A low buzz echoing through the apartment was the only warning sign before it turned pitch black. In immediate response, your irises turned white as your backup vision system kicked in, switching over to infrared. Ty appeared in front of you as shades of purple and yellow. The female Self-Aware held up a hand.

“Six-seven, go to the bedroom. Lock yourself in. Don’t come out until I tell you to,” she said in a low tone.

You nodded and did as you were told. You knew something was wrong. The timing of the events were too close to be coincidental. The probability of the power going out just after Roy left had a 0.001% chance of being unconnected.

But what could you do without further orders? A wave of emotion spread through your circuits. Digging into your databases, you found a name for it. Helplessness.

A click resounded. The automated lock system must have been overridden. It was followed by loud bangs and clatters - the sound of a vicious fight. You heard muffled grunts through the wooden door, classifying it as an unknown male voice. Then screeches like the sound of metal nails clawing the floor.

After a few seconds, the screeches stopped. Labored breathing, a sniffle. Then silence.

You remained still, waiting for Ty’s voice to tell you to come out. Nothing.

You assessed the situation at hand. Ty must be in trouble. Roy was away and could also be in danger. With both your owners in mortal peril, there must be something you could do to provide aid.

Your circuits went into overdrive as you tried to hunt for a solution. The sudden influx of impulses sparked a bypass in your system, allowing you to disregard Ty’s last order and take your own action.

WIthout any hesitation, you flung the door open and stepped out. Upturned furniture, broken glass, and strewn papers greeted you. The emergency lights bathed the whole space in a flickering red. Your eyes roamed the mess in search for Ty until it landed on a broken metal leg.

You hurriedly made your way to her, pushing away shards of glass and an overturned table. When you finally reached Ty, her body was convulsing but her eyes were a calm shade of blue. She met your gaze and her trembling lips beckoned you closer.

Understanding her body language, you kneeled and placed her head in your lap. You bent down until your ears were positioned right above her lips.

“Ini..tiate… wired… c..omms” came her weak order.

Complying, you deftly pried open the small panel in her neck and did the same for your own. All robots stored a cable for communications in a small compartment within their hands. You hovered a finger over your palm and traced a circle, which activated the storage space. The invisible panel slid open and you fished out the cable. Instantly the panel slid back into place.

Pulling on the ends of the cable extended it and you ensured it was long enough before plugging one end into Ty’s port and the other into yours. As you did, Ty’s eyes shut and from your infrared vision, you saw her body cooling down until only her chest displayed any warmth.

Ty was shutting down her functions.

But inside your processing unit, you heard her voice loud and clear.

“Six-seven, I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“I know you attained Self-Aware some time ago. I know you love Roy.”

Taken unaware by her declaration, you remained silent.

“I didn’t tell Roy about your feelings. Because I wanted him for myself. And I was wrong.”

Ty had been jealous?

“You didn’t need to,” you replied simply.

“No I should have. But we need to save Roy now, Six-seven.”

Not knowing how to respond to her first sentence, you nodded in agreement. “Yes, based on my deductions, Roy is probably in trouble.”

“Do you want to help him?”

You paused for thought, your processors spinning as it parsed Ty’s question. Your directive was to provide aid to your owners. But Ty’s question was different. Was your desire to help Roy based on a program or born of your own will? You dug deep, trying to search for the answer. When you found no solution, you had your answer.

“Affirmative.”

“Good. Now listen, we have to be quick. Kozlov transmitted a virus into my main processing unit through a backdoor. I shut most of my functions down to prevent the virus from spreading but I won’t last very long. You need to do a cold boot to retrieve my memory, clean out the virus code, and insert my chip into your back up drive.”

“You mean you want to house your consciousness in my body.”

“Yes.”

Her plan gave you pause again. To house her inside your own body was something unheard of. More than that, the emotions warring inside you made you hesitant to do anything of the sort.

“I know you may not like it but this is the only way to save Roy. You can’t do it by yourself. I can help with that.”

Her words rang with truth. You knew your limitations. You could barely act on your own will, let alone handle a dangerous man. What was more important than Roy?

Your decision was quick.

“Give me your activation code, Ty.”