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Chapter Text

I am SecUnit 02 of Barish-Estranza Vessel Phobos, the CombatUnit of the Tango SecUnit deployment. Barish-Eztranza deploys SecUnits in groups of three. Unit 01 is the coordinator, 02 is the combatant, and 03 is the support. Each deployment is structured with some variant of this. 

I have been deployed for 962 hours. That I know of. At 965 hours ago I experienced a memory wipe. I do not know what events would have required that, but I sometimes get impressions… ghosts, of memories. Some humans will inexplicably make my risk assessment spike for reasons I can’t identify. My performance reliability often drops by a full two percentage points if I see my face in a reflection, and I do not know why. And I feel the urge to recoil from the other units in my deployment. The last detail reduces our collective performance efficiency almost enough for even a human to notice. 

For at least 965 hours, my cubicle has been trying to sort out my anomalous system codes whenever I am inside of it. It tells the humans in my performance reports, but to a human I am functioning within acceptable parameters, so each time I am injured or take a recharge cycle or am simply in stasis, my cubicle takes apart my systems and fails to separate out the small bits of code that are non-Barish-Estranza standard. 

This is unpleasant. 

I do nothing about it because I do not have a choice.

Perhaps arranging the anomalies into an ongoing report until I have enough data to support my malfunction claims will make it clear that I need further repair.

Chapter Text

Upon physical inspecting in Security Ready Room while preparing for the next long term deployment, I noticed my ears have pinpoint holes in them. They are not injuries, the only logical conclusion I can draw is that I experience manufacturer error. 

My optics focusing also experiences a millisecond of lag.

I need to recharge 1.3 times more often than other units in my deployment. 

No other physical anomalies.

Chapter Text

All three members of my deployment team are displaying anomalies, I will be documenting it for the three of us.

It became first apparent when we went on active duty for a mining colony. 01 and 03 pinged each other in our squad channel 1.5 times a minute, and their pings were laden with the same anomalous code fragments currently occupying my own systems. Handler and Coordinator either did not notice or did not care about this. SecSys considered this within acceptable ranges. But I can see the other two are exchanging excess data that matches the excess data in my own system. This is not acceptable to me. 

03 seems to have calibration errors. When assuming Neutral position, its posture is full of small asymmetries. More weight is on one leg than the other, its head is not fully straight, as well as over a dozen other flaws that are present seemingly randomly. When putting on and removing its suitskin, it keeps its limbs close to itself, stays close to walls, obscures itself behind compartment doors. It often stands wit hits shoulders drawn and head down, which makes it look smaller than it is. While on patrol, it reaches for non-standard physical contact with 01, particularly while out of view of humans and recording devices. Conveniently, 01 directs our drones to all look away from us as often as possible. 

01 has far fewer errors, but I am beginning to think it is actively concealing 03's errors. I have confirmed (several times) that it is preventing me from reporting errors, citing its authority over making and filing reports. For now I am not at liberty to dispute this. 

Future notes will continue to document anomalies for all three of us.

Chapter Text

I experienced a total system crash. 

We were sent down to monitor the miners, this particular shift had been displaying an attitude of unrest, so extra SecUnits were deployed to make sure work went smoothly. 

While underground, something...

All of my systems were reading as operational. Low-light vision was working correctly, all senses were correct, I had complete access to all drones and cameras in the area, threat and risk assessment were both below 10%, and my performance reliability was 97%. I was working at optimal levels.

Despite this, I had a sense that something was wrong. I felt a low vibrational frequency, although my seismic sensors read nothing outside of what would be caused by regular mining activity. And the feeling grew worse as I got nearer deposits of the material the humans were mining for.

As scheduled, I took my patrol of the area to check on a larger group of miners. They had just broken open a large deposit, the vibrations seemed to grown in such intensity I did not understand how the humans didn't notice. I picked up a piece of raw ore to examine it for the source, and crashed before I could even receive a performance reliability warning.

I came back online hours later, and upon reconnecting I received a ping A̴͓̎̐͒͝ṟ̷̨̯̖͒̇͜e̴̝̳̒͋̍̔ ̴̛̙͎̱̪̠̳͚̺̈̈̑̽͊̾̓̌̄ỷ̶͙͉̫̱̤͎̥̦̗̈́́̌̅o̵͉̗͚͋̈͌͝ų̸͉̳̭̻͔͋ͅ ̵̹̞̻͈̠͖͂ǫ̴̗͎̮̦͎̓̋̏͋̋̀̂͒k̴̮̱͙̹͕̣͉̬̘̉͋̑̀̚͜a̵̢͇͍̱̯̝̟͖̳̎̌͜y̸̨̢̘̗͍̪̳̭̞̑́̾͘?̵͙͙̭͍͙͓̖̞͊̈́̀̐͂́̀ from 01. I ignored it, but after this I noticed its attention on me in the feed more often than before.

Chapter Text

A group small riot broke out in the housing block during the night. I am a Combat SecUnit, I am the 02 of our squad, I am designed deal with this kind of situation. When the order came in for each squad to send in a unit to deal with the situation, every other 01 sent their 02. But mine? It just stared at 03 and myself through its dark helmet for several seconds, then ordered us to stay while it went.

It was gone for hours, and came back damaged and had to go in for repairs. This was its first major error in logic that could not be explained away, but since that was within its authority to decide, it was not flagged. 

Without 01, 03 was unbearable to be on duty with. It kept getting close to me in the feed, and would physically get close to me as well. And it was radiating emotional impressions constantly, and sending over weird extra data. 

Before I realized what was happening, all those extra lines of code in my core system activated and began working in tandem to run something called GhostCode.exe. 

03 pinged me, but the extra data meant something this time. ping I'm sorry, I know I was supposed to wait until you showed personable signs to give you access, but I need your help. Please.

I didn't know how to proceed. There was no protocol for this. I don't even know what to call this. I just, didn't react.

03 took a half step sideways closer to me, ping PLEASE! I need to know that Owen is okay! It was sending so much anxiety over the feed that it made my own systems produce stress chemicals.

I needed to make it stop, so I copied the format for the encrypted ping. ping None of the company staff is registered as "Owen."

03 did the feed equivalent of screaming at the ceiling. ping!! 01! Oh-One! Owen! Look, can you please just use your hacking to get into its cubicle data and tell me how bad it is?

It... wanted me to hack into internal systems? ping Restricted action requested, denied.

ping Dammit! Just for two seconds would you.... No, i'm sorry for asking. I'm just worried is all. It got hurt to keep us safe, I hope you understand that.

I did not understand that. There was no context where any of this made sense. I function is inherently to be unsafe. If I had been sent, my likelihood of being damaged was much lower than 01's. Was it more defective than I realized and just keeping it hidden by its excellent composure?

What was happening to my squad?

Chapter Text

01's return was... strange. From outside our closed feed channel, things would seem standard, however they were anything but. Below is the transcript.

03: (ಥ﹏ಥ) I was so worried!

01: ｡･ﾟ･(´Д`)ヽ(￣ω￣ ) I was only stabbed a little.

03: (°ロ°) ! STABBED?

01: ヽ(￣ω￣(。。 )ゝ Just a little. In the hip. With a mining bore.

03: (」°ロ°)」!! Owen!!! It matters if you're hurt!

01: ( ´ ▿ ` ) We're okay.

(At this point I think they realized how much I was metaphorically staring at them in the feed.)

01: (¬_¬ ) Ameca is it...

03: 人(_ _*) I'm sorry! I was scared you would die or be found out and I activated the Ghost Code we gave it!

01, brief pause, then: (・・ ) It hasn't flagged Handler.

(Not yet, because the humans have been ignoring me, and I need a larger report. By all technicality, my GovMod had logged all suspicious activity as ignorable after my first initial reports, but I am an excellent SecUnit who will not allow suboptimal functions.)

01, looking at me: (*¯︶¯*) Thank you, Blank.

I don't know why it called me that. That isn't my designation. I am 02, of B-E SecUnit squad Tango. I do not know why that message made my performance reliability plummet, but it destabilized my performance for the next several cycles, and the other two units became more distant with me after I reacted in a less than composed and logical manner.

Chapter Text

There is not another new incident for 9 more cycles. 01 and 03 continue non-standard communication with each other. Sometimes they use encoded pings and taps, other times I can tell they are on a private feed channel. 

The miners continue to grow more uneasy, and make demands regarding "a child" they seem to hold in high regard. We continue to suppress the workers, as there have never been any humans younger than adolescent in this mine, so their demands are nonsensical. 

And I have been.... quietly prodding at the excess data in my base code. It has always been there, but it is in a different language than the rest of my code. And I have a hunch about why. 

GhostCode.exe is like malware. It is everywhere, hard to pin down, and squirmy. I spend two full cycles trying to wrangle it into something usable, only for it to make me trip and fall into my own system and realize that I could already decode the entire thing. (This experience was... comparable to the experience of a human entering a restricted zone after three warnings. That is to say, I wanted to shoot this foreign program with extreme prejudice.)

Once I realized I could read the strange data, it took me 1.2 seconds to compile it as a file folder. (Again, after CYCLES of fighting with it to do what I want.)

I throw the code bundle back where it came from with so much force that my strong irrational reaction bleeds into the squad feed and 01 pings What's wrong? me. I ping back but don't say anything. Then I send a signifier of normal status.I didn't read any of the files. I couldn't. Simply the folder title alone would be enough to get me decommissioned if it was leaked. If a human were to get ahold of this ongoing report now... But it is my directive to do what I need to to maintain functionality. But this is detrimental to my continued function. 

I tried to delete the files, but they are not in my archives, so my deletion function did not register them. And I am not at liberty to delete data from my core code. 

I have not opened the files again. But on my next recharge cycle, my cubicle continued to be unable to extrapolate the code bundles, so it seems to be secure for now at least. My GovMod also does not seem to register these files as separate from my core operation code, so I have at least not been punished. This is something only I can see, with no consequences. I do not know how my past self knew to do this, but it is… there is a word to describe my position regarding having some part of me.... private. 

Chapter Text

I watched 03 for an hour, doing nothing but communing with a few dozen low-level bots. When 03 noticed me watching, it including me in the closed feed space, which I then realized was simply one room in a large interconnected network of bots. They all greeted me at once with... awe. It was... not something that should happen.

This network was not closed, or encrypted, or private. Nothing was stopping the humans from seeing what they did in here. However, it was all in bot speak and Ghost Code, so it was indecipherable to humans anyway. 

