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The car arrived out the front of Elodie's apartment a little before 7am. The compact self-driving vehicle came to a smooth stop, expectantly opening its door to beckon her inside. Elodie craned herself upwards to plant a kiss on Lex's mouth, quick and soft.

"Don't wait up if I'm late back."

Lex gave a snort. "I know the drill. Have a good day."

He gave her a soft pat on the shoulder as she turned around, moving towards the car. Slipping inside, the door closed behind her, and she watched through tinted windows as Lex waved at her departure. Elodie let herself relax against the seat, closing her eyes to listen to the soft mechanical whir of the electric car.

This was a route she'd often taken, and she knew by feel alone each curve and bend of the road ahead. She could map it in her mind and imagine the sequences of the streets and neighbourhoods outside as though she'd designed the roads herself. 

She'd been a teenager still when she'd moved to Detroit with a suitcase, a high school diploma and the weight of her own determination. She'd used the money she'd saved up from her job in an art shop, before customer service had become largely automated, and had put most of her savings into the deposit for the apartment she still lived in. Elijah had helped her find it, somewhere close, cheap and temporary, but deep down both had known that Elodie would roost wherever she landed for quite some time. Sameness was her way after all and she cared little for upgrades. Optics, as she called them, were pure folly.

The day she had arrived, she'd dumped her suitcase in a corner and caught a taxi to Elijah's. She'd watched the world whisk by in greyscale, a far throw from San Jose which seemed to be bathed in perpetual warmth, feeling excitement building in her chest. Finally she was free, finally she could start doing what she felt had always been her purpose. To slide her feet into the footsteps of her brother and carry forth a legacy built on his sweat and grit.

Elodie had been 7 when she'd watched her older brother pack his bags. She remembered it clearly, standing in the doorway to his bedroom, leaning her cheek against the doorframe as he rolled t-shirts into neat cylinders of cloth. 

In the hallways of the squat bungalow, the sounds of their parents arguing bounced off of the walls, a familiar sound but now one that felt more ominous, more foreboding. A door had slammed in the distance, and Elijah glanced upwards, dark brows descending over bright blue eyes. With a sigh, and the purr of the zipper of his suitcase, he stood and walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. He'd seemed so big back then, like a giant, a shield. She'd let him pull her into a hug, her childish arms pulling around his mid-section.

"I'm sorry." Elijah murmured, low and soothing. She was used to this tone, it was one reserved for only her. His hand cupped the back of her head, running through her thicket of dark hair.

"It's ok." Elodie replied, her stoicism holding fast.

"I have to do this."

"You gotta go make robots."

"Yeah."

"And mom and dad don't get it."

"Yeah."

Elodie looked up at him, her dark brows knitted together. They shared the same piercing eyes, unsettlingly bright, the same dark hair, the same ghostly pale skin. 

Even at the age of 7, she knew that their similarities didn't stop at the physical, that their minds worked in the same way, possessing the skill of transmuting the theoretical into reality. Her first memory had been Elijah, bent over the workshop table in their parent's garage, his hands stained with a prototype which would later become thirium, so vibrantly blue. 

As a child, she'd been fascinated with him, simultaneous parts of veneration and fear. Elijah had been uncharacteristically patient with her much to the surprise of their parents, allowing her to watch him as he worked on his projects. Their partnership seemed strange, the rebellious teenage genius and his toddler apprentice, but it was born from a shared kinship. It had truly felt like no one else could see the world the way the other did.

When Elodie pulled away from the hug, Elijah's shirt was tear stained. He smiled ruefully at her, shaking his head as he moved back to his packing.

"You'll be ok. Soon you'll follow after me, I know it. You just have to wait until you're a grown up."

Waiting sounded simple enough, but in practice, it was nothing short of hell. With Elijah gone, there was no one to turn to when the arguments grew to fights, her mother blustering through the halls like a human tornado. She felt alone, isolated, like she had been sucked into a bubble, forced to communicate and experience the world surrounded by a buffer. 

