“Could be tricky,” Creon hummed, adjusting his magnifying eye glasses and peering at a screen covered in data codes. His other hand was holding a scanner that he was pushing against the base of Vaki’s skull.

Vaki let out a small noise as the scanner changed position and Creon drew it further down to the top of his spine.

“Is that hurting him?” Cedar frowned.

“It’s painless,” Manya replied, “probably just feels cold.”

“You say he’s a Mercy?” Creon questioned curiously, not waiting for an answer before continuing. “Someone’s really done their best to take him down to scratch and repurpose him.”

“We’re not here for a diagnostic,” Cedar said quickly, he didn’t want Creon getting too interested in Vaki’s origins. “We just want the equipment to recover his memories.”

“Well,” Creon sighed and put the scanner down. He blinked owlishly at Cedar through the thick lenses, “like I said, could be tricky. The nanites appear to have eaten most of the memory system and this would be a complex reboot. Wouldn’t be cheap.”

“I’m not hiring you,” Cedar snapped. He didn’t like this Creon guy and all his cop instincts were screaming at him to get the hell out of this dingy hive of criminal activity.

“We just need the gear, Boss,” Manya smiled. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Fine,” Creon sniffed disappointedly. “No staff discount though.”

“Would never dream of it,” Manya smirked.

“You know I’ve got contacts that would pay a small fortune for a wiped clean, unregistered droid,” Creon nodded, winking awkwardly at Cedar and drawing out a dirtied rag to dab at his forehead.

“Not interested,” Cedar bit out, reaching across to yank Vaki up to his feet and pull his hood back up. Even though they were in a darkened corner of the shop there were still other patrons about.

Cedar could feel eyes on them and it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up uncomfortably. One man, with turquoise blue hair had been watching them since they’d entered, his gaze slipping up and down Vaki in an oily fashion.

“Especially one this pretty,” Creon continued unabashed and without shame, gesturing towards Vaki. “My guess is whoever constructed him used an ‘Aesthetic’ bio-skin and installed a full sensory response system –“

“No,” Cedar barked, feeling his temper snap.

“Sorry dude,” Manya shrugged at Creon with a toothy smile, “my client doesn’t share toys.”

“I’ll wait outside,” Cedar growled, tightening his grip on Vaki’s arm and pulling them towards the tarpaulin flap that functioned as a door.

“What a sleazy asshole!” Cedar exclaimed with a deep breath as they re-emerged into the market hall and were confronted with a plethora of lights and noise. “Why the hell Manya works for a creep like that, geez.”

Cedar glanced up to see Vaki ignoring him. Instead, the android was staring avidly upwards watching mechanical drone birds fluttering across the ceiling space.

“Security cameras,” Cedar explained, “different types of birds depending on which sector of the ship they scout.”

“They’re beautiful,” Vaki murmured, gasping softly as a blue green peacock with jewelled plumage swooped low above them.

“Gimmicky gadgets,” Cedar screwed up his nose dismissively, “easily hacked”.

“Are they like me?” Vaki asked, flicking his bright eyes to Cedar. “Do they feel?”

“No,” Cedar shook his head and looked away; Vaki stared far too intensely for comfort. “They’re just robots.”

“What will you do with me if Manya can’t get my memories back?” Vaki asked, he still hadn’t looked away from Cedar.

“Hand you in,” Cedar shrugged, “nothing else I can do. You’re wanted for murder.”

Vaki hummed thoughtfully for a moment before taking a few steps off to the side and looking over the contents of another stall.

“Why haven’t you tried to make a run for it?” Cedar asked, narrowing his eyes at Vaki.

“Why would I?” Vaki replied, turning round with a look of surprise on his face. “I don’t have anywhere to go and Manya told me that the people who are looking for me will try to kill me again if they see me.”

“You don’t want to die,” Cedar muttered, though it wasn’t really a question.

“Do you?” Vaki raised his eyebrows before lifting up a small black box from the stall. “What’s this?”

“It’s a music box,” Cedar responded, “it scans your facial expression and blood pressure before deciding on the best piece of music for your mood.”

“All set!” Manya announced, bustling out of the shop a moment later.

As they walked home, Manya explained that she would need twice daily data extractions from Vaki’s sub systems. They agreed Cedar would have to do them in the mornings and evenings as Manya’s mother might start to get suspicious if she visited their neighbour’s house that often. She also needed to start a subroutine running in Vaki’s processors to try and recover lost data.

“He can’t be powered down at all whilst I’m running the programme,” Manya hummed thoughtfully, “so make sure he doesn’t overheat either or he might shut off automatically. I don’t know what his safety margins are.”

“Okay, “Cedar nodded. The AC in his apartment wasn’t the most reliable so he would have to take note of when the temperature started to creep up.

“Plus he’ll need to apply this,” Manya handed over a tube. “It’s like a gel, the nanos wreaked havoc on Vaki’s systems and even got into his sim skin regulators. We can’t risk him going into trauma mode and shutting down.”

“How does he apply it?” Cedar frowned at the tube, holding it by one corner as if it was a dangerous device.

“Just liberally, all over his body,” Manya shrugged, “you can always help him with hard to reach areas.”

Cedar flicked his eyes back up to Manya with a scowl, as she chuckled.

The walk back to the apartment gallery was pretty quiet and uneventful, although Cedar couldn’t seem to shake the strange feeling that they were being followed. However, in the end he pegged it up to cop paranoia as every time he turned his head the alleyways were empty.

“Sleep well boys,” Manya said cheerily as she keyed in her door code and shut it behind her. Cedar did the same, holding the door open for Vaki to walk through first.

“Do you need sleep?” Cedar frowned at Vaki as the younger man pulled his hood down and looked round the apartment with wide eyes, as if he was seeing it again for the first time.

“Yes,” Vaki replied, “I require rest periods for my systems to cool and process any errors.”

“Okay then,” Cedar paused, he only had the one bed but the couch was reasonably comfortable. “I’ll get some spare blankets. You can take the bed for tonight, you were already on there earlier anyway.”

“You’re giving me the bed?” Vaki asked, he looked surprised.

“Don’t read too much into it,” Cedar growled, feeling strangely embarrassed that he had made the gesture. “You’re still a wanted criminal.”

“I know,” Vaki replied in a neutral tone, as if acknowledging a comment on something far more innocuous.