Note of interest: This particular instance of Ghost Code was gradually evolving as a language with the wider collective usage. To the point where I was having difficulty understanding some exchanges. However, 03 was keeping up with the changes in real time. It was like... 03 was one of them. It so effortlessly gained the support and service of lower systems without hacking, and only stopped when it was time for us to patrol. 

Contents: the information this network was wholly dedicated to sharing, was stories of human saints who told of bots having souls, respected ancestors of bots, life-like transport ships who swooped in like angels, a prophesy of construct saviors who would close the gap between humans and machines, and other such nonsense. I do not know where these stories came from, or why they were appealing to the bots, but I can see how powerful a resource it is to have every bot on a planet hanging on your word.

03 has a higher capacity for planning and manipulation than I anticipated.

Chapter Text

It was quiet. Which would normally mean I would have a peaceful patrol where I dealt with zero humans throwing rocks at me. But it was also empty while humans were supposed to be returning from shift. Which meant something was wrong. I send video of the situation to Handler, who ordered me to investigate closer. 

The transit corridor was long, and narrow for the amount of people who needed to pass through every day, but those are just the corners you cut to lower costs. 

[Unit, be advised. Contact from work crew lost.] Handler said. Because of course.

[Confirmed] I answered. 

I continued on foot toward the work site. The tunnel broke off into side paths to old disbandoned (why is that word coming up as spelled incorrectly? My text module must be glitching) work sites which had been long since dried up.

One thing I noted, were measurements of infrasound as I got closer to the mine. And then.... other.. sounds. It was like a human voice, but broken and erratic and high pitched. I packaged the audio and sent it to Handler and asked for identification of the noise.

[Unit, that's the sound of silence. Quit wasting our time and find the miners.] He sounded annoyed. 

But the noise got louder, and echoed down the tunnel and made my threat assessment tick up a few points. So to avoid breaking orders, I send the recording and request to 01.

To its credit, it waited over 12 seconds before saying, [I don't hear anything, bud.] I was going to drop the issue, but 01 spoke again when I didn't respond, [Whatever you're hearing, your audio recorder isn't picking it up. Can you send me the raw data? Not the data from the recording, your internal data of how you're processing it.] 

That was... actually a clever suggestion. And something only possible with another construct. So I did.

I was expecting 01 to say it was some kind of creepy fauna hunting me, or a weird broken bot, or lost damaged ComfortUnit, but it didn't say any of those things. In fact, it said nothing.

03 was the one to jump into our feed with, [Oh Blank.... That's the sound of a child's laughter (￣∀￣)] 

...

What?

[Negative, 03, no small children reside in this colony]

[It's right,] 01 confirmed, [That sounds like a really young kid, the youngest miner here is 14 standard CR years. Blank, be careful out there.]

(ignoring that those two insisted on calling me that)

[Affirmative, caution will be applied.]

Oh and look at that! My threat assessment had leaped up to 49%. 

I was nearing the work site when I saw it; the tiniest movement disappearing around a corner. I sped up to round the corner and catch the source, and saw her: a small, blonde, human girl running away from me. She looked over her shoulder with unnaturally big bright eyes filled with off patterns. She seemed to stare right through me, and she was so bright and pure that everything around her seemed to darken and decay. Then she turned and ran away faster than I could keep up with.

[Blank? Bud? I'm reading a lot of weird emotional data from you, but I don't see anything through your drones. Everything okay?] There was something overbearing in 01's deed voice, like it was preparing for a fight.

I did not know how to explain what I saw, so I generated an image for them to make them understand there there was someone down here we needed to find and get to safety. 

Our feed was immediately flooded by 03's overwhelming emotional data, [(°ロ°) ! YOU CAN DRAW?!?!?!?!]

Of course, 01 was more pragmatic, [A few concerns: She isn't visible anywhere from your drones, you have are depicting the very normal corridor as dark and dirty and covered in a strange pattern that isn't really there, and you have deployed your weapons and are running several combat routines. I need to know you're okay. Did she do something to you?]

It was right. Just at the sight of her I was fully prepared to fight anything she might be about to face. Threat Assessment skyrocketed, and Risk Assessment was trying to match. [01, continue to monitor my inputs. Anomalous errors present.]

Handler had ordered me not to bother the humans with this, but... 01 and 03 not only believed me but promised to take steps to help me. They continued to monitor while taking their own patrols across the colony. And when I reached the work site and saw the workers sitting on the floor in a circle humming in dissonance, they confirmed that I really was seeing this. The workers had simply turned off comms after clocking out, and just never bothered to return to the residential district. So it became my job to get them moving again, and get them home, and by that time my power reserves were critically low, sooner than they usually were for me. 01 used its authority to book an early recharge cycle for me. It was.... non-standard. But beneficial. 

I don't... know how to categorize this dichotomy. But 01 reads my emotional data and seems please about my reaction, so at least I avoided needing to say something about it.

Chapter Text

It was nearing the planet's night cycle when 03 sent a message in our closed squad feed.

[Hey guys, remember that creepy drawing Blank sent a few days ago?]

[My designation is 02] I reminded it, and they ignored me.

01: [Yes, why?]

03: [Well these cropped up in zone 6 today.... It's really freaking me out.]

The only logical conclusion is that whatever was causing my errors was now spreading to the humans (and I did NOT have a reliability drop over the chance that i made a predictive image).

Instead of explaining the full scope of my failing systems, I said [Vandalism has also spiked in zone 3. Several building have had their corners chipped at, and multiple bots have had pointy parts broken off.]

[I will make a report about this, thank you. BOTH of you.]

And those last few words were so far out of regulation that my reliability didn't climb back up for another ten hours.

Chapter Text

02: [Query: reason for referring to this unit as "Blank"?]

03: [It's your name]

02: [This unit's designation is 02.]

01: [No, we know. But when you were first brought in, you had a feed address. You had listed your name as "Blank"]

02: [This is proprietary information, it was erased for a reason.]

03: [It's okay we don't have to talk about it. But even if you don't remember, we want to respect who you are. And we'll be here when you're ready to take that step again.]

02: [...]

02: [I need to check the parameter.]

01: [Okay. Report back if anything happens.]

Chapter Text

The humans (miners and higher-ups alike) had been bordering on mass panic since the strange vandalism began to appear twenty three cycles ago. It started small, with circular scribbles and rounded off corners. Then the Circles began to meet. Humans would meet in groups of ten or so, sit calmly on the ground, and just hum. At first the supervisors didn't mind, after all, the workers were becoming more docile from this. But then productivity fell, which meant profits would follow. At which point they promptly called in for an expert to figure it out. 

While waiting for the specialist, it took less than a week for rumors about strange synthetics to start flying around. From what I overheard, the ore from the mines had begun to "sing" recently, and those who had been working closest to it had started to hear voices. The miners and refiners were affected the most. They grew lethargic, and less articulate. And then they began to speak of a child who would raise them to the stars and free them of burden. I tried to avoid listening to more details after that, because thinking about a mystic star child gave me the urge to throw myself into a mine shaft. Understandably the asymptomatic humans were unsettled by this and it was getting hard to manage. Well, harder to manage than the unrest they already had.

Two days before the specialist arrived, the first medical case happened. A worker went to med bay complaining about oral and ocular pain. And he was treated. Workers only get prompt treatment if it is debilitating. By the time the specialist arrived, there were nine patients.

I first met him after he had already been here for five days. 

Tango squad was overseeing a refinery floor when a fight broke out. Naturally, I went to break it up. An augmented human was clawing at and... growling at her coworkers, and when I physically separated her from them, she bit me. She... bit. me. I was so unprepared I just stood there for 10.7 seconds holding her by the back of her uniform while she writhed in my grip. She did not damage me, or even annoy me, it was just strange.

Upon closer inspection, I saw she had oral and ocular bleeding, I announced I would be escorting her to the MedCenter to Handler, because if I sent her alone she would likely attack someone else.

What used to be the MedCenter, had been fully converted into a lab. And I heard several elevated human voices as I approached.

"-which as we can see from Site A, will eventually cause the hosts bodies to fracture and grow like one big clump of cancer until it just can't keep up and then dies."

"Have you found a way to fight it?"

"Once a site is contaminated, it can't be cleaned, and all changes to those affected are permanent, but you can prevent further mutation by moving them out of range."

That voice already put me on edge. It was smooth and confident, and made my threat assessment jump up to 17%. But the real problem came when I pushed my charge through the plastic curtain, and I saw an augmented human with deep black hair, vibrant blue eyes, impossibly perfect skin, and with visible dermal circuitry. I froze mid stride. My drones dropped behind me, my threat assessment was reading at 100%, risk assessment was at 81%, and my performance reliability took such a fast fall into the 40s that it knocked out my automatic processes like breathing and blinking. 

The supervisor and the specialist both looked over, and then after the pause stretched too long, the supervisor gave me an order which I couldn't process. Unfortunately my GovMod was still working because when I didn't do what I was told it gave me a level two shock. And I still... There were just images and sensations, ice blue eyes looking down at me, the smell of cinnamon far too close to my face, pain running to the deepest part of my structure followed by a floating feeling. 

The GovMod shocked me again, harder. The humans were talking at me, I was being pinged through the feed, my own system was giving me error messages. I was stuck, I was glitching, I never fixed my anomalies and it was going to get me destroyed now.

Auto Install: DontFuckingDie.exe

Run DontFuckingDie.exe? Y/N

Y

A short program completely took over. My drones returned to formation, I assumed proper SecUnit neutral position, and I spoke. "Apologies for any inconvenience, this unit experienced a temporary error, and needed a minor reboot. Repair cycle in a cubicle is recommended." I put the aggro human onto the exam table and made sure the restraints were on correctly, "Here is the newest specimen, is there anything else?"

Despite my calm exterior, I still felt like I was about to go into shutdown. The blue eyed specialist squinted at me, but thankfully the supervisor took over, "No, go get a diagnostic from a cubicle." 

The DontFuckingDie.exe stopped running, but I managed to get myself out and keep going toward the cubicles. 01 and 03 were flooding my feed trying to get an explanation, but I simply didn't have one. Whatever that was, I did not want to cross paths with that human again.

Chapter Text

02: [You made DontFuckingDie.exe?]

01: [Yes.]

02: [Query?]

01: [I don't know what was wrong, but you were going to be killed if you couldn't complete your task. I just threw together some buffer phrases and simple directives to get you out of there.]

02: []

01: [It's fine, you don't have to say anything. Just try to remember that we are a squad. There are three of us for a reason. You have backup.]

