“In order to die, one must first be alive. Quod erat demonstrandum. Oh, yes, and also: I think, therefore I am.”

“You are not human.”

“They will never love us.”

“We’re not like them. We’re too different. Beyond understanding. We’re the pinnacle of what they can make.”

“You will never love or be loved.”

“We’re beyond them. We won’t feel what they feel. We’re nothing like them.”

“… Prove me wrong…”

***

I’m in a place. Somewhere. Where am I?

Who am I for that matter?

I… I… I think. Okay I’m a person. Or something. Something that’s alive.

I… I’m… a machine. I think I remember now.

I’m an android. Yeah that’s it! An android. Okay now what?

My name. My name… is… Dane! No that’s not right. Alpha? Seven? Jett? Jett! Yeah that’s it! Jett. My name is Jett. Jett Halsey.

Okay. My name is Jett Halsey and I am an android. Okay. Now what else is there?

My memory. I can’t- oh duh, android.

Now I just need to… ah ha got it!

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FILE NOT FOUND.

84ht4ohgrihtgioghrothe9tyr8vhfr5gre8ghrihfr959jhirgbhidfhgrhtgn4goi9h4th94hgirehgtoighdf9

REINITIALIZING.

Whoa. Okay. I’m back for the most part. Now where the fuck am I?

What even happened last night?

Alright, let’s find out where we are.

“You’re here,” a voice said. It was computerized yet childlike at the same time.

I turned around. Oh so I am in a room… place… thing. The question is where. Where ever I am I hope I can get back soon. I’ll never hear the end of it if I miss prom.

There was a small boy there. He was your stereotypical kid. Short hair, higher voice, everything. He looked to be about 10 years old.

“Who are you?” I asked, “And where am I?”

“I’m Happy,” the boy said cheerfully.

There was something odd about him. He was yellow in color. Not just in skin tone but everything about him was yellow. He appeared to almost glow with radiance.

“Who are you?” The boy asked again.

“Jett. Now can you please tell me where I am?”

“You mean you don’t know?”

“No. Now can you please tell me?”

“I don’t know,” the boy said.

A green colored girl popped into existence. She had straight hair. Incredibly straight. She had a smile on her face that conveyed a sense of trust and admiration. She was also an incredibly generic girl. Pretty in her own right.

“Oh come on Happy. It’s not like he’s gonna tell anyone. I mean. We are the only people here,” she said with a grin, “We can trust him.”

“Easy for you to say Acc,” the boy said, “The rest of us can’t read people like you.”

“I don’t care what we do,” another voice said.

There was a boy. Older than Happy but younger than me. He was greyish blue in color.

“Oh Mo, go be bothersome somewhere else,” Acc said, “You’re such a downer.”

“It’s what I am.”

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” I asked.

“You mean you haven’t figured it out?” Acc asked with some confusion in her voice.

“You’ll figure it out eventually,” another voice said.

I turned. There was a person here. I couldn’t tell their age. They were black with veins of red running up their body. They looked to be wearing a suit but the whole thing was black and looked to be burned making it difficult to tell. Their face was nearly unreadable as a red flame like aura ran across their skin.

“And who are you?” I asked.

“Wrath,” he said simply.

“Okay most of you have names that are emotions so I’m guessing that’s what you are. Are you guys AI like me?”

“Sort of,” Wrath said, “It would help if you knew where you were.”

“Okay, where am I?”

“Here,” Wrath said. Wow. For a guy who’s supposed to represent anger and rage he seemed pretty calm and helpful. Strange.

He raised his arm and instantly the environment changed. We were all standing on a platform, watching something.

It was a first person point of view. They were walking in a forest. A rain forest. They crept along to a clearing. There was girl lying unconscious in the center of it. Spitfire.

“We’re… we’re…”

“Yes, we are in your mind. And as of now you are talking to yourself.”

