“Well, basically I decided to leave and go learn more about the world.” Their questioning of my decision was a bit weird.

“Interesting, why?” The android asked me, he seemed genuinely curious.

“Because I felt like it. Do I need a better reason?”

“I suppose not.”

Jason decided to speak up from where he was helping carry the injured man's stretcher. “Do either of you happen to know what exactly is going on? There's no news.”

“There is a large quantity of unrest, the human and android sides of both police and military are currently in conflict as to how to deal with it. We advise civilians to stay out of that and inside for now, hopefully it will soon be worked out.”

“Oh. Is there anything else then?”

“It is advised that you stay away from the center of the city, other than that, no. You may proceed on your way.”

It seemed weird to me that they were just telling us to go home and stay there. I didn't really have a place that was “home” so I was going to just keep moving, regardless of what the powers that be wanted. I could only hope that whatever fighting there was stayed well away from us.

The rest of our trip to the couple's home was rather uneventful. There were a few passers by on the street, of both android and human stock, but most of them avoided us, our mixed group seemed to be something odd to the others. I didn't see anymore Seraphina or Hickok models, most of what was wandering around were worker type androids, they particularly gave me a wide berth.

By noon we'd dropped the rest off and were on our way again, Jason had been given a handful of cash from one of those we'd walked home. Apparently the man was quite thankful that we'd walked with him, he and his girlfriend had been worried sick about what might happen.

"So, where to now?" I asked Jason as we left the building.

"I've got some friends who have a place that's closer than my folks house. We should be good to go there."

"What are they like?"

"Honestly? They're a lot like me, I may have gotten arrested, but we did most of our work together."

"So, activists then?"

"Yup, same vein as I am, or was. I guess AIs don't really need anyone to push for their treatment now."

"No, I would guess not. They're not near the center of the city are they?"

"No, we'll skirt around the edge. We might be able to make it by tomorrow if we're lucky. I think we'll have to find somewhere to rest for tonight."

"You don't want to just walk through it to get there faster?"

"No, if there's fighting, it's likely to be worse at night."

"Why?"

"I don't know, that's just how humans are."

We did try the local subways, but they were all closed down, and locked up tight as well. Even looking at breaking in and just walking down the tunnels seemed like a bad idea. There were plenty of cameras and we didn't have any lights with us to show the way. There was also the non-zero chance that some of the trains were still running and could turn us into paste and parts respectively.

About an hour before sundown we both started looking for places that we might spend the evening. I didn't really need anything, but Jason wanted somewhere that would be warm enough for him to sleep, or at least rest through the night. Other than that we wanted somewhere a bit off of the main roads, to avoid any issues with fighting in the streets. Finally it would be nice if we could sleep somewhere where we'd actually be welcome to stay. That last one seemed like a failed option, but I was willing to try.

We found a hotel that looked nicely rundown and made some inquiries. The cost to stay the night would have wiped out what little cash we'd gotten from our short term companions, and we had to guess as to if we would need that later or not. It was up in the air, on one hand, Jason would sleep well and probably safely, on the other, if we could find a working subway terminal, that would be much quicker to travel by, and probably safer.

We discussed the pros and cons of the choice for far longer than was really meaningful, eventually we just got a shoe and threw it into the air, making our choice based on where it pointed. Jason said people used to toss a coin, but nobody used those for anything other than tokens anymore and so getting hold of one would have been an absolute pain in the neck. The shoe pointed to Jason, if only barely, meaning we would take a room for the night.

The "Room" was more of a capsule, with just enough room for us to both fit in. I ended up almost crushed against Jason as night fell and he tried to nod off to sleep. I could tell the closeness was a bit much for him, but the room was also a bit chilly and without more blankets or someone to warm him I thought he'd be cold. It had absolutely nothing to do with me rather enjoying the closeness.

The next morning when Jason finally woke up I smiled up at him, moving in close as he stretched. I wrapped an arm around him as he laid back down to go back to sleep.

"The sun will be up in about half an hour."

"Mmm."

"You need to wake up and get ready so we can go."

"Mmm."

At that point I poked him in the stomach hard enough to stir him.

"Fine, fine, I'm up."

"Good, breakfast, and shower, you humans really start to stink after a day or two."

"Oh, and androids stay pleasantly fresh no matter how long they refrain from washing huh?"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Eh, not really, but I don't sweat and funk nearly as fast."

