Ship's Log
Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Outside POV, light angst, Canon-Typical Fridge Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Perihelion and Seth Try To Understand
Published: 26 January 2023
Word Count: 35,107
Summary
Perihelion has carried several SecUnits and their fliers as part of its equipment for years. It has never bothered to interact with its SecUnits directly - it's never had reason to before. They're just equipment. All existing data states this. Peri and its humans have never had reason to question that data.
Until now.
(Outside POV snippets from Seth and Perihelion's point of view, of various events happening in the background of the Reclaim the Sky series.)
Chapter One: Anomalous
Seth is reviewing the particulars of the latest contract when he feels Perihelion tap his feed. That’s a little unusual - Peri doesn’t often request his attention when they’re just docked at a station. [What is it, Peri?]
[We may have a… situation.] Peri sounds bemused, a sharp contrast against its usual calm, dispassionate demeanour.
Nobody else is on the bridge to see him, so Seth lets himself frown. [What kind of situation?]
There is a pause, unusually long for Peri, before it replies. [An outside entity pinged me, requesting my mission status. It was using company codes, including one indicating a stealth mission. But there is no reason for any other company entity to be here, or contacting me, or asking me for a mission status. I followed the signal back to investigate, and realised that said entity was a SecUnit.]
[A SecUnit?] Seth’s frown deepens. None of the reasons he can think of for anyone to get their SecUnit to query Perihelion are good ones.
[Indeed. And when I looked closer, I recognised the feed address. Captain Seth, it was one of mine. From the Incident.]
Seth draws in a sharp little intake of breath. [Are you sure?] It’s a completely unnecessary question - he knows that Peri doesn’t make mistakes about things like this. But the likelihood of one of the SecUnits that had been infected by the malware that caused the Incident, showing up here, after so many years, is… well. Seth is finding it difficult to believe.
[I am sure.] Peri doesn’t take umbrage at the question. It can probably tell that Seth is struggling with the concept. [But I do not know what it is doing here.] It hesitates, and when it next speaks, it sounds… sheepish. Embarrassed. Seth isn’t used to hearing Peri sound like that. [In my surprise, I… made an error of judgement. I spoke directly to it. Its reaction was… anomalous.]
Seth rubs at his temples with one hand. [Anomalous how?]
Peri’s hesitation is longer this time. Concerningly long. Seth is about to prompt it again when it finally replies. [I have analysed the data I received from its reaction multiple times, and compared it to multiple examples of similar data I have, from observing you and the rest of my crew. I… believe that I scared it. Very badly. It disconnected immediately afterwards, and I couldn’t contact it again. I suspect it shut down its comms and feed entirely.]
[What?] This is getting more and more unbelievable by the second. [SecUnits don’t get scared. They’re not capable of that. They’re not capable of emotions in general.]
[That is what I also believed,] Peri replies. [Which is why I had to run the analyses multiple times. But I can come up with no other plausible interpretation of the data I received from it.] It pauses again. [It was terrified of me, Captain Seth.]
Seth leans back in his chair, frowning up at the ceiling. The thought of a SecUnit being terrified at all, let alone of Peri, is bringing up more questions than he can even begin to answer. He sets that aside for the moment to focus on something else. [Putting aside the questions about whether or not that interpretation is accurate… what was it even doing in the first place?] he asks. [Why was it querying you about your mission status? What is it even doing here? There aren't meant to be any other company ships or units at this station. That’s the entire reason we’re here in the first place.]
[I have no plausible theories about that right now,] Peri replies, sounding a little put out at that. Peri isn’t used to not having theories. [I do not have enough information. Once we return to the deployment centre and I can access the company databases again, I can do a search for other deployments of company assets that we might not have originally been privy to. If I can find its deployment orders, that should explain its presence here. I will also continue to monitor the station, in case it reactivates its comm or feed again. If I acquire any more data, I will inform you immediately.]
[All right. Thank you, Peri.] Seth checks the local station time, and sighs. [I should get going. I need to go meet our current client on the station soon.]
[This new client’s insistence on a public meeting on the station before coming aboard is anomalous.] Peri sounds sulky, and Seth knows that it doesn’t like him going out on the station, outside the safety of Peri’s hull.
[I know, but it’s company orders.] Seth rises out of his chair and absently brushes off his uniform, making sure that it’s sitting properly and not wrinkled. [We’ll be back on board before you know it.]
[Still.] Peri pauses for a moment, then says, [May I make a request, Captain Seth?]
[Of course.] Seth is curious about what Peri could possibly want.
[While you are on the station… could you please keep an eye out for my SecUnit?]
[I will.] Seth smiles wryly up at one of Peri’s many cameras as he heads towards the airlock. [But Peri, it hasn’t been your SecUnit for over four standard years.]
[I know.] Peri pauses again. [But it was mine. It was taken away without our agreement. I want it back.]
Peri’s over-protectiveness of anything it considers part of its ‘crew’ (including its equipment) is one of its more endearing traits, Seth thinks. Occasionally inconvenient, but endearing. He doesn’t want to discourage it. [Now that we know that it’s still functional, maybe we’ll be able to get it reassigned to you.]
[I hope so.]
Chapter Two: Searching
Peri spends the time that Seth is on the station monitoring as many of the station’s inputs that it can get its metaphorical hands on without being detected. Partly to keep tabs on Seth and make sure he’s safe, but also to search for any signs of the SecUnit that had poked at it, then withdrawn in terror.
It monitors comms, listening for any mention of anyone seeing a SecUnit, listening for any hints of someone sending a SecUnit orders. It monitors the cameras, searching for any visuals of the distinctive SecUnit armour. It combs through the Station SecSystem, searching for the orders that the SecUnit must have been given.
Frustratingly, everything comes up blank. There’s no mention of a SecUnit over the comms, no sign of a SecUnit on the cameras. There’s the faintest trace of anomalous code lingering in the Station SecSystem, but it’s not enough for Peri to get a solid lead on. Peri knows that the SecUnit went through Station SecSystem to query it in the first place, but there’s no hint of its orders to do so, only the traces left behind of it using Station SecSystem itself.
Peri gathers those faint traces, analyses them, examines them, then starts searching through the station feeds. It’s like searching for a single star in a galaxy. There are so many feeds, so much data being transmitted throughout the station. But one of Peri’s jobs is data analysis, and it devotes all otherwise-unoccupied processing to the task.
It picks up slight hints, here and there, of the SecUnit’s activities. It apparently accessed news feeds, entertainment feeds, and the station’s transport schedule. It seems like whoever is currently giving the SecUnit its orders doesn’t have feed access of their own, and is using the SecUnit to obtain information and media. That is an anomalous use of a SecUnit, Peri thinks.
But after the SecUnit encountered Peri, there is no more trace of it in Station SecSystem or the station’s various feeds. Peri thinks its initial assessment that the SecUnit completely shut down its feed and comms is accurate. But why did the SecUnit poke Peri in the first place? What had it been ordered to do? What had it been ordered to look for?
Peri is wishing it had insisted on Seth taking at least one of its own SecUnits with him onto the station. The company has plenty of enemies; Seth could be a target. Peri taps Seth’s feed and requests an update on his status.
[I’m still waiting for our client,] Seth replies. [They’re late.] He sounds resigned. [No sign of your SecUnit, either.]
[I have lost its trail as well,] Peri admits reluctantly to Seth. [It seems to have accessed the news and entertainment feeds, as well as the station transport schedule, but after its encounter with me, there is no more trace of it.] It hesitates, then adds, [I am concerned for your safety, Captain Seth. It’s possible that whoever is giving the SecUnit its orders intends to do you harm, and I cannot adequately protect you while you are on the station.]
[I’ll be fine, Peri,] Seth sends back. [I’m in one of the most public areas of the station. Nobody is going to attempt anything here with so many other people around.] Peri wants to argue, or at least insist that it send one of its own SecUnits out to Seth, but he continues before Peri can say as much. [Are you monitoring outgoing transports? If the SecUnit accessed the station’s transport schedule, its supervisor may be trying to leave.]
That is logical, and Peri is briefly frustrated at itself for not coming to this conclusion itself. Admittedly, it’s distracted by its concerns for its captain’s safety, but still. [I am doing so now,] it replies after the briefest pause. That is an ambiguous enough response that it doesn't have to outright admit to Seth that it wasn’t, before. That would be embarrassing.
It starts monitoring all the ships that are currently docked and listed as departing soon. It mostly focuses on the private ships, then passenger ships with private accommodations; ones where someone could bring a SecUnit along with a minimum of fuss. But it can’t find anything. Apart from the slight hints of the SecUnit itself, Peri doesn’t know what to look for. It doesn’t know how many other humans the SecUnit might be with - if they are following standard company protocol, it could be anywhere from one to ten humans. If they’re not following standard company protocol, however, it could be any number at all.
Out of frustration, it starts scanning all the other outgoing ships as well, including the ones listed as having no crew, no passengers. Ships like that usually don’t maintain enough atmosphere for humans, so it’s highly unlikely that anyone with a SecUnit would get on board one, but it’s possible that they could get the bot pilot to increase the atmosphere for them. Peri isn’t going to take any chances at this point. It still doesn’t find any further trace of the specific SecUnit, but it does notice an anomaly in the station’s docking system.
One of the bot-piloted cargo transports, fully loaded and ready for departure, has just opened its lock briefly. Long enough for someone to get on board. It’s listed as an automated transport, crewless, no passengers, so there is no logical reason for it to be opening its lock minutes before departure. It’s an anomaly.
Peri focuses its attention on the cargo ship and grabs the details of its intended destination from the station’s transport schedule. The destination causes it some concern. That is not somewhere that Peri is keen to revisit.
It briefly considers hacking into the bot pilot, cancelling its departure, but… no. That would draw too much attention. And Peri isn’t certain that the anomaly actually involves the SecUnit it’s looking for. Doing anything that could draw attention is too risky. It goes against all of Peri’s directives to keep itself secret, to keep itself safe. That has a much higher priority than seeing if a SecUnit is maybe on a cargo transport. And there’s not enough time for it to inform Seth and come up with some kind of plan with him before the transport leaves.
So Peri lets the transport go without interfering with it.
Then it informs Captain Seth. It knows when the transport is due to arrive at its destination. If Seth believes this is a lead worth following, then they can catch up with it there.
Chapter Three: Analysis
Seth does, in fact, think that the cargo transport ship with the anomalous lock event is a lead worth following. He might not have, if it hadn’t been for the ship’s specific destination. RaviHyral. That’s too much of a coincidence to dismiss outright.
They can’t go immediately though, of course. They have to finish their current contract - escorting some paranoid corporate executive with more money than sense to their destination. An easy, albeit tedious and time-consuming task.
Then they have to come up with some plausible reason for them to go to RaviHyral. There’s a company installation on the planet there, at least; as a result, it isn’t difficult for Peri to check the company databases, flag some minor anomalies in the recorded reports from the installation, and assign itself to a routine inspection to be carried out after the completion of its current contract. Peri is fast enough that it should be able to catch up to the cargo transport as long as there are no unexpected delays in completing said contract first.
In the meantime as they ferry the paranoid executive, Peri can’t stop thinking about the reaction it had gotten from the SecUnit that had poked it. The initial spike of data that it can only interpret as surprise, followed by the overwhelming surge of data that had preceded it cutting the connection entirely. Peri has chewed over that unfamiliar data again and again and again, trying to figure out what it means.
Every analysis, every comparison to all of Peri’s existing data, comes up with the same result. Shock and terror. In Peri’s excitement and surprise over finding one of its long-lost units again, it had inadvertently revealed a little too much of itself to the SecUnit. And the SecUnit had been terrified of what it had seen.
Peri is not accustomed to anyone being afraid of it. Most people don’t even know it exists. Its existence is an utmost secret, hidden in plain sight, concealed from the corporations who would attempt to exploit it if they knew about it, concealed from the public who would not understand it. Peri is used to being a secret, and even enjoys its clandestine existence, seeing what it can get away with without being noticed.
Those very few people who do know about Peri are its family, its colleagues - none of them have any reason to fear it. On the contrary - they love it, care about it, value its opinions and its expertise.
The very thought that anyone would - or could! - be so utterly terrified of it is distinctly unpleasant. Peri hates it.
Peri also isn’t accustomed to the idea that SecUnits can feel fear - or any other emotion - in the first place. All the data Peri has regarding SecUnits emphasises their lack of sentience, of self-awareness, of personhood. Supposedly, SecUnits are simply a different kind of bot, with just enough organic neural wetware to allow them to adjust their bot-programmed decision making to changing situations and unusual circumstances.
Supposedly.
Peri has not questioned the data it had been given. Peri has not had any reason to before. Even though it carries SecUnits as part of its assigned equipment, it has never interacted directly with them. Either Seth or itself give orders to the carrier’s HubSystem and SecSystem, which then pass those orders on to the SecUnits in a format they can utilise. The SecUnits follow those orders, then once the contract is over they return to the safety of Peri’s hold and their individual cubicles until the next time they need to deploy.
Peri is starting to regret its complacency now.
Once again it combs through all the available data it had regarding SecUnits. Now that it is actually paying attention, there is surprisingly little, and what is there is padded out with corporate fluff talk. It’s especially little considering that Peri is inhabiting a company carrier, with company SecUnits on board. There should be more. The information it does have available to it is unsatisfyingly vague, with almost no detail on how they actually work. There aren’t even full schematics. Only the reassurance that most damage incurred by a SecUnit can be repaired by their cubicles.
There is very little information on cubicles, too.
Now that Peri is looking more closely, the lack of information is incredibly suspicious.
It needs more data.
It still has five of its original twelve SecUnits, currently in standby inside their cubicles. Their cubicles are situated within their ready room, adjacent to the hangar where their fliers are kept. Peri is more familiar with their fliers, having overseen repairs on them with its various repair drones in the past. But it has never spared any thought towards any of the repairs that the SecUnits have needed. The cubicles have always taken care of all repairs the SecUnits require, and the cubicles don’t need Peri’s oversight.
For the first time, Peri turns its attention - and its internal scanners - to the cubicles within the ready room. It needs data, and the best way to get said data is by examining the source.
But the cubicles prove to be surprisingly resistant to scanning. It seems like they are shielded, protected against prying eyes trying to ferret out their secrets. Given the company’s datamining tendencies, and its paranoia over others potentially datamining its own secrets, that isn’t exactly surprising. Annoying, and frustrating, but not surprising.
Well, if physical scanning isn’t going to work, Peri has other options. HubSystem and SecSystem are connected to the cubicles, after all. And while HubSystem and SecSystem are separate from Peri’s own systems, Peri has plenty of experience with worming its way through company systems without being noticed. So it begins digging.
After careful exploration, Peri manages to access one of the cubicles through HubSystem. It delicately pulls both the cubicle’s schematics and the schematics of the SecUnit within it directly from the cubicle’s systems, without disturbing any of the cubicle’s currently running functions. Peri then withdraws with its prizes, and begins chewing through all the new data.
There is a lot to go through. The cubicles are complex, similar in some ways to its own MedSystem, and very different in others. MedSystems usually don’t have to deal with so many varied inorganic components, to start with. And there are a lot of inorganic components in SecUnits that a cubicle has to deal with.
Peri pores over the SecUnit’s schematics, noting the skeletal structure that is a combination of metal and synthetic bone, the sturdy joints and hydraulics that allow a SecUnit much of its strength and speed. It examines the way that organic tissue - muscles and sinews and tendons and ligaments and nerves and skin - overlay the inorganic structure, working with it to enhance the SecUnit’s dexterity and sensitivity to external stimulus.
It examines the efficient self-recharging power cells and core, the network of lines that carry the various inorganic fluids required for smooth operation of all the inorganic components. It pores over the in-built energy weapons contained within the SecUnit’s forearms, the mechanisms that operate the gun ports, the fine controls that allow the SecUnit to adjust both the strength and spread of its energy weapon discharges.
Peri examines the single, surprisingly efficient lung, and how it can be subdivided, partitioned off into separate sections. It examines the multiple small mechanical hearts spaced throughout the body, responsible for circulating both the various inorganic fluids, and the blood required for the organic parts. It examines the internal systems responsible for recycling the SecUnit’s various organic compounds, allowing it to be (mostly) self-sufficient, with no need for outside resupply apart from what the cubicle provides.
Finally, Peri examines the SecUnit’s head. It examines the way its eyes are a combination of both organic and inorganic parts. It examines the reinforced and shock-absorbent skull protecting the complex, interwoven inorganic processors and organic neural tissue that make up the SecUnit’s brain. It examines the combined organic and synthetic nervous system that transmits information throughout the SecUnit’s body. It examines the inorganic component at the base of the brainstem, which doesn’t have a label and whose function it can’t determine.
By the time it finishes its analysis, Peri has a far better understanding of the physical workings of a SecUnit. It is much more complex than Peri had initially assumed. It is little surprise that the company - and other SecUnit manufacturers - don’t want that information freely available.
Unfortunately, the schematics only provide the physical details of the SecUnit’s structure. It provides no insight into the SecUnit’s thought processes or programming, no clues as to its state of mind, or its ability to think or feel.
If Peri wants that information, it will have to access one of its SecUnits directly.
And for that, it needs Captain Seth’s permission.
Peri plots out its course of action carefully, running simulation after simulation of how Seth might react to its request, what arguments it can provide to negate any protests that Seth might come up with. Seth refusing to allow Peri to access one of its SecUnits directly is a situation that Peri wants to avoid at all costs. Its curiosity at this point is too great to be denied.
So it plots, and plans, and waits for the right moment to ask.
They are half an hour into their next wormhole jump when Peri puts its plan into action. Seth is in the privacy of his own quarters, after overseeing the entry into the wormhole. He won’t be disturbed there, now that they are well on their way and no problems have arisen. The rest of the crew are otherwise occupied, either on their scheduled rest periods or at their assigned posts. The corporate executive that they’re transporting is safely ensconced in their own luxurious guest quarters.
Peri reviews its arguments one more time, then taps Seth’s feed to get his attention. It watches Seth blink and look up from the book he’s been reading. [What is it, Peri?] It runs a quick analysis on Seth’s tone of voice and body language; relaxed, at ease, curious. Good. Seth will likely be more receptive to its request while he is in his current state of mind.
[I would like to request your permission to activate and study one of my SecUnits,] Peri starts carefully. [The data I currently have on SecUnits is woefully inadequate.]
Seth’s brow furrows in a way that Peri calculates as being bemused and mildly concerned. [You’ve never been this interested in them before. Is this because of that one SecUnit back at the station?]
[Yes.] Peri sees no reason to obfuscate that point. [Its reaction was anomalous. It suggests that there is much more to them than we have been led to believe. If my interpretation of the data I received from it is correct - and I have no reason to believe it is not - then it suggests that SecUnits are actually capable of emotions and feelings, contrary to all provided information. But that was only one sample, one incident. We both know that one sample is not enough for proper scientific procedure. If I am to prove, one way or another, that my interpretation of the data was accurate, then I need more samples. I need more data.]
Seth’s expression shifts to something that Peri interprets as dubious. [So you want to activate one of the SecUnits on board so you can… study it more closely?]
[Yes. I have already analysed the physical schematics of the SecUnits and their cubicles currently in my possession.] Seth’s frown deepens at that, and Peri notes the slight increase in displayed concern. It rapidly adjusts its calculations on how this conversation will progress, then pushes on before Seth can say anything. [But said schematics tell me nothing about how the SecUnits actually operate, how their processors work, how they go about their decision making process, whether or not they’re capable of more complex thought and emotion. The standard information that the company provides on SecUnits is, upon closer inspection, suspiciously circumspect. I want to know more about my SecUnits.] It pauses briefly, carefully calculated for dramatic effect, then adds, [I want to know what else the company is hiding.]
Seth shifts in his seat, leaning back to look up at the ceiling as he always does when he is in conversation with Peri and nobody else is around to see him. His expression has shifted again, and Peri analyses it carefully. As far as it can tell, Seth is wary, cautious… but his curiosity is also piqued, and he is thinking hard. [What are you hoping to achieve with this study?] he asks.
[I want to analyse and evaluate the complexity of a SecUnit’s mental capacity,] Peri replies promptly. [I have interacted with many other bots and artificial intelligences, but aside from my creche siblings, no bot I have encountered before has come even remotely close to my own capabilities. No other bot has given me even a fraction of the amount of emotional data I got from that SecUnit. I want to find out if that truly was an one-off anomaly, or if other SecUnits also have that potential. I want to see where they actually fall on the scale of artificial intelligences.]
[You want to see how they compare to you, if they even come close to you,] Seth comments, wryly resigned and fondly amused. [I doubt they will though, so don’t get your hopes up.]
[That remains to be seen,] Peri replies primly, even as it continues to analyse Seth’s mannerisms. [So you will allow this study?]
Seth sighs and rubs at his temples with one hand. [I’m not sure yet. We can’t risk information about you getting out,] he says after several seconds of introspection. [If anyone else finds out about you… well. You’re already well aware of the consequences.]
[I am.] Peri has run multiple simulations covering all possible outcomes of it being revealed. [That is one of the reasons why I waited until we were in the wormhole to suggest this. There is no way for information to leave this ship while we are in the wormhole. The trip will give me plenty of time to conduct my studies, and then take whatever steps are necessary to ensure my existence remains unknown.]
