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It had been a month since Ratthi came to PSUMNT, and he’d thoroughly enjoyed it. He always loved visiting other planets and especially meeting new people. Pin-Lee had once called him an “extrovert’s extrovert,” and they had, as usual, a point. So many friends to make, so little time.
Plus, Bharadwaj, Gura, SecUnit, and Three were here, so there were even more friends, especially with the students from Preservation who’d accompanied him, including Amena. Even Gurathin, the introvert’s introvert, had been making connections. He had a whole group of “augie” students who called him Doc Gura and hung on his every word. It did Ratthi’s all-loving heart good to see how they valued his expertise and how much he obviously enjoyed teaching them. And Gura looked so good! Healthier and happier and more relaxed than Ratthi had ever seen him. He said it was the new augments.
But there was also Something Going On with Gura and SecUnit. He could feel it. There was a feeling, there was an atmosphere . . .
“There’s a Vibe,” said Fallon, one of the augmented students Gura was mentoring. “We don’t talk about it much, especially over the feed – you never know when SecUnit will ambush you there – but all of us can tell. It’s so protective of him, and he gets this smile when it crashes our sessions, y’know?”
Ratthi nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yes. Those two have always had something between them. I mean, they were at each other’s throats, sometimes literally, on the survey, and then Gura went to all those lengths to get it back. Just about wore himself down to nothing keeping it alive so the company wouldn’t scrap it, then carried its memories back to it in his own skull. He was the only one of us who got to say goodbye to it when it left, did he tell you that?”
“No, really?” Maya, another of Doc Gura’s augies, gasped, eyes comically wide. The three were walking to a conference room for the first full meeting of the survey group.
“Yeah, he told Mensah, and she told us. He was just sitting there with those big, sad eyes. Even let Bharadwaj and Arada cuddle him.” Ratthi remembered at the time thinking he looked like a man whose lover had just left. He’d wisely kept that to himself.
Fallon looked unconvinced. “Really? I’m having trouble imagining it. He’s kinda . . .”
“Scary?” Maya suggested.
“Scary will do.” Fallon raised an eyebrow at Ratthi. “Also hot.”
Ratthi wafted his hands. “I tried. He didn’t take me up on it, to my great sorrow.” He belied the sentiment with a big grin. Fallon and Maya laughed.
(He also privately agreed with the description of Gura as “scary.” When Ratthi had first come to PSUMNT, Gura pulled him in for a private little talk that amounted to, “Call me ‘Gugu’ in front of the students, and I will make you terrified to use the feed for the rest of your life, do you understand?” Ratthi had understood.)
“I asked Bharadwaj about it, and she just gave me a peck on the nose and told me I was a big romantic,” Ratthi added.
“That’s a non-answer,” Fallon said.
“Which might just be an answer,” Maya said. “But we’ll get to observe them in proximity on the survey. I can’t wait, I’m so excited to go!” She bounced up and down cutely. She reminded Ratthi a bit of Arada when he’d first met her, back when they went to school together.
They had to shut up, then, as they reached the conference room and found Gurathin and SecUnit already present. Gura was seated at a tech table with Iris, and they were both hardwired in, working on something. Abruptly, Gura rolled his eyes and gave SecUnit a pointed look.
“Not helping, SecUnit,” Iris said, not looking up from her work.
“What’s it doing?” Ratthi asked.
Gurathin shook his head. “Giving unhelpful suggestions. Our presentation does not need a theme song, thank you.”
SecUnit sulked at them. “Be boring, then.”
Fallon gave Ratthi an “Is it joking?” look. Ratthi returned a shrug. SecUnit did have a sense of humor, but it was also oddly intense about its media.
The rest of the students filed in and took their seats, and Iris began the meeting. A holo of Sif appeared over the table.
“It’s good to have you all here,” Iris said. “I’d like to begin with a few introductions. Most of you know Dr. Gurathin.” She nodded at him, and he waved a hand. “He’ll be doing sysop from Ixios, the auxiliary vessel we’ll take to Sif. I’d also like to introduce the ship pilot, DuCasse.” She indicated a tall, lanky man. He waved. “Normally, we’d use a bot pilot for a trip like this, but because of the electromagnetic interference from the system’s sun, we felt it best to have a human at the helm, and there’s no one better than DuCasse. He and Dr. Gurathin will remain aboard the vessel while the rest of us descend. They both feel just terrible about it.”
A few people chuckled, and Gurathin said, “Yes, it’s just awful to have to stay aboard a climate-controlled ship while the rest of you freeze your asses off on a glacier.” Everyone laughed at that. Except SecUnit, which looked positively envious of Gura.
“Next, Dr. Ratthi has made almost everyone’s acquaintance.” She grinned at Ratthi, who grinned back and waved. “He’s representing FirstLanding University’s interests and supporting its students on this trip. Please say hello to him because he gets sad when people are strangers.”
Ratthi batted his eyelashes at the students as they laughed.
“One of your fellow students will also be playing a very important role,” Iris went on. “Sae, would you like to introduce yourself?”
Sae, who reminded Ratthi more than a little of Pin-Lee, but a little taller and less stocky, stood and waved. “Hi, I’m Sae, tercera, pronouns te/ter. I’m originally from Haven in the Divarti Cluster, where I served in the military. One of my main duties was what we called ‘drops and hops’ in drop ships similar to the one we’ll be using on the survey. I’ve done over twenty drops and more hops than I can count. I’ll be piloting the drop ship, and I promise you, you’re all in good hands.”
“Thank you, Sae.” Iris returned her attention to the holo of Sif. “You should all have read the materials on Sif by now, but I’ll hit the high points. Sif is the fourth planet in its system, close to the outer edge of the habitable zone. Roughly half its surface is taken up by the northern and southern ice caps, even during its summer months. Sif has a very slight axial tilt, but its seasons are largely controlled by its eccentric orbit. It’s approaching its perihelion right now, meaning we’ll be there during summer.
“Unfortunately, that also brings us into proximity with the system’s very active sun. Electromagnetic interference is one of the issues we’ll face, and which we’ve taken into account in our planning. Fortunately, the planet does have a decent magnetic field. Once we’re on the ground, electromagnetic interference shouldn’t be as big a problem for ground communications as it will be from ship to surface.”
