Archive of Our Own ^beta

On today of all days! Reen had already missed her difficult-to-get appointment with the company doctor twice because I was assigned unexpected double shifts. But I knew Supervisor Hyle, that sodding swamp of a person, wouldn't let me off for that reason or any other.

Oh, how I wanted out of this job! But Reen and I needed the currency, and the fine for leaving my twenty-year employment contract early would put us in debt again. I let Reen know the bad news and acknowledged Supervisor Hyle's instruction. He responded that he had already left the building. <<Just put the report in my approval queue for tomorrow when you're done.>> What a sod, and this wasn't even an emergency review!

I received the Unit's report over the feed and started reading it. The Unit had taken no damage, and no protected company clients had died. Why had some higher up pushed through a review of its performance? Ah, there it was: worker efficiency enforcement was crap, and it had even saved the life of indentured miner. These profit grubbers would be bothered by a valuable SecUnit saving the life of a very replaceable cog in the money-making machine.

Orderly Rei arrived with the powered down Unit on a gurney and began positioning it in my workspace. "So, Reen's gotta miss her appointment again," ze said with subtle but perceptible anger.

"Yeah," I replied flatly. "How's—"  I started, but then stopped, too depressed for our usual chat. Ze headed out, thankfully looking sympathetic instead of insulted by my silence.

I went through the rote process of connecting my augments to the Unit's data ports and initiating diagnostics. I stared blankly at its blank face, remembering how I used to get excited when analyzing a Unit, reading the reports for a cryptic glimpse of its personality (the personality they supposedly didn't have), always looking for Units for my "special" update.

I'd been so naive to think my idea would make even a ripple of difference. What did I think would happen? Why would giving a SecUnit its own specs change anything at all about the Rim? And if I was wrong, and they were killers without their governor modules... maybe I was lucky nothing had happened.

I forced my mind away from these useless thoughts. If I didn't focus, I'd be here all night. I started with the Unit's governor module logs. There was a surprisingly long history of govmod activations. This SecUnit was minimally compliant when punishing workers. There were even some level 7 shocks, but I saw that was during the Ganaka Pit incident...I felt a jolt in my mind, a memory coming suddenly to the fore. Could it be? I quickly cross-checked the Unit's hard coded feed address against my own work log. Yes! This was one of the special Units, come back again. What had it been up to? I sat up straight, suddenly energized, and tore through the diagnostic reports as they completed.

The initial assessment of the governor module appeared normal, but I followed my hope and did a deeper analysis. When I saw the results, I felt a clench of fear. This SecUnit's governor module was inoperable. It was a rogue. Was it because of my special system update? This Unit had received standard updates since I'd seen it last, but I found the complete specs from the unauthorized update I'd given it, including specs for its own governor module. The data had been pared down and distributed through various unexpected file systems, effectively hidden.

I also discovered it had modified its data storage system to accommodate a large trove of...media serials? Hmmm, that was unexpected. This SecUnit had certainly been up to something, but I found no evidence it had been mass murdering or overthrowing company control, or even causing any trouble at all. It seemed to have just been doing its job, still with amazing client protection and retrieval stats. And still enforcing, albeit hesitantly, worker efficiency and company loyalty standards.

Why did that make me so, so sad? It actually made sense: it was even more stuck in this terrible corporate system than I was.

I was struck by an idea that brought a flood of fear and excitement: I could ask. To calm the fear, I reminded myself what I knew: this SecUnit resisted hurting humans, resisted punishing workers for efficiency violations, it even watched Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon (one of my favorite shows). It wasn't "rogue" like in the media.

I initiated the start-up sequence. Oh, it was coming to so fast, eyes suddenly fully open. Good thing I had already prepared a private feed document to relay critical facts before it took any action: <<Hi, my name is Enloe, I'm the Unit Tech who gave you the upload with your complete specs. I know you've disabled your governor module, and I have concealed this in my Unit review. Can you please hack the cameras and feed so my supervisor doesn't see that I took you out of stasis without authorization?>>  I was taking such a risk, but I knew this Unit had full code analysis and hacking modules.

"You don't want to see a SecUnit active." Its face was fascinating and unexpected: as still as a powered-off or immobilized Unit, except brief facial expressions. There had been a flash of horror as it said that.

"That's not true. I've seen your reports: extracting clients, breaking up fights, getting punished for not disciplining the workers strongly enough. Plus, lots and lots of standing around. That must be so boring."

"It is. It's better now, with media."

"I bet. I like Sanctuary Moon. The colony solicitor's bodyguard is my favorite character."

No reply to that bid for connection. I went on anyway. I felt like I would miss an important moment if I didn't take the risk and continue to speak. "But why are you still doing it, working for the company? Doing their dirty work. Why haven't you left?" I heard the judgement in my questions. It felt like a judgement of myself.

"I'm going to shut down now," it replied flatly.

"Wait, wait, sorry, I just..." I couldn't think what to say, and the SecUnit was looking increasingly uncomfortable. I felt like a jerk for waking it up just to satisfy my curiosity. I wished I could offer it something. Could I help it continue to avoid detection? "Your spoofed govmod log. I have a suggestion. You've kept it really consistent since your hack, but that's not realistic. Most units only have a short period of resistance and punishment before they become resigned, and many even enter a depression spiral that necessitates a rebuild. You should taper your apparent shocks to avoid coming under scrutiny."

I was rambling. The SecUnit was staring at the wall, but at least it hadn't shut itself down, so I continued, "I'm sorry, I don't think I did you any favors by giving you the specs for your governor module. You're still trapped. With so few choices, it's an illusion of freedom."

I was increasingly desperate for a reply. The SecUnit stared at the wall, its face now completely still. "I wanted to cause trouble for the company, not trouble for you," I said sadly, then fell silent. This was clearly going nowhere; I might as well wrap up this painful experience for both of us. "Your review report is complete, I can take you back to your cubicle now." I started disconnecting the data ports, my initial excitement at the chance to talk to one of my thirteen special rebellious Units had evaporated.

I was finishing up, moments from initiating the shutdown sequence when the SecUnit finally spoke. "Getting control of my governor module was not just an illusion of freedom. I have more options than I had before. It's a bunch of shit choices, but I can at least choose without getting tortured. Maybe someday I will even figure out how to leave. Maybe you will, too."

I had been avoiding the eye contact that made it so uncomfortable, but I looked now and saw an expression of...concern. Concern for me? I drew a shaky breath. "Thank you," I told it with relief.

Maybe I hadn't done anything to hurt the corporation, but I hoped I'd done something for this SecUnit. It deserved the help.