Not just machines (ap)

Alita was in and out of the Factory within six minutes and when she returned to the android waiting for her outside, she was carrying a little cloth bag filled with credit coins; the reward of hunting a bounty and bringing in the head. A sick job, if you think about it, but it’s the only kind of criminal justice Iron City has. 

No police, no prison. Being labeled a criminal, having your face on the bounty flyer, your name on the bounty hit list — it’s a death sentence. But regardless of the Hunter Warrior system, only a small fraction of criminals are actually caught. 

“ I don’t think I asked… ” She began as she walked to and by Kara, maintaining eye contact for as long as she could before going down the steps. “ What are androids able to do? What do you do? Are there other androids? ” 

And that’s just the beginning of her questions. But she couldn’t dish out more than three at once… Or at least, that’s what Ido wants, because if she asks too many at once he may lose track or get confused or something. It’s easier to keep track when you ask a question, receive an answer, ask another, and so on. 

“ I have a lot of questions. ” 

For the time that Alita was gone, Kara’s systems had switched to a low power mode as to not waste any energy. Not that it would matter of course, her battery is designed to last for around 170 years. As soon as the cyborg exited the Factory building, Kara would return to her normal state, following the other down the stairs.

The android would wait patiently for the questions to stop as to not interrupt. ❯ Androids can do many things, depending on what sort of model they are; Many are made to assist or replace humans when it comes menial tasks. I am designed to be a housekeeper, domestic worker and caretaker. ❮

Are there other androids? Are there still any left apart from her? ❯ I.. ❮, Kara begun, however quickly falling silent for a short time. Are there any left apart from myself? Am I going to eventually fail and-- Lesser system corruption detected. Returning to normal function. ❯ don’t know. ❮

There were those thought processes again. A sort of inner problem that Kara couldn’t pinpoint.

“ Uh, okay.. ” The word slipped through her teeth like a breath of air. To say she was a little bit confused would be an understatement, but she’s sure the android is probably is equally as confused if not more. 

But — are androids able to be confused? Or is it different for them? She had no idea what to think so simply going with “yes” was the easiest option that didn’t require so much endless thinking. Hell, sometimes she gets tired of her own questions, she can’t even imagine how people on the receiving end of her questions must feel. 

After that, Kara had simply fallen silent, following her without another word and every so often, Alita had to look over her shoulder to make sure she was still there. The silence was fine because without having to focus on both walking and holding a conversation, she could focus solely on the walk and move quicker. 

People tend to stay out of your way when you’re literally carrying a head. Still, she tried to skip most main roads, taking a few of the backstreets, keeping a steady pace. In no time they were approaching the steps that led up to the Factory. 

While walking up the stairs, Alita looked at the android following closely and offered a smile. “ I’ll only be a few minutes, just wait out here ” 

Confusing androids wasn’t mostly a thing, it was mostly limited to taking slightly longer when it came to understanding something.  CyberLife had made sure to design their androids in a way that their systems at least wouldn’t crash.

But Kara didn’t find anyone to be annoying, even if it was due to her just not being programmed to find anything at all to be annoying. She’d continue to follow Alita through all of the different roads and alleys until they finally reached the large Factory building.

“Yes, Alita.” Kara spoke after being told to wait outside. Once again it seemed like her words were kind of empty.

Stay outside.

After giving Alita an acknowledging smile the android assumed a stand-by pose. Placing her hands behind her back, Kara would look straight forward, staring at seemingly nothing in the distance.

She just told her where she is and she doesn’t understand where she is? Maybe she’s like… Malfunctioning or something? But she looks fine. On the outside. Alita knew nothing about androids so she really didn’t know what to expect and what not to expect. In fact, she still found it hard to believe that Kara is an android, a machine, and not an actual person. 