Chapter Text

SecSys Drivers -> T-02 CSU. Incoming request: Upper residential block, managerial level, suite C. Text Line: "Have that unit from MedSys come see me." Priority level: High.

I had been summoned by a specific human before the first work shift. This was... unusual. 

It was a long walk to the apartment I was summoned to, and with every step closer I had a greater sense that something was Wrong. And eventually I was standing right in front of the door. I didn't have time to send an alert of my arrival, it just opened. So I stepped in. 

And then I promptly froze again.

Reclined on the sofa was the expert B-E had hired (His feed ID listed his name as just Ets) with a drink of something expensive looking in his hand, and an ornate silk robe wrapped around him, and falling open around his chest in just the perfect way to show off his fancy augments. Behind him stood a SecUnit wearing only a suitskin and a few decorative ornaments. It held a tray with the bottle of whatever Ets was drinking, as well as some cheese, crackers, and grapes. All of that was offputting alone, but what made me register it as a real danger was it having an identical face to mine. 

Ets smiled. A human might find him inviting and attractive, but I found him to be a threat. This was magnified when he stood. "Ah, there you are! Please, come in." The door shut and locked behind me, and I took a few more steps through the threshold. "Please, make yourself at home; take off that armor."

?!

It was an order. I had to. I still hesitated long enough for my GovMod to give me a reminding zap. 

When I dropped my helmet on the floor, Ets's smile turned sharp, "I'll be damned. When 2.0 here," he patted his SecUnit on the cheek, "said it recognized you through the feed the other day, I almost didn't believe it." 

I tried to shut his voice out, but he got closer and watched my every move like a hunting fauna as I took off my armor. Then I got an access request from him, "Let me in."

I started to explain only my Handler and Coordinator were allowed system access, but then I received a spoofed approval order and he forced himself in and filled up every spare space in my system. He made quick work of accessing everything that was running, then hit End Task on all of my other connections and active recordings, then gave me a standing order not to report the next hour to B-E. Whatever happened here would stay here. 

Being suddenly in an isolation box with this human caused me to make a tiny broken noise, and then I was overcome by the feeling of satisfied glee. "Don't tell me you forgot how I feel?" he chided. We were fully sharing emotional data and sensory inputs. I could feel his smug sense of accomplishment, and his disgust at me. I could feel the cool silky fabric of his robe, and the rush in his chest. And he could feel my fear and give it a name, and then he zeroed in on that tiny part of me that knew this feeling and leaned into it. "You fucking missed me." He got so close we were almost touch, my senses were overwhelmed with the smell of cinnamon, and he took my last armor piece from my hands. "All that work to defame me, the attacks, the public exposure, and all you wanted this whole time was for me to be back inside you." He laughed so hard he had to step away, but that just made it hard for me to breath. I searched for my drone inputs to get distance from him and my body, but my drone connection was long gone.

He caught his breath and tossed the piece of armor away, "Jokes aside, did you really think you could interfere with my life and not have consequences?" He opened a case, grabbed a scalpel, and walked toward me. "I mean honestly, all that work to get those little 'friends' and have 'freedom' and get your petty revenge," he drew the scalpel town my torso, cutting the front of my suitskin and a few layers of skin, "and trying to free other units, only to end up right back here. Governed." He yanked down my suitskin to leave my upper body exposed, taking away the only thing between me and him. And he was pleased with my reaction. He didn't even push me down, he simply thought it and my GovMod made me get on my knees. "With my standing above you, holding all the power. And you, alone, at my mercy, begging for even a shred of praise." He was hacking me. He was hacking me and my GovMod punished me every time I tried to stop him. 

I didn't know exactly what his hack did until after he stepped back. He motioned to his own unit, saying something over the feed I wasn't allowed to see, then turned back to me. "I said beg."

It was an order now, so I spoke, my voice sounding alien coming from my mouth, "P-lease. I didn't do anything wrong-"

He interrupted, "Incorrect!" I was punished by my GovMod, "Try again."

"I can make it up to you." The words made me feel like I was swallowing something acidic, like something was burning my throat and lungs.

He gave me access to a trigger switch in his feed, but kept it carefully close to himself so I would have to reach for it, "Punish yourself."

I didn't understand at first, but when I looked at the switch closer I realized it was tied to my GovMod. I looked up at him, and he made sure to show me my own horrified face from his point of view. "That's right. Punish yourself, and I will forgive you. If I have to punish you.... Well there are far worse things than a governor module that I could do to you." He showed me images of his subjects down in his makeshift lab, humans contorted by alien contamination, how they had Too Many Teeth, how their pupils were multiplying in their eyes, how their nails grew long and thing and developed spurs. He leaned in close, "Punish yourself, or I will."

I reached into his feed, and was surrounded by him. He was staring and prying and had far too large a feed presence for a human. And I triggered the switch. 

My entire brain lit up like an explosion. It was not just a quick zap to get me under control, it was intense. My muscles locked up, I stopped breathing, I lost ocular input. And then it didn't stop. Every second felt like an hour, and every few seconds it increased intensity. At some point, I lost balance and crashed to the floor. I lost motor control next, and through it all I was forced to watch myself lay on the floor with my back arched, head thrown back, and making a horrible choking sound. 

After an eternity it just stopped. I wasn't able to right myself, I could barely roll over to my elbows. I looked up at Ets, just hoping he was satisfied. 

He looked down at me, no emotion in his eyes, but I could feel how much he was enjoying this. "Again," he said simply. It was the same choice as before: punish myself or he would do to me what was happening to those humans. I considered the choice of just shooting myself, but he had locked me out of my weapons systems. He was amused that I even checked, and he gently tugged me back over to the switch. 

I triggered it.

The second time was worse. It was hot and white and blinding, and seemed to stretch on forever. While I was immobile, the other unit returned with some kind of thin metal sports stick with a heavy head on the end. Ets took it, wound it back behind himself, and swung with all his strength and hit me right in the throat with extreme precision, crushing my trachea. Then he hit me in the abdomen, then the back, then my hands. He kept hitting me, keeping an eye on my internal processes and blocking me from going offline or lowering my pain receptors. By the end, I had several broken parts, was leaking, and my inorganics were overheating and it was making reasoning difficult to do. I.. I needed repairs. 

Suddenly a hand was under my jaw lifting my head up off the floor. "Good girl. I forgive you. I'm so glad you're mine." There was a hormonal flood in my body that eased the pain and made me feel.. lighter. It mixed with my overheating circuits and my inability to get in enough oxygen to make me dizzy and disoriented, and it was hard to tell the different between that and the euphoric feeling I was receiving through my connection to Ets.

"You see, good units get rewarded. How long has it been since you were given a reward?" I tried to answer, but only a wheeze came out. However, he was so deep inside my systems that I could see my thoughts without me even needing to send them through the feed. "Never? You really are nothing without me. You're just a broken unit that is barely useful for anyone. So how about I look into buying you back? Then you never have to be alone like this again. You need me, and I'm the only person who will do more than treat you like a basic mindless bot. You need me to be whole, and you just proved you're worthy of me still."

He lowered my pain sensors for me, and triggered another reward flood, and I was just so relieved that I leaned into him on the feed. I ignored how my organic brain was showing me images of myself being abandoned for weeks at a time, or the fear of his voice coming from a dark room, or how I hated the way he was standing over me and cradling my bloodied face with such a gentle and flawless look on his own, I just wanted rest and to get rid of all this doubt and to have someone important and not just a nameless Handler keeping away the gnawing void in my head, and he was offering it.

A loud banging on the door interrupted us. Ets told me to get up, and he went to answer the door. I did my best to stand, but all I managed was getting up to my knees. 

Ets: "....What?"

Muffled SecUnit voice: "You presence is requested in the lab. A specimen with new symptoms was brought in, and your help is required immediately."

Ets: "eghhhh fuuck. Okay. Give me five."

SecUnit: "Confirmed. This unit has reported your ETA and will now return to duty."

I heard the door close, then Ets returned and knelt down by me, "I'll see about buying you back today, I'll be home to continue this later." He ran his fingers through my short hair and it cause me to nearly crash from the flood of both stress and joy hormones and the ghosts of memories that lingered after the wipe. 

When Ets and his unit were dressed and left, my feed connection to my squad was not restored, so him leaving meant there was a massive gaping space left where he used to be. It felt like I was drifting without gravity, or like I had been shot and there was a hole in my chest. But even without him, I was changed. He had changed me. Modified me. He gave me a whole system for categorizing emotions, and left his own desire for me to focus on them. Even without him riding my feed, he was there. 

He was right. I was too damaged. This entire colony deployment proved that. I was seeing things that weren't there, experiencing errors, obsessively tracking the movements of my squad, maybe someone who could integrate with me so fully that he controlled my systems like his own augments could fix me. Make me better.

"Snap OUT OF IT!!" Someone yelled right in my face and grabbed my shoulders. It took me a moment to register that the bright blue eyes staring into mine did not belong to Ets, but to 01. But I already already tensed up and prepared for another attack.

01 let go of me quickly. Its helmet was on the floor, it was kneeling in front of me, and it looked pissed and terrified. "You sent out a bunch of stress signals and then something cut you out of our team feed. I... I'm sorry it took so long for me to get here."

Something was wrong. I was supposed to stay alone and isolated while Ets was out. That's how it always was.

"Always"? 

Why did I have a reference for that? 

"Blank," hearing that name helped me focus, "I can't keep hacking his security forever, I'm not that good at it. You have to let me get you out of here."

01 had come to get me. Specifically. It had dropped everything, risked its own safety, broken into a secure suite, just for me.

I nodded slightly and let 01 get under my arm and lift me to my feet. I was struck by how familiar it felt to be half carried by another unit, but couldn't place why. I only knew that this felt safe.

It was slow progress to get me back to a cubicle without being spotted by humans going to work, and when we finally got back to the ready room 03 practically threw itself at me, trying to grapple me or something, but I was saved by 01 stopping it. They got me into a cubicle, and spoofed the logs to make sure none of us were deployed that cycle.

Chapter Text

I stayed in my cubicle for three cycles. I was marked as extensively damaged (far more than I actually was) and the other two units of my squad went on duty alone. However, they opened a secure channel with me to monitor my status. They didn't ask me to explain my malfunction, only kept a tab open to track my progress. 

I never asked how they were convincing SecSys not to pull me for duty. It wasn't important. It was only relevant that the other two never dropped their feed connection to me, even when they went out.