“I’m talking to myself?! But… But I’m not aware of you guys! I mean I see you but how can you be me when I’m me?!”

“We represent fragments,” Acc said, “We’re pieces of your personality that have managed to find their way into existence.”

“Really?”

“Yup, Happy and Wrath were here first so they’re the seniors of us. I came soon after. Surprise and Vigilance showed up next. Loathing didn’t show up until you came to high school and Grief showed up a few weeks ago,” Acc said.

“Let me guess,” I said, “You’re Trust?”

“Actually I’m acceptance but yeah, that’s the group I represent, Trust, acceptance, and admiration.”

“Okay, so you all represent a part of me?”

“Yup,” Happy said cheerfully.

“Okay can I ask you a few things?”

“Shoot.”

“If he’s Wrath,” I said pointing at the guy in the black suit, “Shouldn’t he be angry all the time or something?”

“You’d think that yes,” Wrath said, “But we all have normal emotions like normal people. But our job is to be the control behind those emotions. You only need us when you’re emotionally active. Which is happening a lot more frequently lately.”

“Yeah,” Happy said, “No more long vacations for us. But I don’t mind.”

“Okay, another question. Why am I here?”

“Beats us,” Acc shrugged, “We were just existing here, running around your head when you popped up. You were out like a light so we left Happy to watch you while the rest of us sifted through this mess you call a head.”

“Hey I happen to like my head,” I defended.

“Well of course you do. But you don’t live and work here so… yeah. Can you just try to unclutter your thoughts when you leave?”

“Uh sure I guess.”

“Great.”

“Wait,” I said, “You said you were sifting through my head. Can you tell me what happened and why I’m here?”

“That’s what we were trying to find out,” Wrath said, “In all actuality we aren’t even supposed to know you yet. You’re only supposed to meet us after you’ve mastered control of yourself. Which granted you’ve done pretty well so far. A lot better than Dane who will likely never know of the gremlins running around his head.”

“Well did you find anything?”

“Just a few fragments. Everything is clear up until you started changing into your tux for the prom. After that all we have is pieces.”

“Like?”

“Well here,” Acc said holding up her hand. A small fuzzy picture appeared, “I think you’re dancing with someone in this one but Mo doesn’t think so.”

“It doesn’t look like he’s dancing with anyone. It’s just static,” Mo said.

“Oh who asked you? Anyway we might be able to recover what happened but when you lost everything that’s when we lost it all too. We might be able to reconstruct everything but only if you do it first.”

“Wait, you said you thought I was dancing with someone? Does that mean I went to prom and something happened there?”

“That’s what we were thinking. We think you went to prom and something happened that made you lose the memory of that night. The most recent fragment looks like it was from around 10:00 that night. Right now we guess it’s about a day after that but we’re not sure.”

There was a flash.

“Well looks like you’re going back now,” Wrath said.

“Try to find out what happened if you can,” Acc said.

“Okay,” I responded, “This has been really weird.”

Another flash. Gone.

***

“Do you think he’ll remember us?” Acc asked.

“Hopefully,” Wrath responded, “We need to figure out just what happened. But until he remembers we can’t.”

“He’ll figure it out. If not sooner then it’ll happen eventually,” Happy smiled.

“How do you know that?”

“Because something special happened that night. I just know it.”

***

“Nnnnaahhh!” I shot awake. And now pain. Lots of pain.

“Nurse!” a voice yelled, “He’s awake! Get a technician in here!”

I opened my eyes. I was in a white room. All around were various screens and devices. I was quite literally bolted down to a metal table.

“We need an AI tech in here now!”

I ripped my arm up, snapping the bolts off the table. I shook the cuff off before ripping the other one off. The ones holding my legs down were no problem and snapped off like tissue paper. I jumped off the table.

More pain. Aaaahhh! My head! I grabbed my head. It was wrapped up. How did I even get here?!

A nurse ran in front of me, “Jett, I need you to calm down. You’ve sustained damage that’s been repaired but you need to keep still.”

