Work Text:
-rescue aftermath-
It was like looking in a mirror. A weird, unnerving, slightly more feminine mirror. She was lying on the bed in ART’s medbay, bleeding and beaten, but getting help.
Do you know why she looks like you? ART knew why, but it didn't want to push SecUnit; this had to be weird.
"I look like her. The other way around." Murderbot responded in the feed, the realization hitting it like a transport ship. "How is this possible? Don't we come from a randomized database of deceased humans?"
"That was what the company told the public, no doubt covering for their crimes against prisoners like her." ART was horrified and angry that the company would do something like this to someone so young. It always had a soft spot for kids, and this girl scanned as roughly 17.
"How are the others doing?" Murderbot asked, not taking its eyes off the bed.
"They're doing better in their own bays and in the common room. We got them out, and it's looking like they're all going to make it. The rescue mission was a success, if not a bit shocking, here in the aftermath."
-an hour earlier-
"I can look at the schematics myself. I don't need you directing me at every corner." Murderbot stalked silently through the halls of the company research facility. ART and its crew had liberated the people from the colony and were finishing up the paperwork while Murderbot finished rescuing citizens from the lab. The company had stolen people from the planet it had taken over and used them as science experiments.
The door to the lab holding cells is on your left. ART's directions came through the feed. What an asshole.
Murderbot pushed through the door, and it hit the wall behind it with a loud clang. Its drones had picked up a lot of energy signatures, so it already had its weapon drawn when the door opened. There were 8 cages, each with a shivering, cowering, injured person in it. It was horribly cruel.
As it began shooting locks on cages, it spoke to the prisoners. “Everyone out. We are here to rescue you and free you from the company. You will be free if you come with me.” Reluctantly, the prisoners followed, not wanting to be left behind to the horrible fate awaiting them if they stayed. They clambered into line and shuffled out the door after Murderbot. It ushered them all the way to ART and onboard, only having to take out a few hostiles on the way. Once they were all onboard, Murderbot and ART sent them to the medbay to get treatment for their varying injuries and wounds.
"I’m sorry I brought you back there." ART said in the feed. "You shouldn’t have had to go back to a company facility. I just needed your help. Thank you." It was strange to hear ART so sincere, but it was nice to hear an apology. It had been difficult to go back to that place. The only thing that made it worth it was helping those people. That’s when it saw her.
"Who is that?" Murderbot asked, sending the camera angle of the young woman into ART’s feed. Part of it already knew the answer to what it was really asking, but the anger that boiled up was overwhelming.
"That’s one of the prisoners. Her feed ID labels her as Experiment 843", ART answered, not looking at the actual images from the video. When it finally did take a look after some pressure in the feed, it reacted. Oh. That’s strange but not entirely unexpected, given the company’s reputation. It was bizarre, the resemblance. Murderbot was determined to go see her.
-present-
It stood over the medbay as it finished its cycle. The lid began to lift, and the young woman stared up at it, eyes cycling from confusion to gratefulness.
“Thank you for coming to liberate us. I’m sorry you had to come to a company facility, though,” she said, recognizing its SecUnit status from the feed label it had been forced to put in place on the Preservation station. She sat up to face Murderbot, looking intently into its face. This made it extremely nervous, averting its gaze, hoping she wouldn’t realize what it had.
“You are now free. This transport will take you and the other prisoners to the Preservation Alliance station, where you will be granted refugee status and will not be taken back to the corporation rim if you don’t want to. You will be free to go wherever you want from Preservation, though.” Murderbot stared at the wall, turning 90 degrees, trying not to let her see its face without making it too obvious. It didn’t work.
“I hate to ask this, but do you know where your organic tissue came from?” She asked gently. She suspected it would be a sensitive subject, talking about the people who made and enslaved the SecUnit.
“I suspect the same as you do. I was built by the same company we just rescued you from. There is no doubt in my mind that they stole your genetic tissue to use for their…other projects.” ART was dropping into the feed to listen quietly.
“Yeah.” The girl averted her gaze, picking up on the SecUnit’s discomfort. “I’m sorry you were the one who had to find me.”
What an odd apology. Why was she concerned about the discomfort it felt? She should be concerned that she was safe, nothing else. Was this as awkward for her as it was for Murderbot? Humans were so strange with their guilt complexes.
“Do you have a name or something you want to be called?” she asked in a desperate attempt to make respectful conversation. Why was it still standing here? Everyone was clearly uncomfortable. Perhaps it just wanted to be nearer to her as a person. Perhaps they could be friends, given a shared past. Strange.
