Chapter Text
I thought babysitting my humans during surveys was exhausting.
I was wrong.
Now, sitting across from five university students, I found myself wishing for the boredom.
ART had informed me of their arrival - a group of undergraduates who needed data for their thesis. Something about the atmosphere not being right back home, on a small planet just outside the Corporation Rim.
I didn’t know how they had managed to get the funding, but honestly, I didn’t care too much.
Instead, there was something else that was much more interesting: they didn’t know I was a SecUnit.
Sure, I could tell them - it had been an honest mistake, an omission made during the briefing - but that would be a long conversation with potentially emotional reactions.
No thank you.
So now I was back in ART, waiting for the penny to drop. It had been suspiciously silent, fluttering around in the feed without even a word. Maybe it was annoyed I thought its humanization of me wasn’t believable enough for me to fly under the radar.
Security consultant Rin had been proof I could, but I had been cautious then. Now I was in ART with people who knew me for what I really was. Mensah had accompanied the students, preaching about the importance of knowledge - the research was in the field of terraforming, and, honestly, I think she just wants to see the results.
She had asked me about my decision after the briefing, concern bleeding into her voice.
“SecUnit? There you are.”
I’ve been standing here the whole time.
“Of course.”, she had paused, “was it your decision to stay anonymous?”
No, Captain Seth forgot to mention me. It saves me the trouble.
“I thought you didn’t like being called a human?”
I don’t.
“I- alright. Goodnight, SecUnit.”
Sleep well, Doctor Mensah.
She hadn’t pressed further, and for that I was grateful.
A few students had stayed behind after hours - nearly all of them carrying some form of alcohol. I didn’t understand the appeal, but sometimes it made humans shut up for a long time.
That was always nice.
Captain Seth had apologized earlier, promising he’d explain everything in the next briefing. I told him not to do it - I had blazed through my media during the trip and was trying to ration out the rest until I could download more.
This might make up for it.
You think they will fail? ART asked through our private feed.
Absolutely.
I was so sure, in fact, that when ART suggested we bet a cycle’s worth of rights on which media to watch, I agreed to the bet.
They’re more competent than you think.
Across from me, a student fell from his chair and was now lying face-down on the ground.
Yeah. Competent.
“So, Rin,” - I had decided to stick with the pseudonym - “you do security?”
One of them had found me hiding in the MedBay. They had managed to twist an ankle on the stairs and were now happily interrogating me, legs swinging from the chair.
“Yes. I’m the security consultant for this survey.”
“That’s so cool! Y’know, I used to want to work in security.”
Okay, wrong topic. Who even wanted to work security anymore?
ART nudged me.
Fuck off.
I hadn’t replied, but clearly they didn’t mind.
“What did you have to do for your qualifications? What do security consultants even need? Is there a course for it?”
Okay, slow down. Clearly not answering just meant more questions.
“I have a lot of experience.”
“Wow, really? Have you been in a lot of fights then? That’s so cool!”
That was enough.
“I need to check the munition.”
“No problem! Nice meeting you!”
I ignored ART pinging me and swiftly exited the room. Maybe it was a little too fast for a human, but I didn’t care.
They seemed nice.
Of course you’d think that.
I do.
Sometimes I wished ART would let me get sucked out of the airlock.
No you don’t, it informed me cheerfully, pushing episode three of World Hoppers into our shared feed.
We would be docking at Port Free Commerce soon - the crew needed to restock some supplies before we departed for the survey. The students had seemed happy to hear the news - some of them had never been this far from their planet before and were planning on exploring.
Of course they were. Humans had a gift for putting themselves into dangerous situations - I had informed Mensah of this when she’d told me the plan. I would be accompanying the students together with her while the crew did their best to quickly get anything they needed.
Deciding to push the issue - and my blaring threat assessment module - out of the way, I unpaused World Hoppers and waited out the flight.
Three minutes ago, ART had docked in Port Free Commerce.
Three minutes ago, exactly thirteen students had flooded out into the port, ignoring my instructions.
I had sent two drones with them in preparation and was now watching them argue about where to go first. Nothing seemed out of order, and a quick scan of the logs assured me that nothing significant had happened in the past week.
Still, I had learned not to trust the apparent safety of a situation.
Mensah followed me out, immediately mixing in with the students to settle any disagreements. In the end, they decided to split into two groups:
Group Rin and Group Mensah.
I’m sure she could see the annoyance on my face, and I wanted her to. One had been enough already, but six students? Absolutely not.
“We’ll meet back here in thirty minutes - that should be enough time for the others to restock. Make sure to ping if anything happens.”
I pinged her.
A small smile crept across her face. She pinged me back.
Is this alright? If it’s too much, we can stay together, but it would take much longer.
…I can do it.
I could feel the warm appreciation bleeding through the feed. Not that it did anything. I definitely did not immediately close the communication so she wouldn’t notice my reaction. Nope.
Making sure my face was blank, I turned to my assigned humans.
“Rin!”
It was the student from the MedBay.
ART, let me back in.
No.
I could feel its amusement.
For fuck’s sake.