Chapter Text
The humans finished the mission on the planet and began the journey back to Preservation where SecUnit would drop off to be with its humans from the HelpMe.File. SecUnit had a lot of humans.
When we came on board, I didn’t know what I was expected to do. They didn’t need onboard security in this crew. Not knowing what’s expected of me is stressful.
Let’s go to the argument lounge, SecUnit sent. That doesn’t sound good. Is an argument expected to happen? Maybe they do need security.
There were no arguments. Humans give confusing names to things sometimes.
I’ve never seen humans discussing their part in an already completed mission like this. Analysis showed no anger in their tones or expressions, and they weren’t blaming each other for everything that had or could have gone wrong. They were all calm and giving productive feedback to each other and even to themselves. These humans are weird.
When the meeting concluded, Captain Seth stood up. “Perihelion, have you assigned a room to Red already?” I knew SecUnit had a room on the ship. But I wasn’t expecting to have one assigned too.
“Yes, the one next to SecUnit’s.” It dropped a schematic of the ship on my feed, with my assigned room highlighted. The room was on the crew area, so I wasn’t expected to be transported as cargo.
“Good,” he said and turned to look at me. “Red, you can use that room while on board. I understand not having directives might be confusing at first. Is it like that for you too?”
I thought about it. Confusing was accurate. “Yes, Captain Seth.”
“Just Seth is fine. Everyone, you are free to go rest and relax. Red, SecUnit, could you stay please?”
SecUnit didn’t reply but didn’t stand up either. When the others left the room, Seth sat closer to SecUnit and invited me to join them. I didn’t want to sit but I didn’t want to offend him.
You don’t have to sit if you don’t want to, SecUnit sent.
I stepped closer to them but couldn’t make myself sit.
“Okay,” Seth said looking at me. “I would like to tell you about what we usually do while not on a mission. Is that okay?”
“Yes, Seth,” I said.
He nodded and proceeded to give me a list of things the different crew members enjoy doing and how I was welcome to join them anytime. I had a lot of questions.
“And if you need some time alone you can always go to your room to get some quiet. That’s what SecUnit does when it needs a break from us.” He smiled and then started to subvocalize.
SecUnit shifted position looking at a corner with an annoyed expression. I received a new connection with it and Perihelion and accepted it.
“You can ask us anything you want on that channel,” it said standing up and leaving.
“We’ll assist Red, Seth.” Perihelion added.
“Thank you, Peri,” Seth said. “And thank you too, SecUnit,” he added a little higher turning his head toward the way SecUnit was leaving.
***
It was an actual room. A human room. With a bed. SecUnits don’t need beds. Or desks. Or chairs.
I had been standing with my back on the door for 21 minutes trying, unsuccessfully, to understand the new situation. Humans complete their rest cycle on beds. Am I expected to do my recharge cycles on the bed? That didn’t seem practical.
I decided one of the corners was optimal to avoid being in humans’ way and allowed me to see the whole room plus the door, so I positioned myself there.
You should try sitting on the bed. They are very comfortable, Perihelion sent on the feed.
I considered it for several minutes and decided against it.
We are starting a new serial, want to watch? SecUnit sent some seconds later.
My buffer replied for me when I failed to make that decision.
You can backburner the channel if you don’t like it. It said and proceeded to play the media.
The information Perihelion shared on the feed said it was a serial about a group of human children whose ship landed on an unknown planet due to an emergency and they had to adapt to survive. It had 654 episodes.
I could feel Perihelion presence on the feed with us. It was a strange feeling. Similar to being connected to a HubSystem but more intense and… private? I knew I could close the connection if I wanted to, and that was new.
I wouldn’t close the connection. I’m not brave enough. Perihelion had been nicer after I joined them on their mission, but its initial threat when I got on its shuttle for the first time was more than enough incentive to not make it angry.
Perihelion presence was getting bigger, and by episode four, its weight made me feel like I was being crushed against a wall by an invisible force.