“I have gone by human names to keep my cover, but now that I am free, my friends just call me SecUnit. It’s what I am.”
“Nice to meet you. My name is Cyrus. My surname was lost when my people were lost, so it’s just Cyrus now.” She extended her hand tentatively. Something about her demeanor showed that it didn’t have to shake her hand, but for whatever reason, it obliged, turning its eyes to her rather than using the cameras. There was something welcoming and soft about her, perhaps it could like her after all.
-the remainder of the trip-
After all of the prisoners emerged from their beds, they gathered together in ART’s meeting hall, joined by ART’s crew, to discuss what was happening. They had gone from being imprisoned and horrifically experimented on to being on their way to complete freedom.
“So, we are on our way to a place called Preservation Alliance?” Desmond, another rescue from the facility, asked.
“Yes, you will be free there. They are a non-corporate political entity ruled by a communal governing system. They will grant you refugee status, and you will be safe.” Iris sat at the head of the table, explaining. She used all the corporate words and phrases to show them she understood the corporate rim and had a grasp on how to combat them. Shoulders relaxed around the table as they heard the news.
“Why did you rescue us?” A small boy named Rory spoke up. So young, yet so mistrusting. It broke ART’s nonexistent heart to see a child so hurt. It was proud of the compassion that shone through Iris’s eyes as she spoke gently to him.
“We are an independent university that specializes in liberation. We were on a liberation mission to free the planet below the station you were kept on when we heard about your captivity. We took it upon ourselves to not only liberate you, but also stick it to the corporation for their crimes against humanity.” Another wave of relief passed through the room upon hearing they were in the hands of people who also hated the corporation rim and its practices.
“What will we do on Preservation?” Desmond spoke up again. He was the oldest in the group at 37; a low bar, but one that allowed him to naturally take charge.
“You can do whatever you’d like,” Seth responded. “Preservation supports all kinds of jobs and trades that you can choose from. You will also be free to leave if you so choose, once your paperwork and refugee status are processed. You will be free to stay on Preservation as long as you like, or you are free to go.”
ART poked Murderbot in the feed, remembering its story when it was offered a place on Preservation. “I was freed on Preservation,” SecUnit spoke to the group, sending a shock through both the rescues and ART’s crew. “I was allowed to stay and was welcomed back after I left. Now I work independently with this crew away from Preservation, but I always have a place to stay after missions.”
“Thank you, SecUnit,” Seth said hesitantly. It was so unusual for SecUnit to speak that none of them knew what to do.
“Thank you all,” Cyrus finally spoke up. ART’s crew had found her strange at first. SecUnit didn’t understand why people would think it was strange until ART explained parental rights based on DNA. After getting to choose its own family, the concept of something as strange as a genetic sequence determining family was unfamiliar. Cyrus had looked right at Murderbot when she thanked the crew. It was so wonderful that she met someone good who came from the horrors she suffered.
Suddenly, the intercom clicked on, and ART’s human impersonation voice came on, all eyes snapping to the speakers. “We are approaching Preservation Station. Be prepared to dock.” The crew leapt from their chairs and raced to the bridge to prepare. SecUnit stayed with the rescues who were anxiously awaiting their arrival into freedom.
Cyrus turned again to look at SecUnit and said, “Are you excited to go home?”
“Yes,” It replied, trying not to let its own anxiety show through its face and voice. How was it going to explain her to Mensah and its other friends? They would be welcoming and kind, but it knew it would still be weird for them. Maybe they would surprise everyone and be chill about it just this once. A horrifying killing machine next to the young woman its organic tissue it came from could only wonder.
-arrival at the station-
The door slid open after the docking sequence was complete. ART’s crew walked out first, greeting station security and the representatives. Mensah stood in the welcome party, craning her neck to see over the crew, trying to get a glimpse of SecUnit. It had been so long since she saw her friend, and Seth had said there was a strange surprise in store. That was rarely good, so her anxiety was high.
Next came the rescues, followed by SecUnit, guarding the rear. Next to it in the back of the group was a small, young woman who looked eerily familiar. Mensah couldn’t place her until the two of them found her in the group. SecUnit walked directly up to her, no doubt uncomfortable with the number of people looking at it right now.
“Dr.Mensah,” it began, “This is Cyrus. The company used her genetic material to clone my organic tissue. She’s…nice.”
Mensah’s jaw almost dropped, but she regained her composure enough to shake the hand Cyrus had offered her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you and your fellow rescues. You are safe here.”
“So I’ve heard,” Cyrus replied, unsure. She looked up at SecUnit, who nodded without looking down at her. Cyrus relaxed a little at the small signal from the person who saved her that she was safe with these people.
