Chapter Text
The ship was cold, though that may have just been the fever. There were probably worse situations to be sick in, but at the current time, Amena couldn’t think of them. Thinking at all through the malaise of her space-flu from hell and the adrenaline-soaked terror that was the current situation was a bit much to ask for, if anyone asked her. Which nobody had. Because she was alone. And it was dark and cold and- and she needed to keep it together.
“ART?” she whispered/pleaded. No response. There was nothing to distract her from her own breathing. No ambient engine sounds. The sirens had long since ceased. There was only her congested breaths, and the distant echoes of screaming from the crew quarters. “Please answer me,” she continued, a slight tremble slipping into her voice. She didn't dare try the feed. If it wasn't still down, it would definitely be monitored. Besides, ART could see and hear everything on the ship. So surely if it could hear her it would respond. If it could hear her. Her last contact with ART had been…worrying. There was a lot ….worrying right now. “ART? I could really use some help.” Yeah, nope. Definitely on her own.
Amena snuck down the dark corridors, only the pale glow of emergency lighting to guide her. She was making a valiant effort to slow her breathing and an even more valiant effort to not start coughing. If she coughed it would probably hear her. She didn’t know how far behind it was. Whether it was still hunting her. Whether it was close enough to hear her trying not to hyperventilate and also unable to breathe through her nose. She stopped and strained to listen for footsteps, then almost shrieked when there was a sudden loud burst of energy weapon fire.Yep, definitely still behind her. And closer than she would like. Closer than was safe. She needed to hurry.
As she crept, a part of her was still waiting to be struck by a stealth drone. Or for grey people to come around the corner and laugh at her. It was too early for her to be affected so the regular spikes of terror were likely just her own. It didn’t bear thinking about. Better to just focus on how annoyed she was that her nose was still blocked and moving at any pace made it hard to breathe. It’s just that it…it would be nice if someone else was here to tell her what to do. If not ART, then Second Mum or Captain Seth or Sec- no. Focus, she thought. You have to do this. She was the only one left who could.
Secunit had once told her what to do if she was in danger from a construct. Most of it was ‘don't be in a situation where you are in danger from a construct’. Amena thought it was likely that Secunit was against her joining the crew this year as a provisional junior member. It had certainly run her through triple the safety briefings of everyone else on board. She had checked. Iris said it was just worried and that Peri had done the same when she joined the crew. She hoped she was right. She thought it was more likely Secunit still thought of her as the naive teenager it had to tolerate for the sake of Second Mum. She wanted it to think of her as a friend too. Not just a useless tag-a-long to look after. But it-
Anyway, Secunit training. Amena recited it to herself as she kept moving.
Rule 1: Do not let it know you're there.
Unfortunately she'd broken this rule when she'd had to lure it away from Medbay. Fortunately it seemed like it was hallucinating if its firing at random walls was any indication. So maybe it had forgotten she existed? And was just following her exact route by coincidence? …Yeah. Amena didn’t believe that either.
Rule 2: Stay hidden. You cannot outrun a construct.
If something wasn't wrong with ART she'd probably have been caught already. (Of course if something wasn’t wrong with ART then she’d probably not be in this situation.) With active cameras and drones it could have triangulated her position in moments and then ambushed her by holding itself in a corner of the ceiling like some terrifying 6ft something spider or something ridiculous like that. She nervously glanced up. Nothing there. Okay, just a bad thought, moving on. Paranoia was also a symptom but Amena thought she had many good reasons to be paranoid at this point. Also getting paranoid about becoming paranoid was not something she wanted to fall into.
So, she assumed at this stage it only had its eyes. Though she was pretty sure Secunits could see in the dark. And they could definitely hear the sounds of clumsy humans tripping for the third time because the emergency lighting didn't actually light very well. She didn't curse out loud because she wasn't stupid. Instead she took a deep breath and kept feeling her way along the wall. ART had vents big enough to act as crew hidey-holes installed in case of foreign invasion. She'd heard about them briefly at orientation. They were probably called something much more technical but that’s what she'd marked the entrance on her map with. Hidey-hole
Rule 3: Try to get somewhere that restricts its movement or it can't access.
She slipped into the vent and got the hatch closed before it rounded the corner. That sounded impressive until you realised it was moving very slowly by construct standards and occasionally stopping to fire at things that weren't there. Given how much her fingers were shaking it was still a little impressive, Amena decided. Now she just had to double back and manually lock the door between it and Medbay before it decided to go back and kill Iris and Tarik. Right. Easy. She didn't remember if Secunit had ever mentioned having more sensitive hearing than a human. It probably did, given Amena’s luck. She held her breath and waited for it to move further down the corridor. She couldn't hold it for very long before she had to breathe out. Her poor lung capacity was what stopped her going on that mission in the first place. It froze and she froze too. She could hold her breath even less this time. Her chest ached and she knew she was probably about to give herself away when it fired its energy weapons at the wall opposite her. Through the vent she could see the smoking hole where it had fired. It had gone through the wall and into the maintenance corridor on the other side. If she wasn't already holding her mouth she would have screamed. She’d been lucky and her luck wouldn't last forever. She needed to move.
