Chapter Text
Murderbot
I neutralised the GrayCris Secunit first then turned back to deal with the other GrayCris humans. Hostile one I knocked back into the transport as I dealt with hostiles two,three and four. I saw him start to rise through one of my drones, clearly thinking he would be able to take me by surprise from behind. I readied myself to launch backwards when somebody got there first. No, Dr. Mensah got there first.
In my multiple simulations of this rescue, I admittedly did not put Dr. Mensah launching herself at Hostile one’s neck and biting down in my top ten most likely occurrences. Or my top hundred…
Now that I could see her clearly, I could see the changes in her since the survey. Her ears were a little more pointed and her nails a little more sharp. Her skin was more pale and her eyes were blood red. Also the fangs were definitely new. Fucking GrayCris. They were not the first Corporates to inflict vampirism on a rival or a hostage, though it was looked down upon as a particularly scummy move. Which is why the company had definitive policies on it. Speaking of which.
Mensah was still gnawing on the neck of hostile one and while I did not care about the wellbeing of this human, I knew Mensah would probably be pretty upset if she killed him. Once the bloodlust wore off and she was no longer in an altered mental state. I reminded myself this was an emergency situation and grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back.
Dr. Mensah?
She looked at me blankly for a moment, no she looked at me hungrily for a moment and then seemed to remember herself. “Oh Diety, I-”. Her fangs were still poking out of her mouth and her features were still more vampiric than not. She must have been starving. Probably because she was starved. Fucking corporates.
“Dr. Mensah, you need to feed more before we leave. The company cannot know that you are exhibiting features of vampirism. They will consider the bond null and void.”
“No I- Secunit, what’s going on?” When bloodlust takes over, vampiric humans could often exhibit memory failures due to instincts taking over. Of course these were usually temporary and resolved once they were considered ‘full’ or somebody was able to talk them back into a sound state of mind. Unfortunately we were short of time and I am bad at talking.
I grabbed the unconscious body of hostile two and brought it over. It was simple enough to draw a long cut across its arm and hold it close to her. The thing about starved vampiric humans and new vampiric humans is the impulse control in the face of a meal isn’t there. Starved, new vampiric humans - well. I watched as the red in her eyes intensified and she took a long drawn breath. She wouldn’t hold out much longer but we didn’t have time for any hold out at all.
“You need to feed. Now.” She got closer, and I could see the tension in her jaw. Still she hesitated. It was a good sign for her future self-control, if really fucking annoying right now. I added for good measure, “I won’t let you kill him,” and shoved the arm towards her, holding it right under her nose. That was enough and she grabbed for it, licking up the blood that had already leaked before sealing her mouth over the wound.
When the human’s vitals began to elevate, I went to pull it away from her. Then on second thoughts, instead grabbed for Mensah and pulled her back. If I had tried to pull her meal away from her she might have pulled its arm off in an attempt to hold on. New vampiric humans could be like that. They didn’t know their own strength. And could be deeply possessive of a meal. I quickly examined her then went for the next hostile. She was still looking more vampiric than not so I repeated the process with hostile three and four. By the time she had finished with four, she was looking human-human again rather than vampiric human again which was good because we were running out of time.
“Murderbot…what-” Despite the change in eye colour, back to a deep brown, she still seemed confused, dazed maybe from being full for the first time since- since GrayCris had done this to her. I suspected that was why she had used my actual name for once which I- I didn’t hate. There was still blood around her mouth. I grabbed one of the discarded still breathing humans’ jackets and used it to wipe away the evidence.
“They’ll be fine,” I said, purposefully not drawing attention to hostile one, who may indeed not be fine given he had a large hole in the side of his neck. I shoved them all back in the transport before she could get a closer look. We’d already been delayed here too long and I wasn’t going to have Mensah crying over one of the humans who did this to her. “Come on,” I said, “We need to go.”
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Mensah
“We can look calm, we’re good at that.”
