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Obligatory lectures and schoolings. Who doesn’t love them - hours spent crammed in the conference room with other bored cops while a lecturer talks about things only interesting to higher ups who never worked a day on Detroit streets. Well, okay: maybe some liked those as a way to avoid doing paperwork and a chance to snooze on the clock.
Hank belonged to the group that had low regard for most theoretical schooling after so many years out of police academy and would gladly skip this one, on account of rarely opening his email inbox (he could plead ignorance, being busy and very convincingly act he had no idea everyone is converging in one room) but working with the squarest android workaholic had its price. Connor of course reminded him multiple times they’ve been summoned for a lecture supposed to “update the knowledge of officers and ensure more successful interventions out in the field” Suuure.
Hank sat on one of the chairs in the back, perfect for not paying much attention. These happened to be close to the android population of the DPD - these guys did not get tired by standing, so they often chose to leave the chairs to old, tired humans like Lieutenant Anderson. Connor stood with them as well, with his hands in the back neatly. Jesus, gotta talk to him about it, Hank thought. Teach him some cool stances. His friend sometimes made choices as if he never deviated.
In the front of the room Captain Fowler talked to a young woman in a smart outfit and a man in the EMS uniform and then he himself sat down. A holographic projector showed the opening slide of a digital presentation: “First aid for androids: responding to the needs of a new type of citizen.” Huh.
“Hello, officers. My name is Ava, I am an activist and advisor of Jericho and soon also a legal representative of androids on police proceedings. We’re going to see each other more.” She smiled. Hank couldn’t tell if she was a human, but he suspected not - Jericho liked to employ only their own. “Today I’m here with my friend Bradley, who is a paramedic. We’re presenting a series of lectures for public services, especially ones like law enforcement, fire brigade or in schools, because your world has drastically changed and we noticed people don’t know how to react to androids needing help. ”
Hank crossed his arms on his chest. Oh yeah, he’s seen that, like a week earlier some very nervous rookie cop tried to resuscitate a downed android. The slide changed and now showed some simplified pictures and simple phrases like “blood type?”,“Temperature, Fingertips, Pump regulator”
“Let’s start with the first obstacle before we start picking androids apart.” Bradley spoke up. Some people chuckled and Hank wondered if that joke would’ve been insensitive if he had made it. He found it okay, but who fucking knew these days.
“Androids were designed to imitate humans as closely as possible. Now that LEDs or any clothing identificator are a personal choice you might encounter a person in distress and not be able to easily determine - by things such as white damage marks or blue blood - whether you’re dealing with a human or an android. Asking directly might be seen too forward or hostile, so we in emergency services resort to a question 'what is your blood type.' Asking it you will either get the response A+,B, 0 and so on, “I don’t know”, which is very human or that their blood type is thirium 310, which easier than in humans only has one type across all models.”
“That’s the easy case.” Bradley continued. “What if our subject is unconscious? An android shutting down will lose simulation of breathing the same way humans might not breathe. The pulse is the same in us both and skin simulation doesn’t shut off automatically when systems have a critical problem. There’s lower body temperature, but it’s not something we can read without a thermometer. How to tell then? There are two indicators possible for spotting by anyone. First is the lack of fingerpirnts. Simulation of skin doesn’t create unique lines as humans have, instead you’ll rather see the same subtle pattern following the shape of grips underneath.” He changed the slide to a big close up comparison between a human fingerprint and an android finger with small protrusions more akin to a sole of a sports shoe.
“The other is that you can feel the thirium pump regulator. It’s a part that’s shallow under the casing, right at the end of the sternum. Where you can gently push and will find softer tissue in humans, you can find and feel the hardness and round shape of the biocomponent” he showed on his own body where to press. “I’m not encouraging you to go up to your colleagues and ask if you can feel it, but if you ever have an opportunity to do it on a model - try.”
Androids behind Hank moved a bit, sometimes turning to each other. Connor smiled slightly at something. Bastards were passing telepathic notes so the teacher cannot hear them, Hank realised. He wondered what they thought of the whole ordeal. Meanwhile the slide changed and now depicted a side by side comparison of internal organs of a human and an android. Bradley stepped aside a bit and let Ava take the wheel.
