“What?” Cedar snapped, his mind racing a thousand miles an hour. Manya was stood in front of him, her hands on her hips. Off to one side he could vaguely see Vaki on the bed surrounded by coolant packs.

The android was still thrashing and letting out breathy moans. Vaki was also clearly touching himself, something that Manya was apparently doing a stand up job of ignoring.

Cedar, not so much.

“He’s been modded,” Manya repeated slowly, as if explaining the concept to someone with reduced brain function. “The smugglers have put in an arousal chip, I didn’t see it because those kind of mod chips get embedded at the top of the spine and I didn’t check there.”

“Well, take it out!” Cedar threw up his hands in frustration and increasing horror as Vaki called out his name again.

“Oh wow Detective, totally didn’t think of that,” Manya replied, rolling her eyes and leaning back against the couch. “Look, it’s a chip that emulates arousal. I assume because the smugglers were planning on trafficking Vaki they needed him with a H.E.A.T. mod to garner the right interest.”

“Wait,” Cedar held up his hand, “H.E.A.T., I’ve heard that before from the barman at the Cobol. What is it?”

“A heightened erogenous arousal transmutation,” Manya replied, taking a deep breath. “Basically, Vaki is now hardwired to have sexual heats, and if he doesn’t satisfy them he’ll overheat. Which wouldn’t be that big a deal perhaps normally to some sketchy buyer, but for us it means he’ll power down and our memory retrieval program is kaput. And before you ask again, like some whining toddler, I can’t remove it because the chip is too fresh and it would require powering down which again, bye bye memories.”

“So we just let this happen?” Cedar could hear how high pitched his voice was getting as he gestured frantically in Vaki’s direction.

“He just needs to abate the arousal,” Manya sighed, as if she couldn’t quite believe this was her Saturday morning. Cedar was tempted to agree with her there. “Whether or not you want to help him with that is between you and your interpretation of AI ethics.”

“Fuck off,” Cedar spat, “he’s out of his mind – I’m not touching him.”

“But if he weren’t out of his mind?” Manya raised a questioning eyebrow.

“He’s a wanted fugitive,” Cedar added, “and an android.”

“Ooh, there come the prejudices,” Manya snorted drily, shoving her hands in her pockets and walking over towards Vaki.

“Please,” Vaki whined at her, “Manya, it hurts.”

Manya shook her head, the amusement slipping from her sharp features. She turned back to Cedar and pinched at his non-slinged arm, dragging them over to the door before speaking in a low voice. “He doesn’t know what to do,” Manya stated. “You’ve got some hard decisions to make, Detective.”

“Just, what can I do?” Cedar shrugged, feeling helpless. “I need his memories Manya,”

“Yeah,” Manya nodded thoughtfully, “so you’ve said.”

“There’s something huge going on here,” Cedar added, “not just my sister, Vaki’s part of something big, I just can’t figure out what it is.”

“Look,” Manya tipped her head, “he doesn’t necessarily need an active partner. He just has to satisfy the heat and then he’ll be back to normal for a while.”

“You want me to teach an android how to jerk off?” Cedar groaned, pressing his forehead against the cold metal of the door.

Manya laughed, patting him on the back. “Wait here a moment okay? I’ll bring something to help.”

“I don’t need a damn instruction book,” Cedar hissed as she disappeared out of the apartment and back into her own.

Cedar turned slowly and walked back towards Vaki, sitting down heavily on the side of the bed.

“I-I’m sorry,” Vaki gasped, bucking his hips up off the bed and scrunching the sheets between his fingers.

“Not your fault,” Cedar shook his head. “this was done to you against your will. I should…” Cedar felt his throat clog up uncomfortably. He glanced down to where a small blanket was tented across Vaki’s groin, the sharp V of his pelvis highlighted by sweat. “I shouldn’t have left you alone in the store. I knew we were being followed.”

“No,” Vaki choked, reaching out his trembling fingers to lightly touch Cedar’s sleeve. “Not your fault either.”

Cedar smiled grimly as he looked up at the android. The younger man was beautiful, so beautiful that he probably couldn’t have ever been mistaken as bio. His almond, yellow eyes were bright and currently hooded, glazed with blown ink pupils. His cupid’s bow was high and arched, his lips swollen as if stung. Vaki’s cheeks were dusted with pink, the flush of high thrumming arousal. His three, dark freckles across his left cheekbone were standing stark against his pearly skin.

