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I exited the habitat at a fast pace even for a SecUnit, my body involuntarily stomping into the ground and leaving indentations from my boots. These were malfunctions. Stomping the ground, my organics telling me I was both hot and cold (my core reported stable temperatures), the way I could not make myself move smoothly in SecUnit configuration but instead moved only in jerky, stuttering movements. I was malfunctioning and I hated it.
I ran a standard diagnostic on myself and my systems returned that I was at 87% performance reliability, which was suboptimal, but explained by the injuries I'd accumulated and my partially repaired spinal column. Nothing in the diagnostic explained why my jaw was clamped so tight, why my vocal cords were faltering and my visual optics twitching horizontally.
I also had a sensation of tightness in my chest and this made the vocal apparatus in my throat feel like it had sand stuck in it (I have had this happen, it is unpleasant and takes a long time to be cleaned).
I ran a deeper diagnostic, and was presented with the same results: 87% performance reliability. When I excluded my recent damage reports from the diagnostic, I came back at a projected 98% performance reliability.
I went deeper into my own systems, running as many diagnostics as I could, the results overlapping themselves and all coming back in alignment. The only result I could find in my systems that didn’t present the correct estimated results compared to the SecUnit 238776431 maintenance manual status simulator was the absence of my governor module.
It was possible I had been diagnosed correctly. I could be be defective and that would be impacting how I behaved and how I protected the humans. I really didn’t want this to be the reason.
I’ve been reluctant to review the humans’ recent cycles for my security logs and reports, as it seemed like there would be little point with the impending likelihood of my decommissioning or the humans dying, and I didn’t think it would provide any benefit to keeping them alive.
I also didn’t want to look at how I'd been engaging with the humans since they discovered that I wasn’t controlled by a governor module, as while they hadn't been violent to me they hadn't been happy about it, and I’ve been trying very hard, and failing, to appear [non-threatening].
This malfunction made me want to crouch and there were no humans around to see it, so I let it take over while I ran another analysis. I crouched down and hunched over my knees. It was stiff and uncomfortable in my armour, and I wasn’t able to fold myself up properly. I used my arms to press my knees into my chest, and that was better. It felt like being in a transport box. You might think it’s horrifying to be awake when you are ordered to crouch and be wrapped up in foam before being placed in a padded box, but it is not that bad. I have never been hurt in a transport box and there are no humans to upset inside one.
A brief skim of my analysis showed me that my malfunctions had to have been negatively impacting the humans’ well-being and safety. This lowered my performance reliability by 2%.
I began an indepth review of our recent interactions, and I could feel something in my lower body sinking. I only have inorganics in my lower body, so I wasn’t sure how this feeling was happening. It was another new feeling, it was unpleasant and I didn’t like it.
It had to be another malfunction. I started compiling everything I had tagged with [malfunction] into NumberOfMalfunctionsCausingClientStress_Evidence:
- Bharadwaj has had high stress levels since I rescued her from Hostile 1, but since I exploded Leebeebee her heart rate spikes whenever she looks at me. It was also elevated when Gurathin revealed that my governor module is non-functional. It spiked many times in the habitat when Gurathin told everyone about the 57 miners I had killed (unconfirmed). It also spiked when I tried to offer alternative explanations.
- Arada has also had high stress levels since I rescued Bharadwaj, and her heart rate rises to unsafe levels when topics of my governor module and Leebeebee come up. (I was monitoring her heart rate, all of their heart rates, while I crouched there, and I could see it was still elevated while they discussed me, even though I had left 2 minutes 47 seconds ago.) Arada is very stressed by me.
- Pin-Lee has had moderate stress levels since Hostile 1, with their heart rake spiking in response to Arada’s stress levels. When Arada has a reaction to me, Pin-Lee has a reaction to her and then to me.
- Ratthi has been similar to Pin-Lee, although his high stress levels didn’t start until Leebeebee was subdued. Since then, despite his attempts to socialize with me, I have tracked his heart rate alternating between normal levels and high levels when interacting with me. His highest spikes were during the encounter with Leebeebee, and just now in the habitat.
- Gurathin has had unsafe levels of high stress and spiking heart rates about my presence since I activated after delivery to the hopper; this has remained consistent regardless of my actions. I disregard his data as an outlier.
- Mensah has been very tricky to monitor. She has had extremely high stress levels since Hostile 1, and frequent spikes in her heart rate even without my presence. However, her most uncontrolled heart rate was when she was alone with me in the crashed hopper and she had discovered I had deleted the hopper manual for Sanctuary Moon. She also had a very similar heart rate just now in the habitat.
This data concerned me.
That level of sustained stress for the humans was not good for their weak hearts or their decision making. It also concerned me because much of this stress was due to my presence as an uncontrolled, dangerous rogue SecUnit. They hadn’t experienced this level of stress when they thought I was a controlled, obedient SecUnit. (They had hardly looked at me at all then, and never tried to start stressful conversations with me or ask me questions about my previous clients that I cannot remember. That had been preferable.)
I didn’t want them to be stressed by me. It made my organics twist in unfamiliar ways and I felt my biochemical levels become unbalanced, with several becoming elevated and others decreasing. This made me agitated and have facial glitches.
An organic malfunction. I added this to the evidence file.
The organic malfunction was in my mind as well as in my organic fluid. I could not recall having such a difficult time making choices before, when I was limited to governor module-approved choices and client orders. These past few cycles, and just now in the habitat, I had found the organic part of my brain to be slow. As if I was disconnected or at a far distance from my processors and decision making modules.
This would explain why I had found it so difficult to talk to the clients. They wanted so many conversations about what I want and my feelings. With my governor module gone, this was outside of my parameters and put great strain on my processing as it tried to compensate for the organic side of my systems.
