Chapter Text
One of the nice things about Ratthi is he makes plans and he follows through, especially when it comes to meeting up with friends. He is always eager to suggest ‘Let’s go see a movie this week!’ or ‘I’m free later, how about lunch?’ and he will move heaven and earth to make it happen. Gurathin really appreciates that about him. He has a tendency to isolate himself, he’ll admit it, so it’s good to have a friend that drags him out to get fresh air.
He really is looking forward to Ratthi’s birthday. Ratthi has gushed plenty about Perihelion’s crew in messages sent back to Preservation, he’s interested in finally meeting them. They sound like a fascinating group. Everyone in the PresAux team is counting the days until the ship arrives, they’re all excited about it. Ratthi can throw some really wild parties, but he’s taking a more subdued approach this time and has invited everyone over to the ship for dinner and drinks, nothing too crazy. Probably a smart decision, with both Gurathin and SecUnit invited. But then there’s this big elephant in the room that Mensah is warning him about.
“No, no, I’m not saying you shouldn’t come, not at all,” she holds her hands up in a reassuring gesture, “I just want to make sure you know what you’re walking into and aren’t caught by surprise if it doesn’t take kindly to you. It isn’t easy to befriend.”
“SecUnit named it ‘Asshole’, I think I know what I’m getting into,” Gurathin says with a half-smile.
Mensah doesn’t look so sure of that. “It isn’t just that. I mean, yes, on a baseline level it is an asshole, but what I’m saying is that it tends to follow SecUnit’s lead on how to treat us. You and SecUnit don’t exactly see eye to eye. You had a rocky start with it that it hasn’t quite forgiven. Perihelion will likely be well aware of that.” Her fingers fiddle with a loose thread on her scarf as they sit side by side on a bench. It’s quiet in this station park, hardly anyone is passing by right now.
“I can handle it. I’ve dealt with angry bots plenty of times.”
“It’s just that Perihelion can be… protective.” She loops a string around her finger before unraveling it over and over again. “It cares about SecUnit very, very much, it would kill to keep it safe. If it perceives any threat toward it at all, even an emotional one, it will throw everything it has at the problem until there’s nothing left. And it is very well-armed.”
He narrows his eyes at her. “Has it threatened you?”
She hesitates. “No.”
“Sounds like it has.” Gurathin’s hand clenches into a fist.
She shrugs. “It was perfectly nice to me, it just needed to test me a little. It wanted to be completely sure we both have SecUnit’s best interests at heart. I can assure you, I passed.”
His eyebrows furrow. “It really is an asshole.”
She huffs a laugh. “Don’t think I wasn’t testing it in return. I wasn’t going to let it take SecUnit on these wild adventures if I thought for a moment it was up to something.” She shifts her hand to lay on Gurathin’s on the bench. “Listen, I trust it, but it can be very judgmental. And if that’s how it treated me as SecUnit’s… you know, I can’t imagine it’s going to be courteous to you. In fact, it might not even let you past the threshold.”
Gurathin lets out a breath. Okay, so maybe this won’t be as easy as he thought. It is supposed to be the smartest thing he’s ever come across. Genius like that tends to come hand in hand with condescension, in his experience. “Maybe I should back out then.”
“You don’t have to,” Mensah hurries to answer, “This is likely the best-case scenario, Perihelion can’t single you out in a group like this. I only meant that it will likely be cold to you, but it won’t hurt you. It isn’t cruel. I doubt SecUnit would let it try anything, anyway.” At his unsure look, she continues, “Please, I insist you come. Ratthi will be disappointed if you don’t.”
“Okay. You’ll all be there to stand up for me if it bullies me, right?” he smirks, though it’s not entirely a joke.
She chuckles and smiles. “Of course. It listens to me. I’ll put it in its place if it starts pulling on your pigtails.”
He nods. If he’s going, he still needs to get Ratthi a gift. He asks her to join him as he looks through the market. She gladly agrees.
Arada smiles as she knocks rhythmically on the closed hatch. There’s a very muffled singsong of “Who is it?” from inside.
“The party has arrived, we're here to trash the place,” Overse says loudly through her giggle.
The hatch opens and Ratthi is leaning against the inner frame, an arm extended out barring the way. “Gifts first, then you may enter.”
Arada and Overse duck together under his arm as he exclaims, “Hey! Hey! What did I say?!”
“I can send a drone to help collect your payment,” a voice says over the speakers. Perihelion, Gurathin presumes.
“That’s alright, Peri,” Ratthi says as he glances at the ceiling, “You remember Arada and Overse.” He looks back at the rest of the group and says, “Peri wants me to introduce you all to it.”
“I do remember. Not getting into any more trouble, I hope?”
“Hey, that was mostly your fault,” Overse says, a hand on her hip. She doesn’t seem particularly angry about it, much as she tries to look miffed.
Avoiding the subject, Perihelion greets, “Pin-Lee, I presume? It’s a pleasure to finally have you aboard.”
Pin-Lee hands over a colorful bag to Ratthi and walks in. “Don’t think I’ve forgiven you for that stunt, either. It took days of paperwork to smooth everything out between Preservation and your university.” Ratthi gives her a look. Pin-Lee huffs a breath and says, “But it’s good to meet you, too. Nice place you have. Are.”
