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“Yeah, let’s go over it later, I really need to get something to eat—oops, sorry, Peri!” Iris jerked to a sudden halt, trying to backpedal before she really kicked Peri’s cleaning drone instead of just bumping it.
Yes, do look where you’re going, Peri said dryly. We wouldn’t want to inconvenience SecUnit by making it have to get up to rescue you if you slipped.
Iris looked around, and sure enough, SecUnit was sitting in one of the dining chairs nearby. “Hi,” it said, not looking at her.
“Hi,” she said, glancing back to Peri’s drone. She didn’t usually see SecUnit in the dining area—it didn’t need to eat, after all. “What are you two up to?”
I am using SecUnit’s intel drones to search for any grime which may have escaped my sensors, Peri said. The cleaning drone extended a limb to scrub at a slightly discolored area on a table leg.
“Yeah, that,” SecUnit said. “It helps me with most of my maintenance, so I guess it seemed fair.”
It was just the context of Peri cleaning itself that made the association in her brain, but Iris had to work very hard not to wonder if bathing counted as “maintenance” for SecUnits. She told herself firmly that it wasn’t any of her business and besides, she had let Peri’s drones follow her into the shower until it had been moved to its current body and given updated privacy protocols. For all she knew they would both find it completely unremarkable.
Okay, she didn’t really believe that of Peri, but it might not be happening at all, and again: not her business.
“Well, have you found much?” she asked instead.
Oh, a bit here and there, Peri said.
The discolored part of the table wasn’t going away, and the drone emitted a shrill beep of frustration. “Stop whining, you big baby,” SecUnit said to it. To Iris, it added, “It found some crumbs it was mad about.”
They were clearly from Matteo’s preferred form of crunchy carbohydrate, so they are now on my “shit list,” Peri said ominously.
“Shall I let Tarik know he’s safe for a week, then?”
No, he brought food materials which could have been printed by me aboard at the last station.
“Humans are particular about their flavored beverages,” SecUnit said in much the same tone as a researcher commenting on perplexing behaviors in alien fauna. Iris suppressed a laugh. She was glad that Peri had a friend to complain about humans with, but they could be a funny pair when they got going.
“Would it make you feel better to pick what vegetable I’m having with lunch?” she asked Peri.
Yes, it said immediately.
“That’s too bad, because I already know what I want to have.”
The drone whirled around and began spinning its gross wet brush against her leg. Iris yelped.
“You’re such a brat, Peri!”
Don’t start things you aren’t willing to finish, Iris. Your asparagus will be served shortly.