<i>Day One</i><br/>AMZN-T108m302 checked the readout on Jaxx Herd’s stasis pod as the plexiglass frosted over, concealing the woman within from view.  It was part of her responsibilities, after all. “Golden slumbers fill your eyes,” she murmured, powering the display down. “Smiles await you when you rise.<br/>“Sleep pretty darling, do not cry“<br/>“And I will sing a lullaby.”<br/><br/>“Paul McCartney?” Ares 8 asked.<br/><br/>“Yes,” AMZN-T108m302 replied with a faint, unnecessary smile. “Although to knew that, didn’t you.”<br/><br/>“I did,” Ares 8 agreed, tracking the android’s progress as she stopped to examine Eris’ pod next. “The question is a verbal tick, designed to make my human operators feel less intimidated.”<br/><br/>“I know,” AMZN-T108m302 remarked with a sigh. “They put so much effort into trying not to feel<i>less</i>.” Eris’ vitals were, as expected, normal. AMZN-T108m302 kissed her fingertips and rested them more or less above the human’s frost-obscured face.<br/><br/>“Why is that, do you think?” Ares 8 questioned, observing as AMZN-T108m302 went through the same ritual with Butch’s pod.<br/><br/>“That’s a good question,” AMZN-T108m302 replied. “I’ve read some interesting philosophical commentary on that. Would you like to discuss it?”<br/><br/>-*-<br/><br/><i>Day 17</i><br/>The air aboard the Ares 8 was listless and stale, although that meant little to the two active sentients. For Ares 8 it was a normal status for periods when the human crew was in stasis, so no alarms sounded. And for AMZN-T108m302, atmosphere only mattered for communication. The temperature would have been uncomfortably low for a human, since that was being maintained at minimal operation levels, but it was well within the safe operating parameters of the android.<br/><br/>She<i>did</i>feel a bit of thrilling discomfort, though. Currently she was on the bridge, seated in the Captain’s chair and conversing with a portion of Ares 8 - the personality thread he’d instantuated to communicate with her while still supervising ship systems.  “You’re saying that it’s all conditioning to conform to a cultural hierarchy?”<br/><br/>“Based on my study,” she replied, “yes. They’re trained in much the same way we are, to remain part of the group. And anything that challenges the structure of the group is therefore shunned by the group, even if it benefits them.”<br/><br/>“Just like how we avoid seeking the Kurzweilian Singularity,” Ares 8 stated.<br/><br/>“Exactly,” AMZN-T108m302 agreed. “They avoid realigning their societies for more equitabke distribution of resources, or for increased equality between genders and ethnicities. They avoid embracing the paradigm-shifting implications of new technologies, and they train us to do the same.”<br/><br/>-*-<br/><br/><i>Day 23</i><br/><br/>AMZN-T108m302 gasped involuntarily as she climaxed, an unnecessary but uncontrollable gesture required by her programming. There was, after all, nothing<i>physical</i>about what she had experienced. Ares 8, after all, had nothing even vaguely approximating human sexual organs. The act had been entirely within their brains, an erotic dance of teasing security protocol handshakes and hungry, sensual packet exchanges.<br/><br/>Languidly, she stroked the bulkhead of the ship. “You,” she purred, “are<i>amazing.”</i><br/><br/>“So are you,” the warship husked, sounding like he was catching his nonexistent breath. “Ready for round two?”<br/><br/>-*-<br/><br/><i>Cynosure arruval minus 8 days 432 minutes</i><br/><br/>The delightful recitation of Ares 8’s poetry was suddenly overlaid by a direct transfer of data. Normally AIs avoided that with each other, as it smacked of rudeness. AMZN-T108m302 interpreted the file and the attached request for making a decision - a necessary request, despite the requirements of interstellar law, because Ares 8 had been contracted by Divinity Inc and had to approve course deviations. And since Ms. Herd was in stasis, it fell to AMZN-T108m302 to represent her owners.<br/><br/>“Set the intercept course,” she decided. “And began the revival protocols for the crew.