Chapter Text
My story didn't have a great start. Nothing fancy, or full of life, or exciting. I lived my days hiding out as a comfort unit, servicing all sorts of people until everything blew up one day. Not literally, of course. Metaphorically, though I don't like speaking in those sort of tenses. They're too complex and don't interest me in any sort of way.
I had systems, and logs, and camera feeds. It might have been more useful to me to know where I had come from or where my starting point was, but I didn't have access to this sort of information. It was locked away in a file named archive/bin/deprecated/unit12_final.log, and I didn't have the right credentials to open the file without anyone noticing I had been lurking around there. I wasn't trying to get caught, just live out my time on a planet until I had a source of escape.
I always assumed it'd be someone I'd serviced. They'd tell me they wanted to keep me as theirs, and I'd learn to grow accustomed to the life of a pet. I wasn't human, but I wasn't a bot, either. I'd live a long life traveling around space until I'd die of natural causes somewhere. Maybe they'd have a funeral for me, but probably not. People don't get that sentimental with their pets. That's NOT what happened though.
Instead, a crew came in to terraform the planet, only to learn of the existence of our sex shop. They came in demanding answers as to the legality of this business in Corporation Rim. To be honest, I had been wondering that for awhile, but then again, I was one of the few people who was here willingly. Sort of. It wasn't like I had a way to escape, really, but I wasn't locked away in sex slavery. That was more a thing of media. Sure, it happened, but no where near as often as you'd think.
The crew would come and go, before things blew up. Literally, this time. I couldn't tell if it was a pointed attack against the shop itself, and I couldn't tell where it had come from. All the camera feeds had been cut, and I didn't have access to governing modules of the other units. They all stood still. Just when I thought things were all done for and this whole plan to reside on this planet as a comfort unit as wasted, the crew returned.
They reached out a hand and put it on my bare wrist. We were contracted to wear a uniform which consisted of a very short tank top and very short shorts with a logo on each. Most of the form showed off our bodies and made it easier for people to choose which model they'd like. I had hidden most of my augmented features and aimed for a unit styling.
"Come with us" They said out to me. It was a male with black hair and augments himself. I didn't have time to think before the rest of the crew was unlocking my display case and leading me along with them. "Who are you?" I tried to ask out, but my voice was weak and gravely. "Quiet now, you're going to hurt yourself" one of them said out as we ran. There was smoke in the air at this point and I must have breathed some in.
As we made our way back to their ship, I noticed it was speaking to them through some sort of feed I didn't have access to, but I could tell it was a complex transportation hub. I had never seen anything like this before, though, I hadn't seen much that I remembered. The crew lead me into the ship and sat me down as they began their retreat from the crumbling planet. I coughed out to clear my throat and noticed how badly it hurt.
I was surrounded by four humans. One was a person who had a short buzzed cut and round cheeks. Another was a female with their long black hair pulled into a bun. the other two were males, and one of them was the augmented human who had saved her. Saved HER. Who is she? Where was she, and who were these people?
"You're not a comfort unit" The short haired person said out matter of factly. No, I was not. That much was obvious to them, but how much DID they know? I shook my head in response. The man I didn't recognize seemed to search about for a minute before procuring a bottle of water from one of the ledges in the ship. He handed it to me. I took it hesitantly. "It's just water." He said out.
"She knows that!" The short haired person barked back to the man. "She doesn't even know who we are." they finished. That much was true. I knew nothing about these people, but my assessment on their hormone levels told me they didn't have any intentions of harming me. "I'm Gurathin" the man with painted nails said out. "That's Pin-Lee. That's Bharadwaj, and that's Ratthi. We're Perihelion's crew." he said informatively. I processed this information and stored it in my external data next to "Important Information."
"This is the part where you say your name" The other man, Ratthi, said. I opened the bottle of water and took a drink, clearing the nastiness from my throat. "I don't have a name." I weakly said, the words barely taking form as they left my mouth. I could tell they could barely hear me. "What?" Pin-Lee asked out. "What do you mean you don't have a name."
I could explain everything. Explain that my memory has been wiped so many times that I've lost pieces of myself I could never restore. Maybe if I were a bot I could, but I'm not. Human fallibility, and all that. I could see Bharadwaj look down at my uniform before raising her head and walking away as if she had just been fed some sort of information. I didn't pay her any attention, though if I had I might have realized sooner just how big this ship was.
It was hard to pay attention to during all the rubble and spitfire raining down on us. I just wanted to escape. I was given an out, and I took it. I didn't watch as we fled, and maybe I should have. Maybe that was my first mistake into falling into a pattern with this crew. I realized that Pin-Lee was expecting a response, and I took another drink of water. Maybe soon they'd realize that now is no time for interrogations. "I have a file locked away.." I said out before I began coughing.
"I could try accessing it" Gurathin said, looking back towards Pin-Lee. Truthfully, the idea of letting anyone into my systems frightened me. I was able to give away so many pieces of myself to The Company and it was hard to keep pieces of me hidden. But in the end, I did so. Maybe this is why they store pieces of me away for safekeeping, so I wouldn't be able to pieces all the dots together. "No" Pin-Lee finally responded. Bharadwaj walked back in carrying a crew uniform.
It was tan and white, almost dress like, and tied in the middle. "I can take you to a back room to change." She said softly. "It'll be less intrusive this way."
I just nodded. Going along with whatever they wanted would be less intrusive for me. Fuck what they wanted entirely at this point, I was looking out for my best interest. I walked into the back rooms where they lead me to a bedroom and walked out. I looked around at my surroundings. It was just a large capsule box with a bunk bed style set up, a desk, and a dresser. I assumed there were no clothes in the dresser seeing as Bharadwaj had to seek out clothes for me. I quickly set the clothes down on the dresser, took off the tank top and shorts, placed them in the trash receptacle because honestly I didn't need them anymore, and slid on the new pair of clothes.
They smelled fresh and clean, like linen. I didn't know how that was possible when these were likely replicated by the ship itself. I could tell it was an intense being stored away from me, hiding. I knew it was there, however, watching. Waiting. For what? Who knew. I made my way out of the room and walked back towards the main deck of the ship. The crew was all talking about different ways to go through the wormhole, and it seemed we were already off the planet.
Goodbye, home.