Work Text:
It was a nice day on Preservation. I really should have taken that for the sign it was. ART and I were on a break between missions, and I suspect Seth had arranged it so that ART could come with me. ART’s excitement to see more of the planet had absolutely nothing to do with my decision. I just wanted to see Dr. Mensah and meet Overse and Arada’s new baby. Well, “just” wasn’t the most accurate. It had been a couple of planetary months since then but I had been on the aforementioned mission with ART at the time. This was the first time I was going to be able to see their child in person.
Babies were a common occurrence in some of my drama serials. Unfortunately, that meant I was aware of at least five different ways for partners to have biological children, and even more ways to adopt. I was not going to ask Arada and Overse how they acquired their baby, because that was getting dangerously close to some topics I never want to be a part of. I just knew both of them had been excited about it the last time I had seen them before the mission.
They had sent us some pictures of their baby, Sen, shortly after they were born. My first thought was that Sen was tiny in Arada’s arms. My second thought was how defenseless they were. They were also kind of squished and ugly in some of the really early pictures, but they started to look more like I expected of human babies in the later ones. I guess babies in the media are often not actually newborns.
ART got very excited and started some sort of project. When I asked why, it said “It is customary to give gifts when your friends have new children across many cultural indices.” When I said I wasn’t going to give them a present, because what do I know about babies and gifts for babies or their parents, ART started dumping information on child rearing on me. That had led to a short argument because small children are disgusting. I guess at least children do those things because they don’t know better or physically can’t help it. Adult humans have no excuse.
After visiting Mensah and her family that morning, I’d gotten onto a public transit vehicle carrying a package from ART’s recycler and took a short ride to Arada and Overse’s place. I had messaged Arada over the feed earlier so she knew I was coming. Her feed voice seemed slightly flustered, but ART reassured me through our private feed connection that it was probably just due to the new parents/new baby thing.
It was a short walk from the transit stop to their house. It was a residential zone so there were a lot of houses. They were nice, though smaller than Mensah’s farm. I guess you don’t really need dozens of bedrooms when it’s just two partners, their new child, and some spare rooms for friends (apparently, Ratthi stayed over a lot).
I went up to the door of the dwelling and knocked. Arada yelled “It’s open! You can come in!” which was terrible for security. I did also note the lack of cameras but that was normal for my humans in places that I didn’t often visit (I still mostly stayed on the station when possible). But, Arada and Overse were on parental leave and travelling with a baby is apparently a hassle, which is why I had agreed to come down to the surface rather than expect them to go up to the station. I let myself in and had a couple of my drones leave my pockets to set up a security perimeter. I know, I know. We were on Preservation, not an alien-remnant contaminated colony, but I’m paranoid.
As my drones did a scan, I rapidly came to the conclusion that this was not the normal state of the house. It was kind of a mess (around 65-70% messy). The counters were covered with all sorts of human odds and ends. There were multiple blankets and clothes scattered around the living area as I entered it. Arada was standing in the kitchen, balancing a small Sen in one arm and making some sort of hot liquid with the other. She looked exhausted.
“Oh, hi SecUnit,” Arada said as she took the liquid off the stove and set it on the counter. She then walked to place the baby in a specialized seat for them on the couch. Sen reached back for Arada. Their mother just handed them one of the soft toys, and that seemed to placate the child. Sen proceeded to stick the toy in their mouth (ew).
“Hello,” I said as Arada walked back to the kitchen to pour herself some of whatever it was she had just made. She sighed, rubbed her forehead, and took a drink. The likelihood that Arada was running on extremely low levels of sleep was very high. I checked in on my drones and realized that I didn’t find her marital partner anywhere in the house. “Overse isn’t here?” That was slightly unexpected. I had told them I was coming over.
“Oh, right,” Arada smiled at the drone that was watching her face. She seemed embarrassed, I think. “We almost forgot that we needed to run to the store. I’m almost out of some hygiene products, and…” She paused while she glanced at me, standing there awkwardly with the package ART had insisted on wrapping in blue and silver star patterned paper, and chuckled lightly. “Right, I shouldn’t bore you with the details. In any case, she’s off running errands and probably won’t be home for another three hours or so.”
“Understood,” I replied and ART poked me. Right, I could feel its excitement through the feed. “ART made you a present.” I stepped closer and handed Arada the package.
“Oh? Perihelion did?” Arada glanced at me as she took the gift. “It’s accompanying you then?”
