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“Are you hurt, James?”
If he had been human, David would have died on impact. David was not, and James didn’t know if that was a good thing or not right now, seeing David’s metal spine protruding from the end of his shredded torso, the wires trailing out twitching and sparking. They leaked out white fuel in a parody of human veins and blood. With white staining his trembling hands (his jeans, the ground, it feels like it’s everywhere and on everything), James pulls David closer to his chest.
“I’m okay. You saved me.”
The corner of David’s lips curl slightly as he looks up at him, “I am glad.” He gurgles out, white liquid pooling in his mouth and spilling past his lips. James knows that it’s just the fuel and oils that help keep David running smoothly, but all he sees and what his mind tells him is that it is David’s blood. His David.
James presses his cheek against the top of David’s head and before he can stop it tears fall from his eyes, roll down his face and get soaked up in David’s hair.
“Do not be sad. I am not human, and cannot feel pain. I cannot technically, ‘die’. My warranty with Weyland is still active; you may send me in for repairs or replace me with a new unit. I believe the latter would be more suitable, for I don’t believe that the damage to my body is salvageable.”
James lets out a watery chuckle and grips David tighter, “You idiot. Replace you? I could never.”
David looks up at him, curious. “I do not understand.”
“I could replace you with a thousand, a million other David 8’s, but none of them would be like you, David. Not a single one of them.” James doesn’t know how else to explain it, “I don’t want any other David's, I want you.”
David lifts an arm and reaches back for James, fingertips idly tracing along the nape of James’s neck.
“…I could perform an emergency memory back up. All of my data will be stored within Weyland Corp.’s data base.”
James heart clenches, voice shaking “Yes, do it. Right now.”
David’s eyes go blank for a few terrifying minutes and James thinks that something’s gone wrong. That David is gone, and he is alone again. He releases a shaky breath when David finally blinks back into focus, the shallow hum of over worked cooling fans hits James’s ears and the noise is eerily calming to him.
“How much longer can you say stay like this before—?”
“The memory back up has drained a significant amount of power. I estimate another one to two hours before a complete irreversible shut down of this body.”
James muffles a sob into David’s hair, rocking them back and forth, back and forth. The Weyland Corporation building in the heart of the city glows in the night like a beacon, miles from where they are in the outskirts.
“Do not worry.” David says calmly, his grip on James firm, “Everything is going to be alright.”