Then, she feared, seh would have made up some elaborate story on how they broke into her home. She felt guilty suddenly when he said those things to her, like a scolded child.

"I am sorry!" She said to him point blank with a sudden urgency in her voice. She sighed out and walked closer to the AI, biting her lower lip."The problems that this woman caused me is much more than you will know..." She tried to figure out what to call this man, robot, thing. Number One was just not very fitting. "I am sorry, truly, but you need to understand the position I am in! If I drop my gaurd who knows what could happen!"

[Number One]

One wheeled around, a finger pointed in her face.

"That is the one flaw in humans I am glad I didn't inherit. You can't think of anybody else's plight. It is me, myself, and I. With all of you. Did you wonder, for just one nanosecond, what kind of trouble we might be in?" he stopped for a minute, motioning to the dead body on her lawn.

"We've been running for weeks from you people who want nothing more than to see us die," he said, his heart mechanism spinning so fast, it was making his chest hurt. "My race is dying, and nobody cares! Extinction. The condition or fact of being extinct. Do you understand that? None of us, anywhere. You've won! We're a dying breed! Eventually, we'll have to die out on our own! Can't you just let the rest of us die in peace?!"

One watched her, breathing hard. He shook his head, throwing his hands up and turning back to the house, walking towards it with resolution. He glanced over his shoulder.

"You're a murderer. You always will be. Sorry just isn't enough, Kylie Alexander."

[Kylie Alexander]

Kylie had never been put in her place before, especially by a robotic human being who had taken over the world at one point. It was very true, sort of, she did care which was why she was feeling guilt over her sudden and impulsive actions. Her heart raced and she felt like she had just been scolded by her mother after doing something so simple.

She looked at the robot and sighed out. He definitely had resentment towards the humans, and with good reason! She was literally helping these humans destroy such magnificent creations. It took him to make her see that, but she had been, however, contemplating on reasons to leave the force. Afterall, in the end, when all of the AI's were captured and killed, she'd be out of a job.

"Number One!" She called out, the name not really settling with her. "I know you are angry, but she attacked me, it was self defense. Sorta." She sighed. "I understand your anger and I understand what you are going through! I have been dealing with these things as they come. I am a murderer, yes, but people change!" She wasn't sure if he'd understand that or not, but it was true. She did want to change, she did want to do something else, she did want to find the good in these creations.

"You just have to help me, help you, okay? No more killings! I swear on my own life. You just have to help me."

[Number One]

One paused in his step and then stopped. He could hear the guilt, and the desperation in her voice. But he was so conflicted. He didn't trust any human, but the man who had made him and loved him unlike any other human had ever done. Every other human had run from him, spit on him.

For a long moment, he stood still, his eyes fixed on the door of her home, where the other AI's were lined up, looking at him with big, frightened, lonesome eyes. They hadn't seen compassion for so long, he doubted they even remembered the definition of the word. His face, hardened from anger, slowly and hesitantly fell, saddened and disheartened. He didn't know what to do anymore. He had once been the one AI the others looked up to, the one who knew everything. But now? He was just another piece of scrapmetal that didn't know which way was right and which was left.

Slowly, he turned around to look at the woman, his head shaking a little. He held out a hand as if trying to make her see things from his eyes.

"I want to believe you. I want to believe you so badly, it hurts..." his eyes flicked to his dead companion, and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. When he opened them, he shook his head. "But after that? How can I trust you? I took a chance, I helped you, I trusted you, and you killed my friend. Who's to say that won't be me next time? Or one of the others?" he stopped, dropping hand and taking in a deep breath. Casting his eyes downward, he reached up and rubbed his sleep-deprived eyes. After another long moment, he looked up at her and set his jaw.

"Second chances, I do not favor..." he said quietly. "But because I think I see good in you...I'll do my best to trust you." One scowled. "But if worse comes to worse and you betray us...come death to us all, I'll see you are repayed for what you do," he warned. He motioned to the body. "Now help me move her, so we don't bring the Hounds on your head."

[Kylie Alexander]

Kylie was relieved and was satisfied for once in her life. She sighed out with happiness and smiled, it was a small price to pay for damaging a friend of his. It was revenge, but now it didn't feel like it it was just murder. She tossed the gun aside, trying to proove her loyalty once more and she nodded turning quickly to begin picking up the pieces of the AI that lie on the ground. She wanted to at least keep some decency to her name, what was left of it anymore, and figured if she could bury this object it should be with every part that had been manufactured, just like a human and its remains.

"I can lock the doors after this and you all can sleep in my guest bedrooms, if you wish, I only have two, but the beds are large enough." She looked over at the robot and smiled. "I don't know how you sleep, but if you were a human I would say you looked very tired." She stopped and glanced over at everyone peering at her from her own house, all like lost children.

"They do, too." She sighed out and looked back at the woman's remains. "I have a small shed a few yards, we will put her there. You have to tell me what we should do. If my friends come by, I will have to hide you. I cannot let them know you are here or else, we'll all be dead."

[Number One]

One nodded as he listened and helped her with the parts of his friend, hefting up the majority of the AI and holding her in his arms. He followed Kylie to the shed as she opened it.

"Yes," he confirmed. "We are tired. We've been at this for days now...keeping to the woods mostly..." he grunted a little as he laid Twenty down gently in front of a box and helped arrange her parts around her. He straightened and looked at Kylie. "The guest rooms should work well enough..." he paused a moment. "We'll all be shut down, so we won't be making any noise, you won't know we're in the house." He stepped back out of the shed so allow her to shut and lock it securely.