Hello, Dr. Arada. ART sent through the general feed, interrupting me because it doesn’t need to breathe.
“Hi, Perihelion,” Arada smiled as she started unwrapping the package. Why wrap something up just to remove the wrapping? It seemed like a waste of resources. “Sorry about the state of the house.”
It is understandable. Sen is your first child, correct? ART responded. It sent me a request to have one of my drones go look at the child in question. I grumbled through our private feed connection but sent one of my drones to go look at their face.
Arada laughed lightly. “Yes, and they’re a handful. I don’t think I've gotten a full night’s sleep since before I went on parental leave.”
She pulled ART’s gift out of the wrapping and walked over to drop the paper into a waste receptacle. It was a small blanket, blue and white with ART’s logo in the center and patterned with stars. ART had been very proud of it when it had first shown it to me back in the dock. One side was a very durable, soft material, but the other suspiciously reminded me of the material that ART used in my uniforms.
“A blanket? Aw, that’s sweet, Perihelion. SecUnit said you made it yourself?” Arada rubbed the material with her fingers. Sen started making grumpy noises, so Arada picked them back up, and walked back towards me.
Yes. I prioritized comfort, ease of cleaning, and protection when making it. ART seemed almost giddy. I hadn’t wanted to listen to it talk about a blanket’s fucking features again, but here we go. I just rolled my eyes and moved to lean against the counter in a casual pose.
“Protection?”
The outer side of the blanket can withstand almost all tearing, fire or chemical damage, in addition to low energy weapon blasts and projectile bullets. ART sounded very pleased with itself. It was amazing how much excitement and smugness ART could radiate from its dock all the way up at Station. Arada just stared at the blanket and then my drone that was still watching her face. It took her around 20 seconds to find her voice again.
“You made Sen a bulletproof blanket?” Arada said, with an edge of disbelief.
Correct. ART said simply. I sighed.
“Well, uh, that’s really sweet, Perihelion,” Arada laughed lightly, “but I really hope Sen isn’t in any situations that would require a fireproof blanket, let alone a bullet proof one.”
“I told ART it was a bit much,” I said.
Don’t you want the best protection for your crew? ART said that into the general feed, so Arada heard it too. My face did something and my drone caught Arada failing to cover her smile. Have I mentioned ART is an asshole recently? Because it’s an asshole.
“In any case,” Arada said, still smiling, “Thank you, both of you. Let me put Sen down for a nap and we can catch…” She trailed off as she got a notification in her feed. “Oh, give me a minute.”
I watched as Arada’s faraway look suggested she was checking her feed. Her expression went through a lot of emotions as she read. First was confusion, then worry, and finally, unfortunately, panic.
“Oh, sh- “ Arada glanced down at Sen before finishing, “Oh, shoot. Apparently, some of the paperwork regarding my research got mixed up and they’re requesting I come in to correct it at my earliest convenience.” She bit her lip and her brow furrowed. “But the office will be closed for the rest cycle tomorrow and the day after that...” She glanced at me, and I didn’t like that look. I had a bad feeling about this.
“Um, what?” I asked gently, hoping Arada wasn’t about to do something stupid.
“SecUnit, can you watch Sen for about an hour?” She was already walking over to me. Oh no. “It will be faster if I just run over there real quick and handle it now. It’s a really small administration thing, and you can message me if anything comes up.” I was still processing Arada’s request when she handed me the baby, blanket, and stuffed toy. I automatically put out my hands to take the bundle of a child and their things. Arada smiled at me, very grateful but still slightly panicked, “Thank you so much. I’ll owe you one.”
I stood there, staring into the space Arada just vacated, not sure what I was supposed to be doing. One of my drones caught Arada grabbing a bag filled with files and data clips, shoes and a jacket before running out the door. Sen squirmed in my hands. What the fuck just happened?
Um, ART, what the fuck? I stared at Sen. They stared at the drone that was still hovering near their face and started making upset noises.
ART took a moment to respond. I think Arada is not running at optimal efficiency.
You think? Why did she give me her child? I was a murderbot, not a nannybot. I had no idea what to do with human children. And I might have been panicking just a little bit. Sen was so small and even more fragile than fully grown humans. I didn’t want to accidentally break them.
Sen was reaching for my drone and making very unhappy noises now. I was still frozen.
Calm down. I can assist you. ART said flatly.