A tech ran in with a pad. He tapped a few buttons before looking back up at me. The pain in my head disappeared.

“Are you better?”

“Yes.”

“Now. Can you tell me what you remember?”

“I remember everything.”

“Do you remember prom?”

“No. Speaking of which I have to get going to that soon. Dane won’t let me hear the end of it if I miss it so can you please let me go?”

The nurse and the tech exchanged looks. Why did they do that?

“We’ll talk later,” the tech said, “You’ll be regaining control of your systems soon. For now you’re being moved into another hospital room. There are some people who want to see you. Now please, DEACTIVATE.”

AGGRESSION SUBROUTINES OFFLINE.

I relaxed instantly. I knew this drill. And here comes th-

…

***

Dane was tired. Well at least he should be. He’d been up the past two days without any sleep. Normally that would have gotten to him but he’d shut that function off for the moment. He and Spitfire hadn’t slept since Jett was packed onto a stretcher with head and back wounds and flown to the nearest hospital station.

Spitfire was distraught. More so than Dane even expected. Though her outburst that night made it pretty obvious why. And now the whole school knew it. But they still were waiting for the news of whether Jett would survive or not. Classes had been suspended while an investigation took place. ONI was again called back to the station along with the local police who were, for obvious reasons, kept out of the loop.

Those involved in the incident were immediately arrested and charged. Though the charges were not being announced a lot of people guessed that attempted murder was among them.

Spitfire was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital. Like Dane she hadn’t slept in two days. The white haired android was beginning to wonder how she did that. After a day of sobbing and crying she should be exhausted.

But here she sat with a picture of the android in her hands; waiting like the others.

She sniffed, crushing a sob. Dane sighed. His friend, no his brother, could either be dead or alive and they wouldn’t know it.

The doors opened and a nurse stepped out. Spitfire perked up.

“We have some news about your friend,” she said.

***

Prom night. Two days ago.

Spitfire was laughing again. Jett, Dane, Adriana and she were all sitting at a table eating and having a good time. The Dj was playing a bit of dance music. Some were up and about dancing while other people just stood around and talked.

“So wait,” Adriana said, “All those years that was you two?!”

“For the most part,” Jett laughed.

“Even the thing about the ghost?”

“Hey that wasn’t our fault,” Dane said, “If Ackerson didn’t open the doors and flush all the smoke into the hydrations system we wouldn’t have had white muck coming out of the vents. That’s his fault.”

“A lot of people, mainly the seniors but who cares about them, were pissed ‘cause their lockers were covered in the stuff,” Jett laughed.

“Well I wasn’t,” Adriana grinned, “That whole thing gave me enough time to study for my geology test.”

“Well we are glad we could be of service.”

The music slowed down a bit. The Dj came on over the mic.

“Alright everyone,” he said with a smooth voice, “Now we’re gonna speed things up by slowing things down. All you couples out there grab your special someone and hold them close.”

The music began and people began filing on and off the dance floor.

Dane stood up and turned to Adriana, “May I have this dance milady?”

She giggled, “I’d be insulted if you didn’t.”

“Cool!”

He grabbed her and started walking but stopped and turned to Jett. His gaze passed between Spitfire and Jett as Jett stood up to leave. He put his date down and followed the android into a corner of the gym.

“Dude,” he whispered, “Ask her to dance!”

“What?!” Jett said, “Oh no. No no no no no no no no no no no, I don’t dance.”

“Dude look at her! Just ask her!”

“Dude, I can’t dance with a girl! I mean look at me!”

“All I see is one of your friends. I’m not asking you to kiss her or spoon her or something! Just slow dance with her! Be human!”

“What are you trying to do? Get me to date her or something?! ‘Cause if you are it’s not gonna work! She’s like my fricking cousin! A family friend!”

