Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Overse

"Wait, did you hear that?"

I stopped in the middle of my story, listening for whatever it is that Ratthi has heard, but coming up blank. "Are you just trying to get me to shut up?"

"No, shut up, I think someone's at the door," he trapped my knee. I stopped bouncing my leg and sat still, finally giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Sure enough, after a moment, there was a light footstep. Just one, and it didn't match with the familiar pattern of someone going to their room. We were sitting near the door already, in attempt to avoid waking Arada while we talked, and as far as I was aware, Pin-Lee and Gurathin were both already in their rooms. Bharadwaj isn't even on the station, I know she's got familial obligations and won't be going with us tomorrow on the survey. There's only one other room connected to our lobby, since Mensah uses a more secure sight on the station until he term is over, one that hasn't been used in nearly four months...

"You don't think that's..." I turned to look to Ratthi with a grin.

He matched it and got up quickly, rushing to the door to pull out open. Sure enough, our missing security consultant stood there looking like we'd just caught it doing something embarrassing. It started down and away from Ratthi, why beamed at it, "SecUnit! Why didn't you tell us you were coming back? How was your 'research trip' with Perihelion?"

It didn't say anything for a moment, and I could tell we had really caught it of guard. Typically, it acts very human like. It shifts from one foot to the other, lands to one side, moves its hands unnecessarily... occasionally, however, it just gets incredibly still and the uncanny valley reminder that it isn't quite human comes back. This time, it lasted long enough that I had time to get out of my chair and stand beside Ratthi, and I began to worry something was really wrong. It's eyes, still trained somewhere near the doorknob, were unfocused, so it's doing something in the feed probably. Probably not hacking the station, at least.

"What's wrong with you?" It, for some reason thought this was an ok getting, shifting to look directly at me.

SecUnit is very bad at masking its expressions. It's gotten better, especially when we're around strangers or crowds, but it didn't seem to make any effort not to look deeply confused now. Wearing its favorite cargo pants and a long sleeve shirt in the color of Perihelion's crew (but without the logo), it looked as familiar as I’m used to. I'm not used to getting its direct attention. The only people who get that are the ones that piss it off or, sometimes, Dr. Mensah.

"Excuse me?" I didn't take offense, because SecUnit doesn't mean to offend.

"What's happened to you? What's wrong?" It reiterated, holding the same expression and tone.

Ratthi looked between us while I tried to figure out why it thought I might be worth such concern. I'm not sick as far as I'm concerned. I haven't gotten any major injuries. Did it find out about my argument with Pin-Lee? That was a month ago and we've gotten over it. Besides, SecUnit doesn't typically care so much about stuff like that.

"Oh! She pregnant. Is that what you mean?" Ratthi put it together faster than I did, and that isn't because I was being difficult and refusing to admit it could think my being pregnant could be something 'wrong', but because I hadn't even considered it in the circumstance.

I smiled widely and put a hand over my abdomen, "Right. That must be it. I'm only two months in, it's exciting."

SecUnit took a step back and adjusted to look down where my hands was with... horror? Shock? "You're... growing another human?" Again, I didn't take offense.

"That's right. Have you... never met someone that's pregnant?"

Its eyes flickered away and it tried to stand more at ease, returning to some of those fake human movements even though it still looked uncomfortable. "No. In any contact that requires the rental of a SecUnit, conditions are too hazardous for humans with that condition." And I guess it just hasn't had the opportunity since Mensah became its guardian. "Does it... hurt?"

It looks incredibly tense, but if it really wanted to it would just walk away and end the conversation. It's curious. "Not yet. From my understanding, it will later some." It still looks horrified, but it's expression has eased quite a bit and it mostly looks confused.

"What's wrong?" Ratthi questioned. "I know you know how humans reproduce, and I'm sure you think it's gross or whatever, but there's something else bothering you."

"It says Dr. Overse on the crew list for the survey leaving tomorrow. You shouldn't be going in this condition."

I relaxed, realizing exactly what the problem is now. "I'm not far enough along that I have to stop working. Exercise is good for the pregnancy, and we're going to a familiar planet with no hostile fauna. It rains a lot there, but I've been four times already. I'll be fine."

It made a skeptical expression, but didn't argue. Instead, it lingered a few more seconds, then turned away toward the door to its room.

"Goodnight." Ratthi called after it. It turned to halfway look over its shoulder at us and nodded, but otherwise didn't acknowledge before disappearing into its room. He turned toward me, "This'll be interesting."

"I'm not surprised, really. It doesn't like the messy parts of humanity very much." I rubbed my stomach, imagining when I'm going to start showing and eager for it.

"Yeah, humans are pretty gross." Ratthi joked. I shoved him. "I bet it's going to act like you're crazy and avoid you for a while, but give it some time and it's going to start actually liking kids because of you."

I wouldn't go that far. I've seen how uncomfortable it is around the little ones. "Maybe."

"It's got the right idea, though. I'm going to bed too, I'll see you in the morning." He stepped out of the still open door and gave me a half wave.

I waved him off and pulled it shut, meandering back toward the bedroom where my wife snored softly. I'm tired too, but the excitement just keeps coming back to me. I don't know how long I'm going to be comfortable continuing our surveys, but for now, I am really looking forward to the fresh air and hiking involved. I don't honestly expect to see a whole lot of SecUnit while I'm pregnant - it's been traveling with Perihelion and it's crew mostly for the past year and I see no reason for that to change - but I do really hope this doesn't make it too uncomfortable while it is on the station visiting us.

