Chapter Text
Sec Unit! A little birdy told me that it's your anniversary! Congratulations!
I sent a confused sigil back to Amena. I have no idea what you're talking about.
You and Perihelion of course! Five years! That's impressive.
I checked my logs. Oh. OH. I had been on ART’s crew and with ART for 5 years. That's what she meant.
Is that technically an anniversary? I asked.
Duh! And usually humans make a big deal out of 5 years. Got any big plans?
Humans were always so arbitrary. No. Should I?
I just thought you might have a gift or something. I bet that Peri does.
Shit. What if it had a gift and I didn't? What if it hated me and got upset and didn't want me to be on its crew anymore?
I have to go.
Ok! I'm going to call second mom anyway. Have a nice night! She said with a little winking sigil.
Gross. Why did humans have to make everything awkward. Still I was in panic mode. I had to come up with a gift for ART. Amena was right, it probably had an incredibly thoughtful gift for me. What do you get a nearly omnipotent MI who can basically make anything it wants or needs?
I had an idea. It may not be a good idea but it was all I had. I pinged Matteo. They had connections with the University Robotics Department.
Hey Sec Unit! This is unexpected, what do you need?
I am looking to fabricate a drone. Can I have some of the parts in the robotics department?
I don't know if I can say yes to that…. technically none of that work is mine. I do however have several parts in my private workshop. Want to come over and see if I have what you need?
I sighed. I guess that was better than nothing. I made my way out of the airlock and walked to their work space.
They had a surprising amount of parts. Actually most of what I needed. I offered to pay but they said It’s fine, I wasn't going to use these anyway and I got them for free. Plus I know that it's probably for Peri right?
Who told you that!?
They smiled and said I refuse to implicate my source. I know I don't have everything but there's a shop a little ways down the road that sells parts for cheap. You might be able to find the rest of what you need there.
They sent me directions to the shop. I said thank you and left with the parts I collected in the bag I brought with me.
The shop smelled like machine oil, rubber, solvents and grease. Much preferable to most of the other places I have been to. I began looking around at the bins when the store attendant said “something I can help you find?”
They were an augmented human, and had more augments than I have seen on most people. I guess that makes sense. They were holding a heavy box. “You have quite a few augments, looking for an upgrade for yourself?” they asked.
“No. I am looking to build a drone.” I replied while still looking through the bins.
“Gotcha. Let me know if you need help with anything. We got a batch of new sensors if it's for research. All kinds” and they disappeared into the back room.
That did sound interesting. In fact, ART might appreciate having a few more haptic touch sensors than its standard drones. Its standard ones only have a few on the tips of its legs, so it can pick up research samples delicately if needed. I looked at the shelf with the sensor arrays and saw a “tactile net” that could provide input.
The problem was that these types of systems usually needed a lot of processing power to work right. I would need to add to the ones I picked up from Matteo. Sure, ART could remotely pilot it on the ship but it would be nice for it to be able to inhabit more of it.
I also picked up several CPUs and brought my choices up to the counter. The worker began ringing up my purchase. I was hoping they wouldn't want to make small talk. Thankfully they stayed silent. I paid for my items with one of the hard currency cards.
I liked that store. I would be back, but I needed to get started on the drone if it was going to be done today and I couldn't spend any more time there.
I walked back to ART and kept all the parts in my bag. I reboarded but it didn't ask me about it, weird.
I did ping it and it pinged back… so whatever that means. It's fine, I needed it to not loom over me while I was working anyway. I wanted to keep this a secret until it was finished. I walked back to my room and put a do not disturb block on my feed (of course I left it open for key words). I also cut the camera feed to my room. It was in my contract that I reserved the right to do that at any time there wasn't a life threatening emergency.
I sat down and began working on the drone. Thankfully the one I got from Matteo was nearly complete, I just needed to install a few parts and the upgrades I purchased.
