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RATTHI
“Art?”
Ratthi looks at SecUnit from his seat next to the platform it’s on. He immediately sets aside his device and gives it all his attention. It’s the first words it’s said since the gunship incident.
“Hey, it’s alright, you’re safe. What did you say?”
SecUnit stays lying on the platform, blinking blearily. It squints its eyes at him for a moment before it relaxes and asks again, “Where’s art?”
Ratthi tries not to let his confusion show. “I, uh, in a museum? When you’re feeling better, I can take you to an art museum, if that’s what you want?” That can’t possibly be what it’s asking, but what else is he supposed to say?
SecUnit squints again at him, definitely more in annoyance than trying to piece things together. That’s fair. It says, “I need art.”
“Oh, your media? Do you not have it anymore? I can download some for you, you like Sanctuary Moon, right?”
SecUnit blinks slow. “I do. I have it downloaded already.”
“That’s good.”
“Art likes… Worldhoppers. I have that, too.”
Oh, Art is a person. That makes more sense.
“Who’s Art?” Ratthi was told to ask questions, help it follow pathways to more data.
SecUnit frowns, moreso than it already does. It turns its head away to look up at the ceiling. Ratthi feels like he said something wrong, up until SecUnit says quietly, “I want Art here.” It closes its eyes, ending the conversation.
Ratthi opens the feed.
PRESAUX CHAT (4 online)
Ratthi: @Mensah It just talked
Ratthi: It’s looking for someone named Art
Mensah: That’s a relief. :) We can find this Art for it.
Pin-Lee: did it say anything about who that is
Ratthi: Not much 🤷🏽 it just misses them and wants them here
Gurathin: it made a friend on its own? is that even possible?
Pin-Lee: rude
Pin-Lee: but not wrong
Mensah: It’s more charismatic than you think. @everyone Try to get more information about this Art, but make sure it keeps its mind on other parts of the rebuild, too.
Ratthi: Will do.
Gurathin: @Ratthi i’ll take next shift.
Ratthi: 😬
Gurathin: it’ll be fine, everyone needs sleep.
Mensah: I can watch over it, I was going to head over soon anyway. :)
Gurathin: you need sleep most of all. besides, it thrives on negative energy, seeing me will skyrocket the rebuild process I’m sure.
Pin-Lee: i’m not holding it responsible for any damages that may incur
Gurathin: thanks for the confidence everyone.
GURATHIN
They’ve been sitting in stony silence for several hours now, not that Gurathin is complaining. However, he keeps getting pinged to get more information on its friend so he has to talk eventually.
“So, who is this Art person?”
SecUnit lets out a huff of annoyance from where it’s curled up on the platform and shifts to face him. It says to its pillow, “Art is a ship. It helped me.”
That makes way more sense. It would take an entirely different form of consciousness to have the patience to deal with SecUnit.
“What did it help you with?”
SecUnit curls in on itself more, staring down at its knees. “A lot.”
“Can you be more specific?”
It curls its lip at Gurathin and narrows its eyes. “No,” it says sharply.
Gurathin sighs and leans his elbows on his knees, trying to be more approachable. “We want to help you find it. How do we reach it?”
SecUnit looks at him for a moment before looking down again. “It… works with a school. A university.”
“Do you have a name?”
Its eyebrows furrow for half a minute as it thinks. “Mihira and Tideland, New Tideland.”
“We’ll reach out and ask if it can come here.”
For all its coldness, especially towards him, Gurathin can see its expression melt into something hopeful and maybe even excited. Then it catches itself and turns back around. Gurathin opens the feed.
PRESAUX CHAT (2 online)
Gurathin: art is a ship from a university, mihira and new tideland is what it said.
Mensah: We have a lead, then. :) I’ll take over in the morning, Pin-Lee will work on communications.
Gurathin: get some sleep. it’s late.
Mensah: I’ll try.
Gurathin: it’s doing fine, it’s just been sitting here pretending i don’t exist the whole time.
Mensah: Don’t take it personally. I think it needs someone to be the villain, like in its shows. I’m sorry it had to be you.
Gurathin: happy to oblige. now sleep.