While she excelled in school, as much a genius as had been Elijah, she fundamentally did not understand her peers, and was maligned by others as a result. Elijah's enigmatic silence when worn in the midst of girlhood was not charming or fascinating to others but strange, a reason to poke and prod. Her intelligence, which had been praised by her brother, threatened her classmates. Too often, the world felt too much, and in these moments, all she could do was hide within herself, a curtain of silence engulfing her. 

When it became obvious to her teachers that Elodie's isolation was not just self-imposed, she was taken to a child psychologist, who diagnosed her with autism. Her parents fundamentally disagreed with the diagnosis, arguing that she was just a smart, shy child and dismissed it offhand. To Elodie, they forbid her from telling anyone of the psychologist's assessment, citing that it would only contribute to the bullying she received in school. 

She was 9, two years out from Elijah's departure from their home, communicating with him mostly through emails which she wrote on the family computer late at night. He'd been amused when she had mentioned it in their correspondence, commenting that it explained much of his own life. 

He'd assured her that the diagnosis was whatever she decided to make of it, dissuading her from caring about the opinion of their parents. By then, he had begun Cyberlife, and had made his first breakthroughs with the biocomponents that powered his android prototypes. He was broke from pouring all of his money into the burgeoning technology, far too much so to finance any visits between San Jose and Detroit. Their parents had refused to speak to him after he'd left, something that didn't bother him as he often assured Elodie, but was yet another reason to keep the two apart. It felt as though the act of growing up was happening at a sluggish pace, endless grains of sand trickling through an hourglass. 

She wouldn't see him in person again until she was 16, almost 10 years after he'd left home, at the Cyberlife factory.

By then Elodie had tried on countless occasions to drop out of high school, and the trip to Detroit had mostly been to appease her for her senior year. She found herself restless, depressed and deeply troubled, the years since her diagnosis faring her no better. While she still excelled academically, she was plagued by all of the social issues that she had been her entire life, now with the caveat of hormones, boys and boredom. 

The higher Elijah's profile had grown, the more the itch to follow him had. She'd become obsessed with science, programming and engineering, and would spend long into the night pursuing all three. She'd begun working on her own prototypes then, drawing diagrams on sheets of vellum, mapping the innerworkings of dogs, cats, and birds as though she were constructing them with the hand of God. She had drawn on her other passion, animals, and begun working on the concept of android pets. Her first attempt had been a hummingbird which could pollinate local flora in lieu of the degrading population of bees. Years later, she would use an updated design to create several songbirds for Carl Manfred, a dear friend of her brother.

The Cyberlife factory was a vast and sprawling vision in comparison to Elijah's modest beginnings in the Kamski garage. When Elijah had greeted them, it had taken Elodie a beat to recognise him. Something, not just age, had changed in him. There was a hardness to his features that hadn't been there when he was a teenager, hidden behind his messy ponytail and cropped facial hair. He'd pulled Elodie into a hug, ruffling her hair.

"Why'd you never mention how tall you've gotten?"

It was true, Elodie was no longer a soft, chubby cheeked child. Puberty had elongated her body, and she'd grown to 5'8, slender and awkward with long legs and a toothy smile. She shrugged as she pulled away, blushing as she looked down at her feet. Despite the fact they had communicated through the years, it had felt like standing before a stranger.

"Didn't think to bring it up."

A year later and she was showing up at the doorstep of his villa, a building she'd coined 'the compound'. It hadn't been long after her first visit to Detroit that he had stepped down as CEO. 

The night it had happened, she'd stayed up until the early hours of the morning pouring over articles, thinkpieces, forum posts, videos. Her texts had gone unanswered, her voicemails unreturned, her mind unable to stop itself from turning over every possible theory as to why her brother had seemingly lost his mind. 

Cyberlife and androids had been what he had dedicated his entire life to, it seemed completely unthinkable that he would throw everything down the drain. Looming behind her confusion too was her own fate. If Elijah was no longer at the company, had that door closed? She had already decided to not bother pursuing college, the thought of having to sit through endless lectures for the next four years enough to make her skin crawl, and she was living on borrowed time. It would not be long until her parents began to question the lies she had told them about MIT.

