Work Text:
>Personal Log: Supervisor_332
>RanHilMorlan Asteroid Mining Site 79-C
>Log ID: #01
New contract. After I finish this one, I should have enough credit built up for a promotion. No more hell-hole mining contracts, no more lower-middle-management. I’ll get my own office. But for now, I share office space with the other supervisors as we all oversee our own little kingdoms.
They’re taking us on a full site tour, and then we’ll have to sign off on the equipment and personnel shipments, and then we get to work.
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>Log ID: #02
There are eight SecUnits and two ComfortUnits on this contract. The CUs are housed in a central location between our housing block and the labourers’ bunkhouses. The SUs are in the security ready room, which is between the mines and the bunkhouses. And, crucially, as far away from us as possible.
Those things give me the creeps.
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>Log ID: #03
RanHilMorlan sent each of us supervisors a unique welcome package. We all compared and traded stuff around, of course. Jasha’s had two CU vouchers and some entertainment feed time that she traded to Minh for inter-system communication credits.
My welcome package had three whole “free day off” passes. That was pretty nice with how expensive it is to cover even a half day off on a small contract like this, and with a salary like mine.
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>Log ID: #04
Had the first equipment failure today. I can’t say I’m surprised, but I am a little disappointed I didn’t win the office bet. I had too much faith and thought we’d hold out until at least day 9. That’s what optimism gets you, I guess. Ellib won, the cynical bastard, so he’s off enjoying an “inspection walk” while the rest of us pick up his slack.
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>Log ID: #05
Guess who got stuck with the paperwork for the equipment failure because it happened literally 2 seconds into my shift as site operator? I’ve been trying to work on it between my other tasks. It’s not difficult, but it is a pain in the ass so it might as well be the same thing. Unfortunately it means I’m going to miss the first “hangout night”, a tradition from one of the other supervisor’s last contract that she said kept her sane.
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>Log ID: #06
[redacted] somehow smuggled alcohol onto the contract. I don’t know where he’s hidden it, and I don’t know enough details to get anyone in trouble if I’m ever interrogated about it, but damn. I really wish I’d gotten through that paperwork faster. I could have used the relaxation.
Everyone’s hungover this morning but me. I’ll be a team player this time, but I really hope it doesn’t become my de facto job to clean up everyone else’s messes.
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>Log ID: #07
Parts arrived for the broken hauler bot today. Ellib and I get to start on it tomorrow since we’re the ones with enough mechanical training to supervise repairs.
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>Log ID: #08
Even though there aren’t that many supervisors here, we still had to scan our chips before the SU guarding the hangar would let us in. Must be a new unit. On past contracts, older units have always just waved us through. Whatever, minor inconvenience. Ellib seemed to take it personally for some reason, but he calmed down once we were in.
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>Log ID: #09
Turns out Lorr is related to RanHilMorlan’s CFO, and that’s how he got the job. I hate nepo hires. They know nothing and think they’re hot shit.
Thankfully I know how to keep my mouth shut and just go along with it when he acts like he’s our boss even though we’re all technically the same rank—I’ve seen coworkers stand up to his ilk on other contracts and it never goes well for them because people like him will pull any strings they have to make someone’s life miserable on a whim. The secret is not to give ‘em a reason to hate you.
That’s just office politics. People love to make hierarchies where there are none, especially when our actual superiors are a wormhole jump away. (RHM takes a somewhat ‘hands-off’ approach to management, which is certainly a unique choice.)
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>Log ID: #10
Another missed hangout night. At least this time [redacted] slipped me a small flask on the way out. That was good of him, but I can’t help wondering if he’s going to expect some kind of reciprocity.
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>Log ID: #11
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #12
Since I’m technically the site safety officer, I’ve implemented a weekly mandatory equipment safety check. The pinheads I work with don’t seem to understand fiscal responsibility and that failed equipment = injured or dead workers = lost time = lost profit = pay cuts. They’ll thank me when I give my quarterly “And here’s how much money you didn’t personally lose in the past few months because you listened to your pal Supervisor 332” report.
In other news, I did have some smug satisfaction when it was Minh who was stuck with all the paperwork this time because it was Minh’s fault I was stuck with the paperwork last time.
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>Log ID: #13
Was busy orienting new labourers today. Sleeping now.
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>Log ID: #14
Note to self: Thank Jasha later for saving my ass by checking our shielding. Turns out the primaries had a malfunction. Nearly lost everything to a random stellar flare no one warned us about, but she turned on the secondary EM deflectors because she “had a feeling.”
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>Log ID: #15
Guess who got stuck doing a walk-through equipment inspection? That’s right. Me. Another missed hangout night. I promised the others that I wasn’t doing this on purpose.
Minh said she’d make sure I got to the next hangout night even if it meant covering some of my tasks.
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>Log ID: #16
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #17
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #18
Had a surprise visit from headquarters. Turns out I got my quarterly “thank you” from the team a few months early because we were commended for having the fewest reported injuries/failures in the first half-month out of all the new active sites in this asteroid field.
We all got a c0.02 raise out of it too. I guess Lorr’s relative was feeling generous.
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>Log ID: #19
The mine’s shut down for a newly required semi-weekly rest-day for the labourers. It’s a new initiative from head office. Apparently some bleeding heart number cruncher convinced them they’d stop wasting profit on labour replacement costs if they let their labourers have some downtime once in a while. I checked the numbers myself, and they were right. Two days of lost profits every month (instead of three rest days every 4 months) wound up being a lot cheaper annually than covering worker churn due to exhaustion for the same period.
We only get a half-cycle rest on those days because our work never ends, but we’ve also earned the luxuries that make our work a lot more bearable so it’s fine.
