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After the initial shock, Simon instructed that time was needed to sit down and discuss the details of what was happening. Markus would need to be told about the information, given that he’d be integral to their plan later, but that would have to be in a separate room.
For now, Hank, Connor, and Simon went over the plan. Hank and Simon standing at the little window on the door, Connor on the other side. It might have been funny if the situation wasn’t far from so.
“Con, you sure you don’t want to sit out here with us?”
“No.” Connor insisted for the third time. “I know Markus isn’t here, but… we don’t know all of my triggers. I’d rather not hurt anybody.”
“As long as you’re alright in there. I won’t keep goin’ on. Time’s of the essence. So… what I found out from Kamski, is that Cyberlife had this as a backup plan. If you were detected alive by the 26th December this year, you’d be set to start this sequence and shut down on the 1st.”
Connor frowned. “Did he say why they programmed that? Surely, if I had… stuck to my mission. They’d want me around.”
“Yeah, about that… I don’t think they did. Kamski told me about this other unit, uh, RK900, I think.”
“Oh. They were going to replace me.”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
“No, I don’t know what else I expected. Please, continue.”
Hank nodded. “So, this sequence he didn’t know a lot about. Other than killing anyone and everyone around you, ‘part from humans, it makes you shut down on New Year’s Day.”
Simon looked up from his clipboard, where he was jotting this information down. “That’s our timeframe, then. We need to find a way to stop the final stage of the sequence.”
“Even if we stop the shut down, won’t I still…” Connor gestured to the room he was in. “Be like this? Unpredictable?”
Simon paused. “I—No, I wouldn’t think so. If Cyberlife thought the final stage would destroy you, then that’s probably all they coded.”
“Okay. So, we need to stop this before the 1st… We—we still don’t know enough about it to do that. And when you tried to get into the coding earlier, Simon, it set off another attack. I don’t feel you’ll be able to get anymore information that way.”
“No. I thought that would be the case. I… still have an idea how we can get information.”
Connor looked away. “Is it your earlier suggestion?”
“Yes, but if you don’t want to…”
“Hold up.” Hank interrupted. “I don’t think I’ve been filled in. What’s this idea?”
“Well, since Markus triggered an attack earlier, I was thinking, if we used him to trigger another, in this controlled environment, then, maybe, we could find out more.”
Hank looked to Connor. “And you didn’t want to do this?”
“Not before. Not before I knew about the time limit. Now—I’m not so sure.”
“Yeah, me fuckin’ neither. Doesn’t that sound like it could go wrong in a billion ways?”
“It is a risky plan.” Simon agreed. “But we only have a few days until the deadline.”
“I agree.” Connor decided. “However, only if we exhaust all other ideas. Do we have time to run more tests?”
“If you want, we can put the risky plan on the backburner until New Year’s Eve. Then, if all else fails…”
“Okay. For now, let’s run more tests.”
“Agreed.” Hank breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, something would work. If he had to watch Connor go through another attack and not be able to do anything about it, he might scream.
**************************************************
The door to Connor’s small room had been worked on by engineers whilst Simon conducted tests. The window was made larger, and a small hole was added near the middle, big enough to fit your hand through.
They all hoped these changes were unnecessary, but, unfortunately, when New Year’s Eve rolled around, no new information had been found. Every time Simon tried to breach the door of Connor’s mind, an attack began. Connor couldn’t even try and access it in his mind palace, the same thing happening when he tried.
Still, he held off on the other solution. Leaving it to the last day might be risky, but he didn’t want to do it. He wouldn’t be out of control again, not if he didn’t have to be.
Unfortunately, that was no longer an option.
Markus had been briefed by Simon in the other room on the plan. Hopefully, once the attack triggered, they might learn more. No: they would. The reason they couldn’t have triggered one earlier with the machines was because how exactly would they get information whilst Connor was set off in the same room as them?
No, they would need Markus. If all went well, he would be able to reach his hand through the hole in the door and interface with him during the attack.
Markus understood the risks. He didn’t think that Connor could kill him through a hole in the door, but he knew that it was dangerous to connect to his mind with the Cyberlife code active in it.
“I consent to the risks.” He assured Simon. “Connor deserves to live a good life. I think I can help him.”
“Please, Markus. I’ll do it.”
Markus placed a hand on his shoulder. “No. You’ve done so much already. And I think, as a fellow RK prototype, I might be better equipped to deal with this problem.”
Finally, it was agreed. Late afternoon on New Year’s Eve, Markus walked into the building where Simon and Hank sat waiting.
“Is Connor ready?”
Simon nodded. Hank couldn’t look at him.
“Lieutenant—”
“Hank.”
“Hank, I assure you, I’ll help your son. Connor means a lot to me, too.”
Hank glanced at him. “Please, save my boy.”
That was all he needed to hear. He walked over to the door, carefully sliding open the window. The hole in the door was already opened up, but he didn’t risk it yet.
“Connor?”
Scared brown eyes met his, and within a second Connor changed. He rushed at the door, hand reaching out and grabbing at Markus. Luckily, he hadn’t brought a weapon on him, prepared for this scenario.
“Connor, it’s me. Please. It’s Markus.”
Connor wasn’t there. Beneath the calm, Cyberlife blue LED and foggy brown gaze, he wasn’t in control.
Maybe they hadn’t thought this plan through enough. But he had to try. Had to try and help him. It didn’t seem he would be able to calm him down long enough to let him grasp his hand, so, as he watched Connor’s hand stick back out and scratch at the wooden surface of the door, he took it in his, skin peeling back to reveal white chassis.
It wasn’t a smooth, easy connection, like the months before where he’d interfaced with scared androids and shown them the light. No, here, there was a resistance. Connor, or whatever was in his mind right now, didn’t want Markus coming in there.
But he hadn’t won androids their rights, their freedom, by simply backing down. He closed his eyes, pressed his other hand, palm flat, against the glass, and forced the walls down. The glitching lines of code, all in blue, until he tore through them to red, red—
Nothing.
Connor’s mind, his mind palace, whatever it had been… there was nothing. A deep and all-encompassing blackness, a darkness, like all the light had been sucked out of the world and crushed in Cyberlife’s hand.
But behind him, he—he could hear something. He turned and saw a small figure hunched over on the floor, barely moving save for light shakes wracking their body.
Connor.
Except, he didn’t wear his Christmas jumper, not the jolly one he’d come in the building with. That ugly Cyberlife jacket was back on him, except this time the glowing blue bands had slid down to his wrists, handcuffs.
He took a step towards him and reached out. Light exploded in front of his eyes. Blue, red, blue. Fireworks of colour, pushing him backwards. He batted them aside, felt the burn of them against his skin.
“Connor.” He called out. “Connor!”
Around the small form of the android the fireworks danced up like a circle of fire, hissing and sparkling. He pushed against the circle, but it was immovable.
Markus couldn’t see the time, but he knew it was ticking on. Not long until New Year’s Day when the real fireworks outside would burst into the sky, and Connor’s time would be up. He had to find a way through his barriers before it was too late.