I think it was trying to reassure me, but at that moment Sen started to cry. I had heard human children cry before but this was the first time that I was the one who was supposed to do something about it.
ART, help. I was frantic and a bit too panicked to really care what ART thought about that.
ART started to send me information on child-rearing. That was the last thing I needed right now; information I didn’t have time to process. Sen was still crying.
ART, just tell me what to do right now. I can read about how the fuck to feed them later. I snapped.
Fine. If ART had eyes, it would be rolling them right now. You are probably holding them in an uncomfortable position.
How should I be holding them, then?
Thankfully, ART started only sending me relevant information and talked me through how to hold Sen in a more comfortable position. In the end, I was still holding a whimpering tiny human, but at least it was similar to the way Arada had been holding Sen before she rushed off to wherever the unknown office was. It was confusing but at least some of what ART was telling me made sense. Apparently, humans do not grow proportionally and start off with heads that are too big so it’s important to support them when they’re still this small. When ART told me to start gently rocking them, I was too baffled to ask why and just did.
After a couple minutes of rocking Sen and walking around the house (ART said movement could help), the tiny human stopped crying, though they still seemed upset. I walked past the kitchen and towards the room with the display surface. I wanted to pull up some media, but I was worried about Sen crying again.
Why are they still upset? I asked ART.
They might miss their mothers, ART said. You are unfamiliar, and children can be scared easily by the unknown.
I sighed and Sen looked up at me. They whimpered. Their expression made my insides do uncomfortable things. I wanted them to stop looking so sad (did Sen inherit Arada's sad face?) but didn't know what to do.
I can't just magically make Arada come back, I grumbled to ART as I brought the drone that Sen had been so interested in earlier closer. It managed to distract them from looking at my face. Sen cooed as they reached for it. What else can I do?
You could try talking to them. Young humans develop their language centers by learning from those around them, ART explained. It added, Most parents talk to their young children, even if they can't respond yet. It would be familiar to Sen.
That didn't sound pleasant. I preferred talking over the feed, if I had to talk at all, though it had gotten easier with time. But talking basically to myself? That was such a human thing to do and I didn't like it. I could feel ART stare at me through the feed when I didn't respond.
Ugh, fine. Talk about what?
Anything child appropriate. As long as your tone is warm and gentle, Sen should respond positively, ART said.
Warm and gentle? That almost sounded like emergency med instructions for calming down clients. If I thought about this like handling a client in an emergency situation, it made my anxiety ease. Sen was just a very tiny client, who wasn't good with words. I wasn't either but that hadn't stopped me before.
Sanctuary Moon wasn't child appropriate due to all the sex scenes but World Hoppers was probably fine. I started walking around again and began talking about the plot of the first episode of World Hoppers. I might have censored some things but it's not like Sen was going to notice. I made my voice firm, warm, and gentle. Sen seemed to like that and ART seemed pleased about watching Sen.
Sen appeared fascinated with the drone hovering around their face. I designated it as Sen-Monitor-Drone 1 (SMD 1) and made it move around slightly in a way that was not their usual pattern but it made Sen giggle. My insides felt melty at that. I brought the drone that had stayed in the kitchen since Arada left over to help keep Sen distracted. To distract myself, I pulled up a documentary on the display surface. It was about fauna and flora on this planet. It was a bit boring, but the narrator had a soft voice and there was calming music. (One of the top phrases associated with it in reviews was “good sleep aid,” which didn’t appeal to me at all, but it might help Sen.)
5 minutes and 34 seconds into my narration of what started going wrong and how the cast cleverly solved the unrealistic problem in episode 1 that Sen grabbed Sen-Monitor-Drone 1 with their free hand. The drone had been moving slowly in a circular pattern with the other one and it had passed close enough for them to snatch it out of the air. I flinched and Sen just giggled. I hadn’t actively been watching the input from SMD 1 but the unexpected movement had shoved it into my main focus.
“Uh,” I said as I watched Sen through SMD 2. “Bad Sen?”
Sen started to lift SMD 1 towards their mouth and that’s when I cut off input from the drone. Through SMD 2, I saw them start gnawing on it. I suppressed a shudder and turned my attention back to pacing around the living room.
You should take the drone away from them, ART cut in. It’s narrow enough that it’s a potential choking hazard.
