Cianna Miller's Story

Just like Al was ignoring her, she was ignoring Al. A tantrum had been missed by him not saying anything further and she was just happy to play around with Al. They managed to do quite a lot in the kitchen. They went hunting through a jungle; they flew to Australia (though Cianna didn't pronounce the name correctly). They even ended up in the corner doing what appeared to be nothing at first. Cianna was lying on her stomach, her head resting on her hands and her elbows against the floor as if she was looking at something in front of her which was just... well, the floor.

"Are you sure Nix?" She asked.

No answer would be heard.

"I don't think it'll work. It doesn't look like this house."

There was another pause. "What do you think is in the rooms on the second and third floor?"

Cianna's face lit up at some point before she shouted. "Monsters! The doctors and the bad helpers are going to get us. They're hiding and waiting!" She frowned before looking at Al and then back at Nix. "They're not going to get us. We can run away again. I bet I'm small enough to fit through the fence. You can fly over. Or maybe you can fly with me on you. Like last time!"

Nix seemed to say something.

"I'll be good. He'll let us out then and we can try."

In Cianna's mind, the doctors and psych people that she'd been forced to see were the bad guys, the monsters. They weren't there to help her. They were there to take Nix away in her eyes and she wasn't going to have any of it. Not now, not ever. And now having looked at a 'map'. And having Nix insinuated to what could be behind the doors, Cianna was hell bent on leaving again.

3619 didn't move. In fact, apart from the automated slight rise and fall of his chest, imbedded deep within his programming to provide some semblance of humanity, he was almost statuesque.

It didn't change when Cianna started speaking, either. Nothing on his face indicated that he'd heard her plan, even though she'd spoken it more than loudly enough for his sensors to register. Immediately, he began the internal dialogue program in place and contacted the Extor mainframe.

3619 -> Extor. Initiate Icarus protocol. Flight risk acknowledged.

Extor -> 3619. Forward related files. Protocol initiated. Tag Drop 0200 hours, confirm.

3619 -> Extor. Confirmed.


Given Cianna's pattern of behaviour within the foster system, it was no particular surprise that she'd take to running. The tendancy to engage out loud with her invisible companion had been highlighted in her file, and as 3619 forwarded the file he made sure to indicate it's accuracy. She might try and run, but Extor was no bumbling social services, they would find her and the caretaker they assigned after 3619 would likely be less forgiving.

It took only moments to get the little girl from one extreme to the other. She hated everything. She hated this place. The doctors. Al. Everything. She decided. It was just supposed to be her and Nix. She turned to watch Al for a bit before moving to the door and trying to open it, only to find it locked. No surprise there.

So Cianna moved onto her next plan.

"Nix and I are ready to eat properly now." She told Al sitting at the table.

Cianna knew that after that she'd be allowed to play outside. All she had to do was eat the meal to get outside then she could run away! So she sat herself down at the table and waited to see if Al moved to get her some food.

3619 paused a long moment before he finally turned his head to look at her. "Nix ate enough." He said at last, watching her with the utter still, expressionlessness that could only come from someone who was able to completely detach their internal workings from their external feed.

He knew she'd likely dislike this answer, but at this juncture he cared very little. The Icarus protocol locked down the outer doors for anyone who wasnt 3619. As her flight risk had increased so had the levels they were willing to take to keep her safe, though 3619 wasn't briefed on the next set of protocols. It sat in the file, ominously labelled Lethar 1, and did nothing more than that. He idly ran his language protocol over it and came up with no full words that Cianna would appreciate.

But that was the decision of Extor, and they had enough psychological profiles that their decisions would at least be... informed.

So he watched her, and waits.

Cianna frowned. "He's still hungry. And I bet it's lunch time. You have to feed him. You can't let him starve." She frowned. "That's not very nice of you. If you had a friend you wouldn't let them starve, I bet. It's lunch time. Now feed us!" Cianna demanded.

She continued to sit there mumbling to Nix though unhappy before glancing at Al again. "What are you waiting for? When are you getting us food?"

Two responses warred it out deep in the coding, before blue eyes focused upon her, and he says simply, precisely...

"Work it out."

If Al wanted a tantrum, then he sure knew how to start one.

