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It's a long way forward, so trust in me

Rating and Warnings: General Audiences, Gen, No Warnings Apply

Characters: Tlacey's ComfortUnit (Murderbot Diaries), Original Characters

Tags: The Corporation Rim Is Terrible (Murderbot Diaries)

Published: 2024/01/31

Word Count: 1710

A group of refugees fleeing their former corporate masters is intercepted by a stranger who claims they're in danger and that the stranger is here to help. Can they trust this person to get them to safety, or is this just an elaborate trap?

Thank you to TheJackalopePrince for the title suggestion, summary help, excited yelling, and beta! Title is from "Shelter" by Porter Robinson.

Originally published on Ao3 for the 2024 Murderbot Diaries New Year Gift Exchange

«See them? Just entering concourse D. Four adults, two minors. No bags.»

«I see ’em. Hana, block the stairs. Katter, Yannis, move to intercept.»

«Copy.»

—

So far, so good, Rill thought to himself, holding Mavrill and Byte’s hands and trying to look like he knew where he was going. The others followed closely behind him; Byte kept trying to slow down to look around, but he tugged her along anxiously. He knew they were sticking out on this concourse—everyone else here had nicer clothes, expensive feed interfaces, and places to be, and his group…did not—but it seemed they’d avoided attracting too much attention so far. If they could just get to the hotel, they could have some space to breathe for a minute and figure out their next move. Cross this concourse and the next one, down two floors. Check in, fake IDs, the last of the currency cards they’d painstakingly saved. It would just barely cover the cost of one room for the night. It would be enough. It had to be—

There was a person standing in the center of the concourse, one point of stillness in a sea of rushing people. They were holding a sign that said “Lamy & Co.” Lamy was the name listed on his feed ID, the one he’d been traveling under since they escaped MicroEll space. He tried to pretend he hadn’t seen them—no way this led anywhere good.

«You need to come with me. Play along. Station security is on to you. I can give you a cover until they leave.»

Shit and hells and damn. They must have been noticed after all. Rill didn’t trust this stranger any more than any other corporate. They had to be corporate, too: too well-fed and colorful and clean to want anything to do with his group. But on the other hand, they weren’t in the process of trying to arrest or recapture him, so he picked the less immediately dangerous option. He pretended to have just spotted them, waved, and changed direction to meet them. If he knew how, he would be praying.

“Where are we going, Dad? I thought we were going to the hotel.”

He tried to smile down at Mavrill. “We’re meeting a…friend. They’ll be able to help us.”

Wallen murmured, “Lamy, what are you doing? This has to be a trap.” He could tell she wanted to run, but wouldn’t risk splitting the group.

“Security spotted us. We need an alibi. I’ve got this.” He didn’t feel like he had this, but he had to act like it for the others.

The stranger walked up to meet them—bounced, more accurately, they were being very peppy—and greeted them enthusiastically. “Hello, hello!! Welcome to ExxoLlogg Station! I’m Datya, and I’ll be your guide for your tour of the system. We’ll do introductions in a minute, but first, I’m sure you’re very tired and hungry from your trip! I know a great restaurant nearby where we can sit and go over the itinerary.”

Rill pasted on an equally enthusiastic smile and shook “Datya’s” hand. “Great to meet you. We’re really excited for this trip! The kids have been talking about nothing else for weeks. Some food sounds great. I was told refreshments were covered in the tour cost…?”

Datya nodded. “Of course! All inclusive. Follow me, please.”

Rill suppressed a sigh of relief as Datya turned and led them off the main concourse floor, down a side hallway, talking nonstop about the amenities and features available on the station. They ended up at a small, quiet restaurant with an automated ordering system. As the group all sat down at a large table, Rill eyed Datya and waited for them to explain themself. They still hadn’t stopped talking, and were now pointing out the specialty dishes at this restaurant and encouraging the kids to pick what they wanted. The children were wide-eyed at this new person—Byte seemed entranced by their long colorful braids. Teah, Wallen, and Voss were staying quiet, but Voss had placed herself both far away from Datya and as close to the exit as possible.

Datya never paused in their babble, and was even projecting a map of ExxoLlogg space onto the table to lay out the “tour,” but at the same time they opened a feed connection with the adults. He didn’t know how they could split their focus like that.

«Thank you for trusting me. It looks like station security have backed off for now, but you were attracting too much attention. I don’t know where you came from and it’s better that I don’t know. Where are you headed? I can help you get off this station safely.»

