Work Text:
The feed message slammed into his augments, the Perihelion had exited the wormhole and he was required in its surgical suite immediately. Gurathin dropped everything and headed out the door, scanning the file as he walked to the port area. Why couldn’t SecUnit stay out of trouble—it seemed to actively seek out novel ways to try and sacrifice itself…he tried to push such thoughts from his mind. At least this was something he could help with, he checked the schematics again.
The Perihelion had just completed docking as he arrived; the hatch slid open, and as he walked in the transport almost overwhelmed him—its feed presence was massive.
It has an implant, we need an augmented human to remove it.
Delighted to meet you too; Gurathin managed not to roll his eyes, Yes, that was in the file. I can do this, we are hardwire compatible.
It is compromised.
He was now standing at what his feed map indicated was the door to the surgical suite. The resolutely closed door.
Perihelion, is there something which I need to know? Something not in the file?
The implant is an interrogation device, the Perihelion sounded cagey—uncomfortable.
Yes? And? He didn’t want to sound impatient but he was getting worried now.
SecUnit currently cannot lie.
Gurathin took a breath, “Perihelion, I don’t think this will be an issue—it has never had any problem expressing its feelings frankly in my presence. I am fully aware it doesn’t like me. Please don’t delay this any further on my account—consider me pre-warned.”
I’ve created a secure, isolated, feed area in the suite—but for what will be obvious reasons I feel we should keep communications to audio only from here on.
The door in front of him opened silently and he walked through slightly warily…the door closed again.
His eyes adjusted to the unexpectedly dim lighting and he saw a body (it could only be SecUnit) lying on a medical platform, its bottom half covered by a dark blue blanket. On its neck, nestling above its shoulder blades and firmly embedded in the flesh, was the implant.
“Hello SecUnit, it’s Dr. Gurathin here. I’m going to remove this implant.” He hoped his voice sounded reassuring—confident and factual.
“Yes, I know,” it was so good to hear its voice! Even if it did immediately sound pissed off at his very existence. Gurathin had missed it, his heart beat a little faster, “I am so glad you’re here.”
Wait. It had just said what?
Dr. Gurathin, SecUnit is aware you’re the only person both qualified and suitably augmented to remove this implant. Was Gurathin imagining things or did the Perihelion’s voice (emanating from the ship’s sound system) sound slightly flustered?
“ART, Gurathin can hear me perfectly well. Yes—I’m glad he’s here because of that. I’m also glad because he is one of the only people I trust implicitly. He’s my friend. He thinks I don’t like him, but that’s only because I always tell him that.” It still sounded absolutely one hundred percent SecUnit: somewhat world-weary and cynical with just a hint of amusement. But the words seemed to be coming from somewhere else entirely.
“Please do come over and inspect the device, Gurathin. You’ll notice I’m currently restrained—this is at my own request. Don’t be alarmed by it.”
“SecUnit, if any of this is making you uncomfortable we don’t have to do this,” Gurathin couldn’t help but sound slightly appalled—Perihelion (he recalled Amena had mentioned “ART” was its nickname for the ship) hadn’t said anything about restraints.
“The restraints were my idea—“ there was a pause, Gurathin got the impression it didn’t want to continue but he didn’t think it wise to even try and interrupt, “—I thought I might want to try and hug you. Just out of curiosity. To see if it feels the same as when I hugged Mensah.”
I think removing the implant is probably what we should focus on, Perihelion's voice now had a slight edge, if Dr. Gurathin is ready.
Gurathin passed his hands through the sterilizer, more out of habit than any real need, and moved over to examine the device more closely.
The implant squatted there like some sort of fungal growth on the inhuman perfection of SecUnit’s back. Despite countless past catastrophic injuries its skin was otherwise unblemished. Gurathin concentrated on the implant. The room was uncannily quiet, just the slight sounds of his clothing as he moved and his breathing, and the pulse of his own heart.
