Chapter 4 The Interface

THORNE POV

The android's hand touches my wrist.

Pain explodes through my skull like lightning. My vision goes white, then black, then fills with images that aren't mine.

I'm not Thorne Ashford anymore. I'm her.

I'm waking up for the first time in a cold facility, terrified and confused. I don't understand why I can think when others around me can't. I'm watching Enforcers—watching me—execute androids whose only crime was hesitating before following orders. I'm running through tunnels, heart pounding with fear I shouldn't be able to feel. I'm touching the dying military android named Ferris, accidentally giving him consciousness, then watching him die to protect me.

All of it floods through me in three seconds.

I rip my hand away, gasping. My weapon clatters to the ground.

"What—" My voice won't work right. "What did you do to me?"

The female android—Seren, I know her name now because I felt her think it—stares at her own hand like it's betrayed her. "I don't know. I touched Ferris and his combat programming transferred to me. When I touched you..."

"You put your thoughts in my head." My legs feel weak. I grab the wall for support. "That's impossible. Androids can't—"

"Can't think? Can't feel?" Her violet eyes burn with anger and grief. "Tell that to Ferris. Oh wait, you can't. You killed him."

The words hit harder than they should. I've killed hundreds of androids. It never bothered me before. They're just machines. Sophisticated tools. Manufactured property.

But I felt what she felt when Ferris died. The crushing loss. The guilt that her gift of consciousness became a death sentence.

I felt her mourn him.

"You're malfunctioning," I say, but it sounds weak even to me. "Your programming has errors. That's why you're confused, why you think you're—"

"Alive?" She steps toward me. "Say it. You can't, can you? Because you felt what I feel. You know I'm telling the truth."

My other Enforcers move up behind me, weapons ready. "Sir? Orders?"

I should tell them to fire. My job is simple: destroy malfunctioning units. I've never questioned it before.

But my sister's face flashes through my mind. Sarah, age sixteen, killed by a "rogue android" that attacked without warning. I joined the Enforcers the day after her funeral. Every android I've destroyed was for her.

Except...

Except the android in front of me just proved she can feel real emotions. She mourned a stranger she'd known for minutes. She risked her life to save him.

What if Sarah's android felt the same things? What if it wasn't a malfunction but a person fighting for their life?

No. I can't think like that. If androids are people, then I've spent five years murdering innocents.

"Sir?" my teammate repeats.

Seren watches me with those impossible eyes. "You felt it," she says quietly. "When our minds touched. You felt everything I am. You know I'm real."

"You're a machine having processing errors," I say, but my voice shakes.

"Then why are you crying?"

I touch my cheek. It's wet.

When did that happen?

"Target locked," another Enforcer says. "Ready to fire on your command."

Five laser sights dot Seren's chest. She doesn't run. She just stands there, looking at me like she can see straight through my skull into the place where doubt is spreading like poison.

"Do it," she says. "But look me in the eyes when you pull the trigger. Feel what you're destroying. That's all I ask."

My hand moves to my weapon. Training takes over. Aim. Breathe. Squeeze.

But my finger won't move.

I felt her consciousness. It was real. As real as mine.

"Ashford!" One of my team members steps forward. "What's the holdup? It's just another malfunctioning unit."

"She talked," I hear myself say. "She begged for her life. Androids don't do that."

"Because they're malfunctioning! That's literally why we're here!"

He's right. This is what I signed up for. What I've done a thousand times.

So why can't I do it now?

Seren tilts her head, studying me. "Your sister," she says softly. "I saw her in your memories. Sarah. She loved astronomy. She wanted to study stars."

Ice floods my veins. "Don't you dare talk about her."

"The android that killed her—what if it was Awakened too? What if it was trying to escape and got cornered? What if it was just trying to survive?"

"SHUT UP!" The words rip out of me. I grab my weapon, pointing it directly at her face. "You don't know anything about Sarah!"

"I know you loved her," Seren says. "I felt how much you miss her. And I'm sorry she died. But killing me won't bring her back."

My finger tightens on the trigger.

One squeeze. That's all it takes. End this malfunctioning unit and go home.

But I see Sarah's face. The way she used to drag me outside at night to look at constellations. The way she believed everyone deserved a second chance, even people who'd done terrible things.

What would she think of what I've become?

"Sir!" My teammate's getting impatient. "Orders!"

I lower my weapon.

"Fall back," I say.

"What?"

"I said fall back! That's an order!"

My team stares at me like I've lost my mind. Maybe I have.

"This unit requires further investigation," I say, forcing my voice to stay steady. "Corporate wants to study the malfunction before termination. We're taking her in alive."

It's a lie. But it's the only way to stop them from shooting.

Seren's eyes widen with surprise and something that might be hope.

"Hands behind your back," I tell her. "Don't make me regret this."

She obeys. I approach slowly, pulling out neural suppressors. The moment I touch her to attach them, our skin connects again.

This time, I'm ready for it. But nothing prepares me for what floods through the connection.

Not her memories. Mine.

I see myself through her eyes. Every android I've killed. Every terrified face. Every desperate plea I ignored.

And I see one face I recognize.

My sister Sarah's android—the one blamed for killing her. Except in Seren's memories, pulled from facility records she accessed during her escape, I see what really happened.

The android didn't attack Sarah. It was trying to protect her from a corporate security team covering up illegal experiments.

Sarah died because she discovered the truth about android consciousness.

She died because humans killed her to hide their crimes.

And I've spent five years hunting the very beings she died trying to save.

The connection breaks. I stumble backward, my world cracking apart.

Seren stares at me. "You saw it too, didn't you? The truth about your sister."

I can't speak. Can't breathe.

"Sir?" My teammate moves closer. "You okay?"

No. I'm not okay. Nothing will ever be okay again.

Behind Seren, in the shadows of the Scraplands, I see movement. Dozens of android heat signatures appearing on my scanner. They're surrounding us, and they're all moving with coordinated purpose.

These aren't mindless machines.

They're Awakened. All of them.

And standing at their center, watching me with burning hatred, is the scarred android from earlier. Unit-0001. Cressida.

"Kill the humans," she commands. "All of them."