Chapter Text

Overse

Arada and I got up early in the morning, prepping for the six week long survey. It's going to be an easy one, in familiar territory, where resources are accounted for and the longitudinal research thus far suggests no negative surprises. We've been returning to this location, in the Preservation System, every year for a decade already and the mission manifest suggests we'll continue returning for two more decades, unless the study is expanded again. I haven't been to the planet since I was an intern, but when sign up circulated, I thought it would be a pleasant vacation from everything else.

The atmosphere is breathable. The climate is tropical. The scenery is amazing. Honestly, it would almost be a vacation, with just Arada, Ratthi, a new intern, and I. Pin-Lee, Gurathin, and Dr. Mensah are all on station right now, but for political and legal reasons, but they intended to see us off. Now, I half expected - mostly hoped - that SecUnit would be there too.

I didn't expect to see it added to the team list and waiting near the sweaty and nervous intern.

"SecUnit," Dr. Mensah, who was walking with Arada and I toward disembarkment. "What are you doing here? I heard you returned last night, I know Amena was looking forward to seeing you tonight."

"I won't be there."

"You aren't going on this survey, are you?" She gave it a more direct baffled look than I would have. She then gestured to Arada and I, "They don't need security on this survey. It's a planet in the Preservation System with no major hazards."

"Under the circumstances, I believe my services will be needed." It insisted, not standing down.

"You're making the intern nervous. Ziba, isn't it?" Arada stepped forward to shake their hand.

"Y- yeah." They accepted the handshake, shooting a glance to SecUnit and away to us quickly.

"SecUnit, I promise, we'll be safe on this one. No one has ever been attacked or encountered raiders or anything on this survey. I've been twice already, Overse has been four times, and Ratthi's been three. Three?" Arada glanced to me.

"Pretty sure, yeah. It's a routine trip, some simple experiments and data collection, we don't need security for this. You don't have to come." I know it dislikes planetary missions, so why is it so insistent this time?

"I don't have to," it agreed, but did not move away from the lineup.

I looked toward Ayda, hoping she could shed any sort of light on the circumstance. She understands it easier, she can get it to talk easier, but she just frowned with her furrowed brow, like she was trying to figure out what one of her younger kids had painted to avoid asking and inadvertently insulting them.

I've started paying a lot of attention to her interacting with her kids.

That's when Ratthi and Pin-Lee showed up. Ratthi announced himself first. Raising his voice while they were still several paces away. "Ah! I'm glad to see you came to say goodbye, SecUnit! I'm sorry we're leaving right as you're getting here."

"I'm coming on the survey." It insisted, shoulders square and not bending at all.

It isn't that I don't want it to come, it just doesn't make sense.

"Huh? Why?" Ratthi clearly agrees.

Pin-Lee's eyes unfocused, clearly looking at something in the feed, then she grimaced. "You shouldn't hack mission manifests. You aren't going to get paid for this, inviting yourself like this."

"I don't care about that. You can negotiate that."

We stood in baffled silence for a moment, and I don't know what they were doing, but I was trying to figure out if poor Ziba is alright with this.

Ratthi laughed. We all turned to look at him.

"Is it because of Overse? Because she's pregnant?" Oh. It is! Look at SecUnit's face, it's true! "Hey, she isn't in danger on a mission like this, and she's so early in the first trimester, there's no danger to the baby."

Dr. Mensah exhaled slowly, and I saw her smile. "Trust me, she'll be fine. She won't have to worry about that for several more months, and it's different for everyone. This is going to be a very low-risk mission she'd still be able to do it into the third trimester."

"I would still feel more comfortable accompanying her in this condition." SecUnit finally admitted, and I gave in.

"Alright if you really want to go, I think that's fine. I bet this will be good for you too, actually, because I bet you haven't been able to go on a calm mission like this in a long time." I looked toward Ziba, who didn't look any more relaxed with this revelation. "It'll be fine. Its not as scary as it pretends to be."

"I'm as 'scary'," it emphasized the word to show its opinion of it, "as I need to be to keep my clients safe."

"Yeah, and you can't go around scaring interns on routine surveys. Alright? This is probably their first survey." Arada gestured toward the shuttle, motioning for all of us to get a move on.

"It's my second." They supplied, stepping forward and taking the lead onto the shuttle. "I'll be fine."

"Try to relax some, while you're out there." Ayda stepped closer to SecUnit, closer than it allows most of us. But it doesn't step away from her usually, but it does turn to look at her directly, which would be plenty to make me step back where I'd been. "And have some fun."

"I'll try." It replied dryly, then moved on into the shuttle. The rest of us lingered a moment longer, sharing goodbyes and hugs.

Predictably, SecUnit didn't say much on our way to the transport, nor on our way to the wormhole. While Ratthi and Arada talked with Ziba, likely to put them to ease despite the unexpectedly unwarranted increase in security detail, I watched out the observation window near the botpilot module. I saw Preservation Station behind us, and off to the side I saw a familiar research and education transport. Figuring waving was pointless, I shifted closer to where SecUnit had decided to stand as if it were some contracted SecUnit not allowed to sit down.

"Are you still in contact with Perihelion?"

It nodded.

"Tell it I said hi. I'd like to visit next time if there's more time."

There was a very brief wait time before, "It says 'congratulations'."

I smiled, wondering if Peri would be as weird about my pregnancy as SecUnit is so far.

The survey was, predictably, as calm and safe as it always was. SecUnit only spent the first few days acting like I was made of glass in an earthquake before it seemed to get bored and monitored me - and the others - mostly with its drones. It told us when asked that it was spending most of its time watching a trashy show that it didn't like but needed to complete. Ziba was always jumpy when it was in the same room as them, but I could tell it was making an effort to make sure they knew where it was when they were near each other.

