Chapter Text
The idea of making a documentary about SecUnit had slowly become more and more real over time. But nothing illustrated the need for it like Preservation’s reaction to SecUnit’s arrival.
It had saved them all on the survey. It had saved Mensah again on TranRollinHyfa. Both times at great cost to itself. And yet many people reacted with fear and suspicion.
Bharadwaj had asked Mensah if SecUnit would be upset over her plan. She was prepared to abandon the idea completely rather than cause it distress.
But Mensah looked thoughtful and said, “I think it might like that, actually. I think you should ask it to participate.”
So she’d sent it a message. Mensah had cautioned them all not to pressure it.
“I wouldn’t!” Ratthi said. Pin-Lee shot him a skeptical glare. “I won’t,” he said a bit sheepishly. “I know Seccy’s going to love being in media though!”
“You know you would love being in media, that’s all.”
Arada watched them tease with an oddly wistful look. She’d been subdued since everyone returned.
All of them met often for meals, or just to work on their own projects in the company of others who understood. Mensah in particular struggled to relax around anyone but SecUnit and the survey team. Her own family didn’t know about the ongoing risk of assassination, which made it difficult for them to understand why she stayed glued to SecUnit’s side.
After one of those meals, Arada hung back while the others left. Bharadwaj hung back as well.
Once it was just the two of them, Arada vented her frustration. “I hate my stupid brain. Now that everyone’s back, I’m more anxious than ever. It’s like having them all in arm’s reach made me more scared, not less. It’s so absurd!”
“I cried so much that first night,” Bharadwaj admitted. “At first it was happy tears. Then, not so much.”
“Why are brains so stupid?”
“Well. You’re a biologist. Living things are stupid on a pretty routine basis, so you should be used to it, right?”
It wasn’t much of a joke but for some reason it made Arada laugh. At first she just snickered but before long she was doubled over helplessly. Her laughter was contagious but as Arada began to gasp for air and tears formed in her eyes, Bharadwaj began to worry.
But the gale of laughter passed, Arada wiped away the tears, smiled at her, and said, “Thanks, I needed that.”
Arada pressed a quick hug on her and then left, her steps lighter than they had been in days.
#
SecUnit walked into her office without knocking, stole a nervous glance at her and immediately looked away, then approached an empty chair as if it were a wild fauna. It examined the chair at length, then cautiously eased its weight into it. Bharadwaj made sure not to look at it too directly.
“You’re making a documentary about SecUnits,” it said, its voice all but vibrating with tension.
“I am,” Bharadwaj acknowledged.
Despite its nervousness, when it started to speak, the words flooded out. “Will it have SecUnits in it? That sounds like a stupid question but it’s not. A lot of media featuring SecUnits doesn’t actually have SecUnits in it. They use ComfortUnits or bots. I guess because SecUnits are expensive and everyone’s scared of them. And maybe because the company wants us to be mysterious so we’re scarier.”
It cut itself off abruptly and stared at the wall. This was more than Bharadwaj had ever heard it say at once.
“I’m not sure if it will have SecUnits in it. Actually, I was hoping you might participate,” Bharadwaj said cautiously.
“Me too. I mean yes. Can I watch it when I’m done? I don’t want to watch the parts with me in it. Can I just watch the parts without me?”
“Of course. I can mark those parts so you can skip them if you prefer.”
“Good. I don’t want to watch myself. I want to be in the documentary though. Even though I hate being looked at in real life. It’s different if it’s media. I could show humans what it’s like to be a SecUnit. We know a lot about humans, but humans don’t know anything about us.”
Bharadwaj nodded. “We get our ideas from media, and even though everyone knows media and real life are different, we just don’t meet SecUnits in real life, at least not often enough to learn from that.”
“During the survey, Gurathin asked me what it’s like to be me. I didn’t know how to answer that because I’ve only ever been me.”
“It’s a difficult question, isn’t it? All of us live within our own perspectives.”
It nodded. “Humans are weird. But I learn a lot by watching them. Which is my job. But it’s not a human’s job to watch SecUnits. So humans never learn about us. I think this documentary can be my answer to what it’s like to be me.”
She smiled warmly. “That’s exactly what I’m hoping for. That through the documentary, humans can learn about SecUnits from the point of view of the units. Right now we all have is Corporation Rim media. We all know it’s not true but it gets in our heads because there’s nothing to counter it.”
“Media with SecUnits is stupid. They’re constantly going rogue and killing everyone. That really doesn’t happen that frequently. I mostly watch media with no SecUnits, and then I see the humans get in trouble, and I think, this mission would have gone a lot better if there was a SecUnit along. Humans shouldn’t do their own security. Will there be missions?”
What an interesting question. Bharadwaj considered it seriously. “There will definitely be at least one mission, the one where we met you. I want people to come to know you the way we did, through how you helped us. But what do you think of also including a section where you analyze media in terms of how a SecUnit could have assisted in a crisis?”
“This is the best idea ever.” Then it stood up abruptly and said, “I have to go.”
As soon as it left, Bharadwaj gave in to the cheek-splitting grin she’d been fighting. She hadn’t expected such unbridled enthusiasm. Underneath her excitement ran a thrum of nerves. Now she couldn’t pretend this was just a silly hobby to pass the time while she recovered. Now she’d have to deliver a documentary worth watching.
Shortly thereafter she received an audio feed message from Mensah. SecUnit asked me to pass on its apologies for being, and here Mensah’s voice took on a very dry tone, a giant fucking weirdo in your office.
Bharadwaj laughed. Please tell SecUnit that I’m not in the least offended and I look forward to working with it. She’d liked to say something warmer about how honored she felt, but they’d begun realizing that when it came to SecUnit, sometimes less said was more.
I’ll be sure to tell SecUnit that, Mensah said, stressing the word tell. It was eavesdropping, of course. Someday they’d have to talk to it about that but right now it just warmed her heart.