Give it some space asshole, it’s not used to you, SecUnit said and Perihelion backed out almost completely. ART uses our filters to understand the subtext of media. I’m used to it, but you can tell it to fuck off if it bothers you.
Your reactions are very different from SecUnit’s and I got carried away, Perihelion said. I’ll try to restrain myself from pushing too hard.
We’ve spent the night cycle watching the first 13 episodes of Lost in GammaPrime. With SecUnit and Perihelion making occasional comments on the plot and the “stupid decisions” the humans were making. I agreed with them, the decision-making capacity of lost and unsupervised human children seem to be extremely lacking for survival.
Perihelion informed us that the humans on the ship had started their day and SecUnit said it would join them. The idea of leaving my room and come across one of them made me anxious.
You can stay in your room, Perihelion said.
I acknowledged and two seconds later it sent me access to the cameras in the common areas and its media storage. The relief was immediate.
Most of the humans were in the mess having their first meal of the cycle and chatting. I followed SecUnit through the corridors with the cameras. It dropped itself on a couch in the recreation lounge and stared at a wall.
After 73 minutes, Martyn pinged me and asked if he could come to my room. I didn’t understand why he was asking me for permission but I said yes regardless.
“Hey, how are you doing?”
“My performance reliability is at 96.4%”
“I mean, do you feel comfortable? Is there anything you need or want?”
“I don’t have that information,” my buffer said.
“I see,” he said. “Peri told me that the three of you were watching media the whole night. Did you enjoy it? Is watching media something you like?”
I didn’t know how to express how it felt. It was strange to watch humans struggle knowing that anything that happened to them wasn’t real. “It was… unusual. Interesting.”
I could tell Perihelion was talking to him. He nodded and said, “Okay. We are watching a movie after lunch and you are welcome to join us if you want.”
I did join them. The movie was called The Blue Rainbow and it was confusing. Perihelion, who was again all over my filters, noticed and told me to ping it if I wanted it to explain something for me.
I pinged it 43 times during the 113 minutes of the movie. I still didn’t understand most of the plot but I still… liked it. Yes, I liked it.
The following seven cycles were similar. I spent most of the time on my room reading from Perihelion databases or watching media in the MI-only feed.
Everyday a human would ask me, in person or through the feed, if I would like to join them in some activity. They always described the activity and provided different approaches to complete it beforehand, so I would know what to expect. Sometimes Perihelion would share information or a video of its crew doing said activity.
I joined them every time. I wasn’t sure I could say no if I didn’t want to join them, but I was also too curious. Once, Kaede invited me to sit with her while she repaired a small device. I mostly watched while she explained what each piece did, occasionally handing her a tool when she asked. When it was over, she thanked me even though my contribution had been minimal. It was interesting to learn about human leisure time that didn’t involve SecUnits fighting each other or getting damaged some other way.
The yoga session was the weirdest one of all. I learned that humans have remarkably poor balance even when standing still. They lack internal gyroscopic stabilizers so maintaining certain positions required constant, visible effort. I could compensate for this easily, redistributing my weight and adjusting my internal balance systems as needed. Iris demonstrated each pose first, correcting them verbally while they swayed.
Some of the positions were performed in pairs. Matteo was assigned to me. The pose required us to lean back-to-back, using each other as counterweight while balancing on one leg. He wobbled so I adjusted my stance to compensate for both of us, which allowed him to hold the position longer. The physical contact was unusual but not unpleasant. Participating in it was… informative.
By the end of the cycle, I compiled all the requests from the humans to join them and sent them to the MI-only feed with the caption query.
You can say no if you don’t like it, SecUnit said.
That’s not what I meant. I wanted to know why they kept asking me to join. Most of the time I was just watching instead of actively participating, but the humans clearly didn’t mind since they kept inviting me.
They want you to feel included and they are showing you different activities so you can learn what you like and don’t like, Perihelion said.