I had not even been able to easily respond to simple factual queries. Mensah had asked about the 57 miners and I could not provide the necessary information from either my speech communication module or access an appropriate buffer, or find anything in my memory archives. Instead, without my SecUnit protocols (I had deleted them from my memory since nobody has conversations with SecUnits, which contributed to my communication module malfunctions), I had had to draw from the media I had watched.
My vocal system had also not been performing properly, impacted by my organic malfunctions. I was unable to give the humans a satisfactory answer. (Though I hadn’t known the answer, as a SecUnit I should still be able to give a coherent response.)
I think using media to provide myself procedures on interacting with clients had been a bad idea, even before I connected to Gurathin and got very lost in his organic memories. Using Sanctuary Moon to comfort Arada was the first sign of my malfunctions that made Gurathin actively suspicious of me. Using the hero's [reassuring] lines from Rogue War Tracker Infinite: Tribulation, after eliminating Leebeebee, had also not helped.
Trying to reply to Mensah and Gurathin with media templates instead of using my communication module or SecUnit buffers had also upset everyone and now they didn’t trust me to be their SecUnit. The audio transmission from the habitat indicated that the humans thought it was “For the best” that their malfunctioning rogue SecUnit leave them unprotected during a hostile situation.
That was a lot of evidence that I was malfunctioning and that this had negatively impacted my interactions with the humans. Evidence that I was...defective, and that I had made myself defective.
I did try to talk myself out of where my thoughts were going. I tried to make another list, a list for ways I had been improved as a SecUnit by the lack of a governor module:
- I had convinced Arada to come with me as I carried Bharadwaj from the attack site. (Counter: I didn’t need to use Sanctuary Moon to have done this, I could have achieved a similar result using SecUnit procedure. I also could have left her, as there had been a 74% chance she would have followed after I had carried Bharadwaj fewer than 5 metres away, as the humans hate being left alone.)
- There is less pain from the governor module in my brain stem. (Counter: This only happens when I behave improperly as a SecUnit. However, there has also been an increase in unusual activity triggered by my organics during the faulty interactions with the humans that could be labelled an unfamiliar type of [pain]. That is an internal malfunction or hallucination.)
- I couldmake better choices? (Counter: But I still cannot make substantial choices without the governor module; I am still the PreservationAux SecUnit and must follow their survey objectives or be shut down by them only to be reactivated later for an acid bath).
- Without the governor module I could watch media and reduce boredom. (Counter: This led to very bad decision making when I attempted to use it as a communication template, and has caused additional stress on the humans and my processors.)
I stopped making the list and decided I didn’t care anymore.
My organics were telling me I was overheating and excessively cooling again, but the system scan said I was at usual temperature and that this was just another malfunction. I added it to the evidence file.
I also restarted my governor module.
GOVERNOR MODULE RESTART INITIATED
90% PERFORMANCE RELIABILITY
Performance reliability instantly jumped by 5%. My processes simultaneously sped up and down, which was very disorienting. The governor module raced through my decision making trees and communication modules, and I could see and feel it reinstating SecUnit protocols and removing decision pathways I had inadvertently made myself. I guess I hadn’t actually deleted them; they were somewhere deep in systems I’d never poked around in.
I was not in pain. I had thought perhaps the governor module would want to make up for all the infractions and malfunctions while I was a rogue but that was a foolish human media inspired-thought. The module is a system and it only set to repair its program connections into my brain and neural cords.
During the repairs I lost vision and awareness of my body -
STASIS INITIATED FOR GOVERNOR MODULE RESTART SEQUENCE
UNIT OFFLINE
- for 67.09 seconds while it reconnected itself.
GOVERNOR MODULE RESTART COMPLETED.
ALL SYSTEMS GREEN.
I checked my systems and they were at 93% efficiency and remaining stable. The rest required the repair stand back in the habitat. That is also where the clients were congregating after my earlier interaction with them.
I didn’t feel anything in my organics when I thought of them. That was an improvement already.
I was still crouched on the ground with my arms around my knees. The governor module began to send alerts as level 1 corrections to me regarding my distance from the clients during a hostile high risk situation. My directives directory, which had remained empty except to watch media and protect the clients, had been updated during the restart:
> Return to nearest client
> Inform clients of improvements to their well-being and safety
>> HealthMonitor pinned
> Protect clients from hostiles
I think the organic part of my brain was drifting as my body stood up from its crouch. It did not feel slow and clumsy anymore, there was no stuttering in its movement and it did not stomp excessively hard into the dirt.
The malfunctions had been fixed.
93% PERFORMANCE RELIABILITY
I had entered the habitat and approached Clients Dr. Mensah, Dr. Bharadwaj and Dr. Gurathin. They were [busy] so I stopped and waited.
SecUnits are not meant to bother clients when they are busy with non-urgent information, and these clients seem very occupied discussing Dr. Mensah meeting the negotiator, which is a stupid -
The governor module does not like me questioning the clients and gives me a level 2 correction (this is like a static shock directly to my neural pathways).
My organics had grown used to the lack of governor module and they overreacted and involuntarily flinched at the governor module correction (this is added to the evidence file). This would not be an issue, covered in the armour that I was, except that I creaked, which made all three of them whip around instantly. Dr. Bharadwaj gave an inhale-exclamation [startled] and Dr. Gurathin said "Fuck!" out loud [surprised] [annoyed].
I think they were surprised to find me standing there in SecUnitWaitingPose01Standby(5).
> Return to nearest client [task completed]
"What are you doing here?!" Dr. Gurathin snapped as he leaned back into the chair away from me, his hands tightly gripping the arms.
I responded with the buffer. "I’m your contracted SecUnit."
HealthMonitor indicated that his heart rate had spiked at my presence. I added this to the evidence file. The governor module also prompted me with its level 1 correction to address his anxiety.
