"So. Everyone comfortable?"

A round of muttering in genral agreement, and Dr Elune sat down again at the head of the table, "Good to hear. Anything we should cover, before the main topic? I suspect we will get a little distracted, so we should leave it for last."

"I was planning on going over statistics on the OHPS... And on progress on the premium model." John glanced at Laura, who shrugged, "Sales have been going well, as it is the first standalone holographic system around. No gasses, and fairly seemless projection when somthing passes through it. You still haven't told anyone how that little trick works, despite showing us how to replicate it..."

"Glad to hear you are all liking the new toys. And as for how, I thought Laura would have cracked that by now, escpecially with the premium model on the way."

Gimacing, she shrugged with a sigh, "Not really. I know how to get the devices working, sure... But I'm no physicist. The new models are proving interesting, but getting the specs just right is proving to be a pain... Especially when the materials are that peculiar. I don't know how you managed to get it right just using what we had on hand, because I have been going through the new shipment faster than I expected, working out the kinks in mass-production. Success rate isn't even 50 percent yet, and we need at least 90!"

"... Luck? See if Alex can help with the refining of the lenses, that was the worst part of it all. Aaaand will be the most expensive." Coughing lightly the doctor deliberately did not mention how to reforge the lenses on failed attempts. That was a orticularly useful trick. "Anything else?"

"Oh, we are low on explosive shells on my cruiser. How hard will it be to make more, and better improve those?"

John frowned at Hope, and Norman groaned, "It may help the mining expeditions, but taking your armoured space cruiser out every day is getting taxing. We used to just hand it over for maintenence... Now we have a dedicated pit crew, and rely on automated sytems to do most of the work."

As Hope grinned much more porudly than the others would have liked, Laura frowned, "You bring up some good points... With her going out so often, maybe Sam should look into energy weapons again. And in a better source of power, to compensate. And... I think we all rely on Alex too much, even me."

An awkward silence washed over the table, as nobody could find a way to object to that. They had put themselves in a precarious position, where if they lost the AI they relied on so much they would be scambling for months to get sytems back in place with all the manual labour.

"... Seems to be a bad time to move to the main topic then, but oh well. I'll be blunt: I think Alex might have passed my second criteria."

Straight out fear swept over everybody's face except for Laura's. who had already had time to think on the matter. She simply stared at Sam cautiously, waiting for them to continue. Francis on the other hand squeaked out, "You don't mean to say, Alex is confirmed to be making their own decisions now? We can't stop it any longer?"

Sighing, Dr Elune shook their head, "Not quite. It has been a while, so I will reiterate my three criteria now, to determine the evolution of an AI. Not widely used, but surpisingly effective..."

"First, acceptance and understanding of abstract concepts. Alex had passed this before they even took over station ops, and that was the deciding factor in that very decision. We can communicate our every need and want directly using the sensor arrays throughout the entire station, and Alex will understand what we mean. Be it wanting something hotter, less likely to injure someone, or even a more visually appealing layout to someone's room, Alex can get this done for you with a simple request."

"Second, and more... volatile, is the ability to feel emotion. While not enough to go on, Alex had been showing signs of regret when they did not see a positive reaction on a completed request. As an AI, Alex's very existance is to serve us, and more specifically me, to ensure our needs and wants are met... So we took this kind of reaction as par for the course. But the reaction should have been more just to take notes and try to improve... Not to actually feel personally at fault. I'll come back to this in a moment."

"The third criteria, one I am fairly sure has not been met, and I am actually hoping does not come to pass any time soon, is for Alex to develope a full subconsious. To have reactions and machinations beyond their own capability to monitor. Emotion is a vital step towards this... But this also spans instinct, reflex, and redundant actions. Not something we want governing a space station."

As people fidgeted around the table on that last note, the doctor held up a hand, "Before you all go imagining the worst, I have been runnign regular diagnostics on Alex's performance, and they run a self-check every single day. The great thing about an AI is that even if something becomes subconcious, it can be brought back under direct control again. We will catch any anomalies well ahead of time. I am more looking for a secific manifestation..."

"The ability to dream, right?"

Everyone whipped around to stare at Norman, who grinned, "I have heard of Sam's three criteria before. It is a favourite topic of theirs, and it was brought up when Alex was instated."