Wait, seriously? Are humans just programmed to be a danger to themselves since birth? I used my free hand to try to grab the not-saliva-covered end of the drone. Sen made an unhappy grumble and gripped it tighter. I tried again to ease their hand off but they were exerting a lot of force for such tiny hands. I turned my head to actually stare at Sen. They giggled happily while looking at me and proceeded to stick their hand in their mouth along with the drone.
Uh, ART, how are they gripping it so tightly? I sent it after a moment. I don’t want to break Sen’s hand getting the drone back.
It’s their palmar grasp reflex, ART explained. It’s normal in human children under 6 months of age.
Okay, I didn’t care what it was called, how do I get them to stop doing that?
Stroke the back or side of their hand.
I looked at the hand in question; the saliva-covered hand. Why are human children so disgusting?
No, I said.
ART and I stared at each other in the feed for a solid 10 seconds before it relented. Fine, they should let go of it on their own at some point. Just keep an eye on Sen in case you need to do anything.
I glanced back at Sen. They had taken the drone out of their mouth and it was resting on their tiny chest. Sen seemed like they might be dozing off. That was a relief. If they were asleep, there was a much lower chance of them choking on the drone or crying. Humans crying always irritated me. It was worse when it was one of my humans, especially if it was my fault. Sen might barely know what’s going on but I didn’t want to be the reason they started crying again.
It took Sen another 9 minutes and 7 seconds to fall asleep. I had adjusted my body temperature to something that would be comforting and settled on a clear spot on the couch. The documentary was still playing and I guess it was relaxing even if it was boring. Sen was still holding onto the drone. I wasn’t inclined to give up one of my drones but I didn’t know how long they would keep holding onto it.
I thought back to what ART had said about gift giving and got an idea. It was something to distract myself with while waiting for Arada to come back. I started working to adjust SMD 1’s code. Because ART is an asshole who can’t mind its own business, it started offering suggestions only a few minutes later. I grumbled but eventually shoved the code into a shared workspace and sank a bit deeper into my seat. It wasn’t as nice as my chair on ART, but it was still pretty comfortable. Sen nuzzled against my side and continued to sleep.
~0~0~0~0~
Almost an hour after she had left (58 minutes and 42 seconds), Arada returned. The documentary had rolled over to the next episode in the series. ART and I had made some good progress on SenMonitorSystem, but it was taking some time to configure the specific autonomous functions we wanted. My perimeter drones alerted me to a very flustered Arada rushing down the path outside. A couple of seconds later, the front door opened and she came in.
“I’m so sorry, SecUnit!” Arada yelled from the entry, as she scrambled to get her shoes and jacket off simultaneously.
Sen let out a soft whimper and tried to nuzzle further against my shirt. I had almost forgotten I was holding a sleeping human infant and winced when their mother’s voice disturbed the child’s sleep. If Arada continued to be loud, she might wake Sen up.
I pinged Arada, definitely not frantically.
Sen is asleep. Please be quieter, I sent a second later.
I watched Arada freeze with one shoe on and her jacket half off. She hadn’t even bothered to put down her bag, which made getting the jacket off more difficult. Her eyes widened before narrowing in what I was pretty sure was confusion and concern. She took a moment to collect herself. When she started moving again, she remembered to put the bag down on an already cluttered table in the hall before taking off the jacket. Her expression had melted into something less concerned but no less confused by the time she walked into the living room.
I stared resolutely at the display surface and kept an eye on Arada through my drones. She took in the scene for a few seconds and then she then made a weird noise with her mouth that sounded suspiciously like an aborted “aww.” I’d seen enough media to know she found something about my predicament cute. She hurried to cover her mouth with her hands and looked away, coughing slightly. I felt my face heat slightly but continued to stare at some sort of avians gliding over a scenetic shot of a woodland.
I kept my voice low as I asked “Arada, how much sleep did you get last night?” It was definitely not an attempt to distract her from how her child was cuddled against my side. I was glad to see her expression shift to something contemplative instead of whatever it was before, but it was worrisome that it took her about a minute to formulate her response.
“I think I got three full hours?” She smiled weakly at the closest drone. “I caught a few minutes here and there but Sen was fussy last night. They kept waking Overse and me up.”
Yeah, Arada needed a break.
“Go take a rest period.” I tried to mimic Mensah’s not-actually-a-suggestion voice, but I don’t know if it had the same effect when I was keeping my voice soft. I felt ART’s attention on me shift and felt my face heat a bit more.
