"I need you to listen to me carefully.", you said with a cold face. "This is serious, Connor. No more mistakes."

Connor frowned. He was sitting at the kitchen table, hands rested on his legs like a child and looked up.

A blue circle was spinning on his temple.

You had tried to give him a new one but it had turned red again almost immediately. Now, a fake one was in place instead. It was constantly blue and wouldn't change unless you gave a manual command over your phone.

"With no mistakes, do you mean not being me by any chance?", he asked with so much pain in his voice that it crushed your soul.

A deep sigh made your chest shake.

"Connor... I know this is difficult, but you need to act like a machine for a while. No emotions. Just follow orders and answer the way an android would."

"I don't know if I can.", his eyes sunk to the floor.

You noticed that he did this ever so often, as if he had seen something that deeply disturbed him and now he was trying to understand.

Something had happened with him.

You just didn't know what yet. And he wasn't about to tell you.

With a soft expression you approached him, grabbed his cheek and made him look you in the eyes. You smiled and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"Kamski will be here soon.", you explained and had to sigh again. "He'll ask questions. And he will get his answers one way or another. We need to convince him that everything is under control and happened just the way it was supposed to."

He frowned.

"It's just a charade?"

"Yes. I'll take the lead. All you have to do it follow me."

His eyes met yours. A small hint of relief was visible inside the deep brown. With a smile, he nodded.

"I will try my best.", he mumbled and leaned in to steal a kiss from your lips.

Surprised, you froze. But you didn't pull away either.

The tender touch if his lips awoke memories, both the good and the bad.

With a soft sigh you closed your eyes and leaned into him. He tasted a bit like metal yet human enough. Your hands found his face to let the thumbs gently stroke his cheeks.

Connor's hands wrapped around your waist to pull you closer.

But the small moment of calmness didn't last long.

All of a sudden, a clicking sound filled the silence.

Startled, you jumped up and grabbed a tool off the counter to make it look like you were working.

The front door opened.

Kamski appeared.

Judging by the look on his face, he wasn't thrilled at all. Twi Chloe's were right behind him, followed by a hand full of security androids.

You managed to put on a fake friendly expression.

"Mister Kamski.", you greeted him. "To what do I owe the honour?"

He ignored you for a moment and eyed Connor first.

"Chloe.", he raised and hand and pointed at him. "Read his memory."

A shocked shimmer appeared in Connor's eyes. But he managed to fight it back down again.

You placed yourself between him and Kamski.

"My I know the reason why, sir?", you asked as friendly as possible.

Kamski frowned.

"The headquarters got a message that said your android was running around the old employee apartments."

"That is right. I send him there."

He raised an eyebrow. With his arms crossed behind his back he tilted his head and stepped closer to you.

"And why would you do that?"

"To test his independence, of course, sir. Just like any android he must be able to navigate by himself."

His eyes narrowed.

"And you send him down to the apartments because?"

"Because there he wouldn't disturb anyone. It was also a good area to test his optics and analysis program."

Kamski turned to Connor again.

Connor avoided his eyes. It was easy to tell that he was uncomfortable, which was a problem considering that machines weren't supposed to feel nervous.

One of the Chloe's eyed him for a moment. Her LED flickered from blue to yellow, processing information, before turning to Kamski.

"Elijah, this android is in a learning process.", she said. "There is no outside sign of corruption."

Kamski rolled his eyes.

"I can tell.", he leaned forward. "The LED is blue. But still. Read his memory."

A cold shiver crawled down your spine. Your fingers twitched.

"Sir.", you tried to interfere.

"It's fine.", Connor suddenly said and rose from the chair. "Please. It is my duty to cooperate."

He held out his hand and offered it to Chloe.

His eyes jumped to you and for a brief second it seemed like he was a bit scared.

Chloe looked at Kamski, who nodded in approval.

She grabbed Connor's arm and pressed hers on it.

Their artificial skin disappeared. Instead, metal and white plastic appeared.

Connor locked eyes with Chloe.

Her LED flickered. It turned from yellow to blue.

Your heart started beating wildly inside your chest. Somehow, this made you feel not only nervous but threatened. Your eyes jumped between Chloe and Connor.

All of a sudden, she tilted her head and the LED on her temple flickered red.

Kamski wasn't able to see from where he was standing and missed it.

But you were sure it was red for a second.

A polite smile appeared on her lips. She pulled away and retuned to Kamski's side.

"Everything is fine.", she said. "His memory is clean of corruption. The story they told adds up."

For a moment, Kamski eyed her. Then he turned to you.

"I expect you to put in a daily report from now on.", he said in a warning voice. "Including his programming and a statistics of his program. Any slight error will be considered a reason to shut it down."

You swallowed hard but nodded.

"As you wish, sir."

"And don't ever let anything like this happen again. If he causes one more alarm, the project will get shut down."