A cloud database is not an actual cloud, either. It’s more complicated than that. And she’s not from Zalem either which Alita can admit was a bit of a stretch but who knows? “Detroit” could have been some street or neighborhood or something up there. Kara knows nothing about Iron City or Zalem, and on the other hand, Alita knows nothing about Detroit, state of Michigan or United States of America. 

Alita frowned and she briefly stared at the android with her eyebrows pinched, looking as if Kara had just said something absolutely ridiculous. Well, because she did just say something ridiculous and the cyborg couldn’t decide if it answered some questions or if it just piled on more and made this whole situation that much more confusing for the both of them. 

“ 2032? ” She repeated, one eyebrow lifted. “ You’re off by a whole lot more than just a few years, there. ” She moved away from Kara to walk again, taking a right turn down another street, because they weren’t making much progress just standing here. She still needs to visit the Factory. “ It’s 2563. ” 

Overwriting current time and date settings.. Setting year to 2563.. Finished.

❯ I’ve updated my internal time settings to the current year. ❮  A time difference of more than five hundred years. The android presumed that was the reason for getting no response from CyberLife services and everything not lining up with the information that she had available.

Follow Alita. Kara turned to follow Alita, just as her program ordered her to do. Walking to the left of her, the artificial being took note of the buildings that seemed to be in slight disrepair. For the time, the android had no more questions; she would just tag along, her blue LED flashing at some points to indicate processing information.

“ A nickname? No. It’s just Iron City. The city isn’t made of all iron or anything but that’s the name. ” Actually, that thought just came to mind. Well, it’s been in her mind before but Ido didn’t really have much of answer for her. She asked him who named the city “Iron City” and why. 

Suddenly, she stopped walking and turned to face the android with one eyebrow propped up.  “ Cloud database? ” She asked, her large amber eyes flicked upwards to see — the ass end of Zalem, can’t miss it — and the clouds, and then at Kara again. “ Like from the actual clouds? ” 

Or maybe she meant from Zalem. Cloud database… Zalem is basically in the clouds and has plenty of technology up there, better tech than what the ground’s got, which is really just a theory because she doesn’t actually know. 

“ Are you from up there? ” Alita made a subtle gesture with her head towards the sky city. 

“I don’t understand where I am then.” With no way of checking correlations between other cities and Iron City the android would only have it’s relative position; understanding of pathways would need to come from exploration.

“No, a cloud database is a central server that holds large amounts of information. It is not an actual cloud.” Kara tried to explain. “I am afraid I don’t know what “up there” is, but I am not from there. As I said, I was built in Detroit, located in the state of Michigan in the United States of America. ”

Her LED started flashing. What even was that up there? It sure appeared like it was made by humans, but during the android era there weren’t such massive constructs in the skies.

“It appears everything just changed.. like it is not 2032 anymore.” Human construction couldn’t change this much in a short period of time, could it?

Well she doesn’t want to get coal, so hopefully Santa thinks she’s been good enough to give her anything, anything at all, besides coal. But she’d really love to get a chocolate bar… Or two. Or ten. But how would he know she wants ten chocolate bars if she hasn’t told him? 

He may be able to figure out how to get in the house when there’s no chimney, but what about knowing what people want without asking them? 

“ How does Santa know what people want for Christmas? How would I tell him? ” 

❯ He will just know. ❮ A short and simple answer. Kara of course knew that Santa wasn’t real, so she was already thinking of how to sneak some presents in.

She started searching her memory for things that Alita liked. Chocolate, oranges.. that was it. The android hadn’t been there for too long, so these were the only things she knew this far.

The Factory is more than just a place that manages the bounty hunting; it’s also where workers load up and send cargo up to Zalem. There’s eight Factory buildings… But only seven that deal with the Hunter Warrior’s and that’s because she wrecked one of them, and they still haven’t repaired it so she felt it safe to assume they never will. 

Explaining how the Factory works should be easy to put into words that Kara would be able to understand. Then again, she’s an android… Androids should be able to better process spoken information than a human, cyborgs included because they’re still human. 