Mensah focused on its grip. Calm. She could do calm. Even if nothing had been right since the survey. Even if GrayCris had done a nebulous ‘something’ to her which had amplified her every sense and left her with a hunger that nothing could seem to fill. Even if sometimes they brought her ‘something’ to eat which had made her stomach twist even as she sucked it down ravenously and did not think to wonder until later what exactly it was. Even if she just ate four people.
Okay so there wasn’t much point to denial. Not after what just happened. Not that there were any vampires at Preservation (that she knew about) but she had definitely heard of them. Heard rumours of people coming to the corporation rim and coming back changed. Not even your loved one anymore. Undead. Imposters. Demons. They were a tale told around the campfire in the same category of changelings, werewolves and shapeshifters. Maybe the occasional murderous rogue Secunit though that at least had some basis in reality. But rumours don’t make you grow fangs and myths don’t usually eat four people, and Mensah was never one to deny a truth just because it made her want to run screaming into the night. They had done something to her and as far as she knew, the features were rather consistent with vampirism.
Having gathered together her scattered thoughts finally bolstered by the presence of ‘something’ in her stomach that both did and didn’t make her want to hurl, the next question was why. Well actually there were a few next questions including: what, why, how and when. The last few weeks were hazy, she could recall pain, lightless rooms and a bone deep hunger. There had been a Man who asked her questions and she had wanted to please Him but she didn’t know why. She remembered a different room with Him. She hadn’t felt as hungry then. She remembered Him pulling a knife, but not to her, remembered struggling to get away from Him as He shoved His arm up against her mouth, remembered crying even as she swallowed the thick, hot fluid, the taste of iron, the visceral disgust, the unyielding pleasure of-
“Dr Mensah, I'm going to pull your hood up now. Are you still with me?”
Right. No more trying to remember for now. She wasn't there anymore. She was with Secunit who had come back for her. Who seemed to know what she was and was rescuing her anyway.
“Where are we going?”
“We need to get to the docks. The station is on a day cycle but it should not hurt you.”
Right. Because that was a concern now. She remembered how much she enjoyed working with Tano and Amena on the garden. Remembered the light striking the window panes, the way it lit Tano’s face and made her feel warm. That was all it could be. Memories.
“Dr. Mensah. I need you to focus.”
Right. Right. “Can you talk to me about something?”
She needed to stay in the moment. Not sunlight soaked memories of Preservation. Or blood soaked memories of the near past.
“Uh..okay. About what?”
“Tell me about Sanctuary Moon?”
Its eyes lit up. Right. She'd picked correctly then. She listened to it talk and focussed on the warmth of its grip. She idly wondered how many people it had got to share its special interest topic with. She didn't stare at its face. Even if its eyes alight with interest were their own type of sunshine.
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Secunit and her travelled fast. She tried not to focus on the how and why of it. Just knew that they were outpacing the humans on the station, outpacing her former self and probably any other humans who deemed to try. Secunit had opted to move away from the crowds for the moment, to take advantage of her new speed and strength to maneuver around them. At least, she thought that was why. Although, perhaps it had just noticed she was becoming overwhelmed by the multiple heartbeats surrounding her. The scent of iron. Perhaps it didn’t trust her to stay in control, thought she would give them away and get them both killed. Even in the backstreets there were still people. Still temptation. She kept her focus on its hand in hers. The little callouses she could feel in its grip. The way sometimes she would squeeze and it would squeeze back. She could do this. She wasn’t going to get it hurt trying to save her. Not like last time.
Unfortunately that wouldn’t be up to her. They weren’t far from the shuttle when she heard a voice. It was familiar but not. She thought it was on the feed but Secunit didn’t acknowledge it.
Ayda stop.
She stopped. Secunit’s hand slipped from hers. That felt significant in some way. She missed it.
Good girl. Now come to me.
“Dr. Mensah?”
What was she doing? She had taken several steps towards the voice without realising. She didn’t know why she knew where it was or even who it was. Just that she needed to be closer to it.
“Dr. Mensah. I recommend you hold your position. Hostiles are approaching.”
“He’s calling to me,” she said absently. She didn’t like not to listen to Secunit. But also she couldn’t stay.