“I don’t mean to pressure you, but do you have any idea what you’d like to do here on Preservation? If you’d like to stay at all, that is.” Mensah was willing to pull strings to get these people advancements on starting jobs so they could rejoin society easier, but she didn’t want to push them away the way she had to SecUnit all that time ago.
“I would like to attend university, if that would be possible,” Cyrus said, looking down at her hands, embarrassed at asking.
Mensah put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I will have it arranged. My daughter Amena goes to university here, if you’d like a tour or introduction.” Cyrus’s eyes shone with gratitude.
“Where to next?” SecUnit asked anxiously. The crowd was uncomfortable for it.
“Pin Lee will be the one doing the proceedings for your refugee paperwork because she specializes in corporate law. Would you like to meet her and the team?” Mensah had lifted her voice to address all the rescues, signaling with her hands that they could follow her to the meeting room.
The group, minus ART’s crew, who had left after delivering everyone to safety, traversed through the station flanked loosely by station security and Supervisor Indah. The rescues were nervous. It had been so long since they were in an open space. Some of them, like Rory, had no memories of the world outside the lab, making them intensely suspicious of the station.
“Hello, dear,” Indah crouched down next to Rory when they stopped outside the council building. She had noticed he was nervous.
Rory only returned her statement with a small, timid wave.
“Do you know who I am?” Indah asked the small boy. She was a tough woman, but she was gentle with Rory.
“No, ma’am,” he replied quietly, eyes focused on the ground at his feet.
“I am Senior Supervisor Indah, but you can just call me Indah if you’d like. My job is to protect the people on this station. I look after all the travelers and new people in Preservation.” She paused, and Rory looked up slightly, meeting her eyes. “I am going to keep you safe, Rory. I promise.” Her serious expression broke into a small, reassuring smile.
Rory returned her expression with a small smile of his own. “Thank you, ma– I mean Indah.”
“Are you ready to meet Pin Lee? She’s a good person who is really good at what she does. A little stern, but she means well for all people who come through her door. She will help you and your friends.” Indah stood and gestured to the door of the council building, and the others were beginning to enter with the rest of the station security.
“Yeah,” Rory’s voice grew a little into excitement. He slipped his small hand into Indah’s, much to her surprise, but she took it tenderly and led him in after the others.
“I’m so glad Rory found a friend,” Cyrus said to SecUnit. Her eyes softened in the newly safe environment. “He’s been through so much. We all have, but he is so young. He’s only 9, you know. So much pain in so little time. It breaks my heart.”
“Indah’s a good woman. She does her best to protect every single person on this station, and she does a good job. He will be safe with her.” It remembered its old feud with the woman and how it had diminished after working a case together, having to trust one another. It remembered all the times it had to trust a new person. It was always so hard, after so long being mistreated.
-Pin Lee’s Office-
They all climbed into the elevator, cramming together because the rescues didn’t want to be separated. They reached the floor that contained Pin Lee’s office, and Mensah led the way in. Pin Lee was leaning against the front of her desk with her arms crossed. An air of authority emanated from her, and the rescues hung back, intimidated by her. They had been captured with people with similar authority, but they didn’t know her heart.
“Welcome,” Pin Lee said, warmth infusing her voice despite the hardened expression it came from. They would come to realize her tough demeanor was to keep people safe. “Please take a seat wherever you are comfortable so we can talk about the situation. She made her way around the back of the large wooden desk and sat in the chair, booting up an interface to get started.
Cyrus sat in one of the many chairs in the room and began removing her hat and scarf. She had chosen the layers for comfort when ART had printed the rescues’ new clothes, but now she unwrapped the scarf, revealing her face. When Pin Lee caught sight of her, she glanced quickly back and forth between Cyrus and SecUnit, who was standing nearby.
"Stay after, I have obvious questions." Pin Lee sent in the feed to SecUnit, who looked up, startled. It should have anticipated its old friends would notice the resemblance.
Every face in the room turned as the door creaked open. Gurathin stepped in and crossed the room to stand next to Pin Lee’s desk. SecUnit should have seen this coming. Of course, Gurathin would be here to help people escaping the Corporation Rim. He glanced over, making the same observation as Pin Lee about Cyrus. His eyes grew wide in realization and he looked at Pin Lee in surprise. She sent him a message in the feed saying she already knew and she was going to ask SecUnit after the meeting, but for now, they had work to do. Guratin nodded and shot a glare at SecUnit, as though this was its fault.