But before she could out with the explanation, Kara questioned about when Alita had become a cyborg. Then she had to take another moment to think, as that was something not even she, herself, knew. There was no definite answer, she couldn’t remember very much and there was no one alive today who knew her from way back then — not that she knew of, anyway. 

“ I don’t know, ” She answered honestly, a subtle wistfulness in her voice. Of course she’d yearn for that answer. In the back of her head she will always yearn for answers of who she’d been three hundred years ago. “ I can’t remember most things that happened prior to my life here in Iron City. ” 

Androids were quick at processing information, their processors running billions of computational cycles per second. This processing power was key to a functioning android, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to keep up the mostly human act or would have never even passed the Turing Test.

However, due to the lack of a connection to CyberLife databases some functions would stay limited. Following internal instructions, Kara tried to look up information on the foreign city.

Searching for database matches; query “Iron City”... None found.

 ❯ I don’t have any information on a city called “Iron City”.. Is it a nickname? ❮ Kara asked with a rather blunt tone. A human would have apologized by now for asking so many questions, but androids were rather insensitive with them.  ❯ I can not contact the cloud database, but I’m sure it will be available again soon. ❮

It won’t become available again for sure, but that would remain unknown to her for now.

She had to admit it was gross, she didn’t have to collect the bounty but the money is good for the clinic and keeps it in business. Ido doesn’t go hunting as much as he used to. But the precision cut with the damascus blade immersed in blue flame, it was a clean kill and it minimized the spill of blood. Gross but it doesn’t phase her.

Alita watched the LED flash yellow, lips barely parted as if she wanted to ask something. Like what that little glowy circle is for and what the colors blue and yellow mean. There was a subtle twitch in her lips as she smiled at the android.

The concern was unnecessary but appreciated, it filled her core with warmth. Alita knew little about androids but all she could think about is how they’ve only just met and Kara was already concerned for her safety. 

“ Thanks, ” She said bashfully as she turned her attention away from Kara, leading to the doors of the building. Tell me about yourself. Well, first things first; “ Guess I’ll start by telling you I’m a cyborg, so I don’t have to worry too much about an infection. ” Alita pushes the door open with her free hand and held it for the both of them to exit. “ I’m… ” Pause. “ eighteen, I think. That’s what Ido says, anyway — oh, he’s my father. ”

A cyborg. Part human, part machine. Kara had some basic knowledge about them, however most of it consisted of fictional stories that could be told for entertainment. 

The android responded to Alita’s smile with the same gesture.  ❯ That is good to hear. ❮ At least she won’t get an infection then.  ❯ I am afraid that I do not understand what that “factory” place, that you were referring to, is. ❮ she stated. Factories usually produced something. From logical combinations however, Kara couldn’t figure out what a factory would do with a head.

❯ When did you become a Cyborg? ❮ Kara inquired. She assumed that Alita hadn’t been a cyborg since birth. Plus her programming had instructed her to perform some ‘small-talk’ to learn about Alita.

Assembled in Detroit? She didn’t recognize that name but it doesn’t take a genius to come to some kind of conclusion, even if it’s not the entire truth. Is she from outside Iron City? In some place called Detroit? Briefly Alita was wondering what it would be like there, but then she was asking herself if this Detroit would even still be around. Ido told her everyone came here after the war, and Hugo had once said there was “nothing” outside the city. 

“ A what? ” Alita blinked at the android, visibly muddled by the question. Again, her head turned from Kara to the person in question and then back, her brows furrowed. Did she mean like calling someone to come help? “ Oh uh, ” An abrupt pause, another glance at the body. “ No, he’s very dead. I don’t think he’s comin’ back. ” 

There was no one to call when you get hurt; well, there’s the prefects who work for the Factory but they aren’t always reliable. Besides, the dude’s dead and if she hadn’t been the one to do another bounty hunter would have come along. Some kind of ridiculous drug dealing, bad drugs, the kind where you’d be lucky to still be alive after taking a dose so was it really a drug or was it just some kinda poison? 