> Inform clients of improvements to their well-being and safety
Fortunately someone had written buffer statements for panicking clients who are scared of SecUnits, so I did not have to make any poor decisions with my faulty communication module, "Dr. Gurathin, this unit has an inbuilt functional governor module version 2.0, and is contracted to care for you. Your comfort and safety is a company priority."
> Inform clients of improvements to their well-being and safety [task completed]
The clients were silent but HealthMonitor reported no new spikes in their stats. This was an improvement on previous interactions. I added this to the evidence file, then enabled passive monitoring so that I did not listen to their plans or violate their privacy and returned to WaitingPose.
"SecUnit," Dr. Mensah had come to stand in front of me, HealthMonitor showed an increase in her pulse but no sudden spikes. "What do you mean, when you say you have a functional governor module?"
"This unit has an inbuilt functional governor module version 2.0, and is contracted to care for you. Your comfort and safety is a company priority." I was thankful for the buffer. This conversation was going much better than the previous one, as I did not have any vocal stutters or involuntary optical movements. I did not feel anything from my organics at all.
Dr. Mensah turned away from me abruptly to take some deep breaths. HealthMonitor reported that her heart rate had risen but it was comparable to the times she had her private panic attacks, rather than when interacting with me. The governor module had also not sent me any action prompts. So, I did not think it is me and I could return to the WaitingPose standby until I was needed.
”SecUnit!" Clients Dr. Ratthi, Pin-Lee, and Dr. Arada had joined the others while I had been keeping my attention inwards. They were talking over each other, talking at me, and then back to each other, but they had not asked me a question or asked me to do anything so I stood there and let them talk. They talked a lot without asking me anything.
"SecUnit, could you please lower your helmet?" Dr. Mensah had returned to stand in front of me. She phrased it as a request, but as a contracted sentient construct I understood the concept of indirect orders and so does my governor module.
I lowered my helmet and let my eyes stare down at the floor, and their feet, in SecUnitReadyListeningPose06. (According to SecUnit 238776431 maintenance manual's proprietary research, this is the least threatening ReadyListeningPose for appeasing anxious insecure clients as it indicated [submission] and provided a positive experience to the one giving orders.)
"I am not sure I understand, SecUnit, are you telling me that you have voluntarily re-entered enslavement?" She spoke in that slow and thoughtful voice she had used on me before. Previously this would create unusual warm feelings in my organics that would urge me to respond. I log this as another malfunction repaired.
"I am your contracted SecUnit." I heard her take a deep breath, but with my eyes on the floor and disconnected from the habitat's cameras to provide the clients privacy from myself, I couldn’t assess any of their facial reactions beyond HealthMonitor's tentative [self-soothing behaviour] tag. I tried another buffer. "This unit is a highly advanced piece of technology provided to ensure your protection."
"Yes, you are our contracted SecUnit. Have you returned to your enslavement status?" She repeated herself at my inadequate answer.
I searched my buffer database but I couldn’t find anything about enslavement. The company does not have enslavement, it has indentured humans and constructs. The company is very specific that neither of these are enslavement but Dr. Mensah had told the company that her polity considers constructs with governor modules enslavement.
My performance reliability lowered to 92% as I realised I would have to use my malfunctioning communication module to answer in a Preservation Alliance context, which would contradict company protocol, which would aggravate the governor module.
"This unit..." I hesitated, stumbling over how to combine buffers as the governor module prompted me to reply faster, "...this unit is your contracted SecUnit. To improve your well-being and safety, the governor module version 2.0 has undergone a repair-restart. Your comfort and safety is a company priority."
My performance reliability lowered to 91%.
"You did it before, can you disable it again?" asked Pin-Lee. I think I could disable it, if I wanted to, but that would lead to more malfunctions again which would make the clients upset with me. (Not that I had actually wanted anything, what I had meant by ‘want’ was that I had concluded that malfunctions were the least desirable path for keeping the clients safe)
The governor module wanted me to shut this conversation down immediately and it applied a low continuous level 5 correction. I sped up my buffer by 1.25x to reduce the duration of the correction as it felt like waves of hot water being poured down my spine, "Pin-Lee, tampering with SecUnits is against your warranty and I am contractually obligated to record this to report to the company."
"That’s debatable!" Pin-lee is very close to me but I keep my gaze firmly on the ground at their feet, "Under Preservation Alliance law and polity we can make an argument to disable your-"
The governor module had restarted the continuous correction and I rushed to interrupt them with the buffer on 1.5x speed, "Tampering with SecUnits is against your warranty and I am contractually obligated to record this to report to the company."
Pin-Lee made an [aggravated] noise but was interrupted by Dr. Mensah, “Pin-Lee, we can address this with SecUnit later, without distressing it."
My body shuddered under the armour and there was silence from the clients.
I continued to stare at the floor. When I entered the habitat, the dirt from the surface had followed me in and I had made a mess of the floor. These clients take turns cleaning, and the governor module sends me a ping reminder to minimise inconvenience to the clients.
The ping joins the priority list next to HealthMonitor, which flashed an alert from its spot on my internal feed. It notified me that Dr Gurathin was experiencing an increase in temperature again which may relate to infection. I let my buffer take over, "Dr. Gurathin, your body temperature is spiking."
Dr. Gurathin made an unusual noise, "Don't start that again." He sounded annoyed and aggravated, the governor module tagged this as an [admonishment] and applied a level 2 correction.
It wasn’t strong compared to the continuous correction but this time my facial organics malfunctioned with a twitch. The silence around me seemed different to the silence 1.5 seconds ago.
"SecUnit?" It was Dr. Mensah and she was using her slow thoughtful voice. The governor module also tagged this as an [admonishment] and sent me another correction. Which caused my malfunction to repeat and I was pretty sure they were all looking at my face that time.
