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“Fuck that.” My response was immediate and left no room for argument. At least I thought so.
“Well...” Three’s voice had that lilt of “hear me out” that it had picked up from Iris. I let out a sigh through my nose, but let Three continue, “We need the extra cargo space for the supplies-”
“Then WE shouldn’t be taking up CARGO space!” I snapped, but Three didn’t pause its explanation.
“And if we’re detected in the crew areas, it’ll be a much bigger issue for us than if we just go into the container. It’ll only be for a few hours at most, not even during the wormhole journey.” To Three, this still seemed like a pretty cushy mission even with this particular hiccup. It was still getting used to not having a govmod. It didn’t know what the fuck it was talking about.
ART was the next to chime in, “I have gone through several scenarios and this is the most ideal. The risk remains low, you remain on board, and it can accommodate both you and Three.”
“Except it can’t accommodate both of us! One SecUnit per cargo box, those are the rules!” I raised my voice, but Three and ART didn’t back down.
“Actually,” Three said, annoyingly, “those were the Company’s rules. Barish-Estranza allowed up to three Security Units per cargo box. Other companies allow for much more, depending on the size of the box. Two secunits is very conservative.”
“I know it’s not the most elegant solution,” Ratthi said, “But it was the best we could do to keep you both safe.” His voice had a serious edge to it that I recognized as his genuine concern for me. He really believed this was the safest option. He was frowning, as were most of the other humans. They clearly didn’t like this idea either and that reassured me in some weird way. It was Matteo who spoke up next, “It’s not comfortable, but it’s our safest option right now. If you really need a separate box, we can figure something out but-”
“I still don’t understand why I can’t be in the crew areas,” I interrupted. I did know. There was an embargo on this planet and the only reason we were able to pass through it at all was because ART and the University had legally strong-armed the corporation that owned the colony we were here for. The mission was to drop supplies (and important data about their contracts) off with the colonists and get some data of our own before we left again to regroup.
The reason I couldn’t be in the crew areas was because at the embargo line, we would be boarded and they were going to be searching for SecUnits. They had told us specifically not to bring any SecUnits along. Due to their CEO’s intense fear of rogues, Karta-Sine didn’t use SecUnits of any kind in any capacity. The irony was not lost on us.
They were going to be scanning the cargo as well, but ART had made us a cargo container that would spoof a signal to look like more supplies. I could go into the box where I would be protected from their scans and I would be able to do my job another day. Or, I could stay in the crew areas and protect my dignity while putting all of the humans and augmented humans (as well as ART and Three) in danger. I really hated this.
Six hours later, as we were exiting the wormhole, I got ready to get into the box.
Three stood beside me and asked, "Would you rather be closer to the door or against the back?” I would rather bash my head into the wall until I force a shutdown, but I didn’t say that. Instead I gestured for Three to step into the box. It did so and turned so it was facing the door. The box was smaller than I would have liked. When I stepped in, the toes of our boots were only about six inches apart.
I was receiving reassurances through the feed from Iris, Amena, Ratthi and other crew members that this was going to be a short stint in the box and I didn't have to worry about anything. I wished I could believe them and get my risk assessment to stop freaking out as they sealed Three and I together in the cargo container.
It was a nice box, as boxes went. There was a light in the top that was dim enough to not irritate me but bright enough for Three and I to see each other, for better or worse. (It had made the choice to keep facing me even after we were sealed in. Granted, at this point it didn’t have the space to turn around.) The walls were lightly padded as well, ensuring we wouldn’t be damaged if the container got jostled. ART had even installed a small life support system to make sure we had more than enough fresh (recycled) air. Clearly, it had put a lot of thought into the box and I tried not to feel anything about that.
Time seemed to drag on in the box. I started watching Sanctuary Moon, but it reminded me too much of the time when I was still with the Company, desperately hiding my hacked governor module and watching Sanctuary Moon to feel like a person. While I was looking through my other stored media, I had the sensation of being watched. My performance reliability dropped a percent and I risked looking up at Three.
Its expression was... odd. Lips slightly parted, eyes half-lidded and staring right at my mouth. It looked like it might be deep in thought or deep in the feed. Either way, I tapped it in the feed to get its attention. (Talking out loud in such a small space sounded terrible for some reason.)
Two things happened at the same time when I did that: First, Three twitched slightly like it had been startled. The second thing that happened was me receiving a flash of metadata that might as well have been a wave. Three had not been in the feed and it had absolutely been staring at my mouth, specifically my lips and fixating on how it might feel to....
“You want to kiss me?” I blurted out (I was right, that was terrible) and Three looked down at the floor, ears darkening (I didn’t know SecUnits could blush). It hesitantly pinged an affirmative to me and at this point I could feel it moving around in the feed, pulling together some kind of data for me. After a few agonizing seconds it sent over footage from a mission it had been on with Barish-Estranza.