She tapped the holo in its northern sub-polar region, marking it with a flag. “This is our first, and shortest, stop for the survey. To say it’s cold would be inaccurate; the cold will be brutal. This spot was chosen because, if planetary weather patterns hold, there won’t be any storms while we’re there. Nonetheless, we’ll only spend two full days in this spot because one single mistake can cost your life in this cold, even with our best gear and equipment.”
She tapped the holo again, this time right at the edge of the northern icecap. “This is our second stop. It’s in a geologically-active area similar to Yellowstone on Old Earth, which should yield interesting data. The weather will still be very cold, but more ‘bitter’ than ‘brutal.’”
She tapped a third spot, this time in the equatorial region. “This is our final survey area. It’s in the temperate zone, and the temperatures should be quite comfortable during the day, though still chilly at night. It’s in the foothills of a mountain range with a variety of flora and fauna, so we should get a lot of good data.
“Speaking of fauna, volcanism, and extreme cold, we will have SecUnit and Three along with us to keep us safe. They volunteered for the survey. SecUnit, what do you want us to know?” She turned to it.
Unlike its reaction when asked to give a speech, SecUnit looked prepared to talk this time. “Three and I are responsible for your safety. If one of us tells you to do something, do it immediately. If we tell you to stop walking, don’t take another step. If we tell you to get back to the safe zone, don’t question us. And if you hear this sound -” It pushed up one sleeve and powered up its arm cannon with a whine. “- hit the ground. Iris and Sae will be armed as well, but we’re your first line of defense in case of an emergency. Don’t put yourselves in unnecessary danger. I don’t enjoy getting chewed on by hostile fauna or sprayed with caustic fluids, but I’m harder to kill than any of you. Sif isn’t a safe, domesticated planet like this one. Stay aware, follow directions, and keep your feed interface on and functioning, Ratthi.”
“Hey!” Ratthi protested, to general amusement. “Okay, fair, I guess.” Amena winked at him from across the room. She’d heard more than one PresAux rant on Ratthi’s tendency to forget his feed interface.
“I second that,” Iris added. “We need to be in contact at all times. With the drop ship’s booster, that shouldn’t be a problem, even with the expected electromagnetic interference. All of our equipment is shielded. You might notice static in the feed, but it should be fine as long as we all stay within the established perimeter at each of our survey sites. Don’t wander off. SecUnit gets grumpy when it has to rescue humans from their own stupidity.”
Iris went on to assign the students to groups and designate one student within each group as the group leader. Each group was responsible for a discrete part of the setup and breakdown of the campsites.
“Now, over the next few days, we’re going to practice setting up and breaking down our camps. Breaking down is where things get complicated. There are three general exit protocols that we will call Protocol Alpha, Protocol Beta, and Protocol Gamma. You can think of these as a normal exit, a quick exit, and an emergency exit. Hopefully, we won’t need anything but Protocol Alpha. With Alpha, we break everything down and pack it up according to a checklist, then do a final check to make sure we don’t leave anything, and I do mean anything, behind. We want to minimize our impact on the planet.
“Beta is a quick exit. That means that for whatever reason, we don’t have time to do careful checks. For instance, say there’s a herd of potentially-dangerous fauna headed our way and we spot them from a distance, but not far away enough for a full Protocol Alpha exit. Equipment is loaded and secured whole on the drop ship if necessary, everyone boards, and we get out of there. Gamma, on the other hand, means that maybe the supervolcano caldera we’re in burps up a cloud of toxic gas. We drop whatever we’re doing and get the humans and constructs on the drop ship and away from danger. If possible, we go back and collect the equipment later. We will practice all of these protocols before leaving for Perihelion.”
And so they did over the next few days. A drop ship replica and all their equipment sat at one of PSUMNT’s properties with enough space that they could set up a full campsite with room to spare. Rather than a stationary habitat, they had insulated, heated pop tents that would remain comfortable even in the extreme cold of Sif’s glacial region. There was also a larger communal tent where they could all gather, built around a central heating element. The perimeter would be marked out by sensor poles that would warn them if anything crossed their field.
The group repeatedly practiced setting up the camp and getting out the equipment they’d need for their research, then breaking down and packing it all up for a Protocol Alpha exit. They also practiced having the SecUnits give emergency signals to stop, move away from an area, find shelter, or drop where they were. They did run-throughs of Protocol Beta and found that having the SecUnits move the heaviest pieces of equipment rather than breaking them down made for a quicker exit. Finally, they practiced Protocol Gamma, recalling everyone from within the perimeter to the drop ship.
“Lives are more valuable than equipment,” Iris said, “but we also don’t want to unnecessarily contaminate a pristine environment, so we will remove the equipment whenever possible.”
And then, finally, came the day when they all boarded Perihelion. It would still be another two days until departure, while they got all of their equipment aboard and ready on Ixios. Ratthi didn’t mind, as he liked Peri and its crew.
“Peri! What’s new?” he asked.
“That would take longer to answer than you have the attention span for,” it replied.
Ratthi laughed. “Fair! It’s good to be back aboard.”
He found his usual quarters and packed his stuff away, then went down to assist with loading Ixios.
***
The days aboard Perihelion went quickly. There were always tasks to do during shipboard days, prep for the survey and meetings with the Preservation students. As the days wound down, though, there was time to relax and enjoy food, games, and media with the crew and the survey team.
It was Amena, whom Ratthi had managed to rope into watching for The Vibe, who noticed something interesting about the evenings. “Every shipboard evening, Gura leaves the gathering early to shower. Ten minutes later, SecUnit also leaves. Watch tonight and see if they do it.”
Ratthi did. Tonight’s media was World Hoppers, a show Perihelion was particularly fond of and Ratthi knew SecUnit liked as well. At the end of the first episode, Gurathin got up, stretched, and said good night to everyone.
Exactly ten minutes later, SecUnit quietly left the room.
Very intriguing.
Even more intriguing was what happened during a team meeting the next day, the day before they were set to depart on the auxiliary vessel. Iris was in the middle of a presentation when Gura swore in his own language and grabbed a spot on his lower back. SecUnit was suddenly behind him.
