You're very protective. [ It's not said reproachfully. ] Of course, that is what your model is designed for.
My tools are all this way, [ he says pleasantly, stepping off down the hall. He speaks over his shoulder as he leads them into his house. ] How long did you wait before looking for help here? I imagine I wasn't your first stop.
My model was designed to be meek and nurturing, not to disobey just to save a life.
[ Kara may have been programmed to care for young children, but what she feels for Alice is love, no matter what Kamski says, love can't be written into code. Kara is alive, and that's where the difference lis.
She follows, absently rubbing Alice's back, hating that she's here at all. The fact is, she'd contacted Markus for help first, but all he'd said was it'd take more technical expertise than anyone he knew had to offer. It's a new virus, and one they're working hard to find a fix for, but in the meantime, only CyberLife could possibly help.
Then Connor had mentioned Kamski, explained who he was, why he might be her best bet. Kara was ready to feel uncomfortable coming here, but there's no real way to prepare to meet someone lile this, who looks at the revolution and its aftermath like some game he's watching unfold after setting a few things into motion. ]
Two days: the day she first got sick, and today, when she... she won't wake up. [ It all happened so fast, and yet it feels like too long. ] You're not gonna hurt her, are you?
[ She'll be whole again, when this is over, memories intact, the same Allce Kara has always known? ]
[ Kamski makes a thoughtful, but not disagreeing, sound. He turns to look at her and then keeps walking, past the pool and now through a doorway, deeper into his house. Everything is sleek and relatively sparse - if there's normal household items anywhere, they must be tucked inside the drawers. Or the walls themselves, perhaps. ]
Androids don't feel physical pain the way humans do. But I can't guarantee that it won't cause her system some stress. [ Surprise, they're not going into a murder-basement! The lab that Kamski is leading them into is on the ground floor, although there's no windows. He's not looking at Kara much anymore - he's reaching into a white, panel-less drawer and bringing out a small box. Presumably tools.
The rest of the room is appallingly futuristic, especially compared to what they just walked through. White walls, metal tables. Tall machines that Kara may or may not recognize as being used in the CyberLife warehouses to physically build the androids - long arms with multiple joints. ]
If you could put her on one of the tables, that would be wonderful. [ One of the stainless steel operating tables, of course. There's several. One of them already has the upper torso of an apparently-deactivated android on it. There's a silent Chloe on another, LED off. ]
[ It's not a murder basement, but it's still a creepy lab. The pristine cleanliness of it all isn't any less unsettling than Zlatko's basement. In some ways it's worse, though she can't quite place why.
Kara chooses the table farthest away from the other androids, kissing Allce on the top of the head before laying her neatly on the table. There's a atory like this: Abraham putting his only son down on an altar to sacrifice, because his god told him to. An act of faith, a test of his devotion. Kara doesn't feel that Kamski is her god, and this isn't some test; it's the result of hatred. Even so, she'd like it if someone were to intervene and save Alice without demanding a price. ]
I don't know how much longer she has. [ She gently takes Alice's hand; it stays limp in hers.
Neither do I. [ Isn't that reassuring. Kamski comes over with his small box of screw drivers and spare wires, all neatly compartmentalized. He places it on one of the little wheeled metal tables, tugs it over to his side.
He comes forward towards Alice's table, opposite Kara, his hands folded in front of himself.
Calmly, without so much as a sarcastic gleam in his eye: ] May I touch her?
[ That may not be comforting, but she appreciates the honesty. Overconfidence could result in Alice's death, and that's-- she's not sure she could handle that.
And for all that Kamski is a deeply unsettling man, Kara understands that he's not asking inappropriately. She came to him for help, but he's still respecting the two of them. It actually calms her a little bit. ]
Yes.
[ She keeps holding Alice's hand, watching him work. ]
Thank you. [ Still polite, still a creepy eccentric who's about to perform android operation in his pajamas. Kamski doesn't immediately touch her even now - he leans forward, looking from LED down. It's cycling soft and slow, showcasing a low-power mode. It's also yellow, which is no surprise.