"Work what out?" Cianna's frown deepened and she spoke with Nix before looking back at Al. "You can't let Nix starve. He's hungry. If you don't get him food I'll start screaming and shouting again. It's lunch time!"

Cianna had no idea what time it was or wasn't. She was six. She didn't care. If she said it was lunch, it was lunch. She actually hadn't related it to the fact that she'd broken the deal and Nix only got food if she stuck to the deal. She was relating it to the fact that she'd given more than half of her breakfast to him and that was it.

"Now. Food. Please." She added please forced, just to try and get food.

3619 reached behind him and picked up the book, planting one ankle over the opposite knee before he looked at her.

"Work out why I have said no, and work out why I wont give you lunch yet."

And with that, he fell silent once more, setting his eyes to a 'reading' pattern even as his actual processing power reverted to the internal systems. Given he had provided the amount of food she had desired, even if not in the portions she had asked for, he had no actual fear. His monitoring systems assured him that she, herself, even with her poor nutrition was far from suffering and so he was content to wait- not least because his clock read 10:58:01 at the time of her assurances that it was 'Lunch' and he had no intention of allowing her to move the schedule so drastically.

"You said no because I gave Nix half of my breakfast. But it doesn't matter because you gave him food all the other times." She told Al. "And you won't give me lunch because you're being stupid. We're hungry! Nix is starving. It's lunch time." She frowned.

Instead she got herself up from the table and moved over to the fridge typing in the codes and trying to work it out. They got up to 0040 now and most likely still had a long way to go. The fridge locked itself up and Cianna sat back down at the table.Finally she started to bang her hands down on the table.

"Give us food." She started to yell over and over at the top of her voice.

3619 looked at her calmly.

"You're right. You broke the deal. Well done, that was good thinking." He said it entirely without sarcasm, but as she decends into little more than insults he simply looks back to his book.

Reduce noise input by 75%

And he waits, setting his internal clock to register midday. He could wait, and while he had limited how much sound was registered internally, actual conversation lower than that would alert him perfectly.

"I never broke the deal!" Cianna shouted when the words registered. "That was a different day stupid!" She growled.


Finally, Cianna grew tired of shouting and glared at Al. "You're mean. Just like the other adults. I hate you. I thought you were nice but you're not!" She frowned, before starting to bawl her eyes out at the table.

Without appearing to break his concentration at his book, 3619 reached behind him and picked up a box of tissues, sliding them over the table to the child. Her jibe about hating him passes without significant note- it was, after all, impossible to harm the feelings of an android who, broadly speaking, didn't have any.

He waited for a break in her caterwauling before his eyes flicked up to her and he spoke. "If I cannot trust you, then you will not get your way. How can I trust you, if you don't do as I ask?"

The question was presented calmly, clearly, and with absolutely no indication that he was taking the slightest bit of notice of her fierce temper, or her crying. Whether it was legitimate or false mattered little to him, or to the Client. Her psych profile was clear that manipulation was her main tool towards getting what she desired, and so it had been decided that only straightforward dealings with the child could be categorised as ideal.

And he had forever, after all.

Cianna continued to wail even as Al spoke. "Y-y-you d-don't do as I ask either. You all just think I'm lying." Cianna managed to stop the wailing while she spoke. "You all think I'm lying and I'm crazy. That's what the doctors say. Nix says that's what you're telling them. And none of you believe he's real and you never call me by my name and you don't give me the food I want. You were nice last night but now you've gone back to being mean."

Cianna was just making it all more dramatic than it was. Using whatever information her six year old underdeveloped brain could think of and having Nix help her too. She stayed silent for a moment though her concentration was obviously on her friend.

"Nix says that if you don't trust me then I shouldn't trust you. I'd be good if you helped us chose the food for our meals instead of telling me no all the time and choosing for me. I like oranges. The ones that you can peel. You never give me oranges. You never ask what I like. You don't know me. You just know what those stupid doctors tell you. And they wonder why I run away, wouldn't you run away if everyone called you crazy and a liar?" Cianna was repeating Nix's words now. He was giving the six year old the information she needed to fight back. It was obvious that Nix had the mental age older than a six year old.

She was upset and angry. But instead of screaming and shouting, Cianna got up from the table. "I want to go to my room. Let me out the kitchen." She spoke as she made her way over to the door.