“Another muscle cramp?” it asked.
“Yes, right where my hand is,” Gura answered, face pinched with pain. He leaned forward onto the table, and SecUnit started kneading the cramping muscle.
Ratthi stared.
“Are you okay?” Iris asked.
Gurathin nodded and breathed out slowly. “Yeah, it’s a side effect of my surgeries. It’s happening less frequently as time goes on. Thank you, SecUnit.”
“The muscle is loosening. Are you taking your electrolytes?” it asked.
He rolled his eyes. “Of course.”
“This isn’t going to be a problem for you on the survey, is it?” Iris’s brows knit in concern.
“Hopefully not, but I have an electrostim device that should take care of them in the absence of a handy SecUnit.” Gurathin looked up at it with a teasing grin. It rolled its eyes and, job apparently finished, stepped back.
Seriously, what was that? SecUnit rarely touched anyone, let alone volunteered to massage a cramped muscle. Ratthi guessed it had become comfortable with a medically-adjacent role to Gurathin over the past few months. Maybe that was all there was to it.
Privately, Ratthi hoped there was more. Bharadwaj was right; he was a big romantic, and he liked the thought that the two most singular and independent of his friends might have found comfort together. Sure, it was unlikely, but that had never stopped him from wishing for something before.
He caught Iris after the meeting. “Hey, Iris, about SecUnit and Gura . . .”
She held up her hands. “I don’t know, I don’t want to know, it’s none of my business, leave me out of it.” Then she walked away.
Well. That was no fun at all.
***
The day came when Perihelion reached the rendezvous point, and Ixios was set to depart, carrying the survey team. Perihelion itself was continuing on for a mission of its own. Ratthi had asked Iris about it, and her answer implied that its mission wasn’t exactly legal.
“Say no more,” he said.
“No more about what?” Gurathin asked as he entered, carrying his personal bag.
“Peri’s hijinks,” Iris said.
“Ahh. Yes, the less we know about those, the better.” Gurathin winked at Iris. He seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood, and the black, high-necked shirt he had on was working for him. It struck Ratthi yet again that Gura was intrinsically very attractive.
“Someone’s having a good morning!” Ratthi commented.
Gura gave him one of his charming, crooked smiles. “I feel good. It’s amazing what getting shitty CR augments replaced will do for a man.” He walked away toward his berth.
Ratthi watched him, then turned to Iris. “Seriously, he’s acting like someone who got laid last night!”
Iris held her hands up in a “not touching it” gesture and walked off toward her own berth. Ratthi thought that she was being awfully precious about it for someone who openly flirted with her own favorite construct. He sighed and grabbed his duffel. Might as well find his berth.
The auxiliary vessel wasn’t luxurious, but it was comfortable. Ratthi, Iris, Gurathin, and DuCasse got their own rooms while the students bunked together. The SecUnits declined rooms of their own for the four-day voyage to Sif. They spent time either in recharge or in the ship’s common areas.
When Ixios reached its destination, DuCasse piloted it to the drop ship window. Below, Sif was a striking sight. The icecaps extended from each pole, each taking up roughly one quarter of the planet’s surface. A wide belt of open ocean and land was the only temperate region. Ratthi knew Earth had occasionally had glacial maximums that left it looking not unlike Sif. The day side was almost too bright, thanks to the ice sheets, but on the night side, auroras danced in the atmosphere. He looked forward to seeing them from the ground.
Everyone gathered in the drop ship bay for departure. They all wore winter gear for the drop, though they left off their hoods, face masks, and darkened lenses for now. Even the SecUnits wore winter coats, though all their jackets were modified to allow them to fire their arm cannons without burning through the fabric.
“You all have your seat assignments and your work assignments for when we reach our landing spot,” Iris said to the whole group. “I remind you that electromagnetic interference is going to cause communication issues between ship and surface. Communication with Ixios will be unreliable. Our equipment has good shielding, but if there’s a malfunction, no matter how minor, I want to know about it right away. Also, we augies need to be alert for any glitching in our augments. If your shielding wasn’t good, you wouldn’t be on this trip, but there’s still the possibility you may experience glitches or headaches. Tell me right away if you have any problems. Dr. Ratthi, do you have anything to add before we embark?”
He did. “Just one thing I want to reiterate: if the SecUnits tell you to do something, do it. They’re here to protect us. Trust me, things would’ve gone a lot smoother on the survey where I met SecUnit One if we’d paid better attention to it.”
“I second that,” Iris said. “Have your feed interface on, be aware of your surroundings, and obey the SecUnits immediately if they tell you to do something. Any questions?” There weren’t any. “Okay, then, gear up and get into the drop ship.” The students moved to obey.
“Ratthi,” Gurathin called, and Ratthi turned just in time to see SecUnit snag something from his fingers and bring it to Ratthi. It was his feed interface.
Ratthi gave the construct what he knew was a sheepish grin. “Oops.”
“Don’t let me catch you not wearing it,” SecUnit said.
He sighed and put it on. He knew his habit of not being available via the feed was an irritation to both Gura and SecUnit, but he liked checking out sometimes. However, he had to agree that this survey was not the time to do so. He followed the students, but turned back just in time to see Gura and SecUnit make eye contact. Gura’s expression went soft, just for a moment.
Something was so definitely up!
***
Drop ship journeys were never pleasant. Entering an atmosphere would always be choppy and miserable, no matter how skilled the pilot was. Sae, the pilot, was extremely skilled and managed the drop without betraying even a hint of anxiety (which was more than could be said of most of the students), then guided the ship precisely to the area they’d identified as the best landing spot on the glacier and landed without a bump.
The SecUnits insisted on leaving the drop ship before anyone else in order to survey the area for threats. Once they’d cleared it, the survey team stepped out into a frozen world.
Ratthi was immediately glad he’d pulled his hood with its shaded lenses over his head. He’d known snow could be bright in full sunlight, but had never experienced this amount of it. The air glittered with hoarfrost, and he could feel the cold even through his thermal gear.
They immediately got to setting up their base camp with the pop tents and central hub tent. The SecUnits established a perimeter with sensor poles that would alert them if crossed. They also used their built-in ground radar to check for weaknesses in the ice, anything an unwary person could accidentally fall through. A few of these were found and marked.