At the end of the survey, when we returned to the station, it left immediately and didn't show back up for two days, despite a lack of any indication it had left without telling anyone.

Chapter Text

Mensah

The only sounds of the early morning lounge was the occasional tapping of game pieces, the climate control systems, and Amena's occasional sniffing nose.

"Check."

She sneezed, then moved a pawn to protect her king.

"Are you sure it's allergies?" I looked her over again, familiar with her allergies and unfamiliar with her current symptoms. Typically, she gets sinus congestion, not this.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

My on board climate has superior air quality to most stations, there are no allergens circulating currently.

Amena grimaced toward the ceiling, "Traitor."

I sighed, leaning back in my chair and appraising my eldest with reluctance. Where did she get this martyrdom from? "Amena, go to Medical and get some antibiotics or something. I'm sure Perihelion won’t mind sparing the resources."

I won't be sparing them; that's what they're there for. To keep my crew healthy. You are not healthy, and you're spreading germs all over the place.

Amena groaned and sank deeper into her chair. "I'm fine! It's just a bug, I'll be over it in a few days on my own. I probably got it from the theater back on the station, there were people coughing all through the performance."

I considered this. We had gone up to the station a few days early so I could take care of some political concerns before Perihelion picked us up, and I had noticed more people sniffling and coughing during the meetings.

Amena took my silence as skepticism, "SecUnit, back me up on this. There were all kinds of people coughing, wasn't there? Which means there's just some bug going around, it isn't a big deal."

"It was disgusting. We sat in the back because of this." SecUnit, who had mostly been quiet up to this point, interjected.

In Preservation, the only reason anyone has for not seeking medical attention is if it is unnecessary. If someone is truly sick, there is no fee or cost to getting an exam or accessing a medsystem and getting medicine. But for seasonal bugs, most of us just tough it out to avoid coddling our immune system. For the most part, when that happens, people are considerate enough to wear masks to avoid spreading it too much. However, it's also considerate to remain station-bound when you are sick to avoid spreading it to other systems.

"Amena. Please go to Medical and let Perihelion take a look at you. I don't want you spreading it to its crew."

"Fine, but you better go too. You've been breathing my air for three days already." She gave me a wrinkled expression, but I didn't have a problem with that; she's right. She and I typically share a room while traveling with Perihelion, considering we typically travel with it while it is holding classes. If it were on a research or espionage mission, it only carries its qualified anti-Corporation crew and, most of the time lately, SecUnit. It's too early for me to know if I have caught her bug or not, but spreading local illnesses to other systems can be more catastrophic than containing it to its native environment. Perihelion's crew likely has an entirely different immuno-history than we do.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Amena scoffed and got up, stopping to look pointedly at me. I was putting the chess pieces away, however. "I'm not going to leave a mess here, give me just a moment."

She huffed dramatically, came closer to help me, and then sneezed three times.

Actually, I would rather you leave that out so I can sanitize it.

I set the pieces back out and lead the way out of the lounge and toward Medical. In my peripheral, I saw SecUnit stand to follow us silently. This wasn't necessary, it can't get sick like we do, but it may just be bored. Probably.

We passed only one person on our way, and judging by their distant eyes and messy hair, they were on their way to breakfast. Amena and I had already gone to breakfast, given SecUnit had gotten us up early for a call back from the station. It hadn't been an emergency, but Peri's clock is set later than Preservation Station's and Volescu hadn't considered the difference.

Medical is near the passenger cabins, and we had the option between passing the crew's (plus the ones we were given for the trip) or the students' and teachers'. One was quieter than the other, but in an effort to contain my daughter's germs, we took our own hall despite the fact more people were awake here.

Several of Peri's regular crew cabins were open and there was plenty of movement inside, along with the room Pin-Lee and Bharadwaj shared. I saw Iris standing in their doorway, talking to them, but they were distracted enough not to stop us to talk.

The Arada and Overse's room started to open as we came up on it. Amena was saying something about her studies to me, and one of her friends at school, when SecUnit rushed past me to stand at the now-opening door, stopping them from coming out.

"Uh, is everything alright, SecUnit?" Overse's groggy voice came from behind it.

My steps faltered and I paused to watch. It did not move, continuing to stand in the way of the cracked door opening any more, it's back to Overse. "Don't come out until Amena and Dr. Mensah have passed."

"I'm not that sick!" Amena threw her hands up in exasperation, glaring at it. "It isn't like I've got the plague! Come on."

We were getting glances from those that were in the hallway now. I put a hand on Amena's back in attempt to usher her onward. "It's just watching out for us."

"Yeah, well it doesn't seem all that worried about me coughing all over anyone else. Why did you even come with us?" She crossed her arms now and tried to square up to SecUnit.

I sighed, wondering if it's a good thing she's so unafraid of it. I know it would never hurt her, but I also know no human in their right mind should try to pick a fight with a SecUnit, friend or not. "Amena, let's just keep going."

"Oh." I heard Overse yawn out from behind it. "You don't need to worry so much, the baby isn't going to be in danger from a little cough."

"Your immune system is compromised right now, you need to be careful." SecUnit insisted.

Amena deflated finally. "Oh. Fine, whatever. I'll stay away from her until I stop sneezing." Then she let it go and allowed me to usher her further down the hall.

It let Overse out of her room once we were at the end of the hall, and seemed to linger as she said something to it. I requested its attention in the feed.

How much do you know about human pregnancy?

What I've learned through the entertainment feed and what Overse has explained to me. She is a vulnerable person right now, she should not have come.

She's fine. We aren't going anywhere dangerous. If you would be comfortable with it, since you seem to be looking out for her so much, I'd like to help you learn more.