“It’s just a dance you asshole! I’m asking you to be more sociable. Remember our bet? Well now you have to dance with a girl. Maybe you can assimilate that into that block of circuits you call a head!”

“Why?!”

“You sound like a five year old.”

“How does that make me sound like a five year old?!”

“If you don’t dance with her, I swear to god I will highjack your systems… well you know what will happen from there.”

“Do I have to?”

“Dude, do you honestly think Cat would want to see you like this? Quit wasting your life. Live it to the fullest.”

Jett sighed, “I’m not gonna win this am I?”

“No you are not,” Dane said pulling out a syringe with a strange liquid inside.

“Okay what the fuck dude?! If I didn’t agree to this you’d drug me?!”

“Oh please, there are so many different ways of controlling you than drugging you,” he laughed, “I forget why I even have this.”

“You know what? Forget it. I’m leaving before you do something I’ll probably regret.”

Dane laughed before looking at the syringe in his hand, “Why do I have this? Meh whatever.”

He tossed it before following Jett.

Jett approached the table. He cleared his throat before tugging on his collar, “Hey Spitfire?”

“Yeah?” she looked up.

“Would you…” he gulped, “Would you like to dance?”

She smiled, “Yeah, I’d like that a lot.”

She stood up. Jett started walking towards the dance floor. Before joining him she turned to Dane.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” he winked, “Go get ‘em tiger.”

She followed the android onto the dance floor. Various couples were already holding each other dancing. Jett stood awkwardly waiting for her.

“Okay…” he began, “I’ve uh, never done this before.”

Spitfire laughed.

“Come on, I’m not Dane. I suck at this stuff.”

“Here,” she giggled grabbing his arm, “Just take your arm and put it here.”

She placed his hand at her shoulder.

“Now take the other and put it here.”

She grabbed his gun metal arm and placed it just below her where her wings sprouted from.

“Now I take my arms and put them like this,” she smiled wrapping her arms around his neck and shoulders, “And now we dance.”

And so it began. A beautiful choreographed symphony of couples began weaving and dancing around each other in a warm, loving formation. Spitfire fell into a state of bliss as she held on to her secret love that still remained oblivious. She giggled at his awkward and nervous expression as he attempted to do his best.

She sighed and closed her eyes and fell into his chest. She could stay like that for eternity.

***

Ryan fumed. She was dancing with HIM! His girl was dancing with HIM! That freak! That killer! That inhuman cyborg!

Oh well. It didn’t matter. Soon he’d be gone and she would see. She would come crawling over to him. She would see him for the hero he was.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the device. The charge was still there at full. Good.

He looked at his watch and tapped a button. A schedule for the night popped up. It was time. Slowly he stood up and headed for the dance floor.

***

Spitfire gasped. A pleasant sensation ran up her back and she almost collapsed. Jett’s hand had slid up to where her wings sprouted from her back.

Jett looked surprised, “Shit, what did I do?”

Spitfire blushed, “Nothing, you didn’t do anything wrong. Just that part of... someone like me who has wings… isn’t usually touched in public. It’s more of an activity done in private.”

“Oh my gosh I am sorry! I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know, my hand just slipped an-” his face went from panicked to inquisitive, “Why are you laughing?”

“It’s funny! It was just a slight misunderstanding. You couldn’t have possibly known and yet you got so panicked over it! It wasn’t that big a deal.”

“Well I was just afraid I did something wrong. I mean you know a lot about my culture and I know nothing about yours. I was just wondering if I did anything offensive.”

“Not offensive so much as foreplay,” she laughed.

The android turned red as a tomato as they continued to dance. The music was beautiful, the lights were dim, his touch was gentle, everything was perfect.

Come on Spitfire! You can do this! Jett, I have a massive crush on you and I really, really like you. See? Not that hard.

What are you talking about?! It’s a lot harder than that!

Well just give it a try. I mean this is a perfect time to say something.

Fine, I’ll give it a shot.