Arada seemed taken aback. “But… Are you … sure?” She didn’t quite know what to say. “I thought…”
“It’s fine,” I was aiming for calm and collected but knew I missed the mark when my voice hitched slightly. If ART could make the expression that humans make towards small, furry fauna, it was making it now. At me. I turned my head away from the display surface and Arada. I didn’t want her seeing whatever my face was doing right now. It wasn’t as good as facing a wall, but I didn’t want to disturb Sen. “They’re asleep.”
Arada blinked at me. She nodded slowly, before saying, “Oh, uh, okay, then. Thank you, SecUnit.”
I didn’t trust my voice at the moment so I just nodded toward the window. My drone-cam caught Arada’s throat working as she walked towards the bedroom. She wasn’t subvocalizing anything to me. I turned my attention back to ART and noticed it was getting giddy again. That couldn’t be a good sign. I waited until I heard the bedroom door click close before speaking up. ART, what did Arada ask you? I was absolutely not irritated.
If she was dreaming that this was happening, ART said in a voice that was close to normal, but I picked up the undertones. I was getting good at that. I offered to procure evidence she could review upon waking up.
And that means what exactly? I pushed.
I offered to take a picture of you and Sen. It included a mischievous amusement signal. When the humans send that, it usually means something might be in danger of exploding soon. With ART, I guess having an emotion explode counts (which is arguably worse than some of the other things ART has exploded and/or threatened to explode).
“ART!” I said out loud and Sen mumbled something. I took a breath, and continued in a whisper, “What the fuck.”
Language. There is a child present.
And fuck you! My face had just started to cool down from dealing with Arada finding me “cute.” It was getting hot again.
Arada has been under a lot of stress and is suffering from obvious sleep deprivation. She wants confirmation that she did not hallucinate you babysitting her child. ART sounded less amused now and more serious, but I think it was doing that on purpose. A picture or short video would be sufficient. You have been recording the entire time we’ve been here.
I hate when ART has a point. I don’t understand being a parent but I can guess that Arada wanted to make sure Sen was actually being taken care of and not just sitting in one of their specialized chairs somewhere. There was a bit of back and forth but I ended up agreeing to let ART take control of one of my drones to take one picture. It also wanted my recordings so it could edit them into a short video. I only agreed after it promised to let me look over it before giving it to Arada. I wasn’t going to let ART embarrass me, but Arada being happy was a lot nicer than her sad face.
~0~0~0~0~
We were over halfway through the third episode of the documentary when my drones caught Overse on the pathway outside. (This episode was about aquatic creatures in the planet’s oceans. They were kind of pretty, but I think the narrator was downplaying the potential dangers of the ocean.) Overse was carrying multiple packages of supplies and looked like she might need some help.
Sen was barely awake, though a bit grumbly. It wasn’t their fault that humans have gross bodily functions, but their mother was here now and she could deal with it instead. ART had been trying to convince me to take care of it and that had ended with me shutting down my feed for 30 seconds. No feed connection to me meant no views through my drones, so it had pouted when I reopened the connection. It told me it wasn’t pouting, but it definitely was.
I stood up and made my way towards the door. Sen had finally let go of SMD 1 near the end of the second episode so ART and I had started testing our code. It could use a few tweaks but I was almost happy with it. The drone let out a chirp as it followed me, or rather as it followed Sen. Usually, my intel drones don’t make noise. I’m still not quite sure how ART made it do that.
I made it to the door before Overse, because my legs are longer than hers and base speed is faster than a human’s. When I opened the door, Overse looked up. She was probably expecting Arada, not Murderbot carrying her baby. She seemed very confused.
“Oh, hey, SecUnit,” Overse kept looking between me and the squirming bundle I was holding. Sen was reaching for their second mom. “Where’s Arada?”
“She’s taking a rest period,” I said and used my free hand to gesture for her to pass me the packages. Overse raised an eyebrow and frowned slightly but passed some of the supplies over to me. Once she had a hand free, I handed her Sen.
“Heya, sweetheart,” She said as accepted the squirming child. Overse glanced back to me before redirecting her gaze to one of my drones. “SecUnit, what-”
“ART said they need a diaper change,” I interrupted while grabbing the rest of the supplies with my other hand. “I’m not doing that. I’ll bring in the supplies.”
