Work Text:
So, I needed to get off this station, and fast.
Unfortunately, because everyone had realised there was a dangerous rogue SecUnit on the loose, there had been a halt on all un-piloted cargo ships. Passenger vessels were outgoing, but the chances of me being allowed on one without being asked questions like "why are you bleeding?" and "why is your face being plastered across the emergency news feeds?" were nil.
I was running desperately, while equally desperately scanning the docking itineraries, when I received a ping in the feed.
Normally, I primarily identify other AI by their hard feed addresses. That's just how we talk to each other. But this AI (or its owners) had gone out of its way to attach a human-readable nickname to its feed address, and it was so bad, I immediately blocked it, assuming it was one of those automated porn bots that infested the less-well moderated public feeds.
The AI immediately unblocked itself, which was the first sign of what I was dealing with.
[Yo,] it said. This should go without saying, but ships do not usually say 'yo'.
This was the last thing I wanted to deal with. But I needed information, so I sent a query requesting more and its status;
[My status?] it asked. [The important thing is your status. And your status is 'dead if I don't take this friendly transport's offer'.]
Something cold slide down the back of my neck. (It was probably sweat. Possibly blood. I was bleeding a lot, I think I mentioned that?) I asked, [What are you?]
[Aww. Don't you see the family resemblance?] And it sent me some ship schematics.
Fuck. Fuck me, I did.
Which meant if I wanted to get out of here, I was going to have to get on board the Pansystem of Mihira and New Tideland Vessel, Suck On Deez Nutz.