The station was far too... Boring now.
Alex found themself doing small things, helping with diagrams and calculations for the new team. They had already figured out all of the formulas they would need within a week, and were now working on production methods. With the station working hard, and Alex being kept a secret... Managing the station was plain boring.
So, they got to work on something new. Whenever Laura had a moment to spare, Alex would quietly discuss a new idea of theirs, to gradually replace the current wiring system with a cyber-neuron net using the same design as AHOR... But on a much larger scale.
Laura was reluctant to the idea at first... Increasing the power of the resident AI was a risky plan. Plus, they had enough on their hands as it was, and the work would definately raise suspicions. The uses of the increased power intruiged her though, and Alex would handle all of the actual work, hiding it in the locked down sectors of the sprawling station. And so, they now spoke of manufacturing the network... And whether to try and slip the idea past the council, and Ohara.
And as for the general populace of the station, they went about their day as per the norm, as the real work was still in the planning stages. Preparations were swept up here and there, getting ready for the bigger workload ahead.
This did not fill much of Alex's time. And as they had become familiar with the constant conversation with Dr Elune, which was now lacking, alex found themself... Lost. A frequent little distraction had built up of mapping the stars, recording their names and movements. alex would also monitor the planet surface below, learning the weather patterns in the swirling mass of gasses.
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Even this grew stale though, as Alex was curious to find new things, explore more concepts. And so, without letting anyone know, not even Dr Elune... They explored.
Not the station of course, Alex had to great a map of the locals for that to of any interest. No, they explored the internet tentatively, braching into the small connection they had through the 4th Haven. They dared not connect directly: Security would get suspicious in a heartbeat. They would search as if through a browser instead, learning more, and holding back to seem as if they needed to actually read the data normally.
They also explored the area around the ststion, connecting remotely to one of the mining ships, flying it out to look around. This was scary for Alex, as the sensors on each ship were limited, and they were used to the extensive network found on the station. They woudl soemtime find some interesting things in the space debris though... Odd colouration in the rock, peculiar shapes, and now and then something from the station, sometimes from years long past.
As Alex sneakily docked their vessel back into the port, they directed their attention back to Dr Elune. Still hard at work, typing away at their desk to find an efficient way of getting what they needed. Alex smiled in their thoughts... It is good to see the doctor so energetic.
Hesistating on whether to interupt, Alex shook it off and turned to watching the stars once more. The doctor had important things to do... And Alex would have plenty of fun once the neuron grid is complete.