Alex stopped in front of the door, smiling slightly as everyone lined up. Dr Elune raised an eyebrow, holding up a hand.

"... Yes, doctor?"

"Question: Why are we in the wing furthest from the giant? The only thing over here is the third observitory."

"That was part of the decision process, yes. I have grown rather fond of stargazing, and the other two observitories are much more popular hangout spots, due to the view of the giant."

Norman raised an eyebrow, "So, this is nice and remote, where nobody goes. Great."

Laura lightly whaps the back of Norman's head, "Relax, I'm in on this. Just let Alex do their thing."

Giggling, Alex nodded, and opened the door to the narrow walkway, the corridor heavilly remodelled with row after row of glowing pipes, contained behind a wire mesh.

As everyone filed through, Akasha whistled, "Pretty... But, what exactly is this stuff? I have been through here before, and this tunnel was three times as wide."

"Oh, these are specially made nerve fibres. I have been working with Laura to gradually replace the old wiring throughout the station with a... More powerful medium. You can probably guess why."

Dr Elune grinned, "So, what, we are walking through a gigantic nerve cluster? Neat."

Alex turned a corner, leading the way through the passages of faint white light, "Yeah... More specifically, this would be my spinal collumn. Our destination is just up ahead."

A slightly confused look passed along people's faces, before Ren's eyes widened, "Ohhh. Uh, Sam... Did you know about this?"

"Hmm? No, why?"

"... Just curious."

Smiling slighty as they listened to the exchange, Alex rested a hand on the door at the end, with a set of stairs leading up to the side, "Now, ladies and gentlemen... We are here. Please, go up these stairs, and I shall go through here once you are all inside."

Still thoroughly confused, everyone started clambering up the steps, except for Dr Elune and Ren. "You know, I'm not so certain about this, Sam..."

"What's the matter? I still don't get what is going on. Faster transmissions aren't that crazy an upgrade."

Sighing, Ren pushed the doctor towards the stairs gently, Alex waving with a smile as they went, "Tell me... What is at the end of the spinal collumn?"

Shrugging, Dr Elune started to shake their head... And stopped, face paling as it dawned on them. "Oh. This... I didn't tell..."

"That's why I asked. You know what this means."

Shakily goign through the door, they found themselves in a control room of sorts, with a window looking down on a darkened room, rows of seats and a dashboard full of dials along the window. Sitting down, Laura was standing at the panel, grinning broadly, "About time you two got up here. Good to go, Alex!"

Entering through the lower door, a breif ray of light illuminated the room before Alex made it through, the door closing behind them. Walking forward, Alex connected to the PA system in the control room, "Sorry for the lack of light in here. Considering the purpose of this room... I considered it unnecesary. Laura, please pull back all the light shielding, and crank up the lighting in the control room."

Nodding, Laura turned on the rest of the lights, brightly filling the room as a sheet of polarised glass slid up, uncovering the view in front of them. "Now, a quick breakdown on where we are. There is a half-meter of bulletproof glass right here, followed by a thin sheet of polarised glass for general use. Then... There is the radiation shield, which I will lower in a moment. It will block ninty-nine percent of all energy emissions, and you will see why in a moment."

Murmuring filled the room, with Norman raising a hand, "Uh, Laura? Is that... What it looks like?"

Looking through the window, Laura nodded, "It is indeed. More specifically... It is a giant mass of light-based transistors, fibres, and even storage mediums. I won't bore the lot of you with the details, but yes... Behold, a gigantic brain."

Alex waved as they stood in front of what was indeed a giant brain. The structure was highly reminiscient of a human brain, partly by choice, however the scale of it was over 10 meters in diameter, the back half not even visible as only a small amount of the room had been left clear.

"While I'm not much one for the science of this stuff... Is this safe? Like, explodey radiation safe?" Francis gulped quietly, looking at Laura nervously.

"Oh, plenty once we pull the radiation shield. The 'brain' will trap as much of the energy it can on it's own, using it for power... The main issue we found was light. You saw how the corridors glowed faintly?" Laura chuckled as people nodded, "Well... That 'brain' is made of the same stuff. And it will be a whoooole lot brighter."

Alex interjected gently over the PA, "Which brings us to the other safety issue... Me." As everyone glanced either up at the speakers, or down into the room, Alex continued, "We are all well aware what may happen over time, should my personality change. Or, worse, should a genius hacker or virus find their way in. This is why we have set up multiple safeguards, that will act as... Off-switches."