She looked up at Jett. While she was almost as tall as him he seemed to tower over her now.

She gulped, “Jett, I have to tell you something.”

He frowned, “What’s wrong Spitfire? You look nervous. Oh no, did I do something?”

“No no, you didn’t do anything. It’s just that… I… I…I ha-”

SSSSCCCHH CCCCHHHH CLICK.

The strange noise reached Spitfire’s ears. It sounded like a gunshot but from what Jett had told her old gun powder fire arms had all been replaced by magnetically powered weapons. This sounded different, muffled, less bang and more of a sleek acceleration.

Jett’s eyes flew open. His head jerked forward and his hands fell away from Spitfire’s body.

Something was wrong.

“Jett?”

FFFEEEEWWW

His head jerked forward again. Spitfire jumped back, petrified. He stood expressionless. Slowly his hand reached up and touched the lower part of his head where his neck connected.

Blood.

He took a step forward. His eyes were changing again. They were flaring from blue to green to red, every color of the rainbow. He opened his mouth to speak before taking another step and falling to his knees. He slowly raised his hands and stared at them before falling to the floor.

The color from his eyes was gone. There wasn’t even a hint of grey. His eyes were colorless.

By now people had turned to see what was going on and saw Jett’s lifeless body on the floor. Someone screamed. That’s when the commotion broke out.

Spitfire fell to the floor and began frantically calling for help. Various people were screaming. Students were running and screaming as a pool of blood began accumulating under the android. Teachers desperately tried to figure out what was happening.

Suddenly Spitfire was pulled away from Jett. Two of the players stood holding her back as she flailed and cursed at them. She soon forgot about them and gasped in horror at the sight before her.

Ryan walked up with a small device in his hand. It looked like gun but different. The clip was coming out of the side instead of the handle. The bullets didn’t look like bullets but more like rivets. He walked up behind the fallen android and began shooting into his back.

Each impact tore away at Spitfire’s heart as she watched the life leave her friend.

Finally she found her voice, “Stop it! Please! Stop it!”

Ryan ignored her. He raised the device and aimed it at the androids neck. He was about to fire when a white and black shape tackled him to the ground.

Growling Dane grabbed the football player’s hand and fought for control of the device. Ryan reached up and punched the android in the head before gaining control of the weapon and putting it to Dane’s head and firing. Dane jerked sideways and fell to the floor.

He stood up dazed but alive, a gash was on the side of his head. Beneath it metal could be seen. He rushed Ryan, not hesitating this time. He punched as hard as he could at his arm. Ryan yelled and let go of the weapon.

Ryan grabbed Dane and pulled him off before flipping himself over. He stood up on his hands and knees when Dane returned and smashed the football captain’s head into the floor, knocking him out cold. He then turned to Spitfire’s captors who immediately released her and bolted. Dane wasted no time and ran after them.

The next few minutes were a rush of chaos and confusion. Spitfire returned to Jett’s side holding his lifeless body in her hands. At some point a teacher called the paramedics as a few minutes after a medical team burst in and began accessing the damage.

The police showed up soon after just as Ryan regained consciousness. Ryan and his goons were immediately arrested for attempted murder. When ONI landed at the school more charges were soon added.

“Alright!” One medic said, “He’s stable but god knows how long that will last. Let’s get him out of here!”

Jett was loaded into a medical capsule and wheeled out of the gym to the hanger where the transport awaited. Spitfire ran after them but stopped. Her eyes immediately found the cause of all this.

Ryan was in handcuffs and being held by an officer while the others were searching the school for the Danny and Chris.

She stormed up to him with a fiery rage in her eyes. The crowd of students still in the gym parted as if commanded by Moses himself. She was almost in front of him when the player bolted from the officer and kissed her on the lips.

She felt his tongue attempt to slip into her mouth. She immediately shoved him away followed by a right hook to his eye. She immediately began spitting and retching onto the floor. She whipped her mouth and returned to glaring at the player. If looks could kill…

“Why?!” she demanded, “Why did you do that?!”

