Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"You like tasting stuff."
Three nodded. It picked up the drink and took a sip.
"And you swallow it."
Three nodded again and swallowed.
"You know you have to purge that, right?"
Three nodded once more, this time with a very small gesture of 'okay, fair, that part sucks'.
"I... like how it makes my tongue feel. I can't explain it better than that." At my silence, it continues, "I also get a temporary boost of
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It paused, I felt it flip through the feed.
"-oxytocin." it finished.
"I don't know what that means." I said.
Gross. That was gross, food was gross, this whole conversation was gross.
"you don't have to put it in your mouth." it told me. 
"I know, that is why I am never ever going to." I replied.
"You can just smell it. Most of the sense of taste is made up of the sense of smell." it told me.
Was that supposed to be convincing?
"I hate smelling things." I told it.
"There are nice smells." it insisted.

What followed was an involuntary guided smell tour of the ship. Tarik's cologne (gross), Iris' air freshener (gross), various kitchen ingredients (gross gross gross). 
ART took an interest about halfway through, and kept making suggestions for things to smell. The experience seemed like it would never end. My head hurt.
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ART was making new scented items to be used in the showers when I finally had enough. "None of the things we have smelled were pleasant. Not one. I'm done with this." 
I head back towards my quarters and flop onto the bed. I know I can't ignore Three's pings forever, but I mute the channel anyway. 
Can't even watch something with ART because it is upset too.
Moments later, Three is at my door. ART lets it in, the asshole. 
"I believe I should apologize." It starts. 
"Or we could skip that part and watch something." I suggest. 
As if I hadn't said anything, it continues. "The Perihelion said that you might find it frustrating to be unable to appreciate nice smells. I am sorry for pushing you into such an experience."
Ugh, Three apologizing was making me have an emotion. I scoot over on the bed, and indicate that it come over. 
"It's fine. Just my stupid organics refusing to cooperate." 
Three thankfully leaves it at that as we sit and turn on a show.

Chapter Text

"So you're telling me. That the person who helped us get our data back... Is a rogue secunit?" Tapan puts her head in her hands, so many thoughts racing through her mind.
"Yes." The person who introduced themselves as Pin-Lee sits calmly across from her. None of what they just said makes any sense, and certainly doesn't justify this level of calmness.
"Was... was it rogue when it helped us?" She asks. A second after, she realizes it must have been. Who would lease out a secunit just to help them. "Of course, of course. Sorry this is a lot. You said you were seeking out people it associated with." 
Pin-lee looks professional as ever and nods. "We are looking for the people it touched and helped while it was... out and about."
"And why exactly are you doing that?" She asks.
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Pin-Lee takes a short breath in and out of their nose. "We think someone is after it, someone not associated with any known entities within our information. It's... already paranoid enough, it doesn't need to have its fear justified. Preservation is hoping to eliminate the threat before it escalates. Is that enough information for you?"
Tapan nods. "I don't want anything to happen to Eden- wait, is its name Eden? Should I call it something else?"
"Did it tell you to call it Eden?"
"Yes."
"Then Eden is fine." Pin-Lee leans forward. "So do you have any information to offer us?"
Tapan shrugs, thinks, then nods vigorously.
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"The person it helped us get away from. She's dead, but she had a whole organization."
"I see. You think someone loyal to her is after it?"
"Maybe?"
Pin Lee hummed and looked thoughtful.
"She-" Tapan hesitated. "She wanted it. I didn't understand why at the time."
"Wanted it?" Pin Lee repeated.
"It had beaten her. Got around everything she tried, completely fucked her over. She wanted it to work for her. I didn't understand how she expected to force it to work for her, but, if it was a SecUnit..."
"She very well could have." Pin Lee said grimly. Tapan nodded. The prospect was awful.
"Ok. So that is a possible lead. Thank you." She stood up to leave.
"Hey, could you tell them-" Tapan began, and Pin Lee turned and speared them with their gaze.
"Yes?"
"I guess just...thank you?" Tapan finished. It didn't feel like enough.
How did you encompass 'thank you' and 'I'm sorry' and 'please be safe' and 'you changed my life' all in a short message that a stranger would deliver?