“I will send you an extra seven thousand words of apology. I don’t want any lingering resentment between our two parties.”
“It’s a start,” Pin-Lee shrugs as she goes to stand with Arada and Overse.
Ratthi gestures to the next person as he starts, “Peri, this is-“
“Dr. Bharadwaj, welcome. I’ve looked forward to meeting you.”
Bharadwaj steps forward with a small smile. “I’ve heard many bad things about you, but also many good. I’m glad to finally meet you, too.”
In a lower volume, Perihelion says, “If you are willing, there are some matters I would like to discuss with you and perhaps also Dr. Mensah if you are amenable. Not tonight, but sometime while I am docked here.”
“Funny, I was going to suggest the same thing,” Mensah says as she steps away from Gurathin’s side and through the hatch. A tiny drone comes flying past everyone and hovers above the crowd, lens pointed down toward Mensah.
The volume rises again as Perihelion tells her warmly, “It’s lovely to see you again, Dr. Mensah. How are you?”
“I’m fine, it’s good to see you, too,” she says. The drone flits down to stop in front of Mensah’s face. She smiles at it. “I’m happy to see you, too, SecUnit.”
“It will join us once everyone’s settled in and comfortable,” Perihelion tells her.
“Of course. Perihelion, I would like you to meet a good friend of mine.” Mensah looks back and gestures for Gurathin to come inside. Tentatively, he walks forward and Mensah places a gentle hand on his arm. “This is Gurathin, I’m sure you’re aware.”
“Oh, it’s you.”
It’s like the temperature dropped thirty degrees. All the laughter goes silent. The drone looks at Gurathin and pulls up closer to Mensah.
Ratthi lets out a nervous laugh. “Peri, why don’t you light the way to the dining space?”
“Come this way,” its voice sounds out pleasantly. Lights at the bottom of the walls along the floor blink on and race down the corridor toward a door further in to the left. Everyone starts walking, picking up conversations again.
“Don’t let it get to you,” Mensah murmurs to Gurathin, her elbow linked with his.
Ratthi joins the two of them. “Sorry about that, Peri can be a little, uh, impersonal sometimes. It just has to get used to you first, it’ll warm up.”
Gurathin highly doubts that but he nods. He’s a little distracted by a quiet electric buzzing in his augments, like a bug flying around his head. He knocks on the door to the feed and sends out a message, Hello Perihelion, I have something for you.
It takes a moment but the feed opens up. The buzzing gets louder. What? says Perihelion flatly.
Gurathin sends it a thick packet of the first season of Descendants of the Comet. He says hopefully, I thought you and SecUnit would enjoy this.
We’ve already seen it, Perihelion sniffs. There’s a short sharp sound cue in Gurathin’s feed, letting him know the packet was thrown in the recycler and deleted. Okay, he can see why the warning was necessary now.
My mistake, Gurathin replies politely. He wants to make a good impression, he isn’t going to retaliate, he’s going to stay calm and just focus on the party while this oversized chatbot looms over him, buzzing incessantly in his ear. It’s nothing he can’t handle.
The group walks through the door into the dining space one by one. Perihelion is apparently modular and this addition was likely added just for this occasion. A long table stretches down the middle of the room, a blue tablecloth laid out smoothly on top with a row of fake flickering candles down the middle. Twelve white rounded chairs line every side of the table, swiveling around for everyone to take their seats. A display on one wall shows a crackling fire for ambience. A hovering drone sets down a series of napkins wrapped around sets of utensils, one for each seat, and a man with white hair is setting out plates. He looks up with a smile, his eyes crinkling at the edges with crow’s feet.
“Hello, welcome aboard!” He sets down the last plate, moving to come around the table.
Ratthi turns to the group and says, “Everyone, this is Martyn. Martyn, everyone.”
There are various greetings all around. Martyn goes up and shakes the hand of those he hasn’t met before, and when he comes around to Gurathin the handshake is firm. Gurathin nods his head and keeps up a smile, even as the buzz sharpens over the handshake.
Martyn excuses himself and heads through an adjacent door, through which everyone can see the busy galley. A man wipes his hand on a towel as he stares down at the stove, lost in thought or the feed. That’s probably Captain Seth. A woman with a puff of black hair pulled back looks over while the door is open and waves with one hand before it closes, her other hand busy with a knife. And that’s likely Iris, she’s a little older than Gurathin expected. Everyone places their gifts for Ratthi on the cabinet next to the door, Gurathin’s is wrapped in handmade fabric. He looks over and sees Mensah looking at him, a hand on the chair next to her. He takes the offered seat.
Over the shared feed, everyone hears, Hi, I’m Iris! I’d come introduce myself but I’m a little busy with the veggies, sorry.
You could join them if you let me take over for you, says Perihelion.
Yeah, give the evil machine intelligence a knife, what’s the worst that can happen? Iris jokes. Everyone in the dining space chuckles.
I have that setting turned off for the evening.
Right, you need to make amends for kidnapping half of them. I’m sure a knife in your hand will give them a better impression this time around.