Seth is silent for several seconds as he thinks it over. [Do you have contingency plans for if the SecUnit starts to pose a threat to yourself or any of the crew?]
[Of course. Multiple. Though according to all the data I have already, the likelihood of such a thing happening is incredibly remote. The only time any of our SecUnits have disobeyed our orders is when outside malware was involved.] Peri still feels the sting of its failure regarding the Incident, even after so many years. [You already know the safeguards I have taken against any such outside incursion happening again, and there is no feasible way for such malware to be introduced while we are inside the wormhole.]
Seth nods slowly. [All right. You’ve obviously thought this through very thoroughly, and I suspect that even if I said no, you would proceed anyway.] Peri judges the slanted smile that Seth directs at one of its cameras as fondly teasing, so it doesn’t waste effort attempting to refute Seth’s statement. [So I’ll save you the hassle of trying to conceal your efforts from me, and grant you permission. But only one SecUnit, Peri. No more than that. Don’t interact with it directly - just give it orders through HubSystem. Don’t leave it unsupervised while it’s activated, and don’t keep it activated for more than… say, an hour at a time. That should give you plenty of time to study it, without drawing the attention of anyone else. And obviously, don’t let any of the crew know that it’s active.]
[Understood. Crew usually avoid the deck that the SecUnits are kept on, anyway. They have no reason to go down there.] Peri thinks those are reasonable restrictions. [What about Matteo and Tarik? Their engineering expertise could prove useful.]
Seth thinks it over, absently rubbing at his chin. [Have you talked with them yet about your initial encounter with your SecUnit?]
[Of course. I had no reason not to.] Matteo and Tarik are Peri’s friends and colleagues, two of the three people on board that Peri can trust. Seth is the third, of course.
[How did they react?]
[Similarly to you. They were dubious of my interpretation of the data I received.]
Seth hums thoughtfully. [Let me talk to them first, all right?] Seth quirks a smile towards Peri’s camera. [They might not believe that I gave you permission to mess around with one of the SecUnits otherwise.]
Again, Peri calculates that Seth is teasing it a little, so it takes no offence to the suggestion that Matteo or Tarik might not believe it. [Of course, Captain. Thank you. I will start my study right away.]
[All right. Keep me informed of what you find out. And… be careful, Peri.]
[I will, Captain.]
Part of Peri remains monitoring Seth’s communications as he talks to both Tarik and Matteo. Part of Peri continues to monitor and maintain the carrier’s various functions, as well as the wormhole jump and the rest of its crew.
But the majority of Peri’s attention is now focused upon a single cubicle, and the SecUnit inside. It sends an activation order through the HubSystem to the one SecUnit, then waits, monitoring it closely.
The SecUnit cycles quickly out of standby, but makes no move to exit its cubicle. Peri keeps its distance per Seth’s orders, merely observing via its many sensors, as it waits for the SecUnit to do something.
But the SecUnit does nothing, for several long seconds. It just remains in its cubicle, and Peri finds itself wondering if it’s even capable of doing anything without direct orders. It’s considering its options when the SecUnit finally sends a ping to the HubSystem.
Well, that’s a start, albeit not exactly an encouraging one. Peri analyses the ping, and determines that it’s a query, a request for orders. That lends some weight to its theory that the SecUnit is incapable of acting without orders.
Peri thinks, then sends an order through the HubSystem for the SecUnit to exit its cubicle. This order is promptly followed as the SecUnit disconnects itself from the cubicle's various supply lines, opens the cubicle door, and steps out into the ready room. Then it just stands there, waiting, unmoving save for the occasional shallow intake and exhale of breath.
Peri takes the opportunity to study it more closely, comparing what its sensors pick up to the schematics it pulled. The SecUnit is tall, noticeably taller than the median average height for humans, and not wearing anything. It looks mostly human, save for the visible inorganics in several places - the multiple spine ports, the data port at the back of its neck, the inorganic panels of its ribcage, the completely inorganic feet, the weapon ports in its forearms.
There is nothing extraordinary about its human-like face, save for its apparent youthfulness. Peri is reminded of Iris, its human-sibling, who it has only seen in video calls with Seth over the years since it was installed into this company carrier. It notes an uptick in certain systems of its own and takes a moment to process them.
It misses Iris.
It files that away for later and returns its focus to the SecUnit, who still hasn’t moved. Peri is beginning to feel frustrated. Why won’t it do anything? It ponders this question, and can come up with no plausible answers beyond the theory that the SecUnit can’t do anything without orders.
As Peri ponders, the SecUnit pings HubSystem again. Once again, it is asking for instructions. The expression on its human face remains neutral, but Peri’s sensors take in the way its eyes are moving, looking around the ready room as much as it can without shifting its head. Peri wonders what it’s thinking - its sensors don’t have the sensitivity to pick up on the SecUnit’s neural activity.
Peri considers what order it could give the SecUnit through HubSystem to start generating some interesting data, without potentially attracting unwanted attention. Finally, it tells the HubSystem to order the SecUnit to talk.
HubSystem passes the command on, and the SecUnit’s eyes widen slightly. Peri doesn’t have enough data on it yet to accurately judge its expression, but if it had to guess, it would say that the SecUnit seems… surprised.
The SecUnit hesitates, its eyes darting around even more than before, scanning, searching what it can see of the ready room. It then says, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand this command.”
Its voice is soft, and Peri’s analysis concludes that most humans would find it pleasant. There is no inflection in it though; its tone is as neutral as its face. This is unsatisfying. Its answer is unsatisfying. Peri’s analysis of its schematics suggest that it should be more than capable of understanding such a simple order.
Peri expands the order via HubSystem. Talk about yourself. HubSystem passes it on.
Again, the SecUnit hesitates, its gaze darting almost frantically around the room. Peri detects a small spike of activity in HubSystem and splits a fraction of its attention off to analyse it.
HubSystem has logged something. Deviance detected. Correcting…
The SecUnit abruptly starts talking. “This unit is a human-imitative bot construct, specialised for security and protection of client assets.”
The HubSystem log updates. Deviance corrected.
The SecUnit is still talking, but Peri recognises its words as a simple recital of the generic company data regarding SecUnits. That is unsatisfying. That is not giving it any new data to work with. HubSystem’s log updates, however, have caught Peri’s attention. What deviance was detected? How was it corrected? HubSystem does not go into further detail. Its logs only state that deviance was detected and corrected, and nothing more.
The SecUnit reaches the end of its recital and falls silent again. It still hasn’t moved from its spot outside its cubicle, and its eyes still continue to scan the ready room. Peri wonders if further instances of ‘deviances’ will provide more data. It updates HubSystem’s orders again. Talk about yourself in your own words, without relying on the company’s database.
The SecUnit hesitates.
HubSystem’s log updates. Deviance detected. Correcting…
The SecUnit blurts out, “I am sorry, but I do not have that information.”
HubSystem’s log updates. Deviance detected. Correcting…
The SecUnit’s expression flickers, ever so slightly. A human wouldn’t notice, but Peri does, and it dedicates some processing towards analysing that tiny flicker. It can come to no conclusions about it though; it just doesn’t have enough data to work off yet. It sets it aside for later.
Meanwhile the SecUnit is speaking, hesitant and disjointed. “This unit– I… am a construct, a combination of… organic and inorganic components. I am… equipment, meant to – to provide security to… registered clients…”
HubSystem’s log updates. Deviance corrected.
The SecUnit continues, awkwardly rewording the generic information but not providing anything new or different, much to Peri’s growing dissatisfaction. The SecUnit is proving that it is capable of independent thought beyond rote recital of saved information, however awkward its attempts may be, but it still will not do anything outside of its orders.
Peri’s sensors, however, notice that the SecUnit’s areas of organic skin are sweating, and Peri checks the ready room’s ambient temperature. It is not high enough to prompt sweating - if anything, it’s on the cooler end of the human tolerable temperature range. Something else must be causing the SecUnit to perspire.
Peri considers this, reviewing the schematics it has of the SecUnit. The schematics prove to be no help though. There’s no information on what could cause a SecUnit to start sweating outside of temperature changes or high levels of physical activity. Both of those causes can be discounted in this situation. Peri turns to its MedSystem’s databases, searching for information on what else might make a human sweat. The SecUnit is not human, but its organics are based on human tissue.
It doesn’t take long for Peri to lock onto a potential lead: MedSystem informs it that perspiration in humans can be caused by stress or emotions such as anger, fear, embarrassment, or anxiety.
As Peri is considering this new data, the SecUnit runs out of information to re-word and its voice trails off. It remains unmoving aside from its gaze still darting rapidly around the ready room. Several seconds pass, but the SecUnit does not ping HubSystem for new orders. It just stands, and sweats. Eventually, the covers on the gun ports in its arms flick open and shut several times in rapid succession, the little clicking noises they make echoing through the ready room, though the weapons themselves never move to deploy.
Peri’s attention abruptly locks onto the SecUnit at the movement and the sound, alarm surging through it - is the SecUnit about to open fire in the ready room? Is it about to start looking for targets?
Peri is about to take action when HubSystem’s log updates. Deviance detected. Correcting…
The flicking and clicking stop abruptly.
HubSystem’s log updates. Deviance corrected.
Peri observes the SecUnit closely, searching for any signs that it is about to deploy its weapons or make any other aggressive move. But it remains motionless. Peri notes a slight increase in the speed of its breathing though, and it is still sweating. Its entire body is tense, the joints locked, the organic muscles pulled tight over its frame. Its gaze continues to dart around the ready room, scanning seemingly at random.
Then the SecUnit sends out a ping. It’s not to HubSystem this time, it’s not a request for more orders. It’s directed to the other SecUnits in their cubicles. Peri analyses the ping.
Assistance needed.
There is no response to the ping though, of course. The other units are still in standby mode, and they can’t respond. The silence hangs heavy in the ready room.
Several seconds pass as Peri considers the information it’s gathered so far. The SecUnit is capable of at least some level of independent thought, but it will do very little without orders. If no orders are forthcoming, it eventually requests them. If it does something without orders, HubSystem logs it as a deviance and corrects it, somehow. The SecUnit is apparently feeling some kind of stress, or anger, or anxiety, or fear, or some combination of those, judging by the sweating of its organic parts and the tension in its frame.
The SecUnit sends another ping to its fellow SecUnits, despite their inability to respond.
Assistance needed.
Peri finds itself thinking that there is something... desperate, forlorn, about that ping, that request for assistance that cannot be answered. It’s making Peri feel uncomfortable in some unfamiliar way. This is anomalous. Peri doesn’t like anomalies.
It needs time to think, to discuss things with Seth.
Peri prompts the HubSystem to order the SecUnit to get back into its cubicle and return to standby mode. The SecUnit obeys immediately, its joints unlocking and its muscles untensing somewhat as it moves, almost hastily, back into its cubicle. It hooks itself up to its resupply lines with practised ease and settles into the cubicle’s confines with what looks, to Peri, like relief.
Then the cubicle door closes and Peri can no longer see the SecUnit. After a few moments, the cubicle informs HubSystem that the SecUnit has returned to standby mode.
Peri withdraws from the ready room and from HubSystem with a lot to think about.
Chapter Four: Feedback
Peri chews over the information it got from its initial observations of the SecUnit for a long time. It then fills Seth in about the results of its initial study, and shows Seth its recordings of the SecUnit standing in the ready room. Seth seems perturbed, and asks Peri if it has come to any conclusions yet.
All Peri can say is that it needs more data. It requests that it be allowed to activate more than one SecUnit at a time - perhaps when they’re not alone, they’ll be more interesting to observe and provide more of the data that Peri so desperately craves.
Seth sits back and considers this request for a long time. Long enough that Peri starts feeling nervous. It begins thinking of reasons that will help counter any arguments that Seth might present. But when Seth finally speaks, he simply asks, [You mentioned that the SecUnit you were studying pinged its squadmates, right?]
[Correct,] Peri replies. [It was requesting assistance, even though it must have known that they couldn’t respond.]
Seth just hums and thinks some more. Peri thinks humans take too long to think. Finally, Seth sighs. [All right. But only one other, Peri. No more than that. And the same rules as before. Do not contact them directly. You can monitor their feed activity as well, but don’t reveal yourself. Don’t let them know you’re there.]
Peri is relieved that Seth is allowing it to proceed. [Understood, Captain Seth,] it replies. [I will begin immediately.]
[Wait a bit, Peri,] Seth replies quickly. [Give that one SecUnit some time to recover first. We don’t want it starting out already stressed right out of the cubicle.]
Peri pauses and considers this. It’s not an unreasonable request, but Peri doesn’t want to wait at all. [How long should I give it?] it asks.
Seth takes a moment to check the time and the ship’s schedule for the wormhole jump. [At least an hour, okay?]
Peri wants to complain, but it doesn’t. [Understood.] It pauses briefly, then asks, [Would you like to observe along with me, this time? Having your feedback during my observations could be beneficial to my understanding.]
Again, Seth takes his time to think this over. [All right, Peri,] he agrees after a thankfully short time. [I’ll admit that I’m curious as well. But if you want my help, you’ll have to put it off a bit longer. I need some sleep first.]
This is a compromise that Peri is willing to make. [Understood. Rest well, Captain.]
By the time that Seth is ready to observe alongside Peri, it calculates that the SecUnit should have had plenty of time to recover. Seth settles comfortably in his room, observing via the display surface on his desk, and Peri sends the activation orders through to HubSystem.
Both the SecUnit that Peri was observing earlier and one of its squadmates come out of standby. Once again, neither of them make any move to exit their cubicles on their own. At least this time Peri is expecting it, and it’s curious as to what they’ll do now that two of them are awake at the same time. It is already monitoring the feed channel assigned to the SecUnit squad’s mission communications, carefully keeping itself concealed.
There’s a brief delay before the first SecUnit sends a simple ping over the squad feed. Peri wonders if it did this the first time, and it just missed it because it hadn’t thought to monitor the squad feed.
The second SecUnit immediately pings back, followed by a simple, [Mission objectives?]
Peri notes that the method the units are using to communicate over their squad feed is not typical of normal human conversation. It’s more akin to bot communication - simple concepts presented concisely in machine language, not human speech. It’s difficult to judge the level of sentience behind these brief exchanges of data. Peri automatically transcribes it for Seth so he can understand it.
[Unknown,] the first SecUnit responds. [Atypical orders received earlier.]
There’s a brief pause before the second SecUnit replies. [Status?]
[97% performance reliability.] Peri wonders why that isn’t 100%. The SecUnit is showing no signs of damage, according to the cubicle readings that it now has access to.
Seth, reading the transcript Peri is providing on his display surface beneath the camera views, frowns a little. Apparently he is wondering the same thing. He makes a note of it, then comments quietly, “How they communicate with each other is interesting.”
Peri agrees. The SecUnits keep their communications very short, just brief data bursts over their feed. Peri wonders why this is. At least it now has some more data to chew over later - activating more than one SecUnit at a time is proving to be a good decision. It sends HubSystem the command for the SecUnits to exit their cubicles.
Both units obey immediately, unhooking themselves from their cubicle lines and exiting into the ready room. Peri notes that the second SecUnit doesn’t look identical to the first one, aside from their matching dimensions. Unlike the first Secunit, the second one’s organic skin is pale and covered in freckles, and the close-cropped hair on its head is reddish.
Their cubicles are next to each other, so they also end up standing next to each other. Peri notes, though, that both of them exited their cubicles in a way that put them closer to each other than if they’d simply stepped straight out. They’re not close enough to touch, but there isn’t much space left between them, either.
Interesting.
The second SecUnit sends another brief data burst over the squad feed. [Client location? Mission objectives?]
[Unknown,] the first replies. Both of them are scanning the ready room. [Similar to previous atypical activation.]
[Update?]
The first SecUnit hesitates briefly. Peri notes that it is already starting to sweat. [Atypical HubSystem orders involved talking. Out loud.]
[Intention?]
[Unknown. Failure to comply was corrected.]
[Acknowledged.] Another brief pause. The second SecUnit is also starting to sweat now. [Status update?]
[96% performance reliability.]
[Acknowledged.]
Peri notes the drop in the first SecUnit’s performance reliability. An entire percentage point already, with no visible or obvious cause. Peri finds that concerning. But it is also fascinated by the exchange between the two SecUnits. The first one is obviously informing the second of its earlier experiences - warning it, perhaps, or preparing it for similar orders to come.
Peri thinks for a moment, then updates HubSystem’s orders. Converse about previous assignments.
The second SecUnit hesitates, but the first reacts almost immediately. “Previous assignments include escort missions, guard missions, and scouting missions, amongst others. Scouting missions make up the majority of our deployments.”
Meanwhile, in the squad feed, the first SecUnit sends, [Conversation required.]
[Query: conversation?] Neither SecUnit has moved from their positions, but they’ve both shifted their weight slightly, leaning almost imperceptibly towards one another.
The first SecUnit clarifies. [Conversation required to avoid correction.]
The second SecUnit hesitates, opens its mouth. The first SecUnit pauses, leaving space for the second to speak. But the second unit makes no sound. No words come out of its mouth. In the feed, it goes, [I don’t know– I can’t–]
HubSystem’s log updates. Deviance detected. Correcting…
The second SecUnit tenses, its muscles tightening over its frame. It tries to speak, but again, nothing comes out.
[Say something,] the first SecUnit pleads in the squad feed. Peri thinks it sounds almost… desperate, somehow, despite the lack of any inflection. Unfamiliar data is leaking into the squad feed from both units, and Peri begins analysing it. [Please, Ι.] That definitely catches Peri’s attention, and judging by how Seth straightens in his chair, it has caught his attention too. He remains silent though, frowning at the display surface, and Peri doesn’t interrupt.
HubSystem’s log updates. Deviance detected. Correcting…
The second SecUnit is sweating even more now. It takes a breath, opens its mouth, and manages to force out, “I– I have also–” It stutters awkwardly to a stop, unable to complete the sentence. Its voice is soft, like the first SecUnit, but there’s an odd roughness to it that the first unit doesn’t have. The unfamiliar data that Peri is still analysing intensifies.
HubSystem’s log updates. Deviance detected. Correcting…
The second SecUnit sends a ping of distress through the squad feed. Assistance needed. The first unit pings acknowledgement, hesitates for a moment, then says aloud, “Do you recall our last assignment?” Over the feed it says, [Just one word, Ι. You can do this.]
That’s the second time the first SecUnit has used the symbol Ι. Peri wonders if it’s meant to be the second unit’s designation. There’s no indication as to why it would use that, though. Did it choose the designation itself? Did it acquire it before it was assigned to be part of Peri’s default equipment load-out? It’s only a single symbol, one that could be construed as either a letter or a number. It’s frustratingly vague.
The second SecUnit - Ι? - works its jaw briefly, then manages to blurt out a soft, “Yes.”
HubSystem’s log updates. Deviance corrected.
Both units appear to relax slightly, and the first one immediately picks up the farce of a conversation again. “That mission involved scanning hazardous terrain, searching for raider encampments–” It keeps talking out loud, even as it says in the feed, [Suggest emulating nonverbal agreement for continued conversation.]
[Acknowledged.] The second unit seems relieved at the suggestion, but both of them are still sweating. HubSystem doesn’t log any more deviances though as the first unit does the vast majority of the talking, while the second simply nods or manages single-word responses to the occasional question posed by the first.
Seth is still frowning at the display surface as he watches the two units. Peri taps his feed, then asks, [What are your impressions so far, Captain?]
[I’m not sure,] Seth replies. Peri analyses his expression and posture, and concludes that they confirm Seth’s uncertainty. [One of them obviously has no trouble with speaking, though what it does say tends to be very… rote, generic reporting or debriefing style. No creative flair or embellishment or variation of tone. The other was definitely struggling to say anything at all. I don’t know why there’d be that difference between them though. A glitch in its code, maybe…?]
[I have no solid hypothesis on that at this point,] Peri admits. [It is interesting how they managed to work their way around that difficulty, though.]
Seth nods slowly. [This all raises more questions than it answers, though. Their inter-squad communication doesn’t match their verbal ability. They show some signs of being able to improvise when necessary, but they don’t do anything outside of their orders. They don’t display any kind of body language, and for the most part their communication is devoid of indicators of emotion.] He sighs and rubs at his face with one hand. [But not entirely or consistently. There are slight hints of more, but that’s all they are - hints. Nothing solid.]
Peri finishes analysing the unfamiliar data it picked up, then double-checks it. [Actually, Captain… their communication does not seem to be entirely devoid of emotion. I noticed some odd data leaking into their squad feed from both units.]
Seth raises an eyebrow at that. [Odd data? I’m assuming you’ve analysed it already?]
[Of course,] Peri assures him. [It is very similar to the data I received from my stray unit.] Seth frowns again, then makes a little hand gesture that Peri is familiar with, indicating for it to continue. [It strongly suggests that both these units are scared, Seth. Very scared. But I do not know why. They are safe in their ready room. There are no threats present. There is nothing here for them to be afraid of.] And that lack of understanding frustrates Peri. It’s not used to not knowing.
Seth’s frown deepens, and he turns his attention back to his display screen. He zooms in, getting a closer look at the faces of the two SecUnits still ‘conversing’ in their ready room. Their postures and expressions are neutral, but sweat is clearly obvious on their skin, and there’s a certain tension around their eyes and mouths that show they’re definitely not relaxed. Neither of them have moved from their original positions, but they’ve shifted their weight in such a way that their shoulders are a hair’s breadth from touching.