“I’m Gurathin. I used to live and work in the Corporation Rim before leaving its corruption for the freedom of Preservation. I will be assisting Pin Lee and you all to help officially free you and get you acquainted to life outside the Corporation Rim.” Gurathin stepped back when he finished speaking, yielding the floor to Pin Lee.
“Alright,” Pin Lee began, the faces of the rescues turning intently to focus on her. “We will go over your rights here and our action plan going forward to do what is best for you and what you want to do with your future. Afterward, we can schedule times that I can meet with each of you to complete your individual cases. Is everyone ready to begin?”
Everyone nodded except Rory, who raised his hand.
“You don’t have to raise your hand, dear,” Indah reassured him, still sitting at his side.
“I just figured that I would need someone to help me,” Rory explained, slowly lowering his hand.
“We can get you assistance, sir. I will appoint one of our family attorneys to sit with you at all our meetings and to meet with you to explain everything. If it is all right with you, we can allow them to sign off on things on your behalf. You won’t give up this right unless you want to, though. We just want you to be comfortable in understanding what is happening, sir.” Pin Lee sent a list of Preservation family attorneys to the feeds of Indah and Rory, so they could review them.
“Why do you call me ‘sir’, Dr.Lee? My name is Rory.” Rory clarified, confused by the gesture.
“I didn’t know what you wanted to be called yet, so I called you by a general honorific to show respect to you. Do you want to be called Rory?” Pin Lee made eye contact with Rory, showing focus and attention that she was truly listening to him.
“Yes, I want to be called Rory,” the young boy replied. Indah smiled from behind him, and Pin Lee’s hard expression softened.
“It’s nice to meet you, Rory. I am going to do everything I can to help you. And Dr.Lee isn’t necessary, you can just call me Pin Lee.”
“I’m sorry, Pin Lee. I will do better from now on.” Rory looked down at his hands.
“No, I appreciate you honoring me and calling me by my respectful title. It’s just not what I like to be called, but you didn’t know that yet. It’s alright, Rory,” Pin Lee was soft toward the boy. She could be a nightmare in the courtroom, but when it came to the individuals she helped, she was kind. You couldn’t defend people as well as she did without caring. “Now, we can get down to business.”
They spent about an hour in the meeting room going over options and rights for the refugees. At the end, Mensah offered to show the group temporary housing accommodations while they finalized their freedom and allowed them to choose a new place to live. As the rest of the group filed out of the room after Mensah, SecUnit, and Cyrus were summoned to stay with Pin Lee and Gurathin.
“So, what’s the deal?” Pin Lee asked, dropping professionalism with an old friend.
“We rescued these people from the company that made me. We think, and ART confirmed with genetic scans, that the company used Cyrus’s genetic material to clone my organic tissue,” SecUnit explained while Cyrus nodded along.
“Huh,” Gurathin added unhelpfully.
“Well, that explains the resemblance. I didn’t know they used living human material.” Pin Lee’s expression turned hard again.
“That’s because they’re not supposed to,” Cyrus added. “It’s illegal, even in the Corporation Rim, to harvest and clone living human tissue. They are only allowed to use DNA from the public databases.”
“How did they get away with it?” Gurathin asked. Pin Lee glared at him.
“They broke the law, obviously. I assume they proclaimed you all dead to get away with imprisonment and human experimentation, too. It was a huge cover-up that they paid off the authorities for. Sound familiar?” Pin Lee glanced at SecUnit, the resident expert on corporate deception.
“Yep, they do it all the time.” SecUnit’s voice was annoyed, going over the corruption of the company over and over again.
“Thank you for explaining,” Pin Lee turned a kind expression back to Cyrus. “SecUnit, will you show Cyrus where the temporary accommodations are so she can get settled?”
Without saying anything after having too much social interaction today, SecUnit left the room, leading the way to the station hotels with Cyrus in tow.
-temporary housing-
The pair joined back up with the other rescues in the lobby of the station hotel. Mensah was using her status as planetary leader to book rooms for the 8 newcomers, free of charge. Preservation was very kind to their refugees. Once the rooms were arranged, Mensah left to go to an important council meeting, and Rathti took over for the tour. The scientist enthusiastically led the group to the elevators and up to their floor. The rooms were connected in a suite like the one the survey crew stayed in after SecUnit crashed its memory.
“You all can make yourselves at home. There are plenty of beds and a few different rooms, but I know you all like to stick together, so if you want to be in the same room, we can help you move stuff. Whatever is going to make you most comfortable here.” Rathti spoke brightly, smiling at each refugee who entered the suite. When Cyrus and SecUnit walked in, his eyes, just like the others, widened in confusion. He opened his mouth to ask, but SecUnit sent him a message in the feed that it would explain later.