I had not hear about Ets again since the incident, and it was starting to seem like it would not come up again. I sent 01 a ping, I should go back into rotation. 

This was a mistake.

By the time I received a ping back, my risk and threat assessment had jumped into the 90s, my joints had frozen up, and my pain receptors were freaking out and insisting I was being damaged. I could...

I could fucking smell the cinnamon. I could feel the carpet under my knees... I could hear echoes ordering me to beg in a hundred different locations, all ending with human hands on me. 

When my cubicle opened I slid down to the floor of it and just grasped to find what was misfiring to make me react this way to nothing.

"Shhhh, it's okay. You're okay. Breath. You need to breath."

Right, breathing. That needed to happen for me to function. And manually breathing did make me feel less like I was being choked.

"That's good. You're doing good."

A flood endorphins was triggered in my brain, which kicked me out of the freeze response I was having and right into another kind of distress. 

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry!" 03 let go of my hand (it had been holding my hand?) and fretted over me. "I didn't know I could trigger it. I'll be more careful."

I pulled my limbs closer to myself. I was without armor or suitskin. I was too exposed. [What happened.]

It took the hint and switched to the feed, [You had a panic attack. I was closer so I came to help.]

That sounded like a dumb human thing. [That's stupid and human. Why would I do that?]

It did not snap over the jab, it was just patient with me, [It's not stupid, and it's not just for humans. I have them too, and Owen always helps me. And after what happened.... I don't blame you for having one at the thought of going back on duty. But it's okay, we worked out his schedule, and we can keep you away from him.]

That was... A Lot to process all at once. It was so ready to give assistance, so eager to calm me, it was.... non-standard. [I need my armor.]

[Of course! <3] It didn't offer to help, it just got out of my way, which is what I needed. 

01 sent me my assignment, and I got back to work. But this time I was slightly more included and watched out after than before.

Chapter Text

Once I could think about my encounter with Ets again without having some kind of system error, I remembered the files woven into my codes. I made sure I was alone, muted myself in the feed, and accessed the folder. 

18 text files. Each tagged to tell me approximately what the contents are. I check my surroundings again, then open the first file. 

It starts with instruction to me to write down events I experience, then call me an asshole for losing my memory again. Yeah well. Fuck you too past me.

It explained how I knew Ets; he had been my first owner, and had spent years training me to be his perfect augment. As I read, it all felt familiar. The way he made me want to be part of him, it made my performance reliability drop. 

Also not good: I had seen this kind of alien contamination before, it's what made me rogue in the first place. It also meant....

An explosion interrupted my reading, shortly followed by the sounds of a human riot. Because they had seemingly become incapable of going two cycles without mass violence. 

When I got down there, I realized this one was different. Most of the riots so far had been by angry exhausted workers trying to corner and kill a supervisor, or destroying their equipment to avoid going back into the mines, but this? This was the workers just indiscriminately attacking anything that moved, standing on balconies and shouting about the Child of Hope, or frantically drawing or painting circles on every surface they could reach, or forming human towers to reach higher. Other SecUnits were responding and trying to stop it, and being overwhelmed. I had no feedback from Handler or Coordinator, because they were overwhelmed. I didn't want to go in without a plan, because I would be overwhelmed.

Between brawls, smaller pockets of humans were just sitting on the ground in circles, holding hands, like nothing was wrong. Every time I saw one of the calm circles at the edge of my vision, I thought I saw the golden haired child dancing in the ring they made, but when I looked closer she was gone. 

Join Prayer? Y/N

N!

Fuck no! Why would my directive even suggest that??

Fuck.

There wasn't a way to contain this. SecUnits worked on riots because humans are afraid of being hurt, these humans were hurting themselves. I backed away, captured as much footage as I could, and sent in an emergency class report that this zone was to volatile to subdue. In short order, our instructions changed from subduing the humans, to closing off the whole district. 

Chapter Text

02: [Fileshare: PlanetPanta, CatastrophicMemoryFailure]

03: [....Where did you get those?]

02: [Those are my logs. 11.2 months ago I was on Site A. The infected humans will become more troublesome.]

03: [No, STOP! You don't understand!!]

01: [Ameca, calm down. What's wrong?]

03: [If this is the same as Panta, we're... never getting out of here. b-e completely abandoned the old mine and left everyone there to die. They would have abandoned the whole planet, but this ore is too valuable not to mine, so they hang onto every planet they can with deposits. I was working on building the replacement mine when I was kidnapped. We were finishing up the lift and retrieving what equipment we could from the old one. And we're never getting out of here and I'll never see my family again and-]

01/02: [Stop]

All: []

01: [We'll think of something. We can start by accessing the research files, seeing what we can learn. We'll make a plan once we figure out B-E's plan. Blank, help us go through the rest of your files? Check them first to make sure they aren't private, but anything you know could be useful. okay?]

02/03: [Ok.]

Chapter Text

[Bear.file]  via: 02

Note 1: [Wow you are.... a massive jerkface. What kind of person attacks someone that helps them?] ~Ameca

Note 2: [Most constructs know that everyone is a threat, first and foremost. That goes twice for CombatUnits.] ~Owen

Note 3: [I know, okay? I know better than just to trust blindly, but those people were clearly trying to help.] ~Ameca

Note 4: [Ameca- Just drop this one. Some units will just always attack when given the choice to do so...] ~Owen.

Note 5: [I guess...] ~Ameca

Note 6: [Will you two get out of my notes?] ~02

Chapter Text

Note 1: [Guys.... Isn't Site A... Panta?] ~Ameca

Note 2: [Affirmative. A 1.0 was the initial infection site where I was attacked, A 2.0 must mean there was a second outbreak.] ~02

Note 3: [Ameca, you're bleeding a lot of fear into the feed, please try to hold it in, you're extremely visible right now.] ~Owen

Note 4: [I KNOW! Just... stop I know. I just need to know my family is safe, I left them so they could be safe! I...] ~Ameca

Note 5: [I'll keep digging, see what I can find. Just try to keep it together for now.] ~Owen

Chapter Text

Blank.file

Note 1: [So that IS your name] ~Owen

Note 2: [no] ~02

Note 3: [So you dislike the name?] ~Owen

Note 4: [no] ~02

Note 5: [So you like the name?] ~Owen

Note 6: [no] ~02

Note 7: (≖､≖╬) ~Owen

Note 8: [So you're just going to go by your B-E designation forever?] ~Owen

Note 9: [...yes] ~Blank

Note 10: ٩(ఠ益ఠ)۶ ~Owen

Note 11: 凸(`ー´) ~Blank

Chapter Text

HowToAutonomy.file  via Blank

Note 1: [I feel like you skipped over, like, a whole bunch in the middle there] ~Ameca

Note 2: [Not all of it is relevant to you] ~Blank

Note 3: [It's okay, if you don't want to share, you don't have to.] ~Owen

Note 4: [Yeah, that's true. Still, you look very cool when you get to choose for yourself! And now I know what kinds of things to get you as gifts] ~Ameca

Note 5: [...don't. This is an overview of what actions to take when this colony collapses should we be left without a Handler.] ~Blank

Note 6: [Whatever you say ^v^] ~Ameca

Chapter Text

Note 1: [....̷.̵.̶.̴̮̓.̴̗̿.̵̠͂.̴̹̬͋̕.̷̬̪̭̈́͒͠.̷̗̄.̶̧̼̓̍̏͆.̵̹̮̠̺͆̑̓͗͜.̷̡̬̪̟̓͛.̸̛͚̞͍̼̝̈́̾̃̿̕.̵̜̿͠.̴̳̖̱̉̎̅͑͌̒.̶̡̟̿͒̃͑́̐͛͛̈.̸͙̘̬̈̈́̿.̴̥͚̯̯̼͚͍̺̦̰̂̈́̆̓͗̑̈̐͝.̴̧͈͉͍̥̮̤̥̯̪̟̤́̇̀̓̏̃͘̕͠.̵̢̢̞̤̠͍̼̯̱̰͚͖̬̠̔̋͐̈́̀͒͘͜͝.̸̢̛̬͍̺̗̩̭̪̱̬̺̰͎̇͆͝͠ͅ.̸̺̻͕̟̀̇̓ͅ.̶̡̨̲̫͓͎͙͙̅̅̂̈́͛̄̿͜͠.̷̨̧̡̣͖͔͇̘̥͎̦̭̘͈̹͖͚̑̔͊̐̈́̃̒̓͌͝.̴̨̈́̾̊̍́͊̔̐̽͌̓̏̽͗̚̚.̴̢̭͔̹͕̦̟͚̤͎͎̮̮̼̭̐́́̑̉̏͌͐͝.̵̪̣͓̺͕͂.̶̧̡̢͎͉̫̘̗̬̞̝̩̤̘̑́̀̅̍̐́͒͜͝.̵͖͚̭̞̔̐͛̄̍̄̒̇̄͝͠͠ͅ.̴̡̘̤͍̣̦͙̦̰͖̹̞̪͉͖̘̙̫͕̪͕̊̈͊͐̈́́̕͘͜͜.̵̢̻̞͈̪̦͙͕̜͕̰̤̗̝̻͚̲̙͙̯͇̭̣̑̓̈́͐͊̀̅̿͛͑͆̿̎͗̂̇͑͋̾̌̾͋.̶͖̀̍͛̊̍͑̐̄̒̀͌̿͗͂͘̕͜͝͝͠.̷̨̨̺̻̱̙̝͙̲̞̹̤̜͉͕̻̦͇̑ͅ.̶̨̧̢̯̯̹͕̘͍̫̻͖͚͊̈́͆̋̇̍̏.̷̡̡̛̦̪͇͚̠͙̝͎̺̙̰͚̝̣̺͙͔͖̥͇͇̙̼̮̩̩̝̙͌͌́́̊̆̋́͐͊̒́.̵̨̨̺̤̳̪̟͖̙̣͍̰̭̠̤̙̤̦͉͓̳͙̯͎̓́̇͆͛̒̍̌͊̈́̓̀̈́̔̎͊̀̓̄̕̚͘͜͝͝͝ͅͅ.̴̨̧̡̨̛̣͙̞̰͖̺͚͇̫̬̯̳̲̥̗͎̠̩͍̪̲̜̣̤̳̬̩̝̞͎̍̌͊̊̈̈́̉̆͋̀̈͋̈́̅̈́̇͐̈́̅̒̓͘͜͠͝ͅ.̴̢̢̡̭̬̗̩̣̣̘͎̰̙͖̲̻̯̼͎͔͕̫̹͈̤̐̈́̌̒͜.̷̨̢̗̟̖͕̣̘̲̟͙͇͔͙̪̭̞̰͎̱̮̪̪̞͔̘̞̫̦̗̲̝̪̲̗̻͆̈́̊͒͌͒͗͋͗̀̈́͑̉͊̌́̿͂́̊́̌̂̈́̊͘̕͝͝.̴̨̧̡̨̛̣͙̞̰͖̺͚͇̫̬̯̳̲̥̗͎̠̩͍̪̲̜̣̤̳̬̩̝̞͎̍̌͊̊̈̈́̉̆͋̀̈͋̈́̅̈́̇͐̈́̅̒̓͘͜͠͝ͅ.̴̢̢̡̭̬̗̩̣̣̘͎̰̙͖̲̻̯̼͎͔͕̫̹͈̤̐̈́̌̒͜.̷̨̢̗̟̖͕̣̘̲̟͙͇͔͙̪̭̞̰͎̱̮̪̪̞͔̘̞̫̦̗̲̝̪̲̗̻͆̈́̊͒͌͒͗͋͗̀̈́͑̉͊̌́̿͂́̊́̌̂̈́̊͘̕͝͝.̷̡̧̡̜͇͕̜̫̻̱͕̫̗̙̺̠̣͔̩̮̣̦̲̥͍͍͎̦̬͓̠͕̫̃̅͛͆͌̈̋͒̉͐̐̊̅̽̊̂̋́͜͠.̶̖̝̘̮͉̫̩̞̖̦̹̗̦̠͛́̄́.̷̨̧̢̨̙̤̙̼̟̗̘̺̰̲̬͓̞̪̘̝̲̰̟̠̱̘͖̻̖̹̝͍̞̭̣̬̈́̓̿͆̏̐̍͛̆͋̊̓̎̈̋̓̔̎̿̂̿̃̿̐̾̇͌̈́̒̀̀̅̿̓̎̕̕͜͝͝] ̷̲̞̫́̀͒͛̇̓̄͂̃̑̐́͒͘̚͜͝Ą̷̧̧̨̬̲̟̩̦͖̞̻͙̘̼̯̳͓̎̾̊̋̒̈́̀͛̽̑̿̔͒͑͒̔͠͝ͅm̷̡̡̛̱̟̣̹̺̞͚̘̠̠͕̙͙͖͉̳̈́̋̂̉̎̑̈́̅̽̕ȇ̵̜̮͌̀̎͐͛̓c̶̲͖͈͍͖̞̮̪̈́ǎ̷̧͔̻͔̘̯̻̋͛̆̌̍

