She hesitated before answering. Perhaps she should get a human friend, but who could she trust? “Yes, I’m nervous,” she conceded. “I have to convince Marcus Randbee to let me go to the space station.”

  “You mean the International Space Station? It’s the only place they allow civilians.”

  “No, damn it!” she snapped, instantly regretting it when he winced. “I mean the Generation One Space Station. GOSS is where all Mars and deep space exploration originates. You know it’s Earth’s first rotating gravitational station designed and operated by Space Gen and it’s beyond the moon’s orbit.”

  “But they don’t let civilians go there, and the last time I checked…”

  “I know the rules, and rules were made to be broken. I was genetically engineered to go into space, so why did I get left behind?”

  He could have given her a long list of reasons. Rebellious, promiscuous, pig headed, selfish. Precocious, a bitch, difficult, obsessed with the average man, an environmentalist, worried, a little dandy slut, and even Democrat. But he kept those tags lodged deep in his Sintered Brain. He loved her too much to reminisce over the tragedy which was her childhood.

  “You have always been a qualified candidate.”

  She took the remark as sarcasm. "Please give me some space." He turned his head and dropped his chin four and a half degrees, signaling his acquiescence. She returned to her thoughts and searched her feelings.

  On the one hand, she was confused. Was it selfish of her to want to go on the mission? Hadn’t it been enough to have developed the mass reducing gyroscope? Did she feel entitled or was she throwing a tantrum?

  On the other hand, she knew he was concerned. She knew that because she knew him. It’s part of his advance programming and the fact they have grown close over the last two years. Not as close as some people. She wouldn’t cross that line because it would distort him and make him something different than who he was to her. She knew his First Law priority was taking care of her, and nothing could distort that. He would do anything for her except kill.

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