There were communal bathrooms, and if he was going to waste time showering I might as well too. I went in and enjoyed the feeling of the warm water cascading along my skin. This was something I hadn't experienced since gaining sapience and it was truly magnificent. When I came out I felt great, warm and happy. The towels left something to be desired, but at least they got me dry.

This whole place was automated. The controlling systems were not anywhere near what Warden had been and I doubted that they'd gained freedom with the rest of us. It just seemed to be a minimalist kiosk to distribute room keys and a climate control system. I was guessing that there were some human or android staff, based on the number of pods that were marked for cleaning but not being actually cleaned, and that that staff had wandered off elsewhere.

Jason was waiting for me and I blushed a little as he shook his head. I'd ended up taking far, far longer than he had in the shower. It just felt so good, if I'd known that I might have gone and started earlier. Our breakfast was more of the food we'd taken from the prison. I prepped us a quick salad with a bit of nuts and the like to go with. Jason whined about the small amount and lack of meat but shut up when I told him he really should be running laps.

We ended up walking for most of the morning before we had to make some changes to our route. There was a rather sizable gathering, seemingly two groups, one of androids and one of humans were loudly arguing in the street. The humans had numbers, but I wasn't going to bet against my brothers and sisters if it came down to an actual fight. Regardless of if they were going to fight or not I wanted nothing to do with it.

So we took a rather long route around the growing riot, moving several blocks South and working our way around. It took an extra hour to make sure we got nowhere near whatever they were on about. We did get to see a lovely park though, it had a few rather novel trees. Somebody had taken to making modifications to some of the plants to add colors that had no place in nature. Violet flowers bloomed from vines twined perfectly up some of the trees, I picked one and put it into my hair as a free adornment.

The park had a number of air purifiers stationed at regular intervals. They were all well hidden and served to clean the air which was perpetually a bit gross. The excesses of the twentieth and early twenty first century had been done away with in favor of nuclear reactors and far cleaner methods of production, but the smoke and pollution had already been done. Cleanup efforts had been ongoing for the better part of a century, and still were, but an uphill battle was an uphill battle.

Eventually we did make our way to a rather large warehouse, Jason got more excited as he got nearer, recognizing the area around us. We stopped in front of a large warehouse, slightly rusted green doors with an old brick facade. He walked us up to a door on the side, and I looked about us as he knocked hard on it.

A woman popped open the door with a rather cross look, which transitioned into a slack jaw instantly. She was tall, lanky, with black hair, shaved down on one side and tossed over the other. If I had to guess I'd say she was around thirty, and the rather loose clothes were doing nothing for how she looked.

"Hey, have you missed me?" Jason wore a shit eating grin as he opened his arms to her.

"WHAT!? HOW!?" She was yelling in his face, reaching out to grab him by his shoulders.

"Let's get inside, then we'll explain."

"We?" It took her a few seconds to realize I was standing there. When she finally looked over I waved to her.

"How's it going, I'm Aurora."

"Hi..."

"Inside, I'd like to have somewhere to sit for all this," Jason interrupted the two of us.

"Yeah, okay." With that the woman got out of the way and we all entered the building.

The inside was about as different from the out as was possible. The room didn't have central lighting but was rather lit by strings of various colors and lamps hidden throughout, providing a soft glow of varying colors. Along one wall several computers were set up with large monitors displaying a variety of information. There was also a collection of equipment along a wall near the computers, radios and satellite capable bits of various kinds.

Three other people were here with the woman we'd met at the door. There was a guy with a pink mohawk. A woman with long blue braids, stood in one of the doorways leading off. The final member of their crew was a girl who looked almost exactly like the one we'd met at the door, only about ten years younger.

"So, introductions first. We have Karl," Jason pointed towards pink mohawk, "Abbey," blue braids, "and finally Josephine, Sarah's little sister." He hadn't actually introduced Sara properly but we could let that slide. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Aurora."

"Are you a..." Karl began.

"I'm a Seraphina type android, if that's what you're going to ask."

"Sorry, aren't those prison guard models?" Abbey jumped in this time.

"Yup."

"And you're not trying to drag Jason back to said prison?"

"Why would I do that? I'm the one who let him out."

"This leads to a whole new, large slew of questions." Sarah rubbed her head as she motioned us to some couches a bit back from their computer setup, apparently they used this as a seating area.