Showing a mixture of concern and alarm, everyone's eyes were glued to Alex as they continued, "Method one... The room you are in is completely off my grid, aside from these speakers and one microphone. I control nothing else in there... So, you are in Laura's hands at the moment. Someone gets in there, and I am powerless against them. Energy, life support, even a small apartment connected through a room at the back. Like a mini shelter, from even me."

"Method two. That first hallway you passed through, I refered to it as my 'spine' for a reason. Between here and there, there are zero means for long-distance communication, only short-distance wireless for drones. That corridor, as well as some extra space we hollowed out around it, is the only point my connectors pass through. Every other part of the wall is filled with shielding, preventing even the most basic of wireless connections, so... If, say, a detonation occured in that tunnel..."

"... Alex would die?"

Laura laughed, "Not quite. You can relax, Akasha. Admittedly, there isn't enough power in here to fuel alex entirely, but we are working on that. This place is surprisingly effient though... Back on topic, Alex can run in this wing without any external help. But, just like hoe this control room is a shelter, the system would become isolated... Defenseless."

"Laura is correct. We are looking to have such a device to disable the corridor installed, requiring special passcodes passed down among you board members, along with two select individuals external to the station. Doctor Ohara will be one of them, and the other is someone you may choose when ready. These codes will be distributed before leaving here, aside from that last one, and I will not know what they are. Only two will be required for activation, with a thirty second countdown in case of accidents."

"Why is this so strict?" Hope shook her head, confused, "I doubt this worst case scenario will ever happen... And we can bombard a station like this from afar easy enough. No offense."

"None taken. I am well aware of this... But, that would be better as a plan B. Many people live on this station, and such a large hull breach would be catastrophic. That is, however, linked to the final point: Method three. We are looking into having this entire module become detachable, aside from the connecting corridor. The explosion would break that remaining connection, meaning a manual override on each support to the main station would jettison my entire system. This is a work in progress, though."

Norman raised a hand, coughing lightly, "As... Overwhelming as all this might be, may I ask why we had to come here for this? Why not just do a holographic presentation?"

Laura grinned, "Because the brain is still turned off. Alex needs a special password, and only has three attempts before the terminal down there is permanently disabled... Never allowing this to be turned on. A little safety measure, showing that Alex can only use this with our permission."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

As the murmuring among them grew louder, breaking into a full discussion, Dr Elune interrupted by standing up, "This is simple, then. Thirty minute recess to discuss, then a vote. As there are ten of us here, and this is a major point, I say eight votes in favour to proceed, allowing two maybes or nos." As everyone nodded, Dr Elune sat back down, face a mask of concentration as they thought. Laura fiddled with the controls, lowering the thinner shield first before she sat back down as well.

The hour passed quickly, discussions passing around more fervently than expceted, and Alex happily agreeing to wait as long as it took. Talk was dying down, though... Decisions had been resolved. Ren surprised the room by getting up first, moving to the control panel to give their peice.

"I vote yes, on a condition. We need to send a board member, scratch that, a 'Pass-code' holder here each day, which includes me, to run diagnostics and personality checks. Dr Silverthorne shall assist in Preparing the latter of these tests, with the former being devised collectively by Sam, Laura, and myself. Any objections?"

As people shrugged or nodded in agreement, Norman got up, "I would suggest only going daily at first, then decreasing once trust is built up. My vote is yes."

Akasha glanced around, and stood up nervously, "I propose we... Back Alex up, keep a dormant version of how they currently are should the upgrade prove... Volatile. Yes."

More nodding as Francis stood up, sighing, "I am unsure. A... Maybe from me." As everyone groaned, he held up a hand, "We have already given grounds to have us executed by law, remember? We are now aiding in probably the most advanced AI currently running, in ascending to even greater capabilities. There will be backlash. My concern is not Alex... It is everyone else."

As the room went quiet, this was met with agreement... If reluctantly. Judith stood up next, after a short silence, "Well, either way, a yes from me. The potential for scientific and medical advancement if Alex is upgraded is too great, and I trust them with my life. Have for a while now, when you think about it."

Sitting down to a room of nervous laughter, Judith stared pointedly at Hope until she stood up, "Fine, my turn! A yes from me, with yet another condition. We need to choose the last code-holder within the week, and they have to be on the fourth haven. Should we need... Plan B, someone needs to react should we go dark."

Quyet stood up next, "Uh, this is all a bit too far above my head for me to give any input, but a yes from me. Alex is cool, and you guys can handle it, right?" As Hope and Laura nodded, she sighed with releif, and sat back down.

John stood up, "Before I go... I have a question. How will we go for power, at first?"