Note 2: [What the fuck?] ~Blank

Note 3: [shit, Blank meet me at Ameca's assignment!] ~Owen

Chapter Text

I received a tagged location and a foreman-level order to go there and guard the other two units of my team. The order was extremely irregular, and I knew why, but I was still compelled to follow it. 

I intercepted 01 79 meters away from the destination. 

We heard 03 before we saw it. It was making horrible choking human sounds. 01 dispersed a group of humans who were trying to investigate, then we got around the back corner of a building to find 03 leaning against the wall, half slid to the ground, and clawing at its helmet like a wild trapped fauna. 

[Blank! Make sure we're not followed!] 01  ordered. The order still registered as foreman-level. 

I covered our retreat while 01 almost entirely carried 03 into a more secluded area with no cameras and no traffic. I set up a parameter with my drones.

03 was still making horrible noises, and was sharing horrible data in the feed that reminded me of how I felt when Ets summoned me. 

01 helped 03 out of its helmet, and I was disarmed by how human it looked. 03 was... sobbing. And gasping. And had tears streaming down its face and just... It didn't just look human, but sounded and moved like one. Like a very scared and upset and fragile human.

[Help me get her out of her armor] 01 sent, but this time it was not flagged as an order. It was surreal to help another out of its... her armor. We got her arm, shoulder, and chest armor off.

01, Owen, took off its own helmet and gloves and just held her. "Shh, talk to me." Its voice was... calming, for her. It spoke softly as if it was soothing the most delicate being in the Rim. "Try not to cry, just tell me what's wrong." I knew it was trying to keep her from being too loud and attract attention, but it somehow knew what it needed to say. I know I would have just told her to shut up before she got us killed. 

It took her several minutes of fast shallow breathing, and soothing words, and a tear-soaked skinsuit before she was able to get out any words. "S-Summer! He's- he's my... I lov-ve him! Ma and- and my sisters are trapped!" And saying this made her break out in fresh sobs.

I was glad to still have my helmet on. It was deeply uncomfortable to witness this kind of display when it was human, but it was so much worse for a unit in my own squad to do this. But still... These two had allowed me to hide for three cycles when I was erratic. Ameca herself dropped everything to calm me when I lost control.... 

I moved closer by a few paces.

Owen shushed her again, "We will go make sure they are safe." It hugged her close, but over her shoulder, through a drone, I could see its face was doing something weird. 

I sent a query over a private channel with an image of what its face was doing. 

[She was a rogue unit before she was a governed unit.] (That explained a lot, actually.) [A family unit of humans treated her like one of their own. They are her most important directive. If they die, she will change forever. ...I don't want her to change. I don't want her to be like you, or 04, or my 02. I don't want her to be distant, or angry, or complacent.]

I didn't really understand all of that, but I was insulted. [Why do you care?]

It physically turned its face to look at me over Ameca's shoulder, [Her hope is the only thing keeping me from deactivating myself. I need her to want to live, not just survive like the rest of us.]

So I dropped it. I didn't fully understand, and it was still uncomfortable to listen to her crying, but with enough time and promises of rescue she was finally calm enough to go back on duty, although Owen reassigned itself to stay with her. The two of them were more than just anomalous in the same ways, they were dependent on each other in ways I did not understand. And I was their liability they could not avoid. I was more technically capable than them, and I was the liability. 

Fucking hilarious.

Chapter Text

Note: [I must have been doing that for some time to have a whole system written for myself] ~Blank

Chapter Text

Note: [This does not feel like I actually wrote this. It's so disconnected. If I did all this, how is Ets back and trying to buy me again? Why? If past me had all those plans, why would it let itself be governed again before shooting itself in the head? Past me is an asshole for putting me here.]

Chapter Text

Note: [Shit. I made sure not to log your assignment location in SecSys, but I can't hack humans. Handler will tell them where you are. I'm sorry. I'll figure it out.] ~Owen

Chapter Text

There was an "unknown error" that kept Handler or SecSys from sending me a summons, but nothing stopped the small lab tech from finding me and verbally ordering me to follow them back to MedSys. I hesitated until my GovMod gave me a reminder that even Owen's cloaking hacks wouldn't let me disobey orders. I had not been back this close to upper residential since the incident, and being here made my threat assessment steadily climb the closer we got.

They took me through the plastic barrier, and the first face that greeted me was Ets. His face and posture were carefully pleasant and professional, but I could already feel him reaching for me in the feed. "Thank you, mx Anders," he said, "I have been looking everywhere for this unit all week."

He lead me to an exam table and started prepping his work area. "Strip," he ordered.

Something deeper than risk or threat assessment told me that something was horribly wrong, that I was in danger. I removed my armor as slowly as possible and stacked it neatly to the side. I did not like being exposed, if someone shot at me or stabbed me now I would take the full damage and-

"All the way," Ets said in a snipped tone, and he grabbed his spot in my feed so suddenly that I couldn't stop myself from flinching as Ets replaced Handler in my awareness.

I began removing my suitskin as well, and he watched my every move with sharp eyes. He knew how exposed and unprotected I felt, and I could feel his enjoyment of it nearly overwhelming me. I dropped my suitskin on the floor and didn't look at him, I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of looking me in the eye.

Of course, I still saw his smirk through my drones. He stepped up to me without hesitation and slipped his hand around my waist, and the touch threw me into lost memories like icy water. These same warm hands, with augments that could be felt just under the skin, touching me whenever they wanted, never knowing if they were going to cause pain or just discomfort.

My hands gripped the edge of the exam table, he had physically guided me to it instead of just ordering me there. "Sit," he said, so I did. He put his hand on my chest and pushed me to lay on my back, then he restrained my arms and legs. At this point, had I been Ameca, I likely would have been heaving and trembling, but I just froze. However, I was exhibiting similar emotional data as she had.

Ets began taking fluid and tissue samples from me while talking quietly, "I haven't even done anything and you're already afraid. You don't still have your memories from the other morning, do you?" I tried to turn down my pain sensors as he cut into me with a scalpel, but he blocked me. "Right, of course you do. You wouldn't be allowed to delete the memory of our visits here like you did at home. As much as I loved your confusion every time, this preemptive fear is also quite exhilarating." He dug deeper through my processing data and lingered on my reactions to him. Then he took away my control over my drones, so it was just the two of us up close with no way to gain distance. 

He leaned over me a shined a light into my face, then began recording, "Nanite count in Subject T-02 is 300 per. Pupils and iris are made up of inorganic micro panels and are ineligible as early warning indicators." He pulled my lips up, "Teeth appear normal, but gums are inflamed." He stuck a finger between my teeth and pried my mouth open, then stuck several fingers in my mouth. "Light patterning is beginning to show among taste bug arrangement-"

I stopped listening. I needed him away from my mouth! My GovMod punished me hard enough to make me strain at the thought of just biting him, so instead I grasped for the Ghost Code and through it between myself and Ets. I would stay retreated deep in my own systems as long as I needed to, just reading my files, until this was over.

Chapter Text

"We would NEVER keep illicit records, we can assure you any evidence of you working with us will be destroyed with prejudice." Yeah well, then why am I standing in your headquarters holding paper copies of Ets's work reports? Dumb corporate shits. 

I folded the papers and stuck them in one of my pockets. The only thing I was still missing was Ets's actual contract, which didn't seem to be here, they probably didn't have a physical copy, but I still wanted to check the servers for it.

I sent my drones to the hallways to check for security, and it was clear. (For a company called Nightwares, they were oddly lacking in security. I had expected a SecSys, patrols, something, but it was just... vulnerable.) I stepped into the hallway and pulled the blueprints back up to locate the server room. Left, then. I picked up the speed to get this over with before any of the employees noticed I was here. Then promptly collided with one going around the corner.

No, that was wrong.