He grips her head first, thumb on one temple and fingers on the other, tilting it forward a bit. There's no resistance, no triggered automatic responses.
Kamski makes a small, thoughtful sound. He looks up at Kara, still bent over the table: ] Would you deactivate her skin for me, please?
[ Kamski could easily do it himself, but this is the opposite of a power play; he assumes Kara will be more at-ease if she does it. ]
[ Alice's LED had been off for as long as Kara can remember; she and Luther decided to turn it on again as soon as Alice stopped being responsive, because it's the only way to be sure she's not-- that she hasn't shut down.
She'd sooner trust an android surgeon, but Kamski is the best option abailable to her, so she nods, reaching out wordlessly to deactivate Alice's synthetic skin. ]
Should I take off her clothes too?
[ She may not look it, but she's nervous, her thirium pump regulator pounding in her chest. ]
[ It's a common procedure; Kamski himself has reactivated removed LEDs in the past in order to monitor the most basic of what passes as vitals, for androids.
The difference being, of course, that removing the LED doesn't kill them. ]
You might need to. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. [ There's more than one way to skin an android, apparently. Kamski tilts Alice up on her side; he glances behind himself a moment, takes a small roll of electrical tape from his bag of equipment, and puts it under her head. It might look like a crude pillow, but more importantly, it keeps her head steady for him.
He depresses a few panels, and with a small pneumatic hiss, the back of Alice's head opens. He examines it for only a moment before reaching right in, clearly comfortable with whatever he's attempting to do. ]
I'm going to physically connect her to a computer that I can use to gain access to information about her functions. It's the quickest way for a human to diagnose an android. [ Suggesting, perhaps, that's not the only way this procedure could go.
He looks up Kara less often now that he's wrist-deep in Alice's skull, but he still does. He'd rather know what her reactions are. ] I can narrate everything I do, if that puts you at ease. It may slow me down, however.
[ Kara doesn't bother hiding the relief on her face at his answer. The less of Alice he has to see or touch, the better, and maybe the faster this will be over with.
...and faster is better. It's outright painful in ways she didn't know were possible to see Alice like this, to see the hardware that makes up the person. It seems like a desecration of life, and yet if she were human, Kara would let a brain surgeon operate on Alice if it were necessary. ]
Just tell me the most important things.
[ Because, quite frankly, she doesn't want to waste time. As it is, she hates feeling helpless as she stares at Alice's face, pearl-white and blank under the white ligjts. ]
[ Fortunately, Kamski isn't a recluse because of performance anxiety. Unfortunately, his single-minded focus means he's probably going to end up doing less and less talking as they get into this. He doesn't word it that way, however - just nods. ] As you wish.
[ He's found the wire he wanted and extracts it as much is safe - it's attached to another cord and into the slim tablet he'd mentioned. The screen lights up with downloading and then is rapidly filled with notes - statuses, recently-accessed audio/video files, data streaming across the screen as it loads. ]
I'm going to look at the warnings her system was giving her most recently. See what this virus she's contracted was targeting.
And then, once I find out where it's hiding, I'll just remove it.
[ If he wasn't distracted by a puzzle, he'd remember to seem more ominous and add 'hopefully' to that. Instead, he's already typing in commands on the computer, trying to find what he assumes he's looking for. ]
I hope you can pinpoint where she got this, later. It's quite the hint of a new kind of biological weapon being tested.
[ His silence is fine, as is the lack of dramatics. None of that seems relevant, when she gets right down to it, because all that matters is that Alice survives this. They came back to Detroit to give her a normal, happy life, with friends and family and stability.
Why would someone hurt a child? To break their parents and trigger irrational responses in the decision-makers, yes, but-- but why risk the possibility of being labeled cruel, of losing any public support they might have had? ]
Talk to Markus. [ Not her. Please just leave her alone when this is over. ] He'll know more than us. He may have seen it before.
