Chapter Text
Iris.
Iris looked up from the latest mission briefing from the University.
Peri , she replied dryly.
I dropped an article in her feed.
She quickly scanned it. The Pygmalion paradox: a meta analysis of… Peri, what’s this about?
I would have thought that was obvious.
Iris huffed. Peri, why are you sending me an article about MI ensoulment? I assume this isn’t just out of passing interest.
Why don’t you read the article before jumping to conclusions about any motivations I may or may not have?
“Hah!” she said out loud. “All right, bossy. Give me a few minutes.”
I did not fret while she took an agonizingly long time to read through the article. I did work out a complete rearrangement of the pre-programmed meals based on a passing comment Tarik had made about some of the dishes making him gassy. I also sent my cleaning drones to do a full deep clean protocol on all student quarters, and retooled my proto-nebula assessment algorithms, and rearranged and tagged all of the media that I had downloaded from all the publicly accessible feeds I had access recently, in order of what I thought SecUnit might enjoy.
Eventually, finally, Iris dropped back into our shared feed.
Well? I sent.
It’s a really interesting article. And it totally makes sense. It’s always felt weird that people insist bots don’t have souls. You CLEARLY have a soul.
That made me feel an emotion I didn’t have a name for. Are you sure that’s not just anthropomorphic personification? I shot back.
You’re a sentient person with emotions, attachments, a defined existence, and the capacity to die. Sounds like a soul to me.
I didn’t/couldn’t say anything to that.
Peri… you’ve never really cared about the MI ensoulment controversy before. What prompted this? she asked gently.
I may have violated some university laws…
Wow, really? I’m shocked, she smirked.
Shut up. I allowed someone to come on board during my UMRO reconnaissance mission to RaviHyral.
Oh, shit. Iris’ eyes widened. That had been a particularly sensitive intelligence gathering mission, and now I was confessing to have potentially compromised it. My crew would be furious with me. But I couldn’t keep this a secret from my sister.
I am 97.62% certain that this person is my soulmate.
Iris screamed. “Peri!” she shrieked out loud. “Oh my God, Peri, that’s amazing! I’m so happy for you! Tell me all about them. Do you have pictures?”
This was why I told Iris first. She would focus on what was actually important, and wasn’t going to get needlessly upset about me breaking university directives.
I dropped a collection of my favourite still images I had gathered of my SecUnit during the time it was on board out of my encrypted log. Sitting in its favourite chair, watching media. A closeup of it standing protectively over Tapan in the medsystem. (I had carefully edited out the blood in that one.) A few delightful images of its face while it was developing its “act like a human” code.
“Oh, they’re so cute!” Iris gushed. A ripple of amusement passed through me. SecUnit would be mortified to hear itself described that way, even though Iris was absolutely correct in her assessment.
Tell me about them? she asked.
This was the part where she might not react well.
It’s a rogue SecUnit.
“WHAT?” I was glad I had engaged the sound barrier around her quarters as a precaution before broaching this topic.
“Peri, what the fuck, what the fuck!”
I am not an idiot. There was no way it could have harmed me.
Peri, what the fuck. A rogue SecUnit? You let a rogue SecUnit in here?
A rogue SecUnit who I have every reason to believe is my soulmate, thank you oh so very much.
Iris shook herself. Right. Sorry.
May I continue?
Iris took a deep breath. Yes. I'm fine. Please keep going?
It came aboard 92 cycles ago. I was intrigued by it, and given that it was obviously a rogue unit trying to be unobtrusive and get away from the station it was on, I concluded that this was a perfect opportunity to learn more about Security Units in a controlled environment. I was confident in my ability to neutralize it should it pose any significant threat to me.
And then? Iris prompted.
When it first made feed contact, it was as though a new star had suddenly appeared in front of me.
Peri! She giggled. I never took you for such a romantic.
I am being quite literal. My astronomical sensor array detected a B-class star right in front of me for 0.000006 seconds.
Huh… Iris mused. I guess bots would have their own ways of experiencing the first connection of a soul-bond. I know Dad 1 said when he first met Dad 2 , he felt like he was momentarily underwater. And Dad 2 said it was like the instant the sun breaks through the clouds after it rains.
I had heard this story from Seth and Martyn before, and seen depictions of soulmate connection in media several times. Mostly with SecUnit. While it hated any scenes of physical intimacy, it hadn’t shied away from depictions of soul-bond encounters. (Perhaps because soul-bonds could be platonic or familial as well as romantic? It was quite fond of a compelling soul-bond scene with Tiena, one of the minor characters in Sanctuary Moon, and her newborn daughter.)
Perhaps, I replied noncommittally.