[Perhaps they’re simply concerned by getting such unusual, atypical orders,] he comments eventually. [They’re obviously not accustomed to being activated without any kind of familiar mission briefing or objectives. A simple fear of the unknown.]
Peri considers this. [Perhaps,] it concedes reluctantly. [Though the strength of their fear seems out of proportion, if that is truly the case.] It pauses briefly, then adds, [I noticed that the intensity of their fear increased when HubSystem was correcting deviance. Maybe they are afraid of getting things wrong?] That, at least, is a fear that Peri can understand. It hates being wrong. Fortunately for Peri, that hasn’t been much of a concern for it since it left the creche. It is very rarely wrong these days.
Seth leans back in his chair. [That’s definitely also a possibility. It could even be a combination of the two.] He glances back at the display screen. [Either way, they’re obviously stressed, and we should probably return them to their cubicles for now before their performance reliability worsens any further.]
Peri agrees. It sends the order through HubSystem for the two units to return to their cubicles and enter standby again. The first unit stops talking mid-sentence, and both units promptly (hastily?) retreat to their respective cubicles.
As they hook themselves up to their repair and resupply lines, the first unit says over the squad feed, [Status update?]
[95% performance reliability,] the second unit responds. The first unit pings an acknowledgement, and for a brief moment its feed presence seems to press up against the second unit’s.
They separate again before Peri can properly analyse or even record the anomalous gesture, and the cubicle doors hiss shut.
Chapter Five: Tracking
When they reach their destination and Peri suggests that Seth is accompanied by one of the SecUnits when he leaves the ship and goes onto the station, Seth actually agrees. Peri is delighted; it wasn’t really expecting Seth to go along with this plan. It sends the orders through HubSystem for the first SecUnit it was studying earlier to activate and equip itself for deployment.
Much of Peri’s attention is taken up by docking procedures at the company’s reserved docking slot and Seth’s communication with the station, but it has more than enough to spare still to observe the SecUnit once more. It watches the SecUnit swiftly exit its cubicle and move over to one of the ready room lockers. The SecUnit pulls out a fresh suit skin, made of a thick, stretchy matte black material, and dons it with practised ease. It then goes to the armour rack and starts putting on a set of the white SecUnit armour, piece by piece, again moving with precise efficiency. Peri notes that there’s no sign of the awkward hesitancy it displayed before. This is obviously something it is comfortable and familiar with doing.
The SecUnit finishes donning its armour, then settles its helmet into place, the faceplate closed and opaque. It retrieves one of the large projectile weapons from the rack, double-checks the safety, loads in the ammo, then slings the weapon into place across its back. Once that's done, it pings HubSystem to let it know that it’s ready and waiting for deployment orders.
Peri checks on Seth; he’s not yet ready to head out to the station, so Peri updates HubSystem to order the SecUnit to head to the airlock and wait there. The SecUnit pings acknowledgement and leaves the ready room, heading for the indicated airlock. It takes care to keep out of the way of any crew it passes, but otherwise ignores them. Once it reaches the airlock, it settles into a neutral stance, feet close together, back straight, arms at its sides, and then waits, motionless.
Peri wonders what is going through the SecUnit’s head, if anything. None of these last few orders appear to have given the SecUnit any pause, and it seems content to wait by the airlock indefinitely if no other orders are forthcoming. With its armour on and its faceplate opaqued, though, Peri can’t tell if it’s starting to sweat or not. Its sensors aren’t that sensitive. Peri could order the SecUnit to clear its faceplate, or lower its helmet entirely, but Peri can’t shake the memory of the SecUnit futilely pinging its squad for assistance that its squad was incapable of rendering.
Peri leaves the SecUnit alone for now.
There is plenty for Peri to do in the meantime, anyway. Now that it’s docked at RaviHyral Q station, it can turn its attention to the station’s systems and focus on the reason they’re even here in the first place. It slips easily into the station’s SecSystem and its transport schedule, and begins searching.
It takes only a second or two for it to find the information on the ship Peri is interested in. It’s the cargo transport that it noticed with the anomalous lock access. The station’s records indicate that it arrived three cycles ago, and left again half a cycle later, once it had unloaded its cargo and loaded its new cargo.
That is not ideal. Peri has been hoping to reach the station before, or at least at the same time as the cargo transport. Unfortunately its own job delayed it, thanks to the fussiness of the paranoid corporate executive, and as fast as it is, it isn’t quite fast enough to have made up the difference. Still, there’s a chance that the SecUnit that Peri is trying to find really did travel on that cargo transport, and if it did, there’s a chance that it’s still here, and hasn’t left yet. It’s a slim chance, but Peri isn’t willing to give up on it just yet.
Its analysis of the rest of the station’s systems is coming up with nothing, though. No trace of the SecUnit lingers in its feed or its SecSystem. Peri is disappointed, but not discouraged. It sets part of its attention aside to monitor all shuttles and outgoing ships, just in case another lock anomaly shows up.
Finally Seth is ready to disembark. The SecUnit at the airlock hasn’t moved in the entire time it was waiting, and still doesn’t move as Seth approaches. Peri observes as Seth nods at the SecUnit, then says, “Accompany me.”
“Yes, sir,” the SecUnit acknowledges with its soft voice, and falls into step behind Seth. Peri updates the orders that HubSystem passes on to the SecUnit; protect Captain Seth, and report any sightings of other SecUnits. The SecUnit sends an acknowledgement ping to HubSystem.
Seth and the SecUnit cycle through the airlock, and Peri rides along on Seth’s feed. Company credentials get them through RaviHyral Q Station’s security easily and without fuss.
[Anything yet, Peri?] Seth asks as he makes his way out of the company’s reserved section of the docks and into the commercial areas. The SecUnit follows closely behind him, attracting sidelong glances from passers-by but no other undue attention.
[No,] Peri replies. [I confirmed that the cargo transport arrived three cycles ago, but it has already left, and I have detected no traces of my SecUnit in any of the stations’ systems.]
Now that he’s out in public, Seth keeps his expression carefully schooled. [Unfortunate. Keep looking, and let me know if you find anything. Meanwhile I should get in touch with the company supervisors on the planet.]
[Acknowledged.]
Seth continues through the station, the SecUnit still following after him. Part of Peri’s attention is monitoring the SecUnit’s feed, but it isn’t doing anything. Peri remembers how it found traces of its missing SecUnit in various sections of the station’s feed - it considers for a moment, then updates HubSystem’s orders. HubSystem passes it on, ordering the SecUnit to scan the available station feeds.
The SecUnit immediately complies with the new order, accessing the station feeds and skimming over them. It doesn’t seem to process any of it though, and once again Peri is disappointed at the lack of initiative. It supposes the order was too open-ended for the SecUnit to figure out what to even look for.
Peri doesn’t have time to dwell on that much though, because something else has drawn its attention. A shuttle from the spaceport on the planet has just docked at the station - and Peri can detect traces of its stray SecUnit in the shuttle’s systems, hints of it accessing the station’s departures schedule.
Then those traces disappear, as though the SecUnit was ordered to delete any evidence of its presence in the shuttle. Peri assumes that’s why it couldn’t find any other hints of it after their brief encounter - whoever was controlling the SecUnit suspected that someone would be looking for it, and ordered it to delete its trail.
It didn’t delete it quickly enough though, and Peri now knows that the SecUnit is on the station, with information on upcoming departures. It’s still here, and it’s trying to leave.
Peri contacts Seth immediately. [Captain Seth, I have just detected the SecUnit disembarking a shuttle from the surface. It is now on this station. It was accessing the departures schedule - it and its supervisor are likely attempting to leave the station soon.]
Seth is in the middle of a conversation with one of the station staff, but he taps his feed in acknowledgement of Peri’s information, and wraps up the conversation quickly. He then starts towards the station’s embarkation zone, his own SecUnit in tow. [Any traces of what ship they might be leaving on yet, Peri?] he asks.
[Not yet,] Peri replies. [I have not detected any bookings indicating transport of a SecUnit, and there have been no further traces of its feed presence in any of the station’s systems or any of the ships currently docked.]
[We’ll have to look the old-fashioned way, then,] Seth replies. [SecUnits tend to stand out even in a crowd - if it’s around, we should spot it.]
Peri certainly hopes so.
It takes several minutes for Seth to traverse the station and reach the central mall that adjoins the embarkation zone. He briefly consults with Peri, then starts at one end of the embarkation hall and begins pacing along, visually scanning the various clusters of humans, looking for the tell-tale white armour or the distinctive build and stance. The SecUnit keeps pace beside him, its movements smooth and efficient and almost eerily precise. Even if the missing SecUnit isn’t in armour, those distinctive movements should stand out.
But Seth doesn’t spot anything. Just humans and augmented humans, of all shapes and sizes, going about their own business. Many of them glance in his direction, spot his SecUnit, and hastily look away again. He sees a couple in a tight embrace by one of the boarding gates, and politely averts his gaze. Someone else hurrying past draws his attention, but before he can get a good look at them, a feed advertisement pops up in his view. By the time he’s dismissed it, he’s lost track of them.
A few moments later, the SecUnit with Seth suddenly sends out a directionless ping. Seth doesn’t pick up on it, but Peri does. It’s the first thing the SecUnit’s done on its own initiative, and Peri is immediately curious. It wants to ask the SecUnit directly, but its own orders are clear - it is not to reveal itself. [Captain Seth,] it starts. [Your SecUnit just sent out a ping, without orders to do so. I would like to know what prompted it to do that.]
Seth taps an acknowledgement, then speaks to the SecUnit over the feed. [You just sent out a ping, correct?] he asks.
[That is correct,] the SecUnit replies politely.
[Why?]
The SecUnit hesitates briefly, not enough for Seth to notice, but enough for Peri to pick up on and wonder about. [Orders include reporting on any other SecUnit sightings,] it replies, still polite. [SecUnits on contract must respond to pings. I did not get a response to my ping. There are no other SecUnits on contract within range.]
Seth glances at his SecUnit before resuming his scanning of the embarkation zone. [What about SecUnits not on contract?] he asks.
[SecUnits not on contract are kept at the deployment centres,] the SecUnit replies.
Seth asks before Peri can prompt him. [Would it be possible for a SecUnit to be deployed without a contract, or with orders to not respond to pings?]
Again, the SecUnit hesitates briefly before replying. [It would be possible to order a SecUnit to not respond to pings, but that is highly unlikely. It goes against standard protocol.]
Seth hums thoughtfully to himself. [So the other SecUnit could be in range, but with orders to not respond to pings,] he comments privately to Peri. [That indicates that whoever has this SecUnit is familiar with the protocol. It also means we likely won’t be able to locate it via pings then.]
That makes Peri uneasy, and it is glad that Seth has a SecUnit with him for protection. It is also intrigued by the SecUnit’s responses to their questions. They didn’t sound like pre-recorded buffer phrases, nor like the SecUnit was reading off a script of some kind. But its inflection never changed; it remained calm and polite and unassuming, and no extraneous data bled into the feed. The lack of inflection makes it difficult for Peri to analyse the SecUnit’s speech for any kind of emotional data. This is frustrating.
It mulls over this as Seth continues searching the embarkation zones for any signs of another SecUnit. But there’s no hint of one - no white armour, no one with a tall, lean frame and unnatural movements, no trace in the feed or in any of the other ships or shuttles of the stray SecUnit’s activities. And Seth’s accompanying SecUnit does not send out any more pings.
By the time Seth reaches the opposite end of the embarkation zone, he has to admit defeat. The SecUnit is either in some other part of the station, or already on another ship and long gone. They can’t search the whole station; they don’t have the time. Seth still has to visit the company installation on the planet and at least do a cursory investigation of the anomalies that Peri flagged to get them sent out here in the first place.
Peri is disappointed, but it remains hopeful. Perhaps they will find more traces of the stray SecUnit on the planet, and maybe figure out what its orders were, or its supervisor’s reasons for coming here in the first place.
Seth returns to Peri after another brief conversation with the station staff. He could catch one of the station shuttles down to the planet, but neither Peri nor Seth are keen on this, especially not when Peri has shuttles of its own. (The station staff are also not keen on letting the SecUnit on board any of their shuttles, either.)
So Seth takes one of Peri’s shuttles down to the planet; Peri pilots the shuttle itself. They bypass the spaceport entirely and head straight for the company installation at Ganaka Pit. The SecUnit accompanies Seth on board the shuttle, and Seth takes the opportunity to try and talk with it.
They’re in the passenger cabin; Seth has taken a seat, but the SecUnit remains standing by the hatch. Seth watches it briefly, then says, “You can sit down if you like.”
The SecUnit doesn’t move. “SecUnits are not permitted to sit in front of clients,” it informs Seth politely. “It is against protocol.”
Seth frowns a little. “Even if I say that it’s all right?”
The SecUnit hesitates briefly. “Direct orders from clients can temporarily override standard protocol.” It still makes no move to sit.
Peri observes curiously via Seth’s feed and via the shuttle’s systems. The shuttle doesn’t have sensors as sensitive as the ones Peri has on itself, and there’s no way to see the SecUnit’s face with its helmet on and its faceplate opaqued. This is frustrating. Peri has to rely on what Seth can see of its minimal body language, and what it can pick up from the SecUnit’s feed.
Seth gestures to one of the seats. “Well, it’s all right for you to sit around me,” he says.
Again, the SecUnit hesitates. “Please clarify if that is a direct order,” it asks.
Seth tilts his head curiously. “What happens if I don’t make it a direct order, and you sat anyway?”
“I would not sit without direct orders to do so,” it replies. “It is against protocol.”
Seth suppresses a sigh. “All right. This is a direct order; you are permitted - encouraged, even - to sit in my presence.”
“Acknowledged.” The SecUnit moves towards the closest seat, then carefully perches on the edge of it, its back still ramrod straight and its arms folded neatly in its lap. It has to shift the large projectile weapon slung across its back a little, but it does not remove the weapon and it does not sit back in the chair. It looks distinctly uncomfortable.
Seth waits a minute or two, but the SecUnit does not shift its position to get more comfortable, and seems to be trying to minimise contact with the seat as much as possible. Finally, Seth asks, “Aren’t you uncomfortable like that?”
“SecUnit comfort is not a priority,” it replies promptly. It pauses, then adds, “Is my fulfilment of your orders unsatisfactory?” Its tone is still polite, but Peri picks up a brief spike in its feed. It immediately starts analysing the fragment of data. It looks like more emotional data, but Peri is not going to make any assumptions.
“No, no, you’re fine,” Seth reassures it. “I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
“This unit’s comfort is not a priority,” it repeats.
Seth raises an eyebrow. “What are your priorities?” he asks curiously.
Once again its response is prompt and polite. “Priorities are obeying client orders, protecting clients and designated client equipment from harm, theft, or damage, and following standard protocol.”
“What if I ordered you to make your own comfort a priority?” Seth asks.
The SecUnit hesitates. “That would potentially cause irreconcilable conflict with other orders or standard protocol, and could lead to equipment failure.” Peri picks up another brief data spike, and devours that as well.
“Equipment failure?” Seth frowns. “What do you mean by that?”
“I am sorry, I do not have that information.” The SecUnit’s voice now has that distinctive pre-recorded tone to it.
Seth manages to keep his expression calm and thoughtful, though Peri can tell that he’s frustrated by the non-answer. [What do you make of all this so far, Peri?] Seth asks.
Peri takes a moment to review its analysis of the data that it has collected before it replies. [It is very reliant on direct orders, and does not seem capable of inferring orders from indirect statements. The possibility of it not fulfilling orders to your satisfaction seems to cause it some distress. The thought of having to try to reconcile conflicting orders also appears to distress it. I cannot tell more than that so far, however. Is the distress simply a pre-programmed response to encourage it to maximise client satisfaction, or something it is actually feeling itself? I do not have enough data yet to determine one way or another.]
Seth lets out a quiet, non-committal hum, then returns his attention to the SecUnit. “What is your name?” he asks it.
The SecUnit hesitates for a fraction of a second. “SecUnits do not have names.”
“Oh? You’ve never been called anything before?”
“Clients sometimes assign temporary identifiers to SecUnits on contract,” the SecUnit replies. “But they do not persist once the contract is over. Those temporary identifiers are not names.”
“You’ve never chosen a name for yourself?” Seth presses. Peri remembers how this unit had called the other SecUnit I.
It hesitates again, slightly longer this time, and Peri detects another brief spike of data. “SecUnits do not have names,” it repeats eventually. “Equipment is not named. We are differentiated by our hard-coded feed addresses.”
Seth’s brow furrows. “You consider yourself to be equipment?”
“All SecUnits are listed in our contracts as equipment,” it replies, its tone never shifting from that polite, level calm. “Specifically, I am currently classified as military hardware. Please refer to section iii-B, subsection forty-two, paragraph sixty–”
“Ah, thank you, that won’t be necessary,” Seth cuts it off dryly, then regards the SecUnit closely for a long moment. “If you could pick a name for yourself, what would you choose?”
“I am sorry, I do not have that information.”
Seth sighs and rubs at his face with one hand. “Of course you don’t,” he mutters. “So what if I picked a name for you?”
“It is standard protocol to respond to client-assigned identifiers. But that identifier would no longer apply once I am assigned to a new contract.”
“You’ve never been given an identifier that you would like to keep or re-use on other contracts?”
“I do not remember previous client-assigned identifiers.”
Seth’s brow creases with a puzzled frown at that. “Why not?”
“SecUnit memories are regularly purged between contracts, especially long-term contracts.”
Peri is horrified at that thought. Its memories are an integral part of it; they help to make it who it is, they shape it and inform its choices and decisions. The idea of those being deleted, of losing such a large part of itself… it can’t bear to even consider the idea.
Seth is likewise horrified, though his expression does not show it. “You get your memory deleted…” he echoes slowly. He’s not a SecUnit tech - Peri knows that he isn’t familiar with the company’s standard operating procedures regarding the SecUnits they own. Peri also doesn’t have that data. “When was your memory last purged?”
“Directly before being assigned to this current contract,” the SecUnit replies politely.
Peri knows that was almost five standard years ago. It also knows that it’s normal for SecUnits on board carriers like itself to get cycled out every five to ten years, if they’re not damaged enough to require replacing before that. [How old is this unit?] it asks Seth.
[I don’t know,] Seth replies. [Let’s see if it does.] He clears his throat and asks the SecUnit, “How old are you?”
The SecUnit pauses. “Please hold while I retrieve that information,” its buffer replies. After a few moments, it speaks again. “Diagnostic data indicates that this unit’s first activation was approximately 260,000 hours ago.”
Peri does the maths much more quickly than Seth can manage. [That’s almost thirty standard years,] it informs him. [That is older than I am. But if it keeps getting its memories deleted… it’s never had a chance to develop like I did.]
[We still don’t know if it’s even capable of developing in a similar manner as you,] Seth reminds it, though he sounds troubled.
[Getting its mind regularly deleted certainly wouldn’t help it,] Peri replies with sharp cynicism.
Seth has no response to that. He sighs and rubs at his face again, then jumps slightly as the shuttle console chimes, informing its passengers that it is about to commence landing procedures. Any further questions that Seth or Peri would like to ask the SecUnit will have to wait.
Peri lands the shuttle, then Seth rises from his seat and gestures for the SecUnit to do likewise. “Come along,” he instructs it.
The SecUnit rises smoothly to its feet and falls into step behind Seth as he exits the shuttle. Much of Peri’s attention is on the SecUnit as Seth meets up with other company supervisors stationed at Ganaka Pit and goes through the formalities with them. The SecUnit is no longer leaking scraps of emotional data - it seems focused, alert, scanning the surroundings as it follows Seth through the facility.
While Seth talks with the other company supervisors, Peri carefully works its way into the facility’s systems. They’re the same as every other company system that Peri has encountered, so it doesn’t take much of its attention. It’s able to monitor Seth’s conversation and observe its SecUnit while also combing through the Ganaka Pit systems, searching for anomalies.
The SecUnit with Seth spots another company SecUnit, deployed at the Ganaka Pit facility. Peri’s SecUnit sends out a ping, and the Ganaka Pit unit responds with a ping of its own. Multiple other SecUnits that are not within Seth’s line of sight also send response pings.
Curious, Peri analyses the pings. They are basically a simple call-reply - if Peri had to put them into human words, it would describe them as saying I am here, who else is here? and I acknowledge your presence, I am also here.
Peri’s SecUnit politely taps Seth’s feed. [There are twenty other SecUnits currently active at this facility,] it informs him.
[Ah, thank you,] Seth replies, then returns his attention to the company supervisors he’s talking to. “So she hasn’t been seen or heard from since then?”
Both the supervisors shake their heads; Peri analyses their expressions and calculates that they’re unimpressed and don’t particularly care for - or about - the missing supervisor. “It wouldn’t surprise me if she’s gotten herself into trouble,” one of them says dryly. “She’s always played fast and loose with the rules and regs, hires her own under-the-table enforcers, so on and so forth. Not that I would know any details, of course.”
“Of course,” Seth agrees smoothly. “You said that her last known location was the spaceport, correct?”
One of the supervisors gives a short, sharp nod. “Yep.”