Finally, he had returned her call, his voice heavy with apathy.

"It was in good faith, there's no bad blood. I was promised there would be a place for you when you're graduated, there's no need to worry."

"But why?" She'd pressed, trying to not sound emotional. Elijah sighed, and she could picture him, leaning against the square cushions of his couch, boredom resting on his lips.

"Because it was time." He said, not unkindly. "You'll understand in the future."

—

Elodie stepped out of the car and onto the pavement outside, shivering at the sudden cold. From above, snowflakes drifted downwards, falling to the landscape like powdered sugar. She glanced over her shoulder as she watched the automated car pull a swift U-turn around the small cul-de-sac before driving away. She had been one of the few people who hadn't felt an instinctual hostility towards the concept of driverless cars, having resisted learning how to drive knowing that the ability would be largely moot in the future. Automation brought her a strange sense of comfort: machines were reliable where people were not.

She ran a hand over her collar as she walked towards the front door of Elijah's house, checking that it was smooth and in place before pressing the bell. Moments later, the door swung open and one of her brother's Chloe androids beckoned her inside. The small blonde android's lips formed a soft smile, it's head dipping down in greeting as Elodie moved past the threshold.

"Your brother is expecting you, Miss Kamski."

Elodie nodded, allowing the android to lead her through the compound. Elijah had become a recluse since the years he had stepped down from his position as CEO, a subject that was perpetually discussed within the company still to this day. 

The myth of Elijah Kamski continued to haunt the halls of Cyberlife Tower despite the fact he'd stepped down over a decade ago, and it went without saying that Elodie had not been able to escape her brother's reputation. This curiosity was amplified by the common knowledge that Elijah rarely left his home and routinely refused guests, spending all of his time in the company of the RT600s. For the first two years at Cyberlife, when Elodie had been an intern in the lower levels of the company, she'd heard whispers and giggles that quietened whenever she entered a room. With time and growing seniority, the amusement and questions had lessened, but it usually didn't stop newer members of the company drunkenly prodding about her brother at work events.

She'd always tried to keep things diplomatic, but the truth was, she didn't have an opinion on her brother's lifestyle. To Elodie, androids were designed to be utilised by humans for the function of human happiness and utility, and her brother was simply living in his mission statement. His reservation from other humans was not a contradiction but his motivation, and Elodie could not fault his reasoning.

The sun was slowly rising in the East, filtering through the floor length mirrors of the villa. The Chloe's bare feet padded softly against the grey tile below as they made their way from the front room to a long corridor. Despite her brother's considerable wealth, his house was sparse and not nearly as sprawling as most in Cyberlife believed it to be. The only real frills to the villa were the ceilings with the triangular patterns in the ceiling above that rippled with blue light as they walked below. Everything else was sleek, grey and unadorned. 

The Chloe motioned to the circular conversation pit when they had reached the living area, sunken several steps below the living room floor, and Elodie obliged, stepping down and seating herself between the firm cushions. 

"He will be out in a moment." The android chirped, smiling pleasantly.

"Sure." Elodie replied, but it was already turning on its heel, heading from the way they had come.

In the middle of the pit was a round surface, housing a pile of dark rocks dancing with flames, the heat licking her face. Above it, a cylindric exhaust jutted down from the ceiling, a skylight encircling its base to let in a cool glow from the winter sky. The door to the hallway was to her left, but to her right lay another, leading deeper into the villa. Despite their closeness, there were rooms in her brother's home that she had never seen before. 

There were no photos in the living room, nor art, but beside the windows that overlooked the frozen lake outside sat a new addition to the décor. Elodie had to catch herself, for a moment believing that she was imagining things. Her brow creased. She found herself stepping up from the pit and crossing the room.

The violin stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the comparative monochrome of the room. It was amber in colour, its varnish gleaming in the light cast from outside. The instrument's tuning pegs were ornate, adornments carved at their rounded edges, and there was a soft elegance to the scroll above. 

