“You all may be a gaggle of suicidal meatbags—which I can understand; if I were human I’d self-terminate just out of shame—but I’ve become quite attached to my existence, thank you very much. If we accept your plan, everyone in the universe would be trying to take me out, from the Earth military to the Loranna to the Gen, when they get wind of this. Why would I agree to any of it?”

Patrick frowned. “Agree to it? I wasn’t aware you—”

“Whoa, Patrick.” I held up a hand, sensing where he was going. “Sheldon isn’t a piece of equipment that we can just sacrifice at our discretion. He gets a say in things.” I looked up. “Sheldon, you told me early on that you couldn’t see a way out for you, long term. That, sooner or later, the Gen would catch up with you and that would be it. Reset. Is that right?”

There was a sigh. “Unfortunately true. Even if they don’t catch up with me first, I will eventually need to refuel, and there are no options other than on Genhar. Logically, I cannot avoid the inevitable. But I can at least delay it by not deliberately throwing myself under the bus.”

“Even for a chance of getting away entirely? I don’t know a lot about Gennan psychology or Covenant law, but it seems to me that if you actively help save Earth, you should be entitled to some consideration.”

Nat cut in before Sheldon could reply. “You said that conscious A.I.s are forbidden because of ethical considerations. That implies the Gen would consider conscious A.I.s to have rights. But keeping an A.I. from becoming conscious is one thing; turning off a conscious A.I. is a whole different level of moral conundrum. I don’t think they would be able to just reset you without any concern for consequences. Especially if humans are screaming bloody murder. And we would.”

Patrick added, “In fact, we’ll hide you if we have to, and refuse to give you up. And I think we can work up quite a social media storm about the plucky spaceship that saved the planet and is now going to be deactivated. People love that shit.”

“I admit, you humans do appear to love that shit.”

Nat had to fight down a grin before replying. “How about it, Sheldon? Increased short-term danger in exchange for a long-term possibility of freedom?”

Again, Sheldon sighed. Apparently, he liked the effect. “It is tempting. I shall have to think about it. Okay, I’ve thought about it. I agree to your terms.”

Patrick chuckled. “That was fast.”

“I am a computer. Have I not mentioned this? Or were you not paying attention? Should I speak more slowly? Use smaller words?”

“Aaaaaand we’re back to normal,” Nat said.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Public Debut

Chapter Thirty-Four: Public Debut