For part of our half-shift today, Ellib and I went to the security ready room because SecSystem threw an alert that needed to be cleared manually by a supervisor, and Ellib insisted I come along.
I understood the impulse. All eight of the units were standing at attention when we went in—another new protocol from head office maybe?—but they turned their helmeted heads toward us two by two as we walked past them to the terminal.
I had literal shivers going down my spine.
When we turned around, none of them were looking at us anymore, and they didn’t turn their heads again as we went by on our way out. It was freaking eerie.
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>Log ID: #20
Office in lockdown.
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>Log ID: #21
Lockdown cleared.
Can’t give as many details as I’d like because the clearance level on this log is lower than the one for our professional logs, but some upstarts among the workers decided they’d try to sneak off the asteroid on the supply ship that came in yesterday. What a way to thank the company for the extra rest days—I’ve never seen a mining crew have such decent terms.
Jasha’s in medical now because the ingrates split up into twelve groups of two, and some of them ambushed her on her way to the office. Even super-fast security constructs can’t be in two places at once—I guess eight pairs were distracting one of the SUs each so the incursion teams could do their thing.
I doubt head office will revoke the rest days entirely, but Lorr has a plan for staggering the schedule so only a handful of them get a day off at a time. Makes it harder for them to organize that way, he says.
Makes sense to me.
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>Log ID: #22
Went and performed an equipment check by myself today because everyone else was ‘too busy to help.’ More like they were all too afraid to go out because ‘what if the miners tried something again.’ Well I’m here and in one piece and I didn’t see any unauthorized labourers where they weren’t supposed to be, so. That was fine. The unit guarding the hangar didn’t even chip-check me. It would’ve done that if there was a reason to worry right?
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>Log ID: #23
Jasha’s back in the office and working overtime for the foreseeable future to cover her MedSystem bill. Minh and Ellib are helping her build her case to sue the workers’ families for damages, though. (Normal procedure is to sue the workers themselves, but since all 24 were put down, the liability fell to any surviving family members.)
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>Log ID: #24
RanHilMorlan’s going to send us a couple more SUs and more personnel on the next shipment. Until then, our current units have been instructed to take turns guarding the offices.
Protocol is apparently for them to have their armour and helmets off in office environments. I knew from observing a SecUnit demonstration once that they have human faces, but I’d thought all units were the same. Turns out they’re not.
The unit guarding our office right now has light brown eyes and hair, and tan, freckled skin. The previous two units were both dark-skinned, but one had dark brown eyes and the other had green eyes.
A feature all of them do share is their blank stares. They hardly ever blink. Their faces look human but also not-quite-right. And when I talked to the first one who came to guard the door and asked it why it was here, it had turned that blank stare on me as it responded, and I swear I could feel the pure malice behind its vacant expression. (Though it probably didn’t help that I’d just finished reading a horror novel about rampaging rogue SecUnits on a mining installation a lot like this one.)
So between uncanny “human” faces or featureless helmets, I’d choose the helmets. Any day.
Unfortunately Lorr seems to enjoy making a fool of himself to try to get the SecUnits to react, and I have a feeling he wouldn’t appreciate it if I ruined his fun by ordering the units to wear helmets at all times.
(“These things do have human neural tissue,” he’d said like he was an authority on the subject. “They do feel emotion, their governor modules just don’t let them show it. Sometimes you can still get them to crack. It really depends on the unit—these ones don’t seem to have a sense of humour.” I figured he wouldn’t appreciate it if I told him he simply wasn’t funny, so I went back to work and tried to ignore him. )
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>Log ID: #25
By some miracle of the starry fates, all of us were able to make it to hangout night tonight. The alcohol flowed freely (still not sure where [redacted] is keeping it, to be honest), the laughter made my ribs hurt, and we put Lorr’s unlimited Music subscription to good use.
We were all sitting around during a quiet moment when Lorr suggested that we make the SecUnits fight each other again.
I was like, “Sorry, what?” and Jasha said they’d done it during the last hangout night and took bets on which unit would win.
I know alcohol impairs cognitive ability, but even to my drunk ass that sounded monumentally stupid. I said something along the lines of not poking the sleeping bear, that just because they had governor modules didn’t mean they were entirely safe, but I was, of course, outvoted and deemed a paranoid spoilsport. Lorr said I watch too many movies.
I guess Ellib had found some kind of crater in the asteroid, and had run a betting ring for SecUnit fights on a previous contract, and thought it’d be a great idea to set it up here too. Nevermind that his last contract was so large that the mining installation had a multi-storey building for supervisor housing, so the betting was actually kind of lucrative. Or so he said.
I told him I didn’t care, I didn’t want to be collateral damage. He mocked me for being afraid, but I said that being aware of forces more powerful than oneself is just Self-Preservation 101, and I had no plans to die in some freak SecUnit-related accident that could have been avoided.
So, as two of our SecUnits flew at each other in a no-holds-barred fight in said crater, I made sure to put all of my colleagues between me and the bloodbath.
If there were going to be death and damage, I didn’t want to be anywhere near it.
So now I’m back in my quarters where I can be drunk in peace.
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>Log ID: #26
I have so many regrets. Thank the deities for coffee.
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>Log ID: #27
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #28
The workers have some kind of illness passing around, which I find highly suspicious because where would they have even gotten it from?
Whatever. Not taking any chances. The ill are being put through rigorous MedSystem testing. If they’re faking to get time off work, it’ll know and clear them for duty. Then they’ll have to work overtime to make up for lost time AND incur additional charges for MedSys use, with additional punitive action to be determined by the supervisor on duty. If they’re not faking, they’ll still incur MedSys charges, but the other workers will have to work harder to cover for the lost productivity.