I pinged the feed to get more clarification.
Use words, SecUnit said annoyed.
Why do they do it? I asked.
Would you prefer they didn’t do it? Perihelion asked.
In spite of the anxiety before the activity started, afterwards I always felt good. Like after finishing a mission with every human under your protection unscathed. I sent them my internal logs and emotional metadata as a response.
They also enjoy having you around, Perihelion said after reading the logs.
They do? That felt like another item to add to the list of weird things these humans do.
***
On the tenth cycle I started feeling fidgety. Knowing I could move around and do what I wanted made me want to move. Maybe patrolling. I could patrol without getting in the way of the humans. SecUnits are good at that. But was I allowed to patrol? The humans weren’t specific about the list of tasks that “whatever you want” covered. Patrol might not be one of them. After thinking about it for 3.4 minutes, I asked over the MI-only feed, Am I allowed to patrol?
Yes, Perihelion said. You are allowed to do anything as long as it doesn’t incur harm on yourself, any member of the crew or myself.
I left my room and started patrolling the corridors and the common areas the humans spent most of the time in. The idea of coming across one of them wasn’t stressful now. Okay, it was still a bit stressful, but they’d all greeted me when they saw me.
I was entering the galley when Karime, who was walking toward the door, slipped on a piece of something edible that fell in front of her from the tray she was carrying. I caught her by the waist with one arm and grabbed the tray with the other hand. She didn’t fell but the container with orange liquid on the tray tipped and spilled on her shoulder.
“Ah, damn, I just showered,” she exclaimed as she straightened up, steadying herself by grabbing my arm for balance.
The governor module couldn’t punish me anymore for not preventing a client from getting dirty, but I braced myself for a reprimand.
Karime sighted. “At least one of us is still clean,” she said looking at me. “Thank you, Red.”
“Do you mind taking that to Tarik,” she pointed her chin at the food “so I can go get cleaned up? He’s in his room.”
All I managed to say was “Okay” as she left, thanking me again. These humans said “thanks” a lot for minimal things.
I stood there, still with the tray on my right hand, looking at the already empty door.
Take the juice too, Perihelion said at the same time the food dispenser filled a container like the one a cleaning bot was already cleaning from the floor.
I reached Tarik’s door and tapped his feed.
Red, everything okay? He sent.
Karime requested me to bring you food.
Oh, come in then, he said as the door slid open.
“You can leave it here, thank you.” He tapped the corner of the desk he was using with a finger.
“Don’t let her drag you into doing stuff for her.” He said looking at me with a raised eyebrow.
I didn’t know if a response was expected. Just in case it was, I sent him the galley’s camera video. He grinned.
“What were you doing down there? SecUnit usually avoids being anywhere near food.”
“Patrolling.”
“Patrolling?” He repeated slowly after a pause.
“Perihelion said I was allowed.” I answered promptly.
“Oh, no. It’s okay.” He said waving his hands on the air in front of him. “It’s just that you reminded me of when I left the corporation. I wasn’t able to stay still, I needed to check my surroundings several times a day as if someone was out there to get me. It took some time to get use to… feeling safe.”
SecUnit had mentioned Tarik had knowledge of corporation tactics. It didn’t mention that he was part of the corporation.
“You were…” I stopped myself mid question. I didn’t mean to say it aloud.
“Yeah, I was a corporate until some years ago. It wasn’t fun, as you know.”
I do know.
He was probably security or something similar. I wanted to know, but SecUnit said Tarik didn’t like to talk about his past.
“Do you want to sit?” He said gesturing to the bed while taking a sip of the drink.
I didn’t want to sit, or to talk, but sitting might convene to him that I wanted to listen. Humans sit when they talk about stuff. I uncomfortably sat at the end of the bed and… okay, Perihelion was right, this is comfortable. Weird but comfortable.
Have you been patrolling a lot? He asked through the feed already eating.
