Markus lead Beatrice and Jay out of his peoples' din with the AutoDroid they were originally looking for shutdown and being carried by him and towards the lift back to the surface, despite the ugly stares that the pair received from the gathering of AutoDroids, and the protest Markus had received. Their walk towards the Undergrounds one exist was filled with the chatter of the endless bickering of the two sibling AutoDroids who had snuck out to accompany Markus.

   “But I want one,” the boy, Tobey had whined upon seeing a small stand that was selling Gyeranppang, or egg bread as it’s more commonly called.

   “You can’t even get hungry nut-for-brains,” his sister, Lucy, chided. “Let alone eat it.”

    “But id still like to try it,” he continued to whine.

    Beatrice was getting crankier and crankier by the second listening to the two who have been arguing nonstop the whole walk towards the lift.

     “I swear to God,” she began in a grumble that turned into an aggravation-laced shout. “If you two don’t shut the hell up I will bust your damn batteries!”

    The two children let out a yelp of fear and hid themselves behind the large form of Markus as they continued to walk.

     Jay spoke up, slightly amused at the display. “Now Beatrice, is that how we talk to children,” he shook his head with a smirk formed on his lips. “Tsk, tsk, I thought you knew better than that. I’m afraid to see how you’ll act with your own children in the future.”

    “Buzz of,” she replied with a roll of her eyes.

     As Jay stared at the barely noticeable smirk on her face his mind wandered back to the panicked state, she was in early that day. Beatrice glanced over at him in their now silence filled walk and noticed the strange, analytical expression directed towards her he had plastered on his face.

    She frowned. “What is it?”

    Jay was broken out of his thoughts by her question. “Huh? Oh, it’s nothin,” he responded in the most convincing tone he could muster.

    “Jay we’ve been partners for years now. Just like you said to me earlier, it’s not that hard to get a read on you,” she said to him. Her gaze was forward-facing as the lift started coming into view.

   “What do you think the connection is between all of this and the mysterious case of the burning bridge,” he asked her. Avoiding her question altogether. She took note of that. She wouldn’t press the issue now, but she surely would once they were out of here.

   “It’s hard to say. Honestly, there may not be a connection at all. Maybe I was reaching a bit in that line of thinking. But still the timing of all this.”

   “Maybe we might earn something out of that AD,” he spoke glancing at the powered down machine being carried bridal style by Markus.

   “Maybe,” she replied nonchalantly.

   They stopped just short of the lift as Markus finally spoke. “As p-promised. Yo-yo-you will honor our d-d-deal detective?”

   “Yeah, yeah my lips are sealed.” Jay took the bot out of Markus’s hands, grunting at the weight of it as he carried it similarly to Markus.

   Tobey appeared from behind Markus trying to seem as intimidating as possible. “You better eyepatch or I, Tobey, will break every bone in your body you got that!”

   Lucy appeared behind him grabbing him and placing a hand over his mouth as he let out muffled protest. “Shut up you idiot, we’re in enough trouble as is because of you!” She looked at the pair of humans with slight embarrassment as she apologized for her brothers' outburst. The two took their original target and ascended the lift.

   Back on the surface Beatrice took in a deep breath of the hard-smelling, polluted air and sighed. “Oh yeah, that’s the smell I know and love.” She looked over at Jay as he tossed the AutoDroid unceremoniously into the back of his vehicle.

   “I still think agreeing to the droids terms was unwise,” she said to the man. His back was turned from here as he replied.

   “Probably so, either way, we got what we originally came for.”

   “Still letting a bunch of machines with apparent agency run around the shadiest part of town,” she began.

    “They don’t seem like much of a threat to me. Unhinged maybe but if they meant to harm anyone they would’ve done so,” he replied.

    “Why are you defending a bunch of machines though,” she questioned him as they sat in the vehicle.

    Jay remained silent for a bit before opening his mouth in reply. “Because I don’t see much of a difference between them and us. Imagine if you were in their shoes.”

   “There not human Jay,” she argued back. “If anything, I’d say they're more like ticking time bombs at this point. You saw how unstable they were.”

   “It’s called fear Beatrice. I’m sure you felt it yes,” Jay responded to her. “Tell me, what do you think constitutes consciousness. What determines that something is alive?”

   She looked at him with a confused expression. “The hell kinda question is that?”

   “A legitimate one,” he said back.

    She sighed. And stared off at the old factory in front of them for a moment thinking on his question. She recalled a time when she was a little girl as she sat under a tree with her father. She had forgotten about what they were talking about or how it lead to their current conversation, but she could remember his and her words with utmost clarity.

   “Papa? If this tree is alive how come it can’t hear or talk to me or do a wiggly dance like this.” The girl stood up trying to wiggle her body in an awkward motion like a worm. Her father chuckled.

   “It’s a different type alive,” he said lying down in the grass.

    The girl looked down at him in confusion before plopping herself down on top of him, her hazel eyes staring into his. “How so,” she asked with the utmost curiosity plastered on her face.

    “Well,” he said as he thought about how he was going to word this. “Plants breathe air, drink water, and can die off so they're alive in that sense. But they’re not conscious.”

   “Conscious,” the girl said with a slight tilt of her head.

   “Yeah, like you and me. We can talk, hear, feel, see, laugh, cry, that whole jazz. Plants can’t do that cause they don’t have those things,” he replied to her as he bopped her nose with a finger.

   “So,” the girl began with furrowed brows. “Something can be alive but not conscious?”

   “Yeah, something like that,” her father replied as he lied back on his arms with his eyes closed.

   She sighed. “This stuff is confuuuuuuusing”

   Her father chuckled at the girls' exasperation. “Indeed, it is young one,” he said with a smirk as he got up and picked the girl up off the ground. “Now, let's go get that ramen. My stomach is growling like a mad dog.”

   The girl giggled as she patted her stomach. “Mine to.”

   Beatrice rested her cheek on the palm of her hand. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. At the end of the day, they’re still just machines,” she replied to him coolly though Jay detected hints of another emotion buried in that statement. He turned his attention away from her as he pulled the vehicle away from the factory. It didn’t take long for Beatrice to slip into unconsciousness.