Cedar looked over at the android. He had tried to dress Vaki in a way that made him less conspicuous, just in case anyone from the station or whoever had tried to take out the droid was at the tech market that night.

Vaki was wearing one of Cedar’s dark green knit sweaters with the hood up, covering his hair as much as possible. It was oversized on the smaller man and the frayed sleeves were grazing his fingertips.

Cedar himself was dressed in jeans and a black jacket with thick soled boots. The floors of these markets tended to be strewn with all sorts of sticky and sharp debris.

“Just try to keep your head down,” Cedar told the droid, “we don’t know who it was that wanted you dead so we can’t risk you being recognised.”

“Why are you helping me if you think I killed someone?” Vaki frowned, still looking unconvinced and anxious.

“You have information, or at least you had information that could be important to me,” Cedar explained. “If I take you down the station now with a wiped memory chip they’ll just do a public execution, no trial.”

Vaki shuddered as there was a knock on the door.

“That’s Manya,” Cedar nodded, “time to go.”

It was a fair walk to the Eastern Gate markets and many of the automated walkways stopped running after nine to try and discourage such nocturnal events.

Manya took them on a shortcut through the back engine rooms, emerging onto a shabby street lit up with neon bar signs. A group of men came barrelling out of the bar, one them doubling over and puking widely across the floor.

“Watch it,” Cedar warned, grabbing Vaki’s elbow and steering him out of the splash zone.

“He’s sick?” Vaki asked, looking round wide eyed at Cedar.

“Just drunk,” Cedar shook his head, “It was most workers’ payday today.”

“He has an elevated temperature and abnormal heart rate,” Vaki insisted, tugging against Cedar’s grip. “I think that man has alcohol poisoning.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Cedar snorted lightly before narrowing his eyes at Vaki. “Wait, how come you can sense his vitals?”

“Your boy’s a Mercy designation,” Manya called back from in front of them. “Weren’t you listening when he told us his Basics?”

“A Mercy?” Cedar looked at Vaki with surprise. Certain androids were created with different roles and functions in mind; a Mercy was designed to be inserted into the Medical system. Cedar had seen a couple of Mercies acting as assistants onboard the colony hospital.

It seemed a sick twist of fate that someone had programmed a Mercy to kill.

“He’ll be fine,” Cedar told Vaki firmly, manoeuvring him firmly away from the group of drunks. “You can play nurse another time.”

“Ooh kinky,” Manya laughed as Cedar rolled his eyes.

“Oh come on,” Manya snorted, “don’t tell me you’ve never watched Pinocchio Porn?”

Cedar shuddered, Pinocchio Porn, or ‘PinPo’ as it was colloquially referred to, were videos from the adult entertainment industry that involved androids. It was big business in the colonies as androids were often built to be able to do things that Bios couldn’t.

“I prefer the real thing,” Cedar cleared his throat awkwardly as Manya eyed him with an unconvinced look.

They reached the end of the street to find a dead end with a single heavy bolted door and rusted keypad.

“This the entrance?” Cedar asked as Manya nodded and entered a seven digit code. The door swung open to reveal what must have used to be some kind of exhibition hall but was now a thriving market.

Holographic bunting was strung up across the levels and signs indicating different areas of purchase interests had been hung from the balustrades.

“Right, stick with me in case I need my cash cow,” Manya smirked.

“Brilliant,” Cedar gritted his teeth. He couldn’t believe such a huge illegal market had grown up right under their noses and no one had caught wind of it.

He panicked when he realised that Vaki had somehow slipped out of their sight but spotted him a moment later. The younger man was standing over at a food stall, eyeing the deserts with evident curiosity.

“What are they?” Vaki whispered, clearly sensing Cedar drawing up beside him.

“It’s a frozen zoo,” Cedar explained, realising that probably provided little information for someone not familiar with the colony’s cuisine. “It’s fried corn starch moulded into animal shapes and filled with ice cream.”

“Oh,” Vaki chewed his bottom lip.

“Can,” Cedar cleared his throat awkwardly as he turned to Manya, “can Vaki eat?”

“Yes?” Manya replied as if Cedar was the biggest idiot on the colony. “Most androids of Vaki’s class are fitted with artificial digestive systems. Why? Wanna buy your cute little robot an elephant ice cream?”

“I can eat?” Vaki’s eyes were glowing a brighter yellow than usual. He stared at Manya in wonder as if she had just informed him he could fly.