PIN-LEE
“You named it ‘Asshole’?” Pin-Lee says incredulously.
SecUnit shrugs. “It’s an asshole.”
“Does it know you named it that?”
“I think so.”
“And it’s not pissed about that?”
“It didn’t disagree.”
Wow, if this asshole thinks that ship is an asshole, it must be a real piece of work.
“Alright, do you have its real designation then?”
SecUnit scrunches its face as it thinks for a moment before its hand comes up to its chest. It looks down at the spot, doesn’t say anything, then puts its hands on the hem of its shirt and lifts it up.
“Uh, what are you doing?” Pin-Lee asks, trying and failing very much to sound nonjudgmental.
It pulls its shirt up to its neck, presses its hand on a spot on its ribs, and a compartment pops out. It reaches in and pulls out a small black device. “Perihelion,” it says, reading the text on the device before it plugs it back into itself and closes the compartment, pulling its shirt back down. It looks up at her stunned face. “What?”
“What was that?”
It raises an eyebrow. “It gave me a comm before we parted ways. I don’t think it’s been in range since I last saw it.”
“And you’ve had it this whole time?”
“I just remembered.”
“You keep your friend’s comm near your heart and you just forgot.”
It looks annoyed. “I don’t have a heart.”
“Clearly.”
Its frown deepens. It crosses its arms and leans back in its chair, glaring at the floor. Pin-Lee makes a note, Perihelion of the University of Mihira and New Tideland. That should be enough to reach out.
PRESAUX CHAT (4 online)
Pin-Lee: mystery ship is the perihelion
Pin-Lee: i’m going to send a relay out to the university now
Pin-Lee: youre not going to believe this
Pin-Lee: it keeps a fucking comm from art in its chest all the time
Mensah: I didn’t know that. :O Thank you for the relay.
Ratthi: Aww, that’s kind of sweet.
Gurathin: it gets on our case about security and keeps a comm inside itself the whole time? its never allowed to complain at us again.
???: Mind your business
Pin-Lee: the fuck
Mensah: SecUnit, this is a private chat.
???: Stop talking about me then
???: The comm is unhackable and untraceable, I made sure of that
???: Its not sweet, it doesn’t mean anything
Mensah: We understand, now please exit and remove any ability to return to this chat. I would like to keep this between us humans. I apologize for talking about you behind your back.
??? has left the group
Ratthi: It clearly means something.
Pin-Lee: no shit
Mensah: Agreed. Let’s not saying anything out loud though.
Gurathin: how long has it been listening?
In the Tabena solar system, near the planet of Chavkin, a ship receives a message. Within seconds of reading it, it abruptly changes course, flying off and flinging itself into a wormhole. Its captain and crew are very confused.
MURDERBOT
I get a ping from the comm. I must have stood up too fast because everyone starts asking me what’s wrong.
“ART’s here,” I say, and then I start walking out of the hotel towards the docks.
It takes a little while for everyone to catch up to me and thankfully by now they know better than to ask me a million questions, even though I know they want to. We walk to the docks in silence. I slow down a bit so they aren’t half-jogging to keep up with me.
The hatch opens as I walk down the gangway toward ART. Five people are standing inside near the entrance and I slow down further. I forgot ART usually has a crew. This is going to be awkward.
The second I step across the threshold, ART says over the speaker, “What have you gotten yourself into this time, you little idiot?”
“Fuck off, ART,” I reply.
Several people take in sharp breaths. Others exchange glances. There’s a crew member with poofy black hair staring at me.
ART doesn’t care. “I leave you alone for hardly a few months and you’ve put yourself on every newsburst in the galaxy. What happened to subtlety?”
“I scrubbed all the clips of me, they don’t know what I look like now.”
“You’re acting like I completely remodeled you, I only took a couple centimeters off. If you’d have let me do more, we could have spared your reputation from worsening. Iris, stop staring, don’t remind me how conspicuous it is.”
The young woman blinks and looks up. “Peri, what did you do?” she says with exasperation, “What do you mean, ‘remodel’?” The man to her left pinches the bridge of his nose.
“I knew it was shorter than last time,” Ratthi murmurs behind me.
“Peri?” I say as a distraction, “You already had a nickname?”