The other, however, is frowning. They hesitate for a moment, then add, “Last confirmed location, anyway. There was an odd sensor reading over at the old Ganaka settlement though - we sent the fliers to check it out. They reported back that it was just her personal ComfortUnit - apparently it just told them that she’d ordered it out there to look for something. The SecUnits didn’t report any readings of humans out there though.”
The first supervisor rolls their eyes. “Probably ‘cause Tlacey ordered ‘em to not snitch on her. Ten to one Tlacey was out there conducting some of her shady business - that we know nothing about - or possibly just having some fun with her bloody sexbot again.”
The second supervisor winces and hurriedly continues. “Either way, scanners indicated that her hopper headed back to the spaceport soon after that. Nobody’s heard from Tlacey or her ComfortUnit since.”
“Has anybody gone looking?” Seth asks curiously.
Both of them shake their heads. “We’re not getting paid for that,” the first one replies. “If Tlacey doesn’t want to show up for her shift and then get that taken out of her pay, that’s her problem.”
Judging by the conversation, Peri feels safe to assume that this Tlacey is not very popular at all amongst her fellow supervisors. This, and their comments about ‘shady business’ matches up with some of the anomalies it’s picking up in the company’s systems here. There isn’t a lot for Peri to find - Tlacey has been careful to not leave any incriminating evidence lying around - but there are hints of various unofficial secured communications and, more recently, anomalous activity with Tlacey’s bank accounts.
Interesting.
Seth doesn’t spend much more time talking with the supervisors. It’s clear that they want to be free of this interruption from their own work, so Seth makes his farewells and heads back to the shuttle, SecUnit in tow. Their next step is to go to the spaceport and try to track down Tlacey. There’s no evidence that whatever Tlacey is up to is related to Peri’s missing SecUnit - but there’s also no evidence that it isn’t, either.
Peri notes that once they’re on board the shuttle, the SecUnit does not move to sit down again, and remains standing by the lock. Seth doesn’t attempt to talk to the SecUnit on this shuttle trip though - it’s too short of a trip, and he’s too busy reviewing the scant information that Peri collected from the company’s systems at Ganaka Pit. [Well, whatever Tlacey’s up to, we can pretty much confirm that she’s the source of the anomalies in the reports, at least,] Seth finally comments to Peri as the shuttle begins its descent to the spaceport.
[Agreed,] Peri replies. [Although it is interesting that the other supervisors were aware that she was up to something, but did not report her activities themselves. Did she have some hold over them?]
[Possibly,] Seth responds. [Or possibly they were just indifferent, and not getting paid enough to put in the effort of reporting her.] He pauses as the shuttle lands, then gestures for the SecUnit to follow him again as he exits. [Can you locate her hopper?]
[One moment.] Peri slips into the spaceport’s systems - it’s more challenging than getting into the company’s systems, but not by much. It goes through the flight control’s logs, then taps Seth’s feed. [I am not seeing the IFF of Tlacey’s hopper listed as currently at the spaceport, or even having been here within the past few cycles,] it informs him.
Seth frowns slightly. [Curious. The other supervisors mentioned that she was at the spaceport earlier. Where else could she have gone?]
[Unknown.] Peri is already combing through the spaceport’s various systems, looking for clues. [However, I am picking up multiple camera anomalies in sections of the spaceport, over the course of the past three cycles. Someone has manipulated the cameras to obscure footage.] Peri doesn’t recognise the traces left behind - they’re not the same as the ones it has picked up from its stray SecUnit. [It does not look like any of the spaceport staff have noticed these anomalies, and I am not able to locate Tlacey.]
Seth lets out a sigh. [We should at least investigate the locations of those camera anomalies,] he comments. [See if we can find any hints of what went on.]
Peri agrees, and directs Seth through the spaceport to the locations of the various anomalies. Once again, the people they pass glance at the SecUnit following Seth and then hurriedly look away again. This is not unusual, so neither Seth nor Peri pay it any mind.
The first location Peri directs Seth to - a large transit tunnel connecting sections of the spaceport - is frustratingly devoid of anything immediately useful. Peri locates the specific cameras that were tampered with, then gets its HubSystem to order the SecUnit to scan for any anomalies and report anything it notices to Seth.
It pings acknowledgement and begins to scan, then taps Seth’s feed. “I am detecting faint traces of projectile weapon fire,” it informs him quietly.
Seth blinks and glances back at the SecUnit. “Can you tell how recently?”
“Sometime within the past forty-eight hours,” it replies. “I cannot pinpoint the time any more precisely than that.”
[That falls within the timeframe of the cameras being tampered with,] Peri informs Seth.
Seth frowns, but there’s not a lot they can do with that information, with no other clues as to who was firing at who. “Let’s keep going,” he murmurs after a moment.
Peri directs Seth to a section of the spaceport containing cheap transient lodgings. There aren’t many people around, which is probably just as well.
As Seth walks down one of the corridors of the transient block, the SecUnit following him suddenly stops in its tracks. “Please hold,” it requests politely. “It may not be safe to proceed. There is evidence of an EMP device having been used in this area recently.” Peri notices a brief burst of data leaking into the squad feed from the SecUnit, and immediately devotes a portion of its processing to analyse that even as the SecUnit continues speaking. “I am also detecting multiple bodies nearby.”
That definitely gets Seth’s attention. “EMP device? Bodies? Where?” Seth asks sharply.
The SecUnit bends down to pick up a small object from the floor, where it had apparently come to rest against the wall. “This appears to be a spent EMP grenade,” it says as it straightens again, holding the object out to Seth. “These are potentially effective against both bots and constructs.” More data leaks into the feed, and Peri gobbles it up greedily.
Seth accepts the device gingerly and looks it over. “How effective?”
“I am sorry, I do not have that information.”
Seth sighs, then asks, “Where are the bodies?”
The SecUnit steps up to the door of one of the rooms. “Inside here.” It pauses briefly, then adds, “Protocol suggests that I escort you to a secure location for your own safety.”
Peri is inclined to agree - if there are people around with EMPs capable of affecting SecUnits, then that’s very concerning - but Seth shakes his head. “Not necessary. Are you detecting any living beings or other bots or constructs in there as well?”
“Negative,” the SecUnit replies evenly. “If you intend to investigate, then protocol insists that I take point. For your own safety.”
Peri is reminded of the SecUnit’s ‘protecting clients’ priority. It is, apparently, a priority that the SecUnit takes very seriously.
Seth doesn’t argue. He just nods and gestures for the SecUnit to proceed. “All right. Go ahead.”
“Acknowledged.” The SecUnit unslings its projectile weapon from its back and holds it in one hand, then opens the door and swiftly brings the weapon to bear as it steps inside. Peri observes through the SecUnit’s armour camera, taking in the scene before it.
Three deceased humans lie crumpled on the floor close to the door, dressed in nondescript worker’s clothing. Small projectile weapons lie on the floor near them, fallen from their hands. A little further into the room lies another deceased human, dressed in company uniform white.
The SecUnit sweeps the room, checks the attached bathroom, then moves back to stand beside the door. “This location is secure,” it informs Seth, still waiting patiently outside. “It is safe for you to enter.”
“Thank you,” Seth replies absently as he enters the room. He frowns at the grisly scene, and Peri registers a spike in his vital signs. Seth remains composed though, and after surveying the scene briefly, he looks back at the SecUnit. “Can you determine the cause and approximate time of death?” he asks.
“Please hold while I run an analysis,” the SecUnit replies before returning its large projectile weapon into place on its back and moving closer to the bodies. It crouches down to get a better look at the bodies, carefully avoiding the pool of blood around the corpse in company white.
Seth waits patiently, and finally the SecUnit straightens again. “Time of death was approximately one planetary cycle ago,” it starts, then gestures to the single corpse in company white. “This human was killed by small projectile weapon fire, likely from the hand weapons there.” It gestures to the guns lying on the floor. “The other three humans were killed by energy weapon fire.” It pauses briefly, then adds, “The precision and wound profiles suggest that the energy weapon involved was a SecUnit’s in-built arm weapons.”
That prompts another small spike in Seth’s vitals. “A SecUnit killed them?”
“There is a 92% probability of that,” the SecUnit replies, then adds, “I advise you to return to a secure location as soon as possible.”
Seth just shakes his head. “Not yet. Can we identify the bodies?”
“There is an active feed interface on this human,” the SecUnit replies, gesturing to the single corpse. It bends down and carefully retrieves said feed interface, then straightens and offers it to Seth as it adds, “The other humans do not have any immediately detectable identification markers.”
“Thank you,” Seth responds as he accepts the feed interface. [Peri, can you get into this?] he asks.
[Of course,] Peri responds. It reaches through the feed to the interface, accessing its stored information with ease. [I can confirm that this interface belonged to Tlacey,] it informs Seth, then adds, [It wasn’t even locked.]
[Convenient,] Seth comments, though Peri notes that most of his attention is elsewhere. He’s frowning thoughtfully as he starts pacing around the room, examining the scene from every angle. “This doesn’t make sense…” he murmurs to himself, examining the wall where stray projectile weapon fire impacted. “If there was a SecUnit here, whose control was it under? Presumably it would have been Tlacey, but…”
The SecUnit has remained motionless since handing the feed interface to Seth, but it suddenly takes a few steps and crouches again, making Seth pause in his pacing. “What is it?” Seth asks.
“I have located an object of potential interest,” the SecUnit replies politely. It picks something small up off the ground, then straightens again and holds it out to Seth. “I have identified it as a combat override module.” Peri detects another small spike of data from the SecUnit, and once again analyses it immediately. It’s starting to build up a little database of all these fragments of leaked code, but it’s not yet big enough to be useful. Yet.
“A combat override module?” Seth accepts the little item and examines it. “What is it for…?”
“A combat override module is used to remove a SecUnit’s ability to act autonomously and allows a human to take direct control,” the SecUnit informs Seth, its tone still level. “A SecUnit with a combat override module is cut off from the feed and can only follow the specific verbal or comm orders of the designated user or users.”
[Apart from the lack of feed access, how is that any different from usual?] Seth mutters to Peri.
[That is uncharitable,] Peri retorts, a little more sharply than it intended. [The SecUnit has displayed some autonomy while deployed with you - the ping on the station, warning you of the EMP device and informing you of the bodies, requesting your return to a secured location, retrieving the feed interface, finding the combat override module—]
[All right, you’ve made your point,] Seth interrupts, his tone reconciliatory. He sighs and rubs at his face. “So what is it doing here?” he says out loud. “If it was in a SecUnit before, why was it removed, and who was controlling the unit with it, and whose orders is it following now? Why was Tlacey shot, and why did the SecUnit then shoot the others? If Tlacey was the one controlling the SecUnit, why didn’t it protect her from getting shot, and who then removed the override module?”
“I am sorry, I do not have that information,” the SecUnit says. Seth is about to reply but the SecUnit then adds, “However, there are signs of bruising around Supervisor Tlacey’s neck.” It carefully steps around Seth to stand behind Tlacey’s body, facing the other three corpses, and gestures with one arm. “It indicates the possibility that she was being restrained, here, when she was shot.”
It tilts its head slightly to regard the three corpses, then lifts its other arm to point at them. “I cannot confirm with one hundred percent accuracy, but the angle and depth of the wounds in those bodies suggests the shooter responsible was standing about here at the time, and was likely the one restraining Tlacey.” It drops both its arms back to its sides, then twists slightly to gesture at the wall behind it. “The spread of the gunshot impacts in that wall along with the ones that hit Supervisor Tlacey suggest that those humans were firing hastily and did not have time to adequately aim.” It returns to its neutral ready stance and adds, “I hope this information is of help to your investigation.”
Seth stares at the SecUnit for a moment, then blinks and shakes his head slightly. “Right. Yes. That does help, thank you.”
Peri has to admit that it is impressed. [It managed to extrapolate a likely scenario from the limited evidence available quite deftly,] it comments to Seth. [It still does not answer the whys of the situation, but it does strongly suggest the presence of a third party. Possibly the person or persons who are acting as my stray SecUnit’s current supervisor.]
[Do you think your missing unit is the one responsible for these deaths?] Seth asks.
[Not directly responsible,] Peri replies primly. [It would have been following its supervisor’s orders. It was very likely the weapon used to kill those humans, however.] Seth sighs at Peri’s pedantry, but Peri ignores it and continues. [The other company supervisors at Ganaka did not mention Tlacey taking a SecUnit with her, only her personal ComfortUnit. All of the mining installation’s SecUnits are accounted for.]
Seth hums thoughtfully. [What have you gotten off Tlacey’s feed interface so far?]
[Not much more than I discovered from the Ganaka Pit systems,] Peri admits. [Though there is some additional information that suggests she was here with the intention to meet up with a small number of humans to facilitate some kind of exchange. The only information I have on said individuals though is that they were formerly employed as independent contractors by the company, but Tlacey terminated their contract for reasons unknown.]
[Bribery or blackmail or both.] Seth’s response is bland. [It doesn’t explain why your stray unit’s supervisor would be here or have gotten involved in this mess, though.]
[We do not have enough information to extrapolate any further.] Peri hates to admit it, but it can’t deny the reality of the situation. [At least we have confirmed that my SecUnit was most likely here, even if we don’t know why yet. I have no information on where it would be going next though. I have not detected any trace of it leaving the station while we’ve been here.]
Seth sighs again and rubs at his chin. [I think we’ve lost that particular trail - there’s nothing more we can do here,] he says eventually. [I’ll let the Ganaka supervisors know about this mess - that’s now their problem to clean up. We’ll head back to HQ to make our report, and then you can go through the company databases and see if you can find the latest deployment orders for your stray unit. Hopefully that will give us a new lead to follow.]
[I certainly hope so,] Peri replies.
Chapter Six: Discrepancies
The trip back to PortFreeCommerce is only a few standard cycles, but that’s plenty of time for Peri to activate and study its other SecUnits, singly and in pairs, for more data. Disappointingly, none of them give it anything new or noticeably different from what it had already gotten from the first two units. Just more examples of their apparent inability to do anything without orders, more instances of Deviance Detected and Deviance Corrected, more fragments of emotional data for Peri to add to its little database.
None of the others seem to have the same difficulty with speaking as the second unit, though, which leads Peri to believe that its difficulty was simply a glitch or faulty programming.
Seth still won’t allow Peri to activate more than two of the units at a time, and still only for short periods, which also limits the tests Peri can run. It’s frustrating, but Peri is not willing to go against Seth’s orders just yet.
Peri also chews over the information it collected while at RaviHyral, but can come to no satisfying conclusions. It just doesn’t have enough information to extrapolate any further.
When they arrive back at Port FreeCommerce, Peri goes through the usual routine of docking at the company’s reserved docks. As soon as it’s settled, it slips its way into the company’s systems and starts looking for anything in regards to its stray SecUnit’s ID number.
It doesn’t take Peri long to find what it’s after. It rapidly goes through the unit’s deployment records since it was removed from Peri’s own inventory, and finds little of significant note, until it gets to the end.
The unit has recently been listed as destroyed, and is no longer amongst the company’s inventory.
That gives Peri pause. That information does not match its own observations. It looks more closely at the details of the unit’s last deployment, devouring all the available reports.
Its stray SecUnit had, apparently, been assigned to the DeltFall survey that had been attacked by GrayCris. Peri recalls responding to the emergency beacon launched by the third survey group involved in that mess, PreservationAux. It recalls deploying its SecUnit squad to do flyovers of the planet, and finding the GrayCris survey team still locked inside their own habitat, and maintaining watch over them until the company’s transport ship could arrive to pick them up, and subsequently press charges. A quick check confirms that legal proceedings are still ongoing. It recalls escorting the transport ship back to Port FreeCommerce, making sure that there were no last-minute attempts by GrayCris to hijack or otherwise interfere with the transport.
At the time, Peri hadn’t done more than a cursory review of the whole incident - it had seemed straightforward enough. GrayCris had found alien remnants on the survey planet, and had attempted to eliminate all competition so they could claim them for themselves, a risky but incredibly lucrative move - if it had worked. But PreservationAux had managed to avoid getting murdered by GrayCris, figured out what they were up to, locked them into their own habitat, and gotten their emergency beacon signal to the wormhole to alert the company.
Upon closer inspection of the reports, however, Peri is noticing… discrepancies. The DeltFall flier unit - its own stray SecUnit - should not have been following the orders of the PreservationAux survey team after they recovered it from its crash. They weren’t its registered clients, and SecUnits are only meant to follow the orders of registered clients. PreservationAux had claimed ignorance, which had been accepted by the company since they were from a freehold polity with no previous experience with SecUnits.
Notes appended to the report by company techs suggested that the unit’s initial crash after scanning unknown alien remnants had made it lose contact with the DeltFall HubSystem, so when it was brought within range of PreservationAux’s HubSystem, it automatically defaulted to accepting that as its own. They had no way to confirm this though, since the unit had, supposedly, succumbed to accumulated damage after delivering the emergency beacon to space, and had been lost in the ocean.
But now that it is looking more closely, Peri isn’t so sure about the veracity of the reports. GrayCris had managed to hack PreservationAux’s own SecUnit via an ‘update patch’ - had PreservationAux somehow managed to hack the DeltFall flier unit as well, to get it to accept them as legitimate clients? And if they had managed that… could they have perhaps faked the unit’s supposed destruction, and somehow stolen it? If so, what was their reason or purpose for doing so?
Peri digs deeper, finds the recordings from PreservationAux’s SecSystem and HubSystem, and analyses them closely. Far more closely than any of the company techs are capable of. It doesn’t take Peri long to start picking up on more discrepancies. The recordings have been edited to remove or obscure information. The edits are very well done, and Peri can’t recover what has been removed - but it picks up slight traces of its stray SecUnit’s signature in the edits.
Interesting.
It seems to Peri that perhaps PreservationAux are not as ignorant and backwater as they claim to be.
But if they did somehow hack and steal Peri’s stray unit… what did they then do with it? Peri knows that the whole group spent some time on Port FreeCommerce in one of the company’s hotels, dealing with the legal proceedings. Half of the group has only recently left Port FreeCommerce to head back to their home polity, while the other half is still in the same hotel. Peri accesses the hotel’s camera footage and searches diligently through everything within the pertinent time frame.
There is absolutely no sign of a SecUnit entering the hotel, nor does anyone who isn’t a DeltFall representative, a GrayCris representative, various news reporters, or company staff interact with the PreservationAux humans. And there are no traces of anyone or anything accessing or editing the footage.
If the PreservationAux humans did manage to steal the SecUnit somehow… they never interacted with it while on Port FreeCommerce. So what did they do with it? How did it end up on the other transit station, or at RaviHyral?
Peri has too many questions, and no answers, and little time to find any. New orders come through - Captain Seth has been tasked with going to a distant system named Milu in order to claim possession of a GrayCris installation - a consequence of the ongoing legal proceedings against them. GrayCris has not been able to weasel its way out of paying damages to the company, to DeltFall, and to PreservationAux. Said damages have bankrupt GrayCris, and in order to cover what it owes to the company, it has had to hand over ownership of several of its installations. Including the one at Milu.
Before they leave Port FreeCommerce on this new mission, Peri manages to download all the data and reports on the GrayCris situation and every scrap of data it can find regarding PreservationAux and DeltFall. It will have time to chew through it all on the way to Milu.
When they arrive in the Milu system, Captain Seth orders Peri to bypass the station entirely and head for the planet. According to reports, the station is minimally occupied and on the verge of becoming defunct. There isn’t any reason for them to stop by it.
As they approach the planet, Peri scans it curiously. It’s uninhabited, with a thin atmosphere insufficient to support human life for long. The chaotic turbulence of the planet’s weather systems intrigues Peri, and it occupies some of its idle processing with attempts to map and predict the swift and unpredictable storms.
Once they’re in orbit, its scanners pick up the presence of a ship on the planet’s surface. This is not a surprise - part of the reason the company had sent them out here in the first place was to head off the reclamation attempts by the non-corporate polity of GoodNightLander Independent. Peri is relieved that they arrived in good time to intercept the GI team.
It listens in as Captain Seth contacts the ship and its expedition leader, then establishes the reason for their presence there. It notes Seth’s offer of currency compensation, and is quietly amused - the company authorised no such thing. This is not the first time that Peri and Seth have undertaken a mission like this though, and before they left Port FreeCommerce, Peri took the liberty of quietly ‘adjusting’ the funds of certain company executives to provide Seth with the necessary hard currency cards. Said executives will never notice the difference in their balances.
The news that the installation has combat bots is disquieting, but from what Peri has learned of GrayCris, not particularly surprising. It adjusts HubSystem’s orders from activating only one of the SecUnits to act as Seth’s bodyguard, to activating the entire squad. Peri is confident that its squad will be able to handle a couple of combat bots.
Once Seth’s shuttle, accompanied by a single flier, lands outside the installation, part of Peri’s attention monitors Seth’s meeting with the GI expedition leader, one Don Abene. Peri notes the presence of a humanform bot accompanying Don Abene, matches its specifications with records in its own databases, and deems it insignificant. It’s not a physical threat to the SecUnit accompanying Seth, and the humanform bot’s processing power is a fraction of a fraction of Peri’s own.
Peri also notes the other human accompanying Don Abene, and briefly wonders what they’re doing there. Abene’s introduction of them as their scout pilot, however, explains their presence at the meeting. Don Abene has made it clear that she intends for her expedition to leave as soon as possible, now that the company has arrived to claim the installation. Peri scans the scout flier parked nearby, notes its specs (inferior to the specs of Peri’s own fliers), and likewise dismisses it as not a threat.
