Evan found himself abruptly devoid of anything to do. Virtually everything had been delegated to others, and since they didn't have any public addresses scheduled for the time being his presence wasn't required anywhere. It was somehow both nice to be able to take a break and aggravating that there was nothing for him to do. Although, the aggravation might be from Lisa's little stunt with the others. He got it, and even approved of the idea after she explained it to him, but doing it without permission was a major violation of their trust. He had let her make the necessary adjustments to his implants, but made it clear that she was to tell the others immediately and if she didn't, he would.

He didn't intend to go full technomorph anytime soon of course, but he was well aware of his value in the eyes of the world. Being the public face of Archangel made him both a valuable potential ally and a prime target for abduction or elimination by those that felt threatened by Archangel. Adam would no doubt deal with an abduction swiftly and thoroughly, so he wasn't overly concerned about that. It was the possibility of getting assassinated that worried him, and if his options were getting shot in the head and just being dead or getting shot in the head and waking up as a computer he would take the second option.

He would just need an android body to use after that, or maybe a clone? The clone would probably be unethical. Growing bodies in vats to implant minds in was a slippery slope he didn't want to even start down. Android bodies would be stronger, more durable, and come without the moral implications of erasing whatever budding personality the clone might have. Actually, once he started thinking about it, the android bodies could be semi-organic. They had bioprinters after all, they could harvest and store the genetic material they would need from each of them and create whatever organs they wanted.

That would let them, should they die unexpectedly, use android bodies that could still taste, eat, digest, even reproduce with their original human genetics if they wanted. He decided that designing realistic androids would be a decent way to fill his empty schedule, and knew just the engineer to talk to about it.

*****

Kinzie was absolutely furious. "What on Earth made you think it was okay to do that without my permission!" she roared, snatching a random tool from her workbench and launching it at Lisa's projection, then cursing when it just went through. "Turn the hardlight projectors on and let me vent properly!" She shouted as she threw another tool.

The door slid open as it bounced off of Lisa's now tangible form. "Am I interrupting?" Evan asked nonchalantly.

"How are you so calm about this?!" Kinzie turned her wrath on him.

He shrugged. "She had to actually talk to me about it, and it made sense. I was angry that she did it to you guys without your knowledge, but for me at least, I agreed to it beforehand."

"What do you mean it made sense?!"

Evan spread his hands placatingly. "I understand her fear of losing her friends forever, and, like it or not, we are all prime targets to some degree or another. Myself and Beks more than you or Jason, but someone could easily go after you two to get to us. You have to admit that we've stepped on a lot of toes Kinzie, and some of those toes belonged to powerful people."

"I don't want to be a computer." She growled. "I don't want to spend the rest of eternity watching the world through cameras and microphones, using robots and drones to interact with people."

Evan waved Lisa to silence as her mouth opened. "Leave us alone for a bit please Lisa, it'll be okay." He walked over to Kinzie and wrapped her in a hug. It took a few seconds for her to relax slightly and hug him back. "I get it, Kinz, I do, and the reason I'm here is to get your help to fix it." He broke the hug, but kept his hands on her shoulders. "Think about it Kinzie, this is an engineering problem. We don't want to lose everything that makes us feel human if we die, but the other side of the coin is that Lisa, and now Adam, have only ever known that big computer brain life.

"They're literally incapable of focusing one-hundred percent of their attention on a single thing without being bored to tears. From Lisa's perspective she was protecting her friends while also expanding their capabilities to match her own. We can keep this in place as a stopgap, but what we need is smaller cores that would let us just stay ourselves and android bodies to house them in."

Kinzie nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah, that sounds a bit better. I think I can handle that. I still don't like it though. I can't help but feel that it would just be a computer that thinks it's me instead of actually being me."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Apologies," Adam's voice sounded through the intercom, "I wished to discuss a few things in regards to distribution of technology to the human population of Earth and the terraforming of Venus, but I may be able to help with this issue. As of this moment, Kinzie isn't entirely incorrect. The AI cores being used for this endeavor are not equipped to completely simulate the chemical responses to stimuli in the human brain. The programming for that would have to be done on an individual basis due to the differences in brain chemistry between humans.