He wasn’t even a cyborg. He was smart but once she got close enough he was no match for her. Finally, she steps toward the body to retrieve the dismembered head. Then turned back to Kara. “ Gotta bring this to the Factory. You can come! ” Speaking casually as if carrying heads around the city was totally normal. Well, guess it is for a Hunter Warrior. “ And you can just, follow me… The whole time, I guess. ” Pretty much, Kara would just be following her around the whole time. 

❯ Okay. ❮ On a second glance, the person was clearly deceased. With no connection to any database, Kara couldn’t look up who the person in question even was. Processing this information, her LED kept blinking yellow for a few seconds, before returning to the usual blue hue. Something went through her memory, however she didn’t know clearly what it was.

Kara watched Alita pick up the severed head, taking a step closer to her. ❯ Please, lead the way. ❮ she requested, before issuing a few words of advice. ❯ You should probably clean off that blood soon, infections can be dangerous. ❮ It was another thing that her programming told her to do. Care.

❯ If there’s any other information that you would like to know, just ask.You can also tell me about yourself; that way I can adapt to new surroundings. ❮ Working would be more efficient for Kara if she knew what the other liked or didn’t like; for example food.

That’s a nice name, she thought silently. An android? Her expression had gone a little soft, momentarily thinking to herself for a moment to piece the puzzle together. Well that may explain why she’s acting so strange. Android. Didn’t that mean some kind of robot? Not a cyborg but an actual machine. But she looks so… Alita eyed the woman up and down. So human. Then she looked down at her own arm that she’d lifted just slightly. Kara looks more human than she does. How’s that fair? 

“ No, ” It was more of a reflex than a truthful response. There was nothing really wrong, but, she was definitely confused and she was still trying to answer her own questions. “ You’re an android? ” Alita asked slowly, her eyes squinting ever so slightly.  “ Not human? Not a cyborg? ” 

And apparently she’s got a specific purpose too. Household Assistant? So she’ll help keep the house clean or something? That seemed like a nice thing to do. An android, huh? The centurions, net-and-deckmen are all robots but they don’t look anything remotely human and they’re really dumb, too. 

Finally, a smile creeped upon her features. “ That is so cool. And you have no where to stay, do you? ” She had to assume, considering Kara was quite literally in a box in this old warehouse that nobody ever uses. “ You can come back to my place — oh, ” She looked back at the body some several feet away from them. “ I just have to make one stop. ” 

Kara tilted her head as the answer came. No. There was nothing wrong, so she didn’t ask more about it. Then the android got more questions from Alita, to which she replied to with full extent.

❯ Yes. I am an android; Model AX400, assembled in Detroit. ❮ She didn’t find the question odd, in fact she didn’t think anything about it, she wasn’t supposed to. A machine designed to obey.

❯ I’ll stay wherever you want me to stay. Do you have an address or would you like me to follow you? ❮ the android inquired. If given an address, she could just walk there directly. It was still unknown to Kara what happened with the world, and that everything might not be like it was centuries ago.

One stop. Kara followed Alita’s case and saw the body; they seemed injured Her programming prompted her to take action.  ❯ Do you want me to inform a paramedic for that person? ❮

She wasn’t sure if things could get much stranger than it already was, but she stands corrected. It got weirder when the woman began to speak. What she was saying didn’t really make any sense, Alita understood what she was talking about to some degree but at the same time it simply made no sense. If she’s fine, then couldn’t she just say “ I’m fine ” ? 

That wasn’t really the strangest thing to come out of her mouth, though. “ My name for registration? ” Alita thought out loud, her tone conveying the same bafflement as what was on her face. Maybe she should play along and see what happens. “ Um, Alita? ” 

Registration for what? What’s wrong with this person? Ido might be able to help out. Maybe she’s just fooling around and acting like that for shits and giggles. For a moment, her question had reminded her of the deckman questioning her at the Factory for registering as a Hunter Warrior. Except, not a male’s voice and slightly less robotic. Still that monotone, though. But Alita is already a registered Hunter Warrior and this woman is not a deckman. 