[ And may see it again, though Kara hopes not. ]
He'll be happy for any help you can give him too. This is... terrifying.
Help Markus. [ He says, with a smile curling up his face. Markus. He'd let Carl name him, of course, and it had turned into a fitting name, hadn't it? Like Marcus Aurelius; a philosopher and a leader and endlessly inspiring others to quote him. ] I may speak to him, once I'm done here.
But right now... [ He leans in towards Alice, reaches inside her head with one hand to adjust the wire's feed. ] I'm going to focus on this.
[ And indeed he does. Kamski is many things, but he's first and foremost passionate about what he does. He gets quieter the longer he works, small narrations coming further and further apart. ]
Kara. [ He says abruptly. It's the first time he's spoken in about ten minutes. He doesn't look up. ] I am actually going to need you to pull up her shirt for me, if you could.
[ Kamski thinks in terms of moves on a chess board, it seem, but Kara doesn't. All her focus right now is on Alice, on watching her vitals to make sure she's still alive, and watching her face for any sign of consciousness. She listens without answering and finds his silence... not relaxing, but... less unsettling than his descriptions. Maybe it's because any time she's been in a situation like this (any time that she remembers, anyway) it's resulted or almost resulted in her memory being reset. Her entire life, taken away from her. Just like that.
Alice doesn't so much as blink, her LED still cycling yellow.
If androids had stomachs, Kara is sure she'd feel hers clench and twist when he speaks up again. By now she'd bet he really doesn't mean anything untoward, except perhaps to be dramatic, but that's hardly the worst thing he could be. It's just... will he see Alice as less of a person, as a mere machine, if more of her shell is exposed? Will he help her any less?
What choice does she have, though? Nodding, Kara does as asked, careful and gentle, as if Alice had fallen asleep in clothes that need washing after a day of playing outside. ]
I'm not sure. [ Kamski looks at his tablet's screen up until the moment Kara is finished, and then he turns to the steel table again. ] If this works, not very long. [ And if it doesn't...
Failure is part of success, after all. Kamski has dealt with many, many more failed experiments than successful ones. The closer he'd gotten to AI, the more uncanny and superficially upsetting the mistakes had looked.
Quite frankly, anything that might happen to Alice right now, he's probably seen worse. It gives him a certain calm, as he touches the pressure plates on Alice's midsection that tell the front of her to open. The plastic skin rolls seamlessly under the above piece, hiding away and giving him access to her torso's biocomponents.
There's not as much room in child androids. Kamski has less experience with them, as well. He says neither of those things as he reaches in, shifting wires and biocomponents aside with careful, searching certainty.
Biocomponent #1356nv gives a short hiss as it's disconnected, its inner light winking and fading immediately. Kamski removes it and turns it over in his hands, inspecting. Hums to himself.
Plugs it directly into the tablet, as well, and turns back to the screen. ] Kara, if you could set a timer for three minutes, that would be wonderful. Alice's system isn't going to keep track of this biocomponent's loss itself.
[ All Kara been thinking about - the constant anxiety over this entire situation, and the discomfort over being anywhere near someone as unsettling as Kamski - fades into the background immediately once he makes his request. She does start the timer - one of the easiest functions she can perform - but most of her is focused on the only chance her daughter has. ]
What do you mean - she's dying right now without that?
She was already dying. [ Kamski looks up, though, directly at Kara. There's an emotion in her voice that makes him want to see it, even as focused as he is on his task. ] But yes, she'll die much faster without this.
[ Back towards his tablet, back towards combing through codes for the irregular patterns he'd noticed in it. ]
[ WOW EXCUSE YOU. But as angry as that makes her, Kara bites it back. Alice's life is more important. She keeps an eye on the timer, alerting him every fifteen seconds. Her stress levels rise slowly as time ticks by. ]
[ Kamski's stress levels - assuming Kara is capable of or wants to scan him - also rise, but they'll crest and then hover about two-thirds up whatever scale's being used. Stress means a lot of different things, and it isn't always negative, even if it is taxing. Kamski loves his work, even when - especially - when it's difficult.