Even Vaki’s hair seemed more purple than usual, a deep amethyst stuck to his forehead and flicking out over the delicate shell of his ears. Cedar had been careless; of course an AI that looked like this was bound to drawn unwanted attention.

What he couldn’t understand was why someone had put so much effort into designing a Mercy designation that looked so stunning. Perhaps that was the point? After all, what were Mercies if not mechanical angels?

“And I’m back!” Manya shouted loudly, causing Cedar to flinch out of his skin, tugging at his fresh stitches.

“Christ alive,” Cedar growled, glaring over at her as she produced a bulky looking bag from over her shoulder. “What’s in there?” Cedar frowned.

“Everything our growing boy needs,” Manya announced proudly, reaching into the bag and drawing out a packaged, flesh coloured cylindrical object. Cedar stared at it blankly for a moment before his mouth dropped open.

“No! Oh hell no, Manya, what?”

“Don’t be such a prude,” Manya snorted. “Oh and in case you’re worried, these are all brand new, I never got a chance to try them,” she sighed sadly and gave the black shiny packaging a wistful stroke.

“Manya,” Cedar snapped, “I’m not giving Vaki toys.”

“Oh,” Manya paused, her eyebrows rising up her head, “so you’ve decided to give him the real thing then?”

“No!” Cedar shouted, wincing at how strangled his voice sounded. “But I thought I could just, you know, teach him how to…”

“Masturbate,” Manya concluded with an unimpressed look. “I mean you could try that first, but it’s an aggressive H.E.A.T. mod with submissive receptors, I figured we'd better be safe than sorry this time. If he can’t abate the heat then…”

“I get it,” Cedar interrupted her, “he powers down.”

“Okay,” Manya shrugged, depositing the bag at the foot of the bed, “well, have fun.”

“Where are you going?” Cedar asked, his eyes wide and panicked.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you want your teenage neighbour to stay for the homemade Pinocchio Porn?”

“Fuck off,” Cedar muttered angrily as Manya chuckled and exited the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

“Jesus,” Cedar sighed, eyeing the bag like one might a bomb. He strode towards the kitchen, yanking one of the high cupboards open before drawing out a glass bottle and unscrewing the cap. The sharp smell of amber whiskey hit his nostrils before he took three long swigs.

“Right,” he announced to the fridge before walking back towards the bed.

Trying to open up a sex toy package with only one free hand was proving harder than he had anticipated. Finally, the silicone veined monstrosity fell free from its plastic confines and landed on the bed with a dull thump.

Both Cedar and Vaki stared at it wide eyed for a moment before Cedar took a step back.

“Right, well, let me know when you’re done,” Cedar croaked, before high tailing it to the bathroom and closing the door. He sank down to the floor, cradling his face in his hand and tried not to listen to the low grunts and breathy exhales coming from the other side.

After what must have been an excruciating ten minutes or so there was a soft knock at the door. Cedar let out a low sigh of shuddering relief, only to be replaced with horror when he opened it and found a still trembling and sweating Vaki in front of him.

“I-I can’t,” Vaki sobbed, “I don’t know how to,” he brought both his hands up to his face, covering it and pulling at his hair.

“Hey,” Cedar steeled himself. The younger man was so visibly distressed and distraught. “Hey, it’s okay, no big deal alright? I can help.” Cedar thought back to all the times he had talked down paranoid antsy perps at the station going through Clik withdrawal. Saorise had never had the knack for comforting anyone so it had always fallen to Cedar. Vaki didn’t seem all that different to them right now, the pained rigidity, the shakes, the red rimmed eyes filled with unshed tears.

Cedar guided them both back over to the bed, letting Vaki crawl miserably across the sheets, his entire body still exposed and on display. Every inch of him was perfect and beautifully designed. It made Cedar feel sick that men with more money than morals would have sat at some kind of illegal auction, bidding on the pale, confused body.

“Show me what you’ve been trying,” Cedar instructed, trying to keep his voice as reassuring as possible. He didn’t know how much longer they had before the android would overheat and power down.