Elodie had taken up the violin from the age of 5 after watching her own brother practicing. The instrument had come naturally to her, as though the bow became part of her being whenever she began to play. Before she'd properly discovered her propensity towards tech and science, she'd been a musical prodigy, spending afternoons and weekends in violin classes and recitals. All of it had come to a grinding halt though on her 11th birthday.

She stopped short of the instrument, studying it. From the craftsmanship, it certainly looked expensive. A gift maybe? But it was November, and Elijah was not the kind of person to give outside of the appropriate holidays. She frowned as she heard one of the doors behind her slide open.

"I thought you stopped playing." She called out, her eyes still fixed on the instrument. 

From behind her, she could feel eyes on her, footsteps pacing closer. She crouched down, forearms resting on the tops of her thighs. On the violin's tailpiece, she had spied an engraving in the wood, a small figure holding a bow, mid-glide across their engraved violin's strings.

When she realised there had been no answer, she straightened up, glancing over her shoulder. Elodie almost jumped out of her own skin, an audible gasp leaving her lips.

The android remained stock still, it's dark eyes settling on the violin. It was a male android with dark brown hair, smoothed backwards save for a loose strand of hair that drifted lazily above it's forehead. On it's body, it wore a grey suit jacket over a button up, a perfectly straight tie hanging from around its neck, dark jeans — atypical of the standard outfit of androids. A blue strip shone on it's right arm, matching both t he triangular Cyberlife logo on the breast of it's jacket and the round LED on it's temple. It's model number read as RK800, printed in white.

"Lady Blunt." It said after a moment.

"Pardon?" Elodie said.

"Lady Blunt." It repeated, swivelling its head to face her. "A Stradivarius violin made in 1721 by renowned luthier Antonio Stradivari and named after the woman it was gifted to, Lady Anne Blunt, the granddaughter of Lord Byron. In the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Lady Blunt was listed for charitable auction and sold for $15.9million USD. More recently, the Stradivarius was sold at private auction for an undisclosed sum."

Elodie looked back towards the violin, her eyebrows raised. She'd never seen a Stradivarius in person before, though she couldn't imagine where they would store such an instrument. Did Detroit have a museum of music?

"Lord Byron." She muttered. "Childe Harold's Lord Byron?"

The android nodded.

"Huh." 

Her eyes fell on the android's model number. She didn't believe she had ever seen an android like the one that stood before her and yet there was something about it that evoked a sense of familiarity. She squinted her eyes, studying the model. 

"RK800, state your specifications."

"I am an advanced Cyberlife android prototype from the RK series, serial number 313 248 317-52. I was released in August 2038 to complete my intended purpose." The android's eyes blinked rapidly as it spoke. When it finished, it set it's gaze upon her once more.

"State your purpose." Elodie's brow was furrowed, her mind flooded with the sensation of deja vu. August, that had been the month she had had the accident. Why was the word echoing inside her head?

"To investigate and decommission androids exhibiting deviancy."

Elodie felt her body grow rigid. Suddenly she couldn't move, her limbs locked in place, eyes and mouth agape as the sound of her shallow breathing escaped her throat. 

Her mind, like a wheel turning as a browser buffers, circled around the word deviancy, trying desperately to place the source of her knowledge. Deviant, used to describe a person or behaviour that is not usual and is generally considered to be unacceptable. An adjective, a synonym of aberrant. Deviant, a word she had heard as fact, rumour, speculation. Deviant, deviant, deviant.

The android reached it's hand to clasp her forearm, it's fingers pressing delicately against her skin. Elodie felt her body relax, inhaling sharply, as though she were breaking the surface of water to come up for air. For a moment, all she could do was stare at the android, aghast.

Over RK800's shoulder, a door slid open and her brother emerged. The android dropped its grip. Elodie cleared her throat. Elijah wore a smile that spread across his lips, like a Cheshire cat, teeth glinting between his lips.

"Well, I see you've met Connor."