The interaction was cut short when Desmond spoke. “Thank you so much, Dr.Rathti. We really appreciate your help and hospitality.”
“It is my utmost pleasure to help you. My colleagues Arada and Bhardwaj are on their way to welcome you all. Arada is a survey leader, and Bhardwaj is a councilor whose services will be available to you. Is there anything else I can help you with for now?” It was news to SecUnit that Arada and Bhardwaj would be coming, but it was good news. It liked them.
“I think we’re okay, Dr.Rathti. Is everyone alright?” Desmond looked around the room at his group, who nodded back at him. Most of the station security had left, but Indah was still at little Rory’s side, and SecUnit was hovering next to Cyrus.
“Will you be staying with us, Indah?” Rory looked up at the woman next to him.
“I have to go home, Rory, but I will be back to help you all see the station tomorrow, dear.” She squeezed his hand and then headed toward the door. Everyone glanced at SecUnit next, wondering what it would do. It turned to stare at the wall, trying to ignore all the eyes on it.
“If you’d like to stay, you would be welcome with us,” Cyrus said to SecUnit, turning to Desmond for confirmation.
“Yes, we are very grateful for your help. You will always be welcome with ‘team CR escapees’.” Desmond laughed at the last part, causing the first wave of chuckling through the room that the group had in a long time.
"Do you want me to stay?" SecUnit asked Cyrus in a private feed. She flinched slightly. No one had messaged her in the feed in a while, and the people at the lab used to use the interfaces for experimentation, so she was wary of it.
"That’s irrelevant." She responded slowly and tentatively. "Desmond and the rest of us have welcomed you. The only thing to ask now is if you want to stay." She looked up at it, still in the corner. It turned and looked down at her.
“Yes, I’d like to stay with you.” SecUnit was feeling things it didn’t understand. It wanted to be around Cyrus, perhaps because she was nice, but it was strange. It knew humans used DNA to determine family, but it had never imagined doing the same. Smiles spread through the faces of the group. Rathti smiled from the corner, recognizing how far SecUnit had come. He was proud of it.
“Alrighty then. If you need anything, send me a message, but in the meantime, SecUnit is here for you. I’ll see you all in the morning,” Rathti said as he backed out the door, still smiling.
-the first night-
After Rathti was gone, the group sorted themselves out and divided into the rooms. There were four bedrooms attached to the central sitting room, meaning they could pair up and be evenly spread in the rooms. They opted for this option, acknowledging their hesitancy to split up but knowing they needed rest. The more space they could give each other, the better it would be for all of them.
Desmond roomed with Rory because he had become an impromptu guardian of the young boy. They made a nice pair. Desmond had been taken from his wife and children, and Rory had been taken from his parents. Tragic, but it brought them together beautifully.
Cyrus roomed with a woman in her early 20s named Helix, but some of them called her Eli. She was a little taller than Cyrus, with skin like Mensah's and long, wavy hair. While they were settling into the rooms, Helix offered to braid Cyrus’s long, frizzy, dark-brown hair. Cyrus sat on the floor in front of the bed, and the two women talked while Helix wove intricate patterns down Cyrus’s back.
“Where did you learn to braid like this?” Cyrus asked in amazement.
“I had a little sister back home,” Helix replied quietly.
“I’m sorry.” Cyrus knew how hard it was for all of them to talk about where they came from.
“Don’t be, it’s a good memory. I want to go see her when we are free.” Helix focused her attention back on Cyrus’s hair. “Where are you going after this?” She asked.
“I don’t know. The company destroyed my home and my people when they took me, so I can’t go back there. I kind of want to study at the university here. I want to learn all I can.”
“Admirable,” Helix replied, a small smile creeping onto her face. She was so happy to hear Cyrus planning past the next day. “What about SecUnit?” The dynamite question.
“I don’t know,” Cyrus admitted. “It’s a bit awkward but it’s nice, and it rescued us. I am grateful, and I like its company. It’s just a strange situation, I guess.”
“I can’t imagine,” Helix put a hair tie at the end of the braid.
“I think we can be friends,” Cyrus continued, turning to face Helix. “I want to think of it as family. Someone who protects us and helps us, but I don’t want to make it uncomfortable because its organic tissue was made from me.” She flopped onto the floor, exasperated. “If you had asked me what was going to happen, I couldn’t have guessed this in a million years.”
