Cedar came out from the shower about half an hour later. He had changed into pale grey sweats and had a small towel around his shoulders. He frowned for a moment when he couldn’t spot Vaki in the small space.

“There you are,” Cedar frowned, walking round into the kitchenette and seeing the android crouched down on the linoleum floor. “What are you doing?”

“I was walking around but then I felt dizzy,” Vaki replied, looking up at Cedar with a small wince.

“It could be the programme Manya’s got running,” Cedar chewed the inside of his cheek in thought. “Or it could be lasting effects from the Nano attack. You should probably put that cream on.”

Vaki gave a small nod before lifting himself up off the floor. His slender, pale fingers stretched out on the narrow work surface for support.

“Here,” Cedar grunted, wrapping an arm around Vaki’s waist and helping to manoeuvre him over to the bed.

“Smells funny,” Cedar wrinkled his nose as he unscrewed the cap of the sim skin cream. “Like synthetic fruit.”

“I like it,” Vaki gave a small smile as he took the tube from Cedar and sniffed it deeply. “Thank you for helping me.”

Cedar gave a gruff non-committal noise in reply. He wasn’t doing it for Vaki’s sake, but perhaps he had made that clear enough already.

“What are you doing?” Cedar reared back a moment later as Vaki pulled his hoodie up, the fabric riding against smooth white skin, exposing the younger man’s hairless abdomen and chest.

“Undressing so I can apply the cream,” Vaki replied, although his voice was muffled by the thick layer of fabric as he hiked it up over his face. By the time he had removed it, his purple hair was stuck up at oddly endearing angles.

“Right,” Cedar nodded tersely, “of course.” He stood up and walked over to the apartment’s AC controls, programming in instructions to try and keep the temperature as low as possible to avoid the android’s systems overheating like Manya had warned.

Cedar jerked his head back round though a moment later as he heard a frustrated exhale. He narrowed his eyes at Vaki, the younger man was flushed and trying to twist himself round to put the cream on his back.

“Stop,” Cedar huffed. “You’ll damage yourself. I’ll do it.”

Cedar sat on the bed beside Vaki, his weight dipping the cheap, thin mattress as he swiped the metal tube of ointment from the other man.

“I don’t want to cause more trouble,” Vaki mumbled, the way he was blushing and fidgeting made him look painfully human. Cedar cleared his throat and shook his head, “this is no trouble, just stay still so we don’t get it all over the bed sheets instead of you.”

Cedar squeezed a liberal amount of the cream into the palm of his hand before stroking it down the length of Vaki’s spine. He froze as the younger man shuddered.

“Cold,” Vaki croaked back by way of explanation. “It’s just a pre-programmed sensory response.”

“I see,” Cedar replied woodenly, although on the next squeeze he rubbed his hands together to try and warm the cream up a little. He brushed his fingers down Vaki’s sides, the younger man’s frame was lithe and small, notched over the ribs and dipping in at the waist. Cedar could see purpled bruising spread across large swathes of skin. Manya had warned him to expect this as a temporary effect of nano damage.

Cedar concentrated the cream particularly on those patches, noticing that a trail led below the waistband of Vaki’s pants.

Without Cedar even needing to awkwardly say anything, Vaki had already stood up and pulled the sweats down, folding them neatly before placing them on the bed.

Cedar took a low exhale as started on Vaki’s knees, it seemed like the safest option to begin with. If you had told him a week earlier that he would be spending an evening playing full body masseuse to a near naked android he would have considered you drunk or crazy, or both.

Cedar gradually let his thumbs run concentric circles higher up creamy thighs, until eventually they started to brush the hem of black boxer briefs.

“Are you unwell?” Vaki asked, his voice full of concern.

“Huh?” Cedar jerked his hands back a moment.

“Your heart rate has elevated considerably,” Vaki informed him, obviously employing his Mercy senses.

“I’m fine,” Cedar snapped, “and I think we’re done here.” He slapped the last globules of cream on top of Vaki’s left thigh, the pads of his fingers brushing quickly over the shooting start tattoo.

“Shit!” Cedar exclaimed, flinching backwards as the tattooed skin he had just touched lit up orange and warm, like someone was shining a flashlight from the other side.

“Oh,” Vaki gasped, a small, strained sound escaping his lips. “I think there’s something inside me.”

“What?” Cedar’s eyes widened in shock as the tattooed thigh began to tremble and shake, as if Cedar’s touch had caused an allergic reaction.

“I’ve got a hidden compartment,” Vaki hissed. The android looked tense and his face was scrunched up. Cedar wondered if he was experiencing pain or just an uncomfortable sensation.

“I’m receiving the data now,” Vaki inhaled deeply, reaching out to steady himself on Cedar’s bicep. “I’ve got a DNA activated chip storage embedded in my thigh. Manya wouldn’t have noticed it as it was cloaked by my tattoo which has refractive particles imbued in the ink.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Cedar asked, still wholly confused.

“I don’t know,” Vaki frowned and shook his head. “That’s all the information I have. If you want the chip to come out you’ll have to touch me again, it’s your DNA signature that the compartment is responding to.”

“That’s impossible,” Cedar replied absently, but he was already growing nervously excited. If someone had programmed part of Vaki to respond specifically to him then this could have to do with Aster. Vaki had been in possession of that necklace after all.

Cedar nodded at Vaki before gripping the thigh tightly, his large palm slotting over the tattoo. He could feel throbbing heat beneath his skin and let out a noise of surprise a moment later when something metallic and hard nudged against him.

“It’s a data chip,” Cedar murmured, pulling the chip out from an inked line of the star tattoo and staring at it under the light.

He quickly moved to insert it into his tablet that was over by the kitchenette. “Damn,” Cedar muttered, “It’s not making any sense, just a load of numbers. They could be account codes?”

Cedar glanced back over to where Vaki was fidgeting awkwardly on the bed.

“Did it hurt you?” Cedar frowned, his fingers stilling over the keyboard for a moment. “Extracting the chip?”

“No,” Vaki shook his head but his eyebrows remained knitted together, “I just don’t understand. I don’t know what I am. You told me I killed a man. But why do I have a data chip that was clearly designed for you to find? You’re a member of the colony’s police force.”

“I don’t know,” Cedar replied quietly. “I’ll take it in to work tomorrow and see if I can get Calvin to figure these numbers out.”

“And…” Vaki began, his yellow eyes flicking off to one side, “you’re not going to tell the other officers about me?”

“Not yet,” Cedar admitted, “I need your memories.”

“Then I’ll rest,” Vaki looked up at Cedar with a small smile, “the programme will be more efficient that way.”

“Right,” Cedar swallowed and set his pad down on the table. “I’ll get the lights.”

“Wait,” Vaki hissed as Cedar walked over to the wall mounted switches. “Could, could you leave one on?”

Cedar frowned in confusion but nodded as the taut line of Vaki’s shoulders relaxed and the younger man lay back down in the bed, wrapping his arms around himself.

Cedar switched all the lights off but one, a small lamp fixture near the bedroom area, the bulb was tinted and so the light emitted was a warm glow, bathing the pale skin of Vaki’s back and casting a shadow across the sheets.

“Sleep well,” Cedar said before he could think better of it.

He thought he heard a small, whispered ‘thank you’ from the other side of the room.