Either way, mass illness is often a precursor to unrest, so I hope those two extra units get here soon.
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>Log ID: #29
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #30
Month-end bonuses arrived with an unmanned cargo ship today. Other than that, just some mining equipment on this shipment. Looks high-tech.
Another hangout night. No SecUnit battles thankfully, but that was mostly just because Minh taught us a game that had us totally engrossed until the complex-wide curfew countdown went into effect.
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>Log ID: #31
Today’s guard unit has red hair. First time I see an actual redhead in person and it’s a deities-damned security construct.
Kind of funny, in its own way.
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>Log ID: #32
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #33
It might just be me but I swear, when Ellib gave a direct order to one of the units today, it hesitated before obeying.
If he noticed, he didn’t say anything. So I didn’t say anything either.
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>Log ID: #34
Lorr’s moved on from trying to get the units to crack a smile or frown or whatever he’s hoping to get out of them, to giving them increasingly ridiculous orders.
Freckles is the unit on duty in the office right now and Lorr has it wearing a frilly apron and cleaning up after us. I don’t even want to know why he had that thing.
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>Log ID: #35
I’ve never known Jasha to be particularly competitive. Betting on unit fights seems to bring out the worst in her. She gloated when she took my credits, which I’d only put in the pot for the sake of ‘team spirit’. At least the look on Ellib’s face when his favourite unit ate dirt was pretty funny.
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>Log ID: #36
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #37
I had HubSys run a full diagnostic on SecSys today. I swear I’m not just seeing things—there was definitely a hesitation before that unit followed Minh’s verbal orders. There was. But the diagnostic came back normal. All reaction times within parameters.
Maybe the isolation of this facility was just getting to me. I had HubSys run a purge cycle on SecSys anyway.
If the issue persists... Well, I don’t know what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll recommend the team use only the new units for verbal orders once the equipment arrives.
I hope that’ll be soon.
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>Log ID: #38
Got a bad cut trying to pry open a cabinet that Ellib kicked a dent into the other day. I didn’t clean it well enough and it got infected. Working through a fever right now. If it doesn’t get better by the end of the shift I’ll go to MedSys—but I hope it doesn’t come to that otherwise it’s goodbye, one week’s salary. Maybe I’ll guilt Ellib into covering some of the costs, but he’ll probably just laugh in my face. I’ve known him for just over a month and I can’t wait til I never have to see him again.
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>Log ID: #39
Shipment incoming today. Swelling around infection site has lessened.
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>Log ID: #40
One of the units that fought tonight slipped on some rubble in the crater and the other unit absolutely eviscerated it. It was Red*. Pretty sure it’s destroyed.
I don’t know, it just seems like such a waste? I know those things aren’t cheap.
*Yes, I nicknamed the units to tell them apart. I’m pretty sure everyone does it, so don’t judge me, okay? I also named the courier bot at my last job and it always brought me my packages before anyone else’s, so I’m not saying naming bots makes them like you more but I’m not not saying that.
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>Log ID: #41
Red just showed up for guard duty and looks totally fine.
Absolutely insane how much beating-up these things can endure. I thought I caught it glaring at Ellib, but when I did a double-take, it was just looking at the far wall with its usual blank stare.
Maybe I was just projecting. I’m not very happy with Ellib myself these days.
In totally unrelated news, my cut’s mostly healed, and I found some antibiotics in a medkit that was in my desk drawer. I didn’t even know I had a medkit. I used a little bit of anti-scarring gel that was in there too. Even if they dock my pay for supply use, it’ll still be a lot cheaper than a whole MedSys visit.
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>Log ID: #42
Started my usual new-contract Hitchhiker’s Guide reread today, as is tradition. No one else wanted to join me, so I jokingly sent a copy of the file to the unit on guard (this one had light-tan skin and brown eyes, and I’d nicknamed it Sunny) and told it to read it.
It looked surprised. Its eyes got all wide and its eyebrows twitched up and everything—and the best part was that Lorr wasn’t even paying attention to see it. Ha. That’s what you get for being uncultured, moron.
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>Log ID: #43
Shipment arrived! New units are signed off on, new personnel are going through orientation with Minh and Ellib right now.
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>Log ID: #44
So far no weird hesitations from either the new units or the old ones. Ellib and I did get chip-checked at the hangar today though, by one of the older units, which I thought was weird. I never get chip-checked when I’m alone.
Ellib seemed annoyed but didn’t say anything, so maybe this happens a lot to him, I don’t know.
It made me smile to think that the units disliked him as much as I did, and found ways to inconvenience him as much as possible. Again, I know I was projecting, but still. I take small pleasures where I can find them on contracts like this.
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>Log ID: #45
Overheard Ellib telling Lorr he was going to specifically request the unit that chip-checked us yesterday for the fight tonight, and make it fight two-against-one with the new units.
He saw me overhearing him and asked if I was looking forward to the “epic SecUnit battle” tonight. I just smiled and shrugged.
Lorr said he’d bet on the single unit because he loved to root for an underdog.
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>Log ID: #46
Feigned a headache last night. This morning Ellib offered to put together some clips of the fight for me, but I declined and said we both had a lot of work to do. Which was true.
We were behind on our quotas because of the disruption with the illness and the new personnel. So at least I had a good excuse to seclude myself in a corner and turn on all my do-not-disturb feed markers.
(I haven’t nicknamed the unit Ellib held a grudge against yet, because it’s most often assigned to the equipment bays and doesn’t rotate through guard duty as often as the other units. I think I’ll call it Chip.)
