The NCPD officers arrived at the location Karl had reported within five minutes, thanks to a direct line.
"This one's... pretty brutal," Andy muttered, surveying the cri scene. "A robot entering a residential building and killing soone—if word of this gets out, people are gonna panic."
"Especially here in Vista Del Rey, Heywood—corporate lapdog territory," Karl replied, arms crossed in front of his chest like a mummy laid to rest. "Those high-and-mighty exec types don't want to clock out of overti, head ho, and get skewered by a robot, then turned into a at puddle."
Andy glanced at Karl's strange pose. "What's with the hand gesture?"
"I'm relaxing my arms and calculating the bot's wingspan-to-height ratio."
Karl released his arms, stretched them out to either side, then turned his head left and right to eyeball the spread.
"Matches perfectly," he said, sowhat surprised.
"Matches what?"
"Wingspan and height."
Karl explained, "A person's arm span—fingertip to fingertip when arms are outstretched—is usually equal to their height. Might be off by a few centiters, but generally close. You're 182 cm tall, Andy—your wingspan should be about the sa. Now guess what I found when I compared the robot's?"
"What?"
"A perfect 1:1 ratio. It's more proportionate than I am."
He'd compared the machine's limb lengths to his own and found that the robot's asurents were flawless—an ideal human blueprint.
"Perfect proportions..." Andy echoed.
Robots weren't normally built to mirror human physiology exactly. While they often imitated human shapes, they weren't restricted to them. In fact, they could easily be designed to surpass human biology.
Everyone knew certain parts of the human body—like the spine—were fragile.
A snapped vertebra could be fatal. But robots didn't have those weaknesses. They could be engineered to be far tougher.
And yet, the bot Karl had fought was built to reflect perfect human proportions.
In other words, if not for the fact that it was tal, this robot—with cyberware, no less—was more "human" than either Karl or Andy.
"This reminds of a story I heard when I was a kid," Andy said, his expression darkening as he recalled his sister, who'd once listened with him.
"It was about how humans, as they modified themselves more and more, beca less human—colder, more detached. anwhile, robots kept imitating humans, learning emotion and logic, and eventually woke up. They replaced humanity as the 'new humans.'"
"So humans stop being human… and machines beco people?"
"I rember being scared afterward. For a while, I'd walk around wondering if anyone I passed was a robot in disguise, just waiting to take my place. And now..."
Andy glanced at the bot, which the NCPD would soon "arrest" for questioning.
"Looks like that story's coming true."
"Too bad it's not one of the nice fairy tales," he muttered. "More like a grim, chilling prophecy."
Karl thought of the rogue AIs that acted more human than most people. Of cyberpsychos who'd lost all empathy to chro.
Who could say where the world was headed?
Speculating about the future wouldn't help them now. Whatever the reason for building such a "hyper-human" machine, it wasn't sothing they could unravel on the spot.
Karl still had a bodyguard mission to finish.
Sesen had already identified the corpse as the person he'd co to et. V and the others had escorted him back to Konpeki Plaza before the NCPD arrived. As the official informant, Karl had stayed behind.
Now that the "criminal"—the robot—was in police custody, there was nothing left for him to do here.
A robot fitted with cyberware. More human than human.
What a bizarre day.
Karl bid farewell to Andy and a few familiar officers, then left the murder scene.
Once outside, he glanced up at the sky over Night City.
Still drowned in artificial lights, but sohow—it felt like a good day.
"Mm~"
Stretching lazily, Karl walked a few paces before realizing sothing.
V and the others had taken Sesen back already... so what about him?
This was the downside of not driving.
Fortunately, Karl had planned ahead.
Just a few days ago, he'd signed up for the sa premium ride service package the rest of the team used.
Ti to give it a spin.
He dialed a number. The line connected instantly.
A synthetic male voice spoke:
"Esteed PrecisionPlus subscriber Mr. Karl, how may I assist you today?"
"Delamain. Send a car to my location."
"Right away, Mr. Karl."
Choose Delamain—leave your worries at the door.
When it ca to executive transport in Night City, no service beat Delamain.
Oliver and Jack always said: at their level, only a Delamain would do. And maybe they were right.
The sleek black vehicle rolled up minutes later, slowing gracefully and opening the door for Karl automatically.
Now that was class.
"In the end," Karl mused as he stepped into the car, "maybe it's not the humanoid shape of robots that's unsettling…"
"Maybe it's the AIs that actually think and feel like us."
-
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