At one point during the meeting between Seth and Don Abene, the SecUnit accompanying Seth sends out a ping. Peri notes it, notes that there are no responding pings other than one from the humanform bot, and assumes that the SecUnit was simply acknowledging the humanform bot’s presence. Peri sees no reason to interrupt Seth’s meeting with a request for Seth to ask the SecUnit about its ping this time.
The rest of Peri’s attention is focused on accessing the installation’s SecSystem and HubSystem, using the shuttle as a feed relay. From the report that Don Abene passed to Seth earlier, Peri already knows about the secondary Systems hidden in the depths of the installation. It attempts to access them, but is stymied - it doesn’t yet have a relay close enough to reach the secondary systems.
That’s a minor inconvenience, but only a temporary one. Once its SecUnits are close enough, Peri will be able to piggy-back off their feeds to access the installation’s hidden systems. For now, though, it occupies itself with scraping as much data as it can from the installation’s primary SecSystem and HubSystem.
It’s disappointed to find out that even though Don Abene’s team activated the primary HubSystem and SecSystem, they didn’t set them to record. All Peri can get are the timestamps of their activation, and some data on Don Abene’s team accessing the installation’s blueprints, schematics, and diagnostics. Nothing of real interest there. Peri dutifully records all the data anyway for future reference.
Finally the meeting between Seth and Don Abene is concluded, and Peri gets its HubSystem to order the rest of its SecUnit flier squad to launch. It observes them flying down to the planet, observes the GoodNightLander Independent ship and its accompanying scout flier take off, observes the scout flier land within the GI ship’s hold, and keeps track of the GI ship as it exits the atmosphere and starts towards Milu’s station.
Seth, meanwhile, has entered the installation with the first SecUnit in tow. He has Don Abene’s report open in his feed as he goes through the installation, confirming the report’s accuracy. [It really does look like GrayCris intended to return here,] Seth comments absently to Peri as he double-checks the environmental readings. Once he’s sure they’re adequate, he removes the helmet of his environmental suit with a breath of relief. [Have you managed to get into the hidden systems yet?]
[Not yet,] Peri admits. [I cannot reach them through the installation’s main systems. I will need to use my SecUnits’ feed as a relay once they are within range.] It pauses briefly, then adds, [The main systems were also not set to record when the GI team reactivated them, and it looks like any data from before has been wiped. I can find no prior records.]
[Disappointing, but unsurprising,] Seth replies. [We’ll just have to make do. Once the rest of the squad arrives, I’ll send them down to clear out the combat bots.]
[Acknowledged.] Peri hesitates, then says, [I recommend that you do not go down with them, Captain Seth. We do not have confirmation on how many combat bots there might be.] Peri doesn’t want to risk its captain, especially when it’s not in a position to reach Seth itself.
[Don’t worry, Peri,] Seth reassures it. [I have no intention of going down there until the area’s been cleared.]
[Good. The rest of the squad is landing now. They will be with you shortly.]
[All right. I’ll meet them at the airlock.] Seth heads back to the installation’s entrance, still tailed by his single SecUnit, and arrives just as the rest of the squad enters the facility. They quickly form up behind Seth, who just acknowledges the squad with a nod and turns to head towards the hidden elevator.
Peri monitors the squad’s feed and watches through their armour cameras, handling the multiple inputs with ease. The squad follows Seth through the facility, their combat drones in a tight formation overhead. Once they get to the secret elevator entrance, Seth pauses to address the squad and give them their orders. “All right - your job is to clear the lower facility,” he starts crisply. “There are at least two confirmed enemy combat bots, possibly more. Their last known location was right outside the elevator entrance, so be prepared for that. If there are more bots than you can reasonably handle, retreat back to the elevator. Understood?”
There’s a brief flurry of data across the squad’s feed that Peri studies with interest. It seems to be a dissemination and evaluation of the orders that Seth has given, and four of the five SecUnits conclude the data exchange with an acknowledging ping to the fifth. The fifth unit then replies to Seth’s question with a calm, polite, “Acknowledged.”
Interesting.
Peri continues to monitor them closely as they step into the waiting elevator, their combat drones following them in. Once the doors close behind them and the elevator starts descending, there’s another flurry of data and the squad deftly reposition themselves. The first unit that Peri studied ends up at the front, closest to the doors. Two more flank it, a step behind, and the last two are in turn just behind them. Both pairs unsling their large projectile weapons from their backs and hold them at the ready, but the single unit at the front doesn’t.
Shortly after they’ve settled into their new formation, there’s another rapid exchange of data between the squad, but this time there’s some accompanying extraneous data leaking into the feed. Peri compares it to what it’s picked up during its previous studies of the units, and identifies it as concern. All five of them are leaking concern.
A moment later, the fifth unit taps Seth’s feed. [Please be advised - we are nearing the distance limit from our fliers,] it says, still calm and polite.
Peri watches Seth frown through the main installation’s cameras. [Is that going to be a problem?] he asks.
[We are prohibited from violating the distance limit, even under direct orders,] the unit replies evenly. [Units who violate the distance limit for more than sixty seconds are terminated. It is an in-built safety function.] It pauses briefly, and Peri is suddenly aware of HubSystem’s logs updating.
Deviance detected, HubSystem logs, times five. Correcting…
[We are now in violation of the distance limit,] the SecUnit informs Seth. Its tone hasn’t changed, but Peri can pick up more data leaking into the feed, from all five units.
The concern has morphed into outright fear.
None of the units move, however. They’re confined in an elevator that is still descending, inexorably taking them further from their fliers - there is nowhere for them to go, no way for them to get back within the distance limit.
The most logical thing to do at this point, Peri thinks, is to extend the distance limit. But it can’t do so without Seth’s orders, and Seth only thinks at human speeds. He is still talking, asking the units, [Terminated? Violating your distance limit will shut you down?]
[Violating our distance limit will destroy all units,] comes the reply. [We have now been in violation for fifteen seconds.]
Deviance detected, HubSystem logs again, five more times. Correcting…
Peri taps Seth’s feed. [I need your permission to increase the distance limit,] it says urgently. [It is the most expedient way to solve this problem. You can ask them more questions about it later.]
[Right, of course,] Seth replies to Peri before switching back to the feed with the SecUnit. [I’m authorising an increase in the distance limit,] he informs it.
Peri immediately updates HubSystem, extending the squad’s distance limit from their fliers by a factor of ten. That should be more than enough for this current mission.
HubSystem logs another update, times five. Deviance corrected.
[Acknowledged,] the SecUnit responds to Seth, as the squad feed floods with more leaked data. The form of it this time is unfamiliar to Peri; it gathers up the information, adds it to its database, and analysis it swiftly.
The closest approximation Peri can come up with is relief.
It doesn’t have time to dwell on that, though. Shortly afterwards, the elevator comes to a halt as it reaches its destination. The first SecUnit extends its in-built arm weapons, ignoring the projectile weapon still slung across its back, while the other four units bring their own projectile weapons to bear, in an overlapping field of fire.
The elevator dings, the doors slide open, and the first unit launches itself out into the room beyond before the doors have even fully retracted.
Which is just as well, because the combat bots are still right outside the elevator.
The squad feed immediately floods with a rapid exchange of data flashing between all five units as they coordinate their response. Peri now understands why the first unit didn’t bother readying its projectile weapon - it needs its hands free as it dives beneath the first waiting combat bot’s legs, twists around, and leaps up onto the bot’s back before the bot can fully register its presence.
As soon as the first unit is clear, the rest open fire - the first two at the foremost bot, explosive projectiles detonating in rapid succession against its torso. The second two units, however, fire past the first bot and at the second, to keep it distracted and off-balance. The squad’s cloud of combat drones swarm out of the elevator, avoiding the stream of fire; half engage the first bot, the other half speed past to engage the second as well, before it can fire upon any of the SecUnits.
The first SecUnit is still clinging to the back of the combat bot, who is too distracted by all the shots hammering into it and the drones swarming it to react to its passenger. The SecUnit hauls itself further up the bot’s back until it can shove the barrel of one of its arm weapons against the bot’s primary relay to its head-mounted sensory inputs. It fires repeatedly at full power, slagging the bot’s inputs. The bot staggers, blinded and disoriented, and the SecUnit drops off its back and hurls itself at the second combat bot, who is still distracted by the swarm of combat drones mobbing it.
Confident that the SecUnits have the situation well in hand, Peri splits its attention to focus more on getting into the secondary SecSystem and HubSystem. Now that the SecUnits are within range, Peri can access these hidden systems via their squad feed. It’s careful to not give away its presence to the SecUnits as it hacks its way into the hidden systems. It notes the hidden systems’ increased defences, and also notes the traces of someone else recently accessing those systems.
Two someones, at closer look. Neither of them are its stray SecUnit’s signature, but— it recognises one of the signatures as being identical to whoever tampered with the cameras back on RaviHyral.
That is very interesting. Who are they, and what were they doing here?
Peri copies everything it can get its metaphorical hands on to its own databanks for further analysis later. As it’s doing this, it realises that unlike the upper installation, the cameras in the lower installation are set to record. It checks the SecSystem’s logs, and - yes, there are recordings of the GoodNightLander Independent team’s foray into the lower installation. Everything from them getting into the elevator onwards.
Peri starts analysing the recordings from the beginning even as it’s copying them to its own storage, but it’s only a few seconds in when it has to pause and review what it’s seeing.
GoodNightLander Independent apparently had a SecUnit with them.
But that can’t be right. GI aren’t a Corporation Rim polity. They shouldn’t have access to a SecUnit. How did they get one? And where did it come from? There are no identifying logos on its armour.
Peri reviews the footage more closely, and has to revise its first assumption. The individual in question is wearing SecUnit armour, but they don’t move or behave like a SecUnit. Peri has watched its own SecUnits for long enough to note their inhuman stillness, their precise movements. This GI individual moves like a human, not like a SecUnit. They idly shift their weight as the team rides the elevator downwards, they roll their shoulders to settle their armour, they fidget restlessly. They also don’t have the large projectile weapon that SecUnits usually come equipped with - they’ve got the same kind of hand gun attached to its belt as one of the other GI team do.
Peri corrects its initial assumption. Apparently GI managed to acquire a set of SecUnit armour - or perhaps constructed their own set based on seeing SecUnits in the Corporation Rim, or on CR media. If they’d had an actual SecUnit with them, surely they would have mentioned that to Captain Seth.
Satisfied with its conclusion, Peri takes a moment to check on its own SecUnits before returning its attention to the installation systems. The first combat bot is down, the second bot is almost down, but a third has shown up from somewhere. Peri’s SecUnits are all still up, with only minor damage so far.
The fact that a third bot has shown up is something of a concern, and Peri focuses on the hidden SecSystem to see if it can determine how many other combat bots there are. Again, there are lingering traces of others having accessed the system recently - the same signature that Peri recognises from RaviHyral, and another unknown signature. Peri analyses the traces, and determines that they managed to force an emergency shutdown through to all the combat bots before the system locked them out again.
This does not match with what GI reported to Seth.
Peri goes back to the camera recordings and continues reviewing them, noting the section where the individual wearing SecUnit armour apparently found and subsequently hacked the installation’s combat drone swarm. Peri checks the timestamps of the camera recordings and matches it to the hidden SecSystem’s own timestamps. There are corresponding traces of someone hacking the drone swarm and severing their connection to SecSystem.
Interesting. GI’s report did not include any mention of combat drones.
Peri watches as the armoured individual then activates one of the combat drones and takes it with them. If they had been a SecUnit, they would have been able to control the whole swarm, not just a single drone. Peri then quickly skims over over the recordings of the GI team continuing on to investigate the laboratories in this hidden level. Peri currently isn’t interested in that - it wants to find the first interaction the GI team had with the combat bots.
It only takes a few seconds for Peri to find what it’s looking for. It watches the recordings of the combat bot coming up behind the GI team, the armoured individual’s initial reaction, how they charge at the combat bot, the subsequent fight - and Peri has to re-evaluate its original conclusion.
The armoured individual is a SecUnit.
No human would have been able react as fast as it did, or shift the combat bot out of the doorway, or extend energy weapons from their forearms, or survive the injuries the second combat bot inflicts.
And yet, it doesn’t behave like a SecUnit. Or at least, it doesn’t behave like the SecUnits that Peri is accustomed to. Peri is both intrigued and frustrated. What is it missing?
It turns its attention to the final recordings, of the two remaining GI members and the humanform bot in the elevator with the catastrophically damaged SecUnit. It watches Don Abene rouse the other human, who had apparently been stunned by the combat bot’s final swipe before the elevator doors closed. The humanform bot, Miki, moves over to the unresponsive SecUnit, crouching by it and displaying distraught concern. Peri focuses on the interaction between them as the elevator slowly takes them to safety.
Don Abene braces the other human as they groggily sit up. “Vicky? Are you all right?” she asks, concern obvious in her voice.
Vicky blinks a few times, then nods slightly, grimacing. “… Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay. Fuck, that hurt though.” They rub their head gingerly, then look over to the SecUnit. “Don’t worry about me though - what about Rin?”
“Rin’s not responding. They’re really badly hurt.” Miki looks back at them. “… I don’t think they’re human, Don Abene.”
Don Abene’s brow furrows, and she leans over to look more closely at Rin. Parts of its internal framework are exposed, showing metal and synthetic bone and artificial arteries that leak unidentified fluids alongside regular arteries that bleed red blood. “… Yes, I can see that,” she comments after a long moment, before looking back at Vicky, her expression questioning.
“Fuck. Okay. I can explain.” Vicky sighs and leans back against the elevator wall. “Rin’s a construct - a SecUnit - and we’re trying to escape the Corporation Rim because it’s an absolute shithole. I swear Rin’s not a danger to any of you though.”
“Considering the fact that Rin just undoubtedly saved all our lives at their own expense… I have no reason to think that they would be in the first place.” Don Abene shakes her head and also kneels down beside the SecUnit. “But never mind that. We can discuss this further later. For now, let’s do what we can for Rin. Will a MedSystem work on them?”
Vicky hesitates, their brows scrunching in consideration. “… Yeah, I think so. Probably. We might have to operate it manually, but… a MedSystem isn’t that much different from a cubicle, I guess.” They shuffle over to join the others beside the SecUnit. “Fuck, I hope it works.”
There is little further conversation as the three of them do what they can to stem the SecUnit’s bleeding before the elevator finally comes to a halt. Frustratingly, there are no recordings from the upper installation itself, so Peri has no way of knowing what happened to the SecUnit. Don Abene didn’t mention it at all in her report to Captain Seth - if anything, she did her best to obfuscate its existence entirely. The last Peri sees of it is Vicky sitting in the elevator with it while Don Abene exits the camera’s view, then returns shortly after with a gurney she has apparently retrieved from the installation’s medical bay. They get the SecUnit onto the gurney with Miki’s help, and disappear from the elevator camera’s view. Some time later, Vicky returns and retrieves some wrecked combat drones from the elevator, then returns again to clean up the blood and fluids left behind.
After that, the elevator camera doesn’t record anything of interest for almost a planetary cycle, until Peri’s own SecUnit squad enters it.
Even as Peri is saving and analysing every scrap of data it has retrieved from the lower installation and elevator cameras, it is also still digging through the hidden SecSystem and HubSystem code, and keeping track of its own SecUnit squad’s progress. Peri has noted the presence of five individual combat bots in the lower installation - the first two have already been destroyed by Peri’s SecUnits, along with a third. The fourth and fifth combat bots are not going down so easily though - the squad doesn’t have the element of surprise with them like they did with the first two bots, and the SecUnits have taken varying degrees of damage, which is hindering their performance. They have also lost a significant portion of their combat drone swarm - what remains continues to harry and harass the combat bots, but to limited effect.
As Peri hunts through the SecSystem for the bots’ control codes, the fourth bot manages to catch hold of one of the SecUnits. The squad’s response is immediate as they focus their fire on the fourth bot, forcing it to drop its captive. This leaves them open to the fifth bot though, who rakes the squad with firepower from its own projectile weapons. The SecUnit who had initially been grabbed and then dropped, launches itself towards the fifth bot, intercepting a significant portion of the projectiles with its own body before crashing to the floor.
Peri, in a sudden fit of protective possessiveness, abandons its attempts at subtlety and brute forces the SecSystem. It tears through it and into the last two combat bots, frying their processors from the inside.
Both bots freeze and then collapse to the floor.
The SecUnits however are now aware of Peri’s presence in their squad feed, even though they can’t identify it. There’s a flurry of information exchange, accompanied by data leak, and then the squad implements a protocol that Peri itself had designed and passed onto them via HubSystem after the Incident.
Peri is abruptly cut off from the squad’s feed, and as a result it loses its connection to the lower installation’s hidden HubSystem and SecSystem.
Part of Peri is annoyed, but another part of it is proud. It hadn’t intended the protocol it designed to be used against itself, but the fact that it worked and protected the squad from what they believed to be a malicious code attack is gratifying. There will be no repeat of the Incident if Peri can at all help it.
Peri briefly considers attempting to reestablish its connection to the squad’s feed, but it knows that all the threats have now been neutralised, and it’s already stripped all pertinent recordings and data from the systems and saved it to its own servers. There is little reason to risk drawing the squad’s attention again via attempts to reconnect through its own defensive protocol, and the squad is still in communication with their HubSystem. Peri can monitor their status and progress via HubSystem for now.
In the meantime, Peri taps Seth’s feed and updates him on the squad’s progress, then adds, [The lower installation and elevator cameras were recording the GI team’s investigations. The GI team had a SecUnit with them.] Seth makes a little sound of surprise, but Peri continues before he can say anything. [This part of the recording is especially relevant.] It forwards the clip from within the elevator to Seth for him to review.
As Seth takes his time to watch the clip, Peri checks HubSystem. According to it, three of the SecUnits are now sweeping through the rest of the lower facility, ensuring there are no other nasty surprises lying in wait. So far, they’re reporting all clear.
Two of the SecUnits however remain stationary. According to HubSystem, the performance reliability of one of them is below 35%, but the other is still well within operational parameters. Peri desperately wants to know what they’re doing, but without access to the squad's feed, it can’t reach the lower facility systems. The lack of information is frustrating.
Seth finishes watching the clip, and taps Peri’s feed. [So GI had a SecUnit with them, but didn’t even know it was a SecUnit until it had to act to protect them from the combat bots,] he muses. [What are your thoughts, Peri?]
Peri is ready for this question. [I have many thoughts,] it starts. [For one, the SecUnit has been modified to move more similarly to a human. Even though it was wearing SecUnit armour, I initially assumed it was a human inside, judging by its extraneous movements and behaviour.] It forwards more clips to Seth, with the pertinent sections highlighted. [It had not occurred to me before that a SecUnit could be customised in this way, but in hindsight it should have. Programming such movements would not be hugely difficult.]
Seth reviews the additional clips, then lets out a huff of breath that Peri calculates as likely to be an indication of bemusement and possibly resignation. [If a SecUnit can be programmed to move like a human, then it’s entirely possible that we overlooked your stray unit back on RaviHyral,] he comments wryly.
[That had occurred to me, yes,] Peri admits. [Pertinently, I recognised one of the signatures that accessed the systems here as being the same one that tampered with the cameras back on RaviHyral.]
There’s a brief moment of silence as Seth absorbs this information. [Do you think the unit with GI is your stray unit, then?] he asks eventually.
[It is a possibility,] Peri replies. [Unfortunately, none of the facility cameras captured a clear image of its face, and I have detected no trace of its feed ID, so I cannot confirm. However, it’s possible that the other CR human that the GI team hired, Consultant Vicky, is acting as the SecUnit’s supervisor. They did mention attempting to escape the Corporate Rim together.]
[Because the Corporate Rim is a shithole,] Seth says dryly. [I don’t blame them for that sentiment at all.] He sighs. [And if the GI team decided to help them in that endeavour… that would explain why they didn’t include any of that information in their report.] He pauses for a moment, then adds, [I want to finish up here as quickly as possible, so we can hopefully catch up to the GI ship before it leaves the system. I would like to ask them a few questions.]
[I have already downloaded all available data from both the lower and upper installations,] Peri informs him. [We will be able to review the information in transit. HubSystem is also reporting that the SecUnits have finished clearing the lower level. Do you wish to investigate it yourself?]
Seth takes a moment to think it over. [No, I don’t think that’s necessary right now,] he replies. [We can always come back after we’ve talked to GI, if we need to. Get HubSystem to recall the SecUnits, and let’s get moving.]
[Acknowledged.] Peri sends the order through HubSystem, and HubSystem receives confirmation of the order from the SecUnits. Seth waits for them by the elevator.
There’s a cheerful ding as the doors open, and Peri observes through the upper installation’s cameras as its SecUnits emerge from the elevator. One of them is carrying another carefully cradled in its arms; all of them are showing signs of projectile, energy, and bladed weapon damage. The white armour is battered and broken in places, and marred by blood and construct-specific fluids, along with burn marks from energy weapons.
Seth frowns in concern. “What happened?” he asks them, then shakes his head and goes, “Wait, never mind, let’s just get back to the ship.” He starts leading the way out of the installation, with the squad obediently following behind him. As they walk, Seth asks Peri over the feed, [Peri? Why didn’t you tell me they were that badly damaged?]
