Work Text:
I was ignoring messages in my feed while I worked on my display surfaces in the Preservation Station hotel room I now thought of as mine. Preservation Station didn't carry display surfaces as large as in the Corporation Rim because they were completely unnecessary. But I had hard currency cards and the hotel was free, so I'd ordered three.
The three display surfaces now took up three walls of the hotel room, curving so the screens were continuous. I'd moved all the furniture out except the bed which was pressed against the wall next to the door. I finished coding and started an episode of Sanctuary Moon. Holy shit, it worked.! The media spread across all three screens, putting me in the middle of the solicitor's office. I sat on the bed and glanced at my messages, preparing to watch the entire serial through again. (There was a lot of nothing to do on Preservation Station while I waited for GrayCris to try and get something through Preservation "Security").
I had a message from Mensah asking me to call her when I had a chance. I pinged and she answered immediately.
"Is something wrong?" I said. She would've pinged me directly with one of our codes if something was, but it never hurt to ask.
"No, SecUnit. Everything is fine. You know it is." Through my drone feed, I saw her smile in her office. "You've gotten mail."
I was speechless for 4.7 seconds. Who would send me mail?
"From the company? From GrayCris?"
"That would count as something wrong," Mensah reasonably pointed out. All mail to any members of the survey team received barely adequate security checks - as opposed to barely any like the rest of Preservation Station. "It's addressed to Eden/SecUnit? Care of Dr. Ayda Mensah. From some people named Tapan, Maro, and Rami." She held the small package up so the drones could see the label.
"I'm coming from the hotel," I said.
8 minutes and 47.8 seconds later, I walked into Mensah's office. She smiled and handed me the box. "I would love to hear the story if you want to share."
I sat down on her couch and peeled the wrapping open gingerly. "They're some humans I helped after I left."
"That was my guess."
Mensah was clearly curious to hear more but she knew me well enough not to pry. I'd told her about Milu - my recordings were evidence against GrayCris - but I hadn't told her about RaviHyral or Ganaka Pit or Tlacey or the ComfortUnit or Tapan because that would involve talking about my feelings, but also because I would have to tell her about ART whose existence was a secret. Plus, I missed ART, so that was more feelings - yeah, better to avoid that all together.
I opened the box which contained a data storage unit. It stored a tiny amount of data but had a display surface. After a quick scan for malware, I set the audio to play on my feed and started the recording.
"Hi!" Tapan, Rami, and Maro waved at me from a couch
"We saw you on the newsfeed," Maro said.
"We couldn't believe it!" Tapan exclaimed. "Our Eden!"
"It makes sense though. You saved us, got our data from Tlacey. Of course you could take down those corporate fucks." Rami beamed at the camera.
"We talk about you all the time," Tapan continued. "You're like… a hero to our group."
"Thanks to you, our research got us enough money to finally leave the Corporation Rim. We included the coordinates where we've settled in the message packet if you ever find yourself in the neighborhood and want to visit. We'd love to see you." Maro said.
"Which brings us to our exciting news." Tapan stood up and walked off screen briefly before returning with a human baby in her arms.
"We had a kid together!" Rami wraps an arm around Tapan and the baby. "The three of us, as soon as we settled."
Tapan tilted the baby so I could see its sleeping face. A little bit of drool escaped its lips. Disgusting.
"We named them Eden-"
Fuck. I closed the message and dropped the box and the data storage unit on the ground. I stood up and started pacing.
"SecUnit," Mensah was clearly alarmed. "Is everything alright?"
I could barely begin to parse the emotions I was having. Mostly overwhelm. Confusion. And a weird emotion that I thought might be positive but sent me back to overwhelm. Wordlessly I picked up the data storage unit and set it to play from the beginning for Mensah.
"We named them Eden, after you," Tapan finished. "We hope that's okay. None of the four of us would be here without you."
"So please stay in touch! We've included some pictures of our group and baby Eden and you know how to contact us."
"Bye!" They chorused and the message ended.
"Let me know when you're ready to discuss," Mensah said, trying and failing to hide her grin.
I played it three more to myself as I paced the office. I was going to wear a hole in the carpet.
"Why did they name the baby after… me?"
"They said in the video." I noted Mensah's tone was very similar to what she used when helping her youngest children problem solve. "They feel they would not be alive without you and wanted their child to honor that."
"They know I am a SecUnit."
"Yes."
"And they still reached out."
"Yes."
I knew I was just restating facts, but it felt so impossible that I needed Mensah to verify.
"Has anyone named children after you?" I asked. Mensah was my favorite human. It only seemed sensible that other humans would want to name their offspring after her.
"No," she smiled. "It is a special thing. I believe one of Ratthi's friends did though. The child calls Ratthi his bonus parent."
"Bonus parent?" Humans were incomprehensible.
"Yes. First parent, second parent, a bonus parent indicating that Ratthi isn't part of the family structure but is an important adult in his life. It is common when a child is named after another adult."
"I do not want to be a parent."
"They didn't ask you to be," Mensah gestured at the data storage unit. "I just this represents the significance of your contribution to their lives."
"Humans are weird.
The feeling was happening again. I felt like I did when I came up with an especially good plan or when I accomplished something better than the humans expected me to, better than I thought I could. It was pride. I felt proud.
"Thank you," I said to Mensah. I collected my mail and left. Through my drones I watched Mensah smile at my back.