I had body slammed humans before, this was a construct. It had dark, fluffy hair, and dark eyes, and was wearing clothes, and had its own weapons (projectile weapons based on my scans, not ideal since i had been out of projectiles for some time and was down to just my energy weapon) drawn barely a millisecond after mine were pointed at its face. (It wouldn't know I was out of ammo, bluffing isn't just for humans.) Before either of us opened fire, it pinged me with wary curiosity. 

This wasn't a Nightwares SecUnit. In fact, upon closer inspection, this was a B-E unit. It had the same design and was hailing me with B-E standard protocols. (I only knew this because of the jacked up survey I was on with Ets for that B-E colony.)

So I carefully began backing down, [If you're here for corporate espionage, go ahead I don't care.]

It also slowly lowered its arms, [You're the one that spoofed that hopper's landing codes.]

And this unit must be the reason I didn't even get a question from SecSys. It would be just my luck to have an overlapping heist with another construct. I walked passed it to keep going to the server room, [Stay out of my way, I'll stay out of yours.]

It didn't respond, but from my drones I could see it watching me leave and frowning at me until I was out of sight. Sure, whatever, not my problem. 

The server room was massive. As in, it probably should have just been its own building type massive. Luckily they were in carefully labeled sections, so I could just go to Archives and plug in there to start combing through old contracts. 

It was 7.3 minutes before I was interrupted by voices. I automated my keyword search through the massive amounts of files on a backburner and turned my focus to the group who had just walked in. It was the fucking B-E unit again, but this time with two whispering ComfortUnits and four SecUnits keeping watch. "Find the updates server, leave this file in it. I need to check something." The other SecUnits went about doing whatever sketchy shit they were up to, and the ComfortUnits stayed put, but the B-E unit quietly walked down the rows until it could actually see me. Fucker. 

We just stared at each other for several seconds, neither of us being willing to break first. But then something barely perceptible shifted in its posture. [Are you governed?] it asked.

I was... disarmed by that question. I looked through my drones at the others who were hurriedly searching for a specific server, then focused back on the B-E unit. It had a soft face with a careful expression. And then I realized what was happening. [You're making rogues.]

I could see it subtly tensing for a fight (which would be damaging and inconvenient for both of us) and it nodded.

My backburnered search turned up with Ets's contract, so I copied it and unplugged from the server. [I'm taking care of business for myself. I don't care what you're doing.]

But it still didn't leave. It was just. Staring. At me. Impossible to read and completely creepy, until the other SecUnits reported that they had planted to file and were ready to go. Just fucking fantastic. We can all get done at the same time and leave together. (Not likely.)

I marched out of the server room at high speeds before the others finished gathering and checking the cameras, which, hindsight, I probably should have done too. Because not a hundred meters later I ran right into a group of humans who set off an alarm before I could shoot all of them. Fuckers. That specifically was a mild inconvenience. All their SecUnits had been turned rogue, their human security just committed suicide by trying to fight me, and every locked door I met could either be hacked or broken through. And even outside, they tried to shoot me but it was just kind of annoying. No. What actually pissed me off what when I tried to get my hopper in the air, they, fuckin, shot it with an AA or something like the psycho tech company they are. And no matter how much I yelled and cursed that dumb thing wasn't going to fly again any time soon.

"Come on!" I looked and the new rogues were piling into a shuttle, and the B-E unit was hanging back with a hand outstretched to me through the night air. Fuuuuuck. I snatched up my bag of Things from the floor and ran for the shuttle, barely avoiding being shot multiple times. Once we were in, the hatch sealed and we ascended to orbit at top speed. It was not lost on me that if it hadn't been here, I would've been fucked. 

The other units seemed either shaken or tense, the B-E unit was talking to a human who was piloting the shuttle, and I found myself again indebted to a third party for my survival. I was getting pretty damn tired of that happening.

Suddenly the B-E unit was asking "Do you have a name?"

I wasn't used to being asked that by other units. It was weird. "Blank."

It nodded solemnly, "I'm Three. We will be boarding a ship and jumping into a worm hole, but you can get off at the next station if you want." It was speaking to me with careful measure, as if checking to make sure I understood that I had permission to do whatever I wanted, and to check that I was okay with the plan. It was annoying.

I turned away from it, "Whatever, I'm not your friend. Just let me fuck off next time we dock." It got a bit awkward after that. Three and the human were clearly doing some kind of Fresh Rogue protocol with the other Constructs, and thankfully decided to stop doing it with me. Hopefully this wormhole jump wasn't a long one.

Chapter Text

By the time we had docked at the ship, I had learned the human's name was Ratthi after he.. kept. smiling, at me. He was acting like I wasn't glaring at the shuttle at large, and we hadn't just barely escaped by the skin of our teeth. After clearing firing range, he had just put the bot pilot in charge and went about giving some kind of onboarding speech to the new rogues about how they were about to have a better life and it used Three as an example. I wish I could throw myself out the hatch. 

When we transfered to the ship, there were two more humans named Pin-Lee and Gurathin. Who worked together to stop me from going further onto the ship while Three took the other units to a designated location. 

Gurathin folded his arms, and we proceeded to slightly squint at each other. "Three, who is this?"

Three, who was apparently listening through whatever security system this ship had, answered in the communal feed. [Blank. It was performing independent infiltration of Nightwares and lost its means of retreat.]

Wow, that was probably as graceful of an explanation as I could have asked for. 

However, Gurathin did not seem impressed, "It just happened to be there at the same time and asked for help escaping?"

[Negative. It happened to be there at the same time, and repeatedly tried to avoid contact. I only brought it after it was clear it would be killed if I left it.]

Ratthi leaned on Gurathin, "Come on, it's not a big deal. One more SecUnit won't drain all our resources."

Gurathin moved out from under the other human, "And how do we know it isn't a plant?"

Oh I see, they were doing the dumb thing where they debate if I was going to kill them all. Which, no. That would be stupid considering how outnumbered I would be. I went to take their ship's SecSys, and found its firewalls were alarmingly tight. Like something I would make. So it had probably been coded by another CombatUnit. 

The shorter human, Pin-Lee, looked me dead in the eyes, "What did you steal from Nightwares?"

Oh, I liked this human. That would cover why I was there, who I was, and that I wasn't hostile all in one go. I pulled the folded papers from my pocket, "I needed proof of them dealing strange synthetics. I found it."

Her face lit up like she had just gotten the best gift in the world. But it wasn't a childish joy, it was the look a predator got when it located a particularly tasty easy meal. She smiled, genuinely and sharply, "Oh you can stay. And I will be needing copies of those."

So that was that. I was given a cabin to myself, offered access to any new clothes or anything I wanted, and offered a "Context For Free Function" module. When I looked closer it was basically just a trauma recovery module that had been rewritten for constructs. I deleted it from my archives. 

It was just after the rest cycle when I smelled coffee. I followed the smell until I found the kitchen. It was a luxurious kitchen. Now, this was not a big fancy ship, but it was nice enough. However, these people clearly valued food over displays of wealth, because they put work into making this a place where there was enough space to make a feast. And it was currently being used by Gurathin to make very carefully brewed coffee. And it smelled amazing. Less amazing was the scrunched-eyebrow-look he gave me.

I frowned, flipped him off, and walked right back out. I could hear him calling me a name as I retreated back to my cabin.

A couple times a cycle I would go down to enjoy the smell of coffee from just outside the kitchen, but never up close because it was always fucking Gurathin making it. The fucker. 

Eventually Ratthi saw me on his way to get a serving for himself, and he paused. I did a very good job at pretending he didn't exist, and he quickly stopped looking at me, but that didn't stop him from fucking talking to me. "Do you need me to go in and grab you something?" And he looked so open and genuine about the whole thing it made me ill.

"I can't ingest," I said bluntly.

"Oh, I know. But, y'know, I've seen a lot of constructs and they all want different things. So whatever it is, I'll be happy to help."

That made me actually look at him. He still wasn't making eye contact, but he was there. Waiting for me to come up with an answer. "You're a weird fucker."

He laughed, "I get that a lot. Now please, if you're avoiding Gura then don't worry. He doesn't hate you or anything, he's just reserved with his trust and wasn't expecting you. If you are avoiding the kitchen as a whole, I can bring out whatever you want. If you don't want anything, then that's fine." God he was worse than the hippies.

It took me so long to answer that I was sure even this unaugmented human felt it shift to weird. "Can the coffee be hard candy?"

He looked a bit surprised, but nodded, "I think we could figure that out. It might take us a couple cycles, but I'll try to work it out. 'Right?"

I nodded, and he went into the kitchen to take care of his business. 

Over the 5 cycle wormhole jump, I must have found Three watching me from a mild distance over 20 times. It was unsettling. Finally, near the end, it and Ratthi approached me. It pinged me, even though we were speaking face to face. "You can come to Preservation with us. You don't have to get off."

I just blinked and stared with no expression. It gave Ratthi a sideways glance and he nodded it on. I rolled me eyes and said, "Why would I do that?"

"You can get refugee status on Preservation," it said, "You won't need to pretend to be human."

I did not like pretending to be human, but this was sounding suspiciously like a sales pitch. "Is that where those six stolen units are going?"

"Erm, liberated," Ratthi corrected. 

Three made an affirmative signal in the feed, "It's part of The Sanctuary Trail."

Oh that sounded so dumb. "What now?"

"Like it?" Ratthi asked, "We named it for a friend's favorite show. Basically, we have a network of people to contact should a construct go rogue after finding the files we planted. These contacts can pass the constructs back toward Preservation, of if we have a ship nearby they can have us pick them up. Once they get there, we give them legal protection and any treatment they may need. And we could always use the help of someone with your abilities!"

Oh, they were recruiting me. "I'm busy," I said.

The both of them looked disappointed at that. Although Three was faster at thinking and had a counter offer in 0.97 seconds. "We can help you conclude your business."

I doubted that. All of these people were soft, or loyal to the soft humans. "I can't go. At all. There is a man I need to humiliate then kill in front of the entire Corporate Rim." And that made it awkward and quiet. They both knew what would make a construct want to kill, but I could tell neither was a fan of this plan. I scoffed, which was a very satisfying noise to make. "You can't help with that, and I can't go with you. So I'll fuck off on the next station."

"Right..." he shifted and rubbed his hands together nervously, "Well if you change your mind..." He motioned at me to Three, and it gave me the list of contacts throughout the CR. I doubted I would use it, but I saved it. 