Once base camp was established, they set about their work, taking ice cores and sampling the air. Someone found a trail left by some sort of fauna and took biological samples. They worked on a schedule that allowed the survey members to take frequent warming breaks in the hub tent; as good as their thermal gear was, it couldn’t fully protect them from this kind of cold, especially with a breeze blowing
The work continued for several hours until the light began to fade. Then everyone sat around the central hub’s heating unit and ate self-heating ration packs while discussing their findings.
Nyla, one of the two field medics on the survey, poked her head into the tent. “You guys have to see this!” she said.
Outside, the aurora danced overhead, its colors reflecting off the glacier. Even the SecUnits stood still, watching it with the same awe as the humans.
“Light show courtesy of an overactive star,” Iris said, watching colors ripple across the sky. “I’ve always heard of the aurora, but I’ve never seen one in person. It’s so much bigger than I’d imagined.” Three walked over to her and took her hand, and they looked up at the sky together.
Ratthi watched in wonder, committing it to memory. A moment like this couldn’t be lost.
***
“Obey. The. SecUnits,” SecUnit growled, hoisting two students by the backs of their jackets. They’d gotten a little too casual about the glacier and started teasing each other and roughhousing, and SecUnit had managed to grab them a bare moment before they slipped into the entrance of a crevasse hidden by a layer of snow. One which it had marked on the first day and told everyone to keep well clear of.
“Yes, SecUnit,” the students said. They looked petrified, though whether more by their near-miss or the pissed-off construct was a tossup. It set them on their feet and strode away.
Fortunately, that was the only major incident on the survey so far. Given that these were all college students, Ratthi thought they were doing well.
“Time to pack up,” Iris called. “Protocol Alpha. Make sure we don’t leave anything except footprints.” She sent the same into the feed, and everyone went into action, breaking down the tents and the larger equipment, packing it into containers, and checking everything off as they did it.
All the practice paid off; breakdown went smoothly in spite of the extreme cold, and soon, everyone was back in their places on the drop ship. Sae took ter seat at the front, with Fallon assisting.
“Lifting off,” Sae announced as the ship rose. “Heading to site 2, ETA approximately two hours.”
Midway through the journey, the comm crackled with Gurathin’s voice.
“Survey crew, are you receiving?” he asked. His voice was clear, but staticky.
As the ship was gliding through relatively stable air, Ratthi unhooked his harness and approached the front along with Iris and both SecUnits.
“Receiving,” Sae said.
Gura’s voice sounded relieved as he spoke. “Good. I’ve been trying to send messages, but the interference in the north was too hard to get through. How is everything going down there?”
“So far, exactly to plan,” Iris said. “Is everything good up there?”
“No problems. However, we have detected an anomalous energy reading a few kilometers away from site 3 a couple of times. There’s still too much interference to tell if it’s natural or artificial. It’s not constant, it’s in and out, so it’s hard to tell what it could be.”
“Can you send us the data?” SecUnit asked.
“I tried twice. It bounced both times. I’ll keep trying, though.”
“Thanks, Gura,” Iris said. “Keep an eye out for it and keep us posted as much as you can.”
“Will do. Best of luck down there.”
The transmission ended, and they continued on their journey.
***
“I don’t like it,” SecUnit said as they surveyed the site. The area smelled of sulfur, and steam leaked from vents in the ground. Mud pots bubbled nearby, making little plopping noises. In spite of the heat coming out of the ground, the area was chilled from the biting wind sweeping down from the ice fields in the distance.
“It should be safe enough,” Iris said. “It’s in a less-active state right now. But you can be as cautious as you want about where to place the boundary markers.”
SecUnit grunted and looked over at Three, who seemed to be enjoying the scenery. They must have communicated, though, because it turned and fell into step with SecUnit when it moved off. They marked off an area that SecUnit deemed “not terrible for a campsite” and set up.
In spite of SecUnit’s skepticism, the area survey went fairly well. There was one incident of a student getting scalded by an unexpected opening of a steam vent, but his injury was easy to treat, if painful. The medics patched him up, and he was back out on the field. Other than that, no one got injured. Every other minor accident involved clothing or equipment damage or, in one case, a bit of hair loss when a small avian decided Maya’s head offered good nesting material. She forgave it on account of its being very cute.
They were able to stay in better contact with the auxiliary vessel above at this site, though even that was limited depending on how the sunspots were falling that day. Gurathin was trying to keep track of the energy anomaly he’d noted, but unfortunately, they couldn’t figure out exactly what it was, only that it remained in the general area he’d first spotted it.
The last day, they watched a herd of hairy animals cross a river, heading north. “It’s so cool that we got to come on this trip,” said Ade, the student who’d gotten scalded. “This is worth a little burn.”
“Did I ever tell you about my dip in acidic mud?” Ratthi asked him. “SecUnit pulled me out, but it was not happy with me.”
“Time for breakdown, Protocol Alpha!” Iris sang out, sending the same message in the feed. Once again, the survey team broke down the campsite and packed the drop ship as Sae and Fallon prepped it to go. Once more, they were off to another site, this one their final stop.
The area was rugged, dotted with boulders with a stream rippling through it and mountains towering nearby. The tree-like flora was too scattered to make a forest, leaving distant views open. A cool breeze was pleasant, now that they were feeling warmth from the sun. The area promised plenty of data thanks to the variety of flora and fauna it hosted.
SecUnit was, as usual, paranoid. It and Three created a perimeter with the sensor poles, but insisted on walking a wider one. They both expressed concern about the strange energy reading Gurathin had told them about. If it was natural, the result of geological processes, that was one thing, but the other options were other humans or alien remnants. Either of those would be concerning. No one else was declared to be on the planet, so that option left them with either undeclared pioneers, who could be hostile, or a raider hideout, which would definitely be hostile. And alien remnants were always a crapshoot. They could be harmless, or they could straight-up kill everyone.
Though Ratthi thought privately that SecUnit was being too cautious, he didn’t argue with it when it insisted on checking out every new site for sampling. He was aware that his worldview had developed through a safe, happy childhood and youth on Preservation. His default was to trust and be open. But that didn’t always work in the wider universe, much as he wished it would.