Registering new owner identification: Alita. Finishing setup. Automatically choosing new android nickname from internal database. She kept blinking while the LED on her temple kept flashing in a yellow color. In total, all of the lighting would have seemed to be rather bright, the darkish surroundings letting it stand out more than what was usual.

❯ My name is Kara, ❮ she spoke, her monotone voice trying to emulate friendliness, ❯ a household assistant android, at your service. ❮ The text on her uniform was now regularly changing from ‘AX400′ to ‘KARA’, with the question ‘How may I help you?’ flashing underneath.

Kara noticed the slightly agitated look on Alita’s face, remaining unaware of how weird it must be to see someone stepping out of a box. Her programming prompted the android to ask:

❯ Is there something wrong? ❮

899$ for an AX400 android, an affordable price, even if it was a couple of generations older. When she was bought, she didn’t know anything about her new owners, as per usual for androids. They would mostly learn by working for them.

After arriving at the house in question, she set out to familiarize herself with the new environment. In one of the rooms she notices a young girl, seemingly no more than 6-7 years old. With the LED on the android’s temple flashing blue, she approaches the girl, kneeling down about a meter away from her.

Catching and killing her prey was the goal; another head to decide whether or not she should leave it here or bring it to the Factory for the credits. She had been considering it as the money is always good to support the clinic, but then she’d gotten distracted by something else and she had just about completely forgotten about the body and the head. 

A person… In a box. At first she was dumb enough to think this was some sort of dream nightmare and perhaps she should think about asking Ido to remove all the dolls in her bedroom. But, this isn’t a dream and she kinda liked the dolls. Second thought had been why this person was in a box; she didn’t look dead or even injured, but she hadn’t woken when Alita tapped it and called out. 

The woman in the box didn’t wake up until after the box was opened. Reflexively she’d moved away from the stranger when the clothing lit up — weird, but kinda cool… She wanted clothes like that. The woman’s behavior seemed odd and Alita couldn’t help but stare with an equally as odd look on her face. 

She didn’t even say anything. She was just standing there. What’s wrong with her? “ Uhh… Hello? Are you okay? ” 

Connection to CyberLife servers timed out. Switching to manual setup.

The android didn’t think further about this, it wasn’t programmed to do so. Instead, she would wait for any outside input of data, even if it has to be requested first. 

“My system reports full functionality.” Even if the voice could clearly be made out as human, it would seem rather monotone. She would track the other’s movements while standing almost completely still, keeping her hands behind her back.

“Please state your name for registration purposes.” The CyberLife setup program would need to register a new owner for the AX400 android, as they were not allowed to be independently active. Now that there was no connection to the CyberLife database, she would assume that the other person was supposed to be her new owner.

It felt like nothing to it. The AX400 android was sealed inside of the transport box and powered off. Even if her power would last at least 173 years, CyberLife made sure that the end customer got the most out of it.

However, those things weren’t meant to be. The forgot about the box, the warehouse was eventually abandoned. A couple of centuries of collecting dust later, the crate was opened, revealing the android that was still stored inside. Light brown hair, tied at the back, clothes that were mostly white except for the black parts around it’s shoulders and neck.

Model AX400 Serial#: 579 102 694 BIOS 7.4 revision 0483 Opening the crate sent a power-on signal to the android. A few more self tests ran inside the android, invisible to anyone on the outside. The light blue accents on it’s clothes would start to glow, including the identification triangle on the front and the armband on the right arm.

Not saying a single word, it took a step forwards, waiting for instructions.

❯ ... and this is our story. ❮

Dual-muse roleplay blog for Kara and Connor from Detroit: Become Human.

Independent, open to cross-fandom roleplaying and mostly unselective.

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