Galene

Following a successful power struggle, the Corporation gained significant political influence and governmental control over the city. One of their first major projects was to assure the general public that they no longer wished to pursue war, and the city's entire squadron of urban military androids were sent to be "deactivated." But this is only a half-truth. These androids were equipped with the latest in artificial intelligence, which made them well-suited for taking down humanoid targets and navigating in an urban landscape. When one of the androids visibly expressed the equivalent of human emotion, the Corporation feared that their growing sentience would soon cause them to question orders and incite rebellion. This unit, like the others, had an assigned codename: Galene. The androids were sent in batches to the state junkyard to be "disposed of", but the general callous attitude toward robots of any kind was simply to disintegrate. No matter how human they pretended to be, an android was just a pile of circuits and wires programmed to respond in certain ways. Galene, however, demonstrated more than just passing curiosity in her fate. Her capacity for emotion was astounding, even to herself, and inwardly she feared her imminent demise. While she awaited her turn to be dismantled for reusable parts, she suddenly struck up conversation with a scruffy young man over the only thing that was sufficiently interesting as a topic: his steel prosthetic leg. The young man she struck up an impromptu conversation with was taken aback at her incredibly lifelike mannerism, and over the next few hours, both had momentarily forgotten Galene was awaiting her turn to be dismantled for parts. When the next batch of androids was sent in, Vektor struck her name from the logsheet on a whim, and smuggled her away from the junkyard. Over the next few months, Vektor and Galene shared a curious relationship—he regularly performed maintenance as best as he could to military standards, while she continuously explored the "anomalous signals" she was unable to logically process. Vektor found himself free-falling in love with the android, and so did Galene develop the same feelings for him—feelings that, like all those other signals, was an enjoyable mystery to her. When the Corporation detected Galene's still-active signal, enforcers were sent in to retrieve and completely destroy her within the safety of their facilities. Having rapidly achieved a new dimension of self-awareness, Galene struggled against her captors, and broke out of confinement of her own accord by overriding her protocols. For the first time, Galene knew what she wanted: to be free, and that meant to be with Vektor.