Work Text:
“SecUnit?” Ratthi’s voice was soft, almost careful, like he didn’t want to startle me. “Are you alright?”
I didn’t look up, but I checked the drone input I had on him, and his face was doing the thing that meant he was worried.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” His face did not relax and now he was biting his lips. Arada and Overse had also looked up and were wearing complicated expressions.
I paused the music I’d been listening to while I sorted through my media archives and sat up a little straighter. “Why do you ask?”
“You just seem … restless.”
The apprehension that had started building eased and I relaxed again. “Oh. That’s just the code.” I had been running my move-like-a-human code while I was crossing Preservation Station to get to the labs earlier and hadn’t thought to turn it off, even though now it was just us in here, silently working alongside each other. (Well, the humans were working. I was just sorting through media. My archive was quite large now and I did it so often it basically qualified as a hobby of its own.) “I can turn it off if it bothers you.”
“Oh, no, it’s fine if that’s all it is”, Ratthi said, waving his hands at the drone. “It just seemed like you’re nervous.”
“I don’t get nervous.” Okay, that was a lie and we all knew it. But what I meant was I don’t get fidgety and restless like humans when they’re nervous. Even with the move-like-a-human code, it was programmed to be a constant, if randomised output, so my actual level of nerves would not reflect in the way I moved. Still, I checked my performance reliability just to make sure. It was resting at a very comfortable 98.9%.
Arada hummed thoughtfully. “Have you been around anyone particularly fidgety lately?”
I knew what she was getting at, and pulled up the move-like-a-human code. In order to keep it constantly improving, I had outfitted it with an algorithm that took statistical data from the humans I observed and automatically extracted patterns to incorporate into its randomised movements. This had led to it adopting a few mannerisms that were apparently very distinct to some of the humans I spent the most time with, like Ratthi’s habit of pinching his lower lip with his fingers when he was thinking, and Dr. Mensah absently brushing her hand through the short hair at the nape of her neck. My humans had had some kind of emotion about it when they noticed it.
I reviewed the most recent data the algorithm had extracted and the resulting alterations to the code, most of them from my recent trip to PSUMNT with Mensah to visit Amena.
Oh.
I closed the code and resumed sorting through my archive. I did not restart the music. “It’s nothing”, I said, trying to sound casual.
All three humans sat up straighter, watching my drone with interest. “Oh, come on, SecUnit”, Ratthi said. “Out with it! What was it?”
I sighed. (I did not need a code for that.)
“I was just listening to some music”, I muttered.
The humans’ eyes widened and after a moment Arada beamed. “Oh! You were moving with the music! Like Amena always does, tapping her feet and nodding her head.”
The humans cooed (ugh) and Ratthi’s lips spread into a wide grin. “SecUnit!”, he said, and I already knew I wouldn’t want to hear what he was about to say. “You were practically dancing!”
I scrunched up my face. “Shut up. I was not dancing.”
“You were moving to music. That’s what dancing is”, Overse said.
“SecUnits don’t dance”, I said. “There’s no point to it.”
“The point is to enjoy the music”, Arada said, her smile soft. “Were you enjoying the music?”
It had been good music. An old favourite, one of the first artists I had listened to when I first accessed the entertainment feed after cracking my governor module. But that did not mean I was dancing. I could enjoy good music while sitting perfectly still, thank you very much.
But I had to admit (only to myself, I certainly wasn’t going to admit it to the humans) that I had liked seeing the way Amena wiggled and swayed whenever she was listening to music on the feed. I liked seeing such a clear visual indication that she was feeling happy and relaxed, and safe.
After I had asked about it, being unsure at first what her wiggly motions meant, she had even sent me some of her favourite songs. They were quite good, too. I'd saved them to my archive.
My humans thankfully didn’t press me any further when I pointedly didn’t reply, just smiled to themselves and went back to their work.
I could have manually pulled the update to the code that incorporated the new movements and deleted it. I didn’t.
After a while, when I was sure my humans were focused on their work again, I resumed the music.