#scheduling this to rb every 2 hours for the rest of the day please follow me again. come back

[thewritingandroid]

Learning to be Human // Part 4 The Right Choice - Jess (O.C.)

A/N: Meet the first of a couple O.C.s! I hope you grow to love her like I have! She’s a lil bean! Woo! I hope you are enjoying the story thus far!

Word Count: 2699

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Part 5

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." 

-Benjamin Franklin

The last place I want to be is at this police station. When my boss pulled me into his office this morning and told me he had a very important task for me, this isn’t what I’d envisioned. When he’d told me I had to take a very important message to the police station, I thought it would be about the break-in we’d had a few days earlier. My boss had handed me an info tablet and put me in a car to take me into the city. It wasn’t until I was in the car that I looked at the tablet, and my heart sank.

“Excuse me, are you Lieutenant Hank Anderson?” I tried to keep the nerves out of my voice.

“That’s me. Who are you?” He eyes me suspiciously.

“My name is Jessabelle Richards, I’m a representative sent by CyberLife.”

He shoots me an odd look and then chuckles to himself.

“I’m sorry Lieutenant, have I said something funny?”

“No, sorry, you just reminded me of someone just then. You’re from CyberLife huh? I was about to head over there myself for a meeting.”

“CyberLife thought they’d save you a trip. Is there somewhere we could talk?”

“We can talk here.”

“I should have been more clear in my question Lieutenant, I’m sorry. Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”

I watched him huff and push himself to his feet.

“I think there’s an empty interrogation room, follow me.”

He led me out of the bullpen area and into a hallway that led into several small rooms. We walked into the first empty one we came to and he shut the door behind us.

“Can I assume that you aren’t here to give me good news Ms. Richards?” He gestured for me to sit, and I did.

“Sir, when CyberLife received your message yesterday requesting our help with an injured officer, we could only assume you were referring to the RK800 android named Connor.” I placed my tablet on the table in front of me, “CyberLife looked into the incident during which the android was injured and discovered it was during a shootout with human protestors. The android fired four rounds from two different weapons. Three people died.”

“They were the three my men shot. The four Connor shot are expected to make full recoveries.”

“Regardless Lieutenant,” I swallowed hard, wishing I didn’t have to say this, “The incident has led CyberLife to label the android model RK800 aka “Connor” as a threat to human lives, and denies your request for the bicomponent RB-6T.”

“That’s fucking bullshit and you know it.”

“I’m sorry Lieutenant Anderson, I am only the messenger. CyberLife has made up their decision.”

“Yeah well, it’s a stupid fucking decision. Connor is innocent, he deserves to live. CyberLife is prepared to just let him die after he sacrificed himself to save a fellow officer?”

“Connor is not alive. The RK800 model is a machine, it cannot live and therefore cannot die.”

“Is that the bullshit they feed you over at CyberLife?” He pushes himself to his feet abruptly, “Have you ever actually met a deviant?”

“Well no, but-”

“Come with me, I’m going to take you somewhere.”

“Lieutenant, I have a very busy schedule,” I picked up my tablet and stood.

“All I’m asking for is an hour of your time.”

“Why?”

“Because you need to look into the eyes of the man that you and CyberLife have sentenced to his death. Now move, it’s a short drive.”

We climbed into Hank’s car in silence. We were halfway to the border of android territory before he spoke again. His voice was cold.

“What do you know about the androids that CyberLife calls deviants?”

“I know that they are androids suffering from a virus that has infected their programming. I know that they are often violent towards humans and that they wrongly believe they are alive.”

“Has CyberLife gotten into brainwashing too?”

“I’m sorry,” I turn away and look out of the window, “It’s what they tell us to say.”

“You can’t think for yourselves over there?”

“Not if we want to keep our jobs.”

The rest of the ride is silent. I fidget nervously with the tablet on my lap. How did I get sucked into this? I’m just a secretary, I’m not supposed to leave CyberLife’s offices, ever. Now I’m being driven into android territory, wearing a CyberLife uniform. I think I’m going to be sick.

Hank stops the car, “We’re here. Get out.”

I step out of the car and onto the dirt road that led to the border. Everything was much dirtier than what CyberLife described to us. Hank badged us past the officers and walked up to one of the androids standing inside the border.