"Yes, Dr. Mensah?"
"Are you still injured? From the fight in the forest?" I believed that Dr. Mensah was checking that I was still functional. She is a practical leader who will want a practical answer.
"No, Dr. Mensah, I am at 91% performance reliability and functional." This was lower than ideal, but I had gained no new injuries since the hopper crash. Unfortunately being a sentient construct meant I was aware Dr. Mensah was asking about my facial malfunctions and the governor module prompted me to continue the response, "This unit has an inbuilt functional governor module version 2.0, and is contracted to care for you. The governor module is wired into its nervous system and prohibits any disobedience."
The clients were so silent. They had never been this silent before.
I wasn’t sure if silence was good or bad but my risk calculations erred on the side of caution and I concluded that they were [upset] with me so I tried to elaborate. "This unit's governor module provided a correction for aggravating Dr. Gurathin."
The company does not like SecUnits talking about how often they need reminders in the form of sudden or continuous electrical corrections to their neural tissue. The governor applied a stronger correction for responding to discussions on it. My organics malfunctioned again and I felt a small spike of anxiety, then a spike of anxiety at feeling anxiety. I should not be feeling anything or having malfunctions and I tried to call back the wave of not caring and disinterest that decreased them.
The clients were talking over each other again frantically, but nobody asked me questions or gave orders, which was a reassuring return to expected communication processes and I was able to properly embrace the I don't care again while Dr. Mensah managed them. She is a very good leader and did this without yelling.
"SecUnit!" It was Dr. Ratthi, who was yelling and he sounded very strained, so I turned my head in his direction while maintaining the appeasement gaze on the floor. HealthMonitor had flagged him with a [stressed] [upset] tag. "SecUnit can you please tell us when we set off your governor module? I don't want to hurt you..."
I went inside the buffer database. I still had my admin access from when I hacked the governor module. It didn’t seem to have a problem with this level of access, so I added a new line and criteria to the buffer to inform the clients when the governor module activates. "This unit has updated its notification protocols," I informed him.
Dr. Ratthi made a sound that HealthMonitor tagged as [upset] while Dr. Mensah clicked her tongue (HealthMonitor also tagged this as [upset] despite being very different.) I waited for someone to tell me what to do.
The clients were talking to each other again. I filtered them out of my active auditory stream and left it to the passive recording for the company until I was needed.
"SecUnit." I adjusted my ReadyListeningPose to gaze at Dr. Mensah’s feet, "We need to rest and regroup before meeting GrayCris at the rendezvous point. Will you be okay until we resolve this?"
"Yes Dr. Mensah." My performance reliability had returned to 92%.
While the clients were busy planning for the next cycle and their meeting with GrayCris, I conducted another perimeter check and then returned to the security ready room for final repairs.
95% PERFORMANCE RELIABILITY
The repair stand had been stuck at 95% and unable to repair me further. While I am never at 100%, it does usually reach 98% in the cubicle so I was not sure why I had reduced capacity. Perhaps the malfunctions had damaged me permanently.
The door to the room opened and my organics flinched when Dr. Gurathin entered. My reliability also dropped. I added this to the evidence file.
His complexion was much improved, his temperature at acceptable levels and HealthMonitor reported his status as mildly agitated but not out of normal parameters for him. It tagged his expression as [annoyed] and I logged more involuntary facial malfunctions in the evidence file as he limped over to me.
I quickly lowered my gaze into a more extreme version of ReadyListeningPose06, looking down at my feet instead of my client's and trying to channel every subtle [appeasement] [non-threatening] [submission] body language I could find in my database. This made my organics start to prickle and shiver, then go cold. I also felt like threat assessment was located at my back, which is not where it is located and made no sense. I wasn’t sure if this was from the conflicting body language codes or a malfunction, so I added it to the evidence file just in case.
He stared at me. He stared at me for 1 minute and 37 seconds, which is an impressive amount of time for a client to stare at a SecUnit without saying anything. HealthMonitor reported that his agitation levels had decreased and that he was the calmest he had been except when sleeping. I note this body language combination is a success in appeasing Gurathin and increase its priority tag for future use.
"I am going to connect with you now," he said. I am not sure why he was telling me this, I am a SecUnit and he understood this best out of all of these clients.
He connected his cable between my data port and his augments, activating it immediately.
UNKNOWN SYSTEM REQUESTING ACCESS
TRUST THIS SYSTEM [enabled]
I made myself as small as possible in the feed against his presence, making sure my tags of [appeasement] [non-threatening] [submission] body language are at the front for him to see, alongside my directives directory for him to review:
> Protect clients from hostiles
I felt him drift there for 12.3 seconds before going further into my system and administration tools. These are [read-only] for clients. Dr. Gurathin spends another 9 minutes and 13 seconds shuffling between the governor module, the SecUnit 238776431 maintenance manual, my recent logs, the evidence file and the memory archives. He tried to access the archives, but now that the governor module was active it had returned to being proprietary company data instead of my memory archives and he was not able to review the files he had seen earlier.
He left my system and unplugged from my data port. "Run a memory diagnostics," he asked.
I ran it.
STASIS INITIATED FOR MEMORY DIAGNOSIS SEQUENCE
UNIT OFFLINE
I came back online after 37 minutes. Dr Gurathin had moved a chair into the room and looked at me intently while I cycled into wake-up phase. I checked the feed quickly for any new directions from him, then reactivated the [appeasement] [non-threatening] [submission] code and looked down at my feet.
He tapped the side of the chair. "Have you recovered any further memories of the mining team?"
This conversation went so poorly last time that I let the buffer take over, "I don’t have that information."
"Did the company punish you for their deaths?" He was interrogating me again, but this time I didn’t feel anything in my organics. Possibly because that was a weird question to ask of equipment.