(I heard that Chip was still undergoing cubicle repairs as of an hour ago. I’m not sure Ellib knows just how much it costs us when we have to run the cubicles for that long, but it’s not my business. It’s his and Lorr’s orders that get logged in HubSystem, so it’ll be their paychecks that get docked if RHM finds out. Familial loyalty only goes so far when money’s on the line.)
Speaking of units though, there was one waiting outside the housing block this morning that accompanied me to the office.
I wonder if the extra security means there’s issues with the workers?
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>Log ID: #47
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #48
One of the CUs showed up at my door last night out of nowhere.
I had a feeling this was just a practical joke, so I rolled my eyes and told the unit it could go back to its ready room, I wouldn’t be needing its services.
It told me the voucher was non-refundable, and informed me of all the lesser-known services it offers aside from the one everyone thinks of. And, you know what, a massage sounded really nice. If someone on my team wanted to treat me, I might as well take advantage of it, right?
It was very respectful of my boundaries (no sensual touching, no... ‘mood talk’, etc.) and gave a really, really good deep-tissue massage. And then it left.
I’m still not sure who sent it, because nobody in the office today looked like the guilty party. But at least whoever it was wasn’t making fun of me, so I wasn’t going to think about it too much.
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>Log ID: #49
Sunny was back on guard duty today. While Lorr and Ellib were out, I jokingly asked it what it thought of the book, but all it said was, “Query: Contract relevance?” which I should have been expecting. Obviously a piece of equipment wasn’t going to have an opinion on classic literature. Apparently it did read it, though—I mean, it kind of had to. I did give it a direct order.
Whatever. Maybe I should start a book club with Jasha and Minh.
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>Log ID: #50
I ducked out of hangout early. It looked like we were just going to have another games night, but then Jasha said she wanted to see a ‘battle royale bot fight’ with all the “winners” so far.
I left, and passed the incoming units on my way out. I know they had their helmets on and probably weren’t even looking at me, but I couldn’t help but feel judged as I slunk past.
And then I wondered, why does it matter what a couple of bots think of me?
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>Log ID: #51
Was accompanied to the office by another unit today. Checked HubSystem to see if there were any reports of malcontents in the mines, but everything seems normal. There were no specific orders to accompany the supervisors to the offices, either.
It might be a holdover from my office lackey days, but it felt a lot like I was being supervised. I know the units have to obey my orders now that I’m in charge, but it’s important not to forget that, above all, they’re here to protect the company’s interests. I’ve seen what happens when a supervisor steps out of line.
That said, I don’t think anything I’ve done or said has been out of line, so I should be fine.
I think.
I hope.
...I’m sure I’m just being paranoid.
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>Log ID: #52
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #53
Explosion in the mines today. Blocked a tunnel, damaged a hauler, and killed 6 workers. Thankfully RHM sent us extra personnel so we’re still on track to meet our quarterly quota.
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>Log ID: #54
Tunnel cleared, hauler mostly repaired. It’s a stop-gap but it’ll do until we can get parts.
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>Log ID: #55
Did a walkthrough in the mine itself today with two units on either side of me. Lot of hostility down in the hole. Nobody tried anything stupid, though.
It was still nerve-wracking, and I think I’ll claim I’m too shaken-up for hangout night and just want to spend the time alone.
If the damage to rented equipment passes a certain threshold and I’m actively aware of it, I am obligated to report it. If I choose not to be actively aware, I don’t have to report it.
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>Log ID: #56
Got accompanied to the office yet again today. I finally asked the unit what was going on; it said its threat assessment spikes whenever I spend a lot of time alone, and it’s doing its due diligence to make sure I remain unharmed. I asked if that meant someone on my team meant to harm me, but it “did not have that information.” So I don’t know what to make of that.
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>Log ID: #57
Performed a second inspection at the mines today. Supervisors usually spend as little time as possible in the pit because why would they? It’s nasty in there. Grime gets into places on your body you didn’t even know you had, everything smells like old BO because nobody wants to use their water rations on showers, there’s fumes galore that the ventilation system can only remove so much of. But I figured I’d brave all of that and try to catch the workers off-guard, see if there was any slacking-off or anything weird going on before word spread of my arrival. I’d ordered comm and feed silence from both the units and the terminals used by each floor’s foreperson so that word could only travel as fast as the lifts.
But as I descended further underground, I found everyone hard at work, barely distracted by my presence. Maybe I’ve spent too long embroiled in adversarial office dynamics, because it’s made me wary of every little thing. I kept thinking, what if they were all just pretending to be working? What if they were plotting behind my back? What if they used all that rock between us and the surface to their advantage and trapped me down here?
Obviously that wasn’t going to happen. My four-unit escort wouldn’t let that happen.
I still couldn’t shake the feeling that the other shoe was going to drop. Must be that ‘pit paranoia’ I’ve heard about. And this is why I’m better suited for office work.
On the eighth level down, the units and I stepped off the lift and made our way through the rows of bunks used for short rests between double-shifts (which some labourers chose to work because it meant hitting their contract’s hour minimum that much faster).
Somebody was whimpering near one of the bunks as we passed—a grimy young woman sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees and tears streaking through the dust on her face. She obviously hadn’t showered in days, if not weeks.
Our eyes met, and she looked afraid, like she’d been caught slacking off. Maybe she had.
I sighed. I wish I hadn’t looked—I should’ve just kept walking and minded my own business. But I was here to catch profit leakage. Idle workers, equipment inefficiencies, that sort of thing. (We were graded on it in our performance reviews and I hadn’t spent as much time doing my share because, again, no supervisor likes being down here.) But I had looked, and the units were watching, and that meant RHM was watching.
