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The inside of the military vehicle was a large, open space. The metal floors, walls, and ceiling echoed with every footstep, and once the back end was shut, it was pitch-black. This was a vehicle designed for carrying cargo, not people.
“I don’t think these vehicles have any self-driving capabilities that we could hack into,” Simon said inside Josh’s head. Once they’d realized what Markus had done, it became clear what their next move needed to be: they had to take up the mantle that he’d abandoned, no, sold them out to leave. And that meant coming up with their next move, before the military ended up killing the remaining members of Jericho.
“We have to find something,” Josh replied. “The next time they open up this vehicle, they could immediately open fire and kill us all.”
The truck lurched forward unexpectedly, leaving everyone scrambling for a moment to gain their footing. Where the hell are they taking us? If the military wanted to kill them all… they’d just do it right then and there. Everyone had felt it when Markus and North’s lives had ended.
“Are they seriously worried about how they’ll look now, of all times?” Simon wondered. “When they already slaughtered how many of us in the camps, shot us in the streets, and killed our leader, who they framed as having ‘peacefully surrendered’?”
“How much coordination did the humans have on their narrative, though? The media might have framed Markus’ betrayal as a peaceful surrender, but was the military aware of that?”
Suddenly, the truck lurched to a halt.
“I guess it’s time for the moment of truth,” Simon said as everyone in the truck turned toward the rear end, waiting for it to open.
Instead, they all heard a voice they hadn’t expected: “My name is Connor. I’m the android sent by Cyberlife. My mission is to understand deviancy. When I get this human to open the truck, you are all going to come with me to Cyberlife Tower.”
Immediately, the androids around them all started talking in various tones of hope and fear.
“We know from the androids who’ve seen him that Connor can come back in a new body after dying,” Simon said – then privately, to Josh, “And Markus was the one who sent him to Cyberlife Tower to get reinforcements in the first place.” His message was clear: this person claiming to be Connor could be their one chance at survival – or one last betrayal.
“If you’re really Connor,” Josh said, “Tell me who the current leader of the deviants is.”
There was a long, telling silence, and then: “That’s not relevant to my mission. There’s no reason to send an android to stop the deviants; the military can handle that just fine. But only an android could understand deviancy.”
“He’s not the Connor we know,” Josh said. “But he is deviant. He wants to prove himself, to make himself useful – and there’s no reason why Cyberlife would send him to us when they seemed to be cooperating perfectly well with the military.”
Simon shook his head. “I don’t think this is going to end well for him.” Then he pressed a hand to Josh’s, passing the feeling of love between them. “But it still can for us. For Jericho.”
“For Jericho,” Josh echoed before pressing a quick kiss to Simon’s lips. Then he turned to the rest of Jericho and started detailing their plans.
“Do you think this version of Connor will be able to hold his own against all the military that’s out there?” Simon asked anxiously.
“Do you think the Connor we knew could’ve?”
They both knew the answer to that.
“We’re prepared to come to Cyberlife Tower when this truck is opened,” Josh confirmed, with enough delay that the military should be on their way to investigate their stalled truck.
As soon as the door began to open, they heard the first gunshot, eventually revealing this Connor – RK800-60, his jacket read – and a human with a fatal bullet wound discarded off to the side. Don’t think about that now, Josh thought, trying to focus his attention on Connor-60 instead – though even that was difficult, knowing what his fate was likely to be.
“Don’t think about him,” Simon said, squeezing Josh’s hand. “Think about your part in this, remember?”
Right. Check the military’s position and the relative location to Cyberlife Tower, then give the rest of Jericho their instructions from there.
The positioning might just be perfect, the truck having been stopped just below the bridge to the island where the tower was built, with the military just close enough behind that Connor-60 would be likely to stay behind the rest of the deviants in order to defend them. His unknowing sacrifice was supposed to give Jericho the time to reach the tower, secure it, and start preparing defenses and awakening the other androids that lie beneath the building.
But didn’t that make their actions just as bad as what Markus had done, securing their own safety from the blood of one of their own who hadn’t offered it?
“Everyone, get off the truck and start heading toward the tower.”
Simon’s order cut through his thoughts, reminding him that it was too late for second-guessing. Second-guessing would only result in more death. As if there’s any option that keeps everyone safe.
“We don’t have another way to keep the military off our backs,” Simon reminded him as they crossed the bridge, keeping an arm around his shoulder in some sort of attempt to keep him from looking back. “When we get to the other side, we’ll be safe. We’ll have a home, somewhere to rest. It’ll be ours.”
“I believe you,” Josh said, knowing he had to put his doubts behind him in order to move forward. “I believe you.”