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I was dragged out of a rare moment of sleep by my door sliding open. I wasn’t sure how late it was, but the soft glow of the emergency lights flooding across my bunk told me that my rest period wasn’t quite over.
Despite my absolute intent to go back to and stay asleep however light and fleeting, I rolled over to release whatever maintenance bot had wandered in.
Of course, there were no maintenance bots, just 3 giant, human shaped horror shows standing over my bed.
I jolted and sent a panicked distress code to 01. Its patient acknowledgement felt more condescending than usual.
“Oh, holy universe watching over my head.” I rolled back over towards the wall. “I forgot your eyes glow. What do you want?”
“Good morning, Handler.” 02 said. It was far too polite and cheerful for this hour. Logically, I knew they didn’t sleep and had no context for this, but I really didn’t care.
I checked the feed clock. 0200 ship time. What in the ever loving universe. “It is not morning, 02.”
“Technically-”
I physically could not have that conversation. “Is this what you woke me up for?”
“No.” 03 said cheerfully. “We have found a stowaway.”
I really didn’t need to know about this. It was explicitly not my job right now. “Let the supervisor on call know. They’ll deal with this. I’m on my rest period.”
“There is an issue with this stowaway.” 01 said in its usual even tone. “Additionally, the supervisor on call is weapons supervisor.”
I rolled over so I could look these idiots in their dimly lit faces. That’s when I came face to face with the stowaway being held aloft by 03’s hands tucked under their arms. Even in the dark, they seemed terrified.
“01.” I rubbed my fingers into my eyes. Maybe I could dislodge my optical augments and earn a stay in medical. “Is that a child?”
01 looked at me, then the stowaway, then back at me and said with all too much confidence, “It is a very small human.”
I buried my face into my hands. “You’re not wrong.”
“Additionally, it claims to be related to Engineering Supervisor Vartanian.”
I sighed into the dry ship air. “Okay. Stick it in conference room B and keep it supervised until the end of the rest period. Let Clark know too. I’ll handle it when I wake up.”
“You are currently awake.” 02 said.
“Not by choice and not for too much longer.” I rolled back over and settled into my soft blanket. “We’ll talk about all this tomorrow too. I don’t interrupt your recharge cycles,” I grumbled.
“Technically-”
I was going to interrupt 02, but a good, solid thump beat me to it.
“Apologies, Handler.” 01 said softly. “We will allow you to rest now.”