“Hey Josh.”

“Did you miss us already Hank?” The android, Josh,  asked.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Who’s your friend?”

“She’s not my friend. We’re here to see Connor.”

“She’s CyberLife?” Josh asked and Hank nodded. “You shouldn’t have brought her here Hank.”

“She needs to see for herself what CyberLife is putting you guys through.”

Josh looked me up and down as if trying to decide what to do with me. After a moment, he seemed to make up his mind, “alright, follow me.”

Hank is watching me as we walk deeper into android territory. Here everything is grey. I can see eyes peering out at me from inside the makeshift homes. There is an overwhelming sense of fear coming from everywhere. I stop suddenly.

“What is it?” Hank stops too.

“This is wrong,” I look around slowly, “CyberLife describes the android territory as full of armed deviants living in houses nicer than ours made with stolen material and tech. They talk about androids like they’re anarchists but these androids, they’re afraid.” I shake my head.

“CyberLife is lying to you. They’re lying to everyone.”

“Hank?” Josh interrupts, “we need to keep moving.” He shifts his gaze to me and I see he’s afraid too. “Our medical center is this way.”

“Is Markus there?”

“Yes. I alerted him as soon as you entered the border.”

“Good, she could stand to meet him too.”

Josh leaves us at the door to the medical center, saying he needs to get back to the border and that we’ll find Connor and Markus inside. I’m more nervous than ever, and I have an overwhelming urge to throw up. My hands are shaking, and I can’t seem to make my feet move. Hank is still staring at me like he’s reading my mind.

“None of them are going to hurt you.”

“I know.”

“Then why do you look like you’re about to shit your pants?”

“I’m scared.”

“Good, now you know how these people feel. Come on, we should get inside, you’re on a schedule.”

I followed Hank inside the medical center. It’s practically barren. There's no stolen CyberLife tech, or any tech really. Just beds, a long row of beds. An android looks up at us from the far side of the room as we enter. He rushes over to us before we get too far into the room. I realize that I recognize him.

“Hank, what the hell were you thinking? Bringing her here?” He spoke in a harsh whisper.

“Easy Markus,” Hank raised his hands, “I brought her here to see Connor.”

Markus sighed and wiped his face with his hand and looked at me, “CyberLife sent you to tell Hank no, didn’t they?”

“Yes,” my voice was tiny, stuck in my throat. I cleared it and tried again, “Yes, I’m… I’m sorry. They found that-”

“I’ll get you their official report later Markus,” Hank interrupted, “can we see Connor now?”

“You can see him, but he’s not really one for conversation right now.”

“He’s gotten worse?”

“Yes, and we don't know why. I’m not sure that one missing bio component could have done all this.”

“No, it couldn’t. Non-essential bio component RB-6T is a redundant piece of a redundant system.” I interject and then wish I hadn’t as both Hank and Markus turn to stare at me.

“What do you mean?” Markus tilts his head and narrows his eyes.

“May I?” I gesture to the occupied bed.

“Be my guest.”

Markus moves out of my way and for the first time I see the android lying on the bed. I move closer, slowly, trying to take in every detail. There’s a large bandage on the right side of his abdomen. The android’s eyes are closed and he’s missing his LED. Hank comes to stand behind me and Markus returns to his place at the foot of the bed.

“What was your initial assessment of him?” I asked Markus as I slowly removed the bandage from Connor’s side.

“Damage to non-essential bio component RB-6T, other surface damage but no other components were damaged. What did you mean it’s a redundant component?”

“CyberLife designed the RK800s for military and government use. Bodyguards, soldiers, interrogators, investigators, it was their first big push into that side of the market. They wanted to make a product that would sell, so they needed to make the RK800s more resilient, able to take a hit and keep going. Most of this model’s systems are redundant to each other, the particular system that this bio component links to is one of them. If that was the only damage, Connor would be fine right now.”

“But he isn’t fine. Maybe CyberLife made a mistake in labeling it non-essential?” 

“Markus, CyberLife doesn’t make mistakes like that.”

“How can you be sure?” It was Hank.