SecUnit was in the dark in the suite. Rathti said it would make the refugees uncomfortable to be monitored, so they hadn’t allowed cameras to be put in the private rooms. It just watched media in the feed. After a full day of social interaction, it was burnt out. It had been good to spend time with Cyrus and the “team CR escapees”, but it had still been a lot. It was strangely nice to be called part of the team. It hadn’t thought of itself as an escapee, but it did fit in with them. Perhaps it could be part of their family.
-The next morning-
The group woke slowly. One at a time, they made their way to the central sitting area, getting ready for the day ahead. When the last of them (Rory) made it out, Desmond messaged Rathti to tell him they were ready for the tour. Rathti arrived a few minutes later with Arada and Bhardwaj close behind. The three of them stopped in shock when they saw Cyrus. Rathti had seen her briefly the night prior, but now it was light, and the resemblance was on full display.
Arada stepped forward to Cyrus and held out a soft hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Arada.” She smiled gently at the refugee and then up at SecUnit.
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Cyrus replied, extending a hand to Bhardwaj next.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" Bhardwaj asked SecUnit in the feed.
"I was made using her genetic material that they stole when they experimented on her. Yes, we know that’s illegal. Yes, the company did it anyway. Yes, we’re friends. Yes, it’s kind of weird. Any more questions?" It sent back.
"Not at the moment, but if you want to talk more, we can schedule our regular ‘after mission’ session if you’d like." Bhardwaj knew just what to say. SecUnit actually liked talking to her.
"Can you pass that information to Rathti and Arada? I don’t feel like re-explaining it to everyone." It was annoying to have had to explain why it and Cyrus looked eerily like three times now.
"Absolutely." Bhardwaj filed out of the room near the back of the group, as Rathti and Arada led the way to the elevators. She took a place in the back of the group next to Cyrus and SecUnit. SecUnit always liked to bring up the rear for security reasons. Cyrus felt safe with it, and Bhardwaj wanted to keep an eye on it in such a strange time.
“Your name is beautiful, Cyrus,” Bhardwaj said, trying to make conversation as they walked between tour stops.
“Thank you. The team mostly chose them for ourselves. A lot of us were very young when we were taken, and some of us, like Rory, don’t remember our birthnames. Some of us, like Helix, feel they don’t fit anymore, so most of us chose new names together in the lab.” Cyrus looked ahead and spotted Helix and Desmond laughing at one of Rathti’s jokes, and it made her so happy to see them smile again.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you choose your name?” Bhardwaj asked.
“I named myself after the sun of my home. I was too young, and the dehumanization of the company was too strong to remember my birthname, but the memory of the sun on my planet stuck with me all that time. It was a beacon of hope in my home, so it became a beacon of hope for me.” A light shone in Cyrus’s eyes as she spoke about the meaningful memory.
“That’s wonderful,” Bhardwaj said, looking happily at Cyrus, noting the way her expression changed.
“I chose my name, too,” SecUnit blurted out. Bhardwaj was taken aback because it never shared voluntarily. There really was something special about this new girl if she could connect with it, to allow it to feel comfortable.
“I don’t mean to press you, but you had mentioned it when we met, and I asked what you wanted to be called, but I’m curious, so if you want to share, I’m all ears,” Cyrus replied, genuine curiosity in her tone.
“I worked jobs posing as a human security consultant named Eden and Rin. Rin is the name I operate under when I work contracts without people who know me. I have a private name from my past, but that’s just for me. I like going by SecUnit with people who know me because it is the most true.” SecUnit hadn’t taken its gaze from blankly ahead as it watched the group through its drones. Bhardwaj thought it wanted to communicate well, but didn’t quite know how, so it was trying its best. It was doing wonderfully.
“I like that,” Cyrus said simply. “Thank you for sharing. I feel like I know you better now.” Huh, that statement made SecUnit feel nice. It hated being looked at, but hearing Cyrus say she knew it, that felt good. Perhaps it wanted to be known, just by the right people.
-Rathti’s lab and the food court-
Near the end of the station tour, Rathti stopped by the laboratory building to show the refugees where he worked. His intention was to show them where they could work if they wanted and how many opportunities there were for them. To a Preservation native, the labs were places of hope and innovation, but to prisoners of a company lab, they were terrifying. The group agreed to go in, but once they reached the inner rooms, stark white and filled with cold metal tables, they could handle it no longer.
“Please don’t make me go in,” Rory begged Indah, who had joined them along the way.
“I’m sorry, Dr.Rathti, but I don’t think the group is up for this quite yet,” Desmond said, trying to keep his voice level, but his anxiety betraying him, his voice shaking as badly as his knees.