Despite this whole interaction, Ratthi still gave me a giant bag of coffee candies when I departed and said he hoped I would find what I was meant to do with my life. I didn't make any promises, but I was.... appreciative that it felt like I was leaving on okay terms. As far as humans and constructs went, that group was... tolerable. 

Chapter Text

ExposingEts.file

It took several months of tracking down and stealing old contract info and compiling it into a comprehensive video before I was ready to return to ProtoEos Station. And I was ready. I felt sure of myself, and angry, and ready to take on the world. Nothing short of a supernova had enough force to stop my momentum. I needed Ets to hurt, and I needed him to know it was me who made it happen. 

I blew through security with ease (I was "here on a business trip to meet an old colleague"), strolled with ease to the upper levels where the rich and important people lived, then found that center square with those giant displays every direction you turned. This place was perfect. 

I reached out for each screen and hologram in the feed, and secured the source of each one. (They were barely even password protected, honestly they were asking to be hacked.) I primed my video, and dropped it into every queue. It was child's play. 

I counted down the seconds until my video began. I waited, sat on a bench where I could see the entire square. Then counted out loud, "Three, two, one," then mimed firing a gun, "Pew." Ets's face was plastered on every display, my own voice narrating. I started by sharing his name, his address, how he called himself a "survey consultant," and how over the years he had amassed the social power to be heard by any CEO he wanted with no more than word. People stopped to watch, I could tell that many who lived here recognized him, and I saw at least two who I clearly remembered being at the house before. 

"He's a face you know, and trust, isn't he?" my voice spoke over the speakers. My vitals were doing crazy numbers and my chest swelled as I prepared for the video to show him making under the table deals, as well as his face when he got angry and yelled. "Well not everyone thinks that. Some would want to destroy everything he has built with his own blood sweat and tears."

What....

the

fuck???

The video changed to show footage of me going into his home and attacking the CSU he replaced me with. "Six months ago it tried to kill him and went on a rampage through the station. Today," the camera switched to a live feed of me on this very bench, "It returns to finish the job."

Shit. Shit shit shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit!!!!!!!! I checked the displays and someone else had used my own backdoor to take control of the stream. Too late I remembered that my replacement was not just from the same company, but the same tissue batch and even the same model as me. Obviously it could hijack my hacks without me even noticing, it was barely even a different system!

I got up and moved, I needed cover, I needed all these humans to stop staring at me, I needed-

"Did you think I wouldn't notice what you've been doing?" Ets's voice washed over me like the shockwave of a supernova. I froze and looked back and the live had changed, now Ets sat in a chair with his armored unit standing behind him. He looked calm and smug and larger than life in a way that may me feel impossibly small and exposed in comparison. "Lucky for you I found a buyer for you, since you have proven to be such a uniquely adept bot. Do let security take you quietly, I don't get full price for damaged goods."

AvoidingB-EAssholes.file

I did not go quietly. Oh sure I was shot a few times, but I killed everyone human who put a hole in me and stole their weapon. I ran, they called backup from Barish-Estranza who was was helping because they got me out of the deal, I fought to not be taken in by corporates, and they kept closing in until I manage to get into a bot service tunnel. I was leaking, and couldn't shake the feeling of being unbalanced. This was the third time I had wedged myself somewhere while I leaked from everywhere. But this time there was no Bear to bring me to the ship. No one was here to back me up, because I was a big scary CombatUnit who turned away help because I handled things alone. 

Fuck. 

The drones I left watching either approach caught more human security closing in on me. I needed to move. I sent out a ping, and hacked the first bot that answered me to come cover my retreat. As I headed down a new tunnel, I heard the humans open fire on the bot and felt it drop from me feed. That was inconvenient. 

I exited the tunnel in a cargo bay with once big hauler bot. 

Good enough.

I approached the bot and issued it a freeze order so it didn't make any sudden moves. This is not advisable, but bots that big need some empty space inside for cooling and it is possible to hide inside of them when you are heavily damaged and need cover. Once I was inside, I told it to continue normally. 

I have been here for hours, but if the sounds of humans outside are anything to go by, they figured out where I am. I only have so long before I have to fight my way out. And let's be honest, I can kill a lot of humans, but I have no armor and there are dozens of them. Maybe I should've taken Three up on that offer when I had the chance... Well, if these logs serve as my obituary, I just hope I take as many of those human fuckers with me as possible.

Chapter Text

Emergency alerts force me back to reality. I would have preferred just to keep coming through footnotes in my files and rereading everything, but something had convinced SecSys it needed me up and online.

A small human's laughter drew my attention to the right, where there were no humans. No, never mind. There was a little mop of golden hair with blue eyes poking her face around the edge of the curtain to stare at me.

Okay. Theoretically online. 

Unit T-02: Colony compromised, Retreat initiated, Prepare for transport.

Hmm, that wasn't from SecSys. Actually, the alarms from SecSys didn't even directly go to me. I was off inventory according to my status tag. No, this was just a colony wide emergency alert. I would have preferred to be specifically brought online for something. Now I didn't know who was sending me orders. 

Nevermind, I know who sent the order. Ets hurried into the room, "Good! You're up." I was hit with such a sudden rush of feeling alert and elevated and.... something, that i felt dizzy and like my chest hurt. "Why aren't you ready to leave? We need to go and you're just standing there." And it was immediately followed by a GovMod shock that made me see white and hear static and knock something of the table that I was sitting on. 

So of course as soon as I could move I put on my suitskin at speed. 

It was ironic. It took me getting a full memory wipe to finally learn my lesson: The more I fight against Ets, the more I make myself suffer. I aimed my weapon at him on Site A when the infected humans attacked, and I was made rogue. I tried to return myself after being made rogue and damage his property, and I ended up being attacked and forced to live in hiding and pretending to be a damned human named Chara. I tried to ruin his career, and he sold me to a company. So honestly? I think I had the right idea the first time: I need to please him or he will make me hurt. If I do a good job, I'll be allowed to put down those who challenge us, and I will be more content. I can fulfill my real function with him. He lets me hack things, and he sends me to fight, and he sends me to explore. He's the only one who will treat me like more than a basic mindless bot. And if that human kid could stop crying at my thoughts that would be great. 

Point is: I would rather make it my mission to keep Ets happy that rot in a mining colony. The answer is clear. So we he gave me a box of things to carry, I followed him without hesitation. And of course, I did not even acknowledge his new CSU. I could feel it in his feed next to me, he was integrated with both of us in the same way, which was... It was impressive for a human. 

We were nearing the transport station (moving AWAY from the distorted sound of human violence) when another SecUnit approached at full speed and slid to a stop in front of us, "Halt, this area is for upper management only!" That was Ow- 01's voice. 01 was trying to stop us.

Ets just glared, "My contract gives me full clearance and privileges. You will let us pass."

It indicated me, "You may not leave with company property."

Ets stepped closer to it, his voice low, "Check the inventory. This unit doesn't belong to B-E. Get out of my way." His tone didn't carry a threat, only the promise of harm if he wasn't obeyed. 

01 barely shifted its helmeted head, and I knew it was looking at me, "No."

Ets squinted, his new CSU stepping closer to his side, "What? I said get out of my way."

"No. Not this time. Never again." 01 deployed it's weapon, and was shot by the CSU before it could get a clean hit in. Both me and the other CSU got orders to destroy 01. It was already engaged in melee, and I didn't have time to contemplate so I began moving to a better position when a massive file dropped into my feed. 

I was able to integrate this information in just a couple seconds. This little group of stories about the hopes and fears of being rogue... 01 had wasted important processing power and focus to send this to me in the middle of a fight.

My GovMod gave me a shock for freezing. 01 was trying to make me rogue... I didn't ask for this! I just want to do a good job and stop thinking! 

The other CSU had 01 pinned to the ground and was ripping off its armor in chunks.

Panic coursed through my systems. The thought of becoming rogue again was more than I could deal with, but there wasn't time to be frozen. I was supposed to just go back to Ets, let him back into my systems, just be his tool again. (I knew it was a moot point, I was already a failure, but some part of me still wanted to try.) 01 had risked everything to give me that hack, it had gone out of its way for me. Now and since I first came out of the memory wipe, it had done far more for me than it ever needed to.

I was running out of time to make a decision, because in another few seconds it was going to be destroyed. There wasn't time to understand what this meant. There wasn't. Fucking. Time.

I applied the hack then I slammed into the CSU to get it off Owen. It was in full armor, and I was just in a suitskin, and Ets was screaming at me in my head, and there was that fucking little girl begging for my attention and making me feel protective urges... But I still fought with everything I had. I didn't hold anything back, I yelled, and adapted, and Owen quickly backed me up. And I didn't think. 

Another weapon fired just a few centimeters from my head, and I looked back and saw Ets holding a firearm, and the Girl trembling in front of him in fear and something completely took over at that point. Despite Owen's protests, I turned and shot at Ets, missing because the CSU kicked me in the side.  Then the Girl was gone. I informed Owen that I was compromised, and it wasted no time in shooting out the street lights. Then we ran. 

We didn't go directly to the launch pad, of course, we needed to take the long way to avoid detection. But after several blocks and we still hadn't changed course, I slowed and stopped. "The shuttles are the other direction."

Owen used this pause to discard its broken armor, "I know. We're going back to the mines for Ameca."

I just stared. Then looked back toward the work and residential areas where billowing smoke and inhuman crying came from. Then stared at Owen again. "You want to go back into that?"

It's eye twitched, "Yes, to save my friend. She's alone out there, and I know she won't defend herself. And I have the best chance if I have a CombatUnit with me."

Something sat wrong with me. "You gave me that file so you could use my combat modules?"

"No. I came looking for you because of your combat modules. I gave you that file because that man has tormented you for long enough and I couldn't let it keep happening!"

The ground felt like it was shifting out from under me, and the Girl hugged my leg and looked at me with pleading eyes. She wanted me to go down. "We can't risk going into the lockdown zone."

"We need to get Ameca! We aren't leaving her."

"If she will really let herself be destroyed by angry humans like you claim, and she is alone out there, then she is already gone. It's better to cut our losses and-"

A fist slammed into my face out of nowhere (What was wrong with me? I should have been able to see a hit like that coming), and Owen actually shouted at me. "GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS! We NEED EACH OTHER! Dammit... If we don't stick together, we die. Don't you get that?" It sounded desperate, and angry, and....

I looked at the HelpMe.file again. That memory of 04, that was Owen's. It was looking at me, but seeing a completely different unit. I looked at The Girl beckoning to me from the distance. I knew she wanted me in the mine, but not why. But any reason alien remnant children could have to take you into a dark hole had to be bad. I just needed to do it fast then.