I would appreciate that.

I can teach you too. That was Perihelion, in the closed connection between SecUnit's and my feed that no one else should be able to access. But Perihelion always has access, and sometimes I forget that.

SecUnit, I don't think, ever forgets that. I wasn't talking to you, asshole.

I smiled as I held open the door to Medical for Amena. It always talks to Perihelion differently - more relaxed - than it does to me.

I've had plenty of pregnant humans here and I've even provided medical care to many of them. I am perfectly qualified to educate you on how to meet the needs of humans that are creating new humans.

I still wasn't asking you.

I have an educational video about it stored in my medical education unit. There is a very interesting part about-

Shut up ART I don't want to have this conversation with you!

Despite their conversation in my feed, Perihelion was taking care of Amena now, determining what sort of illness she has and how to treat it most effectively. I leaned against the wall while she went through the motions and waited patiently.

I cleared my throat, verbalizing it through the feed too. I have some time this afternoon to talk about it. We can discuss it in your room, for privacy.

Thank you. Fuck off, ART. SecUnit withdrew in the feed just after entering Medical after us.

Amena perked up. "Hey, you still came? Sorry about snapping at you back there, I hadn't even thought about Overse's baby."

"It's fine," it said, still sounding irritated enough that I couldn't help but to assume it was still talking with Perihelion.

"You're still mad at me though! I can tell." Amena had no idea, however.

"I'm not mad at you." It's voice relaxed now.

A medical drone came out with a pill bottle and freshly printed label to give to her. She slid off the examination bench and took it. "Are you sure? You seem mad."

"I'm not mad at you," It repeated, then after a moment, "No, I'm not mad at you either. Leave me alone."

Amena looked to me curiously. "ART?"

I nodded. "Let me see what it gave you."

She held it up for me to look at at the and tone Perihelion said, If you sit on the bench next you'll likely get the same.

Chapter Text

Ratthi

I looked up from the token I was fidgeting with to check on SecUnit, as I had been occasionally since we sat down. It can’t use its drones in here, without breaking the rules and getting kicked out of the waiting room at least, so I figured it was tapped into the security cameras in both open corners of the room. I don’t know that for sure, though, because supposedly it ‘promised’ not to hack on the station without permission. Honestly, I doubt anyone would notice if it’s not changing anything and just using the cameras as eyes, so I have my doubts that it’s staying away from those.

It isn’t using them right now, though. If it were, it wouldn’t have a bothered expression and be staring toward the ground near the front of the waiting room. That’s too specific of a location. I already knew what was up there, but I followed it’s gaze anyway.

I tapped it in the feed. You good?

Why is there domestic fauna here? Those creatures aren’t supposed to be in this sector of the station.

I looked back toward the dog laying down peacefully at the young woman’s feet. It had a vest with plainly printed letters on the side that I knew it could read, but maybe it just wasn’t familiar with service animals. The letters on the dog’s vest was an acronym, which it could easily look up in the feed, but apparently hasn’t yet.

There are exceptions. That one’s doing its job. It’s trained to behave in environments like this, and to do its job without causing problems.

The sub-sentient creature has a job? SecUnit is skeptic about this. Its tone in the feed isn’t like humans, where emotion bleeds in it. It’s facial expression, however, is completely open and it made no effort to school it.

“What’s wrong?” Arada leaned toward us to ask in a low tone.

“Nothing.” I contemplated whether it was worth talking about here. Overse should be out soon, and we can go get breakfast. We can talk about it more there, rather than the mostly-quiet waiting room. “SecUnit’s never seen a therapy dog before.”

“I’ve seen them in serials,” it objected quickly, defensively. “That’s what this is?”

“Yeah.” Arada looked toward the dog too. She was about to say more, but in perfect timing, the door beside the desk opened up and Overse came out.

SecUnit was the first one to stand up and meet her. I still find the whole situation amusing, but, it’s been hovering around her enough by now that I was starting to get used to it. I expected it to get to her first.

Only after we left the waiting room and Overse pushed the health report toward us with a big grin and told us that the baby was healthy did Arada pull conversation back to the dog. “Have you really never seen a therapy dog?”

SecUnit was taking its drones back out now, and watched us with those. “No. That’s ridiculous. A sub-sentient creature creature can’t preform a doctorate-level service.”

I couldn’t help but laugh this time. “It’s not a therapist, it’s a therapy dog. They just help support the person emotionally. There’s a lot of different types of service animal, and dogs are good at a lot of them. That one was probably to help the person stay calm through medical services, they might have trauma or anxiety disorders. It could alert for chemical imbalances, allergies, or warnings for episodes of something. Dog’s sense of smell is really useful in stuff like that.”

“There are more efficient tools for bio-monitoring.”

“But people like animals.” Overse tilted her head, probably remembering the dog she used to have when we first met. “And those tools don’t help people’s nerves.”

“Hey, you know enough about anxiety. It can’t be that far-fetched.” I called it out.

Its shoulders tensed, but predictably, it didn’t get upset with me. “I would never become reliant on a ‘dog’ for emotional support.”

“You know, I’m not even surprised you don’t like animals. I think of anyone, you’ve got a good excuse. That’s a shame, because I could really see you with a cat.” Arada was grinning in a way that told me she was joking, but SecUnit’s face screwed up with disgust anyway.

“Those creatures’ idea of clean is licking themselves.”

“Oh, oh, SecUnit already has an emotional support pet.” Arada waved a hand and bounced. She said this to the others, grinning, gesturing toward it.

“I do not.”

Alright, I’m confused too. What is she talking about?

“No, you lost me too.” Overse gave her a blank look. I looked between them, trying and failing miserably to imagine SecUnit with a pet of any kind.