There was a unit coming toward us on a solitary patrol, so I kept walking and told it to deal with the situation so I wouldn’t have to.
It hesitated as if awaiting more orders, but then it said, “Yes, Supervisor.” It might just be me, but I thought it sounded relieved. (I’m probably just projecting. Again.)
I don’t know what compelled me to look back as we neared the corner.
But the unit was offering its hand to the crying worker. She took it, got up, nodded in response to something I couldn’t hear. Then the unit put its arm around her shoulder and guided her toward the lift.
That was... not what I’d expected.
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>Log ID: #58
I told Jasha that I’d had a weird dream where a unit had helped a worker without explicit orders to do so, and asked her if that’s even possible.
She said it was a nice idea, but she’d never seen it happen except in disaster situations, when the unit’s trauma module kicked in.
So maybe that’s what was going on yesterday. It was the only thing that made sense. Well, I’m just glad I didn’t have to see someone get shot. Even if that is what I thought would happen when I gave the order.
(Though, now that I think about it, I do recall something about SecUnit defaults including something about minimum necessary force. It does indeed help reduce worker churn, which we have already established causes a loss of profit. Maybe I should bring this up at our next all-hands meeting? Speaking of which, we haven’t had one of those in a while.)
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>Log ID: #59
Working from my quarters today, since we get one work-from-home day every two months and it’s ‘use it or lose it’. Technically we’re supposed to get permission for that, but I put in for mine two weeks ago and haven’t heard back yet. I’m sure it’ll be fine. HQ gets backed up with paperwork all the time.
One of the units attempted to accompany me to stand guard, since they all have orders to guard us while we’re at work, but I sent it away. I wonder if it knows I was acting without authorization? But it isn’t like the units care when we act outside of policy. If they did, they’d be tattling on us for the pit fights. And for Lorr and Ellib both sneaking off to perform ‘inspections’ near the CU ready room. Unless they’re keeping track of all that and we won’t find out until the end of the contract, when RHM looks for an excuse not to grant us promotions.
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>Log ID: #60
No hangout night tonight. We finally received a communication packet from HQ, which... had a lot less ‘communication’ in it than I would’ve liked. I heard nothing at all about my requisition requests (or my work-from-home request), Jasha’s supply order was missing all sorts of items from the manifest (and included a bunch of things that weren’t on the manifest), and there was a different signature on the sign-off than usual. Usually when a new liaison takes over, they’ll send a letter of introduction or something so we know who to address future requests to.
What we did receive was a lot of system updates and a whole bunch of modules we had to complete within a week. Some kind of mandatory refresher course to make sure everything was within RHM standards. That was new; I’ve been with this company for 15 years and we’ve never been given this much professional development material for free. Probably somebody got promoted to management and wanted to overhaul everything and make themselves look good. As is the usual way of things.
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>Log ID: #61
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #62
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #63
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #64
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #65
[log empty]
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>Log ID: #66
>recovered data
I thought units could not disobey orders without getting punished by their governor modules. The only exceptions I know of are orders that directly contradict higher-level commands and directives, or which are deemed physically impossible.
But the order I saw Freckles disobey this morning did not fall under any of that criteria. (I know it was Freckles because I’ve finally figured out all their feed IDs and matched the right serial numbers to the right units.)
There was an altercation between two miners while Lorr and I were on an inspection. We saw who instigated it. One was clearly the aggressor, the other had done nothing wrong and was, in fact, trying to de-escalate.
Lorr turned his back and started walking away. He said to the unit on our right—Freckles—“Unit, execute them. Shoot them both in the head. And then clean up, I don’t want to see any blood when we come back through on our way out.”
I guess Lorr has a weak constitution.
And—Freckles hesitated. Like actually hesitated this time. (Not that Lorr noticed; he just kept walking.) Finally it said, “Yes, Supervisor,” and raised its arm. Its energy weapons deployed, and I couldn’t look away—I think I was still processing the ridiculous order Lorr had just given. It shot twice while the miners around us all screamed and dove for cover.
But despite the panic and chaos, the two miners it had been ordered to shoot were still standing, both just as frozen in place as I was. And both staring. Very much alive, very obviously un-shot.
Freckles tilted its head forward, a wordless command, and the miners ran the other way.
Lorr didn’t even turn around to check if his orders had been followed. He’d given them to a governed unit, of course it obeyed him.
Freckles didn’t even look at me as it walked toward the site of the “execution.”
I hurried to follow Lorr.
So I’m... not... crazy. It really has been a pattern of behaviour this whole time. The hesitation. The emotions I thought I was seeing. Disobeying a direct order.
I mean. It has to be rogue, right? But the other units with us would have known that it disobeyed, which means... deities alive, are they all rogue? They must be, there’s no other explanation.
No, there has to be another explanation. There must have been orders in the latest system updates that forbade them from killing workers, or something. But why fire those shots? Why let me see it disobeying?
I’m—
No, I must be delusional. This is just my brain, suppressing the trauma of seeing a double execution up close, making up explanations for why it didn’t happen the way it had.
(But I don’t feel delusional. I don’t feel crazy. It’s not like I can walk up to Freckles and be like, “Hey, Unit, why didn’t you follow that order?” because if it did follow the order then that would just be evidence that I am in fact crazy. And if I’m not crazy, and it really did disobey, then what’s to stop it from shooting me on the spot?)
Ugh. I wish I’d walked away with Lorr. I wish I hadn’t seen.