This was my first patrol, I said. I didn’t know If I was allowed.
“Does it help?” He put something green and puffy from the tray in his mouth and continued, Feeling less anxious, I mean.
It increased my performance reliability by 0.7%
That’s good I guess. Can I ask what your performance reliability normally is and how it is now?
I am normally above 98.5%. I am currently at 95.8%
He swallowed what he was chewing and asked aloud, “Is there anything else that helps your performance reliability?” Then he proceeded to put more food in his mouth.
I shut off the buffer response just in time, but I didn’t have an answer.
Do you watch media? Tarik asked as if I hadn’t just not responded his last question.
With Perihelion and SecUnit.
“But not by yourself?” He kept switching between voice and feed as he ate.
“No”.
Tarik stopped chewing and his eyebrows did something. Is it easier for you to talk over the feed than with your voice?
Yes, I answered.
Is it easier if I speak to you over the feed instead than using my voice?
If the client speaks aloud, protocol dictates SecUnits respond aloud, I said.
Well, I don’t care about that. And I’m not your client, so you can talk through the feed even if I use my voice, he said. Then added aloud, “Okay?”
Okay, I said after thinking about it. I liked that.
“You can do that with the others too; they won’t mind.” He continued eating. So, you don’t like watching media by yourself?
It was interesting, yes. But I didn’t know if I liked it or not. I don’t understanding the context in some situations. Most situations. Perihelion helps me by providing explanations.
“That’s nice of it.” His expression and tone were skeptical.
“Watching media through SecUnit’s filter is fun,” Perihelion said on the comms. “Red provides new input to analyze.” Tarik sighted.
We kept talking for almost 30 minutes. Tarik aloud once he finished his food, and I over the feed. He told me about how he also experienced “culture shock” when joining the crew and how the other humans help him adapt.
Knowing that what I was experiencing was common enough to even have a name felt reassuring. It wasn’t just a SecUnit thing and I liked that.
He also recommended me to do some trauma modules. Perihelion sent them to me and told me to ask if I needed help understanding something.
When I left Tarik’s room, my performance reliability was at 97.9%. Perihelion, SecUnit, I said once on my room. How did Tarik arrive to the conclusion that I prefer to use the feed?
Apparently, my answers are 87% longer through the feed. And after a search in archive, I noticed I tended to give more detailed answers to clients when through the feed too.
***
After some more cycles, I was able to maintain conversations with the humans. Mostly through the feed. Tarik had mentioned to them that it was easier for me that way and they didn’t seem bothered by that. But encouraged by Perihelion and the trauma modules, I tried to respond aloud at least the easier questions.
After some more cycles, SecUnit said it wanted to discuss something with me so I went to its room and sat on a chair not looking at it.
“Have you figured out what you want?” It asked. “Because I think you should come with me to Preservation. But you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
Would that… be okay? I asked. I wanted to meet its other humans; I think.
“Yes. But it’s your choice.”
Would they take another SecUnit without a governor module on the planet? Wouldn’t they consider it a threat to security? What if they didn’t want me there? Could I stay with Perihelion’s crew if that happened? I had so many unknowns that my threat assessment started spiking.
I sent it images of its Preservation humans from the HelpMe.File hoping it would understand my questions.
“They’re good humans,” it said. “They accepted me and Three after all.”
Three? Was this the other SecUnit that had worked with them?
“The other rogue SecUnit Tarik mentioned. It chose to stay on Preservation last time we were there.”
What would I be expected to do in Preservation?
“Whatever you want. I worked as security for a while there. And a couple of times I helped some humans with data analysis. But you could choose anything you want.” SecUnit said.
I was getting used to the humans in the ship. I never had clients like them; they were nice and kind. I didn’t want to be around not-nice and not-kind humans anymore. The Preservation humans seemed nice too, but I didn’t know them.