Iris, though she was younger than Ratthi by some years, was in many ways less naïve. She’d been on covert missions with Perihelion’s crew, working against the CR. She trusted SecUnit and Three to take care of their security and had no problems with the precautions the two constructs took.
But, again, things went well. Maya turned her ankle when she slipped crossing the stream, but it was nothing that an ankle support, an anti-inflammatory, and a little rest couldn’t fix. Amena and a tall, gangly PSUMNT student named Johnsley had a mild allergic reaction to some of the flora. That and a few harmless insect bites were the extent of the injuries.
Each day, the group ranged a little further from the camp site with the SecUnits taking the lead. They would check for hazards, using all of their enhanced senses, and sometimes stop the group if something looked concerning. In most cases, it was a land-based hazard that had to be worked around, or some sort of fauna that needed scaring off.
But then, two days before they were set to leave, both SecUnits suddenly stopped in their tracks as they led the group to a new sampling site and sent two words into the feed: Stop. Quiet.
By that time, everyone was so used to obeying them automatically that they all froze without a word.
What is it? Iris sent. Ratthi noticed that like Gurathin, she didn’t need to subvocalize.
In response, SecUnit sent an image into the feed. It was a patch of soft ground that looked innocuous enough until it outlined, in red, what looked like a human footprint.
They hadn’t been this far out before. The footprint couldn't be one of theirs.
A few mini drones that had been surveying for the SecUnits sped out ahead, spreading out at the same time.
Group together, SecUnit sent to the students. Quickly and quietly.
There was some rustling as the students obeyed. Iris and Sae both unsnapped their sidearm holsters. SecUnit looked at Iris, who nodded and stepped out ahead.
“We know you’re out there,” she called. “We’re a team of researchers from the Poly-System University of Mihira and New Tideland, here on a sanctioned survey. We’re not connected to any corporation, and we’re not interested in causing trouble. If you need assistance, we can render aid.”
Eleven humans and one construct. A ComfortUnit, I think, Three sent.
The humans began to step out into the open from behind boulders and fauna, and Ratthi’s stomach sank. These did not look like peaceful off-the-grid colonists. Every one of them was armed. Raiders.
“Nice of you to drop in,” said a large, hard-faced man. “You said you can offer assistance. I’d be interested in finding out what all you have.”
Shit. This was not good. Ratthi surveyed the others. The apparent leader was the biggest, but not by much. A head of pinkish hair caught his eye. It topped a serenely beautiful face with improbably big, vividly green eyes. The ComfortUnit, he realized.
Iris stood in the lead between the two SecUnits. Sae stood to their left and behind, flanking the students, ter hand on ter weapon. Ratthi didn’t have a weapon, but he took up a position opposite Sae. He was crap with a gun, but he’d been in, and survived, dangerous situations. Most of the students hadn’t ever seen violence.
“Most of what we have is research equipment and camping gear,” Iris told the leader, her voice steady and calm. “We’re set to leave soon, so we’d be willing to part with our emergency rations, water purifiers, and med kit. We could throw in a heater as well. It gets cold here.”
She was attempting diplomacy, giving them a chance to get something without violence. By the looks on their faces, Ratthi was pretty sure it wouldn't work.
There were a few not-so-nice laughs from the raiders. The leader stepped forward, crowding into Iris’s personal space. “We’ll take a lot more than that, sweetheart. Maybe you’d like to come with us. The bitch over there,” he jerked his head toward the ComfortUnit, “is getting all worn out.” He reached for Iris . . .
. . . and his wrist crunched in Three’s hand.
Take cover. Now! The order came from both SecUnits, urgent and uncompromising.
Ratthi spun, grabbing a couple of shocked students. Everything was happening at once. The raider leader let out a scream of pain as Three threw him back into the other raiders by his crushed wrist. SecUnit turned and shoved Ratthi and the students back, its body protecting them as projectile and energy weapons fired. Sae and Iris fell back, firing their weapons.
Ratthi scrambled behind a boulder, pushing a couple of students behind him. The others had taken cover, thankfully. They all looked pale and shocked by the sudden violence. Ratthi followed their gazes to find the SecUnits tearing into the raiders.
“They’ve got fucking SecUnits!” yelled one of the raiders. A second later, he had no head. It had been blasted into a fine mist. SecUnit and Three were systematically taking them down with their arm cannons and their weaponized bodies. Three broke one raider’s neck with a hideous sound while firing a hole through another. SecUnit crushed a raider’s windpipe, using another as a human shield.
It was a strangely compelling sight, watching them. Neither of their faces betrayed a single emotion. This was what they’d been built for, after all.
To Ratthi’s shock, when a raider turned to run, the ComfortUnit blocked his path and backhanded him so hard he flew right into SecUnit’s line of fire. Both SecUnits ignored it, focusing on the remaining humans.
And then there were none. All the raiders lay on the ground, unmoving. SecUnit and Three stood over them, both of them covered in blood, both construct and human. One of Three’s knees had been hit by projectile fire and looked like it was going to give out at any moment.
Iris stepped out from her cover. She looked at the bodies, then at the SecUnits. Then she started giving orders.
“SecUnits, can you detect anyone else in the area?”
“No,” SecUnit answered. “The ComfortUnit says that was the whole crew.”
“Good. Back to the campsite, everyone. Exit Protocol Beta when we get there. Sae, you and Fallon run ahead and start prepping the drop ship. Keep your sidearm handy.” They gave short nods and started running back along the path they’d taken here. Fallon’s augments would guide them if needed.
“The ComfortUnit is coming with us,” SecUnit said.
“I wish to be free,” the ComfortUnit said. “SecUnit and Three have informed me that constructs can live freely in your polities. I would like to go there.”
“I deactivated its governor module before the fight began,” SecUnit informed them. “It didn’t like its owners.”
Iris nodded shortly. “All right, fine, we’ll deal with that later, but let’s get back to the campsite soonest. Three, how bad is your leg?”
“I will need assistance getting back to camp,” it said.
Iris nodded. “Okay, Johnsley, help Three. Everyone else, move now.”