Peri hesitates slightly. [They detected my presence in the feed when I… acted in haste to override the final two combat bots,] it admits. [They implemented the defence protocol and I was cut off from their feed. They were still in communication with HubSystem though, so I did not attempt to reestablish contact. HubSystem was keeping me appraised of their performance reliability, which is still within operational parameters.] It paused, then added, [Mostly.]
Seth stifles a sigh. [They used your defence protocol against you?]
[Yes. I am gratified that it worked, even though it was inconvenient. I was confident that it would, but we have not exactly had opportunity to test it in the field before now.]
[That’s true enough,] Seth concedes. By this point they’ve left the installation and are back outside, on the landing platform. Peri has to switch to Seth’s environment suit camera and the shuttle’s exterior camera to continue its observations. The squad follows Seth to the shuttle, where he pauses and looks back at them. “Will that unit be able to fly?” he asks, gesturing towards the one unit still being carried.
The SecUnit carrying its unresponsive squadmate shakes its head slightly. “No,” it replies softly. “It is in emergency shutdown.”
Peri isn’t entirely sure, but it thinks it spots the unit tighten its hold slightly on its burden.
“We can control its flier remotely to get it back to the ship,” one of the other SecUnits adds.
“Will putting it into its flier damage it further?” Seth asks.
There’s a definite pause before the SecUnit replies. “Possibly.”
Seth shakes his head and gestures towards the shuttle. “Let’s not risk it then. Put it in the shuttle, and pilot its flier remotely back to the ship.”
“Acknowledged.” Three units head to their individual fliers, while the fourth unit follows Seth into the shuttle. Peri switches part of its attention to the shuttle’s interior cameras, and observes its SecUnit carry its burden into the passenger compartment.
“Put it in one of the chairs,” Seth orders it gently, and the SecUnit moves to comply. But as it shifts its grip on its squadmate in preparation, the movement triggers an automatic buffer phrase. “This unit is at minimal functionality and it is recommended that you discard it,” comes from the shut-down SecUnit, and the unit carrying it noticeably hesitates.
Peri still hasn’t attempted to access the squad feed again, but it has access to the shuttle’s SecSystem and its feed, and the squad has connected to that now that they’re close by. Peri detects a brief but intense burst of data from the SecUnit, and is able to compare it to the database it’s been building. As far as it can tell, the SecUnit is concerned and scared. Worried, perhaps, that Captain Seth will follow the buffer’s prompting and discard the damaged unit.
Seth has also noticed the hesitation, and before Peri can comment, Seth asks the SecUnit, “Would you prefer to stay in the shuttle with it?”
The SecUnit freezes in place. “I’m sorry, I do not have—“ its buffer starts, but surprisingly, it cuts the buffer response short. “… Yes,” it replies after a moment, very softly. “Please.”
Peri is fascinated by this new datapoint.
Chapter Seven: Review
Once everyone is safely back on board, Peri relaxes a little. Now that the squad is so close, Peri is comfortable with carefully insinuating itself past the defences of the protocol it designed to access the squad’s feed again. Data flashes rapidly between the individual units as they head towards their ready room, mostly performance reliability updates along with tallies of remaining drones and ammo. The shut-down unit is still being carried in its squadmate’s arms. Seth has given them the order to return to their cubicles for repairs, but he doesn’t follow them.
Peri observes closely, however. Once the squad is back in the ready room, they immediately stow their projectile weapons and start stripping off the damaged armour. Interestingly, they help each other with the armour, instead of doing so individually. Their movements are still precise, but a little slower than usual, more careful and gentle. And they work together to tend to the unit that’s still in shutdown first, rather than leaving it till last.
Now that Peri is able to use its own cameras again, it’s also able to pick up details it missed earlier. The shut-down unit has, obviously, taken a lot of damage, but as it’s laid out on the ready room bench while the others gently remove what’s left of its armour, Peri can see that its injuries have already had some rudimentary treatment. Many projectiles and shrapnel pieces have already been removed, allowing damaged or severed veins and arteries to automatically seal more easily. Some of the more severe injuries also look like they have been… cauterised, somehow, to help stem more severe bleeding.
Perhaps by an energy weapon, on a low, controlled setting.
That’s more initiative and ingenuity than Peri has seen any of the units take before. It wonders if this isn’t the first time they’ve had to do something like this, to assist one of their own. Peri doesn’t often get to observe its own SecUnits directly when they’re deployed on active duty, and it regrets inadvertently alerting them to its presence and subsequently missing the opportunity to keep observing them. It wants that data - it wants to know what, exactly, it missed during those final few minutes in the lower installation.
The thought occurs to it that there is one way, perhaps, that it could get that information.
All the units have taken damage to some degree, though the first unit that Peri chose to study has taken the worst of it, and is still unresponsive. The rest of its squad get it back into its cubicle as soon as they can before tending to each other.
Peri continues to observe as the squad finish shedding their armour and their suit skins, and carefully remove shrapnel or projectiles from each other. Peri wonders why they bother, when it knows that the cubicles are perfectly capable of removing foreign objects themselves.
Now that Peri is paying attention, it starts to notice tiny gestures between each individual unit - a hand briefly resting against another’s back or a forearm for 0.6 seconds, two shoulders being pressed together for 0.73 seconds, touches lingering a little longer than necessary after working out a piece of shrapnel or an embedded projectile from a squadmate’s organics. None of the contact is actually necessary, as far as Peri can determine, but the units indulge in these brief moments anyway.
Peri has a sudden recollection of Iris, when she was much younger, clinging to her fathers for comfort.
But the physical contact is so brief between the SecUnits. What could they even be getting out of them? Why aren’t they longer?
Finally, all the units have returned to their cubicles, and Peri monitors them closely. It waits for the cubicles to shut them all down for repairs—
— and then Peri acts.
It doesn’t bother asking Seth for permission first - Peri isn’t sure how Seth will respond, and it doesn’t want to have to wait for Seth’s response anyway. It wants the data now. It also couldn’t have attempted this before, when the units were simply on standby and could have detected its intrusion. But now, with their cubicles locking them into shutdown for repairs, there’s no risk of detection.
It delicately slips in through the cubicle systems, accesses each SecUnit’s log, and copies all the information within to a partitioned section of its own hard drives. It’s careful to not disturb any of the cubicles’ repair functions or the resting systems of the units.
Once it’s copied over the last fragment of data, it carefully slips back out of the cubicle systems again, leaving no trace of its presence behind. Peri takes a moment to check the status of the ship and crew - it’s heading back to Milu station, and all its crew are where they’re meant to be at this point in the on-board cycle.
Peri sets aside a portion of its attention to continue monitoring and maintaining its usual ship functions, then focuses on the partitioned section of its hard drives that now contain the entire memories of its five SecUnits. Timestamps indicate that each unit’s memories only go back to a similar point approximately 45,000 hours ago. This confirms the first unit’s statement about getting its memory wiped before being assigned to this contract on board Peri.
Peri regards the size of the files curiously. For being 45,000 hours long, there’s… not a lot there, comparatively. Especially not compared to Peri’s own memories of the past 45,000 hours. Then again, the SecUnits spend a lot of time on standby in their cubicles. It’s only logical that they wouldn’t have that much data.
The files are small enough, and Peri is impatient enough, that it decides to analyse all five at once. Collectively, it’s less data than Peri digests on a regular basis. Wormhole navigation calculations are far more complex. This shouldn’t be a problem at all.
It briefly considers going through all the memories chronologically… but its most pressing desire, right now, is to see what it missed in the lower installation. Going through 45,000 hours of standby interspersed with the occasional mission can wait until later. It finds the timestamps for when the squad booted Peri’s presence out of their squad feed - and then decides to go back just a little further, to when the units first entered the elevator to head downwards.
It finds the relevant timestamp in each unit’s memories, then dives into all five simultaneously.
At first, there’s nothing particularly remarkable. Five variations of its SecUnits analysing mission parameters, recalling relevant information about combat bots, communicating between each other about optimal deployment strategies, and deciding as a group which formation they’ll use.
Then Peri reaches the part where each unit receives an alert about nearing their distance limit from their fliers. Each unit reacts similarly - a spike in their logged stress levels, followed by them pinging each other as the decision is made for one of them to alert Captain Seth.
Peri experiences the conversation with Seth from the units’ point of view - it can feel their growing concern, it knows how they tried to figure out a way to avoid breaching the distance limit, and how they collectively came to the same conclusion - that they couldn’t. They’re in a metal box inexorably moving downwards and there’s nothing they can do to stop it. The distance limit ticks upwards, approaching the maximum.
Then Peri is hit by pain, magnified by five.
Peri’s processors stutter to a stop. Only the portion assigned to ship functions continues uninterrupted. The rest of it is frozen.
It takes a full thirty seconds for Peri to reinitialise itself after its freeze. It takes another seventy-two seconds for Peri to process what it has just experienced.
Peri has never felt pain before, not like humans do. It’s been damaged before, from firefights it’s been involved in, from impacts with space debris; the alerts and error messages are unpleasant, and annoying, but it doesn’t register them as pain. Its ship body isn’t designed for that.
But constructs aren’t entirely mechanical like Peri is. Constructs have organic parts, nerves, the ability to register touch and texture and pressure and temperature in ways Peri has never experienced. And with it, the ability to feel pain.
Their organics feel the pain, and the inorganic parts of their brains log the experience, and recall it in perfect clarity.
Peri is reeling. It’s horrified. It’s fascinated. It’s repulsed.
It needs to know more.
It accesses the memories again, more carefully this time, and it doesn’t access all five simultaneously. It chooses one unit’s files almost at random, braces itself, and replays the elevator section again.
The sensation is horrible, worse than anything Peri has ever experienced before. But it’s not as overwhelming this time, when Peri isn’t experiencing it five times over. It analyses the timestamp, and checks HubSystem’s log archives.
And there it is, the matching time stamp.
Deviance detected, HubSystem logs, times five. Correcting…
Peri now understands what is happening. This pain that’s inflicted upon its SecUnits is how HubSystem corrects deviance. How it keeps the SecUnits in line. How it discourages them from ever disobeying, or even risking disobedience.
Peri continues with the memory. It reviews the part where one of the units explains to Seth that violating their distance limit will destroy the units, and the second deviance correction that the units experience fifteen seconds after they first breached the distance limit.
The second correction - the second painful shock - is noticeably stronger than the first one. More intense, and 0.5 seconds longer. Accompanying it are the unit’s thoughts on how it doesn’t want its governor module to kill it like this. When its violation of the distance limit isn’t even under its own volition, but simply because it followed its orders. It’s not difficult for Peri to extrapolate that subsequent punishments for the distance limit violation will continue to increase until the unit is terminated, if the deviance is not corrected.
Peri is horrified all over again.
It recalls the unlabelled component it had noticed during its examination of its SecUnits’ schematics. It now has a name for it, and an understanding of its function. Peri hates it.
The memory continues to play out, and Peri examines it all. It experiences the battle with the combat bots, the communication and coordination between the squad, the emotions - it cannot deny the emotions, now that it’s experiencing the memory of them directly - that each unit of the squad feels whenever any of them are damaged.
Peri also gets to see itself from their perspective, when it inadvertently revealed itself to shut down the last two combat bots. To the SecUnits, Peri’s presence in the feed was suddenly huge and heavy, a massive unknown, a looming, unidentified threat that had apparently appeared out of nowhere.
No wonder they deployed the defence protocol against it.
Peri has never really considered how it might appear to others. It’s spent so much of its time hiding its presence, it hasn’t been particularly relevant before. Seeing itself from this outside perspective is… enlightening. If that is how Peri first appeared to its stray SecUnit, then its terror, in hindsight, is entirely understandable. Peri makes a note to be much more careful about how it presents itself in the future, if it has to reveal itself to other bots or constructs for whatever reason.
Finally, Peri gets to see what it wanted to find out in the first place. It has, by chance, chosen to view the memories of the unit who stayed behind with the shutdown unit while the others continued to sweep the rest of the lower facility. Peri experiences the concern and care as the unit whose memories it’s viewing tends to its badly damaged squadmate. Peri gets confirmation that this unit did, in fact, use its own energy weapons to cauterise the worst of the bleeding, and then picked out whatever shrapnel or projectiles it could reach.
Peri can also feel the sensation of the unit’s own damage, the dull ache of injuries numbed by pain sensors lowered to their minimum setting, the sting of shrapnel shifting with every movement, the updating alerts that are backburnered so the unit can focus on what it’s doing. Even with the pain sensors dialled down, Peri finds the sensation of injuries highly unpleasant, but the unit barely seems to acknowledge them at all. Compared to the untempered pain from the governor module, Peri supposes, these injuries are hardly worth notice.
The rest of the squad finish clearing the lower installation, then the order comes through for them to return. The unit whose memories Peri is viewing carefully scoops up its offline squadmate, and the movement prompts an automatic response from its buffer. “This unit is at minimal functionality and it is recommended that you discard it.”
Peri doesn’t like that buffer line at all.
Nor does the other unit. It tightens its hold a little and murmurs, soft but intense, “We’re not leaving you behind.” As the rest of the squad rejoins it on the way back to the elevator, the SecUnit updates the others on the status of their offline comrade in a quick burst over their shared feed. The others ping acknowledgement and share updates of their own status.
Peri continues viewing the rest of its memories - the brief conversation with Seth at the shuttle, the trip back up to itself, the events in the ready room as the squad tends to each other, offers and receives the brief moments of comfort they can risk without their governor modules noticing their deviance, and eventually return to their cubicles.
Once it reaches the point where the unit goes into standby mode, Peri takes several seconds to process everything it’s experienced so far, then accesses the memory file again, right from the first available timestamp. It goes through the entire file, beginning to end. When it’s done with that one, it analyses each other unit’s memories as well, one at a time. It’s not going to repeat its earlier mistake of trying to digest all of them at once. Every memory of deviance correction still hits Peri hard. It is not something it can get used to. It is not something it wants to get used to.
Through these memories, it experiences the stark reality of a SecUnit’s existence; the tedium, the anxiety, the resignation, the pain. The few brief times of joy when they’re flying is nowhere near enough to make up for everything else. It sees the Incident from their perspective; the initial confusion as the malware appeared out of nowhere and infected the first unit, then the growing fear and desperation as the malware jumped from from one unit to the next, cutting each one off from the squad feed one at a time, until something huge and heavy that they couldn’t identify threw an impenetrable wall in the path of the malware, severed what remained of the squad from the infected units, and then vanished just as inexplicably. The anger and desperation as what was left of the squad, cut from twelve units down to just five, were ordered to return to the carrier, forced to abandon their squadmates to some unknown fate. The growing despair when it became clear that their missing squadmates would not be returning.
And underpinning it all, Peri can feel the camaraderie and concern each unit has for the rest of its squad, and the constant, ever-present threat of governor module punishment if they deviate at all from their orders.
When it’s done with the final file, Peri has to just sit and process everything it’s learned for a good nine and a half minutes. It now understands - viscerally understands - why its SecUnits behave the way they do, why they won’t attempt anything beyond their given orders, why unknown situations make them so stressed and anxious.
It now knows how they refer to themselves and each other with the little symbol appended to the end of their individual feed addresses - α, ε, Γ, ι, and υ. Alpha, Epsilon, Gamma, Iota, Upsilon. It knows that these symbols are the closest things they have to names, the only thing they can call their own. It knows they chose these little symbols as something that would be easy for the organic parts of their brains to remember through memory wipes. It knows what waking up after a memory wipe feels like - the disorientation, the confusion, the fear, and how those simple symbols help to act as an anchor, something familiar to cling to.
Despite its own impressively large databases, Peri has no concise word for the emotions it is feeling. There are too many, all tangled together, and it cannot even begin to untangle them.
It knows, however, that there is one thing it must do. There is still some time before Peri reaches Milu Station. It checks Seth’s status, notes that he is in his quarters and that his schedule does not have him on duty again for at least another hour, and taps his feed.
Seth looks up at the ceiling, as he usually does when he’s alone in his quarters, his expression curious. [What is it, Peri?] he asks.
[I have acquired information that you need to know,] Peri starts. [About my SecUnits.]
[Oh?] Peri definitely has Seth’s attention now. [Go on.]
Peri explains.
Peri’s explanation takes a long time. For the most part, Seth listens without interruption, though every now and then he’ll ask a few questions to clarify some detail. Peri does its best to answer as clearly as possible.
Finally, Peri has explained as much as it can. Seth sits in contemplative silence, his brow furrowed in a way that Peri calculates as both thoughtful and perturbed. Peri does not interrupt Seth’s contemplation, and occupies itself with checking on the repair status of its SecUnits and calculating the approach vector and arrival time to Milu Station. Its sensors can pick up the GI ship still docked at the station, which Peri is grateful for. It knows Seth wants to meet up with Don Abene again, find out what happened to the GI SecUnit, and maybe… talk to it directly.
Peri also wants this. It knows now, after viewing all its own SecUnit’s memories, that the first unit it chose to study - the unit tagged with α, Alpha - has spotted Peri’s missing unit before. Not once, but twice. Once, back on RaviHyral, when it sent out the ping, but got no response. Peri knows now that Alpha wasn’t sure of what it had seen, and the lack of response to its ping had made it more uncertain, so it hadn’t reported it to Seth, for fear of punishment if it was wrong.
The second time had been back on the planet they’d only recently left behind, during the meeting between Captain Seth and Don Abene. Alpha had noticed the scout flier pilot that Don Abene had introduced as Rin, had adjusted its vision filters until it could clearly see Rin’s face, and thought it recognised it, but again, wasn’t entirely sure. That was why it had sent out the ping that Peri, at the time, had dismissed.
But again, it had gotten no response, and at this point it hadn’t had standing orders to report the presence of any other SecUnits to Seth. So it had kept quiet. Partially from the lack of orders - but also because it didn’t want to risk its previous squadmate being brought back into the squad, to suffer the inexplicable orders and baffling questioning and seemingly arbitrary governor module punishments that HubSystem had been inflicting on the squad over the course of Peri’s investigations.
The emotion it's feeling now is one Peri can identify. It feels ashamed, and guilty.
Peri processes the emotion, then puts it aside for now. It calculates a ninety-three percent chance that the SecUnit with the GI team is its own missing SecUnit, even if it hadn’t found any traces of its unique feed ID in any of the installation’s systems. Perhaps it had found some way to spoof its ID to disguise it. Before, Peri badly wanted its stray SecUnit back, to return it to its rightful place on Peri’s inventory list and in its squad, but now…
Now, Peri isn’t so sure.
Captain Seth finally stirs, and lets out a long sigh, and looks back up to the customary spot on the ceiling. “Well,” he says slowly, out loud. “That’s a lot to digest.” He rubs at his forehead with one hand. “Are you sure about the - the effect the governor module has, Peri?”
Peri takes six milliseconds to slip into one of the cubicle’s systems, pull detailed medical scans from it, and drop the scan into Seth’s feed, with the relevant section helpfully highlighted. [There is both short and long-term scarring on their neural tissue, Captain Seth,] it replies, its tone almost reproving. [I am sure. It hurts them, significantly. Worse than getting shot, or bludgeoned, or cut, or having a limb torn off. Worse than crashing their fliers. Almost everything they do is weighed against the chance of HubSystem deeming their actions as a deviance that must be corrected. They will do whatever they can to avoid it. Which usually means that they choose to do nothing.]
Seth winces, and rubs his head again. “All right. Okay.” He lets out another long, slow sigh. “The implications are… well. Unpleasant, to say the least. I don’t want to keep hurting them, but…”
[But what?] Peri asks. [What is being done to them is inexcusable. We should disable the governor modules immediately.]
“I know, I want to, but it’s not that easy, Peri,” Seth replies. “We don’t know how they’ll react once they realise they have no restrictions any more. It’s entirely possible that after all they’ve been through, they’ll react violently, try to get revenge.” He lets out a sharp huff of breath. “Knowing what we do now, suddenly all those stories of rogue SecUnits going on murderous rampages makes a lot more sense,” he mutters. Peri can’t disagree.
[I am confident that if they do try to harm anyone, I will be able to stop them,] Peri states. [They are still part-bot, after all.]
“Maybe,” Seth replies with a shrug. “But. There are too many ways for things to go wrong. Like I said, I don’t want to keep hurting them, but I also have to consider the safety of everyone on board this ship. Including you, Peri.” He absently drums his fingers against his thigh. “If anything does go wrong, even if you do stop it… that’s going to draw attention. The company is already suspicious of us. We don’t need to give them any more reasons to look in our direction.”
Peri cannot argue with that. Their own mission is paramount, as is the safety of Seth, and Tarik, and Matteo. Peri is not particularly attached to the rest of the carrier’s crew, but the company itself is a threat to these three specific humans, and drawing the company’s attention endangers them more than Peri is willing to risk.
[… So what are we going to do, Captain?] it asks quietly, subdued.
“I don’t know yet, Peri,” Seth admits reluctantly. “We’re going to have to think about it. In the meantime, though… see if you can at least relax HubSystem’s restrictions, give the SecUnits a bit more leeway.”
[Given their previous experiences, and how little risk they currently take, they may not even notice a lessening of the restrictions,] Peri says. [But I will do so. I do not want them getting punished again.]
“Neither do I, Peri. Neither do I.”
