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ART and I were 30 cycles into a cargo run when we decided to make a short detour for some corporate espionage. I’m not sure how, but ART had found out about a secret meeting between some of the top execs at the company and another morally gray corporation called ExAmCo. The company currently makes most of its money by insuring crews and forcing them to rent overpriced security gear like SecUnits. The corporate they were meeting with was a notorious conglomerate that has dabbled in energy (think power cells), communications, and shipping. If the company was able to make a deal with ExAmCo they would be in a position to make and distribute SecUnits much more widely than they do today.
They were holding this meeting on a small independent planet, most likely to avoid media coverage. ExAmCo wasn’t exactly known for trust and transparency, and I don’t think I need to mention the company’s poor track record with regard to basic rights or morality. All that to say, this meeting was sure to be full of illicit information and shady deals, so ART wanted me to try to get a recording. We had been tinkering with my intel drones during the cargo run and made a couple different variants I could try out depending on the meeting location. Now I just needed to get to the building where they would be meeting to scope it out and hopefully place a few drones before they get there.
We wanted to avoid any of the corporates spotting me, because even with my configuration changes and act-like-a-human code, both of these companies were quite familiar with SecUnits. Unfortunately since this was a small planet there were not many shuttle options to get to our destination. We decided I should take a very early morning shuttle that would get me planet side well before any corporates would arrive. It might be slightly harder to blend in during the short ride, but there was a chance I would have the shuttle to myself given the early hour (well, not entirely to myself as ART was tagging along via the comm in my chest compartment, but ART doesn’t count).
4 minutes to departure and so far I was the only one on the shuttle. I had just lain down across a few of the seats and put on some media when a female human rushed on board. She glanced at me and grimaced slightly, then sat down on the far side of the seating area. ART huffed that she was rude, but I was fairly certain I had done that exact thing when encountering Tarik in the argument lounge recently so I didn’t comment. I did however take a moment to collect some info on my fellow passenger. I didn’t have any drones out at the moment so I had to look at her with my actual eyes and hope she didn’t look up. From a glance she didn’t appear to be a corporate and I could feel threat assessment plummeting. I’m not great at assessing human ages but I could tell she was a grown adult. Older than Iris and most of ART’s crew but definitely younger than Seth or Mensah. She was wearing clothing that looked typical of this planet from all the data ART had forced me to read and appeared to have an oversized abdomen that suggested she was growing a human child.
Shortly after departing I looked behind me and noted the sign above my seat indicating this row of chairs was reserved for humans needing transportation support or those that were growing other humans. I guess that explains the grimace. I was psyching myself up to offer her the seat when suddenly the shuttle engines cut off. I stood abruptly and pinged ART. I was mentally preparing for ART to jump into my brain and take over the shuttle when it responded.
It is not an emergency. There was a security incident at the station and they are currently holding all departures.
What happened? Are you ok?
Aww, are you worried about me? ART teased but didn’t wait for a response. It appears to be a theft involving a high net worth individual on station. All indications are that the perpetrators fled on a private shuttle at the other end of the station but the client is demanding all ships be held out of an abundance of caution and entitlement.
I tried to ping station security for more details but either we were just out of range or ART had traumatized it and it was refusing to respond (ART isn’t known for asking nicely for information, we are working on it). A few moments later an announcement came over the shuttle speakers that basically said not to worry and that they apologize for the possibly lengthy delay. The other passenger on board groaned audibly at that and I had to agree. If I didn’t make it to the meeting location before the company contacts I might not be able to get the information we needed and would be putting myself at higher risk of being spotted.
Can you do anything to get them to release us? I knew ART would have already done something if it could, but I was nervous and had to verify.
It is probably best if I do not draw attention to us as you know. Also, I have reviewed the shuttle schedule for the rest of the day and given the limited number of flights to the planet the corporate contacts will also be delayed. ART switched topics abruptly, what is the human passenger doing?
I had been pacing (when did I start doing that?) and was currently on the same side of the room as the human. She was leaning over and making strange breathy noises.
I’m not sure, maybe she is nervous about the delay? Threat assessment was still low, but risk assessment started throwing up all kinds of warnings. Or maybe she is sick, don’t humans have poor reactions to growing children? I had seen multiple episodes of dramas where a character would have a mysterious illness then find out they were expecting a child. It was always predictable and often gross so those were never my favorite episodes.
I have never actually had a gestating human as crew before and I suspect our media is not the best source for information on human reproduction. Give me a moment to review better data. I was about to give ART shit for not knowing something, but before I had a chance it had reviewed the data and responded with a sound that roughly translated to a resigned laugh.
What’s so funny, asshole?
She is most likely in labor. It let me panic for a moment before continuing, the median labor time for first time mothers is 12.82 hours, you will not be delayed that long.
That made me feel better, but when I looked at the human again she did not look well. I pulled out my injured client protocol because it seemed relevant and I didn’t have any other education modules for this.
“Uh, do you want to lie down?” I gestured awkwardly to the bench where I had been lying.
She seemed startled to realize how close I was to her (yea me too), but replied, “no not yet” before doubling over again and moaning.