I sighed and looked back at him, “My boss oversaw the design of the RK800s which meant that every piece of information crossed my desk, and was approved by me. We ran numerous tests, picking the prototype models apart piece by piece to make sure we had all systems labeled correctly and interfaced the correct message to the android.”

“You experimented on him?”

I pushed my hair out of my face, “You have to understand, Markus. We saw them, we saw you, as just machines. We were doing our jobs, following orders.”

“You were wrong!”

“I know. A lot of good people were wrong about a lot of bad things and androids suffered because of that. I’m sorry. I can’t change what happened but I may be able to help Connor, please let me do that.”

“What do you need from us?”

“I need to talk to him.” 

“I’m not sure he’s going to wake up.”

“Then, with your permission, I’ll need to access his override.”

“I can’t let you do that!”

“Hang on a minute,” Hank waved his hands, “what’s his override?”

“It would allow her to control him without his permission.”

“Aw Jesus fucking Christ.”

“I need him to run a complete systems diagnostic on himself, if you say he isn’t going to wake up, then I’ll need to access his override to get that information. If I don’t know what’s wrong with him, how can I fix him?” 

“ I thought CyberLife found him to be a danger to humans?” Hank scoffed, “I thought they’d sentenced him to die.”

“That was their assessment, this is mine. CyberLife has told me nothing but lies about androids since the beginning of your rebellion. What I see right in front of me is someone who needs my help and I can help him, so let me help him. Please, Markus, no one can tell us what’s wrong with him more than he can.”

“Alright then, do it.” Markus moved back to lean against the wall.

“Thank you.”

I reached my hand up and felt for the spot on Connor’s temple where his LED would have been. I traced the slight divot there and took a slow deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. I was so getting fired. I pressed the divot and watched as Connor’s eyes popped open. Slowly they focused on me.

“Hello, my name is Jess. Please state your model number and given name.”

“RK800, given the name Connor by CyberLife.”

“Connor, please run a full systems diagnostic test for me.”

“Am I looking for anything specific?”

“Look for damage to any systems and any foreign material present.” 

Connor’s eyes closed for a moment as he began the scan, but quickly reopened. “I have detected damage to my central processing system, I am unable to perform a full diagnostic scan.”

“Connor, did you receive any damage to the back of your head?”

“I was struck in the back of my head with a handgun shortly before I was shot.”

“Connor, I’m going to need to access your rear cervical access panel, please sit up for me, and remove the skin from the back of your head.”

Connor sat up on his bed and I shifted so that I was sitting behind him. Hank and Markus were staring me down and it was taking everything I had just to stay focused on the task in front of me. Connor had removed his skin, revealing a large dent in the back of his head. I sucked in my breath and motioned for Markus to come and  see the damage.

“Shit,” he shook his head and leaned back against the wall. 

“I’m going to remove your damaged back panel Connor, I need you to keep talking to me while I do this.”

“What would you like me to say?”

“Would you recite something for me, please?”

“Yes. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—   While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping-”

I reached up and slowly slid the panel out of place, revealing the components underneath, several appeared damaged. 

“As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door— Only this and nothing more."

“Thank you, that is enough. Connor, do me a favor, perform a large scale repair program on all mental systems, focusing on hardware and omitting software. It is very important that you don’t do anything to compromise your software.”

We all watched as slowly the parts in front of us began to shift. 

“That’s fucking incredible,” Hank said, shaking his head.

“The RK800 was the first model designed to be self-healing. That’s why so many systems are redundant or obsolete, CyberLife trusted that the android would be able to diagnose and heal themselves without any external force. When Connor was hit in the back of his head, his central processing system was damaged, meaning he did not perform the necessary tasks needed to repair himself.”

“So none of this was ever about the bio component?”

“No, you were all looking in the wrong place. He’ll still need a replacement part, but he should be fine once he’s able to heal the other things that affected him.” While I spoke, my fingers worked on the panel I had removed.

“Thank you.”

I looked up at Markus. He looked so tired, so resigned, “you have nothing to thank me for, I’m just glad I could help.” I looked back at Connor, still sitting upright, the parts inside his head still shifting themselves back into place. “This is going to take a while, my best guess is several hours.”

“I’ll drive you back to CyberLife.” Hank stood up from the bed he’d been leaning against. “We’ve taken enough of your time already.”