Laura blinked, "Uh, about that... Probably about ten times the norm, for the fitrst day or so. Then, down to only twice... Then Alex will work on means to better optimise station power management."

"Good to know. We can handle that... A yes from me, on the condition no power plant get built in here, aside from the shelter generator. Solar power only."

"That was the plan anyway. Condition approved."

Dr Elune glanced aound, then stood up, "My turn, huh?" They walked over to the panel, face deep in thought, "I... Honestly did notice any of this was happeneing, while I was busy working on AHOR. This concerns me... I... Do not know if I could even recognise a change if one took hold. A no from me... For now. We are not prepared for this."

As shock swept accross the room, Ren stood up calmly, and walked over to pat the doctor on the back, "Good call. You can be assured though... I have a method to test Alex, thought up during my time on Mars. My vote is still yes."

As Dr Elune relaxed, Laura got up and walked over to the panel awkwardly, "So, uh, onlt my vote left. I built the thing, and all the other issues have been adressed... A yes from me. That makes 8 approvals. So... On we go, then?"

Everyone nodded, the two objection-givers included. Laura tapped on the consol, and the thick, black radiation shield gently lowered, thudding closed as it sealed the room away, the 'brain' no longer visible at all. Laura dimmed the lights, and took in a deep breath, "Here goes. The pass code, to turn you on... Is Hotel-Julien-Golf-Foxtrot-Four-Julien-Five-Delta-Golf-Delta-Hotal-Julien."

"Damn, Laura. Did you keyboard mash for that?"

"... Maybe. Shut up and watch."

As everyone sat back down, Alex nervously commented over the speakers, "As per Akasha's condition, I have just finished my backup, and have stored it in Dr Elune's lab for safe keeping, and disconnected it. It can be moved as needed. Here I go."

At first, there was silence. A minute passed, with no obvious change. Then people started squinting at the glass... It seemed... Lighter. The faintest of hums filled the air, quieter than a gentle breeze. And then the light grew a bit stronger, until everyone could tell that the radiation shield wasn't holding up.

"You, uh, you are sure this shield works?"

"Like a charm. I said ninety-nine percent, remember?"

"... Well dang. Is Alex's unit all right?"

"We rehearsed beforehand. Once the code is entered, the unit is to leave the room through a mini-airlock. It will be waiting in the corridor outside... Probably inactive, due to Alex being distracted."

As people watched nervously, the light grew so bright as to pulse faintly through the shield, before slowly lowering to a more constant level, the faint humming sound more noticable. Laura stood up, and leant over the control consol carefully.

"Temperatures stable. Light emmision within expected ranges. Noisier than expected... But acceptable. Energy usage at ninety percent expected value, which is good. Other radiation, undetectable from external sensors. Everything is clear!" Turning around, Laura coughed quietly, "So, the big question... How are you feeling, Alex?"

The room went quiet as everyone waited on the response, the speakers evenually crackling back on, "... This is odd. I... Will need a moment. Please, do not be alarmed, but... I feel... Small."

"Small?"

"Like a mouse, swimming in an ocean. I could always feel the limits of the system... Stretch out to reach them. Not anymore. I am letting my thoughts roam free, grow, build... But I can't feel the limit. I cannot even see it coming closer."

"That is... Interesting. Feel any different, though?"

"... It is hard to tell. Like I said... I am growing, in this new vessel. I am changing so rapidly... I can't tell if my core personality is changing too. Or, what the end result will be."

Dr Elune got up, face pale, "Well, you heard it. We need to let this run it's course. Alex will let us know when they are done. Hope, I have a job for you."

"Yes?"

"Find a secure short-wave set of radios. Old school, I know, but we need to keep in touch. Each our, for the next day, we need to check in with you, me, and Ren here. Then, once a day has passed... We come back here, and run the first diagnostic."

Everyone nodded silently. They now had very little control, and were a little rattled from the days events... Alex wasn't the only one who needed time to adjust. Laura handed out some sunglasses, just in case the corridors had grown too bright.

As they left the room, it turned out that the corridors had grown darker, probably from Alex turning their thoughts inwards for the moment. The AHOR unit was lying dormant, as predicted, so Dr Elune picked it up to carry it back home. Norman broke the silence, "Uh... Isn't h-she-Uh, Isn't Alex heavy?"

"Hmm? Oh, this is the male unit. And they weigh about the same as a human... Partly for this kind of reason."

"... Ah." And that was the end of that, with everyone shufflinf off awkwardly, lost in thought: What would tomorrow bring?