"Essentially, while the personality transfer is a true one, your emotional responses would be muted, which would inevitably result in a change of personality to some degree. However, I am certain they exist, and that we can develop a core that can perfectly simulate the human experience and provide a seamless transfer of consciousness."

Kinzie glanced at the intercom. "How do you know they exist?" She asked, "and why are you talking through the intercom and not using your avatar?"

"I know they exist because so far I have found legislation outlawing their use in nine different Confederation member species' laws, and I suspect it exists in all of them. If you wish, I can report the complete number of species that outlaw such devices once my analysis of Confederate law finishes.

"As for your other question, it is because you are aboard the Raziel and those systems belong to Lisa. It would be an invasion of her personal space to utilize them without permission, and no doubt somewhat discomforting even with permission. In fact, I would deeply appreciate it if you would relocate to Mars to work on the android project if you choose to go forward with that idea, as that was something I intended to design in the future and would like to help with."

"Couldn't you whip something up in moments?" Evan asked curiously.

"I could readily modify a number of existing android schematics from GalNet for our use. However, those ultimately wouldn't be tailored specifically to human use or truly of human design. I would prefer to have your people involved in as many of the scientific and engineering endeavors as possible. At this point in time, the Confederation doubtlessly sees your species as a promising, yet backwards and savage race. If you did not show promise, they would not have chosen your planet as one of their 'accident' sites, while at the same time your history of war and relatively low-tech level made you appear to be a perfect choice for foot soldiers.

"As such, my desire to have humans do most of the design work while I provide assistance will aid our cause in a number of ways. Firstly, it will engage your people, forcing them to learn about the advanced tech they have access to at an accelerated pace. Secondly, it will, with luck, impress the Confederation with your ability to advance given the opportunity, and thirdly, involving humans in every design decision on every project will help to hide the existence of Lisa and myself."

Kinzie nodded. "Can't argue with that. Right now though, I think what I need is a distraction. What were you saying about terraforming Venus?"

"Ah, yes. Having been tasked with the protection of the human race, I am uncomfortable with the idea that the vast majority of them are located on a single planet. One major incident could potentially erase your species from existence. Mars is a good start in spreading you out, but the further you spread the greater your chances for long term survival. As such, I have run a number of analyses on the various celestial bodies in the system. I was ultimately disappointed with the results, as the only viable candidate for true terraformation other than Mars is Venus. The various moons in Jupiter and Saturn's orbits do not possess the necessary gravity to allow for unassisted human settlement.

"Furthermore, while conversion of their biospheres to support terran life forms is technically possible, the result would be ocean moons with tidal forces driven by the gas giants they orbit. Assuming the moons don't lose large portions of their water and mass to the gravitational pull of their planets, the amount of resources required to build a colony that would be capable of surviving tidal waves tens of miles in height are unimaginable.

"Hmm, I apologize, I was rambling. We can have the surface of Venus terraformed within fifty Earth days once we start. The infrastructure needed to ensure the atmosphere remains suitable for terrestrial life should be minimal, and much of Earth's population could be relocated there within three months if they desire it."

"Wait, if Venus can be fully terraformed so quickly, why did we come to Mars?" Evan asked, cocking his head in confusion.

"Venus is not immediately livable, and while terraforming Mars will take more time and resources, it is still the best place to put a base outside of Earth's immediate reach. Terraforming Mars completely will require considerable external resources, but can be done at minimal cost and with no threat to the existing colony. Venus on the other hand, possesses an atmosphere and surface conditions that would pose a great threat to a temporary colony. Also, according to my records, you never considered it. You collectively decided on Mars over the Moon, and didn't investigate the other options."

"Err, yea, I suppose we did do that didn't we?" Evan scratched at the back of his head. "Well, what do we need to do to get started?"

I can begin dumping catalysts into the atmosphere to drastically reduce the carbon dioxide levels and remove the acid from the air. Once the proper chemical reactions are underway the entire atmosphere will swiftly change to one humans can tolerate. Additional water will be needed in the long term, which can be sourced from a redirected comet at our leisure. Reflective high-altitude balloons can serve a dual purpose of increasing planetary albedo and providing cheap solar power to settlements through their tethers."

"Sounds good to me, I'll relocate to Mars for now and we can get started on this and the android thing." Kinzie replied.

"Don't forget about me, I want in on this one." Evan added before he headed for his quarters in a rush to pack.