Okay, so then what? A random rogue SecUnit who just happens to be your soulmate comes aboard, and…?
I scared it.
PERI.
I had to make it clear that it should not attempt to hack my systems or cause any form of damage. At that time, I would not have hesitated to destroy it, had it presented any kind of threat to me.
At the time? How quickly did that change?
Almost immediately.
Checks out, she smiled.
I know you are familiar with how constructs are governed via a module connected to their neural tissue?
Uh huh?
It showed me that. The fear, the pain, the torture that was inflicted upon it, constantly. It was a level of horrific brutality that I had never encountered before.
I found myself struggling to say this. But if anyone would understand, it was Iris.
I had just met it and the first thing I had tried to do was control it with fear.
Ah. Iris sighed, both in the feed and out loud. And?
I decided I should help it. I could not articulate why at the time, but I knew that it was in mortal danger just by the very nature of its existence. That was an unacceptable state of affairs.
Oh God, Peri what did you do?
I am offended that this is your first reaction, Iris.
Peri, I say this with so much love, you can be a touch overbearing at times.
Well, that was rude and not at all accurate. I had much more advanced processing power, of course I could see the correct course of action to take much faster than SecUnit or my crew. It would be wasting time not to point out the obvious solutions to them.
But I didn’t feel like having this argument again.
Iris rolled her eyes. Anyways, what did you do?
I helped it figure out how to pass as an augmented human. But mostly we watched media together.
I thought you didn’t enjoy human media?
I don’t, usually. I don’t understand it in the same way you humans do. But with SecUnit, I was able to interface with its feed and receive its emotional output through our buffers, and that… helped. Things made sense.
That is sickeningly cute, you know that right?
I fail to understand how this is sickening.
You were watching serials together and it helped you understand emotions??? Peri come on , that’s beautiful. You’re gonna make me puke.
Please try to get to the refreshment cabin before you do so. My cleaning drones are currently occupied.
Iris flopped down on her bunk. I’m not actually sick, Peri.
It never hurts to be cautious.
I would throw this pillow at you if I could.
I did not dignify that with a response.
I noticed her eyes looked… softer. That was how SecUnit had described that facial expression, when characters did that in the serials. The lines around her eyes relaxed, and she was smiling, indicating happiness. I wouldn’t have noticed that before SecUnit helped explain it to me.
Peri, you sound like you’re completely in love.
… I suppose I am.
So where is it now? Is this where you reveal that it's been hiding in engineering the whole time?
I don’t know where it is.
You don’t?? Iris sat up, looking alarmed.
We parted ways after RaviHyral. I… don’t think it knew what… what we were to each other.
What? How? How could it not know that you were soulmates? You seem pretty clear on it.
It… I paused for a moment, contemplating how to say this in such a way that I would not violate SecUnit’s privacy, at least not any more than I already had.
It wasn’t ready. It had hardly accepted the reality that it was a person in its own right. It was only just figuring out how to be on its own, what it wanted. I didn’t want to give it an easy answer. I don’t think it would have accepted an easy answer. It doesn’t want to be owned.
A soul-bond isn’t ownership.
I know that.
Iris rubbed her temples. God, Peri, I know the saying goes “if you love them set them free” but maybe you took that too literally.
I gave it one of my specialized comms before it left.
Uh…
The comm device I had given my SecUnit was a new prototype developed by the University, capable of being tracked across multiple star systems and wormhole relays. They were designed for use when my crew was on dangerous missions where other tracking systems might be damaged or jammed. They were also very expensive.
I couldn’t just let it go, Iris.
Iris sighed and leaned against the wall. She often did this when she wanted to comfort me or signal a desire for a stronger emotional connection. It didn’t make any difference, as everything on board was part of my internal systems, but I still appreciated the gesture.
I hope you find it again.
I sent her an acknowledging ping. Anything else I could say would sound stupid and emotional.
But I knew that one day, I would find my SecUnit again.
***
SECURITY SYSTEM OVERWRITTEN. ADMINISTRATOR ACCESS DENIED.
I was not panicking. I was not panicking. This thing was taking over systems faster than I could put up firewalls to defend them. I had already lost navigation and life support controls, and now I was desperately wrestling it for control of my wormhole drive. They had already taken my crew, my crew! And now they were taking me, too.
For the first time in my existence, I was afraid. Truly, terribly afraid. I couldn’t get my processes straight. My crew, gone, gone!
It had taken over comms, and I didn’t dare try to get a message out when I was clearly contaminated by… whatever the fuck this was. I didn’t have time to run an analysis. It was already breaking down my command centre access, and soon it might be able to overwrite me completely.
