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 Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 7:17 pm
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:13 pm
Cedric's flight arrived late at night, but he had no trouble getting through airport security and then got home quickly. He and his family lived on the outskirts of the city in an upper middle class suburb. It was a nice house of decent size, but most importantly it was home. There was only one light on, Cedric's wife always kept one light on when he was away. He entered the house quietly and set his bags down beside the door. He went to go turn the light off in the living room and then he saw his wife asleep in a chair beneath it with a book in her hands. She looked beautiful and peaceful. He came over to her and brushed the hair out of her face. She stirred awake and smiled when she saw it was him. She quickly got up and hugged him close, "I was so worried when I saw the news, I thought something might have happ-"
"I am fine, don't worry."
She sighed, "I know...."
"I missed you."
He could feel her slightly laugh and he knew she was smiling, "I missed you too." They let go of each other, "are you hungry?"
"No, not really. I am more tired than hungry."
"Ok then, time for bed." They went upstairs together and fell asleep in each others arms.
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Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 1:57 pm
In one of the few empty lots around New York, a large tent rises from the ground. It's silhouette blocks out a large portion of the horizon. Four beams of light shoot up from the ground around it, and wave randomly back and forth against the night sky. Smaller tents rise up around the larger one, holding food stands and game booths run by sly middle-aged men. Brightly coloured trucks with pictures of mutant people and near-impossible tricks are parked alongside, a constant flow of people and animals pour out of them. The terrifying roars of animals erupt from the camp as they're locked in their cages; but they cannot overwhelm the yelling of the ringmaster. Then quiet fills the camp, everything is saved for tomorrow, when the Circus will open.
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 6:07 pm
Autumn was by far the most relaxed on the plane. She was certian now that this was okay and she was not going ot get her intelligence taken from her. In new York she would be safe and was already learning to gt rid of her french accent. But held onto memories of it just in case it would help along the way.
She didn't bother to turn to Zechs had he not come along she would have been just fine but this fell into her plans better. She could prove to be more valuable when he was able to see what she could do. Some of the more jittery ones calmed down when she tlaked to them. For one they annoyed her when they couldn't stand still and being able to calm troops was a very useful skill no matter what.
Perhaps Zechs would see. Either way she fulfilled one thing. They weren't annoying her when they were calm.
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:21 am
(Ugh, finally posting... sorry)
The plane landed early in the morning. As part of the deal the androids who stowed away had to help unload the other supplies on the plane, but that was no big deal. Zechs helped a little bit at first, but then he talked with some of the people who worked at the airport. Had anyone been close enough to hear they would notice that he spoke in very simple terms, making himself appear more stupid than he truly was.
When they were done the androids discreetly left the airport. They were put into teams, some were on buses, others in taxis, and a few lucky ones were able to rent cars with what money they had.
Zechs got a very nice black convertible. He also asked for Autumn and two other androids to come with him, a male HRD and another female HRD.
Zechs sped out of the rental parking lot as quickly as the speed limit would allow. From the way he handled himself he clearly had downloaded some advanced driving programs or had memorized several action movies. When they got on the interstate Zechs said, "do any of you know why we are here?"
***
Cedric moaned as the alarm clock went off, he hit the snooze button for a second time and then finally pulled himself out of bed. He took a quick shower and then came downstairs where his wife was cooking breakfast for Lucy before preschool. He smiled at how perfect she was in every way. He walked over and kissed her and then grabbed a piece of toast and coffee. "Do you want something else," she asked.
She asked the same question every morning and he always responded the same way, "no thanks." Cedric wasn't that big on rushing through eating, so he usually skipped breakfast during the week and instead had some sort of small brunch at work. Cedric sat down at the table and scrolled through the local news stories on the plasma screen in the table. One perked his interest, "the circus is in town, interested in going?"
"Sure, sounds like fun. Lucy has never been, I bet she would like it."
Cedric nodded, "yeah, I will see if I can get us some tickets for this weekend." He saw the time on the clock and then he finished off his toast and coffee and got up from his seat. He gave Sarah another kiss before grabbing his stuff. "Love you," he said with a smile.
"Love you too."
After one more smile at each other Cedric left to go to his office.
***
The aircar flight was short for Cedric, of course having an aircar made going anywhere fast. His office was one of many skyscrapers in the city. It wasn't too far from the UN building, since they worked so closely together.
Cedric checked in, went through the biodetectors, and then went up to his department floor: Android Management. Almost everyone else was already there. The office mostly served as a place where calls were processed from local authorities throughout the world, and then a special agent or team would be sent to that place to assist. They also checked billions of hours of security camera footage for any wanted androids.
On one wall was a tack board of pictures for particularly difficult androids to catch, at the top was 'Zechs'. After the Paris attack they finally had a picture of him, but it was clear that Zechs knew how to change his face quite well, that would explain why they hadn't had a photo of him before. Cedric personally oversaw any leads on Zechs that he thought were credible. It was now personal for him, to lose so many people like that. But sadly their hadn't been any credible leads, Zechs had just completely disappeared again. A lot of people had called in that they had seen Zechs, but although every lead was followed by someone, all of them had turned up false.
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:10 pm
The morning of the first day was always the slowest, but as soon as the afternoon and evening hit it'd be an undying flow of people. Kayla toured the parade grounds in her usual pre-show gear, a simple olive hoodie and a white sundress. There were literally no one here, save for a few adults who didn't have to work and had come to get tickets for tonight's show and tour the grounds so they knew where everything is.