“Actually, if it’s okay with Markus, I’d like to stay until he’s finished.”

Hank looked at Markus and he nodded, giving me a slight smile.

“What about your job?” Hank asked, “I thought you were on a schedule.”

“What I did here today will probably get me fired anyway when they find out, I might as well stay and make sure he ends up okay.”

“Thank you,” Markus said again, then shifted his attention to Hank, “Can I talk to you a minute? Outside?”

“Yeah. You gonna be alright here by yourself Ms. Richards?”

“Yes Lieutenant, I’ll be okay. And please, call me Jess.”

[meekamove]

Boracay 2019 (a long overdue post)

My boyfriend and I have always loved travelling. We’ve been to different places already, but this is the first time that we’ve travelled to a place unfamiliar to us. After the news of the scheduled re-opening of Boracay surfaced, I told him that we must go check the place out. Luckily, he said yes because he really wanted to go there ever since. We just have to wait for the perfect time to plan out everything.

We love travelling, but we also hate spending (too much). So, what we did, we waited for the perfect time to book our plane tickets and our room accommodations (via agoda) – in short, we waited for promos 😅

Plane Tickets

October came and airlines still don’t have seat sale promos. Luckily, Air Asia (my go-to airline when broke HAHA) offers cheap plane tickets. For only ₱3,150/head, we were able to book a roundtrip ticket to and from Kalibo. If booked with other airlines, the minimum one-way airfare ticket to Kalibo is around ₱2,500.

You might be wondering why we booked via Kalibo instead of Caticlan which is closer to Boracay Island. Well, my dear friends, the answer is simple – plane tickets to Caticlan are more expensive than Kalibo’s. Although, I don’t recall how much the difference exactly is, but if you travel via Kalibo and ride a one-hour van trip to Caticlan, it will only cost you ₱175/head.

Room Accommodation

Since I had work in the morning, we had to schedule our flights at night. We arrived in Kalibo at around 11pm and stayed overnight at RB Lodge Kalibo. It is an inn located at the heart of Kalibo and the van terminal to Caticlan is just across it.

In Boracay, we booked our room accommodation at White Beach de Boracay. It is a beach-front building beside Astoria Hotel in Station 1. The rooms have wifi access, air-conditioner, refrigerator and a bathroom with hot and cold shower. For only ₱4,803 we were able to book a two-night, three-day room accommodation thru Agoda.

Kuripot tip: There are a lot of activities in Boracay, so if you have plans of visiting the island, book at budget-friendly hotels ;) ALSO, I just learned this from a friend (sayang!), but if you want to have less expensive room rates, download Airbnb so you can have  ₱2,200 OFF from your first booking (minimum of  ₱3,500 worth of booking). You can register here.

How To Get There?

If you’ll be coming from Kalibo Airport, there are vans there bound to Caticlan Jetty Port. The fare is only ₱175. But if coming from Caticlan Airport, you can rent trikes to the jetty port, though I am not sure how much it costs.

Upon arriving at Caticlan Jetty Port, you’ll have to present a hotel booking confirmation and an ID at the entrance of the port.

After showing your proof, you’ll have to pay some fees: env’t fee - ₱75/head; terminal fee - ₱100/head; and boat fare - ₱25/head. The trip to Boracay Island from the port is around 15 mins.

From Boracay Island port, you can ride a van, trike or habal-habal going to your station. Since we are not familiar with the place, we rented a trike.

Initially, our plan was to walk to our hotel because we saw people walking with their trolleys and stuff. But because we were very lazy to walk and carry our own stuff, we decided to rent a trike and pay ₱120. It was only when we arrived at our hotel when realized how far the port is from Station 1. Good thing we (are lazy-walkers and) decided to ride a trike 😂

DAY 1

The first thing we did after checking in was to look for restos. There are many restos in Boracay but it’s impossible to find a cheap/sulit one. Almost every resto was crowded because it was lunch time, so we had a difficult time finding a place to eat. Good thing we checked this small resto beside Astoria which sells fresh seafood – by fresh, I mean, you get to choose diff types of seafood that are still alive (and swimming 😂) Although I wasn’t able to take a picture of their mini aquarium, I have pictures of their menu 😅 They also offer meat dishes.

