The south part of town was a ghetto where you could find every low life imaginable. They often catered to an even lower class of people. The Candy personal companion models were obsolete, and therefore cheap, so cheesy escort services (brothels) were on almost every downtown street corner. Candy blended into that section of town perfectly.

   Most local cash machines were the camera-less kind with much higher rates just for people who wanted to remain anonymous, and Candy was able to draw out a thousand dollars a day. Small things Candy needed she got from the local Wal-Mart where she could be part of the faceless crowd, but the laptop computer was another matter. She was sure to be remembered by the clerk as well as by the security camera in the store. It could not be helped; she needed the laptop to avoid logging into the internet herself. Except for an ATM card, she used and threw away the credit cards after the first day.

   For the first time that she could remember Candy regretted having to leave a man. She stayed with David for three days. He had asked her to stay with him, but she knew she couldn’t. Candy thanked him for their time together the only way she knew how, and in the morning when David woke, she was gone.

   It was just a matter of time before they found the body. It was the lady who cleaned the house once a week who found it. Candy had a five-day head start on a bewildered police department that was calling it robbery/homicide for the moment. She got a break with the computer store security video as they had recorded over the previous week's recording by mistake which actually happened a lot but the store manager wasn’t about to admit it. It was three days before the police really started looking for an android as a possible witness to the murder.

   The moment they found the body Candy started looking for a way out of town. She guessed quite correctly that the police would consider her to be stolen property and not the murderer at first. She hung out at the cheap hotels along the highway waiting for a man traveling cross-country. She did not have to wait long.

   The guy she found had an old tricked-out hoverbike and was going cross country. “Hi, the hotel manager said you were going to the West Coast; I was wondering if I could get a ride?” Candy asked. “I can make it worth your while.”  

   “I appreciate the offer, but I prefer real women,” the man replied as he started to get on his bike

   For a millisecond Candy was at a loss as want to do next, no one had ever said “no” to her before. “I was thinking more along the line of paying for the fuel. Anything beyond that we’ll have to see,” she said.

   That stop the man from getting on his bike, and he turned back to face her. “I only take premium fuel,” he said. It was a lie, but he wanted to see how bad the android wanted the ride. Premium fuel was not cheap.

   “Not a problem,” Candy said.

   “Do you mind if I ask what you need the ride for?” the man asked.

   “I have recently been considering a body upgrade, and I want to go to Cybertron Robotics in LA and see if it's possible,” Candy replied.

   “What do you want a new body for?”

   “Have you seen the new models I have to compete with today? Quality service can only make up for so much.”

   The man laughed. “What does your owner think?”

   “I don’t have an owner.”

   “How is that possible?” the man asked.

   “He died suddenly and left me a free android,” Candy replied. It wasn’t a lie exactly.

   “That being the case, get on,” the man said.