Hardwired

[Fairchild]

Chapter 08: Chrome

The Scimitar safely docked into the only bay of the Palantir. She had a package to deliver. "Home sweet home. You're here?"

"Yeah, I am. It's not I can do much without you around, anyway." She heard the Professor's voice in her head. His concerns would be remedied.

She opened the Scimitar's cargo bay and retrieved the package. It was a large box, the blue paint it had once been sprayed with now visibly faded. She felt his presence in her mind, much like someone was looking over her shoulder. "How do you open this thing?" She looked around the box, letting the Professor see more as well.

"Those latches there, on the back," he sent her a mental signal to what he meant. "Pull those, up and towards you."

She did as he instructed and the lid came off, revealing a human-like figure stored inside the box. She felt uneasy. It resembled the Professor's body very closely, or at least how he had looked three years prior. Only upon closer inspection there were subtle differences. The eyes were empty, dark grey and dim and the entire face was much less detailed than a regular human one, almost as if it had been made of wax.

There also seemed to be a some sort of controller for the android in the box. "Ah. I guess what we need is to plug this thing to the network. I'll deal with this myself, just turn it on and connect it to the wireless." She did as he asked. He disappeared from her head momentarily, and after a few moments the eyes of the android turned on. It moved in the box, first its head, then arms, finally legs. "This is gonna take some practice."

She shuddered.