“If you had any sense of observation, you would have immediately noticed it everywhere aboard. Instead, I get called an asshole every time I talk to you.”
“Then stop being an asshole.”
It pokes me hard in the feed and I take a small step back. “You stop being an idiot first.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Did you just come here to yell at me?”
“I came here to take care of you. Clearly you are not capable of doing that by yourself. Uploading yourself to a gunship, I can’t believe you. Do you have any sense of self-restraint?”
My organics squeeze at that. “It’s fine.”
“It is not fine, you could have died.” Another poke, harder this time, and I take another step back. “You could have completely deleted yourself. My comm isn’t enough, I’m microchipping you next to keep you from pulling any more stupid stunts.”
“Peri, don’t-“ warns the man to Iris’ right.
“You don’t know it,” ART says to him, “It throws itself into these impossible situations and I always have to drag it out. I’m not leaving until I know it can be trusted with itself.”
“My rebuild is almost done, you won’t have to stay long. Sorry to inconvenience you,” I snap.
“I missed you, dumbass,” it drawls, “I’ve been backlogging episodes of Worldhoppers for when I see you again. Our current mission was dull anyway, I wanted any excuse to leave.”
Everyone is very quiet and looking at me. I stare at the ground as Mensah quickly steps past me and extends a hand to one of the older men on the crew. They exchange greetings while I stand there.
I missed you, too, I say over the feed.
Did you win the fight?
Yes.
Good. Come inside.
I walk forward and brush past everyone being polite and friendly. ART taps me and I turn around. Iris stands there looking at me again.
Say hello to her.
I haven’t met your crew before, right?
Correct. It peaks at my rebuild progress. It’s around 78%. It starts sorting through my recovered data as I stare back at Iris.
She tilts her head slightly. “Hi. I’m Iris.” She starts to lift an arm, presumably to shake my hand, before aborting the gesture. ART must have told her not to touch me. “Um, Peri has told me a lot about you. I’ve been hoping to meet you. Sorry about all that.”
Don’t tell me off for attracting attention if you’ve been fucking blabbing about me.
She started it. Very mature.
“I, uh…” Strong start, Murderbot. “I wouldn’t have boarded ART if I knew it would be a problem.”
“No, no, I’m glad you two met. You’ve made quite an impression on it. Peri doesn’t have many friends,” she talks increasingly louder and faster as ART tries to cut her off in the feed, “so having it suddenly want to turn around and come this way wasasurpise. Itreallylikesyou.” She smiles sweetly. I can feel ART fuming in her direction.
“Uh.”
Her face drops at my reaction. “Right, well, it’s nice to have you aboard. If you want to watch your episodes together, the lounge is down the hall and to the right.”
I already know that but I nod and turn. ART doesn’t say anything as I walk down the hall, just silently sifting through my recovered data.
My humans are embarrassing, too, I say.
It seems you finally found your crew.
I hesitate for a moment. Maybe. I don’t know if I’ll stay. When it doesn’t say anything, I continue, They’ve offered me ways to leave. I don’t want anything to happen to them if I go. I just don’t want to be owned.
I think your definition of being owned is narrow. It isn’t so bad to be owned in some cases.
I definitely make a face at that. You’re not a pet bot.
I am not. I am, however, owned by the university. I am a source of pride for them. I am in a way owned by my family. This is a source of joy for me. I want to belong to both.
How do you know you weren’t programmed to want that?
Are humans not programmed to want their parent’s love? Is that so dissimilar? It pulls out a half-memory of RaviHyral and fills in the blank spaces.
There’s a difference between being owned and wanting to belong.
I agree. Where is the line then?
That’s easy. One has a contract.
You have to sign a contract willingly. There has to be some measure of want in many cases.
I don’t want to sign a contract. I don’t want to belong to anyone.
Then don’t. Choosing to stay holds far more power than any piece of paper.
I don’t say anything as I take a seat on the bridge. ART pulls up a newer episode of Worldhoppers and settles in close to me to watch it, excited to see it through my experience.
Toward the end of the episode, I can feel it looking elsewhere.
We finish it and I ask, What’s with you?
I don’t know what you mean.