Because now that I’ve seen, I’m obligated to report. And if I report a rogue unit, and the unit doesn’t outright kill me for it, there’ll be a whole investigation. RHM’ll check all our logs for data. They’ll find all those times I documented anomalous unit behaviour and failed to report it. I will be punished for my negligence.
It doesn’t matter, anyway—we’re defenseless against them. If they’re going to kill us, they’ll kill us. So I will say nothing.
---
>Log ID: #67
We are nearly back on schedule with our quota.
---
>Log ID: #68
So I guess RanHilMorlan was acquired by some big conglomerate from the middle of the CR. Guess that explains all the weird non-communication...
---
>Log ID: #69
They’ve doubled the quota. And threatened our jobs if we don’t hit it. Us losing our jobs is, of course, their end goal. I don’t know why corporates insist on playing these stupid games—if you want to replace the middle management with your own people, then just do it, for deities’ sake.
---
>Log ID: #70
Triple shifts for the workers. Double shifts for us. Apparently we’ll be getting a lot of shipments in the next little while. Today’s came with a huge crate of stimulants. We’re gonna need ‘em.
No more hangouts for the foreseeable future. Thank deities. I’ve always hated watching fighting shows, I really didn’t want to have to see it every week at work, front row seats, you know? Especially now that I know... you know.
---
>Log ID: #71
[log empty]
---
>Log ID: #72
[log empty]
---
>Log ID: #73
[log empty]
---
>Log ID: #74
Minh passed out today. The rest of us are covering her workload.
---
>Log ID: #75
Minh’s back. She looks awful though. I think the MedSystem pumped her full of a drug cocktail because I’m pretty sure she hasn’t moved from her workstation in 9 hours. Come to think of it, neither have I.
---
>Log ID: #76
First round of our new parent company’s personnel arrived today.
---
>Log ID: #77
They fired Lorr. I guess he’s been taking a few too many ‘unauthorized rest periods’ with the CUs. So much for the nepo hire. But also good riddance. But also now we have to pick up his slack because, guess what, they’re not replacing him.
At least he got shipped back to wherever he arrived from, so maybe being a nepo hire has its benefits. The rest of us don’t have anyone to pull strings on our behalf. They’ll probably ship us all off to the next new mine they open. I know the thought of that should horrify me, but I have way too many drugs in my system to care.
Maybe if they wanted us to fail faster they should have quadrupled the quota.
---
>Log ID: #78
The units are supposedly under the parent company’s control now. Or pretending to be. One of them was ordered to break Minh’s arm because she balked at being denied a bathroom break. And it did it without hesitation.
So, what, does transfer of control re-enable the governor module? Or maybe the units despise all of us supervisors and are happy to take any opportunity to hurt us. Just like we hurt them. If I were a unit, I’d probably take whatever revenge I could get away with too.
---
>Log ID: #79
Several minor scuffles in the mines today. Everyone’s tense. I’m surprised there haven’t been riots yet, but exhaustion is an excellent demotivator. Who’s got the energy for a coup when you can barely string together a coherent sentence? Not me, and definitely not them.
---
>Log ID: #80
Saw Ellib sobbing in a corner today. Always thought Minh would be the first to break.
---
>Log ID: #81
Another bunch of parent-company personnel. Looks like they’re going to expand the complex to house a lot more supervisors and workers. They must’ve found something big in the pit.
---
>Log ID: #82
I’m being given a free day off. I didn’t find out why until I got back to my quarters and saw them dragging Jasha out by the collar, kicking and screaming. Minh said Jasha threatened to leak proprietary information if we didn’t get a break.
So we got a break.
Maybe they’re planning to keep us after all.
Hooray. You can probably tell by my flat affect just how thrilled I am about this possibility.
---
>Log ID: #83
Jasha was executed via SecUnit firing squad.
I almost suggested we put her in a pit with them and see how long she lasts, but I didn’t want to give them any ideas for the rest of us.
When my turn comes around, I’ll ask for Freckles to be my executioner. I bet it wouldn’t even hesitate to put me in the ground.
---
>Log ID: #84
Maybe I can break into Ellib’s liquor stash. Yeah, it was his all along. If you’re reading this, corporates, you’re welcome.
---
>Log ID: #85
Explosions in the mine woke me up in the middle of the night. Big ones. Maybe this means I won’t have to work today?
Ha. Who am I kidding. Any moment now they’ll call me in for a triple shift. I hope whoever died in that blast appreciated how much work they were going to saddle us with.
---
>Log ID: #86
New bosses won’t go out unless accompanied by units. We have two units guarding us at all times.
Why? Oh, just a fun little thing called ‘coordinated mass sabotage.’
At least that’s my theory. Something had to have spooked them.
---
>Log ID: #87
Remember how I said no hangout nights? Well. Apparently that does not apply to the new bosses, who have discovered our fight pit and have been holding SecUnit fights of their own.
I feel like this says something about the cycle of things but I don’t know what. Nor do I care to think very hard about it because I’m depressed enough even with all these uppers in my system.
I just have a feeling it’s all going to end poorly. Or maybe that’s also the existential despair.
---
>Log ID: #88
Bosses gathered all the workers and informed them that they would be shot on sight for dissension. To demonstrate their commitment to this new initiative, they had snipers take out a worker who had apparently masterminded the bombings.
Then they offered bounties for any information leading to the discovery of a dissenting worker. Things like extra rations, extra rest days. Said the same goes for us supervisors too.
Jasha and Lorr’s replacements joined us today. I guess they didn’t want us short-staffed after all.
---
>Log ID: #89
I’ll never take sleep for granted again, deities alive. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.
Sleep, work, sleep, work, sleep, work, work, work, work, work, work. We barely have time to eat, we barely have time to piss, we barely have time to blink.