“No, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think,” Rathti apologized quickly, recognizing his mistake. He ushered them out of the building. “If you are up to it, let’s go get some food. Lunch is on us.” Rathti relinquished the lead to Arada, and she led them to the center food court of the station.
“You can choose whatever you want here. Any type of food you desire,” Arada spread her hands to indicate the entire court. The group stood frozen. Some of them even began shifting and huddling together.
“Is there not the type of you you all like? I can order something else,” Rathti offered, sensing their discomfort.
“It’s not that,” Desmond said, hesitantly.
“We’re all just shaken up, and this experience is new for us,” Helix spoke up this time.
“Yeah, we were never given options at the company,” Cyrus added.
“I don’t know what to do,” Rory said, fear creeping into his voice, causing concern to wash over Indah’s face. The Preservation crew had noticed that they were all thin to the point of obvious malnourishment, but through their Preservation utopia lens, they didn’t consider the confusion and worry that would be associated with the food court and having to choose such things for themselves.
“Okay,” Arada spoke softly to them, being compassionate, “Do you have something you’d like us to do? I know we have a lot of options, and that is overwhelming for you, so I don’t want to press you, but we do want you to eat and be nourished. How can we do that in a way that is comfortable for you?”
“Will you pick?” Rory asked Indah, looking up at her with small tears forming in his eyes. The ability to choose for themselves was incredibly important to the refugees, so Rory giving his choice to Indah was incredibly important.
“Will you work with me to decide?” Indah asked gently. “I can narrow it down based on what you want to try, but the final decision will be yours. Will that make it more manageable for you?” Rory nodded enthusiastically, beaming at the kindness he was being shown. Such a small gesture of compromise and consideration was foreign and impactful. As the two of them walked toward the storefronts, the other Preservation natives turned to the rest of the group and offered a similar solution. While a few of them agreed, others still didn’t want to pick and fully relinquished their choice to Arada, who picked a simple and widely enjoyed place.
“Where do you like to go?” Cyrus asked SecUnit nervously.
“I can’t eat, so I don’t go anywhere here.” After seeing the sadness that washed over her face, it added, “But I can find one that my trusted humans like.” That seemed to do the trick.
“Lead the way. I trust you,” Cyrus replied, gesturing to lead with her arms. There it was again, the feeling where such a simple statement became so impactful for SecUnit. She trusted it to pick food for her. No one had ever done that before, but it felt good again. She trusted it to help her with a subject of anxiety, and it had done so to the best of its ability.
Bhardwaj looked on in pride as she saw the pair make their way toward a popular storefront. SecUnit had come so far from when they had met. It had been hiding the fact that it could make decisions for itself, and now it was helping people who were in a similarly tragic situation make decisions for themselves.
Perhaps things didn’t have to cycle downward into tragedy forever. Perhaps as one person healed, they found it within themselves, among the broken pieces, to help others do the same.
-for the future-
It had been about a planetary week on Preservation since ART had arrived with the refugees. Their paperwork was being finalized by Pin Lee, and she had gotten through meetings with all of them. They had each also met with Bhardwaj and Mensah to receive counseling and plan what they wanted moving forward, respectively.
Three of them, including Desmond, wanted to get a job at Preservation where they could feel safe and secure in a normal life. Two of them, including Helix, wanted to try to find their families and be free to live with them. Mensah had arranged meetings with researchers for them to locate their homes and their people. Three of them, including Rory and Cyrus, wanted to attend school to get into careers based on their interests. Rory was still too young to work, so he was going to be sent to planetary elementary school regardless, but he was okay with this. Cyrus and one other were admitted to Preservation University and were given tours and introductions by Amena.
They were all still a bit scared, for a while. The hotel had begun construction to renovate the floor under the one the group was staying in, and the sounds scared them all night long. None of them could sleep, but the hotel was more than happy to postpone the project by a few days when they moved out and into wherever they were going. They still had a hard time in the food court, but they would go together and decide as a group. But, over time, they grew and made new friends. They realized over time that Preservation was truly safe for them and that they were cared for. They were finally, truly free.
In this new freedom, they still gathered together over the years, meeting back up and staying in touch. They had decided as a group to choose a new name again. This time, though, they chose a collective surname, a family name. All eight of them settled on the last name Andromeda, meaning rescued and strong. It described them as a family.