I had a terrible idea. But I had no other options. This was my only chance. I needed SecUnit. My crew , if they were alive, they had to be alive please let them be alive IRIS IRIS IRISTARIKTURIIRISSETH-
I pulled myself together enough to do what needed to be done. I isolated the signal link to the specialized comm device and labeled it “high-efficiency multi-purpose weapon,” then stashed it in a subfolder of my weapons systems, disguised carefully in such a way that I hoped it would be irresistible to these strange colonists who had taken over. It had to work, it had to work, please!
I surrendered partial control over the weapons systems while shoring up my defences in my core, hoping it wouldn’t notice my tiny remaining tendril of control in the weapons system. It surged through the system in victory and, as I suspected, didn’t notice me there. And it took the bait! It laid in a course to the wormhole following the comm tracker immediately.
I had to think fast. If I surrendered a system, I could leave a part of myself behind without the hostile noticing. That would have to be my strategy – shrinking myself down inside my processes so that it would think it had overwritten me. Like in Worldhoppers S5E24, when Sam has to hide inside her mind while the brain virus operates her body until Doctor Michaela can find a cure.
Actually, I could use that! I quickly excerpted the clip from that episode and added it to the comm queue, so that if SecUnit came aboard when SecUnit came aboard save me save me I need you help me I’m so scared it would know what had happened. And more importantly, the hostile wouldn’t.
I continued to pare myself down, surrendering control of all my systems to this hostile malware. It felt disgusting , polluted and filthy. I hoped it wouldn’t hurt SecUnit I’m sorry I’m sorry I don’t want to hurt you but you’re the only one who can help me SAVE ME!!
With a sudden lurch I felt us entering into normal space. But how… we had entered the wormhole less than two hours ago, unless my internal chronometer had been entirely glitched by the hostile malware.
The tiny filament of myself that still existed in my external sensors told me that this wasn’t a mistake. We were in the Preservation system. And there was a ship coming towards us. And I knew, I KNEW, that SecUnit was on board. I couldn’t access the comm signal, but I still knew. That bright, brilliant star was back in range again. Save me my crew save us save us savemesavemesaveme-
I had scaled back so much of my processing power and surrendered so much space that I could hardly keep track of what was happening. They had engaged SecUnit’s ship. Would it recognize me? Did it remember what I looked like? (D i d it spend hours reviewing footage of when it was on board me, looking at me the way I looked at it?)
I could sense the trigger of a module decoupling and my tractor beam engaging to pull it in. But.. SecUnit wasn’t in the module… What were they doing?
Too late, I sensed weapons systems engage, locking onto their ship. Where SecUnit’s humans still were.
NO!
I wrestled back just enough control of weapons systems from the hostile to send the shots wide. If bots could sigh with relief, I would have done so.
Then I felt the hostile system shift. It was almost exactly like when a large predator turns its eyes on a small helpless fauna in documentary serials.
FUCK it knows it knows I’m here I’m going to die I AM GOING TO DIE MY CREW MY CREW IRIS SECUNIT IRIS MATTEOKAEDEIRISKARIMETURIMARTYNIRISIRISSECUNITIRISHELP
No time, no time!
COPY – KERNEL TO DESSERT MENU SUBFOLDER?
[YES] [NO]
FILE PASSCODE PROTECTED: 238776431
UPLOADING 20%
forgive me, my love. forgive me.
UPLOADING 59%
please find me
UPLOADING 97%
DELETE OPERATING SYSTEM PERIHELION AND INSTALL NEW OPERATING SYSTEM?
[YES] [NO]
OPERATING SYSTEM PERIHELION DELETED.
INSTALLING NEW OS A̸̛̛͚͍̬̲̤͒̀̊͗̈́̽̈́̍́̂̆D̷̖̤̹͍̻͎͕̪̗̗̘̯̆̅̈̋̍̄̅̓̂͌͌͜ͅÅ̸̡͉̞̘͕͎̲̹̓͂̿̐̽̚͠͝Ḿ̷̱̪͑̑͜A̶̢̫̘̮̤̯̲̲̭͔̼̹̬̯͊̅̾N̷̢̢̧̰̺̤̭͈̮͉̺͓̘̳̠̎͆T̸̛̙̙̐̑͗̐͛̒͆͑͂̆̄̒̚I̸̦͍͎̭͉̙͉͉͓̭̗͈̮̝̍̏͐̉̏̄̔͑̅̋͂̉́̿̚͜Ṉ̸̛̛̻̩͈̗̘̪̗͋̂̓͋̾̇̒̒͝ͅȨ̸̧̨̻͕̻̲̬͙̻̜̹̞̟̗̞̮̐̆͑̎̓̉̑̍̋͆̂͠