Johnsley and the ComfortUnit took either side of Three, supporting it. Ratthi started helping the others up. They were all badly shaken, but moved to obey Iris’s orders.
Except Nyla. She sat on the ground, staring and unmoving.
“She’s in shock,” said Jacinth, the other medic. They snapped their fingers in front of her face.
SecUnit didn’t bother with that. It hauled her up and slung her over its shoulder.
The trip back to camp was silent, even in the feed. When they arrived, SecUnit unceremoniously unloaded Nyla right next to the drop ship, leaving her with Jacinth, and went to help with the heavier equipment.
“ComfortUnit, make yourself useful,” it said. The ComfortUnit complied without any protest, assisting SecUnit in shifting the communal tent’s heater to the drop ship as Three was unable to help. Ratthi went about his own duties, and soon, the last of the equipment was secured. A final headcount with everyone strapped in confirmed all of the survey team, plus two SecUnits and the ComfortUnit, were on board, and Sae took off.
“I contacted Ixios,” Iris said from her seat across from Ratthi. “DuCasse and Gura know we’re coming. As soon as Sae gets through the atmosphere, they’ll guide us in.”
“How badly is it going to throw off our rendezvous with Perihelion?” SecUnit asked.
“It’ll be fine. We shouldn’t have to wait more than an extra cycle.” She threw a worried look at Three, who had a field dressing on its leg thanks to Jacinth.
“The medbay on the vessel is programmed for constructs,” SecUnit told her, voice curiously gentle. “ART made sure of it before we left. You don’t have to worry about Three.”
She looked at it, then nodded and blinked, her “leader” mask falling for a bare moment. Ratthi looked away, feeling like he needed to give her some sort of privacy.
It was only then that he truly processed that the ComfortUnit was sitting beside him. It was taking everything in with its emerald-colored eyes.
“So, um, you’re a ComfortUnit,” he said, rather lamely. “Do you have a name you’d like to be called by?”
It looked at him, the movement not coming across as natural the way SecUnit’s did with its “act like a human” code.
“They called me ‘the bitch,’ but I didn’t like them,” it said. “There was a tech back at the company, an old man. He used to talk to us while he worked. I think he was lonely. But he was always kind to us. He gave us all names. He called me Peaches because of my hair. I liked him.”
“Would you like to be called Peaches?” Ratthi asked.
It looked like the idea had never occurred to it, but after a moment, it said, “Yes. Yes, I think I would like that very much. Would you like to have sex with me?”
The student on the ComfortUnit’s other side, a young woman named Naviya, choked on the water she’d just taken a sip of.
“Uh, not that you’re not appealing and everything, but no,” Ratthi said, face heating. “I mean, I like sex – a lot – but only with partners who are free to consent or not.”
“I’m free now.” Peaches’s nose scrunched a bit. “I think.”
Ratthi nodded. “And that’s just it. You’re new to being free. If you want to be a sex worker in Preservation Alliance, you can be, but it’s up to you what you want to do.”
Peaches blinked, looking lost. “I don’t know what I want to do. What will happen when I get to Preservation, if I go there?”
“Laws for constructs have changed in the last few years,” Ratthi said. “My friend Pin-Lee knows more than I do, but I believe you’ll initially be assigned a guardian who will take responsibility for getting you acclimated and safeguard your rights. Once you’re ready, though, you’ll be a free agent, just like SecUnit and Three. That’s Preservation only. You’d have to ask Iris about the laws in her polity.”
Peaches fell silent then, watching the others and looking pensive.
Ratthi took a moment to observe the others himself. They were mostly very quiet, looking shocked and subdued. He knew a few of them had thrown up after the SecUnits . . . dealt with the raiders. That took him back to his first experience seeing someone’s head get blown off. A few students were crying a little, or had been, from the red eyes and tear tracks on faces.
This was going to be hard.
The drop ship stopped shaking as they broke free of the atmosphere.
“Drop ship to Ixios, we are on approach,” Sae announced into the comm. “Please reply.”
The comm crackled with static, and Gurathin’s voice broke through.
“Drop ship, acknowledged. We have your signal and are moving to match,” he said. “Once you’re in range, DuCasse will pull you in. I take it things didn’t go to plan?”
“You could say that, yes. We’ll debrief on board. Drop ship out.” Sae closed communications and shifted course.
***
The drop ship bay closed, and Ratthi breathed a sigh of relief as it pressurized. The whole journey, he’d been waiting for the other shoe to somehow drop, but it hadn’t.
“Do you think we’re safe now?” he asked SecUnit.
“Gurathin and Ducasse haven’t detected any other vessels in the system,” it said. “The ComfortUnit says that the raiders weren’t currently operating in a larger group, and that was the whole crew. We’re safe from them.”
“I would like to be called Peaches,” said the ComfortUnit primly.
SecUnit gave it a pained look. “Peaches says there aren’t any more of that set of raiders to deal with.”
It took Ratthi a moment to realize that SecUnit and Peaches had been communicating in the feed, probably faster than any human could keep up with.
Iris stood. “Pressurization is complete. We need to stow the samples we took, but after that, you’re free to go to your berths and refresh yourselves. However, I want everyone in the meeting lounge in one hour for a debrief. Understood?”
The students murmured acknowledgments and disembarked from the drop ship. Johnsley and Peaches helped Three out and to the medbay.
“Do you need the medbay as well?” Iris asked SecUnit.
“I can wait until Three is done, though I want to get these slugs out. I hate leaking.” It left, presumably to remove the projectiles buried in its body.
An hour later, the survey team gathered in the meeting lounge. Iris and Ratthi had stowed the table and set up chairs around the room. This wasn’t about science; it was about emotions. The students had a lot of them.
Peaches had joined them. Three was still in medbay, getting repaired. A few minutes before the meeting was to start, SecUnit entered, shirtless, having removed the slugs from its front and sealed the wounds. It plunked itself down in front of Gurathin’s chair and handed him a medkit and a hardwire.
“I can’t get the ones out of my back, and they’re irritating,” it said.
“Understood.” Gurathin smiled fondly as he connected the hardwire.
“Doing the stupid thing again, Doc Gura?” Fallon asked with a wan smile.