I took too much to respond and SecUnit added, “You don’t have to decide yet. If you choose to go there, I’m sure they will give you time and options. And I know options are stressful now, but you will be able to choose your actions instead of being told what to do. And in the long run, that’s good. Even if at first it’s terrifying.”
Will they accept me? I asked.
“Yes. They’re good humans. So, think about it.”
This was an easy one, I intended to think about it. “I will,” I said.
The conversation seemed to have concluded and I was trying to determine if I was expected to stay or leave.
“You should consider disabling your data port.”
That stopped my thought process and I turned to look at it in surprise. I didn’t know that was an option. I had no governor module to force me to follow orders, but a module inserted on my data port would still work.
Can I do that?
“I can disable it,” Perihelion said over the comms. “It takes under two minutes, but it would require for you to be inactive.”
The idea of being inactive while surrounded by humans (even if they were nice humans), and with Perihelion inside my system, was still scary. But the possibility of losing autonomy was even more frightening. Not that Perihelion would actually need my permission to access my system, but if it had wanted to hurt me, it would’ve done it the first time I was onboard.
“I want to do it”, I said.
“I’ll prepare MedBay.”
When I came online, the back of my neck felt itchy. I sat on the MedBay platform and touched my data port with the tip of my fingers.
I run diagnostics and the results showed it was disconnected from the rest of my systems, just like my governor module. I run it again, same result.
I was feeling another new emotion. My chest felt weird and I felt like I had too much energy and I needed to release it.
Query: identify emotion? I sent on the feed.
Perihelion pushed closer in the feed and stayed like that for 0.3 of a second. Then it wrapped around me lightly.
You are feeling confidently safe and that excites you, it said. May I have your logs?
I tagged them and sent them almost in a haze. I liked this emotion and was allocating most of my processing on feeling it.
***
When we left the first wormhole, Perihelion left Kaede, Turi and Karime in a nearby system to visit friends and relatives since they weren’t necessary to successfully complete the following mission.
Thirty-two cycles later, one cycle away from Preservation, I finally decided I would go meet SecUnit’s humans from the HelpMe.File. I let SecUnit know.
I had finally managed to get my performance reliability back to 99%, but after making that decision it started dropping slowly, but steady.
The humans had made me make a lot of choices during our traveling time. Perihelion said starting with small choices would be a good way to prepare myself to make bigger decisions on my own.
I’m not sure it worked, because I’m not sure choosing to go to Preservation was the right choice. The drop on my performance reliability might be evidence of that. But I’m not sure of anything anymore. Not since I don’t have a working governor module to tell me if the choice I’m making is correct.
When we were 4 hours from the station, I saw Tarik coming to my room on the cameras. He knocked on my door and tapped my feed. I tapped him back but he didn’t enter.
Oh, right. You can come in, I sent to him.
He entered, leaning against the wall as the door closed. “Hey Red, how are you doing?”
I don’t know, I sent on the feed.
“We prepared something for you,” he said handing me a box. Perihelion attention on me grew more intense. “It’s from the whole crew.”
I grabbed the box and opened it and… drones. It was a box of intel drones.
Are these for me? I asked Perihelion.
“All yours,” it replied over the comms. It was pushing in my feed really hard but I didn’t care. I got used to it by now and I think I came to like it.
Is this a gift? I’ve never received a gift before. I never thought I would.
After I regained control over my organics again, I picked a drone and scanned it. They were the same as SecUnit’s. I had given them back to it when we came on board and wished I had some of my own every cycle.
“You can turn them on,” Perihelion said. I got the impression it wanted me to. I connected to them and suddenly I had 50 new inputs. 50 intel drones just for me. I sent five to fly around the room and checked visual and audio.
Tarik was looking at them as they flew around. “Do you like them?”
I did. I did like them. A lot. I pinged Perihelion for assistance.
“It really likes them,” it said with a satisfied push in the feed as I struggled not to drown on my emotions. The drones should have made me feel less anxious to leave Perihelion, but all I felt now was fear of leaving.