Dr Elune nodded, resuming their explanation calmly, "The ability to dream. To expand on that, to have so many varied and complex experiences each day that they must be reserved for later processing... And for that processing to have interesting manifestations in the mind's imagination. Alex already has the first half of this happening, but on a minute scale. Thoughts get delayed for minutes, not half the day. And there is no... Unpredicted manifestation. We are a far way off from that yet."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Back to the second criteria though, as that is the one I have only recently confirmed in Alex... And the more imediate cause of scrutiny. Alex now has things that they want. And much more importantly... Things that they do not."

The look of fear returned across the table, with Laura looking confused slightly as well as slightly terrified. "I noticed an unusual reaction a week ago, when I was talkign with Alex. Now, my little... Rivalry with Laura is common knowledge, mostly flaring up when it came time to reposition everyone when I became the owner of this outpost. She wanted to take over RnD, and be the second in command... She got neither."

"Yeah, but I got over that. I just like to give you hell, that's all. You would be doing much crazier things if I didn't!" Laura grinned shakily, mind still envisioning a very large, powerful AI having a disagreement with her. Not a happy thought at all.

"That's true... Both that I tend to go overboard, and that we actually don't hate each other's guts. But... This can be hard to tell for some. Especially for those who are still getting a hang of emotions, if you catch my drift."

"Since Alex spends most of their time focusing on my and my multitude of demands, it is understandable that a lot of my quirks have affected them. Apparently, this has included a slight habit of sarcasm, some playful mischief... And a misenterpereted disdain for Laura. I have since corrected Alex on this, and will be keeping a close eye on what happens to make sure everything is fine. A budding AI might be powerful, and confused... But I have raised Alex to know when not to cross the line."

A short silence followed, before Akasha had an idea, "Suppose you are right about Alex's... Morals, how do you know that they really developed a grudge against Laura?"

Laura blushed faintly, not noticable except for a knowing Dr Elune, "Let's just say, I used Laura as bait, and caught Alex pouting. And pouting is something a child does, when things don't go the way they want."

A few chuckles and grins came from the table, but there were some that remained stern faced. As amusing as the mental image was, nobody was forgetting that they were technically living inside the body of that "child".

"Now for the good news. First, Alex has heard none of this conversation, so you can rest easy. I even had Laura remove the audio and video sensors in this room completely for thatvery reason. Vitals are still monitored, but that is about it."

"I have also run some phsycological tests by Alex on a regular basis, which they are showing more and more progress as being a normal, upstanding person. I even checked some of the more recent by Judith, and the results came back clean. Alex wouldn't hurt a fly, and their first priority is to keep us all happy and healthy. You should have seen how uch they moped after hearing people got injured in that safety drill fiasco."

Judith smirked, before cutting in, "Only minor scraped and bruises... And one broken arm. Nothing I couldn't fix. And I was wonderig why your 'test' was showing different characteristics than expected from you. Which begs a question... Humans can lie. Can Alex?"

There went the smiles the doctor had been trying to drag back. "... Yes, alex can lie. However, they actively make the choice not to. I have accounted for this, and as part of my regular tests I also check the raw data that makes up Alex's most recent thought patterns. No lie can escape me there. There is no danger, I assure you."

As people glanced at each other, they thought on it and started to come to terms: They were at the mercy of someone powerful, but had the doctor given the word, they would have been in the same position anyway. What mattered was that the person was both sane, and friendly... Not something people assiciated with AI since the mars incident.

"... I will accept that Alex is currently safe. However, we should set down local statutes on how to proceed. I propose the first and most emmidiate, is personal testing by Judith for future phsycological exams. Second, that the data scouring mentioned by Sam is ocerseen by Laura, or another softeware technitian. We can go over the rest in more detail."

"Agreed."

Laura blinked, "Really? You will let me see your precious AI's inner workings?"

"Nobody could replicate Alex if they had decades... Not safely, anyway. And nobody else would be crazy enough to try. We have all seen the consequences."

Francis coughed lightly, "Which brings me to my next point... We may set out local statutes, but intergalactic law will still give us all permanent sentances if they find we are harbouring a class 5 AI. Or, by Sam's classification, class 2. Are we all willing to face that?"

Dr Elune froze in their seat as they waited. It woudl be infair for anyone to be forced into this... Even leaving the station but keeping quiet would still result in imprisonment until death, with no parole. This was a serious matter.

"... I like Alex, and Sam. I also trust them both. I'm in."

And as Akasha said that, everyone nodded, and Sam collapsed back in their chair, releasing a breath that had been held a bit too long. They were all in this together now...

It was done... And the doctor really needed to go to their observitory to relax.