I turned my head to face the wall and watched it. In the footage, Three and another SecUnit stood surrounded by a group of intoxicated humans. It was a small group, only seven of them but they were still intoxicated and they were whooping and cheering at Three and the other SecUnit.
That was SecUnit One, it told me in the feed. I watched as a woman in the crowd ordered the SecUnits to retract their helmets. Then, she told them to kiss. At first, the two units simply pressed their mouths together, then someone shouted, “Use tongue!” Their lips parted. The cheering got louder. I closed the video.
Okay. That was a lot. I had been made to fight other SecUnits by bored miners but nothing like this. This was so much worse. Three kept its eyes on the ground as it messaged me again and said It wasn’t so bad. We were never made to hurt each other. One said it just deleted the chunk of memory when we were done but I didn’t want to.
And now you want to kiss me? I asked, confused. It pinged affirmative again. Three was still in the adjustment period of having a borked govmod. Three expressing such a clear and concise want was a good thing, as far as I could tell. I thought about it. Three wasn’t a human. Its fluids wouldn’t be the disgusting human kind and it didn’t have that dirty sock smell at all. The idea of kissing a human was, objectively, disgusting. Lingering on that thought too long would make my performance reliability drop even more.
When I thought about theoretically kissing Three, that drop didn’t happen. I turned my head to face it and pinged an affirmative. Its head snapped up to look at me again and I glanced at its lips (large, soft looking). I was already pulling up a few media examples in the background when it whispered, “Really?”
Even softened, its voice sounded too loud in this small space. I rolled my eyes and pinged another affirmative. I watched its lips curve into a soft smile as it sent, Can I touch you?
I pinged affirmatively again and it reached out, placing its hand on my right hip. It leaned in and I leaned in, meeting it in the middle where our lips met. It was awkward at first but it gently moved its lips against mine and eventually I found a kind of rhythm with it that was... nice. We were close physically and in the feed in a way that I had experienced before with ART to some degree but not like this.
Where ART’s huge presence loomed over and around me in the feed, Three was much more my peer. We had similar processing capabilities so when it leaned on me in the feed, we were really leaning against each other; supporting and supported. We moved like that for a few moments and I was starting to really get the hang of it when it opened its lips, just slightly.
I pulled away by less than a millimeter but Three paused for me. I think it expected that to be the end but my performance reliability was actually climbing and I could feel myself responding to the attention. I wanted more. So I leaned forward again, closing that small gap once more and parting my lips as well. Three’s metadata was so happy; bleeding into the feed and making me feel a little giddy myself. It ran its tongue along my lower lip and I parted them more, letting Three in.
The slide of our tongues together was pleasant and electrifying. A current completed between two live wires. I could taste the lubricant in its mouth and realized it tasted the same as my own. (That made sense. It must have resupplied from ART before this mission.) It was easy, like sparring but with less slamming into the floor. A simple back and forth as we ran our tongues across each other’s teeth, movements nearly symmetrical.
This is nice, Three sent in the feed and I agreed. I lifted my hand to Three’s side, pulling it a little closer. The toes of our boots knocked together for a second before we found the rhythm again. It was... amazing. Almost better than media. I didn’t want to stop, so we didn’t. Three sighed happily through its nose and licked my top teeth carefully. I let out a little growling noise unintentionally and nipped its lip which made it gasp (I saved the noise to permanent memory.).
I will admit, we lost track of time. My focus was almost entirely on Three and all the new data that I was taking in with it. At some point it wrapped its arms around me and I gripped its hips. Our bodies were pressed flush against each other and I could feel Three’s temperature increasing. I wondered if mine was as well. It ran its tongue against the roof of my mouth and I shuddered, licking its bottom teeth in reply.
It was as Three was threading its fingers through my hair that the box was opened. In the two seconds before I could pull away from Three I heard various voices exclaiming in surprise and embarrassment. I was reminded (unfortunately) of the kinds of noises humans made when they accidentally walked in on another in the bathroom.
Especially noticeable was Ratthi exclaiming, “Wow! Go, Secunit!” as if he were at a sporting event. I felt my face heating up but my back was still facing the humans. When I opened my eyes again, it was Three that I saw. Its expression was soft and happy. Its lips (softer than I had thought they’d be) were slightly swollen and shiny with our oral lubricant. In the feed it sent, It’s okay. Thank you.
My performance reliability, which had dropped when the box was opened, ticked up a couple of points. Let’s do this again sometime, I sent before I could think better of it. Three smiled brighter and sent back an affirmative, along with a calendar reminder for a day after this mission finished. I held my head high as I turned and walked out of the box, Three behind me.