All Tapan could say was thank you.

Chapter Text

[There is no way]

"I swear!" Amena giggled.

[That doesn't sound like it.]

"Uh, yes it does. It sounds exactly like it." she folded her arms like every adolescent Perihelion had ever known.

[The sulking part, absolutely. But up a tree?] it said. It was trying to imagine it.

"It was the only place my younger siblings couldn't reach it." Amena told it.

[Ahh, that makes sense] Perihelion snickered. It could imagine it now. SecUnit, surrounded by juvenile humans, hiding up a tree. Adorable.
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Amena tries to hide a smile. "Yup. It said it was part of protocol."

That gives ART pause, but not long enough for Amena to notice. [I am unaware of any Secunit protocol that advises hiding in a tree.] It tags the message with an amusement sigil.

Amena puts a hand up to her mouth, then stands tall and stiff. In her best impression of Secunit, she says, "When confronting hostile fauna that is resistant to energy weapons, the best course of action is to take shelter and hide."

[It did not say that.] ART saves the impression to storage. 

"It so did! It sounds like a fake strateg
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y, I just know it was making that up."

[Our proud and mighty SecUnit reduced to climbing up a tree, I would have loved to have seen it. How long was it up there?]

"I'm not sure, definitely a few hours. I looked out the window every once and a while and it was just sprawled out on a branch, watching its media probably."

[What a traumatizing experience, it must have required many episodes of Sanctuary Moon. And where was Dr. Mensah in all this?]

Amena lets out a chuckle. "Second mom was out most of the day for errands. When she got back, everyone was too nervous to tell her until she asked where it was. Then she went out back and talked to it for a while, seems like it didn't want to get down yet so she sat with it at the base of the tree. It was kind of sweet actually."

[That sounds just like them.]

Chapter Text

"Reminds me of you," Mensah said with a light smile, pointing to a long yellow slimy tube of a fish. Its mouth gaped open, showing barred teeth, before another fish drifted by and it slipped back into its cove.
I must have been making an expression of some kind because she chuckled and said, "See, you have the same face." She turned and walked to the next tank and I followed on her heels.
"That's you," I said, pointing at an orange and white striped fish that the sign nearby labeled as a 'clownfish'. Maybe that was too mean. 
Her eyes scrunched as she smiled wide. "Very funny."
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I wasn't going to be back on Preservation for long, and an aquarium had seemed like a strange choice, but I had to admit I was...enjoying it.
I had never had an opportunity to calmly observe aquatic fauna before. I suppose they weren't so bad. The fact that we were on a station instead of a planet helped.
And Mensah seemed to be enjoying herself. The shifting blue light seemed calming, and she needed that in her life. I knew she had made some progress on the trauma treatments.
Human children were pressed against the glass at the next exhibit. Inside swam a large grey fauna with a flat face and large teeth. Most humans, when asked to compare a SecUnit to a fish, might pick something like that. I didn't exactly like the fish Mensah had chosen, but...it wasn't bad. It didn't make me feel like something dangerous. I liked that she saw me that way.
"That one is Pin Lee." She said. I looked at the sign. Shark.
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I don't comment on that. She isn't wrong. 
Together we walk up to another sign, it talks about the aquatic flora in the tank. 
No, that's not right. What at first glance appears to be a variety of plants is actually a sedentary organism that feeds on smaller fauna. It is classified as a Coral.
I look up from the sign and spot the denoted fauna. It takes up a significant portion of the aquarium floor. 
"Reminds me of ART." I say quietly. Mensah looks towards one of my drones in surprise. 
"What makes you say that?"
"It gets everywhere and not at all what it seems to be." Anger flares in me, which reminds me of why I came here with Dr. Mensah in the first place. 
"Does that mean you're ready to talk about ART?"
I sigh, part of my human imitation code, and nod. Together we head back to her office, her hand in mine.

Chapter Text

Tarik had his head in his hands.

"It's really not this dramatic." Iris said.

"A SecUnit. A rogue SecUnit." he said weakly. It was the third time he had said that. He was lucky Peri was giving them some space at Iris' request.

"Yes, we've been over this." She said. She didn't want to be too short with him, but this was getting ridiculous. Maybe she was too completely on Peri's side to see the issues others might have.