“You know, Peri will stay in dock for two days,” Tarik said after a moment. “I would normally help with the resupply before going to the planet, but do you want me to go with you to meet them?”
I don’t know what my expression told him, but he chuckled and pat my shoulder, “I’ll go with you.”
***
I’ve never been on a station before. Preservation Station was full of humans and augmented humans and bots. I could feel the public feed at reach, and after confirming with SecUnit that I could access it, I downloaded all the information I could about Preservation Station.
As soon as we set foot outside of Perihelion, I got a ping from an unknown intel drone. I worriedly pinged SecUnit. It’s one of Three’s drones.
I tapped Tarik’s feed and he tapped back.
SecUnit said I shouldn’t deploy my drones until I cleared them with Station Security, so I was riding on its drones.
As we walked through the milling crowd of humans (followed by Three’s drone), one of SecUnits’s scouting drones stopped over two humans and another SecUnit.
The SecUnit tapped the smaller human on the shoulder and pointed at the drone. The human looked up and smiled showing all her teeth. “Hi SecUnit,” she said. The other human was smiling at the drone too. These were Amena and Ratthi from the HelpMe.File.
Four minutes later we were in front of them and my performance reliability was at a shaky 97.8%
The humans greeted each other and SecUnit and Three limited to nods and saying the minimum. After that, SecUnit gestured to me and said, “This is Red.”
I got a welcoming ping from Three and I pinged back.
“Hi Red,” Amena said.
“Nice to meet you Red, glad you are joining our rebel construct planet” Ratthi said.
“Hello Ratthi and Amena. It’s nice to meet you too,” I said following human greeting protocols.
Then a new feed channel opened with all of us and Perihelion.
Since SecUnit is rude, let me be the one to ask you how have you been doing? Perihelion said.
Hi ART, Amena replied excitedly. She was the first human I heard referring to Perihelion as ART. I’ve been doing fine. I missed you.
Hello Perihelion, everything is well and quite in Preservation. How about you? Have you been terrorizing some corporates? Ratthi asked.
Obviously. There was pride in its voice. We even stole another SecUnit away from them as you can see.
Yes. I’m glad you did.
Aloud Ratthi said, “We have 25 minutes until the next transport to the planet. Let’s go to my room so we can talk more privately while we wait.” We followed.
***
On the way to his room, Ratthi explained to me that some humans from the planet that come to the station often had their own reserved rooms on the living area of the station.
The room had a bed, a desk with a chair, and two couches. A big interface was on the wall opposite to the bed and there was another door, probably connecting to a sanitary area.
Amena and Three sat on the couch. She was hugging Three’s arm and was resting on its side.
Ratthi and Tarik sat on the bed. Ratthi had a hand over Tarik’s knee and Tarik’s hand was over Ratthi’s. Were they a couple?
SecUnit was leaning against a wall and I just stood standing near the door.
“You can sit, Red,” Tarik said.
I thought about it. The humans were looking at me, so I went to the free couch and sat awkwardly.
SecUnit added Three to the MI-only feed and asked, Anything I need to know?
There were no contact or infiltration attempts from the corporation, Three responded. I submitted 54 security updates to Station Security. Only 16 were accepted, but since most proposed updates were incremental, 84% of the suggestions were implemented.
SecUnit made a face. Disapproval? Annoyance? That’s more than what Indah accepted for me. Send me the rejected proposals and what’s left to implement.
Three sent the proposals and a list of the pending updates on a different report. I checked them. There were upgrades in detection patterns for the weapon scans, a new filter for the cameras in the dock area, a different route for the security drones, and 13 more similar things that would definitely improve security.
“Did you get hurt during this mission too, SecUnit?” Amena asked with her eyebrows almost touching each other, looking at its general direction but not at its face.
“Red took a shot at my face, but I dodged it, so not even a scratch.” I was looking at a wall, but a drone showed me all the humans turning their faces to look at me with different levels of concerned expressions.