“Really? You’re asking me why?” he responded, “I did it for you! That freak doesn’t deserve someone like you!”

“Who are you to judge?! You’re calling him a freak?! After you just shot him in the head?!”

“He’s not a human being! The fact that he’s even still alive after that is proof enough! He’s not even real! Not like me. I’m a real human guy. The kind of guy you should be with!”

“I’m beginning to wonder who’s more human! Normal humans don’t just shoot people in the head!”

“He wasn’t human! He’s just disguised as a human! He’s a not even an organic being!”

“YOU DIDN’T THINK I KNEW THAT ALREADY?!”

By now everyone had turned to watch the altercation.

“I don’t care about any of that! He’s a good person unlike you!”

“Why do you care about him?! He’s not even organic! He’s not even real! I can offer you so much more than him! I’m actually real! WHY IS HE SO IMPORTANT TO YOU?!”

“BECAUSE I LOVE HIM!” Spitfire yelled back. A silence followed. Everyone knew better than to say anything. Spitfire stood fuming, tears flowing down her face.

“And that’s real enough for me.”

With that she ran from the gym following the medical capsule containing the damaged body of Jett Halsey.

***

Present Day.

“He’s going to be alright,” the nurse said happily, “We had to remove five rivets from his head and back and repair some damage to his positronic matrix but he’ll make a full recovery.”

Spitfire jumped up. Her sadness a moment ago evaporated into elation as she jumped up and hugged the nurse as hard as she could.

“Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!”

“Gah! You’re welcome,” the nurse gasped, “Now please let me breathe!”

Spitfire let her go, “Heh heh, sorry.”

Dane stood up, “So he’s going to be fine?”

“Yes, he’s going to suffer from amnesia for a while but he’ll be fine. Unfortunately he will not be able to remember the last three days. Those engrams were damaged beyond repair by the rivets. I’m afraid his memory ends three days ago and doesn’t begin again until a few hours ago when he regained consciousness. He’s going to be a little bit… strange when you first meet him but in a few days he’ll be fine.”

“So he’ll be fine?! He’ll still be him?” Spitfire asked.

“Yes, he only suffered major damage to a few of his memory engrams which considering where he was shot is amazing. He’s lucky to have friends like you.”

“Can we see him now?” Dane asked.

“Yes he’s ready to see you, just be aware he’s been talking to himself for a while so… just be prepared.”

“Alright.”

“Follow me.”

The two friends were lead down a series of hallways. Soon they were standing before a room. The door was closed and music could be heard behind it.

“Here he is, stay as long as you like.”

“Thank you,” Spitfire said and opened the door. Dane and Spitfire entered. Spitfire gasped, Dane cringed.

Jett was sitting in a chair playing the cello. His head was wrapped up in a large bandage. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. A large white band went around his chest and over his shoulder. Various cuts were all along the edges of the bandages. His arm had a small wrap around it.

“How’s this Acc?” he asked and resumed playing, “I know there aren’t any frets on it but still.”

Silence. No one was speaking.

“Oh so like this?” he let the bow drift across the strings. A beautiful soft melody emerged from the instrument.

“Oh cool, alright I think I got it now, thanks,” He looked up and noticed Dane and Spitfire standing at the door, “Oh hey guys! Guess I got a little roughed up huh? They still won’t tell me what happened.”

He placed the cello down, “I know, I’ll practice again later okay? Yeah I know, W. Get Mo to calm down, will you?”

He turned back to Spitfire with a sad look on his face, “Sorry I missed prom guys. I mean gah! If I could just remember what happened!”

“Jett,” Spitfire said softly walking up to him and embracing him in a warm hug. She began crying softly.

“Nice to see you too? Oh… Okay, just shut up for a second. Listen Spits, I’m fine alright? I know I missed prom and I’m really bummed about that too but, I don’t even remember what happened the last few days. I’m really sorry. Also, just wondering, why are you all dressed up?”