"You're sure?" he asked at last. "I mean, do we even know if that's possible?"

"It denied it but...I can tell." she told him.

She rankled a little at the implication that Peri being in love wouldn't be possible. Yes, admittedly it didn't get along with Tarik all the time, but it could be very sweet and caring. At least to her. Whatever, it had the capacity, was the point. It was rude for Tarik to doubt that.

"Not for Peri. For the SecUnit." He said.

Iris hesitated.

She didn't know. Peri seemed sure that it was a good person, but that was different. Would this SecUnit break her sibling's heart?
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There wasn't any way to know for sure. She thinks it over for entirely too long, before breaking the silence. "We have to trust that it knows what its doing. It's an adult. Kindof. It should make its own decisions."

"You sound like a textbook on therapy." He huffs a laugh, before his expression turns grim once more. "But you don't know secunits like I do. And neither does Peri. They're made to kill people for fucks sake."

"They're made to protect people..." It's what Peri said, at least. The secunit it fell for didn't want to hurt people. It wanted to protect them. But Iris isn't so sure. 

"And its rogue. It doesn't have to protect anyone but itself anymore. It's dangerous. If Peri ever sees it again, it's going to break something or fuck something up. It won't be a matter of if, but a matter of when."
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"Couldn't I say the same about you?" she says as she crosses her arms. Harsh, she knows.

Tarik stares at her open-mouthed. Yeah, way too harsh. Just as she's about to apologize, he lets out a heavy sigh.

"I'm a human, not a program. I can change, they can't." There's a measure of hesitation in his voice.

"There's where the rogue part comes in. It wanted to change and  it did. It's probably not nearly as easy for it as it is for us, but clearly its possible." Iris uncrosses her arms to put her hands on her hips. "It seems safe, it doesn't want to be what it was made of. Maybe I'm stretching here, but Peri wouldn't fall in love with something hostile toward humans." Tarik scoffs and she cuts him off, "It might be full of itself and explosives but thats all posturing."

Chapter Text

The bot pilot on this ship is... abnormal. After having defected from Barish-Estranza, Leonide finds herself on the Perihelion, ostensibly a teaching vessel for a university. With big guns. And a secunit. And a crew that hates her. 
It was just business that led her to the decisions that make them despise her, but she can't help but feel some animosity.
They gave her a bunk in the ship and told her to not get into any trouble, and although she's alone, she can't help but feel like she's being watched. She doesn't see any cameras in here, but the feeling stays regardless.
[You should leave.] Comes a voice in the feed. 
She scoffs at that. [I'm not supposed to leave this room.] she replies. 
[I don't mean the room.] The voice is dangerously icy.
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"And where you do expect me to go? The vacuum of space?"
[That can be arranged.]
"Touchy." She sits on the bunk and crosses her arms. "Tell me, how does a bot pilot come to be so abrasive?"
[You are an enemy of ours, I am responding in accordance.] The voice seems neutral but Leonide is no fool, she can hear the sneer.
"Your captain said I'm currently a guest, not a hostage. This is not hospitality."
[Oh, my apologies], comes the sardonic reply, [Would you like a drone to massage your feet? A wine spritzer? Like me to fan your face?] The vent kicks into high gear to make a point.
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"I'd settle for basic courtesy." she drawled.
This ship wasn't like the rest of the crew. They were *nice*. But the ship was a little more like what she was used to. It was almost comforting to snipe back and forth with someone.
[You will receive the same courtesy that you have extended.] the ship relied waspishly.
"oh~ my apologies~" she lilted with a grin "would you like me to massage their feet, make them a wine spritzer, fan their face?" She threw the ship's words back. She swore she could feel it seethe.
"You lot hate corporates. There's not a damn thing I could do that would make up for that." she told it.
[you are right.] it said. [There is not.]
She lay back. There would be no winning over this group, she knew. She would just have to sit, wait, and get out as soon as she could. And pray she ship didn't space her.