Amena carefully crawled along the vent. Her nose was running again and her eyes were itchy. It would look like she had been crying to everyone when she rescued them. Which was annoying. She was actually being really really brave, thank you. She eased back down the corridor, achingly slow, certain any moment it would reach through the wall and grab her. The manual door override was 20m back the way she came. Everything would be okay if she just-
She flinched as it screamed, still far too close and started punching at the wall it had already shot at. Okay fuck slow. Go go go. She crawled as fast as she could and prayed it wouldn't stop and hear her. Her lungs were tight and she felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. It let out another cry and Amena couldn't tell if it was pain, anguish or just pure frustration. Almost there, she thought
She was trembling as she reached the exit and it wasn't all with exertion. I could just stay here, she thought. Surely the others have got out now. She was never brave like Second Mum, surely this was enough
Rule 4: shit, fuck, what was rule 4???
“Amena, you’re not paying attention.” Secunit stood in front of her with its arms crossed. It was looking at the wall behind her but two of its drones were right in front of her, staring her down.
Amena crossed her arms right back. “Sure I am. You just said energy weapons won’t do any significant harm to a construct, only projectile weapons or explosives.” She fought the urge to stick her tongue out at it. She was trying to convince it, she was no longer a child after all. As it went to continue, she decided she didn’t want to listen to this anymore. “I don’t see what the problem is anyway? I’m not going to be in combat with a construct. If it has a governor module you can hack it and if it’s free, then it won’t want to kill us anyway.”
The drones loomed closer. That had probably not been the right thing to say if Amena wanted this security training to be over sooner rather than later but she stood by it. She didn’t want to listen to all the other ways she could hurt her friend, even if it didn’t think of her that way.
“Amena, not all rogues are like me. They’re dangerous. Hell, I’m dangerous. You’ve seen what I can do. What I have done.”
Amena resolutely did not think about the grey person with an arm through its chest being flung across the room. That had been different. It was upset about ART. And it was protecting her. “You’re not dangerous to me. You wouldn’t hurt me.”
Secunit’s posture softened even as its face twisted into an expression of misery. She wishes she didn’t recognise that expression on its face. “No. No I wouldn’t if I had the choice.” For a moment, it looked haunted and Amena did not want to know what it was thinking about. Remembering. “But sometimes we don’t get a choice,” it continued.
“Well I have a choice. And I don’t want to shoot something that can kill you,” Amena said. She wasn’t going to back down on this point. Maybe she was joining ART’s crew but she’s Preservation too. She wouldn’t hurt her friends. Wouldn’t hurt constructs that were being forced to attack her.
“I understand. ART and I are working on an EMP device that can disable, not destroy,” it turned to face her now, eyes meeting hers with a rare intensity. “But Amena, I need you to understand. In a life or death situation, you need to do what you have to.”
Amena hadn’t completed her weapons training and Secunit and ART hadn’t finished their EMP weapon they were working on. So rule 4 was kind of a bust. But she felt calmer now. She didn’t want to harm her friend then and she doesn’t want to now. Which means she needs to save it. Which means she needs to keep working.
She eased out of the vent system towards the panel with the manual override. The panel was jammed because of course it was. Nothing was ever easy. She could hear it down the corridor. It was talking to itself but it was difficult to hear the words. Importantly none of them sounded like it had noticed her. Yet. She shoved the screwdriver into the edge of the panel and tried to lever it open. When this was over she was going to yell at ART for having a panel like this one. Maybe she’d tell Secunit and Iris and they could all bully ART together. The panel came free all of a sudden and she lost her footing. It felt like time had frozen for a moment as she landed with a soft ‘oof’ then watched the screwdriver clatter to the floor. She was frozen for a split second before scrambling to get up and reach for the manual override. Maybe it didn’t hear that. Maybe it-
One moment she was reaching for the manual override, the next she was up against the wall, five feet away from it with an angry Secunit gripping her throat. Its hands were slick with a combination of blue fluid and blood. Amena thought it was its own given the amount of wounds it had. Hoped it was its own. It would never forgive itself otherwise. It still might never forgive itself, she thought, unable to slip from its grasp. It’s grip was constricting but for the moment she could still breathe. Still talk. Still try to reach it.
“Secunit please.” Amena didn’t think it was seeing her. She’d never seen Secunit afraid but it certainly looked terrified. It was only holding her by one arm now, the other was pressing an energy weapon against her forehead. She still couldn’t move, its grip like a vice. Tears and snot were leaking down her face and mixing with the fluid and blood on Secunit’s hand. Secunit hates leaking, she thought hysterically. It hadn’t tightened its grip but it was still getting hard to breathe.
“Secunit, it’s Amena. Please, you know me!” The energy weapon was warm. Is that because Secunit had recently fired it? Or was this it gathering energy preparing to fire? It hadn’t fired yet but it also hadn’t responded to anything she’d said. The others hadn’t been able to hear anyone else either. It felt helpless but Amena had never been one to give up. And Secunit had never let her down. “Secunit we’re friends. We’re family! Please Third Mum. Come on, I know you recognise me damnit!” It still hadn’t fired. Was it hesitating? Please God, let this be working.
“Secunit? …Murderbot?” Secunit had once told her constructs couldn’t cry. It had been lying. It held its position, eyes trained on hers, tears pooling. It held still for a moment, two and so did Amena, forgetting to breathe. For a few seconds they were frozen in a wordless tableau and she began to hope. Then she sensed movement out of the corner of her eye and before she could even turn, Amena knew no more.