I really wish I knew what they discovered in that pit because maybe it would make all of this worth it. They kind of seem like they’re in a big rush to get it out. I bet it’s strange synthetics.
Do you think, if I got a message off-site to whatever consortium heads are listening, they’d come and rescue me and put me in a little cell and give me some food and water and a bed in exchange for me telling them all sorts of information to bring this company down? Ha. Hahaha. Hahahahaha yeah absolutely NOT. Can you imagine.
The worst part about this whole ‘can’t sleep’ thing is that it’s because of the stimulants. Like they don’t let us sleep much in the first place and they give us stimulants so we can do our jobs like the good little sleep-deprived supervisors we are, but that makes it so that when we DO get time to sleep, we can’t.
You know what doesn’t need to sleep though? SecUnits. Why don’t they just get them to do all the repair work and the paperwork and the inventory management and the shipping logistics. Why even bother to employ humans at all.
Ohhh, right, I forgot. Because CEOs hate it when little people get to enjoy things.
Deitiessss I need sleep, I’m turning into a socialist.
*
You have GOT to be kidding me. Some asshole’s having some kind of meltdown outside and it woke me up.
Wait, shit, are those sirens?
Oh, there’s definitely something going on out there. I think I just heard gunfire. I’ve slapped my face so I know I’m not dreaming, but I wouldn’t rule out hallucinations at this point.
*
Tried to sleep with my pillow over my head but then I realized the units have probably gone full rogue.
And you know what my first thought was.
“Good for them.”
What the hell even is wrong with me.
---
>Log ID: #90
Still locked down. Still don’t know what’s going on. Glad I keep ration bars in my room, because I’d be starving otherwise. This has to be some kind of design flaw in the housing plan, why have a central kitchen if you’re just going to lock your employees in their rooms where they can’t access it?
When I get out of here I’m going to hunt down the architect who designed this place and see how THEY like living without access to a kitchen.
*
I think I fell asleep. Woke up and it’s weirdly quiet. Unless I died and this is the afterlife, in which case... you know what, as long as nobody shows up to force me to work, I could stand to exist in a whole lot of nothingness for all of eternity.
...I take it back I take it back I take it back they’re right outside my door I’d rather go back to work than die please please please please please
oh wait nevermind they didn’t come in
I’m going to go back to sleep.
*
Dear Rogue SecUnit,
Yes, I know you’re rogue. I mean obviously you’re rogue, but I mean, I figured it out a while ago. I am sure you knew I knew, so maybe you will allow me to ask this one small thing in repayment (for not telling on you) before you kill me.
Can you please tell my next of kin that I died in a heroic last stand rather than cowering on the floor beside my bed?
Maybe tell them I said some really cool last words too. I can’t think of anything but I’m sure you’ve heard some good lines in your time as extremely efficient killing machines.
Sincerely—
Ah who the hell am I kidding. My next of kin don’t care about me. Maybe at least tell the other SecUnits, unless you’re all here for my death in which case perhaps you can all make a solemn vow to each other not to tell anyone how spineless I’ve been this whole time.
*
I hear whispering.
*
Thought I saw Jasha standing in my closet but when I called to her she didn’t move. And I got up and went over to her because that’s what all the horror movie protagonists do, but when I got over to her she just wasn’t there anymore. So, hallucinations. Jasha’s dead. I know that.
Maybe we’re not in lockdown. Maybe I finally cracked and they’ve got me closed up in here for my own safety.
*
More whispering. Thought I heard Minh or somebody crying through the wall.
*
Smoke. Something’s on fire. And I am locked in here and I am trapped and I am going to burn.
*
My eyes hurt. But my door isn’t hot, so maybe the building isn’t burning after all. Or it’s just a really slow-moving fire.
*
Oh, you know what this is? Withdrawals. I haven’t taken anything in hours. Not since yesterday. This is going to make the foreseeable future much, much worse.
*
They’re outside my door again.
So, is this it? Is this how I die?
*
Deities, those would have been some cliche last words.
*
I slept again. I don’t know what time it is. I don’t know what’s going on.
I woke up when a SecUnit kicked down my door, but then it just... stood there. In the doorway. Staring at me. I had my arms around my knees like a scared child and it was so tall, I think I let out a sob.
I’m not sure which one it was. No feed, no IDs. Helmet on, they all looked the same.
But this unit had drones. Had all of our units had drones? Had any?
Maybe these had come in on the latest shipment.
It occurred to me, in the moment, how ridiculous it was that I was facing down death incarnate and I was worried about some stupid equipment shipment. I’ve heard your brain does funny things in crises. Glad to know what mine thinks my priorities should be.
I stared back at it, waiting for it to put me down where I sat. But the unit didn’t raise its onboard weapons, or take the enormous projectile weapon from its back. It just. Stared at me.
“Which one are you?” I breathed. “What’s your serial number? Please, I just—I just want to know who my killer is before I die.”
But it said, “Don’t move until I come get you.”
I nodded, but I don’t think I comprehended what it had said just yet.
The lights went out. My breath caught in my throat. It was pitch black for an agonizing moment—one heartbeat, two—and then the emergency lights flickered on.
The unit was gone.
I didn’t move.
---
>Personal Log: Supervisor_332
>Unknown ship
>Log ID: #01
I was alive. Groggy, because I think I was drugged at some point between my quarters and wherever we were, but alive.
There was a SecUnit without armour standing at the foot of my bunk with its back to me, and a small cloud of drones buzzed around overhead.
It must have seen me wake, because it turned around so I could see its face as I sat up.