He's having a great time right now, honestly, even if he's stopped smiling or reacting to Kara much at all. It's just him and biocomponent #1356nv, right now. ]
There, [ he whispers to himself. He waits a few more moments, watching his screen - Kara's just announced there's thirty seconds remaining. If he's done all this work but can't replicate it later, he'll have effectively wasted time, so he waits out the timer of the file saving bar before he disconnects the biocomponent.
Reaches back into Alice's torso as Kara's saying ten seconds. ]
Well. [ That self-satisfied smile? Is back, now. He looks over Alice's torso components with a brief glance, then presses on the panel so it will close again. ] That should be everything.
[ By the time he says he should (should??? REALLY???) be done, Kara is about ready to grab any of the tools within reach and smack him across the head with it. Even once the biocomponent is back in place, she's anxious, and all she can think to let some of that out is to tug Alice's shirt back down.
She waits, watching Alice's face for a moment. Glancing at the tablet. Looking back at Kamski. ]
Did you cure her?
[ Or did he just decide to make her an impromptu test subject and let the virus take her life? ]
We'll have to wait for her system to finish rebooting to be sure. [ Which is about as humble and realistic as Kamski's ever going to get about his own ability to create life from nothing. ]
[ Kara really, really doesn't like this guy. If she never has to see him again, it'll be too soon.
Alice's system reboots successfully. Kara takes her hand again, synthetic skin retracting at her fingertips so she can send her a wordless message of calm and safety. Luther will come find them if they aren't back in another hour. They're safe, for now. Or... as safe as they can be in their creator's lab. ]
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2018-08-19 08:49 pm (UTC)My tools are all this way, [ he says pleasantly, stepping off down the hall. He speaks over his shoulder as he leads them into his house. ] How long did you wait before looking for help here? I imagine I wasn't your first stop.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-20 12:17 am (UTC)[ Kara may have been programmed to care for young children, but what she feels for Alice is love, no matter what Kamski says, love can't be written into code. Kara is alive, and that's where the difference lis.
She follows, absently rubbing Alice's back, hating that she's here at all. The fact is, she'd contacted Markus for help first, but all he'd said was it'd take more technical expertise than anyone he knew had to offer. It's a new virus, and one they're working hard to find a fix for, but in the meantime, only CyberLife could possibly help.
Then Connor had mentioned Kamski, explained who he was, why he might be her best bet. Kara was ready to feel uncomfortable coming here, but there's no real way to prepare to meet someone lile this, who looks at the revolution and its aftermath like some game he's watching unfold after setting a few things into motion. ]
Two days: the day she first got sick, and today, when she... she won't wake up. [ It all happened so fast, and yet it feels like too long. ] You're not gonna hurt her, are you?
[ She'll be whole again, when this is over, memories intact, the same Allce Kara has always known? ]
no subject
Date: 2018-08-21 02:05 am (UTC)Androids don't feel physical pain the way humans do. But I can't guarantee that it won't cause her system some stress. [ Surprise, they're not going into a murder-basement! The lab that Kamski is leading them into is on the ground floor, although there's no windows. He's not looking at Kara much anymore - he's reaching into a white, panel-less drawer and bringing out a small box. Presumably tools.
The rest of the room is appallingly futuristic, especially compared to what they just walked through. White walls, metal tables. Tall machines that Kara may or may not recognize as being used in the CyberLife warehouses to physically build the androids - long arms with multiple joints. ]
If you could put her on one of the tables, that would be wonderful. [ One of the stainless steel operating tables, of course. There's several. One of them already has the upper torso of an apparently-deactivated android on it. There's a silent Chloe on another, LED off. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-08-21 03:53 am (UTC)Kara chooses the table farthest away from the other androids, kissing Allce on the top of the head before laying her neatly on the table. There's a atory like this: Abraham putting his only son down on an altar to sacrifice, because his god told him to. An act of faith, a test of his devotion. Kara doesn't feel that Kamski is her god, and this isn't some test; it's the result of hatred. Even so, she'd like it if someone were to intervene and save Alice without demanding a price. ]
I don't know how much longer she has. [ She gently takes Alice's hand; it stays limp in hers.