Before Rill could respond, Wallen cut in angrily, even while she pretended interest in the system map Datya was gesturing over. «Who the hell are you, anyway? We got here just fine without you! Why should we trust you? Why are you even doing this?»

Datya didn’t respond physically at all, though Rill was unable to suppress a flinch. Wallen was right, though. This person had no reason to help them, and could have saved them from station security just to take advantage of them some other way.

«You’re right, you did get here safely, and I commend you. But this station has seen an uptick in unauthorized expatriates recently, and security has tightened a lot. Whatever plan you had for getting off the station, it won’t work anymore. You need an alternate route.» They sent a short video: it looked like a helmet-cam view of their group, crossing the concourse. Was this from station security? How had Datya gotten hold of it?

Datya gave the group a moment to digest the video, then concluded, «As for why I’m doing this…let’s just say I’m paying a favor forward that someone else did for me.»

Wallen somehow managed to exude a glare while still faking excitement about the tour. «We were going to stay here and find work. We have IDs.»

«Assume they’re burned by now. And the contracts here are probably no better than those wherever you came from. Do you have backup destinations?»

Mavrill interrupted out loud to shout tour requests at Datya—they wanted to see a solar flare, and the planet-sized amusement park, of course. Rill placed a hand on their shoulder to remind them to keep their voice down. Datya switched to projecting a map of FunLand!!!! and Mavrill began vibrating from excitement.

Teah jumped in, sounding uncertain. «…what about Preservation?»

Voss rolled her eyes from the corner. «Don’t be stupid. You keep talking about it like it’s some utopia and it’s not. No place is like that. We should just move to the next station an’ try better to not get caught.»

Datya’s face was still just as animated physically, but their feed presence somehow projected thoughtfulness. «It…really is like that, actually. It’s not corporate. And they’re not savages, like you may have heard. They take in refugees, you’d be safe. That’s an option, if you can get there.»

Rill tried to split his attention the way Datya was doing, pretending to ask about tour accommodations at the same time as he asked in the feed, «How do you know? Have you been there? We can’t risk our lives on some anti-corporate myth.»

They turned to him with yet another pamphlet, showing off the features of their charter ship out loud. «I know someone from there. It’s not a myth. You would be free there, truly free. No contracts. No corporations.» They paused almost imperceptibly, then continued. «I can get you to Preservation. If you will let me.»

Wallen squinted, then created a separate feed channel without Datya. «What do you all think? I still don’t understand why they’re doing this—this is a huge risk they’re taking just to pay a favor forward. It doesn’t add up.»

«But at the same time…this is too elaborate to be a trap. They could just turn us in directly, without all this misdirection,» Rill countered.

«We don’t have any better options—or any other options at all. We’re out of money, station security is onto us, we don’t have anywhere else we can go. I don’t see how we have any other choice,» Teah said with a sigh, staring blankly at the tour map.

Voss glared in silence as the others waited for her. She was so young to have to make these decisions. Just old enough to count as an adult, back on MicroEll. Rill wished this wasn’t on her at all. «I hate it, I don’t trust them, I don’t like them…but I think we hafta go with them. If they betray us, we’ll deal with it. But we can’t stay here.»

Wallen sighed. She hated being outvoted, hated losing control of the plan, but she knew when she was beaten. She sent a message in the shared feed connection. «We’ll do it. And we’ll kill you if you sell us out.» Out loud, she asked, “This all looks great. When does the tour start?”

Datya somehow looked even more excited; Rill half expected them to start levitating. It would have been funny if he weren’t so scared. “I’m so excited for you to see the wonders of ExxoLlogg! We’ll start as soon as you’re finished eating. I’ll take you to the transport and we can be on our way. We’ll have a bit of travel time before the first stop, so you can all get some rest.” They folded up the map, much to Mavrill and Byte’s disappointment.

Rill held tight to the kids as they all left the restaurant, now sticking out as tourists rather than unauthorized expatriates. Things were out of his hands, now; they were trusting their lives to a stranger, chasing a dream that seemed too good to be true. At this rate he was going to figure out prayer by process of elimination. So they all followed Datya’s bouncing braids and excited directions, hoping that at the end…at Preservation…they could be free.

—

«072364239:05:23:18 ExxoLlogg Concourse B Gate X12 Ship UnderwaterCannery. All tickets confirmed. No security alerts. Departure authorized in 00:10:00.»

Thank you for the great prompts, onion! This fic turned out to be a prequel to a MUCH bigger work that's consuming my entire brain, which will feature:

So thank you for setting this fire under me! I'm really excited to get into the rest of the story <3