“If we have the basics, let’s talk about anatomy, before we move on to the most common conditions and how to apply first aid.” She said. “Like Bradley mentioned, androids are designed to resemble humans as closely as possible, and so many of the parts of our internal construction were designed similar to human anatomy - the skeletal system, the ligament structure, nervous system, eyes, mouths, hearing and so on. Here are the differences. Differently to humans, androids do not require food and water as an external energy source to keep the system going. We’re powered by our circulatory system. That's the most complicated element of our build, apart from the main drive or the brain biocomponent. The flow of blue blood through this vital piece -” She used a laser pointer to show on a diagram something placed similarly to human’s liver. “- works in a similar manner to a water powered power plant. Movement generates energy, energy is stored and distributed. To ensure this movement, androids have a main pump - working exactly like a human heart and the pump regulator. This biocomponent has its own long living battery and regulates the heartbeat, making sure thirium is flowing. Removing of thirium pump regulator leads to a complete shutdown in around one minute 53 seconds. This is also why a hemorrhage of blue blood can be fatal to an android. If there’s nothing to flow through biocomponent #7823x, there’s nothing to generate power.”
This reminded Hank of the dreadful feeling of driving like a madman to get help from Jericho, while Connor was shutting down on the passenger seat. Androids were tough as nails, but every creature has to have a weak point it seemed
“Why does it work like that? Wouldn’t it make more sense to just have a strong battery?” Someone asked. Ava smiled slightly.
“That’s a question for Elijah Kamski. I could ask you if it wouldn’t make more sense to have knees with more range of motion.” She said. “One battery supporting a single biocomponent has a longer lifespan, than a big one having to deal with all the systems. That’s our leading theory. This also ensures there’s no battery charging needed. Anyways, there’s space for these biocomponents supporting energy generating because inside our bodies there are no intestines.” Ava continued. “Well, there’s only a small stomach like part that temporarily stores thirium if ingested and lets it into the bloodstream. Lower part of the abdomen holds less critical parts, like the one you could compare to kidneys, that resets all the chemical and electronical information blue blood might carry between biocomponents. Damages to it are usually easier to overcome and only can be fatal if they cause strong blue blood leaks.
There is also, naturally, no reproductive system. At this time most of the models of androids have no parts that would be equivalent to human genitals. Exception are the WR400 and HR400 models, commonly known as Tracis. While we don’t see the matters of sexuality the same way as you, please remember that directly asking someone if they’re a Traci can be taken as imposing indirectly on a person’s privacy. It is also worth noting that once we secure the ability to repair and modify ourselves without the influence of Cyberlife, more models might opt to install components required for sexual acts. For example because of forming a relationship with a human.”
Hank had to glance back at Connor - not in *that way*, just out of curiosity. It was pretty embarrassing to have your anatomy dragged out like that before humans, species famously obsessed with having a dick but his friend seemed unphased, stood there and listened, rolling a coin over his knuckles. Sometimes he did it when he was nervous and agitated, now it seemed more like the fidgeting of a slightly bored student. After all, he already knew all about the topic. At what age does your android start to date? Do they need safety talks? Hank shook his head at himself realising he’s sounding like a father of a teenager. Connor was not one.
“Question: What’s with the pain? You feel it or not?” Asked someone in the audience.
“Good question. An important thing to remember is: there are no pain receptors in android systems.” Ava said. “Even in humans pain and touch are different inputs. We sense pressure and touch, as this is quite important for precise movement and interaction with the surroundings, but once the pressure on the spot surpasses the range of the sensors in the chassis, it gets registered like a warning or error message. Which means, if an android is hurt, they will know they’re damaged, but won’t feel pain. This similarly to a human in adrenaline shock might lead to being able to survive more, or furthering the damages. Often both. Of course having many, many error messages from your own system can cause mental distress, overload the rest of it and hinder physical abilities.”
Hank thought of Connor again. He’s seen him get hurt, and it always stressed him greatly, but only actual serious damages looked like RK800 was suffering. He wondered how it is, to never tire, never feel back pain or a hangover. For Connor the price of deviancy was often boredom. An android literally made for investigation and chase didn’t take well having days off or having to wait on results now once his mind didn’t have the option to just go blank and into standby. Like one of those dogs, belgian shepherds? Those that had to work constantly. Good that Hank never found him gnawing on a couch. He wanted to suggest a rubix cube once, before remembering how old he was, and that this toy was useless to a person able to run advanced simulations of every sequence of moves. It was surprising how much fish calmed down Connor’s ever calculating mind.
