Dr Elune eased into their chair at the head of the table, the rest of the board waiting patiently for the last member to arrive.

"You sure nobody else wants some coffee?"

A mixture of annoyed glares and amused smirks were directed at the doctor, aside from the absentminded Head of Communications, Quyet Ngyuen.

"Thought so. Any word on when Hope is getting here?"

"Any minute now. She was just getting back from one of her... Joyrides." Norman Weiland, the Head of Transport, rolled his eyes, "I would be angrier at her for wasting the rocket fuel, but... I guess it is boring as heck out here."

Quyet blinks, and waves idly, "Hey, don't look at me. I'm still trying to get a stable connection to a near-ish broadcast for you guys... We have TV, but unless you are happy with laggy to hell internet, I need a better hit."

Dr Elune smirked. There is actually a local station with a great connection, which has graciously hooked them up with a light-based connection... But they didn't tell the council after setting up the hidden receptors. There isn't much bandwidth, after all.

Their musings were interrupted by the door swooshing open, and a grinning Hope walking through. "Hey guys, what's this commotion about Alex? I didn't expect catastrophe while I was gone."

Glancing at the sensors in the room, Dr Elune saw them blink off, right on schedule. Well... They looked off, anyway. "Alex ran a drill unexpectedly. Apparently to test the doors, from a flood of complaints about their performance. Plus, to quote, 'We were due for a drill anyway.'"

Dr Judith Silverthorne narrowed her eyes, "Oh, really. If Alex had a body, I would kick it's ass. Do you know how many injuries I have had come in... And that just in the last hour?"

"Plenty, I'm sure. I have already scolded Alex over the matter, and will add an extra helping once I get home. Now-"

"Scolding an AI, hah. You know that thing doesn't feel, right? Probably just malfunctioning." Dr Elune rolled their eyes as the Head of Engineering, Laura Abbotsford continued, "Besides, we haven't had that many complaints. Only 5 or so."

"I counted at least 15 a week forwarded to you by Alex. Do you even read the emails?"

Laura scowled, and went to reply as Dr Judith butted in, "And a few comments from me, as well. Some of those twitchy doors have broken a bone here and there. Definitely more than 5."

Laura closed their mouth, and fumed in silence. Ignoring Alec is one thing... But nobody ignores Judith. "Anyway, yes Alex messed up. Which is why I actually want to talk to you all, for once."

"That is certainly rare. Half the meetings we have to drag you from your lab. You accepted leadership of this station, and that comes with regulations."

"Yeah, yeah. You know I can't step down..." Dr Elune glanced at Francis, the only one that cared about those rulings. Then again, it was their job as Head of Justice, after all. "Speaking of which, John, how is our energy consumption?"

"Manageable. At this rate of increase though... We will need to use fuels soon. We can only get so much from the radiation one gas giant puts out." The Head of Resources chuckled, "Not that it matters to you. We have plenty of money. You only keep me around to haggle."

Dr Elune smirked, they were close to the mark... Plus, the position was mandatory. They made a note about the power, though. "Good to know. Any issued on coolant for all the systems?"

"We are going through slightly more than before, but Alex seems to have gotten the hang of spreading the load across the station. It always amazes me how it uses the abandoned wings as a gigantic CPU."

It again. Dr Elune waved away the pang of iritation, "Well, that will eventually reach it's limit. Progress?"

"We went from 70% active to 95%... So you have a point. Any more and coolant will become an issue... And maintenance."

Laura grinned, and Dr Elune sighed. Oh joy, that will be a pain to negotiate. "I will run a few ideas by Alex. Now for the main topic... Which Laura kindly brought up. I think Alex has passed the tipping point in my experiment."

A round of confused looks passed over the table, with Laura, Hope and Akasha looking slightly horrified. "No, that's impossible. You know it was a wild gamble." Akasha was visibly shaking as Laura hugged them to calm them down.

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"A risky one at that. You know what is at stake... And today actually proves that." Hope narrowed her eyes at the doctor, "Give me one good reason to let Alex continue running."

John raised a hand, "Um, question? Sure Alex is a bit... Odd at times. And uses a ton of reasources... But Sam can just dail it back, and all is good right?"

Dr Elune shook their head, "No, John. I can't. Alex ran on my personal computers for years before integrating with the station... And has been procedural generated code this entire time. The base code revolves around one thing... 'Obey your creator, Doctor Sam Elunetir.'"

A silence fell over the room, with the newer members of the council going pale. Norman shakily glanced around, "You mean... You have been trying to make the singularity happen? I thought that was forbidden since the Mars incident. And... You put that in charge of the station?!"

Hope sighed, and brought up a file on the central display, "This was discussed with the board at the time. It has been a few years since then, with most of those members leaving during the Exodus... To help repopulate Sol colonies after that very Mars fiasco. So we were all very aware of the risks."

"What you see here before you is a contract between our good doctor and the Council, stating that Alex may run the station, and thusly use it's vast resources, under the following conditions: 1, should any sign of a malicious entity arise, an evacuation is to proceed, and the station destroyed. 2, should a... misbehaving AI arise, Alex is to be confined to Dr Elune's laboratory, and is to be terminated if it tries to spread control once more. 3, Dr Elune is to command and fund the entire station during the experiment."

Dr Elune stood up, looking across the board, "So, the secret is out. I had a little pet project that could kill us all... Which is the only reason I bought this station. I almost got kicked out with the Exodus, but I persevered, and will again now... And here is why. And no interrupting Laura, hear me out." She scowled, but held her tongue as she waited patiently. The doctor had taught her that lesson before... And had some fun doing so.

"First of all, Alex did in fact find a few major issues during the drill. A full report will be sent to you all after this meeting, but there actually a few residences at risk in the event of a hull breach." Laura squirmed at that, as she was supposed to find those issues without the intervention of Alex. A quiet station has made the residents rather... Lax.

"I also cannot tell if this was an oversight in my commands, or if the singularity has long since been and gone. Either way, Alex means us no harm. I will investigate this over the next few days, and send that report physically."

"Third, and most importantly... My running of this station is still dependent on Alex. Face it, nobody cares about this place, and we can only keep running because of my findings and support." A few awkward nods and shrugs before the doctor continued, "And I only need the station for one thing: Alex uses a ridiculous amount of processing and power. I need this station, and it needs me."

"Are you threatening us, Sam?" Laura scowled, glancing nervously at the sensors.

"Kinda, I suppose. I seriously have no use for this place if Alex is shut down. But just leaving would be a cruel thing to do to the inhabitants... So here is what I propose. I give Alex one more chance, and if anyone, even Laura or Hope, has the slightest doubt... I will revoke Alex's access privileges and just make use of the stations power supplies."

A short silence followed as they mulled this over, before Quyet jokingly interjected, "I always wondered why we had a Head of Military at such a quiet base. Now I know: Risk of rogue killer robots. I trust you though, Sam... I'm in."

"Me too." "What she said." "... Fine, but I don't like it."

Dr Elune suppressed a sigh of relief. That went better than expected... Especially since they were technically breaking intergalactic law. "Thank you. Now, onto other business... John, when is our next shipment of coffee beans?"