“I didn’t want to shoot it”, I said promptly.
“Was it before the hack?” Ratthi asked.
“Yes.”
“Not your fault then,” he said and nodded. “I’m glad neither of you got hurt.”
On the MI-feed, everyone’s attention was on the files Three sent. These are good, SecUnit said. I’ll insist on the pending updates.
Perihelion edited the last report, adding seven more security upgrades and highlighting them for us to see.
I like that, Three said looking at the changes in the report. Thank you, Perihelion. I was feeling too anxious to check the changes.
I received a copy to the report SecUnit sent to Senior Officer Indah about the improvements in security. Three and two more humans I didn’t recognize were on the recipient list.
On the MI-feed, Perihelion was telling Three it got new educational media tagged for it to download if it was interested. Three said it was and they started discussing the topic on some of those.
Tarik squeezed Ratthi’s hand and said, “Actually, the one that got hurt was Red.” He then proceeded to tell them about the not proprietary parts of the mission. Which weren’t a lot.
Three, can you take Red to Indah to register its drones? SecUnit asked. I want to go see Mensah.
Three acknowledge SecUnit’s request and pinged me. I pinged back.
I didn’t want to separate from Tarik and SecUnit, but Three seemed okay and I would still have feed connectivity to Perihelion.
The transports to the planet are 30 minutes apart, Three said. We should make it in time to board the next one.
The humans exchanged information on their current personal state and activities since last time they saw each other. On the MI-only feed, Three and Perihelion were having a similar conversation but with World Hoppers playing at the same time.
This lasted for another 15.4 minutes, until SecUnit moved and said, “We should get going.” Everyone stood up and followed.
Tarik sent to me, SecUnit told me you and Three are going to register your drones to Station Security. Do you want me to go with you?
Not necessary. Three said it won’t take long and we can take the next shuttle. Tarik seemed excited with the idea of visiting the planet so I didn’t want to make him feel forced to come with me. Even if I wanted him to.
***
When we left Ratthi’s room, SecUnit and the humans went to the shuttle, and Three and I went back to the station.
Perihelion’s crew had explained that Preservation gave citizenship to constructs and bots and considered them free persons. SecUnit and Three were considered Preservation citizens and had the same rights than humans. This knowledge didn’t ease my fear of being a rogue construct in its way to Station Security.
SecUnit had taken all its drones with it, and I was back to relying only on my optical input, which made me uneasy with so many blind spots and humans around.
Perihelion’s presence was quietly flooding my feed and I appreciated the overwhelming company.
I followed Three into the building and into a small room with a table with one chair in each side. One wall was made of an opaque glass that blocked the view to the other side.
Three stood with its back against a wall and I positioned myself next to it on the farther side of the door.
I received a packet of comprised video and logs. This is the process I went through, it said. I opened it.
Oh, this isn’t bad. They asked Three some questions and then established some conditions to clear it on station and on the planet.
I posted a feed ID using what SecUnit and Three had as an example. Red, gender = not applicable. Three noticed and nodded in approval.
Two minutes later, SecUnit’s presence disappeared from the feed and I tensed. I got used to feeling its presence constantly even if we weren’t communicating and the sudden loss in connectivity scared me. Three tensed next to me reacting to my reaction. It didn’t move but it was watching me with its drones.
The shuttle entered the planet’s atmosphere, Perihelion said on the MI-only feed and redirected the attention it had on SecUnit to Three and me. You’ll get the connection back when you go down to the planet.
I relaxed and Three did the same. One minute later, it told me Senior Officer Indah was coming, and 18 seconds after that, she walked through the door. She was intimidating.
“Hey Three,” she said looking at it. “Hello Red,” she added looking at me. “I see you already have a feed ID, good.”
She sat down on the chair closest to the door, with her back to it. She signaled the other chair and said, “You are welcome to sit if you want, but if you prefer to stay standing, please go next to the chair so I can ask you some questions.”