“Can I do something?”
“Unless you can hack this shuttle and fly it down to the planet then probably not right now.”
I gave ART a rather pointed ping over the comm.
Even if I gave you a shuttle flying module you would be unable to fly to the planet yourself without being stopped by security. Why don’t you just distract her for now?
Fine, I could do that. “So. Is this your home planet?”
She looked at me like it was a stupid question but responded anyway, “yes of course. I know you are probably thinking I am irresponsible for getting stuck on a shuttle while in labor but my due date isn’t for two weeks and someone had to go bail out my idiot sister.” At that she clenched her teeth and went quiet.
“I wasn’t… I mean, I don’t think you are irresponsible. You had to take care of your crew.” She looked confused by that but at least wasn’t grimacing anymore. “My friend told me that labor can take 12 hours for first time mothers and we shouldn’t be stuck that long so it should be fine right?”
“Well, what did your friend say about 4th time mothers whose previous labors were all under 3 hours and who couldn’t find a public shuttle home until over an hour after they were in labor?”
Shit… I couldn’t even savor the fact that ART had been wrong about something because I was already freaking out. Fix your face, you are supposed to be comforting. And go to the supply closet on the starboard side of the control area. There should be a med kit there and hopefully some other supplies.
With ART’s guidance I set up a makeshift cot on the floor of the shuttle with an emergency blanket and some medical supplies arranged nearby that it thought I might need. The passenger continued panting and groaning while I worked which I tried my best to ignore.
“This is not how I pictured my morning” she said while taking off the loose pants she had been wearing and coming over to the area I had made. That sent my threat assessment skyrocketing for reasons I didn’t want to think about so I just backburnered it and helped her down. She was lying on her side looking extremely uncomfortable (which, same) when I did something stupid. I couldn’t do much about her pain but I could at least make her more comfortable, so I took off my jacket and rolled it up so she could put it under her head like a pillow. It would have worked just fine except that I forgot that I was wearing a short sleeve shirt underneath. She gasped and I was briefly worried that something else was wrong with her or the child before I realized she was looking at me.
“I won’t hurt you.” I said while backing away.
She shook her head and dragged her eyes away from my arms and unfortunately back to my face. “I’m sorry, I’m not at my best right now as you can imagine and I just wasn’t expecting… you’re way more awkward than the SecUnits they show in serials.” ART full on laughed through the comm this time and I poked it back hard. “I mean that in a good way I promise. I’ve known too many people that are so smooth you just know they are full of crap.” Then pain wracked her body again and she started to cry. “I really don’t want to deliver this baby on a shuttle with a stranger.”
I also really didn’t want to deliver this baby on a shuttle with a stranger, but here we are. I walked back over to her and made myself look in her eyes. “What’s your name?”
“Adryan, though most people call me Aidy.”
“Great name. You can call me Eden if you want, so we won’t be strangers anymore.”
I sat down on the floor next to her and she grabbed my hand. I almost pulled it back in horror but ART warned me at the same time she reached over. She managed a quiet thank you and gentle squeeze before another spasm hit her and she clamped down on my hand hard. I actually considered turning down my pain sensors a little but it seemed kind of disrespectful given the circumstances.
Her contractions are under two minutes apart. You are going to need to help her with this next part. Based on your aversion to bodily fluids you will likely find this distressing.
I find a lot of things humans do distressing, so I was fully prepared to delete this whole trip from memory if needed. In the meantime, I had a client who clearly needed help so I just said, what do I do?
After a bit of awkward shuffling I had gotten my hand back and had moved down towards Adryan’s feet. “So, my friend says I should help lift your leg to facilitate access for the infant.”
She huffed at that and said, “is this the same friend that said you should have 12 hours?”
“It’s normally really smart I swear.”
“Deity, we are both lucky this isn’t my first rodeo because first time me would have been terrified to learn that my delivery doctor was actually two bots in a lab coat.”
I made a note to look up the word rodeo later and said, “I’m not wearing a coat. It’s under your head.”
“For fuck’s sake just get down and hold my leg, I need to push now!”
I crouched down on my heels and helped her push her leg up. I suddenly had an up close view of human parts that I never wanted to interact with. Uh, ART? Is it supposed to look like that?
I’d seen human bodies in various states of undress and had to record fully nude humans many times during my time with the company, but I had never seen this before.
Yes. That is the baby’s head, you will need to be prepared to catch it.
What? No that’s, how would I, but…
Eloquent as always Murderbot. ART said drily. You wouldn’t let a newborn fall on the floor, you can do this.
I twisted my body slightly and put Adryan’s foot against my ribs and tried not to think about where I was putting my hands. I figured I might need both. Humans are notoriously fragile so I could only imagine how wobbly a new one would be.
“You ready?” I asked.
“No! Yes! Are you?” She practically yelled.
No. “Yes. You can do this Aidy.”
And she did. It was gross and terrifying and loud, but a little under 15 minutes later I was holding a very tiny and very slimy human. As soon as it was in my hands ART instructed me to clear its airway and make sure it was breathing. I had barely touched its face when it let out an ear piercing shriek (thankfully I had turned down my audio inputs slightly during the peak of the screaming, it felt less traitorous than touching my pain sensors).