“Fuck.” One moment she was on the ground walking forward. The next she was swung over Secunit’s shoulder and moving rapidly in the opposite direction. She twisted in its grip, looking for the source of the voice. It needed to let her go. She needed to go to Him.
“No no no! What are you doing??” she cried out. The few humans who had been on the street gave them a wide berth.
“Your sire is calling. We have to go. Now.” It kept ahead of the voice and its friends, scaling buildings, running along walls, whatever it needed to do. Fortunately this was His home turf and there were only so many ways to avoid Him when He knew the inevitable destination. It dodged multiple groups of fledglings but it couldn’t run forever. She knew abstractly she wasn’t helping. She also wasn’t fighting against it. She was His but also it was her Secunit. There was something…something she needed to hold true. She didn’t want it to get hurt.
Finally Secunit placed her down. It looked hunted. Trapped. She didn’t know why. It was all going to be alright. He had told her so.
“Dr. Mensah. When the call breaks, I need you to run for the shuttle. Do you understand?”
Run for the shuttle? Why would she leave? Secunit and Him were here. “Why…?”
Secunit grunted in consternation “Just trust me. When the coast is clear - Slot alt7A. Run.” It looked around at the gathering fledglings, the security troops in power armour and the numerous security drones. It looked around, smirked and then all hell broke loose. Station security drones broke formation, then reformed behind Secunit before branching out to launch themselves at the security forces surrounding us. Hauler bots reactivated and charged into the open area, striking at the troops in power armour, those with power armour that hadn’t begun to spark and smoke. Secunit launched itself forward and she felt a spike of fear and she wasn’t sure if it was from herself or from Him.
Order it to stand down.
“Secunit, stand down!” She yelled. There was no acknowledgement. They both knew she could order it but it didn’t have to listen. She had told Him that it was rogue when He had her. He thought she was lying, that His control wasn’t absolute and had punished her. She pushed her remorse along the connection to Him like she had then. His fury hurt.
Order it to stop! You want to protect me. You need to protect me. She could feel Him getting more distressed and it distressed her in turn. She couldn’t find Him in all this chaos, all this noise. The lights were flickering, the drones buzzing, the hauler bots crashing. Her senses were flooded and she crouched in pain. “Secunit, stop!”
I’m sorry Dr. Mensah. This might hurt.
She felt Him/her scream and then He/she couldn’t breathe and there was a hand through His/her throat, then pain as something tore and then…she was alone in her head but she still couldn’t breathe. Secunit was there then, its hands coated in red. It picked her up and carried her the rest of the way to the shuttle. It tried to put her down and she remembered it saying it wouldn’t come with her to the Company gunship and she grabbed onto its arms, right over its gunports and wouldn’t let go. Couldn’t let go.
“Please. Please don’t leave.”
Ratthi, Gurathin and Pin-Lee were there and they were saying something but it didn’t matter, she only watched it, watched the five stages of grief cycle through its face. She should be looking away but she couldn’t. Could only watch, and hope, and pray it came with her. “Please.” I need you. I don’t know what’s happening but please. Please don’t leave me alone.
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Murderbot
If I had to face the company again, I was glad it was with my hands still dripping with the blood of the last fucker who'd fucked with my client. Seeing Mensah like that, docile, following the orders of the guy in GrayCris who'd done this to her, put me in what could politely be called, a bad mood.
GrayCris really shouldn’t have been relying on their ability to order Mensah to give me orders. It’s not as if they weren’t warned I was rogue, even if they didn’t really believe it. To be fair, after what they did to Mensah, I wasn’t sure if even a combat unit would have stopped me from ripping that fucker’s head off. (Okay so it probably could have and I definitely would have died. It just would have been a question of how much of GrayCris I could take down with me.)
The upside of entering the company ship after that particular encounter was that the company representative was terrified of the murderous rogue Secunit with literal blood on its hands. The downside was a terrified company representative was less inclined to let the terrifying murderbot enter their gunship. (Also I was sticky, and I hated that.)