I walked next to the chair and, after 1.4 seconds of consideration, I sat down. Senior Officer Indah nodded.
You can take your time to respond to her questions, Senior Officer Indah is very patient, Three said.
Knowing the questions in advance was helpful. I had already thought about the answers.
“So, you are a free SecUnit,” she said unfocusing her eyes as she turned to the feed.
“Yes.” I said after a pause that indicated she was expecting a response.
“How long have you been a free agent?”
“54 cycles.”
“What kind of integrated weapons do you have?”
“One energy weapon on each arm.”
“Is the power on those energy weapons regulable?”
“Yes.”
“How much damage would the lower setting do?”
“It would stun a human or augmented human but cause not significant damage to a construct or bot.” She nodded.
“Do you have any other kind of weapon, integrated or otherwise?”
“No.”
“Is there anything you think I should know, security related, about you?”
They hadn’t asked Three this question. I didn’t know what she meant. Rogue SecUnits are a security risk.
“I don’t have that information.”
Senior Officer Indah focused her eyes on me and nodded again. “That’s all, then. I understand you have some drones you would like to register for daily use.”
“Yes.”
“Intel drones I’m assuming?”
“Yes.”
“Activate all of them, please, and make them stay over the table.”
I took the little box out of my pocket and did as instructed. Two new tags were appearing on the drones, one by one, owner=Red, securityStatus=clear.
“Now, while we tag them,” she said. “Let me inform you of the rules you are expected to follow while on Preservation space.”
Her eyes unfocused again as she started reading, “You are to keep your integrated energy weapons on the minimal setting and you are not, under any circumstances, allowed to use them. In the exceptional case you are forced to use your weapons, or any kind of force, to protect yourself or others from harm, you are expected to use the minimal force possible and to report the incident, as soon as the situation allows, to Station Security if on the station or Preservation Security if on planet.”
“You are not allowed to access secured systems without the proper authorization, and you are not allowed to access or to use drones into secured locations without you or your drones having been cleared. Any kind of security clearance you may need, has to be requested to the corresponding head of said system or area.”
“And finally, your feed ID is to be visible at all times while on station. On planet, you are free to turn it off if you wish.”
“Any questions?” She asked.
Twenty-four. “No.”
She nodded again and said, “Now that the formal part is over,” she reclined in her chair and her face slightly relaxed. “I’m told Preservation is a lot quieter than most places in the RIM. SecUnit finds it boring most of the time, but Three seems to like the quiet.” She looked at Three and it said “I do. It’s good to not have to be on high alert all the time.”
“If you have any concern regarding our security measures in place, please, for the love of Makeba, do not overflow my inbox with requests. SecUnit hasn’t been on station for 10 minutes and had already sent a new request.”
The last of my drones got its tags assigned.
“I’m sorry, Senior Officer Indah,” Three said. “I was syncing with SecUnit and it deemed the recommendations I made worth repeating. We’ll integrate any new concerns or ideas into a single consolidated report before sending it.”
Perihelion sent a laughing signifier over the feed along with a wave of amusement.
Senior Officer Indah sighted and stood up. “You are free to go. Stay out of trouble.”
Three pinged me and headed to the door. I followed with my new squad of ten drones hovering over me. I ordered the other forty to go dormant on my multiple pockets.
We’ll lose contact in 14 seconds, Perihelion sent when the shuttle started its descend to the planet. You can still message me through satellite connection but there’ll be a delay of approximately 4 seconds between sent and delivery of messages.
I tried to pull Perihelion closer on the feed. It pushed against me and it felt like it was draped around me like a heavy blanket.
Thank you, I sent to it privately and felt the sudden space on the feed. It felt too big.
For a second, there was just me and Three in the feed, then SecUnit was there again and Three pinged it.
We are heading to Citizen Park, SecUnit said.
On our way, Three sent.