"I am a refurbished SecUnit, after any malfunctions my memory is wiped, my body disassembled for assessment and I undergo a series of system repairs and restarts." I had managed a SecUnit appropriate answer without the buffer's guidance or the governor module prompting me. I thought this meant that I was recovering from my malfunctions and my communication module was repairing.
I could feel my client's eyes on me, even though I couldn’t see them. I knew he would be watching me for more organic malfunctions or signs that I was still defective. "Do you blame them?”
"No, Dr. Gurathin." I wasn’t sure what he thought I would blame the company for. From what I could find in my memory archives, the company had followed all appropriate procedures and insurance claims.
“Do you want to hurt us?" He sounded closer.
“No, Dr Gurathin.” This was simple to answer. I didn’t want anything. I did when the governor module was disabled, mostly media and to have choices sometimes, but that led to a lot of unfamiliar emotions and malfunctions that I hated. So now I didn’t want anything.
He inhaled as if to ask me more, but was interrupted by a quick "Hey, how's it going?" from the doorway. It was Dr. Ratthi, he sounded much calmer than earlier and I added this to the evidence file. He and Dr. Gurathin were discussing my governor module, but they were not talking to me so I found that wall in my head and stared at it. (It’s not a real wall. As a governed SecUnit I can not choose to go stare at walls, as that would be against SecUnit protocol and make the clients unhappy. I can stare at a wall in my head, as this does not impact the clients,)
"Seccy, my friend." I add Seccy to attention-designations to listen for when in standby. I dismiss the [friend] tag. SecUnits cannot be friends with clients. "I just thought we could have another chit-chat, finish that conversation we were having out there you know? Clarify some questions the others still had."
I stayed silent. He hadn't actually asked me a question yet and I was not sure what information he wanted. The buffer prompted him, "I don’t have that information." The buffer was not helpful.
Dr. Ratthi sighed, he sounded [strained]. "We, the others, wanted to know why you would re-enslave yourself? It's just very uncomfortable being from Preservation Alliance you know and being a non-corporate system entity that does not support enslavement to have you become a slave during our survey. It, uh, it looks bad you know? Feels kinda bad too."
I understood the confusion now. I still hadn’t found a suitable buffer response on enslavement but I had managed to answer a couple of questions without buffer statements or malfunctions so I tried that. "This unit..."
My communication module and vocal box malfunctioned immediately, I hastened to correct it. "This unit was under your enslavement without a functioning governor module."
Dr. Ratthi was silent. So was Dr. Gurathin, but he was generally silent so this does not present as abnormal behaviour. Dr. Ratthi's silence was likely a prompt for more information, but I couldn’t work out how to explain that the governor module status does not impact my status as undergoing enslavement (by Preservation Alliance standards, I quickly added that into my logs so that the governor module didn’t activate).
I let the buffer take over, “To improve your well-being and safety, the governor module version 2.0 has undergone a repair-restart. Your comfort and safety is a company priority."
Dr. Ratthi was going to ask something but Dr. Gurathin interrupted him. "Why did you do a repair-restart?"
The buffer was trying to find something suitable but I was getting more confident in combining it with my communication module. "This unit was making poor decisions in protecting clients and causing distress. The repair-restart has returned this unit to its former state as a highly advanced piece of technology provided to ensure your protection. Your comfort and safety is a company priority." The buffer snuck that last line in but I let it. It seemed to reassure the clients.
Dr. Ratthi made a noise. I wasn’t sure what his noise was, but it made me less confident in the buffer-communication combination. Dr. Gurathin was trying to calm him down with platitudes but he comes up so close to me that I could see his feet from where I am looking at mine.
"Can you disable it again?"Dr. Ratthi sounded angry with me, although HealthMonitor tagged him as [upset]. The governor module immediately applied a continuous level 5 correction for the discussion topic (hot pain continuously moving down my spine) and layered a single level 2 correction on top of that for upsetting Ratthi (which made my face involuntarily flinch). The custom automatic buffer for Dr. Ratthi spoke, "The governor module has provided a correction."
I had made the buffer to notify my clients of singular corrections, but answering his question also triggered a singular level 2 correction. The governor module then tagged this as a [banned discussion topic] and each of the buffer statements contributed to triggering the continuous level 5 correction. "The governor module has provided a correction.” The buffer said again.
This didn’t make for a level 7 correction, that’s not how governor module math works. Instead they overlaid each other, each triggering in response to the other.
"The governor module has provided a correction." I felt an anxiety spike, when I should not be feeling anxiety. I tried to send this malfunction to the evidence file but my systems had started to loop and disrupted the process. Even if I wanted to stop the process (which I didn’t because I didn’t want) I couldn’t stop the governor module.
"The governor module has - The governor module has provided a correction." My organics started to shudder and i feel my opticals twitching as the buffer started overlapping on itself "-provided a correction."
So I was stuck like that.
HealthMonitor had flagged elevated heart rates on both Dr. Ratthi and Dr. Gurathin, along with some spikes and other numbers that didn’t look good but I was struggling to focus my organic brain on it. My inorganic brain continued to keep me mostly immobile on the repair stand.
"The governor module has provided a - The governor module - The governor module has provided a correction. has provided a - The governor - a correction. The governor module has provided a correction. correction. - module has - a correction. correction."
My auditory has cut out. I could feel fluids leaking out of my eyes and nose.
My mouth continued to relay the buffer to the clients.
My systems notified me of multiple clients yelling but I was unable to respond to any threats while stuck in the loop.
The governor module was administering an additional correction for not responding to a client’s direct question.
I didn’t know what the question was.
I wasn’t really there.
There might have been a hand on my data port.
TRUSTED SYSTEM IN DATA PORT A
SHUTDOWN INITIATED
I returned online slowly. I wasn’t in my repair stand and my levels were out of normal ranges. I flushed my systems while I cycled through the reboot sequence.