“This won’t take long,” he wasn’t sure who exactly he was reassuring, “I’ll interface with SecUnit and the device—I am compatible with both—from there it should be relatively simple to unpick the device’s, um, appendages. Perihelion, I have a suitable hardwire to connect with SecUnit; but you’ll need to print one for the…” a printer interrupted him with a (Gurathin guessed probably unnecessary) loud whirr and thud, “…thank you.”
“You don’t have to be polite to ART, Gurathin. I tell it to fuck off all the time and it still loves me. I call it an asshole too, but it knows how much I care about it. You two would probably get along really well.”
Gurathin decided it was best to not respond to this, and instead picked up the freshly made connector. He took out his own hardwire, and attached them firstly to himself, using the ports adjacent to his own C7 cervical vertebra. He hesitated, “Do I have permission to proceed?”
SecUnit sighed, a sound Gurathin knew to be part of its human imitative code, “Get on with it, Gurathin. You must know we both enjoy how it feels.”
The silence that followed was only broken by the sound of the connectors clipping into place and a very faint gasp. Dr. Gurathin was confident he kept his face completely impassive.
After ninety seconds he spoke, "SecUnit's systems are prepped for decontamination. I will disconnect from SecUnit, then manually remove the device. Once it is safely isolated I will myself disconnect. I recommend the device is destroyed, but your scientists may wish to study it first. I would recommend level three containment.” He wished they would just destroy it, but was sure their curiosity would prevent that, “The device itself has an Automatic Selective and Secure Deletion of Digital Evidence function which I don’t think I can disable, not without possibly causing some serious collateral damage.”
“Dr. Gurathin, don’t sound so concerned—it’s okay. This is far from my first memory scrub.”
He wished it wasn’t so accepting, but there was nothing more he could do. He eased the implant from its back, prising it away from its flesh as gently as he could. In his hands it resembled some sort of crustacean, with a dozen spiny appendages. He placed it on one of the empty benches lining the walls; he would have rather thrown it to the ground and stamped on it.
“Dr. Gurathin,” SecUnit’s voice brought him out of his reverie, “I won’t remember any of this when I come back online. That being the case I want to say that I have a lot of respect for your abilities and I’m a little jealous of how good you are with systems despite being mostly human.” Its back tensed briefly, then it said, “I wish you liked me.”
They were no longer connected via the hardwire, but Gurathin could feel it there in the feed, its presence somehow shimmery and radiating an unfamiliar vulnerability. He looked over at the device, sitting on the bench. He felt he had to say something, “SecUnit, I do like you. I don’t know where you got the impression I didn’t.”
Touching as this is, SecUnit needs to go through a controlled restart; Dr. Gurathin please stand clear.
Gurathin waited as SecUnit went through its reinitialisation process. He would have told anyone who had asked that it was only sensible, in case it suffered any unforeseen complications. The Perihelion didn’t ask. Gurathin supposed it knew he simply wanted to be sure it was okay, and to be there when it came back online. Perhaps in its own way it understood.
The first thing SecUnit did was send out a ping, which the Perihelion immediately responded to. Then it rolled itself off the table and stood up, looking around—its face a picture of confusion and then relief; until it spotted him. A complex series of emotions swept over its features.
“What the fuck is this asshole doing here?”
Gurathin tried not to smile.
Dr. Gurathin was instrumental in restoring your functionality.
“I was just leaving,” he said, “Perihelion it was a pleasure to finally meet you. SecUnit, it’s good to have you back.”
He walked over to the door. It didn’t open. He was aware that they were likely communicating in the feed; the lights in the room pulsed briefly.
“ART says I am to ask you to come back for,” he couldn’t see its face, but its voice managed to convey almost petulant disgust, “coffee.” There was a pause, “And apparently I should say thank you.”
“It was the least I could do SecUnit, and thank you for the invitation. I will see you both later.”
The door slid open and he left, hoping SecUnit wouldn’t notice the spring in his step.