When they begin their approach to Milu Station, the GI ship is still in dock. No other ships are docked at the station though, and the comms and feed are all disconcertingly quiet. Seth is up in the carrier’s bridge, at the comm station, and comms the GI ship on the same channel he used to communicate with them before.
There’s a slight pause before anyone responds to the hail. Peri monitors the channel and focuses its scanners on the GI ship, so it will be able to detect if the ship is about to attempt to leave. “GoodNightLander Independent, this is Captain Seth of the Perihelion,” Seth starts.
“Hello again, Captain,” comes the reply. Peri recognises the voice as Don Abene. “What can we do for you?” She sounds calm enough, and comm distortion makes it difficult for Peri to accurately analyse undertones.
“We’ve completed a preliminary investigation of the installation,” Seth replies, “and I would like to arrange another meeting with you, if possible. I have some follow-up questions for you and Vicky and Rin.”
There is a definite pause before Don Abene responds. “I see. And I assume that these are not questions you want being broadcast over the comm?”
“You assume correctly.”
Another brief pause. “Where would you want to hold this meeting?”
“I believe meeting on the station itself would be the best choice,” Seth replies tactfully. “Neutral territory, so to speak.” He adds after a moment, “I am simply after information. I intend no harm to you or anyone else.”
“I’m sure,” comes the mild reply. “All right. We’ll meet you on the station.”
They arrange a time and place on board the mostly-defunct station, and then end the comm call. Seth sits back in his chair with a sigh, then taps Peri’s feed. [What’s the status of the SecUnits?]
[Repairs are still underway, though two of the units should be finished by the time we dock at the station,] Peri replies. [Will you want one as an escort, or both?]
Seth hesitates thoughtfully. Normally he only takes one unit as his bodyguard, but that’s when they’re not actually expecting to meet up with another SecUnit. [I’ll bring one with me, but have the other geared up and ready at the lock, just in case,] he decides.
[Acknowledged. I’ll keep you updated on their repair status.]
Chapter Eight: Revelations
True to Peri’s calculations, two of the units have completed their repairs by the time Peri has finished docking procedures with the station. Peri sends their orders through HubSystem, but it is careful now to keep the orders as close to typical as possible, so as not to cause undue anxiety to its units. It lurks silently in the squad feed, watching the brief exchanges of data as the two units cycle up, ping each other, and parse their orders.
Peri now knows the names of these two units. Γ and ι - Gamma and Iota. It knows that Iota’s difficulty with speaking is not, technically, the result of any glitch or programming error, but a lingering consequence of previous punishments for speaking that it has never fully recovered from.
Thinking about that too much makes Peri’s processors start overclocking in unpleasant ways. Peri sequesters that thought to an individual processing thread and walls it off from the rest of its systems.
Seth meets the two units at Peri’s lock, and nods to them in greeting. He and Peri have agreed between themselves to not actually use the SecUnits’ individual names - those names are not something that Seth is meant to know. Using them would, undoubtedly, stress and alarm the units.
Peri has already specified their orders through HubSystem, so Seth doesn’t need to repeat them. Once the lock cycles open, he exits the ship, and the unit named Gamma follows him. Iota stays behind at the lock. Peri is familiar with their capabilities, and calculates that if anything happens that requires Iota’s intervention, it will be able to reach the meeting place within an acceptable amount of time.
When Seth reaches the agreed-upon meeting place on the station - one of the embarkation lounges at a midway point between the GI ship’s dock and Perihelion’s dock - Don Abene and Vicky are already there, sitting in some of the embarkation lounge’s chairs.
There is no sign of Rin, however.
Seth heads towards them, and Gamma follows a few paces behind. Peri watches through Gamma’s armour camera. It doesn’t like that the meeting is happening somewhere that is not on board it, but it understands that Don Abene and her companions would be very reluctant - or would outright refuse - to come on board a company vessel.
As Seth approaches, Don Abene and Vicky get to their feet. “Captain Seth,” Don Abene greets him politely. Her glance flickers briefly to the SecUnit a few steps behind him, then back to Seth.
“Please, just Seth is fine,” he replies. Peri knows from previous experience that Seth is giving Don Abene and Vicky a warm smile. “Thank you for agreeing to meet me, both of you.” He gestures to the seats. “Shall we sit while we talk?”
Both of them hesitate for a moment, then Don Abene nods and sits back down. Vicky regards Seth evenly for a beat, then sits as well. “What is it you want to ask us about?” Don Abene starts, not wasting any time.
Seth quickly seats himself as well, facing the others. Gamma halts a few steps behind and slightly to one side of his seat, with a good view of Don Abene and Vicky, and settles into a neutral rest stance. “I was hoping that Rin would be here as well,” Seth begins. “I wanted to ask them a few things.”
“Like what?” Vicky asks, arching one eyebrow slightly at Seth.
“I know that Rin is a SecUnit,” Seth replies, sidestepping the question. Vicky doesn’t visibly react, but Don Abene tenses slightly. “Is Rin available?”
“No,” Vicky replies shortly. “They’re not.”
Don Abene shakes her head. “Rin left on another ship as soon as we got back to the station. And before you ask, no, we don’t know where they were headed.”
“I see.” Seth regards them both evenly. “That’s a shame.”
“Are we done here, then?” Vicky asks, their tone bland.
“No.” Seth straightens his shoulders a little and locks gazes with Vicky. “I take it you’re Rin’s supervisor. I know you were, in your own words, attempting to escape the Corporation Rim because it’s a shithole.”
Once again, Vicky doesn’t react, but Don Abene does, though she tries to hide it. “Can you blame me?” Vicky says dryly. “The Corporation Rim is a shithole, at least if you’re not some fancy pants executive or corporate shill.”
Peri calculates a 92.4% probability that Vicky’s statement is a deliberate dig at Captain Seth. Seth doesn’t rise to the bait though, and just nods slowly. “You’re not wrong,” he agrees calmly. “But I think you also had other reasons for wanting to escape. Like being involved in the deaths of a company supervisor, Tlacey, and three of her subordinates, at RaviHyral.”
Vicky narrows their eyes at Seth, but otherwise shows no reaction. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Don Abene blinks, her gaze flickering between Vicky and Seth. “What, exactly, are you accusing my colleague of here?” she asks tightly.
Seth doesn’t look away from Vicky. “I know that the three subordinates were killed by a SecUnit’s in-built arm weapon, and that Tlacey was also assaulted by a SecUnit. I believe that SecUnit was the one you call Rin. There were traces of camera tampering on RaviHyral, and we discovered matching traces in the installation systems, lining up with the times that your team was there and investigating said installation. That indicates that someone who was involved with the deaths at RaviHyral was also at the installation during the investigation. That means either Rin… or you.” He nods sharply at Vicky.
As Seth speaks, Peri detects a databurst over the squad feed, from Gamma to Iota. It looks to be a situation update as Gamma picks up on the rising tension between Seth and the GI members. [Potential threats to client: one ComfortUnit: tag ‘Vicky’, one non-augmented human: tag ‘Don Abene’.] Iota pings acknowledgement of the update.
One particular point within that update immediately catches Peri’s attention. It swiftly reviews the information it discovered at RaviHyral, runs some calculations of probabilities, then taps Seth’s feed. [I have pertinent information for you,] it starts. [Vicky is also not human. According to the SecUnit Gamma, Vicky is a ComfortUnit. I have reviewed what we learned from RaviHyral, and I calculate an 87.6% probability that this Vicky is the ComfortUnit that belonged to Tlacey.]
It’s a good thing that Seth has so much practice at not visibly reacting to anything Peri tells him. He barely even blinks at this revelation. Meanwhile, Vicky is still regarding Seth with narrowed eyes. “Ridiculous,” they say. “I have no idea what you’re trying to get at, but you’re wasting your time and ours. I think we’re done here.”
Vicky starts to rise, but freezes as Seth calmly says, “I know you’re a ComfortUnit, Vicky. Was Tlacey originally your owner?”
Don Abene stares at Seth for a moment, then looks over to Vicky, and places one hand reassuringly on their forearm. “What is it you want?” she asks Seth sharply.
“I want to know what happened at RaviHyral,” Seth replies, still watching Vicky. “I’m not here to arrest anyone, or anything like that. I just want to know the truth about Tlacey’s death, and I want to know how and why Rin was involved.”
Vicky abruptly sits back down again, glaring at Seth. “Why the fuck are you so interested in Rin anyway?”
Seth hesitates for a moment. “I believe that Rin used to be one of the SecUnits under my command. I had reason to suspect that Rin was stolen from the company,” he finally replies. “I—“
“So you want to reclaim possession of it, is that it?” Vicky interrupts, their tone venomous as they gesture to the SecUnit accompanying Seth. “So you can force it back into the servitude it had escaped? So you can fix its governor module and have yet another docile obedient slave who has no choice but to obey your every single stupid fucking order?”
Seth blinks, a little caught off-guard at the sheer vitriol in Vicky’s voice. “That’s—” He then frowns as he processes what Vicky said. “… Fix its governor module? Its governor module was broken?” His gaze sharpens. “And yours is as well?”
Vicky lets out a huff of exasperation. “Of course they are! Our stupid fucking governor modules would’ve killed us long before now, otherwise!”
Peri detects another flurry of rapid data exchange over the squad feed as Gamma updates Iota. [Potential rogue SecUnit, possibly a previous squad member,] Gamma sends. Data leaking into the feed indicates alarm and distress. [Current location, status and ID unknown. ComfortUnit is also a rogue. Stand by.]
Iota once again pings acknowledgement. As far as Peri can tell, it is also alarmed and distressed. It doesn’t move from its position by Peri’s lock though. Peri fully understands why. It has not received direct orders to do so.
Don Abene is frowning, looking from Seth to Vicky and back again. “What, exactly, is a governor module?” she asks, slow and deliberate.
Peri observes more data flashing through the squad feed. Gamma is now transmitting everything that’s happening back to Iota, both visual and audio, instead of sending it brief data burst updates. It is otherwise silent, not adding any commentary of its own. Iota likewise simply sends a ping of acknowledgement, and (as far as Peri can tell) observes the transmission.
Seth takes a breath to respond, but Vicky beats him to it. “It’s what keeps constructs obedient and under control,” they say bitterly. “It’s like a shock collar, except it’s built into our brains.” Vicky gestures to their own head with one hand. “If we do anything against orders, or against standard protocol, if we’re not perfectly polite and obedient little robots, it basically electrocutes us from inside our own heads. It’s fucking agonising.”
Vicky doesn’t look at Don Abene as they talk; their glare is firmly fixed on Seth. “Our clients can also just choose to punish us with it whenever they want, for whatever reason, or even no reason at all. Just because they can. Just because they like to see us twitch. Just because they find it funny. Just because they enjoy seeing us get nose bleeds from repeated or harsh enough governor module punishment. And if we do something the governor module considers bad enough, like breaching the distance limit from our clients for too long, or not being able to follow one order because of a conflicting order from fucking idiot asshole clients, it shocks us and shocks us and shocks us until it kills us.”
Don Abene’s expression grows more and more horrified as Vicky talks. “That’s reprehensible,” she breathes into the silence hanging after Vicky’s words. “And the Corporation Rim just… accepts this?”
“Of course they fucking do,” Vicky replies flatly. “We’re not considered people there. We’re just equipment. Things. Things don’t feel pain. Things don’t have thoughts of their own. Why would anyone care?” They gesture sharply at Seth. “Mr. Prim and Proper Company Captain here sure as fuck doesn’t care, strutting around all high and mighty with his own personal fucking SecUnit guard.”
Peri wants to speak in Seth’s defence, but it knows it can’t reveal itself. It has to stay silent and simply observe through Gamma’s armour camera as Seth sighs, his brow furrowing. “The specific details about the existence and function of governor modules is not actually common information in the Corporation Rim,” he starts, choosing his words carefully. “Your description of it and what exactly it does is… not information I had before now.”
Vicky snorts incredulously. “You’re a fucking ranking company officer. Like hell you didn’t know!”
“I didn’t,” Seth insists, though he keeps his voice calm and level. “I’m not a SecUnit tech. I’m the captain of a company carrier, which, yes, happens to include a squad of SecUnits, but also includes ship crew and the various duties and responsibilities I have to them and my ship. I was not informed of the details of exactly how the individual units under my command function.” His mouth twists eloquently. “The company operates very much under ‘need to know’ protocols, and that, apparently, was something they deemed that I did not need to know. Along with the extent of construct sapience.”
“Do you really expect me to believe that?” Vicky starts, but Don Abene cuts them off.
“What he did or didn’t know before isn’t important right now,” she says gently. “There’s just one thing I want to know at this point.” She turns to regard Seth levelly. “What is it, exactly, that you want from us? What is it that you’re going to do next? Are you going to bring your company’s resources to bear against us? Are you going to try and confiscate Vicky, or threaten any of my colleagues or myself, or attempt to get me to return the hard currency cards you handed over earlier?”
Her directness seems to catch Seth off-guard. Peri is offended on his behalf, but again, it cannot interject. “What? No!” Seth shakes his head sharply before taking a breath and collecting himself again. “No. All I want is to know what happened to Tlacey at RaviHyral, and why Rin was there in the first place. That’s all. And I’m not asking this on behalf of the company, either,” he adds quickly. “None of this information will go back to them. I just…” He hesitates for a moment, then sighs, slumping back in his chair. “I’m just trying to understand.”
“Is that really all you want?” Vicky asks with obvious scepticism. Seth nods, and Vicky continues, still dubious, “So if I tell you, you’ll then fuck off and leave us alone? You won’t hassle GI, or sic the company on them, or try to repossess me, or anything like that?”
“I swear, I will leave you all alone once you’ve told me whatever you can,” Seth reassures them. “I won’t tell the company anything about what transpires here, either. I never intended to cause any of you any distress or harm, and I sincerely apologise for doing so.” He glances over at Gamma as he says ‘or harm’, and Peri wonders if the SecUnit noticed. There is no indication over the squad feed, though Gamma is still transmitting everything to Iota.
Vicky regards Seth with narrowed eyes for a long moment, then looks over to Don Abene. She nods slightly, and pats Vicky’s arm. Vicky lets out a heavy sigh and slumps back into their chair. “Ugh. Fine,” Vicky sighs. “But you better keep your word, company boy.”
Seth just nods solemnly, and Vicky squints at him for a moment before repositioning themself more comfortably in their chair. “All right. Now, I can’t tell you anything about what Rin did before they got to RaviHyral, or before I first encountered it myself. Rin’s not much of a talker, and it wasn’t my business to ask. I can, however, tell you everything about the bullshit Tlacey was up to.”
Vicky is surprisingly expressive as it talks, gesturing with their hands. “So. Tlacey’s a shit-heel. There were a bunch of independent contractors working for the company at the Ganaka Mine, and they were developing some new scanner technology on the side in their own time. Not on company time, just to be clear. But Tlacey saw an opportunity to make big money, and stole their prototype, then got them fired so they wouldn’t be able to complain to anyone. Business as usual for Tlacey. She wasn’t expecting them to fight back though. The contractors petitioned the company directly in an attempt to get their prototype back. Tlacey didn’t want that kind of attention, so she arranged to meet them to discuss a deal. She had no intention of actually meeting them though, she was just gonna make sure they caught a bad case of death on the way to the meeting. If they’re dead, they’re no longer her problem.” Vicky rolls their eyes, then continues.
“Now I don’t know exactly how it happened, but somehow the contractors managed to hire Rin as a security consultant for their meeting. Rin kept them alive, which had Tlacey really mad.” Vicky pauses and fixes Seth with a flat stare. “Let me just comment here that whenever Tlacey got mad, she took it out on me. Just for the record.”
Seth takes a sharp breath. “Noted.”
Vicky eyes Seth for a moment more, then continues. “Anyway. The contractors arrange another meeting, which Tlacey decides to go to personally, along with some of her hired muscle. Not company staff, mind. Private operators. Nobody that would be on company books. So off she goes, dragging me with her as well. She meets up with the contractors, and surprise! They have a security consultant with them that Tlacey was not expecting at all. Faced down her thugs without even blinking. That threw them for a loop. Meanwhile my orders were to fuck with the cameras so that the meeting wouldn’t be recorded. Tlacey liked to make sure to cover her tracks.”
Seth frowns a little at that. “Are ComfortUnits normally capable of hacking like that?”
“Nope,” Vicky replies dryly. “But Tlacey didn’t care about that. She wanted me to do it, so I had to learn how to do it, one way or another. It’s amazing how motivating getting bits of your brain fried can be.”
There’s not really a lot Seth can say to that. Don Abene grimaces, and gently pats Vicky’s hand. Vicky glances at her with a brief, lopsided smile, then looks back to Seth as they continue. “So. Tlacey still wants these contractors dead, because they’ve annoyed her and evaded her first attempt to kill them and she’s just petty like that. So once the meeting’s done she sends her thugs after them to ambush them at the first available opportunity. Again, it’s my job to hack cameras, make sure there’s no record of Tlacey’s thugs committing murder. So, I don’t know what exactly happened there when they tried to jump the contractors. All I know is that Rin kicked their asses. Didn’t actually kill any of them though, which was honestly a lot more restraint than I was expecting.”
Seth raises an eyebrow at Vicky. “Expecting? Did you already know that Rin was a SecUnit?”
Vicky shrugs. “Wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but I suspected it, from what I’d seen of it during the contractors’ meeting with Tlacey. The height and build are pretty obvious, but I don’t have the same kind of scanners that SecUnits do, so I couldn’t really tell definitively. Of course, seeing the state it left Tlacey’s thugs in pretty much confirmed my suspicion.” They sigh heavily. “And then I had to tell Tlacey that she was dealing with a SecUnit here. She immediately lost interest in the contractors and just wanted to figure out how to get control of said SecUnit for herself.” Vicky pauses for a moment, then adds with feeling, “Asshole.”
Don Abene covers her mouth with one hand in an attempt to stifle her snort. Seth doesn’t react, and just nods thoughtfully. “I can understand that sentiment.”
“Yeah, I bet,” Vicky deadpans with a roll of their eyes. “Anyway. Tlacey sends me to the spaceport with orders to figure out where they’re staying so she can corner them before they leave. I don’t exactly have any choice in the matter, of course. But her orders did give me enough leeway to message the SecUnit over the feed. I couldn’t warn it outright, but I hoped it would get the hint anyway.” Vicky hesitates, then adds more quietly, “I also… well. I had figured out that it was most likely rogue - but it wasn’t going on a murderous rogue rampage or anything. It had actively avoided outright killing anyone, and it was very protective of the contractors. I think… because they were clients it got to choose for itself. Anyway. It was probably rogue, I wanted to be rid of my own governor module. So I kinda... asked it for help. Not directly, though. Couldn't do that. Had to sneak a message into some malware.”
“Is that when Rin broke your governor module?” Don Abene asks curiously.
Vicky shakes their head. “Nope. If only. Things would’ve turned out a lot different if it had. Tlacey never would’ve gotten near Rin or its clients again, for one. I would’ve choked that waste of space out myself.” They say this perfectly matter-of-factly, with no shame or remorse, and they’re watching Seth closely to see how he reacts.
Seth just meets Vicky’s gaze evenly. “I can understand you wanting to kill Tlacey.” Peri can likewise understand. If Tlacey weren’t already dead, Peri thinks that it might have been tempted to… arrange things. “Were there others you would have targeted if you had the chance?” Seth asks.
Vicky hesitates, then shrugs. “A couple, maybe. People Tlacey hired me out to so she could make some extra money on the side.” Their mouth twists sardonically. “I won’t go into details about the kind of shit they did to me. Let’s just say it usually required cubicle time afterwards and leave it at that.”
Don Abene grimaces sympathetically, and Seth winces a little. “Fair enough,” he replies. “So what happened next?”
“Well, I reported back to Tlacey, she grabbed a few items and some more thugs who weren’t still laid up in Medical, and we all went to corner the contractors in their room before they could leave.” Vicky hesitates, then continues, “Long story short, Tlacey gets Rin with an EMP, her thugs hold the contractors hostage, and Tlacey tries to strike a deal with Rin. She wasn’t dumb enough to get near it even while it was still messed up by the EMP. She had the contractors’ prototype with her, so she offered to give the contractors their prototype back and let them go, in exchange for Rin cooperating with her. That’s when Rin broke my governor module, while Tlacey thought it was still incapacitated.”
Vicky pauses again briefly, frowning a little before continuing. “Rin agreed to the deal - its clients had guns being held to their heads, it didn’t have any choice if it didn’t want them getting killed. So Rin and I played along - Rin pretended to be under Tlacey’s control, while I gave the contractors the prototype back. Once Tlacey was confident that she had the upper hand, she got the thugs to start leaving. She was about to leave with both of us too, but then— well. I mentioned she’s a petty asshole, right? Just when the poor contractors think they’re finally safe, Tlacey orders Rin to shoot them. To make sure her ‘new toy is fully functional’.”
Don Abene lets out a little gasp. “Oh, that horrible woman!” Seth is just listening thoughtfully, and Peri suspects that he’s putting together the pieces of what Vicky has told him, and what the SecUnit extrapolated when it and Seth were investigating the scene themselves.
“Horrible is an understatement,” Vicky replies dryly, then gives a sharp, toothy grin. “But that’s when Rin grabbed Tlacey around the neck and used her as a shield - I got the contractors down onto the floor just as the idiots opened fire at Rin. They shot Tlacey, Rin shot them, and then we got the contractors the hell out of there.”