Perihelion pulls up a chart in the shared feed. One side is labeled ‘Iris’ and the other ‘Perihelion’. There are dozens of tally marks under Perihelion’s side and barely a third of that under Iris’. Iris gets one more tally mark. Everyone laughs again, including Iris in the galley.
Ratthi took the seat to the left of Gurathin. Gurathin turns to him with a half-smile. “So, where’s Tarik?”
Ratthi smiles sheepishly. “He’s running a little late, his workout went long. He’ll be here soon.”
“Usually you’re the one running late,” Mensah leans around Gurathin and gives Ratthi a smirk.
He levels his eyes with her but his smile stays up. “That was one time and there was an accident on the route, you have to drop this already.”
“Alright, I believe you. Maybe it really was just a strong coincidence that you didn’t want to go to that meeting.”
“And that you didn’t want to see your ex do the presentation,” Gurathin adds.
“It would look more suspicious if I didn’t show up for them! I swear I couldn’t make it, there was a spill or something.”
“A likely story.” Mensah glances with raised eyebrows at the drone that hovers over the table, looking between the three of them. The drone looks from her to Ratthi.
“SecUnit can find the data to back me up and you’ll both have to admit I’m right.” Ratthi gives a pleading face to the drone. “Right, SecUnit?”
The drone remains unmoved. They hear in the shared feed, I have better things to do. Ratthi lets out a defeated groan.
If Preservation would give me access, I could provide the answer, Perihelion offers.
Dr. Mensah, do not give ART access to Preservation’s security.
You’re jealous that I would have more privileges than you as an innocent teaching vessel.
Fuck you.
I’m not discussing politics tonight if I can avoid it, Mensah tells them directly, Giving you two top tier access could start an investigation into me abusing power.
She just doesn’t want to see Ratthi proven right, Gurathin adds.
The only response he gets is Ratthi’s “Hey!”. SecUnit and Perihelion go silent at his intrusion and the buzzing grows higher in intensity before quieting slightly down. The two leave the conversation, probably to bicker in their own space. The drone comes back to Mensah. They couldn’t be less subtle.
Mensah definitely caught that because she leans in close to him and says low, “Remember, SecUnit named it asshole for a reason.”
“Yeah, Peri didn’t take me seriously for a while when I first boarded,” Ratthi jumps in, “I kept having to remind it I was accredited, but apparently that means nothing if you didn’t graduate from its university.”
“It’s fine, it’s really not a big deal,” Gurathin chuckles, “I’m a grown adult, I don’t need to impress the popular kids.” This definitely doesn’t bring back some bitter memories of being isolated as a child. He’s over it. Really.
The two on either side of him give each other a glance as Martyn comes back, holding a bottle. “Been saving this for a special occasion. There’s more in storage so feel free to have as much as you want,” he says.
“Is there a wine cellar built into this ship?” Pin-Lee asks, arms crossed on the table.
Martyn smirks. “No, but that would be nice. We’ve had to keep moving where we store them, Iris always finds our stash.”
They all hear, “I can buy my own, Dad!” in the galley.
“She can now.” He places the bottle down and pulls a bottle opener from his pocket, digging the screw into its cork. “She kept trying to find where we hid our booze for her friends when she was in her teens, and it doesn’t help that Peri is so all-knowing. We tried to keep them on the high shelf in the pantry where Iris can’t reach.” The bottle makes a distinct pop as the pressure releases. “Of course, Peri would just get a drone to pull it down for her.” He walks around the table, filling the glasses several people hold up for him.
Peri wanted me to be the cool kid, Iris says over the feed.
Connecting with peers is a crucial part of any adolescent’s development, it says, Partaking in troublemaking is a bonding experience.
“Peri is more the ‘I’d rather you do it in the house’ type,” Martyn says as he fills Mensah’s glass.
She thanks him and says, “My two eldest back home are just reaching that phase. I don’t know which of us has it more difficult, having so many kids to handle or having one big kid that has proof it knows better than you.”
You have it easier, trust me, messages Seth over the feed before he goes back to do not disturb status.
“I’m not going to argue,” she replies with a look to Martyn, who huffs a laugh. He goes back to the galley with the empty bottle.
“How’s Amena, by the way?” Ratthi asks Mensah.
She takes a sip and sets her glass down. “Good. She’s enjoying her studies, I don’t think she’s ever worked so hard before.”
She shows a lot of promise, it’s a shame her previous teachers didn’t see it, Perihelion says. The door to the hall opens and SecUnit walks in, plopping down in the chair at the end between Bharadwaj and Arada. Everyone pretends not to notice.
“Her grades are accurate, I hope?” Mensah raises an eyebrow as she looks up at the ceiling.
I haven’t needed to touch them since she arrived, she’s holding her own.
“That’s good to hear. And I hope you left no trace of her previous record?”
Spotless.
“Mensah!” Overse exclaims, “You’re not saying you fudged her grades to get her in, are you?”
“Not in front of faculty, I’m not,” Mensah smirks as she takes another sip.
“I heard that,” Martyn calls from the kitchen, voice muffled by the door.