Water from the melting ice slid down the outside of the glass, spreading into a dark spot on the wooden bar. The noise around them suddenly seemed muffled and distant, as though behind frosted glass.
Li Jie stared at the simulated expression of pain on Clifford's metal face.
"You suspect the man who saved your life was actually trying to kill you."
He pushed his glass aside and leaned forward slightly, bracing his arms on the bar. The posture made him look more like a cop in an interrogation room.
Clifford's mechanical head slowly bobbed up and down, accompanied by the faint whine of servomotors.
"Professor Caulder... he's the smartest man I've ever met. Physics, biology, engineering... there's no field he doesn't understand." A complicated emotion came through his synthesized voice, anger intertwined with gratitude. "When my race car crashed, he said my body was too badly damaged. Only my brain could be preserved. He used the most advanced technology-at least, that's what he told me at the time-to transplant me into this body."
"And then?"
"Then I spent three months lying in that laboratory, learning how to control this body. How to walk, how to pick up a glass with mechanical fingers, how to see the world through an electronic screen." Clifford raised his hand, covered in a black leather glove. "But when I finally went back out on the streets, everything was different. I could never go back to how things were. People ran screaming from me, threw garbage at me, called me a Skynet lackey out to wipe out humanity."
"Ah... well..." Li Jie chuckled. "I think you should blame James Cameron for that."
Clifford obligingly made a sound resembling laughter, then continued, "I was terrified, but Professor Caulder took me back to his mansion and let