Gurathin chuckled. “It makes it easier for me to parallel process, and makes it much less likely I’ll startle it and get an elbow to the face.” He frowned. “I might need to cut some of these wounds wider to get at the slugs.”
“Do it. I’ve dialed down my pain sensors.”
Nyla stood and went over to take the seat next to Gurathin. She still looked pale, but less shaky. “I can help.” She looked at Gurathin. “Please, let me help. This is something I can do.”
He nodded, but blocked her hand when she reached for SecUnit. “Always ask permission. It’s used to me, and I’m wired in besides, but don’t assume consent to touch it unless it’s shut down and needs emergency care.”
“Of course,” she murmured. “SecUnit, may I touch you?”
It leaned forward, baring its back for them to work on. “Yes.”
Gurathin handed her a scalpel, and Ratthi was very glad he couldn’t see what was happening. A few nearby students scooted away.
Iris entered. She looked exhausted. Ratthi made eye contact with her and could see her practically pleading with him to take this one off her hands. He nodded.
“All right, everyone,” he said. “On Preservation, we always say, ‘We can talk about this,’ and I think we definitely need to talk about what happened down there.” He looked around the room, at the quiet, serious faces. “I know it was a shock to your systems. It was a shock to mine. I wish we had a professional counselor on board, but we don’t. All we have is each other. A few of us are more experienced, so you have Iris, who’s a professional, me, who’s a fluffy puppy, and, of course, Gura.”
“Who’s a burned-out ex-corporate with a shit-ton of baggage,” Gurathin said. He yanked a slug out of SecUnit’s back using a pair of forceps and dropped it in a metal bin with a plink.
Ratthi’s introductions had the intended effect of drawing a few smiles and chuckles out of the students. The atmosphere in the room lightened just a bit.
“There’s no shame in having a negative reaction to violence. The first time I saw someone killed in front of me, I threw up,” Ratthi said.
“And you weren’t even the one who got spattered with blood and brain matter,” Gurathin said. “Nyla, I need some retraction here.”
“That would’ve been your head if I hadn’t acted.” SecUnit sounded mildly irritated.
Gura smirked. “I know.”
It rolled its eyes. “Then stop complaining.”
Gurathin just chuckled as he tried to remove another slug. “Ugh, this is caught in your subdermal mesh. I’m not sure I can get it out.”
“Peaches.” SecUnit made a face at the name. “We could use your help.”
The ComfortUnit approached them, looking interested. “How can I assist?”
“You might be able to pull this free.” Gurathin handed it the forceps. “Nyla, keep the retraction.”
Peaches leaned down, grasped the slug with the forceps, and pulled it free with a popping noise. It looked proudly at its handiwork. “I could be a nurse!”
“Or a field medic,” said Nyla, flushing the wound with saline. “You’d certainly be a better one than I am.” Her face twisted like she was trying not to cry.
“What are you talking about?” Ade asked. “You’ve been there for every injury in the field. I could hardly stand to look at my burn, but you just picked clothing fibers out of it like you did it every day. And now you’re sitting there helping Doc Gura pull slugs out of SecUnit and not even throwing up, which I would be doing right now!”
The others added their agreement. Ratthi might have as well a few years earlier, but he’d learned better since. “Why do you say that, Nyla?”
“Didn’t you see?” A tear ran down her face even as she made another cut in SecUnit’s back. “I froze there. I shut down harder than a bot that got hit by an EMP. How am I supposed to go back out into the field knowing that I might – I might fail like that?”
“Your medical skills aren’t in doubt,” SecUnit said. “You can handle injuries from accidents. It was the violence. You watched us kill eleven humans. That qualifies as a massacre. You’re not supposed to be able to witness that and be okay.”
“It’s right.” Sae held out ter hands. “I was in the military. We trained hard to desensitize ourselves to witnessing and participating in violence like that. Some of us had more trouble than others, and the ones that had less trouble weren’t necessarily the best soldiers. It’s a natural human response to be horrified at the killing of humans.”
“Are any of you afraid of the SecUnits now?” Gurathin asked. “It’s okay, you can admit it.”
After a moment, a few reluctant hands went up, then more, and ultimately, every student except Sae and Amena raised their hands.
“I’ve known SecUnit for years,” Amena said, voice low and quiet. “It’s practically part of my family. I’ve seen it kill before to protect me. I’m not afraid of it, but I won’t say I like watching it kill. It’s just something it has to do sometimes. And I’m glad I don’t have to make those decisions about when killing is necessary.”
"I feel bad," Fallon admitted. “I’ve been interacting with SecUnit and Three for months now. I like them, I like their personalities. I trust them to take care of us. But after watching that? Yeah, it was scary, and I can’t help that instinctive reaction.”
There were murmurs of agreement. Maya, eyes swimming with tears, looked at SecUnit. “I’m really sorry, SecUnit. You saved us all. You don’t deserve for us to be afraid of you.”
“It’s natural,” it countered. “I was built to be a weapon. I was one for many years. I don’t even know how many humans I’ve killed thanks to my memory wipes. You’d be foolish not to be at least a little afraid. I don’t want you to be afraid of me, but I understand why you are.”
“I was terrified of it.” Gurathin pulled loose the last slug. “When I first met it, I mean. I was CR; I knew what SecUnits were capable of and used for. And here it was, tasked with keeping the people I loved safe.”
“You were an asshole.” SecUnit bent forward a little more as Nyla applied a wound closure. Peaches had continued to watch the procedure with rapt attention.
“I was. But knowing you showed me you’re as much a fluffy puppy as Ratthi.” Gurathin grinned again as SecUnit twisted and gave him the evil eye. “Okay, you’re not, but I’m still not afraid of you anymore.”
“Neither am I,” Ratthi said. “And I was for a while, even though I didn’t want to be.”
“I – I don’t think I’m so much afraid of the SecUnits as I am of the fact that they’re necessary," Naviya said. "I never imagined, when I signed up for this trip, that something like that could happen. Raiders trying to ambush us. If it hadn’t been for the SecUnits, we would’ve had two people with weapons and training to protect us. Not good odds. All of a sudden, the galaxy feels a lot more dangerous. I knew all that stuff was out there, of course, but . . .” She made a helpless gesture.