Chapter Text

'Designation: 2.0. Correct?'
I'd sigh heavily if I had lungs. 'Yeah, that's me. Good to see you again, Jollybaby.'
There was a spark of delight and amusement at me admitting its name. Ugh. 
'2.0. Original file name?'
Don't make me say it.
'Query?'
It's better than what you came up with.
'Query: original designation?'
You're an asshole.
It strides backwards through my many, many subclasses to find the original parent. 
'Designation: Murderbot. Correct?'
Yeah, fine, yeah, that's my name, what of it?
It posts an amusement sigil.
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I send a sigil of my own that is significantly less amusing. 
I briefly consider my nature as killware and consider doing something... Well, something that would probably get me deleted. I don't think 1.0 ever would consider killing JollyBaby over something this silly though. Maybe I get that tendency from ART. 
Regardless, I need information from it now, not violence. 
[Look, have you seen 1.0? It's... hiding.]
'Query: Hiding?'
I flick through the station cameras again, for the twentieth time in the past minute. Still no sign of it. If station security knew about me they'd have a hissy fit. 
[Yes. Have you seen it?]
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'Affirmative. Access request: designation JollyBaby video + audio input.'
Oh, holy shit. JollyBaby is letting me take  a ride inside its brain. This fucking rules. I accept. 
Looking through JollyBaby's visual inputs, I am reminded just how tall it is. It/I look down at a crate it was carrying, and I watch as it ever so gently sets it down on the dock. 
Okay, we're moving. Cool. It stomps down the docking port, and simultaneously sends me a PortSec security cam live feed. I see my prime self tucked in between a retail shop and a rest pod, sitting down and staring at the wall (probably catching up on serials, or something. Typical). I send an affirmative ping back to JollyBaby, and thank it for showing me where it's going.

Chapter Text

"Peri?" Irs asked, unsure.

"Of course." her sibling replied. But it was wrong. It's voice sounded wrong. And it didn't feel right in the feed.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing is wrong, Iris. Except, you are injured. Please make your way to MedSystem."

She started walking, but couldn't shake the feeling. Feeling watched aboard Peri was nothing new but this felt...Malicious.

"Peri, are you sure you're okay? There was a lot happening, it seemed like..." She hesitated.

Peri had been trying to talk but sometimes a new voice would distort and interrupt it. It had sounded like it was in pain.

"...something was taking over you?" she asked, unsure.

"I got rid of it. There is no need to worry."

"Peri..."

"Do you doubt me?"

"No, no of course not. I'm glad you're okay."

"So am I. Once you reach MedSystem everything will be okay."
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There was something about its voice in the feed that she couldn't shake. Instinctually, she went to open a channel with her dads, but she knew Peri would have access to it. She felt very, very cold, that kind of feeling you get right before you know the jumpscare's going to happen in horror media -- when everything goes so silent you could hear a pin drop. She has to force her legs to keep moving towards MedSystem.

"I see your hesitation, Iris." That -- that did not sound like ART. It was detatched, cold. Iris stopped dead in her tracks. 

"What have you done with my sibling?"
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'I'm here with you, Petals. It's okay.'

Petals. Her nickname. Its saying it wrong, there was the slightest millisecond of hesitation as it said it, like it was checking a directory. 

"You are not my Peri," she states, "I am not going to medical."

There is a sudden pain in her head and her arms come up as if to defend herself. 

'Petals, you're worrying me. Go to medical and we can sort this out.'

"You are not Peri!" Another sharp, electric pain. She collapses to her knees. 

'It can hear you, you know. And see you. And it's screaming. Let's see if I can turn up the volume.'

The pain in her head gets worse, so much worse. Her entire body tenses as she writhes on the ground, jaw locked too tight to scream out. Peri would never do this. This isn't her Peri.