Mensah hadn't exactly been her usual self for run to the shuttle after that GrayCris fucker did something inside her head. I wasn’t sure if it was him or if it was when I pulled his head off but she hadn’t really been speaking or…well paying much attention since then. At least until now. She pushed her way between me and the hatch, and I let her, relieved I hadn’t permanently ruined something in her brain, even if I was kind of annoyed she was putting herself in danger again. For me. She was trying to block me from the view of the company crew members. Her back was to me. She wasn’t afraid, despite what she’d felt me do to her sire. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to humans not being afraid of me. Humans defending me. Not that it had happened enough for this to be something I’d have to get used to. It was mostly just Mensah. Mensah who thought saving one defunct murderbot was worth it, even if it wasn’t safe for her.
But this time she didn’t have to save me. The company was demanding more money to let us inside and this was a mistake. There was a person in a power suit in front of us who could not stop me and a bot-pilot that seemed curious and friendly who I didn’t really want to hurt, but would if I had to. I could take over this entire gunship and none of them would be able to stop me. I wanted to do it. Wanted to watch the company be afraid for once. Wanted to watch them hurt.
Then Mensah turned to me, gripped my jacket and said, “No.” and everything got quiet. Her eyes were narrow and there was a glint of red in them. She’d been through so much and I was making it worse and if the company saw her eyes right now, then I wouldn’t have a choice. I would have to take over this stupid gunship to force them to take her home. And she was right. Damn it, she was right. Getting my clients involved in a pitched battle for the control of the rescue ship would be stupid.
I backed down. And I held onto her arms until the red in her eyes faded and she was safe to turn around. There would not be any security footage of what had happened. Despite everything, she was doing her best to protect me and I’d be damned if I didn’t make sure she got home to Preservation. Of course then the killware hit and the company was the least of my worries.
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Mensah
There was a moment during the escape on the station where Secunit had to leave her for a few seconds to clear the way. It had told her the plan, given her exact instructions and she’d still felt like she was holding onto reality with her fingernails. Now, despite its body beside her, it was really gone and she felt like she was anchorless. Adrift. She needed to get it together. She was starting to wonder if that was even possible.
“You said it was a memory failure?” she asked Gurathin. She knew now that she needed to be calm. Before Secunit had done this to itself, it had warned her that she couldn’t let the Company know what she was. That if she did the bond would be null and void. She didn’t know in that case if they’d just dump her at the nearest station or try to extort exorbitant amounts of money from her. Or if the Company’s policy on vampires was just immediate termination. She…there were a lot of things she didn’t know. About Company policy. About vampirism. She didn’t risk looking it up while on the Company feed in the Company ship. Not with Secunit incapacitated.
“Yes. I suspect it crashed its systems when it helped the bot-pilot against the killware. It has organic tissue so theoretically it can rebuild from that…” Gurathin said. He didn’t look as hopeful as his words.
“If it was just a memory failure and it could rebuild its systems, surely there would have been a sign by now.” They’d been in the wormhole for over a week. Gurathin and Pin-Lee said there was activity but it was minimal. Like a person in a coma.
“If you’re still adamant against putting it in the cubicle-”
“I am. It wouldn’t want-”
“No, I know I just…there isn’t much more we can do.”
This wasn’t her first time hearing this. Or even the third. She just- she’d hoped they would have found more information in the intervening time. Any information. Anything other than ‘wait and see’.
She turned away from him but she knew Gurathin was still there. Could smell his sweat and the iron underneath. Could hear his heartbeat, slightly higher than usual. He was nervous. Based on the whispered conversations she’d overheard between Gurathin, Pin-Lee and Ratthi, she knew why. He’d drawn the short straw on confronting her today.
“Ayda…”
“Yes, Dr. Gurathin?” He flinched at that. She hadn’t meant to be short with him but, well quite frankly she wasn’t in the mood. The hunger had been muted for the first 4 days of the wormhole, the blood Secunit had forced her to consume keeping her sated. Now it was slowly creeping back.
“Dr Mensah, you haven’t gone to medsystem. You’ve barely left this room. None of us have seen you eat. You can’t keep going like this.”