You’re hardly paying attention. You didn’t even ask me to rewind when they found the missing crewmembers. You love happy reunions.
It doesn’t say anything for a moment, then comes back with, I want to meet your crew.
Go talk to them then.
I want you to introduce me to Dr. Mensah.
She’s friendly, just say hi.
It pokes me yet again and I sink in my seat. I introduced you to my favorite human, introduce me to yours.
Ugh. I reach out to Dr. Mensah in the feed. ART wants to meet you with me. I’m on the bridge.
MENSAH
“I missed you, dumbass,” it drawls, “I’ve been backlogging episodes of Worldhoppers for when I see you again. Our current mission was dull anyway, I wanted any excuse to leave.”
This is not what she expected at all. This is far better than she’d hoped. She’s not the only one that misses it when it’s gone.
She steps forward and makes eye contact with the crew members, spots a captain’s insignia on the chest of one and comes forward to shake his hand.
“Hello, welcome to Preservation,” she greets. SecUnit walks past everyone. “Apologies for everything being so sudden, we really appreciate you coming on such short notice.”
The captain chuckles and takes her hand. “Believe me, we didn’t have much of a choice. But we’re glad to have come, I’ve always wanted an excuse to come to this system. I’m Seth, this is Martyn, over there is my daughter Iris,” he gestures to each crew member, “and here is Matteo and Tarik.”
“A pleasure to meet you, I’m Ayda Mensah, this is my team-“
“Mensah?” The captain’s eyebrows raise. “Are you related to the head of the alliance?”
She smiles as she always does when she gets this question. “I am the head of the alliance, yes.”
His eyebrows raise further and his mouth gapes just a bit. “Well, I didn’t expect this. It’s an honor to meet you. Is it customary to bow?” he jokes.
“It doesn’t hurt.” They both laugh lightly. She continues, “Forgive my friend’s rudeness, it’s going through a rough reintegration right now. We were hoping a familiar, ah, presence would speed up the process.”
“We understand, just surprised is all. We didn’t know Peri had any friends, nevermind a SecUnit.” He winces. “Is there a name for your friend?”
“It prefers SecUnit. We were surprised by this as well, but I’m glad to know it wasn’t alone out there.”
“I believe you and I are going to have a lot to talk about between these two.” He starts to turn and gestures to her and her group. “Come inside, tea? Coffee? We have some beer if anyone wants.”
“I think we’re all going to need a drink after this,” Pin-Lee says and several people laugh.
Dr. Mensah is letting Ratthi guide the conversation between the two groups when she gets a message from SecUnit. ART wants to meet you with me. I’m on the bridge.
On my way.
She gets up and asks Seth where to find the bridge. He looks slightly confused but gives her clear directions from the galley. She excuses herself and walks through the ship. A blue stripe runs along the corridors and she follows it.
The door to the bridge opens for her and she enters. SecUnit is sitting in the captain’s chair. It could not be setting a worse first impression for this crew if it tried. She takes a seat nearby.
“ART, Dr. Ayda Mensah. Dr. Mensah, ART,” it says, moving its head and eyes from the ceiling to her and back again. It has its legs curled up in the chair, hands in its pockets. It’s made itself quite comfortable.
She smiles and looks up at the ceiling. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve been looking forward to this.”
“Likewise,” Perihelion replies, “SecUnit has told me so much about you.”
It did? “Thank you for being accommodating and coming so soon. I’m sure you’re aware of the situation?”
SecUnit sinks in its seat. Perihelion responds, “I’m happy to be of service. Someone needs to get through SecUnit’s thick skull, and I’m the only one with a strong enough drill to do it.”
That earns an annoyed “Hey,” from SecUnit. Mensah tries not to laugh. She says, “I have to admit, I’m curious how you two know each other.”
SecUnit says only, “RaviHyral,” while Perihelion starts with, “I let it board on a different station out of curiosity and it shared its media with me. More than that, it shared its emotional data for me to experience the serials to a higher degree than I can on my own, and it-“
“It tried to kill me when we met,” SecUnit says nonchalantly.