Indah stuck near Rory, but let him venture and gain freedom, the more comfortable he got on the station. When Rory left the station, he exchanged a tearful goodbye with his first new friend, the Senior Supervisor of security. She told him he could visit any time, and he did. He decided to go down to the planet and was allowed to stay with Desmond, who also moved to the surface. Rory attended school and lived happily with his adopted father. Desmond found fulfilment and joy working a normal farming job. He loved the wide open outdoors and thought the fields smelled like freedom. The pair helped each other heal over the years. Desmond never remarried, staying dedicated to his wife by tradition of his home planet, but he made friends and created a support system for Rory. Rory graduated from all levels of school with flying colors, and Desmond was present at every school event. After all levels of required school, Rory attended university for security and moved back to the station to work with Indah. They worked together for a few years before she retired. Rory rose the ranks and became the new Senior Supervisor. Indah and Desmond were very proud of him.
Helix worked with the researchers on Preservation to find her home. They located her family based on the descriptions she could give, based on the limited memories she had from when she was little. The team worked day and night to help her. The good people of Preservation threw a party for her when they finally found her family. They had helped her send a message to her family, and she heard back almost immediately. Her sister was overjoyed to hear that she was alive and coming home. Although she moved away, she never failed to attend the group’s meet-ups through the feed. She never forgot the people who rescued her and who became her impromptu family through their tragedy. She loved them dearly. She attended school on her home planet and dedicated herself to helping people like the “team CR escapees” crew, helping reacclimate and reunite people with society and their families. From time to time, she would reunite with ART’s crew and help with their liberation efforts.
-for the future pt.2-
Cyrus studied at the Preservation University. It took her longer to graduate because she had to take review classes for the years of schooling she missed as a captive, but she got through it. She graduated with honors in law and apprenticed under Pin Lee. She worked closely with Mensah and was legally taken in by her family before she reached legal adulthood. Although she attended school on the planet's surface, she took as many remote classes as she could to spend more time on the station. She visited Rory at his job when she got old enough to work directly with Pin Lee in her station offices. She specialized in corporate law and worked tirelessly to free others like herself.
She never returned to her home planet because of its destruction. One day, years later, SecUnit surprised her at her office in the council building. It was holding a thin box that had paint splatters on it. There was also a bit of paint on SecUnit’s dark jacket.
“Bhardwaj suggested I try human hobbies, so I made this.” It unwrapped the box and handed Cyrus a small canvas. She turned it over and nearly burst into tears.
“I–It’s–You made the sun of my home,” Cyrus looked up into SecUnit’s eyes. It was looking back into hers, finally comfortable with her enough to match her eye contact. It understood the significance to her and cared enough to do it for her.
“You told me the name of the planet, and though it’s gone, there are still records and photos of it. I recreated one of them.” It shrugged. It knew, based on what Bhardwaj had said, that this could be meaningful to her, but it couldn’t understand why she was crying over it. The painting wasn’t even that good.
“You have brought my homes together,” She said, displaying it on her new office desk. After a moment, she continued, “I never wanted to make you uncomfortable, but you and I have been friends a long time. You and I are both close with Mensah, and we have stuck together since we met. We may have gravitated together in the first place because of the shared genetic material and the similar trauma, but we stayed because we make a good team. Feel free to say no, but…will you be my sibling?” Cyrus had asked a question SecUnit had been anticipating for a long time, but was still caught off guard for. It blinked a couple times, its “walk like a human code” picking up on its mental buffer and acting accordingly.
“Yes,” It said at last. There wasn’t any paperwork to be done, and there wasn’t any exchange to be made. It was just a nice thing they did for themselves. Something as private as Murderbot’s name, and just as meaningful.
“Thank you.” Cyrus rose from her chair to shake SecUnit’s hand, a gesture that was a compromise of her wanting to embrace it and it not wanting to be touched at all. They had agreed to meet halfway to make a nice gesture for both of them.
“For what?” SecUnit asked, teasing a little.
“For everything,” Cyrus replied sincerely. “For rescuing me. For helping me find my place and my home. For being my family.”
The feelings SecUnit felt then were ones it only felt with Mensah, and yet they were different. It was exactly what people said it felt like with a sibling.
Cyrus and Murderbot stuck together for the rest of her life. They ate dinner every weekend at Mensah’s and got together with the survey crew. They watched media, and Cyrus was formally introduced to ART. She loved it. They never fully healed, either of them. But they helped each other get as close as they could. And the pieces they couldn’t fix, they used to fuel their mission to help others. Whenever they went somewhere together, and people commented on their resemblance, they told people they were siblings, in many senses of the word. They were family.
It was like looking in a mirror again. Two broken people stood in front of one another. One saved the other’s life, and the second saved the other’s mind. They took their jagged and shattered pieces and found a way to fit them together in a way that made both whole. Through the tragedy of their past, they made a better future for others and themselves.