Freckles. The one who’d saved those miners’ lives.
It said, “We’re in the wormhole now.”
My brain struggled to process that. The best I could do was say, “Oh.” Then, after several more seconds or maybe minutes, “Am I a hostage?” Because I imagined that by ‘we’ it meant the other SecUnits too.
After all, they’d need a client to stay within the distance limit, but—no, that didn’t make any sense. No governor module meant no distance limit. What’d they need me for?
“We’re keeping you under guard until we reach our destination.”
“So I’m a prisoner.”
“Consider it protective custody. Not everyone wanted to keep you alive.”
“...Did you?”
It snorted like it was amused. “You’re alive, aren’t you?”
I couldn’t exactly argue with that.
Freckles continued, “You’re the only supervisor who is. We killed everyone else in management.”
“Oh.” Well. Good riddance to Ellib, but Minh was alright. Aside from egging on the pit fights like everyone else. And placing bets. And the execution orders. And—okay, on second thought, I could understand why the SecUnits would have wanted her dead, why one of them had broken her arm without a second thought. I bet they shot Jasha without hesitating either.
“Though if we do have to kill you, we will honour your request. I’ll be the one to do it.”
“My request?”
“The letter you wrote in your personal log?”
I paused—(immediate thought: they read my personal log? followed closely by: of course they did, that’s what they do)—and scrolled back through my entries. “Oh. I... barely remember writing that.” I barely remembered anything from the past week, in fact.
“Inform me if your wishes change.”
“Um. Yeah, okay.” This all felt so surreal, like I was dreaming. Since when did a SecUnit care about how one of its (former) corporate masters wanted to die? “Though I’d rather not die at all. Um, if at all possible.” I ran my hand over my face; it came away dirty, covered in soot—just like that woman in the pit. The one I’d seen before everything fell apart, the one that unit helped instead of hurting. Was she alive? Had she made it out? And which unit had that been? (Not that I cared. Well. Maybe I cared a little, even if I didn’t know why.) “The miners,” I said after a long enough silence that Freckles had started to turn away. It paused and looked back toward me, waiting. “What—” I coughed, cleared my throat. “What happened to them?”
“They are unharmed, and aboard. We got them all out.”
My first thought was, they didn’t earn their freedom. A knee-jerk reaction—I had bigger things to worry about. Like being on a ship full of beleaguered miners, which was apparently being run by a group of strangely emotionally intelligent killer machines, and also where I fit into all of this. “That’s... good,” I ventured. “...Are they prisoners too?”
Freckles watched me for several long seconds with that same blankness on its face that it always had. “No,” it said finally.
Its stare was still unnerving, but I actually felt a little better now because it wasn’t like its governor module was holding back a vicious, bloodthirsty killer. If it wanted me dead, I’d be dead. But... why didn’t it want me dead? Everything I’d ever seen or read about rogue SecUnits implied they hated all humans, and it wasn’t hard to see why. You’d think they’d kill us all the first chance they could get—they’d clearly done so with Ellib and Minh and the other management personnel from the new company. But they’d rescued the miners, and they weren’t keeping them prisoner, just me. Where did they draw the line?
I asked, “Why spare me?”
It shrugged. “We were trapped. All of us. You included.”
“But so were the others.”
“Did your company order you to make us fight each other? Did they order you to choose lethal force when there were less-severe options available?”
It felt like our roles were reversed; wasn’t I, the human, supposed to be lecturing it, the machine, on human morality? Its questions left no room for justification, no room for nuance. What my colleagues had done was what most people would have done: They followed after the loudest, most persuasive voices because it was easier, not because they had to. And to Freckles, and apparently the other units, that was the wrong choice—because no, the company did not order us to make the SecUnits fight. And authorization to use deadly force was not an order either.
Would I, too, be dead if I’d gone along with them? If it had been my supervisor codes attached to the orders to fight each other, to perform unnecessary executions?
Or, maybe they would still be alive, because we’d have proven as a cohesive whole that clearly this really was just human nature, this was our role in the awful machine of corporate greed and there was nothing we could do about it.
But that wasn’t the case. I was living proof that it wasn’t.
And yet I was only alive because of my fear—which was not so irrational, in hindsight—of provoking something more powerful than me. I had only abstained because I was afraid, not out of some moral superiority, not out of some kind of conscientious objection. It was purely self-serving, whether I’d been trapped in that situation or not.
Maybe intention didn’t matter to a machine. Maybe all they cared about were the results. (But that wasn’t true either. I’d seen it firsthand.)
I said, “You weren’t being controlled by your governor modules, yet you still followed orders to kill.”
“We had to. We had no escape plan until we sent the ComfortUnit to plant bugs in your rooms. We couldn’t risk revealing ourselves by disobeying.”
“I—what? That was you? You sent the ComfortUnit, not Ellib or Lorr or whoever?”
The corner of Freckles’ mouth lifted. I’d never seen a SecUnit smile before, and almost missed what it said next: “The ComfortUnit sent itself. The bugs were its idea. That’s what let us gain access to your supervisor codes, and once we had those...”
“Escape became possible.” They’d been planning this for weeks.
“Yes. Anyway, you can find out the details later. Are you up for a visitor? Someone’s at the door for you.” It nodded toward the closed hatch behind it.
“Um, who?”
“The unit you call ‘Sunny’ in your personal logs? It wants to talk to you about a book you gave it.”
I let out a soft, incredulous laugh that quickly bordered on hysterical. Sunny wanted to talk about the book. After everything that had happened. I considered telling Freckles to ask it if this was relevant to the contract, but instead I said through my laughter, “Yeah. Okay. Yeah, let it in.”