Arada slammed her hands down on my shoulders, making me stumble. “Ratthi is SecUnit’s emotional support human.”

“That’s stupid,” it accused immediately, but I was already cracking up.

“It’s not stupid. Out of all of us, Ratthi’s been there when you get into shit the most. And you said, on that planet with the colony and the corporates, you made Ratthi stay on the hopper and follow you guys that way.”

Deities, she has a point. I felt like I had been completely useless then. “You know what? I’m honored. It’s like, when you called me and Gurathin to help you break into that one transport.”

“I don’t have an emotional support human.”

“Alright, alright,” Overse didn’t sound like she meant it. “I just have one question for you, alright? SecUnit, when you had to go to that conference with Mensah, the one with Preservation admin council, that was stressful, right? It went well, but it was stressful. What’d you do?”

It glared at her. “That is an unfair example taken out of context.”

It had found me and we watched a show I’d wanted to show it for a while. It had been avoiding telling me yes or no on that show, and I hadn’t expected to see it show up so abruptly at the time, but it seemed to like the show well enough. I mean, we did watch it most of the day.

“Yeah, those two events were completely unrelated. I’d been begging it to watch with me for a week.” I tried to back it up, at least. You know, be a good emotional support human.

“Sure.” Overse hummed slightly and rested her hand over her stomach again. “Did you all have a chance to look over the statement? I should be fine to go on the next trip, still. After that, I think we should stay home. I’m going to miss traveling, but I’m going to want to stay out for a year or so.”

Chapter Text

Arada

We have some fancy restaurants in the Preservation System, but nothing quite like this. In the Corporation Rim, there’s more free market competition that drives businesses to commit to their image or gimmick with more enthusiasm than most in the Preservation System do. We have fancy restaurants, but we don’t have ‘You are literally eating among the stars, the walls are a black void and there is a minor level of privacy between each table because of the slowly moving, projected stars’ sort of fancy restaurant.

The food is amazing, and the atmosphere is almost perfect. Almost. There is a table behind me that’s arguing loudly about some contract or another.

“I don’t need to stay for dessert.” Overse leaned over the table to tell me.

“Good, because dessert is more expensive than the main course.” I joked, because we weren’t worrying about prices tonight. Tonight, we are celebrating her last free venture for, probably, several years. We’re going back home soon, and while I’m not leaving her side any time soon, I’ll be going back to work sooner than her. Before even that, I’ll still have the freedom to travel as needed. But we won’t have the opportunity to travel to a CR fancy restaurant any time soon.

“Can I have another bite of your-” She cut herself off, and at first I thought it was because the baby was acting up again. It’s been acting up a lot more the last two days, she says, but that isn’t it. I realized about the same time she stopped, the table behind us that had been arguing had suddenly gotten even louder as one of the people at the table began shouting and the other two were rushing to talk over each other.

“Will you shut the fuck up!” A completely different table, also near us, cut through the chatter that had been politely ignoring the arguing table up until now.

“Mind your own fucking business, asshole.”

“You have been ruining everyone’s night here! Take your stupid business deal outside, or just fucking leave already.”

“We have every right to be here as much as anyone else. I’m sorry you’ve never-”

“Hey, I just paid our bill.” I leaned over the table to tell her. I had pulled it up in the feed when the man at the other table first shouted. “I think we should get boxes and get out of here.”

“Good idea.” She raised her head up and started to look around for a waiter.

A third table joined the argument, on the side of the second table, and wait staff attempted to get involved. It was impossible to flag anyone down to get us a box. I was just about to suggest we leave the over-priced leftovers and just leave when a table on the other side of the dining area began to get involved. Suddenly, we weren’t near the drama, we were surrounded by it.

I guess a Corporation Rim fancy restaurant is still a part of the Corporation Rim. Even when they’re supposed to be enjoying themselves and celebrating, or enjoying their dates, or whatever reason they come to a place like this, they’re still so stressed that they can’t just walk away.

“Overse, we need to go now.” I turned to meet her eyes, and she looked like she was going to say the same thing.

Something screeched on the floor and several chairs knocked over. Overse had to stop only halfway to standing, and this time it was the baby. I could tell by the look on her face.

“Give me a second.” She said, though I couldn’t actually hear her words over the uproar that came from someone shoving a table to the side into a couple of patrons that hadn’t previously involved themselves in this drama.

The woman who had shoved the table propped her foot up on another table and kicked it out, out of her way as she made direct path to the center of the argument, the table right behind us. More people, this time the ones who had been eating at the table she had kicked, were in an uproar.

Oh, hell no.

“Overse, we need to get out of here right now.” I tapped her arm, and looked for the safest path out of here.  My instincts told me to get my tired and round wife away from the suddenly angry corporate workers, but I couldn't exactly yank her around. Staff had sent the holographic stars to the ceiling to increase visibility in the eating lounge, which was the only reason I was able to see the side entrance and spot a familiar face. A familiar face that’s been hanging around us an awful lot lately.

The angry woman that likes to kick things was almost to our table, and I was only just able to get Overse standing. But now there are so many people around, and so much happening, and our table was in that woman’s way too. I threw my feed open and said, SecUnit, please get us out of here!

The angry woman that likes to kick things propped her foot up on our table, not paying any attention to us, already making threats toward the core of the fighting, now that she’s close enough to be heard over everything else. She was about to shove it into us, but she was cut off mid word as her expression shifted very abruptly from angry to startled. That’s about as far as it could get before SecUnit had her flipped over, on the table, and its other arm in the air.

The sound of an energy weapon firing at the ceiling was enough to give the entire eating lounge pause. They were finally quiet enough to all pay attention to one thing; SecUnit.