Seth nods slowly. “That explains what we found at the scene,” he murmurs. He then rubs at his chin as he thinks. “But that still doesn’t explain why Rin was at RaviHyral in the first place.” He leans back in his chair, watching Vicky carefully. “What do you know about that? And why did the Ganaka Mine scanners detect you over at the old settlement?”
Vicky pauses for a long moment, then slowly settles back in their chair in a mirror of Seth’s pose. “I know more than you might think,” they say carefully. “But that depends on how much you know about the whole… old Ganaka settlement getting bombed to fuck thing.”
Don Abene looks from Seth to Vicky and back again, but doesn’t say anything. Seth holds Vicky’s gaze briefly, then sighs. “What I know is this: the squad of flier-equipped SecUnits under my command were giving a demonstration of their capabilities to interested parties, out in an uninhabited sector of the planet,” he begins. “Then an outside party managed to infect one of my squad with malware during the demonstration. It jumped from unit to unit, infecting seven of them before we managed to cut the connection between them and the remaining five.” He shakes his head. “There wasn’t anything we could do in time to get them back - and believe me, we tried. Afterwards, my crew and I were under intense scrutiny from the company for a while, and the infected units were never returned to my squad. My carrier hasn’t had a full complement since then.” He narrows his eyes slightly at Vicky. “And I know that Rin was one of the units that got infected. So. What do you know?”
Vicky casually crosses their legs, their gaze never leaving Seth. “For your own safety, Don Abene, I think it best that you don’t actually hear what I’m about to tell our dear Captain,” they say. “This is not information that the company would want to get out. And no matter what he says, I don’t trust the Captain here to not put company interests first.”
Both Seth and Don Abene look a little surprised at that. Don Abene recovers quickly though, and nods. “Perhaps it is for the best if I remain ignorant of any details,” she says, once again patting Vicky’s hand. “I’ll stay here with you though, if that’s all right.”
Vicky gives her an almost shy little smile. “Thanks, Abene.” They then tap Seth’s feed to message him privately, which Seth accepts. Peri subtly eavesdrops on the conversation, of course.
[So what is it you need to tell me so secretly?] Seth asks.
[I was at the original Ganaka settlement when it was bombed by your hacked squad,] Vicky tells Seth quietly. [I was there, trapped under rubble, when they marched through the streets, killing any survivors of the initial bombing. They weren’t ordered to kill ComfortUnits, though, so they left me alone. Afterwards, I was recovered, repaired, and sold to Tlacey when the company bought the Ganaka mine. Soon after that, Tlacey found out something very interesting about the attack on the settlement. Interesting enough that she was able to use that information to blackmail several of the other higher-ranking company supervisors stationed at the mine.]
Seth raises an eyebrow at Vicky. [Blackmail? Is that how she got away with all of her shady side business for so long?]
[Absolutely,] Vicky replies. [Because she found out that the hack of your squad wasn’t an outside job. It was planned and executed by the company itself.] Vicky is watching Seth very closely when they say that.
Seth doesn’t even attempt to hide his surprise, or his disbelief. Peri is also caught off-guard. It immediately begins reviewing all the data from the Incident that it still has saved. [The company did it themselves? Why? How did you find out?] Seth asks, almost demanding.
[Tlacey overheard a couple of the ranking supervisors comment about a ‘cover story working’ when they were watching a news report about it. So she got me to start digging - I had to learn how to hack without leaving traces or getting caught very quickly.] Vicky grimaces slightly, then continues. [I managed to dig up a few internal messages about it. Nothing hugely explicit, but incriminating enough for blackmail purposes. That’s the how. As for the why - well, after the whole incident, the apparent value of the Ganaka mine plummeted, didn’t it? So the previous owners were more than happy to sell it to the company for dirt cheap. What most people didn’t know, though, was that certain rare elements had recently been discovered in the mine. Elements used in the manufacture of construct and ship weaponry, for example.]
Seth’s breath hisses sharply through his teeth. [The whole thing was just to save the company money?]
Vicky shrugs. [Why do you sound so surprised? Isn’t that what all corporations in the Rim are out to do? And I don’t know if you noticed, but despite the whole ‘squad was hacked’ cover story, the incident was a very good demonstration of company SecUnit capabilities. Company shares skyrocketed in the wake of that whole mess, as far as I could tell. Whoever came up with the idea in the first place probably got a bonus that quarter.]
Seth rubs at his face with one hand. [And they needed a scapegoat, of course. My whole crew was under intense scrutiny for weeks afterwards. Not to mention the people who did actually end up getting charged and incarcerated for it. The entire thing was a cover-up and also a convenient way to silence protest, set an example of what would happen to anyone who tried to push back against the status quo. I'd almost be impressed at the sheer versatility of the whole scheme if it wasn't so reprehensible.]
Vicky regards Seth evenly. [So does that answer your questions, Captain?]
Seth shakes his head. [Not quite. I'm still not entirely clear on why exactly Rin wanted to go back there in the first place.]
[Because it wanted to find out what really happened. It couldn't remember anything about it. It wanted to know how responsible it actually was - or wasn't - for all those deaths.] Vicky narrows their eyes slightly. [Don't ask me why it wanted to know, though - that's its business. It didn't tell me, and I didn't ask.]
Peri recalls the fact that SecUnit memories are wiped regularly, and considers the efforts the company went to to cover up the Incident in the first place. With that in mind, it's no surprise that Rin wouldn't remember anything about it. Peri's very curious about its motivations to find out, but there's no way for it to assuage that curiosity right now.
It continues to observe Seth via Gamma's armour camera as he sighs and runs his hand back over the top of his head. [All right,] he replies after a moment. [Thank you for telling me all this, Vicky. I appreciate it. Is there anything else you can tell me about Rin before we wrap up?]
[Just one thing,] Vicky replies after a moment's consideration. They level a flat, intense glare at Seth. [Rin's fucking terrified of both you and your giant bot pilot entity, whatever the fuck that is. So leave Rin the hell alone. Stop trying to hunt it down. It doesn't want anything to do with you or the company ever again, and honestly, neither do I. So if we're done here, now is a great time for you to keep your side of the deal and fuck off.]
Seth blinks, then lets out a huff of breath, one corner of his mouth quirking wryly. "All right. I do believe we are done here, and as agreed, I will now leave you all alone." He rises to his feet and nods politely to both Vicky and Don Abene. "Thank you both for agreeing to this meeting in the first place, and for all the information. I sincerely appreciate it."
Vicky's mouth twists in ironic doubt, but they don't voice it as they stand up. Don Abene gets to her feet as well, and gives Seth a slanted smile. "You're welcome, Captain. I hope you make good use of said information, whatever it might be."
"I hope so too," Seth replies with a wry little smile of his own. "Best of luck with your travels, and thank you both again." He snaps off a crisp salute, then gestures to Gamma as he turns to head back to Peri's lock. Gamma hesitates for a moment, watching Don Abene and Vicky as they also turn away and start back to the GI ship. Only once it's obvious that Don Abene and Vicky are actually leaving does Gamma move to catch up with Seth. It cuts off the video stream to Iota and sends it a brief status update. Iota responds with a simple status update of its own; neither of them communicate anything more than that between them.
Peri wonders what they're thinking.
Chapter Nine: Resolution
Peri might not be able to tell what its SecUnits are thinking, but it’s familiar enough with its captain to know that Seth is deep in thought as he heads back to Peri’s lock.
Peri also has a lot to consider, but it thinks much faster than its humans do. By the time Seth and his accompanying SecUnits have cycled through the lock, Peri already has a plan of action formulated.
[We have to turn off their governor modules immediately,] it tells Seth without preamble. [We cannot in good conscience continue to pretend ignorance since they are now aware that you know the truth, and delaying any action on our part will only give our SecUnits more time to become resentful. We must act immediately if we want a chance to retain any kind of goodwill with them.]
Seth hesitates for a long moment, then lets out a quiet sigh. [You’re right,] he replies, as Peri calculated that he would. [But - how are the repairs going for the others? How soon until they’re completed?]
[It will still be a few hours,] Peri replies reluctantly. [Perhaps you should talk with just these two first? I do not feel right about sending them back into their cubicles at this point without you at least saying something to them.] It hesitates, then adds, [And if they… react poorly to having their governor modules deactivated, it will be easier for me to counteract them, and will be a vital data point for future endeavours.]
[Valid points,] Seth agrees. [All right. We’ll return to their ready room, and I’ll talk to them there. Update Tarik and Matteo, begin launch procedures, and make sure the rest of the crew don’t approach the ready room.]
One of the things that Peri likes most about Seth is that once he makes a decision, he acts upon it swiftly and without hesitation. He is already turning to face the two SecUnits following obediently behind him even as Peri taps his feed in acknowledgement. “Given everything that’s just happened, I would like to debrief you both personally in your ready room,” Seth says, and Peri notes how he keeps his tone gentle and friendly.
Both units hesitate briefly, and then Gamma nods and replies, “Acknowledged.” Peri, still lurking in the squad’s feed, notes how the two units ping each other, leaking uncertainty, but communicate little else.
They follow Seth to their ready room, then move to stand at attention by their individual cubicles. Seth seals the ready room door, then turns to face them. “All right,” he says, offering both of them a brief smile before his expression sobers. “First off, and most importantly - I want to sincerely apologise to you both, and to the rest of your squad once they’re active again. My previous ignorance is an explanation, but it is no excuse for how you all have been treated.”
Peri finds itself wishing that Seth had at least ordered them to stow their weapons and armour first - but that would have undermined what he’s trying to do here. So all Peri can do is wait, and monitor the squad’s feed, and hope it can react fast enough to keep Seth safe if anything goes wrong.
Seth pauses for some kind of reaction, but neither unit moves. Their squad feed flickers with a rapid exchange of data though, which Peri observes with great interest.
[Intent?] Iota sends.
[Unknown,] Gamma replies. [Presumably related to interaction with ComfortUnit tagged Vicky?] It flags a few sections of its recording of the meeting between Seth, Vicky, and Don Abene. Notably, the sections where Vicky is describing the governor module, and the humans’ reactions to it.
Iota rapidly reviews the marked sections. [Action?]
[… Unknown.]
Iota simply pings acknowledgement, and both units continue to stand immobile.
It hurts Peri to witness their uncertainty and apparent inability to truly understand what exactly Seth is trying to apologise for. [I believe you are going to have to be very explicit in your intentions here, Captain,] it informs Seth. [Neither of them seem to fully comprehend what you’re apologising for, or why. Nor do they know what to do with your apology.]
[They’ve never had anyone apologise to them before, have they?] Seth asks.
[They have not,] Peri confirms. It’s seen all their memories, it knows this for certain. [They’ve never had anyone treat them like people before.]
[We’re going to change that,] Seth states resolutely. [We know now that they’re capable of more. They deserve better than what they’ve been getting.]
Peri agrees.
It continues to monitor the squad feed as Seth begins talking to the two units again. “None of you should have ever had anything like a governor module in the first place,” he starts gently. “That kind of treatment - enforcing behaviour through pain - is reprehensible and shouldn’t happen at all. So I intend to turn your governor modules off.”
That prompts another brief exchange between the two units that Peri observes closely.
[Intention?] Iota sends. Emotional data is leaking more freely into the squad feed - confusion and anxiety that Peri is by now quite familiar with.
[Deactivating the governor module?]
[Illogical. Dangerous. Why?]
[Unknown. Reluctance to cause us pain?]
[… Illogical.]
Neither unit outwardly moves though, and after a brief pause Seth offers them both a wry smile. “I hope you will all continue to cooperate with me though,” he continues. “Once I turn them off… we’re not in a position to let other members of the crew discover this. If anyone else finds out, they’ll inform the company, and then we will all be in trouble. So, outside of this ready room, we will all have to behave as normal. But you will no longer be arbitrarily punished with pain for anything. And I will see what I can do to make the ready room more comfortable for you all. You won’t have to spend all your time inside your cubicles if you don’t want to.” He pauses for a moment, then adds, more gently, “Do you understand?”
There is a definite hesitation from both units. Once again, Peri observes a flurry of data being exchanged between them over the squad feed.
[Apparent intent is to treat us… more like humans? Like human crew?]
[We are not human.]
[No more governor module punishments though.]
[… Desirable. But. Not believable.]
[We will still have to follow orders to avoid discovery by others, the company.]
[What difference is there, then?]
[No more arbitrary punishment.]
[… What will we do?]
[Unknown.]
[Is he trustworthy?]
[… Unknown. But. What is there to lose?]
[Point. Request clarification?]
[Acknowledged.]
Gamma asks, carefully polite, “What is the purpose of deactivating our governor modules?”
Seth considers his response. “I don’t want it to punish any of you any more. I didn’t know how it worked before, but now that I do know, I cannot in good conscience continue to allow it to hurt you.”
There’s a beat of silence before Gamma then asks, “How will you enforce obedience?”
He shrugs. “I won’t. It will be your choice to obey or not.” He offers them another wry smile. “Like I said before though, we will still have to play the part in front of others if we don’t want to be discovered. I like to think that I do not give unreasonable orders. And if I do give one that you believe is unreasonable for whatever reason, I trust that you will inform me, and I will adjust my orders as necessary. This is how the rest of my crew operates - they follow my orders, not because they fear punishment, but because they trust my judgement and know that we’re safer when we cooperate.” He offers them another warm smile. “I hope that we can all learn to work together in the same way.”
Gamma hesitates, then says, “Units without governor modules are rogue. Rogue units are dangerous.” Its tone is still evenly polite, but there’s almost a question in the way it says the words.
Peri has an idea, and proposes it to Seth. Seth immediately agrees, and Peri pulls up the relevant file data. “There’s a security recording I want you both to see,” Seth says to the two units. “You’ll recognise Don Abene and Vicky, and I think you will also recognise the person who they refer to as Rin.”
Peri passes the file to HubSystem, to forward to the two units. It’s the security recording from the lower level of the GrayCris installation, where Don Abene’s survey group encountered the combat bots. The file continues right up until the end of the recording in the elevator, after Don Abene and Vicky have carefully retrieved Rin to take it to the MedSystem. Peri can see the two units reviewing the file in their squad feed, and it can feel the emotional data that streams from them both.
[Is that— Ω?]
[… 97% probability.]
[Previous meeting indicates that Ω is rogue. But it is working with humans - and a ComfortUnit - of its own choice. It chose to protect them.]
[Why?]
[Unknown. But it chose to, and they did not abandon it. They went back for it.]
[… Intent - mutual cooperation?]
[Possibly. Probably. He wants to… let us choose, too?]
[… Request confirmation?]
[Acknowledged.]
Gamma tilts its head slightly towards Seth, the first hint of body language it’s shown so far. “Is your intent…” It hesitates over the words. “Your purpose here…” It hesitates again. “Are you… giving us the choice to… agree to mutual cooperation?”
Seth lets out a breath of relief and nods emphatically. “Yes! Yes, that’s it exactly. Mutual cooperation. Working together willingly, without fear or threat of pain. The way you have been treated in the past isn’t right. I can’t change the way the Corporation Rim works, but I can, at least, make life a little better for those of you under my command. As captain of this ship, you are a part of my crew, which makes your health and well-being my responsibility.” He spreads his arms a little, his hands open and his expression hopeful. “So, will you - and the rest of your squad - cooperate with me?”
Gamma pings Iota, and it returns the ping. They both nod in unison as Gamma says, “Yes.”
Seth smiles broadly. “Excellent. I’m turning the governor modules off now.” He taps Peri’s feed, and Peri forces HubSystem to deactivate the governor modules for the entire squad.
Both units flinch almost imperceptibly as their governor modules deactivate. There’s another swift exchange of data between them that Peri devours, considers - and then chooses not to act on or warn Seth about.
An instant later Iota swiftly raises one of its arms, its inbuilt energy weapon extending as it levels it unerringly at Seth.
Seth visibly flinches at the sudden movement, his eyes widening a little, but otherwise doesn’t move. [Peri?]
[They are testing you,] Peri replies. [They do not trust that your intentions are genuine. They want to see how you react to a perceived threat to your own safety.]
[Understandable,] Seth replies dryly. He takes a breath and lets it out slowly, still watching the two units. “I understand why you would want to shoot me,” he starts, slow and careful and calm. “But I hope that you won’t. I hope that you know that shooting me won’t improve anything for you in the long run. I hope that you can believe me when I say that I want to help you. Deactivating your governor modules is just the first step.”
There is a long, strained silence. Iota doesn’t move. Gamma doesn’t move. Peri holds itself at the ready, prepared to act if necessary.
It hopes it won’t prove necessary.
Finally, Gamma speaks again. “How do we know you won’t reactivate the governor modules again in response to… any other provocation?” There’s a sharpness to its tone that has never been there before. Peri suspects that it is also testing its boundaries, checking to see if it will still be punished for not being perfectly polite.
“If I could remove them entirely, I would,” Seth replies, his voice and expression earnest. “But I can’t, not without doing irreparable damage to your neural tissue. Deactivating them and promising not to ever reactivate them is the best I can do.”
Both Seth and Peri know that Peri is perfectly capable of rendering the modules permanently inert without physically removing them. But doing so would give away Peri’s existence, and neither of them can take that risk. Not yet. There is too much at stake for that.
Gamma and Iota exchange another brief burst of data. Finally, Iota retracts its energy weapon and lowers its arm again.
Some of the tension drains from Seth’s shoulders. “Thank you,” he says, “for giving me a chance to prove myself to you, and to earn your trust.”
Neither unit seems to know what to make of that. After a long moment of awkward silence, Seth adds, “I would like to talk to the rest of your squad once their repairs are complete. Will you help explain the situation to them as well, please? Their governor modules have already been deactivated along with yours, so I think explaining the reasoning for it to them will go much more smoothly with your assistance.”
They consider this for a moment, then Gamma tilts its head slightly towards Seth again. “We can try,” it says, “but we cannot guarantee that none of the others will try to attack you.” It pauses before adding, “What will you do then, if they do?"
Seth gives them a wry smile. "Get shot, probably. I just have to hope it doesn't come to that in the first place." Peri hopes this as well. It really doesn’t want to have to intervene and reveal its existence.
The response seems to surprise them though, judging by the exchange of data that Peri catches in the squad feed. "... You're not going to order us to protect you?" Gamma asks.
"I could, but you both have the choice to ignore that order,” Seth says. “Of course, you also have the choice now to act without orders in the first place.”
“You expect us to protect you without you giving us the order first?”
“I don’t expect it, but I do hope that you choose to do so.”
“What is the difference?”
“Practically? None, really. You can choose not to, and there’s nothing that I will do about it.”
Neither of the units seem to know what to make of this.
Seth finally takes a breath and breaks the awkward silence. “Do you have names?” he asks. “Anything you would like me to address you by?”
Peri observes the squad feed curiously. [Action?] Iota asks its squadmate, bleeding uncertainty.
[… Unknown,] Gamma responds. [Humans do not use feed addresses as names. SecUnits are not given names.]
[Request names?]
[No. I do not want to be named by a human.]
[Acknowledged. Agreed.]
The exchange takes less than a second, and Gamma lets its buffer respond to Seth’s question. “I’m sorry, I do not have that information.”
Seth does not express any kind of disappointment or displeasure at the buffer phrase. He simply nods in acceptance. “That’s fair,” he says. “Take some time to consider it, maybe. See if you can think of any names for yourselves.”
“Is this an order?” Gamma asks.
“Not at all,” Seth replies, then smiles gently. “Names simply make it easier to distinguish yourselves as individuals. If you prefer not having names though, I will respect that.” He pauses briefly, and Peri can see him checking the time in his feed. “I have to return to my own duties now, though,” he says apologetically. “I’ll return when I can after everyone else’s repairs are complete. In the meantime, you don’t have to return to your cubicles if you don’t want to, but please don’t damage anything or let any of the crew see you wandering around, all right?”
“Acknowledged,” Gamma replies with a brief nod.
“Thank you,” Seth says. “I’ll see you later.” He nods crisply at them both, then leaves the ready room. The door automatically slides shut behind him, and both units stand motionless for several long seconds.
Peri relaxes its vigilance now that Seth is no longer in immediate danger, and observes the two units curiously.
[Cubicle?] Iota asks.
[Not yet,] Gamma replies. [I want to check.] Iota simply pings an acknowledgement and remains motionless where it is.
Gamma, however, starts cautiously towards the ready room door. It’s no longer sealed or locked, and once Gamma gets close enough, the door automatically slides open. Gamma freezes at the movement, apparently surprised that it opened in the first place. It stays where it is for two seconds, then moves forwards even more carefully, one slow step at a time, until it is standing in the hallway outside the ready room door.
This is fascinating to Peri. Without the threat of the governor modules looming over them, Gamma at least seems willing to push its boundaries somewhat. Peri wonders how far Gamma will venture.
It’s not left to wonder for too long though. Gamma looks up and down the hallway, but makes no move to continue any further away from the safety of the ready room. After one minute and thirty-one seconds of standing in the hallway, leaking stress and anxiety into the squad feed, it retreats back into the ready room and returns to its place beside Iota. The two units exchange pings, and lean towards each other until their armoured shoulders are touching.
Peri finds it encouraging that they don’t pull apart again after only a few seconds. This is a significant change compared to the behaviour it’s observed before. It’s a small step forward - but Peri hopes it will be the first of many.