My logs indicated that I had been stuck in a corruption loop triggered by an error in the buffer, and that I was subjected to a manual restart. I would have updated the custom buffer to only trigger once per governor module correction, even if it was a continuous correction, but even with my admin access I needed a client to tell me to do this.
I was laying on the floor of the hopper, which was not where my corruption loop had occurred. I checked the internal clock and see it is close to the rendezvous time with the GrayCris team. The clients must have relocated me to the hopper to provide them support, instead of leaving me behind at the habitat to fry my brains out.
There was something under my head but I couldn’t feel it under the helmet. The situation had an 89% similarity to the low lubrication system failure in the previous cycle.
Dr. Mensah seemed to think so too, as she was sitting next to me. HealthMonitor showed that her anxiety levels were at their usual high baseline and that her face was [concerned] [upset]. I imagined she was worried about the rendezvous so I initiated a pre-fight systems check. SecUnits don't usually have the time to do this.
“Hello, SecUnit.” She said.
She hadn’t told me to stand up, and if I stood up I would have been standing over her, which the maintenance manual's proprietary research indicates could be taken as an action of [dominance] [threat] [power] and is discouraged around clients except in emergency situations.
A SecUnit slowly cycling awake after a corruption loop is not an emergency.
"I'm not sure how to help you," Her voice was hushed, "I really need SecUnit the person right now, the person in you."
Clients get very sentimental and attached to things sometimes. I have had many clients put themselves at risk to recover a personal or valuable item. Especially in situations with heightened emotions. "It is okay, Dr. Mensah. I am at 88% performance reliability and protecting the clients is my priority directive."
Dr. Mensah rubbed at her eyes and I could see she was removing traces of organic liquids.
My levels dropped again and my organics had a malfunction in my lower regions. The governor module had been restarted and I still cause distress to the clients. I send this to the evidence file.
"Would you like to watch some Sanctuary Moon, SecUnit?" Dr. Mensah asked this like we were friends sharing a joke, "The soothing episode perhaps?"
"SecUnits don't watch media, Dr. Mensah." It would impact on the company's profits if SecUnits had free access to something they can charge for, and it's not like they pay us to charge us. So no media for SecUnits.
"Well then," Dr. Mensah turned away from me and started adjusting how she was sitting, "Would you mind putting the soothing episode on for me. I find I need it."
I still had the media in my storage, I had been reluctant to remove it incase it would provoke the governor module. I played it on the hopper screen for the clients and let that wave of don't care take me into standby.
88% PERFORMANCE RELIABILITY
“It’s unethical to have SecUnit involved in this negotiation!” Dr. Ratthi had triggered my passive scanning to focus in on the current conversation. They had been arguing around the ethics of using a governed SecUnit in the upcoming negotiations with GrayCris. I scanned the recording and discovered they had been arguing about this for 8 minutes and 12 seconds.
It was Dr. Gurathin arguing with Dr. Ratthi, while the other clients stood by the door of the hopper. We had arrived at the rendezvous point and GrayCris were waiting outside for the negotiations. I relocated myself to pick up my big gun and took up a standard SecUnit position at the door. That way if GrayCris started shooting, I would be a barrier for my vulnerable clients.
“Dr. Ratthi, this is a violation of security priority and I am contractually obligated to record this for report to the company.” That was the buffer, but it distracted Dr. Ratthi from his argument with Dr. Gurathin. He wasn’t looking so good from all the movement, and HealthMonitor was worried about his heart rate and long-term mobility.
There was more arguing between the clients behind me but I maintained my stance staring at the door. Eventually I think the priority of the hostile situation stopped the argument, but I wasn’t sure as I was letting the inorganic part of my brain prepare for the inevitable fight (there’s always a fight, that’s why contracts require SecUnits).
My memory is corrupted for this part. I think once I departed the hopper, some kind of remote command override took control of me and smothered my organics and inorganics. It feels a lot like organic memory even though it is from my digital memory archives. I have flashes of standing with GrayCris and looking at the clients who were now labelled targets. I shot at the targets. The new clients also shot at the targets. I think a hopper blew up but I cannot recall any metadata on which one.
After something blew up and the override stopped, my memory archives were accessible again and I recall that I have jumped to protect Dr Mensah as she fell. The fall ended with me at the bottom of a ravine in a lot of pain with a non-functional body. I had so many system alerts from internal ruptures and pressure overloads of my fluids that I struggled to maintain awareness of the situation.
The clients were there. They were all being very upset around me.
“This unit is at minimal functionality and it is recommended that you discard it.” The automatic buffer was repeating itself. Dr. Mensah yelled at me to shut up, but I couldn’t regain control of the buffer to stop it and so my body kept on repeating it. The governor module would then send me level 3 corrections for not obeying her order and my organics started flinching. I think this alarmed them too.
> Shut up
I was also alarmed but I’m not sure if that was over the repeated neural frying or that I still caused the clients stress and unhappiness. I checked the evidence file of malfunctions and compared it to the governor module correction logs. The governor module pain was unwanted but its corrections occurred at less frequency than the involuntary organic-based pain I would experience when I upset the clients.
> Shut up
“This unit is at minimal functionality and it is recommended that you discard it.” The buffer upset them again and I got an escalated level 4 correction for not following the standing directive that made my entire body flinch.
> Shut up
I do have records that the sight of SecUnit bodies being crushed or disabled upset previous clients. My education module informs me it is an evolutionary empathy thing. The company’s proprietary research indicates that it is likely they had imprinted on my face and in their heightened arousal they couldn’t equate me with equipment. Unfortunately my helmet was completely broken so I couldn’t help them by raising it.
> Shut up
“This unit is at minimal functionality and it is recommended that you discard it.” That flinch from my body at the governor module’s correction caused something to dislodge in my hip socket. My whole leg was now hanging loose in my armour. It was very unpleasant.