“I don’t know if you’re fitted with taste buds though,” Manya shrugged. “Let’s give it a go. Order me one too,” she grinned at Cedar.

“I didn’t offer anybody one!” Cedar muttered irritably, drawing out his wallet and gesturing to the seller.

“I want a giraffe,” Manya told the woman, pointing to the one with the longest neck she could spot.

“Vaki?” Cedar asked. He tensed as he looked out at the crowds and caught a glimpse of a woman who resembled Saorise. How on Earth he would explain being out and about with their murder suspect buying him a kids’ dessert was beyond Cedar right now.

“This one,” Vaki bent down so he was eye level with an incredibly deformed corn carcass.

“Why is that rhino so emaciated?” Cedar frowned.

“It’s a unicorn!” the seller replied indignantly, snatching the corn casing up and beginning to pump it full of ice cream from a rumbling machine.

“You never read a book?” Manya laughed, nudging Cedar in his side and causing him to wince.

“Five colony coins,” the seller sniffed, handing the unicorn over to Vaki.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Cedar sighed and fixed her with a glare.

“Take it or leave it,” she shrugged.

“Don’t look at me,” Manya laughed, “you’re the idiot that insulted her artistry.”

“Whatever,” Cedar replied, grudgingly scanning his phone against a holographic reader.

“Oh man this is the good shit!” Manya moaned a moment later, crunching the head of her giraffe to slurp up its spinal fluid. “Super sugary. Hey android boy – you like yours?”

“His name’s Vaki,” Cedar muttered, glancing to look at where Vaki was alarmingly deep throating his unicorn, melted vanilla dribbling down his chin.

“For god’s sakes,” Cedar snapped, snatching a paper napkin from Manya’s hand and rubbing it roughly across Vaki’s face, causing the younger man to cough in surprise. “He’s gonna fry his electrical circuits or something.”

“He’s not a school science project,” Manya laughed, “you don’t need to mother him.”

“I just didn’t want him getting it on my sweater,” Cedar explained, feeling his cheeks light up as Manya stared at him in clear amusement.

“Thank you,” Vaki said softly, glancing up at Cedar with his wide eyes. “I like my unicorn.”

“Manya!”

Cedar jumped as a rotund, bald man in a leather jacket with cut off sleeves and no undershirt came striding towards them. He had a large tattoo across his chest of faux ripped skin, revealing inked wires and electronic circuits. “Manya, girl!” The man repeated, throwing his arms up. “Where have you been? You were meant to help me set up.”

“Sorry Boss,” Manya replied, chucking the rest of her ice cream in a nearby trash bag and wiping her hands down her lime green pants. “But look – I brought a customer!”

Cedar bristled as the man peered at him before spotting Vaki.

“Oh,” the man beamed widely and Cedar noticed a couple of his teeth had been replaced with quartz ones. “I see, well then, step right this way my friends!”

“That’s Creon,” Manya explained to Cedar, “he’s got the gear I need to start the memory retrieval process.”

“Seems like a reputable character,” Cedar muttered grimly as they were led down a narrow passage of stalls, their wares piled high on aluminium flat pack tables.

“Yeah just don’t let him find out any details about Vaki or he’ll want to poke around inside his brain,” Manya laughed.

“Please don’t let him do that,” Vaki whispered anxiously, tugging on Cedar’s sleeve.

“Yeah no worries kid,” Cedar grunted, “I’ve got dibs on your brain.”

Vaki pulled another worried expression before hurrying a few steps ahead. His hood had slipped down half way now and silky spikes of mauve hair were showing.

“You could try being nicer to him,” Manya sighed. “It must be scary, losing all your memories and waking up knowing someone tried to kill you.”

“He’s a killer,” Cedar huffed. “Vaki’s literally the most wanted droid on this colony considering he tore a man’s head off and you want me to, what babysit him more nicely? I’m sorry was the ice cream not enough? Should I ask if he wants to hold my hand?”

“Jesus,” Manya shook her head. “Run out of whiskey today huh, Detective?”

Cedar opened his mouth to retort before snapping it shut. It was true, in all the chaos he hadn’t touched a drop since last night. The pain behind his eyeballs started to pulse again, matching up to the trashy techno rhythm of the speakers on a nearby stall.

“Welcome to Creon’s Corner!” the bald man announced proudly as they rounded the final stall and turned to see a corner of the exhibition hall taken up by a temporary makeshift shack covered in blue and green spotlights.