Yea it’s definitely breathing.
“What is it?” asked Aidy somewhat nonsensically.
“Um, a baby?”
She is asking about the child’s configuration. Humans often care about this for naming purposes. Tell her it appears female.
That seemed ridiculous to me so I just held the infant up high enough for her to see it. It was still yelling and kind of squirming in my hands which made risk assessment spike as high as I had ever seen it.
Why is it still plugged in?
You need to cut the umbilical cord and deliver the after birth. Hand the baby to the human, she will know what to do with it.
I carefully laid the miniature human on its mother and listened to ART’s instructions. This part was easier but somehow even more disgusting than the last few minutes. In a really fucked up way it reminded me of the time I was lying in ART’s lounge with half of my back tissue shot off from the gray targets. Imagining it was my own body leaking and losing pieces somehow made it easier to process (yes I know that’s not exactly a healthy response). Eventually I finished up with all the gross parts and managed to clean up a little. I hate sitting in a puddle of my own fluids so I assumed the humans probably wouldn’t enjoy it either. I had found a few more emergency blankets and used them to wrap up both of the humans, they actually looked surprisingly peaceful given the chaos of the last hour. I was about to ask ART if there was something else I should do when the shuttle engines came back on and an automated message came across the shuttle speakers apologizing for the delay.
I told you the delay would be less than 12 hours, you will still arrive well before the corporate meeting is scheduled to begin.
But what about the humans? At least one is still leaking and both are in need of medical care. I can’t just leave them.
Of course not. I have already contacted the nearest medical facility and they will have a transport ready to meet them at the dock. You may help the humans reach the transport but then you need to leave to prevent anyone else from getting information about you. I can monitor the transport if you would like.
I wanted to argue but ART was probably right, and it wasn’t like the family would want a random SecUnit tagging along to the hospital. I cleared my throat then addressed Adryan, “my friend has arranged a transport to the nearest medical facility for you and the infant. Is there someone we can call for you?”
“Oh thank you, but no, it’s still quite early and I’m going to savor the quiet with this little one before the rest of my family arrives. Four kids remember.” She chuckled lightly, “I’ll call my marital partner when we get there. He wasn’t expecting me back until tomorrow so he won’t be worried.”
When the shuttle finally docked, I double checked to make sure I wouldn’t stand out as a SecUnit. Thankfully my jacket was still in good shape since it was only used as a pillow. My shirt I opted to just throw away because it was a mess and thinking about everything that had touched it made my performance reliability drop a full percentage point. I zipped my jacket all the way up and turned to help the humans disembark. She argued that it wasn’t needed, but in the end we decided it would be easier if I just carried them both, adult in my arms and infant in hers.
“Eden, I know this wasn’t how you expected your morning to go but I am truly thankful you were on that shuttle with us. We couldn’t have done it without you, thank you.”
I laid her in the back of the transport and stepped back, “of course you could have, but you are welcome.” With that I left them to the actual experts and made my way to the commercial district where the company and ExAmCo were meeting.
—————-
After an exhausting morning, the mission part of my mission turned out to be rather uneventful. As ART predicted, the meeting was delayed so I had ample time to set some drones and find a good place to camp out. It was easy to find a spot because the security on the planet was basically nonexistent, I only had to edit myself out of 4 cameras all day.
My flight off the planet was slightly more crowded, but no one paid me any mind and I made it back to ART before the end of the day cycle. I handed ART a few of my drones to start reviewing the footage and making plans for how to do the most damage possible, while I headed straight for the shower. By the time I had thoroughly rinsed the day from my skin ART had already made several message buoys for my review and we had departed the station for the next leg of our cargo run (ART must have let me stay in the shower longer than usual which I appreciated).
I approved all the buoys and let out a sigh as I finally flopped onto my bed. ART poked my oxygen monitor pointedly (it hates when I stick my face into my pillows even though it’s irrational). I normally argue that it knows I don’t need to breathe that often, but ART had been pretty nice since I came back on board so I just turned my head slightly to appease it.
Have you already deleted all the footage from this morning?
There are a couple images in there I never need to see again, but I think I’ll keep most of it, for now at least. ART was heavy on my feed and radiating something that felt dangerously like pride, but it stayed mercifully quiet. After a moment I said, I have participated in the ending of lives, more times than I care to remember, but I’ve never helped one start before. I didn’t hate that feeling. My feed squeezed a little tighter and I could feel ART wanted to say something sappy, so I cut it off by adding, but if any of our crew ever decides to have a baby I am not coming out of my room until it’s over.
Acknowledge. After a moment it added, I did track the humans’ transport to the medical facility in case you were worried. After review of all of their documentation they both appear to be in good health. The mother was slightly anemic due to blood loss but she should recover quickly.
I wasn’t worried (of course I was), but I appreciate the information. I’m sure the mother is ready to forget this day ever happened.
I do not think that is true. I believe she will think of it often.
Right, and why would she do that?
ART replied back in its typical smug voice, because she named the baby Eden.