While I was working I had time to think. Amena said that this was a big deal. I'm just not sure how big of a deal it was for us. We loved each other, sure. Even if we didn't say it often, there were ways we showed it to each other. Do we need to celebrate it like humans do? Was ART expecting that? It was raised by humans after all.
I nearly started to spiral. Clearly I was in over my head and needed help. Ratthi was off planet at the moment, back on Preservation, but I sent him a message anyway.
Hey Sec Unit! Long time no talk! How's it going?
Hi Ratthi, I need your help with something.
Whatever you need (within reason, I can't get to Mihira that quickly) :)
It's actually a personal issue.
Ooooohhhhh, yeah Dr. Mensah told me that it's a special day for you and Perihelion :)
I love my humans, but come on Amena. For fucks sake.
Yes…. Well… anyway, apparently it's our anniversary and I'm working on making it a gift, but do you think ART is expecting more than that? Like an actual anniversary that humans do?
This conversation was so deeply uncomfortable, that I wanted to curl up onto my bed and shut down for a while but I had to do it, for ART.
I think you know Perihelion best. If you think that this will be sufficient for that then that's perfect. Every relationship needs different things, because every relationship contains unique individuals. Your case especially. You aren't bound by human labels or customs for this stuff, so you two have to decide what's best. I do think you should talk to it though.
He was putting a lot of faith into me knowing ART. This was completely uncharted territory for me.
Anything else on your mind? You're awfully quiet, I mean more than usual.
No, I'm fine. Thank you Ratthi.
I signed off the message thread and began working on the drone again. Talk to ART huh? I hope Ratthi was right about this.
—--------------
A couple of hours went by and the drone was nearly finished. I removed the DND on my feed and turned the camera back on in my room.
It pinged me immediately.
Bout time. You’ve been preoccupied all day. I was starting to get worried. Shit, I was actually nervous.
I wasn't actually worried about ART though. I knew it was doing something, there was a lot of processing going on in the background. Still it was acting weird and distant in the feed.
Did you want to watch something now that you're done doing whatever you were doing?
It seemed to shy away from me at that request. And it didn't respond. Ok maybe something was wrong. Maybe it was mad because I “forgot” our anniversary.
Shit.
Time to deploy the conversation tactic. ART? What's wrong? You're really starting to freak me out.
Nothing is wrong. It said as it curled around me in the feed. I could feel some emotion radiating off it, whatever it was it felt warm, but I couldn't parse all of it. Whatever that emotion was, it wasn't bad, so maybe it was fine?
Ok….. weirdo. So do you want to watch something or not?
Of course. But do you want to finish your drone maintenance first?
You know I can do more than one thing at once and besides, I'm about done. Actually I'm glad you're here. I want you to try this out.
I pointed to the drone on my bench. It was finally ready after I polished and cleaned it. It looked nice. And I was excited for ART to give it a test run.
What do you mean?
I smirked, I built it for you, asshole. Its got a few upgrades I think you'll enjoy.
There was a different emotion in the feed now, maybe anticipation? I could feel it moving into the drone.
I gave it a second to get acclimated and decided to tease it a little. And I wanted to see how it would react to the new touch sensors. I gently laid my hand on the drone. The reaction was immediate and ARTs presence shuddered.
Fuck yeah, that's what I wanted. You noticed I upgraded the haptic feedback sensors.
I could tell it was enjoying the touch sensation when I had another idea.
Come on, let's watch something. You can climb in the bunk with me.
I picked up the drone and moved it to my chest so it wouldn't squirm. It was always able to hold me in the feed, now I was able to hold it physically. Normally, physical contact made me want to not exist, but it was ART. Plus this was the drone I had been working on all day, it was no different than when I was installing the parts (Ok it was a lot different but not in a bad way).
This wasn't weird. It wasn’t. I had some time to try to parse the flurry of emotions rolling off ART, [fondness] and [happy] were in there, and… even [love]. So it wasn't mad at me. And maybe we were fine being what we were.
Ok. I need to say it anyway before I lose my nerve.
Happy anniversary.