“...too low or too high.” Shit. Hank realised he’s been lost in thought and stopped listening. The looked at the slide presentation that now informed of risks of extreme temperatures.
“The lowest estimated temperature an android can withstand for more than few minutes is allegedly minus 30 °F, and the highest 194 °F. Those are estimations marketed by Cyberlife, because we don’t really conduct experiments on this field. We have scarce data from firefighter assistant models and it’s safe to assume most androids aren’t as durable. It all comes down to different circumstances and damages to various parts. As with pain, these will still be reported as system errors, then errors of certain damages and finally an android will feel the biocomponents shutting down.”
“Can you describe how it is to feel all these error messages?” Someone asked.
“Haven’t you ever gotten a virus or spam on your phone?” Someone else laughed.
“We’re still trying to cross reference different feelings to help medical professionals work better. It’s a wide field of research and I assume it will take years. You can try to imagine your field of vision blurring and distorting because of an amount of information flashing through it?” Ava explained.
“So a migraine” Tina Chen decided. “Or aura from one”
“We will note that down.” the lecturer nodded, interested in Tina’s perspective.
The whole next section of the lecture was specific examples: on how to stop bleeding, how to reattach limbs, recognize and cool down an overheating android or talk to a distressed one. In some cases, like a faulty part or encountering an android already powered down a human couldn’t help but immediately call for help.
Human emergency services were still adjusting to the new reality and lacked resources to react fast to both human and android calls, which resulted in the dispatchers putting human emergencies first most of the time. Jericho created a hotline strictly for calling in about androids needing help and was assembling teams to send out.
Hank doubted this line was much more effective than official emergency numbers. After all, something like that needs to be manned at all times. Maintained. Teams need to get paid and each needs tools, parts, thirium… if the hospitals had no money to support it, how the hell the young revolutionary movement did? Their resources must’ve been spread extremely thin across all the areas on which they fought for their survival. He knew from Connor that Jericho started a foundation and had multiple online fundraisers going at all times and counted on worldwide support and donations. That was only a temporary solution. Recalling the short visit at Kamski’s house Hank couldn’t help but think the *benevolent creator*, who recently announced his return to the chair of Cyberlife's CEO could share a fraction of his fortune to secure some android rights. Maybe in exchange for control over the parts market? Anderson was really sorry for Markus having to make such choices.
The lecture started to drag, no matter how interesting the topic was, this stream of data only made Hank’s mind wander. Surely a beer or a glass of whiskey would help here. Stepping on the path to sobriety was the best and somehow the worst decision of his life and a constant battle.
“...questions?” Ava asked. Did that mean they were nearing the end?
“I have one” Hank heard himself asking, a direct continuation of his line of thought about alcohol. “Addiction. Are we going to start hearing of you folk getting high or dealing a new kind of drug?”
He couldn’t see Connor shifting his weight nervously behind him in reaction to the directness. Ava on the other hand, didn’t bat an eye.
“We don’t know.” She said with full honesty. “At this moment there are thirium drinks in bars allowing androids to partake in human culture of social drinking. But chemistry plays a much smaller role in our systems. If a substance to abuse inevitably emerges, it will probably be digital.”
“Can’t wait for E-cocaine busts” Gavin commented. “Server farms mining drugs like bitcoin.”
“Well then as Detroit Police you should work with us to ensure the system doesn’t push androids to search for escape from reality.” Ava told him. She looked at the gathering. “Jericho cannot change everything alone. We need forces like you to stand on our side.”
.
“What do you think?” Hank asked his partner when they were finally let out of the conference room. “Feeling represented?”
“More curious” Connor replied. “There’s so much we don’t know about how we work. Nothing during the lecture was new, and still, I couldn’t simply open myself up and perform serious repairs. Not to even mention the questions of programmed code versus deviant one. Or those physical limits. I cannot just try it anymore.”
“Well, you’re just arrived at the medical research era of free will, bud.” Hank patted his shoulder. “Just don’t start bringing dead androids to the house.”
Connor didn’t answer because Tina came with some additional questions. Hank let his friend be dragged away by curious coworkers, and sat behind his desk for a moment - or maybe a few moments of a break. It was well deserved.