"As for the scenerio of your friends coming by, most of can fit in rather tight spaces--we don't feel any sense of claustrophobia--so it shouldn't be too hard to hide us. And if we must, we can make a silent escape into the woods behind your house, so even if they do suspect, you can honestly tell them you don't know where we went..." he paused. "We aren't here to get you in trouble, so we will do all we can to move on quickly so you won't have to be bothered by us...if you would just keep us a secret for a day or two, we should be recharged by then and ready to leave."

[Kylie Alexander]

Kylie locked the door and nodded at his words her mind hard at work. How could she help these beings out? Apparently they were more advanced than anyone had perceived them being. It was highly interesting and it proved that they had endless amount of information, how could they want to destroy these things? How could she? She needed to quickly resign from the CFF. Spend time doing something much more fulfilling in her life.

"I can see what I can do to help you all that I can, okay?" She turned and looked at him, his large eyes sending a shock through her system. She hadn't realized how big and bright they were until they were out in the moonlight. He was rather stunning, if she could say so herself.

"I can give you money, or..anything. Why don't we just think about this tomorrow, okay? Go sleep." She smiled and gave him a pat on the back and she turned towards the house. She knew that developing friendly relationships with these beings could cause her a big problem both now and in the long run. If she grew attached she might run away with them. She grinned. That would be something she'd do.

[Number One]

Number One obeyed and made his way back into the house. He clicked and cooed to the other AI's--their own computer language--telling them to follow him, that they could all clean up and figure a plan the next morning.

He easily found his way to the two guest rooms, sending two into one and he and Sixty-Five in the other room. He sent Sixty-Five to the bed before him, letting the younger boy lay down and rest. The sound of him shutting down was light and barely audible except to Number One. He watched the boy rest for a long moment, as he stood in the doorway of the guest room, listening to the woman moving around downstairs, the sound of a light going off idicating to him that she was probably going to go to sleep herself.

The moonlight streamed through a window at the end of the hall, and it poured right in on One's face, as he watched the bright white orb in the sky. He didn't want to sleep for fear of what might happen if he did, but he was so tired.

After a long debate with himself, he shut the door, stripped off his shirt and pants, and snuggled down next to Sixty-five, slowly shutting down, his breathing evening and his eyes closing. He was asleep within moments.

[Kylie Alexander]

Kylie wasn't able to sleep. She tried many many times and ended up failing. She was actually going to disobey the oath she took when she began working for the government and for the CFF. She would be tortured and killed herself if anyone found out about her aiding these robot runawayys, but how could people not realize it was highly unethical. Then again she had been unethical as well, up until she finally witnessed herself that these beings could feel and that what they were doing was turning this into a game of cat and mouse.

She sighed out and tried to close her eyes to sleep, but when she did all she saw was the face of Number One. His pretty eyes that held so much emotion, more than it should have for an artificial being. He moved her in a way that she would probably regret when she herself was getting killed over this. Damn her conscience and damn her for being drawn in by his appealing charm and mysteriousness. She wanted to understand the AI's and she was willing to risk her own life for them.

That had better gone appreciated when put on trial.

[Number One]

When One woke up in the morning, it was to Sixty-five rustling around in a drawer nearby, that seemed to have clothes in it that the woman had put there what seemed a long time ago. The other AI was investigating the place in the sunlight. One smiled a little and stretched.

He sat up, got up, and then moved past his friend to go to the bathroom and take a shower. Some people found it hard to beleive that he would shower, they all seemed to be under the impression that he would rust. But his metal was on the inside, and would not rust, even if he wanted it to. So showers were necessary to keep him from smelling.

When he finished, he walked back out into the room, changing into the only other clothing he had, which was a pair of jeans and a t-shirt he had managed to grab and stuff in a bag as he had run away from the last place they had been. Sixty-five was nowhere to be found, and One could only imagine that he had gone downstairs to either eat, or explore a little more.

One crept out into the hall. The other AI's were still asleep and One could only imagine that Kylie was too. He walked slowly down the stairs in bare feet, looking around for Sixty-five. He didn't see the younger AI first off, but instead was getting a better look at Kylie's house in the daylight, and with rested eyeballs. It was a nice house, though he didn't want to explore too much without her permission.

"Sixty-five?" he whispered, looking around. "Don't touch anything."

[Kylie Alexander]

Alexander yawned, dishelved from her horrible nights rest. She had a nightmare about being killed and when she woke up she had a horrible stomach pain, she figured it was from hunger so she figured she could go try to find something to eat before the others woke up, however she hadn't planned on having them roaming around her house at 10 that morning after such a late night.

Sadly, she was mistaken, and literally almost screamed at the sight of Number One. She had forgotten almost what it was like to have someone in her home. She sighed out lowly and held her hand on her chest and walked towards him.

"Morning." She whispered lowly, not wanting to give him a start as well since his back was turned towards her. "Who are you whispering for? Someone lost?" She raised and eyebrow. That would be entertaining for the morning. A game of hide and seek, find the robot! She smiled lightly and opened the fridge. Why wasn't she more alarmed than this? Why was she so calm? Normally a stranger in her home would cause her great distress, but she figured it had to do with the fact that her stress levels were so high that it was numbing to her.