“She’s right.”
We stared at each other for ten seconds, then she decided I was serious. She added, “She also said you saved her from a bunch of corporate goons.”
“She didn’t say ‘goons. ’” It was an archaic word. I knew it without having to look it up because the new series of Adventures in the Free Systems, which was made on one of the other worlds in the Preservation Alliance, had dropped locally twenty hours ago and it had used the word “goons.” I was 93 percent certain that was where Mensah’s small human had picked it up, too.
“You know what I mean.” She folded her arms. She had clearly expected to get more information out of me and was disappointed this was apparently not going to happen. “You saved her, right?”
“Yeah. Want to see?”
She lifted her brows, surprised. “Sure.”
I’d already pulled my video of the last part of our run through the TRH embarkation zone, the fight with the SecUnits and the Combat SecUnit, and our escape in the shuttle. I did a rapid edit to cut out some of the bloodier close-ups, and then sent it to her feed.
Her gaze went inward, then a little glassy as she reviewed it. In the tone of a young human who was impressed but trying not to show it, she said, “Wow.”
“Your mother saved me, too. She shot a SecUnit with a sonic mining drill.”
She finished the vid and frowned at me again. “So, you’re a SecUnit.” She made a half-shrug gesture I didn’t understand. “Is that … weird?”
It was a complicated question with a simple answer. “Yes.”
Mensah came out onto the balcony and pointed firmly toward the seating area back inside the office. Small human waved goodbye and went to sit down. Mensah leaned against the railing next to me and said, “I was afraid you’d left.”
She kept her gaze on the plaza, so I could look at the side of her face. “I thought about it.”
She was quiet for twenty seconds, watching the movement in the plaza below. “Have you thought much about what you want to do?”
“Watch media.”
She did the lifted eyebrow look which I had on file as meaning: I know you’re trying to be funny but you’re not funny. It was most often aimed at Ratthi and Gurathin. “I think if that was all you wanted to do, you’d be off somewhere doing it, and you’d never have gone to Milu.”
“I watched a lot of media on the way to Milu.” It wasn’t exactly a counterargument, but I thought it was important data.
“Gurathin showed me the video you shared with him.” She meant the video of the transport with Ayres and the others. “You were helping those people.”
“I couldn’t help them. They had a contract labor agreement.”
I saw from her reaction that she knew exactly what that meant. “It was too late for you to help them, then.” She started to turn toward me, then looked out over the plaza again. “But you wanted to.”
“I’m programmed to help humans.”
Eyebrow lift again. “You’re not programmed to watch media.”
She had a point.
She continued, “The reason I ask, is that you’ve received a job offer from GoodNightLander Independent.”
Okay, now that was a surprise. “They want to buy me. I thought I was illegal in the territories they operate in.”
“It’s illegal to own a SecUnit,” Mensah corrected. “They want to hire someone who may or may not be called Rin, who they suspect is based somewhere in the Preservation Alliance, whose citizenship status will be considered immaterial.” She smiled. “I think that’s how they put it.”
I still couldn’t believe this. “They want to hire a SecUnit.”
“They want to hire the person who saved their assessment team from combat bots and contract killers, and they don’t care what that person is.” She glanced at me again. “Also, I’ve been talking to Dr. Bharadwaj and she wants to ask you to consider making your story public. Not to the newsfeed, but as part of a documentary account. There’s been a small movement for a while in the Preservation Alliance to press for full citizenship for constructs and high-level bots. She thinks a full account of your situation, in your own words, could be a great contribution. Even if all you did was agree to release the message you sent to me before you left Port FreeCommerce, as part of a public account of the GrayCris incident, it would help. She’d like to discuss it with you, if you feel it’s something you could consider.”
Okay, maybe I should have been appalled. It was a terrifying idea. It was a terrifyingly attractive idea. I said, “A documentary on the entertainment feed?”
Mensah nodded. “Again, there’s no rush about any of this. I just want you to know you already have options here, and I expect you’ll have more offers for your services or advice as a security consultant. And that you have friends here you can discuss things with, whatever you decide to do, or wherever you decide to go.”
I had options, and I didn’t have to decide right away. Which was good, because I still didn’t know what I wanted.
But maybe I had a place to be while I figured it out.
ALSO BY MARTHA WELLS
All Systems Red
Artificial Condition
Rogue Protocol
The Cloud Roads
The Serpent Sea
The Siren Depths
The Edge of Worlds
The Harbors of the Sun
Stories of the Raksura: Volume I(short fiction)
Stories of the Raksura: Volume II(short fiction)
The Wizard Hunters
The Ships of Air
The Gate of Gods
The Element of Fire
The Death of the Necromancer
Between Worlds: The Collected Ile-Rien and Cineth Stories
Emilie and the Hollow World
Emilie and the Sky World
Blade Singer(with Aaron de Orive)
Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary
Stargate Atlantis: Entanglement
Star Wars: Razor’s Edge
City of Bones
Wheel of the Infinite
About the Author
MARTHA WELLS has written many novels, including The Wizard Hunters, Wheel of the Infinite, the Books of the Rakshura series (beginning with The Cloud Roads and ending with The Harbors of the Sun), and the Nebula Award–nominated The Death of the Necromancer, as well as YA fantasy novels, short stories, and nonfiction. The first book in the Murderbot Diaries series— All Systems Red—was a New York Times bestseller, won the Alex, Locus, and Nebula Awards, and is nominated for a Hugo Award. You can sign up for email updates here.