“Kill each other somewhere else.” It glared about to the instigators of this fight, and down to the no-longer-angry woman who now looked terrified. “Stay the fuck away from my clients.”

It let her run away.

“Thank you.” I relaxed, the adrenaline fading and making me feel exhausted. I had no idea what I was going to do if that table had been shoved into my very pregnant wife.

It rounded on us, its expression not much better yet. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Yeah, I guess we deserve that. I grabbed Overse’s hand and lead the way out of the room. SecUnit stayed close behind us both, glaring at anyone that stood too close, so it was pretty easy to get out of the restaurant.

When we were finally out of there, "I told you it was too dangerous to be in corporate territory right now, with your affliction." SecUnit did not glare at her, or me, but at the wall. "I'm going to escort you back to the hotel, and tomorrow I'm going to get you a shuttle back to the transport."

"We don't need to cut the mission short." Overse objected. "Not on my behalf."

"The rest of us will finish the retrieval. You are going to wait on the transport where is safer."

My wife took a deep breath, rubbing her face. I knew what she was thinking, I knew what she wanted to say, and I knew why she didn't. In an attempt to help, I put it into words for her. "She can't just sit around doing nothing for the next four months."

"Then pick up a hobby that doesn't involve almost getting yourself killed." It looked uncomfortable and looked toward where she hovered hands over her abdominal now.

She exhaled deeply. "Alright. Alright, I'll retire from the missions for a while." She looked up to see it staring. The disgust gave way weeks ago to what honestly looked like morbid curiosity. "Uh... it's kicking right now. Do you want to feel?" She held a hand out toward it.

It took a step away and turned halfway around. "No. Come on."

Chapter Text

Amena

ART’s throwing a fit right now. SecUnit is refusing to go with it now, on some grand adventurous mission, and ART’s been complaining to me about it, right up until it left the system. I really couldn’t do anything about it, though. If SecUnit doesn’t want to do something, like actually doesn’t want to, it won’t. And right now, it doesn’t want to go very far away from Overse.

Not that it’s, in the last eight and a half months, admitted this outright, but everyone knows it. Everywhere she goes, it goes. Maybe not hovering over her shoulder in person, but she’s got a designated drone, just like Second Mom typically has and I do occasionally. At one point, Ratthi put googly eyes on it and SecUnit got angry (“These are important security tools, not toys”) but it left the sticker Ratthi had made later that said ‘Important Security Tool’.

ART only just left through the wormhole, and the past week alone, SecUnit has been getting on everyone’s nerves. Overse isn’t even on the station, she went down to the planet to be with her family as her due date got closer, and SecUnit insisted it did not want to be there, with mostly strangers, for an unspecified amount of time, just to be present when one of the most disgusting things a human can do takes place.

Second Mom is in training for the next two days (since she left her position as council admin, and as her therapy sessions are spreading out more, she’s decided to work with training interns and graduate students, so she’s at Preservation Alliance University. SecUnit isn’t getting on her nerves.

It walked through the room again. For the fourth time in the last two hours. It says it isn’t patrolling, but Bharadwaj confirmed for me that it’s passing by her at the same, regular intervals too.

I stood up before it could leave. It didn’t stop to look at me or anything, it just continued on its path as it had been. “Come on.”

This time it stopped. “What?”

“We’re going down to the planet for the day. We aren’t staying at her house overnight, and you don’t have to socialize with her family. We’re just going to visit her.”

“We don’t need to do that.”

“You’re going to have to start sometime, because she’s staying down there a while, until the baby’s older. I think she and Arada are going to take turns staying home with it while they’re raising it, and you’re not going to want to not see them again for the next eighteen years. So now’s as good a time as any, before its even born.” I’ll contact them when we’re on the planet, I’m sure they won’t mind a surprise visit.

“Just for the day.” It looked relieved.

“Just for the day. If we stay late so late that we need to stay on the planet, we’ll go back to my house. You’ve been there enough times, and you can hide in Second Mom’s office again. But we’ll probably be able to get back up here in plenty of time anyway.”

It didn’t say anything, but adjusted direction toward the transport right. It walked beside me silently, and after only a few steps, it sent me my shuttle ticket through the feed.

ART said that it has had several small children and pregnant people on it in the past, but it had avoided answering whether it had had any infants on board. I think the youngest person SecUnit’s ever interacted with is my youngest sibling, who by the time it met him, was eight. It’s obviously really worked up about the whole situation, but Second Mom says that it will adjust fine.

I pretended not to notice when no one else sat near us on the shuttle. It’s running its ‘pretend to be a human’ codes right now, I can tell, and most others didn’t pay it any more attention than they did me. I doubt most of them knew it wasn’t human, unless they were regularly on the station and happened to have encountered it. Its feed ID was blank again (as it does frequently until Station Security tells it to put it back), so I don’t think no one say by us because it made them nervous. A more likely explanation was that it had kept those seats empty.

I managed to get ahold of Arada once we were on the surface. She and Overse were enthusiastic that we were coming in for a visit. SecUnit still acted nervous. It hasn’t not acted nervous in months, though.

Overse and Arada lived in a relatively smaller home near a collection of others where, I’m assuming, their relatives lived. Or one of their relatives. I don’t actually know if they’re both from this province. The house is really cute, though. It’s got two stories, but surely only a few rooms on each floor. SecUnit stayed a few steps back when I knocked on the door, only three drones still with us. It had sent the others to scout the property, I assume.

Arada opened the door. “Hey, Amena. SecUnit. Come on in. It’s really nice to get company, it’s mostly been us the past few days.” She stepped aside to let us in.