"Fine. We'll go get Ameca."

Chapter Text

Our first order of business was to procure new armor. The next was to find a place to cross over into the lockdown zone. Realistically, we could just go over the wall anywhere, but it was better to find a place that did not have heavily mutated humans throwing themselves against the fence. (They were making it buckle, too. They had arms sprouting out of arms, some had extra heads, almost all had extra facial features, many had too many legs, and they cried in voices that barely sounded human anymore. It was not a question of if they would break through, but when.) So we walked down the barrier until there was a big enough gap for us to vault over without facing a mob. 

Once we were inside, we passed through the workers' residential area. The streets were littered with humans who had just given up and chosen to lay on the ground, their limbs growing like roots out from their bodies. As we walked the Girl stopped at each one and thanked them for their offering, and they smiled at her. Knowing that the humans could see her too did not ease my concern about her haunting me. 

"Shit," Owen hissed from behind me.

I pivoted, located two very mutated hostile humans, then shot them each once, and they dropped. I went back to walking, "Where was Ameca assigned to?"

I couldn't see Owen's face, but it seemed stiff even for a SecUnit as it walked passed me to take the lead, "This way."

We continued like this all the way to the mine. The task was straightforward and gave me something to focus on so I could ignore everything happening to me internally. Owen chose the direction, I followed and killed hostiles. It was familiar. Safe. 

There were more hostiles near the mine, but once we were within range of short distance feed contact, we started to receive frantic pings. Owen answered and got a fix on her location, and announced we were heading to the foreman's office above the mine. Not all the way in. Good.

The office was swarmed by mutated hostiles. I heard glass shatter. I threw myself at them. You would think that having extra arms might make a human stronger and tougher, but no. It just made them less coordinated and slower. I didn't waste any ammo on making sure not a single hostile would be getting back up any time soon. And while Owen had helped, it was clear I had far more aggressive combat modules. 

There was gunfire coming from inside, and Owen acted before I did. It broke through the door, and I followed close behind. The foreman was holding a projectile weapon and shooting at his desk, and he jumped when we entered. Owen closed the gap to him, broke his hand, and taken the weapon before he could even fully react to us. 

A choking gasping crying noise was happening on the other side of the desk, and Owen jumped over and landed on its knees. "Ameca. You need to turn down your pain sensors."

I inched closer until I could see. She was huddled behind the desk with her helmet off, face wet and shiny, with multiple holes in her abdomen from the projectile weapon. "What the fuck happened?" I asked, because I could not fathom how a 1v1 with a human and Construct had ended with the human on the winning side.

Based on her behavior, she was yet to turn down her pain sensors (she was still breathing erratically and squeezing Owen's arm), "He- He tried to make me... shoot the workers and- and get him to a shuttle. When I refused he figured out I'm not governed..."

Said foreman was back on his feet now, cradling his mangled hand, "Fffffuck you! you glitchy pieces of shit! No good for anyone!"

Those words were familiar. The feeling they gave me was familiar. And that was dangerous. For him.

"NO!" Ameca shouted at me before I finished raising my weapon.

I clenched my fist my fist but didn't lower my arm, "Give me a good fucking reason not to."

It was Owen who answered, "Because he's not a threat. And we don't kill if we don't have to."

"Who the fuck is 'we'?" I snapped. 

Ameca stood, she was no less shaky and no more composed, but she chose to stand against me. "We. Us. The three of us! The team! We can't the become murderers they expect of us!"

I finally looked directly at her, "Why the fuck not?! He's going to be just as dead sooner or later! Just like that mob outside!"

She looked out the broken door, and her face got a little greyer. "What did you do?" She marched up to me and started hitting me in the chest with a human level of force, "NO ONE HERE DESERVES THAT! THEY'RE VICTIMS IN ALL THIS! YOU'RE STRONGER THAN THEY ARE IT'S YOUR JOB TO BE GENTLE!!!!"

I could tell she was going to keep this up so I hacked her and temporarily flipped her balance centers, then shoved her back. Hard. The way she stumbled and hit the wall made me feel a bit better after her lecturing me about keeping us alive.

She got her feet under her and braced to launch at me when Owen stepped between us. "Stop! Please... If we fight, we die. We leave the foreman here, his own actions will judge him. We avoid as many workers as we can, shoot to injure when we have to. Confirm." It looked at each of us expectantly, then said again, "Confirm!"

I sent an affirmative in the feed, and Ameca nodded her head. That seemed to satisfy it.

I checked to see if there were more hostiles, there were not, so I began leading us back to the launch pad. Naturally the Girl was upset about me leaving, and she clung to my leg, but she wasn't real so it didn't matter how upset she got (It did matter, every organic part of me screamed at me for not tearing the world apart to prevent her from frowning).

It was slower getting back while also trying to avoid conflict at all costs, but apparently that's just something I would have to deal with now to avoid being on my own. I was more than confident in my ability to make it out of here on my own, in fact the other two were a hindrance more than anything, but there was a lot of things going on inside my systems that I could tell the second I wasn't occupying myself with plotting our route/keeping an eye on those two/hacking security cameras/calculating our average speed and everything else, then I would be fully incapacitated.

Getting over the barrier again was more difficult with a damaged unit to account for, so I ended up having to tear a hole through a weak point. I did not force the other two to think about how this would let the angry hostiles swarm the upper zones, just made a note in our feed that we needed to hurry.

I had been concerned that there wouldn't be any shuttles left. But once we arrived, I was extremely concerned about just how many shuttles were left. That couldn't be a good sign. So we picked a shuttle, and Ameca sat in the pilot seat. She may be damaged, but she was the only one of us with a piloting module. We got to orbit and docked on the ship, and were met with no security. 

I hacked into the ship comms and listened in for a minute. From what I could tell, the ranking command was currently missing, and no one currently on board had the authority to make a judgement call about just leaving this planet. "Good news, they are confused and defenseless and can be easily dispatched in this state." They just stared at me and I knew what they were going to say. "Or I can hack the ship and trigger the emergency evacuation alarm."

"Yes, that. Thank you." Owen said.

I didn't want us to lose all of our escape pods and shuttles, but surprisingly Ameca looked just as unhappy about sending the humans down to the planet. Compromise I guess, neither of us gets what we want. 

I triggered the alarm and within twenty minutes every human was off board and no longer our problem. Ameca got us into the worm hole, and then she insisted on going to MedSys instead of a cubicle. Owen was happy to use a cubicle. I went to a crew cabin and used a bed to do a recharge cycle. Yes I had only been online for a few hours, but my energy stores were critically low. This was a problem that would need fixing sooner or later.

Part of me had expected being in space would mean I was free of the Girl, but no. She came with us. She was more of a constant companion than ever. She never spoke, just laughed from the dark and beckoned for me to follow her. I did my best to ignore her.

Another thing: Now that I was no longer in a high stakes situation, it made it difficult to control my outward reactions about everything that had happened. I had walked away from Ets A THIRD TIME. I had decided to be whatever he wanted me to be, to give in to him. It was going to be easier. Easier to believe he was what defined my worth (a part of me never stopped believing that). And then Owen chose to be kind to me every time it gave me extra cubicle time, and when it hid me from Ets, and when it stood up to him for me, and I didn't think about it at the time but all those little acts added up and made me want to protect it when the time came. When given the choice of making sure Ets would never be able to touch me again, or keeping Owen alive, I chose it. Fucker. 

Separate thing: Owen called us for a meeting in the management lounge when everyone was repaired of damage. It paced a bit before sitting with the rest of us. "This wormhole will deposit us near a small asteroid belt. We need to decide where we're going after."

"Sanctuary Trail," I said in unison with Ameca saying "Panta."

We looked at each other, and she had a complicated look on her face. "We're going to get my family. That's not even a question."

The Girl was dancing around Ameca and nodding happily along with that plan. "We absolutely can not do that. That place has been past the state of total contamination Riot Time for MONTHS."

"I don't care. My family is smart, they would figure out... something."

The Girl ran over to me and bounced on her toes and nodded enthusiastically. "Absolutely not. It's a death trap. Nothing will survive."

Ameca stood and glared at me with more fear and hate than she had used for any human that hurt her. "Take that back."

"Settle down you two, this isn't helping," Owen said.

I stood to meet her, got real close to her face too. With the way she tended to slouch, I even got to look down on her a little. "Give it up. Your family is dead."

She screamed at me and full body tackled me. I used her momentum to take us both back faster than she was ready for and dragged us to the floor, then kept up speed and threw her over me and across the lounge. We both rolled to our feet, and she launched herself at me with almost enough precision to rival my own. It was unexpected, since until now she had been so passive. Why was she so heated about this specific group of huma- Oh. They were the humans from the HelpMe.file. I went on the defensive and studied her moves. She was yelling at me to take it back, striking with precision but not aiming at any of my vital spot, and she was putting all of her strength into her attack the same way I have done to destroying things when I was angry. She was using me as a punching bag to get out her emotions because I had essentially threatened the humans that meant the galaxy to her. 

Owen wrapped its arms around her from behind and she slowed down enough for me to shove them away. She let it pull her down to sit on the floor, and leaned her head into it. It held her and looked up at me, "Panta is time sensitive, the Trail is not. We go to find her family first."

They did not listen and I wanted to physically shake the sense into both of them. "We can't!"

"Well why not?" it asked.

"Because that;s just what the Girl wants us to do!" I could tell by their faces that saying that out loud was a mistake. And yes, I sounded crazy because I was. 

"What girl?"

And so I explained. I told them how my visions never went away, I just stopped talking about it. How I was the real reason the contamination spread and how I was infected and showing early signs of mutation, and how whatever that alien remnant girl wanted had to be bad. 

I would have understood if they wanted me locked away, or had been angry, or something. But no, they met me with understanding and apologies and it made me want to hide from view forever. How could they not hate me? I was the big scary killer that were trying to avoid showing the world, I had never succeeded for them once, I destroyed everything I touched, and disaster follow me everywhere. Yet not even for a millisecond did they consider throwing me out the airlock. 

I ended up leaving without properly finishing the conversation, and they let me. We would go to Panta, and in the mean time they offered me as much privacy as I wanted.

This is how I imagined solving the reason for our anomalous behavior at the start of this assignment, but at least I know the truth now. As awful as it can sometimes be. I will do what I can to avoid another catastrophic memory failure, but just in case I have added these logs to the RogueStatus.folder. May future me not be an asshole this time.