Kamski

                                    

                                          
The snow would have been pleasant if I had been at home and not driving. The soft flakes obscured my vision nearly to the point of blindness, but the flurry had begun to let up. I was back in commission and headed to where my uncle had been sent to investigate.
                          
I pulled off into a winding driveway, nearly unseeable because of the layer of powder atop it. After a few minutes, I could see the house and Uncle Hank's car parked outside, and so I pulled up next to him and parked. He and Connor turned to look at me from where they stood waiting at the door.
                          
I got out and bundled my coat closer to me, frowning at the soft flakes dancing around me. "I haven't heard from you all morning!" I called as I fought my way iver a snow drift and onto the porch. "How did the tower go? I saw the broadcast at home."
                          
"Connor saved a shit ton of men," Uncle Hank explained as we all looked at the door. "There was a deviant there. Thing pulled a gun on us."
                          
My uncle went to push the doorbell again when suddenly the door opened, revealing a blonde Android, who took us all in slowly. "Hi. . . Uh. . . I'm, er, Lieutenant Hank Anderson, Detroit Police Department. I'm here to see Mr. Elijah Kamski."
                          
"Please, come in," the Android said in a soft voice. My uncle looked back at us, and mumbled, "Um, okay." We followed him in, and my eyes took in the place. Everything was very modern, as I should susoect from a millionaire.
                          
"I'll let Elijah know you're here," said the Android as she closed the door, "But please, make yourself comfortable."
                          
"Nice girl," Hank mumbled as he sat down. I took the chair beside him when I saw that Connor had no intentions of sitting down.
                          
"You're right," he said ardently, wandering off to examine a picture. "She's really pretty."
                          
I was too busy looking at the plant to my right to see him cast me a glance. "Nice place," Uncle Hank noted as he looked around. "Guess Androids haven't been a bad thing for everybody." I crossed my legs as I leaned back into the red seat, looking over at Connor. 
                          
"So, you're about to meet your maker, Connor. How does it feel?" I asked curiously.
                          
"I don't know," responded the Android distantly. "I'll tell you when I see him." He continued to look around before finally giving up and coming to stand beside me.
                          
"Sometimes I wish I coukd meet my creator face to face. . ." murmured my uncle, looking out the window and into the snow drifts. "I'd have a couple of things I'd want to tell him." I looked back at Connor to see him analyzing the portrait of who I assumed was Kamski when the Android came back, announcing, "Elijah will see you now."
                          
Hank and I stood up and Connor followed as we walked toward ehr, ans then oast her into a grand indoor swimming pool. The water was as red as the blood I used to have.
                          
"Mister Kamski?" Uncle Hank called out. I spotted the man on the far side of the long pool. "Just a minute," he called out before dipping under the water and beginning his swim toward us. I looked out the great window as he kicked back and started again toward the end of the pool he had just swam from. I continued to stare until my uncle began to speak. "I'm Lietenant Anderson, this is Connor. And that's my niece, Detective L/N."
                          
"Wham can I do for you, Lietenant?" Elijah asked, watching me as I crossed the smooth floor to join my party. 
                          
"Sir, we're investigating deviants," explained Uncle Hank. "I know you left CyberLife years ago but, I was hoping you'd be able to tell us something we don't know. . ."
                          
"Deviants," Kamski replied after a long pause, looking at us each in the eye. "Facinating, aren't they? Perfect beings with infinite intelligence, and now they have free will. . . Machines are so superior to us, confrontation was inevitable. . . Humanity's greatest achievement threatens to be its downfall. Isn't it ironic?"
                          
"We need to understand how Android become deviants," Connor interrupted. "Do you knkw anything that could help us?" I waited silently, standing just behind Connor and my uncle. 
                          
"All ideas are viruses that spread like epidemics. . . Is the desire to be free a contagious disease?"
                          
I chewed my cheek slightly. "Listen, we didn't come here to talk philosophy," I stated, interruoting whatever my uncle was about to say. "The machines you created may be planning a revolution. Either you can tell us something that'll be helpful, or we will be on our way."
                          
Elijah Kamski smirked, and he dragged his attention to Connor. "What about you, Connor?" inquired Kamski. "Who's side are you on?"
                          
"I have no side," responded the Android immediately. "I was designed to stop drviants and that's what I intend to do."
                          
Elijah snorted slightly. "Well, that's what you're programmed to say. But you. . . What do you really want?"
                          
"What I want is—" I caught Connor send a brief glance at me. "—not important." Kamski also looked at me, and then to his own Android. "Cloe?" he called.
                          
The blond machine walked toward us silently. "I'm sure you're familiar with the Turing test. Mere formality, simple question of algorithms and computing capacity." He took Chloe by the shoulders, turning her to face us. "What interests me is whether machines are capable of empathy. I call it the Kamski test, it's very simple, you'll see. . ." He turned to observe his creation. "Magnificent, isn't it? One of the first intelligent models developed by CyberLife. Young and beautiful forever. A flower that will never wither. . ." He ran his fingers gently along the Android's jaw and cinemark for dropping his hand and looked at us.
                          
"But what is it really? Piece of plastic imitating a human? Or a living being. . . " I watched carefully as he opened up the drawer to a small table, and then drew a gun from it. "With a soul. . ." With a light touch to Chloe's shoulder, the Nadroid sank down into the soft carpet on her knees. "It's up to you to answer that fascinating question, Connor. Destroy this machine and I'll tell you all I know. Or spare it, if you feel it's alive, but you'll leave here without having learnt anything from me."
                          
"Ok, I think we're done here," Hank said instantly, grabbing my wrist. My eyes were still intently locked on Connor.
                          
"Come on, Connor. Let's go," I said quietly, and then shot a dangerous look toward Elijah. "Sorry to get you out of your pool."
                          
"What's more important to you, Connor? Your investigation, or the life of this android?" I watched as my partner's LED flashed an uncertain yellow, not knowing what to do. "Decide who you are. An obedient machine. . . Or a living being endowed with free will?"
                          
"That's enough!" Uncle Hank bellowed. "Connor, we're leaving!"
                          
"Pull the trigger—"
                          
"Connor, don't. . ."
                          
"—and I'll tell you what you wanna know."
                          
I watched fearfully as his LED continued to rapidly flicker. I exhaled when he pulled away thr gun, moving his hand to Kamski. "Fascinating," Elijah said in awe. "CyberLife's last chance to save humanity. . .Is itself a deviant."
                          
"I'm. . . I'm not a deviant," Connor shot back, but was clearly unsure of himself. He looked at me with wide eyes that looked almost afraid.
                          
"You preferred to spare a machine rather than accomplish your mission" Kamski bent down to help the Chloe model to her feet. "You saw a living being in this android. You showed empathy."
                          
Elijah directed the Android with a simole nudge to her shoulder. She turned and left the room wordlessly. Kamski turned back to us.
                          
"A war is coming. You'll have to choose your side. Will you betray your own people, or stand up against your creators? What could be worse than having to choose between two evils?"
                          
"Let's get out of here," Hank and I said at the same time. He turned Connor by the shoukder as I grabbed his hand, and together the three of us left. There was a small tug in my hand as Kamski began to speak again. I turned along with Connor, still holding him tight as Hank when to warm the car up.
                          
"By the way, I always leave an emergency exit in my programs," he called out to us, shrugging. "You never know."