“I thought about visiting earlier, but ART came by yesterday.”

“Oh, what for? It didn’t stay long?” Arada looked toward SecUnit. “You’re still here, so it must not have been a mission. Was it just passing through the area?”

“It wanted me to go on a mission with it,” SecUnit said. “I said no.”

“SecUnit!” Overse groaned from the other room, where we were headed. “Quit changing things just because of me! Did Perihelion at least take a rain check?”

“No. It doesn’t need me for data reconnaissance. It’s just throwing a fit.” SecUnit stayed in the doorway while I followed Arada’s lead and sat down. They were both on a small couch, and I’d taken the plush stool by the bookshelf, leaving the arm chair closer to the side table for SecUnit when it finally decided to sit. “Your house is smaller than Dr. Mensah’s.”

They both grinned. “It’s new. Neither of our families are actually from this area, but, we’re about halfway between both of them. Which is why we haven’t had as many visitors as we were hoping for. Pin-Lee lives in one of the homes in this area, though, and I think Bharadwaj used to live here. Do you guys want to see the baby room?”

SecUnit didn’t react in any way, which given the circumstances, was a resounding ‘yes’. So I said it for it. “Yeah, let’s see it. Have you got everything set up?”

Overse hauled herself up, brushing off Arada’s offered hand, and lead the way. “Just about. We’re still getting a few gifts in the mail. Arada’s sister won’t stop sending these cute little plushies that she’s making, and my uncle said he sent a mobile, but it hasn’t arrived yet. Oh, and the books.” She stopped at a closed door on the bottom floor and grinned at me and SecUnit’s shoulder. “I hadn’t realized how many great kids books there are. We had to take the old bookshelf in her back and get a bigger one.”

The room is mostly green and yellow colors. The crib was wooden and it looked handmade, same with the bookshelf. The bookshelf they had now is only half filled, but it’s filled with a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. There was a toy bin already filled up entirely, a plush circular rug in the corner under the window, and a blanket rack tucked behind the door.

“It’s beautiful.” I grinned toward both of them. I glanced to SecUnit to get its reaction, only to notice its face twisted up. “SecUnit, what do you think?”

“I am unfamiliar with bedrooms intended for infants, but, there appear to be several safety risks.”

Oh deities. It’s a Security Unit, as much as it’s a person, its also a SecUnit.

“Well, it’s going to mostly be held for the first several weeks.” Overse explained patiently. “Once we start letting it down to build muscles, and before it starts crawling around, we’re going to baby-proof more of the house.”

SecUnit pointed toward the crib. “There shouldn’t be any toys inside the infant’s sleeping space. It could suffocate.”

Arada went to take the clearly handmade plushies out. “It was just a cute place to put them for now. Again, it won’t even be using the crib until its born. I promise, we’ll make sure our baby is safe.”

SecUnit frowned, then left the room.

“I think the room is lovely,” I insisted, “and if you need any help baby-proofing when you get there, I’m sure SecUnit would love to supervise.”

Chapter Text

SecUnit

“I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“You waited until we got here to say that?” Ratthi turned to give my drone an incredulous look, hand raised to knock on the door. I stared at him, completely unimpressed, until he relaxed and smirked into the drone instead. “I’m kidding. You’ve made your opinion clear since before we left the station, and yet, no one made you come. It’ll be fine, I promise.”

As he knocked, I looked back down at the colorfully wrapped box in my arms. I don’t have to carry it. I haven’t had to carry things for humans in years. I’m carrying it anyways, because right now I really, really need to feel useful. Because I don’t think my coming here was a good idea.

When Arada opened the door, her hair was messier than usual and she wore far more relaxed clothing than she typically does. Even the last time I saw her, here at this house.

She beamed at us. Visual assessment tells me she’s exhausted, but her expression wasn’t anything close to what it typically is when she’s exhausted. Almost like she enjoys being exhausted right now.

“Come in, come in. Oh, don’t mind that, I was going to get around to moving it later.” She gestured toward the pile of… pieces on the ground beside the door. It’s something that’s meant to be assembled, but I couldn’t tell what.

“Are we being quiet? Is he asleep?” Ratthi used a more hushed tone than Arada had, though she had greeted us in a softer tone than she had the last time I was here.

“Yeah. He’s taking a nap right now.” Arada shut the door behind us and gestured for Ratthi and Pin-Lee both to head toward the main living space. The same place we had gone the last time I was here.

“We brought you a present.” Pin-Lee pointed to my arms.

“Oh, I’ll take that. Thank you, SecUnit.” Arada seemed surprised, for some reason.

“Why are you surprised? You’ve been receiving presents consistently since you retired to the planet.” I let her have it.

“I don’t know, I guess I’m surprised your carrying something like this.” She smiled directly at me, briefly, before following the other two toward the living room. I contemplated a last minute escape, but, I had automatically sent a drone through the house when the door had opened, and Overse had seen it. She’s holding a wrapped up blanket and waving in a very small motion at the drone. “It isn’t even heavy.”

“It wanted to pretend it had a reason it had to come.” Pin-Lee threw over her shoulder.

“I don’t need a reason.”

“No, but you also hate carrying things that aren’t yours.”

I want to stop talking about this. “Did you secure the building better?” A diversion, entirely. I can tell they’ve done very little to better secure the building. There are plenty of things dangling and within reach of the ground that are not safe for small children.

“He isn’t going to have the dexterity to grab things or move around for a long while. Long enough, we don’t need to fix everything yet.” Arada moved to sit next to Overse on the couch, leaning into her and settling in a way that she could feasibly fall asleep right there.