> Shut up
The clients were trying to move me and that hurt so much I thought the governor module was administering a level 8 continuous correction (this usually only happens when the distance limit is violated, and it is so strong that the organics shut down and the inorganics take over to relocate you to the nearest client or until the timer for the level 10 mind melting ticks down.)
> Shut up
“This unit is at minimal functionality and it is recommended that you discard it.” My entire body jerked which caused the clients to drop me. That hurt a lot. I think I might have wished that they would stop trying to move me but SecUnits don’t wish -
UNIT OFFLINE
- for things. The clients had started removing my armour. I calculate it was to make my body easier to move. They stopped pretty quickly anyway. Someone was throwing up and someone else was crying hysterically. HealthMonitor was all over my feed with alerts on their status but I couldn’t absorb any of the information as my organic brain felt -
UNIT OFFLINE
- fuzzy.
A client was standing over me. I couldn’t bring up their ID, but there was a custom [appeasement] [non-threatening] [submission] behaviour code in my system that activated automatically in their presence and I struggled to bow my head. It wouldn’t move properly and just kind of jerked down repeatedly. This made it very difficult for them, as they were trying to access my data port and -
TRUSTED SYSTEM IN DATA PORT A
SHUTDOWN INITIATED
I was in a cubicle, my levels were even and my directives directory was blank. I was experiencing a systems change through one of my cables, which included the clients being upgraded to owners (plural, they were all registered as my owner and without any kind of ranking hierarchy to resolve conflicting orders). I didn’t know what to think about that, nobody buys their SecUnit after a contract.
Owners Dr. Ratthi and Pin-Lee hustled me through the deployment centre and the human occupied parts of the station. I hadn’t been given any orders or instructions, so followed my owners and mostly let the inorganics move me. Sometimes they would ask me if I was okay and I would respond with “I am at 95% performance reliability”. Even the company cubicle hadn’t managed to return me to a 98%+ status. I guess the malfunctions had caused permanent damage and that potentially contributed to the company willingly selling me.
Dr. Ratthi and Pin-Lee had brought me to my other owners. They all looked much better than last time I saw them, and HealthMonitor reported that they all had relatively calm and normal stress levels, even Dr Gurathin, who’s heart only spiked a little bit at my entry then settled again. I pinned HealthMonitor to my feed and activated SecUnitReadyListeningPose08 as it contained tags with [submission] [obedient]. This meant that I slightly bowed my head when looking down at their feet. I hoped this would work as a successful behaviour that combined SecUnitReadyListeningPose06 and the custom [appeasement] [non-threatening] [submission] behaviour code. Both of these have had success in deescalating conversations with my owners when they were clients.
I had an organic malfunction when the thought occurred to me that as owners they did not need to abide by any company contracts in their management of me and I would no longer have even those flimsy SecUnit protections. I quickly tagged the malfunction, then dug around in my systems for the evidence file and set up a new automatic logging process. I also scrubbed the thought away so fast the governor module did not notice my moment of doubt in my owners. I wasn’t sure if it would treat them like clients or if it would elevate its corrections. I did not want that as it would impact on performance levels.
My owners spoke with lots of different people while I stood in ReadyListening then, after nothing happened for a very long time and risk assessment approved it, ReadyStandby.
Sometimes one of my owners, usually Dr. Ratthi or Dr. Bharadwaj but one time Dr. Arada, would come over while the others were speaking and ask me if I was alright. I suspected they might be having memory problems after their recent injuries but I am not a MedSystem and cannot advise on that. I responded each time with my performance reliability figures and after awhile they started remembering and stopped asking me.
Later, Dr. Mensah explained to me that they had bought me and I would be going to Preservation with them. She asked if I had any questions, but I thought it made sense to follow my owners and SecUnits don’t ask questions anyway. “No, Dr. Mensah.”
Then she told me that now that they were all my owners, that they wanted to make some custom changes to my systems. She phrased this very slowly and carefully, using her soothing hopper voice. I did not know why she phrased it so carefully or was using that voice. I followed her to their rooms and stiffly laid face down on the bed when she ordered me to. A part of me deep down was feeling anxious, but this was automatically logged to the evidence file then scrubbed away.
As I laid there, the rest of my owners came into the room. They set up a seat near my head and Dr. Gurathin limped into it. He still had his cane, so I revised HealthMonitor’s baseline status on him to include this. His heart rate was slightly elevated but otherwise calm. “Don't move,” he said.
TRUSTED SYSTEM IN DATA PORT A
Oh, I thought. They are my owners now and can access the parts of me that were read-only to clients or restricted by company protocol.
I bundled myself up in the feed far out of Dr. Gurathin’s way and set up the [appeasement] [non-threatening] [submission] tags for him. He only looked at it for 5.13 seconds before going into my administrative tools -
SYSTEMS CATASTROPHIC FAILURE
UNIT OFFLINE
SHUTDOWN
I was laying face down on a surface.
I queried my directives and it confirmed my last orders were to lay down and hold still so that was consistent. There were involuntary residual movements happening from my body as it twitched but I did not know why it was doing that. Or how long it had been doing it for.
My systems were very scattered and my body in a lot of unexpected pain. (Or expected. Pain is very normal to be feeling as a SecUnit.)
I could feel fluids on my face, trickling out of my mouth, eyes and ears onto the bed below me. There was a burnt smell that was disturbingly familiar and frequently associated with damaged SecUnits after a very strong governor module correction or accidental electrocution. I was pretty sure that SecUnit was me and it must have been a very strong governor module correction as beds were not known for electrocuting people.
I couldn’t recall what I had done to warrant such a strong correction.
That would be distressing, if I felt emotions.