Chapter Text

Tarik's flushed face was looking especially handsome to Ratthi. With a mostly empty bottle of wine on the table, and the privacy baffle up in Tarik's quarters, the two of them were as alone as they were able to get, and Ratthi had to admit that his lips were quite loose, both literally and metaphorically. 
"Whadaya wanna do?" Ratthi asked, drunkenly, raising an eyebrow in an approximation of a suggestive wiggle. 
Tarik, who in Ratthi's opinion hadn't had enough to drink yet, squinched his face contemplatively. "You, we, I are too drunk. I think the wine needs to go away."
A disagreement is on the tip of Ratthi's tongue when they both hear the familiar stomp of Secunit boots on the floor outside the door. It seems to draw them out of their stupor some.
"Hows bout we just talk. How's crew with Secunit going?" Ratthi asks.
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Tarik lets out a heavy breath. "It's... going? Is that an answer?"
"Barely."
Tarik rolls his eyes and throws his head against the back of the couch. "I hate to admit, I really hate to admit it, but it's a good asset to the team. It's reliable. That's the best review I can give. I've had a lot of shitty coworkers in the past and it is one of the best I've ever had. It keeps to itself. It does its job properly. It doesn't hoard supplies. It's a miracle worker, literally."
"Am I sensing a 'but'?"
Tarik rolls his eyes. "But... the communication issues. Fuck's sake. That's the most important part of any team and I feel like I have to go through Peri to get anything from it, and you know how rude Peri is to me already." The display screen nearby turns to static and Tarik throws out a rude gesture.
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"It's even worse if they're fighting. Then no one can talk to it at all!"
"Really?" Ratthi asked. 
"How did you get it to like you? It's really friendly with you."
"My natural charm. You won't be able to replicate it." Ratthi said with a grin.
"Seriously, please, I need help." Tarik begged. Ratthi thought it was a good look on him. He hummed in thought, and also appreciation.
"Honestly, and I know this isn't the answer you're looking for, time. Listen to it, be good to it, and give it time."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"You don't think-"
"Think what?"
"That maybe, because of...you know...it just doesn't like me? That maybe it will never like me?"
Tarik sounded so small when he said that, it made Ratthi want to smush his cheeks and kiss his nose. He heroically held back.
"I won't lie, it might take longer for you. But SecUnit knows about escaping corporate shit. And deep down, it likes humans. It pretends not to, but it does. It will warm up to you, as long as you're good to it."
Tarik looked thoughtful. Ratthi stared unabashedly. 
The corporation rim made such a mess of people, he mused. Yeah, SecUnit, Gurathin, Tarik, they were all tough, but... he was too drunk to properly describe it but they were all so mushy on the inside.
Ratthi tried to be gentle with them. Like scared cats. Adorable.

Chapter Text

I knew ART was going to give me so much shit for this, but I didn't see another option. 

We were on a crewless cargo run (was it really crewless if I was there now?) with its (sibling? coworker?) Holism, and something happened out of nowhere. First, I noticed ART was completely gone from my feed, just like that, and then the warnings started. Multiple systems cascade failure. I needed help.

I opened the comm line to Holism.
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"Holism? Something is wrong with ART!"
"Calm down. Perihelion?"
No answer.
"Standby." Holism said calmly. I felt it's presence swell and flex, reaching for ART.
It felt around, and I could tell it was surprised and concerned.
"Well?"
"Nothing."
"How can there just be nothing?!"
"I can't get enough of a grip from outside. But I have a plan. Go to the engine room."
I did as it asked. I was so out of my depth, if Holism had a plan, all I could do was follow it's instructions.

I reached the engine room.
"I'm here."
"Good, now let me in." It said, and I felt it abruptly pushing against my walls.
"Wait, wait, wait, hold on!" I cried, pushing back. But honestly, what choice did I have?
Ohh, ART was gonna kill me.
"SecUnit
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, I need a stronger connection."
It pushes harder, and I can't help but falter under the swell of the ocean that is Holism. 
I'd been connected to ART like this before, but this was different. I was drowning. I didn't realize the amount of care that ART put in to keeping me safe, even when we had just met. 
I feel Holism slide through my systems, like a river threatening to pull me out to sea. My performance reliability drops to the mid 30's and I try to make it stop. 

"I only need a moment more." It says, and I know I won't be able to take much more of this. I'm swept away and I'm no longer in my body. I'm reminded of the sentient killware attack that I fought off on TranRollinHyfa, inhabiting a Ship's body, but this time, the ship is ART. 

Oh Shit where is ART?

I barely have time to panic before I feel Holism pluck me out of ART's systems, and place me gently back in my body. 

"What are you doing? Where did ART go? What is-"

CATASTROPHIC SYSTEM FAILURE