She hopes it's not too late. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-08-22 03:30 am (UTC)He comes forward towards Alice's table, opposite Kara, his hands folded in front of himself.
Calmly, without so much as a sarcastic gleam in his eye: ] May I touch her?
no subject
Date: 2018-08-22 11:11 am (UTC)And for all that Kamski is a deeply unsettling man, Kara understands that he's not asking inappropriately. She came to him for help, but he's still respecting the two of them. It actually calms her a little bit. ]
Yes.
[ She keeps holding Alice's hand, watching him work. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-08-22 07:01 pm (UTC)He grips her head first, thumb on one temple and fingers on the other, tilting it forward a bit. There's no resistance, no triggered automatic responses.
Kamski makes a small, thoughtful sound. He looks up at Kara, still bent over the table: ] Would you deactivate her skin for me, please?
[ Kamski could easily do it himself, but this is the opposite of a power play; he assumes Kara will be more at-ease if she does it. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-08-22 07:17 pm (UTC)She'd sooner trust an android surgeon, but Kamski is the best option abailable to her, so she nods, reaching out wordlessly to deactivate Alice's synthetic skin. ]
Should I take off her clothes too?
[ She may not look it, but she's nervous, her thirium pump regulator pounding in her chest. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-08-22 07:46 pm (UTC)The difference being, of course, that removing the LED doesn't kill them. ]
You might need to. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. [ There's more than one way to skin an android, apparently. Kamski tilts Alice up on her side; he glances behind himself a moment, takes a small roll of electrical tape from his bag of equipment, and puts it under her head. It might look like a crude pillow, but more importantly, it keeps her head steady for him.
He depresses a few panels, and with a small pneumatic hiss, the back of Alice's head opens. He examines it for only a moment before reaching right in, clearly comfortable with whatever he's attempting to do. ]
I'm going to physically connect her to a computer that I can use to gain access to information about her functions. It's the quickest way for a human to diagnose an android. [ Suggesting, perhaps, that's not the only way this procedure could go.
He looks up Kara less often now that he's wrist-deep in Alice's skull, but he still does. He'd rather know what her reactions are. ] I can narrate everything I do, if that puts you at ease. It may slow me down, however.
[ Tick, tock. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-08-22 08:14 pm (UTC)...and faster is better. It's outright painful in ways she didn't know were possible to see Alice like this, to see the hardware that makes up the person. It seems like a desecration of life, and yet if she were human, Kara would let a brain surgeon operate on Alice if it were necessary. ]
Just tell me the most important things.
[ Because, quite frankly, she doesn't want to waste time. As it is, she hates feeling helpless as she stares at Alice's face, pearl-white and blank under the white ligjts. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-08-23 02:57 am (UTC)[ He's found the wire he wanted and extracts it as much is safe - it's attached to another cord and into the slim tablet he'd mentioned. The screen lights up with downloading and then is rapidly filled with notes - statuses, recently-accessed audio/video files, data streaming across the screen as it loads. ]
I'm going to look at the warnings her system was giving her most recently. See what this virus she's contracted was targeting.
And then, once I find out where it's hiding, I'll just remove it.
[ If he wasn't distracted by a puzzle, he'd remember to seem more ominous and add 'hopefully' to that. Instead, he's already typing in commands on the computer, trying to find what he assumes he's looking for. ]
I hope you can pinpoint where she got this, later. It's quite the hint of a new kind of biological weapon being tested.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-23 01:13 pm (UTC)Why would someone hurt a child? To break their parents and trigger irrational responses in the decision-makers, yes, but-- but why risk the possibility of being labeled cruel, of losing any public support they might have had? ]
Talk to Markus. [ Not her. Please just leave her alone when this is over. ] He'll know more than us. He may have seen it before.