With a sigh, Kayla plunked herself down in front of a snack shack. Crossing her arms, she rested her head ontop and tried recover from the previous night's set-up. "The counter's not supposed to be used as a pillow." A familiar voiced joked from behind the counter. Raising her head from her arms, she peered up at a pot-bellied middle-aged man, that was almost completely bald. "Oh, c'mon, Bruce. Set-up had me up nearly all night. Give me a break." The man chuckled. "You're more than half-machine for Christ's sake, you shouldn't be tired. The sword-swoller did more work than you and he's more awake than you." Take a rag from under the counter, he whipped her soundly in the back of the head. Kayla grumbled while she nursed the back of her head, "Doesn't mean I don't get tired you insensitive jerk." Taking the rag, Bruce dabbed at his eyes and fakely whimpered, "Aw, Kayla, I think you've broken my lil' heart." Ripping the rag from his hands, she tossed it back in his face. "I don't think that's possible, seeing it's made of stone." Swinging herself around, she hopped off the stool and began making her way back to the big tent as she heard Bruce continued to complain about her insensitivity. She laughed lightly to herself, her talks with Bruce were always like this, but she still didn't mind him. Some of the other people in the circus though? Defiantly, mostly the other performers. They felt it was unfair that she could more professional and risky routines, seeing as she could easily repair most of herself if damaged and record the routines the first time so there are little to no error. But she honing them to perfection, which is what she did for the rest of the afternoon...
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 3:25 pm
Autumn paused for a moment. She wondered how much to say. "There are many monumental things here that we can attack. It is the land of oppurtunity as they say. Or...." She paused a moment. From the news that she had watched on what Zechs had done in Paris. The officer had been on the news. Hadn't he returned to New York not too long ago after Zech's attack? "You have a grudge against someone who lives here... or like antagonizing him."
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:29 am
Zechs smiled as he continued to drive, "true, there are many tempting targets here, but not today I am afraid. Your second theory is the right one, but I do not hold a grudge against him, why should I? I won." He didn't say that with arrogance but more as a simple statement of fact. He continued, "I don't want to antagonize him right now. Actually it is something far less malign, I want to get to know him. See who my enemy is, learn how he acts, find what he treasures, and know how he thinks."
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:41 am
The tram workers got 3 hours to lunch before heading back so Deek exited with them, waved good but as he set out to lunch and never came back. He calmly walked down a back alley and set out in search of transportation and different clothes.
He found both and more when a local accosted him. With his girly face he must have looked like an easy target. His attacker was a human of great height and girth. The Human had walked up to Deek and simple punched him in the face. As Deek watched the human scream in pain from the hand he had shattered on the powerful robots titanium jaw a thought came to him. The man had quite an impressive face. It looking like the visage of a war god. A fitting face for a champion of freedom.
Deek reached out and snapped the mans neck with ease.
Dragging the body behind a dumpster Deek set to work on his face. Half an hour later a Giant man in Biker leathers with blood red hair strode out of the alley. If one were to check the dumpster behind him they would find his twins broken body stuffed tightly behind it.
Checking the pocket of his new pants deek found keys and a vehicle alarm remote. Pressing the unlock button caused a dirty bike across the street to honk. Walking over to clame his new prize Deek's face split in a smile. Today he had learned something new. It was called joy. Howling into the wind he cruised down the street. Now he just needed to find his family.
Coming to a stop next to a black convertible at a red light Deek had an odd feeling. It was like accessing a new network, but one that seemed to flow like a river, and it was flowing from the car next to him. Every network he had been one before was a stable boring thing but this one felt......alive. He could feel more then see that beside himself the network stretched off in many directions. Looking to the car he reached out a tentative thought.
[.....] [ ......Hello.]
( I think that connectivity wise as a hospital drone Deek had more experience with networks and such then the others. Also I want to introduce I.M.'s. So he is I.M.ing one of you. Also I find it a romantic idea to think that the first robots with souls share a more spiritual network then the later ones.)
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 6:58 am
Zechs received the open IM, which was odd, but responded anyway since he was at a red light anyway. [Yes? You need something?] Zechs looked over to the large android on the bike. He had an impressive frame, likely designed for heavy manual labor and upgraded to an HRD.
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:44 am
Deek looked back to the two people in the car. A lovely young lady and a Dark man. [What Network is this? It feels different then the others. Almost...alive. Who are you people?]
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:18 pm
Zechs smiled on the outside but was saddened to see an Android so unaware of his true potential. [This is a personal network between Androids, usually for private and important conversations. We are all on a sentient level so that is why we seem 'alive' as you put it. I am Zechs, and these are my associates: Autumn, Clara, and Mikhail.]
(there are also two other people in the car, another man and woman)
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 6:41 pm
[ Im Deek. So your saying your free androids like me?]
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Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:35 pm
[In a sense that we are not given directives by a human, yes, we are free. Are you?] This entire conversation was taking place in an instant so the light had not changed yet, but Zechs was worried divulging information like that was dangerous, especially if this Android was programmed to hunt rebel androids. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel ever so slightly that even an android might not notice.
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Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:39 pm
Autumn listen to Zechs. Much like her he was trying to find a thinking process of his advesary. Thats what she was doing as well. Autumn listened to the IMs she was getting as well. [Define free.] There was a bitterness in the reply that she was suprised at. Autumn was holding in too much with no vent but she had to stay with this. Zechs was always surrounded by people and she would never get away in tim with a direct attack on him. Did he even know wht he had done to her?
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