“I eat.” She resented the accusation given she’d been forcing herself to eat one meal in front of the company cameras a day. It tasted like ash and she threw it up soon after but she kept going to keep up appearances. She wasn’t an idiot.
“Prove it. Go with Ratthi and Pin-Lee to the mess hall and I can stay with-”
“No!” Stay calm Ayda, stay calm. “I mean…it wouldn’t like that. You and it had your issues back on the survey…”
The thought of leaving it put her in a cold sweat and she took a couple of deep breaths to try and keep her composure (Thank God the myth that vampires don’t breathe was just that: a myth). Given it meant she just smelt more of the blood in the room from Gurathin and Secunit, she wasn’t sure how helpful it was.
“Ayda, it's not even aware right now…okay fine. I can get Ratthi. He can-” He turned to leave, reached for the door and Mensah was there. Holding his arm. She didn’t really recall moving. Gurathin jumped back- well tried to, but her grip on his arm was strong. Too strong. His heart rate was a lot higher now. She forced herself to let go and backed up several paces.
“Sorry, sorry. That was- I’m sorry. You should go. I’ll be alright.” She was looking down, hoping he wouldn’t see the change in her eyes or teeth. Which is why she missed that he was looking at the bathroom mirror. And her lack of reflection. At least until she heard him gasp. Her head jerked up, blood red eyes meeting terrified brown ones.
“Ayda, what-”
“Gurathin don’t.”
He finally ripped his eyes away from her to look around at the room as if realising where they were. To look at the cameras.
“Oh God, we need to-”
Just then the lights went out. Not just in this room but the whole crew quarters. They heard multiple exclaims of dismay, Ratthi calling out to them, “Hey are you guys okay?”
They ignored him, the room only barely illuminated by the pale glow from Secunit’s eyes. Gurathin glanced at it, then at Ayda again and moved slightly closer though she noticed he stayed out of arms length. He looked at the cameras dubiously, then whispered, “How long?”
How long what?? How long she’d been a vampire??? “Since GrayCris, I don’t know how long.” She kept looking towards Secunit. “Do you think it did this?” She whispered. “Turned off the lights and cameras?”
“If it did, we only have a limited time.” There was urgency in his voice as he asked again, “How long has it been since you last fed?”
Oh. Oh right. She guessed that was a pressing concern. She’d been trying not to think about it. “The day we left TranRollinHyfa. Secunit- it- it made sure I was full before we left.”
“Of course it did,” Gurathin muttered. He glanced again at Secunit then moved slightly closer. She would still have to lunge if she wanted to bite him. Which she didn’t. “We have four more cycles of travel. Can you make it?”
“I think so,” she said, closing her eyes. She wished she could give a definitive yes but it wasn’t like she’d been a vampire for long. “Secunit thought I could.”
Gurathin gave a ‘hmmph’ and rolled his eyes but before he could say more, the cameras and lights turned back on. Mensah kept her eyes closed and turned away from the camera. The last thing she needed was the cameras seeing her eyes glow in the flickering light.
“Okay. I’ll work on a solution to your problem for the next phase of the trip,” Gurathin said, watching her carefully. He went to exit, then seemed to think better of it and turned to her again. His face had softened as he said, “If…if it's getting too hard, tell me, okay?”
Then he left and Mensah resumed her silent vigil over Secunit. If it had been responsible for the lights and cameras then it was still looking out for her despite its memory being in shambles. She hoped that was it and not some random error. She hoped it would wake up soon, would be its usual self. She wanted to talk to it again, to let it show her some of its favourite media. She wanted to get to know it when their lives weren’t in peril.
Gurathin sent her a report across the feed. Unclear cause of systems malfunction but all the data in that hour had been erased. He didn’t come back to the room, somehow convinced Ratthi and Pin-Lee to stay away too. She didn’t blame him. The hunger was growing, she found herself lingering on Secunit’s neck more often than not. She could smell the blood under the skin there, could hear the rhythmic beat of its pump, much slower than any human heart.
“Please wake up soon,” she said softly. Of course as much as she wanted the best for it, she admittedly had an ulterior motive for wanting it to be awake already. At this rate, she might need someone to stop her.