“I needed to make sure you weren’t a threat,“ Perihelion huffs, “You survived. As I was saying, we watched media together and we realized it needed to pass as human. I brought it into my medical bay-“
“ART, that’s personal. You can’t share my medical information without consent.”
“You didn’t sign any paperwork, but fine. We made some changes and docked at RaviHyral and it-“
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ve already heard all the details, Dr. Mensah,” it says sarcastically, “All this to say, thank you for reaching out when you did. I was concerned when the newsbursts mentioned it’s big dramatic escape and was hoping to see it again, ideally alive and well.” SecUnit sinks further into its seat. “I intend to see it through its rebuild process to full completion.”
“It sounds to me you’ve only known each other a short time, yet you came all this way for it. It must have made quite an impression on you.” Especially given how they bicker like an old married couple, she can’t help noticing.
SecUnit says, “It’s only here to get on my case-“ while Perihelion talks over it with, “It’s changed everything.” SecUnit’s eyes go wide and its eyes flick up to the ceiling, then back down to its knees at near eye level. It couldn’t sink further into its seat if it tried.
“I feel the same,” Mensah tells Perihelion as she tries to avoid eye contact with SecUnit.
“I will admit, I have been very interested in meeting you,” Perihelion says to her, “You are its favorite human. To hold that high a value in its eyes must make you very special.”
She blushes. “To be the first thing it thought of in rebuilding its memories makes you just as important, it seems.”
“Can I go?” SecUnit grumbles.
“No,” Mensah and Perihelion say in unison. She can’t help a chuckle. SecUnit’s lip curls up in a resigned sneer.
“Forgive me if this is rude, but I’ve never met a bot pilot quite like you,” she says to Perihelion.
“We’ve come this far, I’m sure my captain will agree that secrecy is out the window. I am the Perihelion, listed as a research transport for the University of Mihira and New Tideland, but we have ulterior motives…”
For a tool of espionage, it really can’t keep a secret.
PRESAUX CHAT (4 online)
Ratthi: So.
Ratthi: I might be crazy.
Ratthi: But.
Pin-Lee: youre not crazy
Pin-Lee: theyre insane about each other
Mensah: We have to be mindful of how they view their relationship. They likely wouldn’t use the same terms as us.
Mensah: That said. Agreed. There is clearly a lot of love between them. :)
Gurathin: what are we talking about.
Ratthi: SecUnit has a crush and its crush likes it back! 🥰
Gurathin: nevermind. i’m muting this chat.
Pin-Lee: its crush did surgery on it
Pin-Lee: secunit wants to throw up any time sex gets mentioned and it let itself get freelance surgery
Pin-Lee: unbelievable
Ratthi: I’m sure it was very romantic, lots of candles and rose petals.
Mensah: Perihelion is highly attached to it, it’s undeniable. SecUnit likewise feels very strongly about it, just not so much out loud. We should give them space to sort out their feelings.
Pin-Lee: are you jealous
Mensah: ?
Pin-Lee: well are you
Mensah: Not at all. Someone out there watched over SecUnit when it was gone and insists on its safety. It wasn’t alone when it was on its own. If anything, this is a relief. :)
Mensah: But… if I may be honest, I am concerned that SecUnit will leave with this crew. I don’t want any of us to stop it if it chooses that, but I would be sad to see it go. Hopefully we can get a proper goodbye this time.
ART: Technically I am currently still mid-mission and we’re not authorized to offer crew positions during outings.
Ratthi: Peri???
Pin-Lee: AGAIN?
Mensah: Hello Perihelion. :) I’m glad to hear it, please don’t feel the offer must be rescinded because of my feelings.
ART: Hello all. I was considering an offer in the future but it would be highly disrespectful to remove SecUnit just when you got it back. I will keep the offer open, but I believe it’s important for it to stay with you at least for some time. You need to discuss your manner of relationship and how it will be declared to Preservation. I don’t want to come between that.
Mensah: I appreciate your consideration. I don’t want to hold it back from you either. I suppose the choice must be left to SecUnit. Now if you don’t mind, this chat is supposed to be private.
ART: My apologies for barging in. Have a lovely night.
ART: And thank you for confirming that my feelings are requited. :)
ART has left the group
Gurathin: okay you’re right they are insane.