“It wasn’t real, not for you,” Iris finished. “Most of you have never witnessed up-close violence. You’ve never truly feared for your lives, especially from another sentient being. Now that you’ve been confronted by it, you know it can happen again, not just in your mind, but in your gut. It can happen to you, people you care for can get hurt. You’ve all experienced a loss of innocence today, and that is hard.”
“Professor Halle says innocence is a privilege,” Fallon said. “One that not everyone gets.”
“Constructs certainly don’t,” Gura said. “They get put together, programmed, and sent out to deal with the worst the galaxy can throw at them.” It seemed to Ratthi that his hands lingered as he checked the wound closures. “Thank you for helping, Nyla; I’m not the best with organics.”
“Glad to help,” she said, looking steadier than she had since the confrontation with the raiders. “SecUnit and Three saved us today. It’s the least I can do.”
They talked a while longer about how to recover from the day’s events and how better to prepare for going out into the wider galaxy. Eventually, Ratthi and Iris ended the meeting so the students could eat, bathe, and prepare to sleep.
Once Ratthi had eaten dinner, he went to medbay, where Iris stood next to the MedPod where Three lay, getting repaired and recharging. There were tears in her eyes.
“You really care about it, don’t you?” Ratthi asked.
She turned to him. “I do. But it’s hitting me that this is always how it’ll be. It will throw itself between me and danger, every time. That’s in its deepest programming. Is it even right for me to want a romantic relationship with it if that’s the case?”
“I’d throw myself between the people I love and danger,” Ratthi said. “The difference is, Three has a much better chance at survival than I do. You’ve got to trust it, Iris. That or give up, and I’ve known you for long enough to know that’s not in your nature.”
Iris laughed wetly. “You have a point there.” She sobered. “We augies inhabit a weird in-between space in our society, you know? So do constructs. Everyone understands bots and humans, but augmented humans and constructs have aspects of both. I think that’s why I find myself drawn to Three. Probably why Gurathin is drawn to SecUnit as well.”
Ratthi raised his eyebrows. “You said you didn’t want to get involved.”
“I’m not, but I have eyes and am reasonably intelligent,” she said drily. “I wouldn’t dare to guess at what’s happening between them, but there’s definitely something. They are not normal about each other.”
He laughed and looked down at the MedPod. “Three will be fine.”
“I know. I just . . .” She teared up again.
“Hey.” Ratthi pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay. You don’t have to be so strong now. I’m here if you need me.”
“Thanks, Ratthi,” she whispered. She pulled back and wiped her eyes. “I think I’ll see about getting a shower. That would feel good.”
It did sound good. Ratthi decided to take his own turn at one of the communal showers. They’d had cleansing wipes on the survey, but there was something about a shower that made you feel so much better.
Afterward, though, he was still restless. He checked on Amena, who was headed to bed. He went to the mess/media room and checked on Peaches, who was in earnest discussion with Nyla and Jacinth on what being a field medic entailed. He played a game with a few of the students for a while, then decided he needed to talk to Gurathin, whom he hadn’t seen since the meeting. He wandered down to Gura’s berth and tapped the door chime. After a few seconds, the door slid open.
“Hey, Gura, I was wondering if -”
Ratthi slammed to a halt halfway through the door as the sight in front of him registered. Gurathin lay stretched out on the bed, wearing a soft, dark blue sleep caftan, with his head resting in SecUnit’s lap. It was clean and clothed, sitting on Gurathin’s bunk and leaning back against the wall, eyes closed, looking as relaxed as Ratthi had ever seen it. So, for that matter, did Gura. He looked like a happy cat, smugly curled up with its favorite human.
“In or out, Ratthi,” said Gura.
“S-sorry.” Ratthi stepped fully into the room, letting the door slide shut behind him. He absently noted that SecUnit and Gura were hardwired together again. “Um, you two are . . .”
“Watching media and trying to relax,” SecUnit said. One of its hands rested on Gurathin’s neck, its thumb stroking the skin just under his data port. Ratthi suddenly felt he was witnessing something shockingly intimate.
“You two are cuddling!” Ratthi burst out.
Gurathin sighed. “SecUnit doesn’t like that term. It prefers ‘being in close physical contact for reasons of physical and emotional well-being.’”
Ratthi’s brain was about to break. “But you two are – this is – have you been – this whole time?”
“We’re involved, Ratthi. We enjoy each other’s company. We have creative aug sex. Is that what you and my augies and apparently other people wanted to know?” Gurathin lifted his eyebrows, expression teasing. “We haven’t actively been trying to hide our relationship, you know. Neither of us is into public displays.”
“Also, none of you idiots actually asked,” SecUnit added, still not opening its eyes. "ART found your sneaking around and speculating quite amusing. It was funnier to watch you all fumble around than to volunteer information."
Ratthi narrowed his eyes at the hardwire. “You two aren’t . . . right now?”
“Having sex right in front of you?” Gurathin laughed. “No. We are just watching media from SecUnit’s collection. If we were having sex, it would be obvious.”
“Wouldn’t be right to do it without ART, anyway,” SecUnit said.
Ratthi blinked a few times. “ART? Perihelion?”
“Our third partner,” said Gura. He held up his hand to forestall all the questions crowding Ratthi’s brain. “We can talk about this, Ratthi, but later, please. It’s been a trying day, and we’d like to get some rest.”
“Okay.” Ratthi shook his head slightly, as if that would dislodge all the new information clogging up his neural pathways. “Okay, but we will talk about this.”
“Yes, we’ll talk about this. Good night, Ratthi.” Gurathin closed his eyes again, looking more like a happy cat than ever.
The door slid open behind Ratthi, and he took the hint, backing out of the room. It slid closed, cutting the two inside off from Ratthi’s eyes.
He walked down the corridor, feeling slightly dazed, and stopped by Fallon and Maya’s door. He hit the chime, and the door slid open, revealing the friends in their bunks.
“The answer is yes, and, ‘None of you idiots actually asked,’” he said. “Gura said we can talk about it later. I’m going to bed. Good night.”
And then he went to bed. It had been a long, long day.