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168 pages, Hardcover
First published April 27, 2021
鈥淎ll I wanted to do was watch media and not exist.鈥�
鈥淚 had archives of everything that had happened since I hacked my governor module, but I hadn鈥檛 had as much relevant experience in that time. But what I did have were thousands of hours of category mystery media, so I had a lot of theoretical knowledge that was possibly anywhere from 60 to 70 percent inaccurate shit.鈥�
鈥淭here was a big huge deal about it, and Security was all 鈥渂ut what if it takes over the station鈥檚 systems and kills everybody鈥� and Pin-Lee told them 鈥渋f it wanted to do that it would have done it by now,鈥� which in hindsight was probably not the best response.鈥�
鈥淥h good, maybe the security level would go from barely adequate to mostly adequate. I didn't make an expression because I knew Indah would be more annoyed by me not reacting than by me reacting.鈥�
鈥淭he weapons scanner (which I was not allowed to hack, and which I wasn鈥檛 hacking) alerted on me, but it had my body scan ID on the weapons-allowed list so it didn鈥檛 set off an alarm. (I have energy weapons in my arms and it鈥檚 not like I can leave them behind in the hotel room.) (I mean, my arms are detachable so theoretically I could leave them behind if I had a little help but as a longterm solution it was really inconvenient.)鈥�
鈥淎ylen looked me over again in that way humans do when they鈥檙e trying to intimidate you and they fail to understand you鈥檝e spent the entire length of your previous existence being treated like a thing and so one more impersonal once-over is not exactly going to impress you.鈥�
Eyeing me, Indah said, 鈥淗ow would you dispose of a body so it wouldn鈥檛 be found?鈥�
I鈥檓 not the public library feed, Senior Officer, go do your own research. I said, 鈥淚f I told you, then you might find all the bodies I鈥檝e already disposed of.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 joking.鈥� Ratthi managed to sound like he completely believed that. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how it looks when it鈥檚 joking.鈥� He sent me on the feed, Stop joking.鈥�
鈥淚 know a 鈥榝uck off鈥� when I hear one. So, I fucked off.鈥�
(When we had first discussed the idea of me getting jobs as a way to encourage the Preservation Council to grant me permanent refugee status, I didn鈥檛 know very much about the kind of contract in which I was actually an active participant. (My previous contracts were rental contracts with the company, where I was just a piece of equipment.) Pin-Lee had promised, 鈥淒on鈥檛 worry, I鈥檒l preserve your right to wander off like an asshole anytime you like.鈥�)I won鈥檛 say more about the mystery that drives the story, to avoid spoilers, but it鈥檚 a solid one, with a resolution that was both logical and a complete surprise, at least to me.
(I said, 鈥淚t takes one to know one.鈥�)
Aylen looked me over again in that way humans do when they're trying to intimidate you and they fail to understand you've spent the entire length of your previous existence being treated like a thing and so one more impersonal once-over is not exactly going to impress you.
Aylen was watching me intently. "I don't like having private security with its own agenda aboard this station."
Oh wait, she thought it was GrayCris. That maybe I had found out Lutran was a GrayCris agent and killed him, and now I was trying to lead the investigation along a specific path, using my two oblivious human friends as cover.
So, the problem was, that wasn't an unlikely idea at all. It was something I might have to do if I did find a GrayCris operative on the station. which meant I had to answer very carefully.
There were a lot of humans lying to each other on The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, and I knew outright angry denials tended to sound incredibly guilty, even though they were often an innocent human's first impulse. You wouldn't think lying would be a problem for me, after 35,000 plus hours lying about not being a rogue SecUnit while on company contracts, then the whole lying about not being an augmented human and lying about being a non-rogue SecUnit with a fake human supervisor. But the last two hadn't exactly been failure-free; what worked best was misdirection and not letting myself get caught in the wrong place at the right time, and making sure no humans ever thought about asking the wrong questions.
Misdirection, let's try that. "I would have either disposed of the body so it was never found, or made it look like an accident."
Indah frowned, and Aylen's brow creased, and they exchanged a look. Eyeing me, Indah said, "How would you dispose of a body so it wouldn't be found?"
I'm not the public library feed, Senior Officer, go do your own research. I said, "If I told you, then you might find all the bodies I've already disposed of."
"It's joking." Ratthi managed to sound like he completely believed that. "That's how it looks when it's joking."
He sent me on the feed, Stop joking.
Gurathin sighed and rubbed his face and looked off into the distance, like he regretted all his life choices that had led to him standing here right now. On our private feed connection, he sent, Or you could just show them where you were when this person was being killed.
(Yeah, on reflection I think I misdirected in the wrong direction. It was the kind of thing a human or augmented human could get away with saying, not a rogue SecUnit. Even if they knew I was just being an asshole, I'd made them wonder, I'd put the idea in their heads.)
(And now if I did have to kill some GrayCris agents, I'd have to be really careful about what I did with the bodies.)
(It was probably better to make it look like an accident.)
(Preservation had two economies, one a complicated barter system for planetary residents and one currency-based for visitors and for dealing with other polities. Most of the humans here didn鈥檛 really understand how important hard currency was in the Corporation Rim but the council did, and Mensah said the port took in enough in various fees to keep the station from being a drain on the planet鈥檚 resources.)
...the humans on the Station wouldn鈥檛 have to think about what I was, a construct made of cloned human tissue, augments, anxiety, depression, and unfocused rage, a killing machine for whichever humans rented me, until I made a mistake and got my brain destroyed by my governor module.
鈥揳苍诲鈥�
(I don鈥檛 know why bot behaviors that are useless except to comfort humans annoy me so much.) (Okay, maybe I do. They built us, right? So didn鈥檛 they know how this type of bot took in visual data? It鈥檚 not like sensors and scanners just popped up randomly on its body without humans putting them there.)
Maybe I鈥檇 been waiting too long for GrayCris to show up and try to kill us all. I was thinking like a CombatUnit, or, for fuck鈥檚 sake, like a CombatBot.
鈥揳苍诲鈥�
I pulled the schematic from the instructions and found the transponder was buried in the sealed drive unit.
Oh, you have to be kidding me. I鈥檇 be pissed off at the humans but I had brought this thing up here without checking.
鈥揳苍诲鈥�
This meant no bot pilot that I could get information from. That was depressing. I had no idea what else I was supposed to do as a member of this group and just following humans around listening to them talk felt a lot like just being a SecUnit again. I mean, I am a SecUnit, but 鈥� You know what I mean.
I just realized I don鈥檛 like the phrase 鈥渁s far as I knew鈥� because it implies how much you actually don鈥檛 know. I鈥檓 not going to stop using it, but I don鈥檛 like it as much anymore.
She was listed as a Special Investigator. I didn鈥檛 know what that meant, but it was a good job title and honestly it made me a little jealous.
I don鈥檛 know what I鈥檓 trying to get at with this. I鈥檇 make a better corporate spy? Probably? Except not being a corporate spy left a lot more time for media so that was just never going to be an option.