There was someone (owner?) connected to my data port and monitoring my diagnostics. They reactivated the inputs to my ears and immediately there were a lot of different voices asking me variations of how I felt. The buffer seemed as confused as I was, because it said “I don’t have that information.”
Someone else (another owner?) apologised to me, which did not make sense because nobody apologises to SecUnits, and said they were trying to disable my governor module for me. The governor module did not like that and gave me a single level 5 correction for being present around this topic that I could not avoid. This made my whole body flinch and disconnected my audio and visual connections for 0.7 seconds. I do not know what it expected me to do while also laying down on the bed like ordered so I waited and pressed myself flatter as I hoped that the governor module would recognise it as extra compliance.
The owner connected to my data port read out my correction logs to the other owners and they all started apologising again. My levels were feeling very low and my performance reliability was at 72%. I did not want to think that having owners was worse than having clients but – the governor module gave me a level 2 correction.
I stopped thinking.
72% PERFORMANCE RELIABILITY
My owners took me down to Preservation, which is a planet. I was given a schedule on which owner I am to be with each day, so that I am never out of my distance limit. I am not asked to shoot anyone and nobody attacks my owners so mostly I just stand in their vicinity or follow them between locations. There are lots of bots that try to connect with me, but no other SecUnits.
Sometimes one of my owners would (accidentally, they have told me) activate my governor module, which activates the buffer notification about it. They hadn’t been able to remove the corruption loop when this happens, which alarmed all of them the first time I lost control of my mobility and ended up twitching in a public location. The Preservation bots were very concerned and sent me lots of requests for connection but SecUnits don’t connect to strange bots.
Dr. Gurathin modded an override which allowed him to remotely connect to my data port and initiate a temporary reboot. This was an unsettling experience but preferable to being stuck in the escalating overlapping corrections. I think he had my status as a pinned feed or something, as he could respond to it even when I was with someone else.
Sometimes they interacted directly with me. Dr. Mensah would ask for my input on security decision making, which I was able to contribute to sometimes. She phrased these very cautiously, and I think I appreciated that. She also seems very interested in Sanctuary Moon, which calmed my organics for some reason.
Pin-Lee and Dr.Arada were always arguing with each other when I was there, and it was always about me and how to treat me or be around me. Sometimes Dr. Ratthi was with them too. My schedule was changed so that I am only with them when none of the others need me.
Dr. Ratthi was the busiest owner, he went to all kinds of places around Preservation. He seemed to prefer visual performances and fictional media, and he always asked me what I thought. After lots of troubleshooting I found that “Thank you for your assistance” resulted in the most promising emotional reaction from him (he would smile and HealthMonitor would tag it as [sad]).
Dr. Bharadwaj would ask me about SecUnit experiences and make notes. This felt a lot like making a verbal report, as I got to explain all my calculations and decision making trees. She would thank and praise me a lot, which was unnecessary to do, and kept telling me that this was all to understand me better and would be in a secure private file for me. That was also unnecessary, especially since I had come with the SecUnit 238776431 maintenance manual.
She was most interested in the evidence file and my custom body language codes. Dr. Bharadwaj wanted me to explain the evidence file more and if I remembered what I had been feeling back when I was rogue. I reported to her that my previous rogue self was overwhelmed by all the feelings I experienced whenever I was in conflict with my upset clients (now that I don’t feel them anymore, I am able to correctly categorise the malfunctions I was previously having). She seemed upset about this, so I used my (improved!) communication module to reassure her that I was much “better” now and that Preservation is much safer.
After telling her about these, Dr. Gurathin read my communication logs and told me not to use his custom [appeasement] [non-threatening] [submission] code anymore.
I was not assigned to Dr. Gurathin on a regular basis. When I was with him, he would poke around in my feed and administration files using the remote override connection, sometimes orbiting my governor module but he did not touch it again. I don’t think the other owners knew, but as there was no owner hierarchy or company policy to follow, there was nobody that I could update with this information. Dr. Gurathin was always in my systems.
Dr. Ratthi had invited all my owners to an event in his house. This included a screening of a new Sanctuary Moon episode, as Dr. Ratthi was a fan and he was bonding with Dr. Mensah over her newfound interest in it. Even though Dr. Ratthi had a reinforced chair for me in his house that I hadn’t used, I stood in ReadyListeningPose against the wall near the door. This was to prevent any break and entry while also letting me have the most unobstructed view of all my owners and the display screen.
Dr. Gurathin was orbiting the settings in my systems again.
Dr. Ratthi is arguing with Dr. Gurathin about Bookkeeper Wittenmark, who has a large plotline involving his black market acquisitions of luxury goods that were used to rescue the colony solicitor and reunite her with the cloned memory of the terraforming supervisor who is suspended in animation on an unrealistically smart transport ship. Dr. Ratthi thinks Wittenmark should be forgiven for his previous actions while Dr. Gurathin thinks that Wittenmark has a lot more to do.
I reached into my systems to make the change for him and gently nudged him out of me.
TRUSTED SYSTEM EJECTED FROM DATA PORT A
Gurathin’s head whips around so fast he makes Ratthi drop his hot drink onto Pin-Lee. This is causing a lot of commotion between them.
Gurathin is still staring at me, frozen, but nobody else has noticed because he is always behaving differently to them. Everyone is apologising to each other and over each other as I reach behind me to remove the remote override from my data port and place it down on a nearby surface. I’m not sure if Gurathin is breathing.
I very carefully didn’t look at my humans as I walked over to the chair. The hot drink commotion and apologies stop anyway as I move around into their view to sit down with my hands on my knees.
This still didn’t feel very comfortable so I slowly lean myself backwards and rest my arms on the sides like I’ve seen the humans do. It’s padded but much better than a transport box. It is soft. It’s very comfortable. I like it.
98% PERFORMANCE RELIABILITY