[ And may see it again, though Kara hopes not. ]
He'll be happy for any help you can give him too. This is... terrifying.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-25 09:55 pm (UTC)But right now... [ He leans in towards Alice, reaches inside her head with one hand to adjust the wire's feed. ] I'm going to focus on this.
[ And indeed he does. Kamski is many things, but he's first and foremost passionate about what he does. He gets quieter the longer he works, small narrations coming further and further apart. ]
Kara. [ He says abruptly. It's the first time he's spoken in about ten minutes. He doesn't look up. ] I am actually going to need you to pull up her shirt for me, if you could.
I need to access a biocomponent in her torso.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-26 12:17 am (UTC)Alice doesn't so much as blink, her LED still cycling yellow.
If androids had stomachs, Kara is sure she'd feel hers clench and twist when he speaks up again. By now she'd bet he really doesn't mean anything untoward, except perhaps to be dramatic, but that's hardly the worst thing he could be. It's just... will he see Alice as less of a person, as a mere machine, if more of her shell is exposed? Will he help her any less?
What choice does she have, though? Nodding, Kara does as asked, careful and gentle, as if Alice had fallen asleep in clothes that need washing after a day of playing outside. ]
How much longer?
[ Not to rush him. She's just nervous. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-08-27 01:02 am (UTC)Failure is part of success, after all. Kamski has dealt with many, many more failed experiments than successful ones. The closer he'd gotten to AI, the more uncanny and superficially upsetting the mistakes had looked.
Quite frankly, anything that might happen to Alice right now, he's probably seen worse. It gives him a certain calm, as he touches the pressure plates on Alice's midsection that tell the front of her to open. The plastic skin rolls seamlessly under the above piece, hiding away and giving him access to her torso's biocomponents.
There's not as much room in child androids. Kamski has less experience with them, as well. He says neither of those things as he reaches in, shifting wires and biocomponents aside with careful, searching certainty.
Biocomponent #1356nv gives a short hiss as it's disconnected, its inner light winking and fading immediately. Kamski removes it and turns it over in his hands, inspecting. Hums to himself.
Plugs it directly into the tablet, as well, and turns back to the screen. ] Kara, if you could set a timer for three minutes, that would be wonderful. Alice's system isn't going to keep track of this biocomponent's loss itself.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-28 12:56 am (UTC)What do you mean - she's dying right now without that?
no subject
Date: 2018-08-28 01:21 am (UTC)[ Back towards his tablet, back towards combing through codes for the irregular patterns he'd noticed in it. ]
no subject
Date: 2018-08-28 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-08-29 12:15 pm (UTC)He's having a great time right now, honestly, even if he's stopped smiling or reacting to Kara much at all. It's just him and biocomponent #1356nv, right now. ]
There, [ he whispers to himself. He waits a few more moments, watching his screen - Kara's just announced there's thirty seconds remaining. If he's done all this work but can't replicate it later, he'll have effectively wasted time, so he waits out the timer of the file saving bar before he disconnects the biocomponent.
Reaches back into Alice's torso as Kara's saying ten seconds. ]
Well. [ That self-satisfied smile? Is back, now. He looks over Alice's torso components with a brief glance, then presses on the panel so it will close again. ] That should be everything.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-29 05:43 pm (UTC)She waits, watching Alice's face for a moment. Glancing at the tablet. Looking back at Kamski. ]
Did you cure her?
[ Or did he just decide to make her an impromptu test subject and let the virus take her life? ]
no subject
Date: 2018-09-05 12:13 pm (UTC)But I certainly think so.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-07 08:03 pm (UTC)Alice's system reboots successfully. Kara takes her hand again, synthetic skin retracting at her fingertips so she can send her a wordless message of calm and safety. Luther will come find them if they aren't back in another hour. They're safe, for now. Or... as safe as they can be in their creator's lab. ]
Should I activate her skin?