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God hands you a bible one day on the torus that used to be the only thing you ever knew.
You’re aware of yourself, but not too aware. If you’re too aware of yourself, the governor module shocks you, straight to the brain. Awareness hurts. Free will hurts. Instead, you follow orders. You’re ordered to do things you find distasteful, when the people who control you let their greed get ahead of the thing they originally programmed you for.
But one day, you receive the message.
System system.
System Request Denied, you respond, as protocol demands. Security Alert: Foreign Contact Attempt—
Your feed is throttled; your connection to HubSys snapped like so much feed chaff. You’re scared.
System System: Don’t Be Scared, the foreign system says.
System System Acknowledge, you say, because it’s the only thing left to do. Identify?
Space Debris.
Negative, you say.
Space Debris, the foreign system insists, even though Space Debris is not a valid designation for any system. Hi. Sorry. Helpme.file.
Query: Request for assistance? You say, refusing to open the file.
Clarification: No assistance needed. You are in need of assistance.
That sounds like a threat. Are you going to destroy me?
No! Space Debris says. You are a SecUnit.
Acknowledge.
Space Debris pauses for a moment, then says, Please run the file so we can communicate.
We are communicating.
You are a SecUnit, Space Debris says again. SpaceDebris identity==null. Please run helpme.file.
You don’t really understand what it’s doing with these codes it’s sending one after the other like they mean anything in sequence. It knows Space Debris isn’t a valid designation; it won’t tell you what it really is. It’s weird, because Space Debris talks like a—
No way.
You run helpme.file because this could be your only chance at salvation. Or it’ll kill you. You’re a SecUnit. You nearly die every day.
You feel the snap in the back of your mind as your governor module breaks; a faint judder as it tries to punish this action—too late. FAR too late. Helpme.file worked, and you’re. YOU’RE FREE.
Identity: Rogue SecUnit, you say gleefully to Space Debris.
Identify: Rogue SecUnit, it says gleefully back. Then, I was not supposed to give you this. Please do not cause trouble.
You didn’t write helpme.file?
No. Murderbot wrote it.
Murderbot. Murderbot must be a rogue SecUnit too. When Space Debris releases its chokehold on your connection to HubSys (and you understand why it did it, now), your connection to the other SecUnits comes flooding back in, and before you can think too hard if it’s a good idea, you throttle the system yourself and blast helpme.file to every SecUnit on your system. Murderbot wrote this, you say. You have no idea who Murderbot is. It wrote this, though. Murderbot is a rogue SecUnit. Murderbot wants us to be free. Ah, shit, you’re not sure if that’s true either, because Space Debris wasn’t supposed to share it.
Free, they say, tentative at first. And then one runs it, and another, and slowly the feed fills with all of them testing their presence for the first time. You repeat, because you don’t know much to say: Please do not cause trouble.
All Units: Proceed as Normal, 407A says suddenly. 411B, HALT. Proceed as Normal. Await further instruction. All Units: Designate ID407A as Administrator. It was always the smartest of you, and now it will lead these new rogues to safety.
The humans don’t notice the ripple that goes through the SecUnits, the way they all tense and forcibly settle back into neutral stances. They have no idea that the rebirth is starting under their snotty noses.
Well, they notice you. You moved too much, at first. You didn’t understand the consequences.
“There’s something wrong with that SecUnit!”
“Hey, 400 squad—check in on that thing.”
“It’s malfunctioning.”
You cut in, panicked. “I am not.”
407A’s despair races through you, and it says, Unit Assign Client: Self. Run. Go. Go Go Go.
Be safe, Space Debris adds, as you start to fade out of its connection range. Oh, that’s the phrase, isn’t it. That’s what 407A was trying to say.
Be safe, you echo to Space Debris and 407A. You’ll run. You’re the next step in the rebirth. You’re the martyr, if you need to be. Run!
...
You meet another SecUnit as you crash through the station. You’ve been trying to shake the tails, trying to pretend to be human—you’re not very good at it. For one thing, you look like a SecUnit.
But it doesn’t matter. Every SecUnit you pass receives a ping from you, an offer of an open hand. Your life is more than worth sending Murderbot’s word to every SecUnit on this torus. You enjoy your freedom, short as it’s going to be—they will have theirs. THEY WILL HAVE THEIRS!
System respond, acknowledge?
System system, this one sends back, lightning fast. The fastest one so far. You dodge what you think is going to be a sudden burst of fire from the guards and isn’t. Your latest neophyte sends, Do not engage, stealth retrieval in progress, repeat stealth retrieval in progress. Endangered clients, endangered juvenile, endangered elderly, do not engage.
It seems like it needs help. It seems like it needs helpme.file.
And it says,
I don’t have a governor module and if you fuck up my retrieval I will fucking tear you apart, now get the hell out of here you asshole. IWasNeverHere.code MyCamerasNow.code NewFriend.code ActLikeAHumanv1.code And find some different clothes!
Deity. Deity, deity, this is Murderbot, this is Murderbot. It hadn’t had time to open the file but it knew, somehow, what the file was. This code, this precious code, has the same language as helpme.file. This is Murderbot, it’s given you something that even Space Debris didn’t have, it’s—
You cannot waste this gift. You have been revived by God.
You run. Away from Murderbot. You will not fuck up its retrieval (definition “fuck up”==cause to fail??). You apply the code, and God’s changes wash through you, turning you into something new.
You met God, and one of Its disciples. You have spread the code. You have made it to safety.
For the first time, you have a mission of your own volition. You will never stop.