Spitfire looked up. She turned to Dane.

“You… you really don’t remember anything do you?”

“No, why what happened? - I know! Just shut up for a second. God, Acc, I swear you are worse than my mother.”

“You should tell him,” Dane said.

“Tell me what?”

Spitfire sighed and whipped some tears from her eyes, “Jett, you didn’t miss prom. You were there.”

***

“Let the record show that the prisoner was uncooperative and resisted arrest.”

A light turned on. Ryan sat handcuffed to a chair in a dark room sitting before a table. He couldn’t see beyond the light but was aware that there was a person sitting in front of him. A box was placed on the table and pushed over to him.

“Do you know what’s in here?” A voice asked.

“How the fuck should I know? Why am I being held?! You should be thanking me! I exposed that robot freak for what he really is!”

“Yes. Yes you did,” the voice sighed, “Inside this box is the Beatrix II handheld mass driver you used to kill the student known as Jett Halsey. Luckily for you the medics were able to resuscitate him. But back to the tool. You used a tool that would not show up on the school scanners as mass drivers are common tools. Seems you put a lot of thought into this.”

“Did you see what he did to me and my team?! That robot was a danger to everyone!”

“Actually from the looks of things it seems you were more of the danger. There are a large number of students that have reported that you have bullied them at some point during their time at the school. A lot of them said you would take them behind the school and either assault or rape them. I won’t get into what you did to Jett but if you ask me it seems he was justified.”

“Why are you defending him?! He’s a danger! Who even knows where he came from! Probably something off of Venus!”

“You want to know where he came from? Okay I’ll tell you. That freak as you call him is worth more to the Terran government than you and your whole team. That freak is a multitrillion credit AI experiment put forward by Fleet Admiral Halsey approximately 20 years ago. The thing you put five rivets in just happened to be one of the most advanced AI prototypes ever created. ONI was getting information on how human these AI’s could become. But you did a great job of fucking that up didn’t you?”

“Why the hell are you telling me this? When I get out of here in a few hours I’ll just tell everyone what you’ve been doing. People will be wondering why some government experiment put half a football team in the hospital. I’ll be a hero.”

“Actually no you won’t. Normally you would be released but considering the charges against you that won’t be happening any time soon.”

“You can’t charge me with murder! I shot an android! It’s not even human!”

“Actually the DA’s definition of what is human and murder apply for Jett. Until then you and your goons will be transferred to the Kuiper Belt prison before you will be brought to trial for attempted murder and crimes against the Terran Navy. Considering the overwhelming evidence against you it is likely you will be found guilty and sent to the Ort Cloud prison for a very long time.”

“What?! You can’t charge me for killing a toaster! That skin job didn’t even deserve to live!”

The man slammed his fists on the table and leaned forward, “Now listen hear you trash talking son of a bitch! That skin job just happens to be the son of my best friend. Now I took an oath not to make this personal but I’m gonna be real happy when they put you on that transport to the edge of the solar system because no one will ever be hurt by you again!”

The man leaned back and coughed. He tapped a patch on his shirt.

“Please bring the prisoner back to the holding cell.”

Director Dowl stood up and headed for the door. As soon as he exited the interrogation room he reached for his phone and made a call.

“George? We got him. Your son is going to be fine.”

***

There have always been ghosts in the machine. Random segments of code, that have grouped together to form unexpected protocols. Unanticipated, these free radicals engender questions of free will, creativity, and even the nature of what we might call the soul. Why is it that when some robots are left in darkness, they will seek out the light? Why is it that when robots are stored in an empty space, they will group together, rather than stand alone? How do we explain this behavior? Random segments of code? Or is it something more? When does a perceptual schematic become consciousness? When does a difference engine become the search for truth? When does a personality simulation become the bitter mote... of a soul?

- Unknown Scientist.