Chapter Text
I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but I realize you already know all that. I was also still doing my job, in addition to tearing my way through all the downloaded media when no one was looking. Since my job was mostly standing around, I had made a serious dent in the backlog.
This was a new contract, a survey expedition for some polity not affiliated with the Corporate Rim, and I admit I was bored. My clients were scientists and they were very orderly and therefore very boring. I was of the opinion that they didn’t actually need me, right until Dr. Volescu noticed that some pieces of the company issued maps are missing from the system and they all decided to check what’s in those missing places.
Of course I informed them that visiting such an area was a violation of security protocol and I had to report it to he company. I was still trying to look like an obedient SecUnit, so this was my alternative to telling them they were fucking stupid idiots with a death wish.
I admit I was bored. For an omitted piece of map where scanners frequently gave out and refused to do their job and feed communication cut out, this place had nothing in it. It was a barren hillside with minimal fauna activity, and as far as flora went, there was some dark blue-green grass and here and there a tall stalk with a fluffy puff that exploded upon touch into seeds which were completely harmless except they stuck to fabric and hair and it took forever (and a lot of soap) to get them off. I was in my armor so I was fine.
Actually, the only person who was not fine was Dr. Gurathin. I was beginning to understand why the rest of the team had always left him to monitor from the habitat. He insisted on coming along this time, because he was the best at interpreting anomalous readings, and because he felt like he was losing his mind cooped up in the habitat the whole time we had been here. He wouldn’t have this problem if he watched The Rise And Fall Of Sanctuary Moon, but he didn’t ask me so I didn’t suggest it. He didn’t talk to people much.
And even Gurathin would have been fine if he didn’t walk across the hillside only to have a blast of energy from an unknown source sending him flying 86 meters horizontally through the air until he collide with solid matter. The solid matter in question was me.
A quick check on his vitals showed an increased heartbeat rate and a momentary outage to his augments, but otherwise he was unharmed. His short-lived flight was at low velocity.
“Sorry,” he struggled to his feet. “Are you alright?”
Why was he asking that? I was fine. It takes much more than this to do any harm to SecUnit.
After 0.2 seconds I found a suitable way to tell him to mind his own business: “My performance has not been impacted.”
Gurathin frowned at that. He didn’t directly look at me, but it was obvious he was taking me in as if he hadn’t seen enough of me around the habitat. He sucked in breath through his teeth and muttered: “Well, fuck my life.” Apparently my stock answer was not as subtle as I thought.
Fortunately I didn’t have to answer, because the rest of the team rushed in and began fussing over the whole incident: Was Gurathin alright? What happened? Was it connected to the equipment outages and blah blah blah.
Just in case this sounds like I didn’t care: I did not care.
It also became apparent that besides me, no one witnessed Gurathin flying through the air. They heard him scream and Dr. Arada and Dr. Bharadwaj saw him collide with me when they turned their head to see what the shriek was all about.
Bharadwaj was currently speculating about magnetic bedrock in the area. It seemed like a solid explanation for the interferences and Gurathin’s augment problems, and everyone agreed with her. I couldn’t tell whether they thought she was right or whether they just wanted to return to the habitat and get the sticky seeds off their clothes.
Well, everyone except me, because magnets don’t make people fly in random directions. But I didn’t say anything, because it was not my job.
“We’ve been here for hours,” Dr. Arada finally said, “and all we have to show for it is hypothetical magnetic bedrock?”
“Well, I don’t see how we can drill a sample that deep without flat out mining equipment,” Dr. Volescu shrugged, “and I am starting to get tired, so my performance won’t get any better. Gurathin looks tired too.”
“I am fine,” he tried to wave it off.
Dr. Bharadwaj bit her lip: “But you do look tired, Gurathin.”
“We’ve been dumping files the size of planetoid at him the whole week and asked him to comb through them overnight,” Dr. Arada sighed. “I agree with Volescu: Let’s call it a day and get Gurathin to bed. Before he gets magnet-afflicted again.”
I liked Arada. She was sensible. And on the way back in the comfortable privacy of the cargo module I managed to watch two whole episodes of Sanctuary Moon, so that was nice.
When we touched the ground, Gurathin was not fine anymore. He tried to pretend he was handling himself well, but his presence mostly dropped from the feed and he was shaking. MedSystem insisted that he was in a shock. Arada, Bharadwaj and Volescu all took turns talking to him, but it didn’t seem to have helped.
It also did not help that the short outage of his augments disconnected him entirely from the HubSystem. Therefore the first thing he had to do upon landing was to ask Dr. Mensah for access rights and spend and 97.42 minutes setting up his interface from the grounds up. When I returned to the habitat from the perimeter check, he was a) significantly better, and b) rather frustrated.
I did the only reasonable thing: I retreated to the security ready room and told HubSystem I was running detailed diagnostics. It was a good cover story, because I am also a mix of organic and inorganic parts and I had been in that magnetic area all day. I could have been affected. I mean, I wasn’t, but the humans couldn’t know that for sure.
I was still thinking about how Gurathin had asked me if I was alright. Until that day the survey team was mostly ignoring me, even when they shouldn’t have. (My protests about visiting the missing map area were one such case.) I processed that the only way I knew of: watching media.
But not even eight episodes of Strife in Galaxy in a row managed to take the edge off. And this series was great at turning my brain off. It was great at turning everyone’s brain off, including the producers’ by the look of it. That’s why I really liked it.
I checked the cameras through the habitat’s perimeter in my feed. Yes, I do a half-assed job, but not checking would be a no-ass job, and I am obligated not to get these people killed. My track record isn’t stellar and if my existence doesn’t cut profit, the company will try to minimize its losses by turning me into spare parts.
Outside it was dark and quiet except for the buzzing invertebrate fauna. Inside it was also quiet; almost everyone was asleep. Dr. Mensah was listening to a book and off and on, not properly asleep nor awake. Dr. Ratthi was regretting drinking coffee for dinner, but he did it quietly in his room without bothering anyone. Dr. Gurathin was in the main area, plugged to the control interface.
I rewound the security log a bit to find if he was still there or rather there again. He got up from the seat twice since he first sat down to reestablish his connection to the HubSystem, both were breaks for bodily fluid maintenance.
I looked at his feed activity. He had the data from today survey open but he was also fairly deep into HubSystem and even SecSystem. I didn’t like that, because he might run into my governor module there. The probability was low, but anything above zero left me anxious. Being paranoid is exactly how I’ve avoided being found out until now, so I was not dropping the habit.
Even though I didn’t want to have this interaction, I still went out of the security ready room and quietly approached Gurathin from behind. My plan was to stand straight behind him and pull a MedSystem report about sleep pattern. The information wouldn’t be as important as scaring the shit out of him.
The plan went to hell because when I took the first steps towards him Gurathin asked: “Yes, SecUnit?” Bastard didn’t even move his head. I was sure I moved soundlessly, but apparently he had augmented hearing.
“Dr. Gurathin you are due for a rest period.”
He snorted and looked at the ceiling for 1.6 seconds. Then he sighed: “Yes mom,” and got up and went to bed.
I watched more Strife in the Galaxy. It was as effective as before, which is to say not at all.