After eating, we decided to make our first day as our “rest day” since the next two days will be filled with activities. We roamed around the island and checked the ‘changes’ after its rehab. I must say, comparing it from the previous pictures I’ve seen online, Boracay really has become much cleaner. Local staffs/security are found everywhere, and they watch and fine anyone who litters. Trash bins are also present all over the island, so there’s no excuse not to throw your garbage at the right place.

Since we want to ‘fully experience’ Boracay, I wanted to try having my hair braided. But I guess, I made the wrongest decision of my life. Hahaha

I was charged ₱650 for this braid. HAHAHA. This is prolly my most unforgettable experience in Boracay. As per the ate who did the braids, the regular price for a braid is ₱250. But since she added yarns, there’s an additional ₱100 per yarn; I had FOUR YARNS. HAHAHA. IMAGINE WHAT MY FACE LOOKED LIKE WHEN I WAS ABOUT TO PAY! I told her to remove the yarns, but she said I would have to pay another ₱250 because she would have to re-do my braid. I was pissed, but I just had to let it go and not have my vacation ruined bec of that 🙂

While I was complaining how expensive my braid was, my boyfriend had his henna tattoo. And no, I did not ask him to have my name henna tattoed on his neck. It was his (sweet gesture) own decision. He was charged ₱250 for a four-letter tattoo.

Of course, we ended our day by watching the beautiful sunset near the shore. We were so caught in the moment that we forgot to take pictures of the sunset. Also, we had samgyupsal for dinner! 😆

DAY 2

For our second day, we booked an all-day tour at Ariel’s Point. It is an island 20-30 minutes away from Boracay. The package costs ₱2,800.00/pax and covers the following:

UNLIMITED BEER and ALCOHOLIC DRINKS (yes, you read that right)

Non-stop Snacks

Buffet Lunch

5-meter, 10-meter, and 15-meter high cliff jump activity

Water activities such as: Snorkeling, Stand-up Paddle Board and Kayak

Very nice, friendly and accommodating staff. LIKE REALLY, REALLY NICE.

While on our way back to Boracay Island, one of tour guides initiated a drinking game. He started spinning a bottle and whoever the bottle points, s/he has to drink the alcohol straight from the bottle.

Sadly, Ariel’s Point is closed today until after two months. I don’t know exactly why, but my dad who’s been there a week ago, relayed this info to me.

Day 3

For our third and final day, we decided to book island activities. But since our hotel accommodation is only until 12nn, we only booked 2 activities: Parasailing and Helmet Diving.

Parasailing

The original price of Parasailing is ₱2,500/pax for 15 minutes. Good thing, we met Kuya Loyd, a kuya who works at our hotel and offered us a much cheaper price. He gave us a ₱300 discount, because he has connections (that we don’t have HAHA).

For a while, it was fun. But because of the strong winds, our canopy was leading us to different directions, which made me a bit nauseous.

Helmet Diving

Because I was a bit nauseous, I kinda didn’t enjoy this activity. The pressure on the helmet was too much for me that I found it kind of heavy. BUT, I loved the view and I saw Nemo (yes, I know it’s called clownfish but I prefer to call it Nemo).

Before going down, you’ll have to sign an agreement form in which you’ll have to assess your health state. Because I was desperate to check what the bottom looks like, I just checked ‘yes’ to everything. BUT PLEASE, DON’T DO WHAT I DID. I AM NOT A GOOD EXAMPLE!

The activity costs ₱1,500/pax but because we had Kuya Loyd, we got it for ₱1,200 only! He is such a helpful friend. (in Lily’s [How I Met Your Mother] voice)

Important Reminder

Well the best thing I could remind you is to bring extra money wherever you go. Since Boracay re-opened, everything became pricey. The price of anything that is being sold there is a quarter higher than it was before. Some locals say that they are trying to recover from the income lost during its rehab. Well, I couldn’t blame them. But what’s irritating is some local businesses are taking the ‘recover thing’ on a higher level that the prices are unreasonable. Exhibit A: the yarns of my braid.

Despite the pricey vacation, I must say I had fun and I’m definitely going back to try the other activities! Au revoir, Boracay! 

WATCH VLOG HERE.