Pin-Lee took the arm chair and Ratthi sat on the stool. The stool was closer, so Ratthi could lean in to get a better look. In a quiet voice, “He’s cuter in person.”

“So far, he sleeps pretty well. I hope I’m not jinxing it, but she sleeps almost through the night already.” Overse adjusted her arms and I accidentally got a brief view of the tiny human inside.

I’ve called a few humans ‘tiny human’ before, but this one is the smallest by far. I understood, conceptually, that there was a very small person inside of that blanket, but the size and shape of the blanket didn’t exactly mesh with any conception I have for the size and shape of a human.

“SecUnit, are you alright?” Pin-Lee called attention to me. My drone told me my face had abruptly twisted up and I’m sure that’s not what they want right now. I tried to relax.

“Fine.”

“He’s waking up.” Overse adjusted, sitting up a bit more. “Ratthi, did you want to hold him?”

“If you insist.” Ratthi started to swoop in, but Overse did not hand over the bundle. He fell back slightly, looking disappointed.

“If you drop my baby, I’m going to kill you. I’ll even pay off SecUnit so it doesn’t stop me.”

“You won’t need to pay me off.” I adjusted my drones to keep a good watch of Ratthi. “Support its head.”

“I know, I know.” Ratthi adjusted his arms as Overse leaned toward him, and the blanket that had been fluffed up and around the infant fell away. It was now very easy to see.

Ratthi was saying something, I wasn’t paying any attention. I was running a comparison of this… baby… to the infants in my serials, the ones in the education media Dr. Mensah had given me, and the data ART had forced onto me. It’s… really really squishy looking. And delicate. Humans are already so breakable, whose bright idea was to make a version of them that was even easier to break?

“SecUnit.” Pin-Lee caught my attention by changing the tone of her voice and facing me directly. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

I was designed to keep adult humans from killing each other or stealing things from the company.

She looked back toward Ratthi babbling on about whatever while he used a stupid voice and cradled the infant, and she adapted to the change of conversation format easily. You do a lot of things you weren’t designed for. You weren’t designed to watch media or care about a couple of scientists in the middle of nowhere.

I was designed to break skulls and apprehend large, upset humans.

Where are you going with this?

I didn’t realize it was going to be that small.

She didn’t answer for a long minute, watching Ratthi and Overse talk over the baby. Then, she leaned into the side of the chair and pulled her legs up. I get that. They’re always smaller than I expect too.

I shouldn’t be here.

Overse and Arada wanted you to meet their child too. They were nervous about how you were going to handle it, but, as over protective as you’ve been since this all started, they’ve both gotten really excited to introduce you to him. They aren’t going to make you hold him, and they aren’t going to make you get any closer than you’re comfortable with. But I promise, they’re both overjoyed you’re here.

I didn’t really have anything to say in response to this. But, the more I watched, the more I realized they were right; that creature is not going to be in danger of the dangling objects right now. But there better not be any blankets or toys in its bed space.

Ratthi gently handed the infant back over. “Who knew you two mixed together would actually be so cute?”

Arada, eyes closed and still slumped into the couch, chuckled softly. “Shut up.”

“Pin-Lee, do you want to hold him?” Overse didn’t sit back yet, cradling the infant in a non-committal way.

“Not yet. I’ll hold him when he can support his own head.” She seemed very comfortable giving that denial, and no one questioned or pushed her.

Instead, Overse adjusted slightly to get more comfortable, about to lean back, and looked toward me with that polite expression where they’re just trying to make a show to include me even though they knew I wasn’t going to participate anyway. “Do you want to hold him, SecUnit?”

When I didn’t respond immediately, I drew everyone’s attention. Damn it.

“Yes.”

Pin-Lee started to get up. “Here, sit down for this. I’m sure it won’t make a difference, but, it feels more secure. I promise.”

I took a seat, and I had no idea what to do with my hands or my arms. Was I sitting correctly? I’ve carried a lot of humans before. I’ve carried several of them. Well, not any of them, actually. I’ve carried Bharadwaj and Dr. Mensah and Amena, and I remember holding Don Abene when I retrieved with poor Miki hovering nearby. I’ve carried lots of unconscious humans before I left the company, and lots of humans that were kicking and screaming and describing colorful ways to try to hurt me also.

But I don’t think any of that experience was relevant here.

“Put your arm like this,” Overse stood in front of me, the infant in her arms still, as she indicated the arm she had under it as primary support. I mimicked her. “Alright, put your other arm this direction. Tilt back a bit.”

She seemed satisfied, as she now stooped over me and carefully rolled the infant into my arms. I didn’t even pay attention as she leaned back and away, or whatever it was that she just said.

It’s… really fucking small. And its eyes are on my face, and I knew I couldn’t get upset about that because its brain is also really fucking small. It’s even squishier than I expected. Any amount of pressure I could possibly use would probably crush its poor little bones, so I didn’t use any at all. I held perfectly still. It’s warm. Or is that me? I had raised my body temperature without making the conscious decision. Then it started making a noise, and something happened inside of my chest.

Reviewing my logs later, I would realize the others were mostly commenting, ‘he likes you’ and ‘are you still good?’ I was still struggling to rationalize how a human could be so tiny and soft and breakable and how any human survives into adulthood starting like this.

“I’m done please take it away.” If I move, I break it. If I move, I break it. I can’t move, and I don’t like not being able to move. But if I move even a little bit I’m going to break it and I don’t want to break it.

“Alright.” Overse got even closer than she had to give me the infant, in order to safely take it away, since I wasn’t helping at all. “That’s alright. You did really good. Do you want to step out for a minute?”

I was already standing up and headed toward the front door. I need to have an emotion in private.