Page 59 of Ezra
“Do I look like a toddler to you?”
“No.” She laughs. “Don’t act like one either.” She tucks a strand of short hair behind her ear. “So do you have your own wardrobe as a detective android? Outside of the standard patrol gear and your coat.”
“I have a sweater, additional pair of pants, and several shirts. The commissioner doesn’t see much point in outfitting me more than the bare minimum, but Deion buys clothes for me.”
Katrina snorts. “No offense, but the commissioner sounds like a dick.”
“Careful.” I lean forward, resting my elbows on my thighs. “Any more talk like that, and I’ll think you’re on my side.”
Katrina tucks her foot under her knee, becoming more comfortable as we talk. “I am on your side. I don’t understand why they can’t spare you more clothes. You could argue it might help you do your job better.”
There’s something new in her voice. Playfulness. Borderline flirtation. I wonder if I’m misreading her, but then, after what we’ve done, the way she’s allowed me to touch her, how can I translate it as anything less?
“How do you figure?” I turn the question back on her, amused.
“People need some variety in their life. You should have the same.”
“Because I’m people to you?”
“Yes,” she replies. “More than some humans can boast.”
An electric current courses between us. Before, it was made of uncertainty and mistrust. Now it’s something else entirely—unmistakable attraction. Charlie trills, and Katrina sets aside her tablet to hold him.
A nervous spike in her vitals betray her when I run a diagnostic. The way she swallows, tucking the nestling Charlie in her arms. “Let me ask you something.”
“All right.”
“Do you ever wish you were human?”
I study her, then clasp my hands and glance down at the carpet. “Only children have asked me this question before from an innocent perspective. Comparing me to bedtime stories.”
“That sounds cute.” Katrina crosses one leg over the other, still turned toward me. “LikePinocchio?”
“More like...” I pause, thinking. “The Velveteen Rabbit. They truly believe if I’m good, if I care for peopleunconditionally, some grand higher power will take notice of me and make me human.”
Katrina sighs wistfully. “There are many people undeserving of your care.” She toys with a little ring she wears, twirling it around her thumb. “But it doesn’t answer my question. Do you ever wish you were?”
“Wishing is...” My processor slows, searching my vernacular—hundreds of thousands of words in the English language—trying to find a way to express what I mean. “It’s difficult for a bionic to comprehend. Humans like to see the world as what it could be instead of what itis. Possibility instead of reality. My performance, my existence, is based on facts, not fiction. It’s crossed my mind that things would certainly be easier if I were human.”
“Why’s that?” Kat asks, her voice quiet and inquisitive, like she’s listening to understand instead of to respond. “What would be easier?”
“People wouldn’t doubt me, my capabilities, or my intentions,” I say. “They wouldn’t mistrust me at every turn. I wouldn’t have to work three times as hard as any human officer to prove myself.” I gaze at her. “And Humanity First wouldn’t wish me dead.”
“I’ve never wished you dead, Ezra.”
“I know. But there are many who likely do.”
“If you were human, what would you do?”
“Become the chief of police myself,” I say seriously. “Maybe even commissioner.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely.” I nod. “If Commissioner Winters spent half as much time doing his job as he did thinking of ways to sabotage mine, he might be an effective leader. I could do without him.”
Katrina laughs softly. “Couldn’t he just fire you?”
“I can’t be fired if I’m not an employee, but—no, he would just send me to another precinct, I suppose, or stick me in a closet somewhere if I really pissed him off.” I shrug. “I’m stuck.”
