Luna questioned—not for the first time—why she had chosen to go back into the police force as she stared at the blank document on her computer screen. She was supposed to write a final report on a missing child's case she had finished the previous day, but she wanted to do anything but write about the poor conditions the child had been living in while he had been with his kidnappers.

Luna grabbed her Chicago Cubs mug, but as she tilted it toward her face, nothing slid into her mouth. She frowned as she looked into it, and there was nothing but a shiny coating of coffee on the bottom. With a groan, she set her cup back onto her desk, and she decided to take a look around the station to see if anyone was being kind enough to fill people's cups with coffee. There were about fifteen other cops in the room. Most of them were sitting at their desks, and only a couple of them were walking around the open office.

Not a single one of them carried a kettle of coffee.

Luna stood away from her desk. She straightened her gray button-down shirt, making sure she had buttoned them correctly, and then she carried her mug to the coffee station between Superintendent Jackson and Colonel Tryhard's offices.

There was no actual Colonel Tryhard, but Luna could not be bothered to remember his name.

At the coffee station, Luna poured herself some medium roast coffee without adding any sugar or creamer to it. She turned to go back to her desk and stare at her computer screen, but she nearly collided with someone, splashing coffee onto her hand as she came to a sudden halt.

"Damn it!" she cried as she shook the hot liquid off her hand.

"I'm sorry," an unfamiliar voice said. "I didn't expect you to turn so suddenly."

Luna glared at the person. It was a tall man with hollow cheeks and crow's feet around blue eyes, and he had black hair tucked under a hat with the word "Police" on it. He wore a police officer's uniform, but she was certain she had never seen this man's face before. There was not even a name printed onto his shirt.

"Lieutenant Pinkerton," the man said, and he held out his hand to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Luna raised an eyebrow at him, but she shook his hand. There was an odd slipperiness to his skin, and she took a closer look at his face, leaning closer to him. The man gave her a surprised look at her closeness.

"You're an android," Luna said.

He cocked his head to the side.

"I was told that I passed the Turing test," he said, "meaning that no one could tell that I was an android."

Luna chuckled, and she drew herself away from him, leaning her butt against the coffee station.

"I've seen some of the really high tech ones like you before. You're certainly convincing, but it seems it's hard to get the texture of the skin exactly right. Besides that, you're a little cold to the touch."

"Interesting that you could tell the difference so well. I am a prototype sent by Hollywood Android."

Someone cleared their throat, and both Luna and the android turned to find a bald man that was only a few centimeters taller than Luna.

"Oh, I didn't see you standing there, Colonel," Luna said, and she sipped from her coffee to stop herself from making a short joke.

"Good morning to you, too, Lieutenant," Tryhard said, sticking his hands into his pants pockets.

"So, he’s a prototype, huh?" Luna said, leaning closer to find what made him different from the other robots. "What's so special about him?"

"He's connected to hundreds of different databases around the world, and he's got all of these sensors and tools built into the body that's designed to make the investigation go a little faster and easier."

"Impressive."

"In the document that they sent to me, he's apparently the most expensive robot to date."

"Do I want to know the numbers?"

"You don't. It'll just make you feel guilty if you happen to break him on the field."

Luna widened her eyes as she turned her gaze toward Tryhard.

"If *I* happen to break him?"

"Yes, this is your new partner. HA chose only three people in the whole country to test these things out, and you, being the daughter of the founder of their company, made the top of their list."

Luna rolled her eyes, and she took a sip from her mug, wishing it was full of something stronger than coffee.

"You know, being the daughter of a person who knows robotics well doesn't automatically mean that she knows robotics well."

Tryhard clapped his hand on her shoulder, causing more coffee to slosh onto her hand.

"You'll do all right, Pinkerton," he assured her. "You didn't become a Lieutenant because you're stupid."

Luna only sighed in response to that.

"What's his name, then?"

"We'll leave that up to you. He doesn't officially belong to this department yet, but you're free to call him whatever you want."

Luna took a step back to get a proper look at her new android partner. Most androids were designed based off a real person's features, but no one familiar came to mind as she looked at him. With the crows feet around his eyes, he was supposed to look older than her by ten years.

"When exactly were you built?" Luna asked.

"I arrived in Indianapolis on June 20th," the android answered, "and I believe I was assembled within hours of the same day."

"So you're about a week old, then, huh? How about Ezra?"

"Ezra?" the android repeated. "That's an interesting choice."

"We'll work on getting him a uniform that has his name on it," Colonel Tryhard said.

"Thank you, Colonel Adler. It would certainly make it easier to fit in."

Luna refrained from snapping her fingers and admitting aloud that she had forgotten his name. She sipped from her mug.

"Anyway, the two of you are assigned to a new case," Adler said, and he produced a clear tablet from his back pocket.

"Already?" Luna complained. "I just got myself a new cup of coffee."

"The coffee will be here when you get back. There was a murder at the big electronics recycling plant near here. It looks like one of HRB's new combat androids did it."

"An android, sir?" Ezra repeated.

“It's your job to figure out what really happened," Adler said, shrugging his shoulders. "There's a team waiting for you at the scene already."

Luna chugged her coffee, unwilling to let it go to waste, and then she set her mug right on the coffee station. She clapped the android on the shoulder harder than necessary, and he jostled to the side like a real human would do.

"Okay, then, you ready for your first mission, Ezra?"

"That is what I am programmed for, Lieutenant."

Luna stopped by her desk to grab her faded yellow windbreaker, and she left the office with Ezra to find her car.