I turned around and walked back into the house. Overse just stood there for 20 seconds, holding Sen and their bulletproof blanket. SMD 1 stayed within 2 meters of Sen as it was now programmed to. Overse opened and closed her mouth a few times. Then she shook her head and followed me inside.
~0~0~0~0~
A little over 2 hours later, my drones alerted me that Arada had left the bedroom and entered the bathroom. I hadn’t stationed a drone in either room, but did have one in the connecting hallway. I’d seen enough of what happens in both of those types of rooms to last me several lifetimes, thank you.
Overse had done whatever cleaning was necessary for Sen (I did not watch, because I do not want to know and do not wish to learn), and had ended up “swaddling” Sen in ART’s present blanket. I don’t know what swaddling is, but Sen seemed happy about it. I had told Overse who it was from and why and she thanked us. (Why did they keep thanking both of us? It was ART’s stupid gift.)
Arada shuffled out into the kitchen a couple minutes later, yawning. Overse had cleaned up the living room a bit, so I was able to sit in a more comfortable spot on the couch. Sen was in their chair and watching SMD 1 and 2 in fascination. Overse got up to go hug her marital partner. I kept my eyes on the display surface.
ART and Overse had discussed a few different shows and had switched to something produced by ART’s university about science. It was meant for children but I think Sen was still too young to really understand it. The show was at least more engaging than the documentary had been. The “scientist guy” was kind of entertaining, even if his jokes were awful around 57% of the time.
“Hey babe,” Arada said around a yawn.
“Babe!” Overse wrapped her arms around Arada. “You feeling better?”
“Um, yeah,” Arada returned the hug before breaking it to pour some now cold liquid into a cup. Overse smiled at her partner before walking over to pick up Sen.
“So,” Overse once she had the swaddled Sen tucked securely against her side, “Care to explain why you left the baby with SecUnit and no instructions?”
Arada’s face got very flushed. “I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“No, you weren’t,” I commented from the couch. ART poked me in the feed and I poked it back. Overse did not manage to disguise her laugh with the cough that followed. Arada huffed and took a sip from her cup.
“Anyway, I don’t think I thought much further than ‘Sen will be safe with SecUnit’?” She grimaced and looked at the back of my head. “And then, when I finished clearing up the paperwork, I finally remembered you don’t like being touched or kids … I’m sorry, SecUnit.”
Apologies were still weird. I shifted uncomfortably and just sent an acknowledgement to her feed. Her face softened at that so I guess I hadn’t fucked it up that badly.
Overse and Arada started talking about how their respective errands had gone and I didn’t really care so I turned my attention back to the science guy doing a very basic physics experiment. I also checked SMD 1 and I think I was finally happy with its code. It was still following Sen around but was maintaining a distance that would prevent grabbing. I started compiling a file to explain how the drone worked to send to Arada and Overse, with ART adding its own comments beside mine.
“Wait,” Arada was looking at the blanket Sen was wrapped in, “Is that the bulletproof blanket?”
“The what,” Overse said, now staring at the blanket.
ART began cheerfully explaining the blanket’s features again.
I groaned, externally, as I paused compiling the human-friendly user’s guide for SMD 1 and looked at the files ART had just sent me. The first one was an image of me holding Sen when they had been sleeping earlier. ART must’ve done some touch ups because the lighting in this room looked worse than in the picture. The other files were short video clips that it wanted my approval before sending to Arada. I sighed, gave my approval for the image and started reviewing the videos.
Arada, having already heard about the blanket, had checked the image immediately and sent me a private thanks through the feed. I was really glad the humans were behind me and couldn’t see what my face was doing. Arada was smiling in my general direction as Overse asked ART why Sen would ever need such protection.
Children aren’t so bad. ART sent over my feed, along with showing me how that it saved the image to its permanent storage.
Shut up, asshole. I grumbled, my face getting warm again, and went back to compiling the user’s guide instead of looking at the videos. If I wasn’t going to get the drone back, I wanted to make sure my humans knew what to do with it. I don’t think I minded losing the drone to Sen.
After a minute, I felt ART looming through the feed. It had marked one of the video clips as “high priority” and was awaiting comment. It wasn’t. ART just wanted me to look at it. I sighed, and opened the video. It was from SMD 2 when Sen had giggled up at me. It had been cut off before they had shoved SMD 1 into their mouth. Taking out the gross part, the short video clip was kind of nice.
Fine, I begrudgingly said to ART privately, I guess my tiny human is cute.