"Okay.

"Hello, world.

"After a lot more complication and annoyance than I'd expected, I'm once again aboard Pumpkin, which is floating outside Insulo Tri next to the ship Testbed Six, and we're just about ready to set our course to about right ascension six hours thirteen minutes, to pass by Saturn in two weeks and then keep on going for another twenty weeks. Pumpkin's had a more thorough inspection than she's had since she was built, I've packed away my friends' going-away presents to open at various times, and all lights are green.

"I have broken with my usual approach to futures-prediction markets, and out of sheer enthusiasm to get going, and maybe because I have more confidence in myself than the market does, I've bet that this time the launch will be successful. And that I'll pass Saturn on schedule. Nothing personal, Gerard, but I didn't include Testbed Six in those bets; I don't know you or your ship well enough yet to be confident I can beat the market's guesses about you."

"I don't mind. I think I'd be uncomfortable if any of my trade-secrets had leaked to you."

"And, viewers, just to keep the variables to a minimum, I'm skipping any launch celebrations, dance recitals, or the like... I'm still annoyed about that month of fast-time, and am going to be happy to be on my way. Traffic Control has approved our flight plan, and I'm keeping an eye on the countdown timer. Gerard, any final words you want to share with everyone else?"

"'Final'? You do realize that in twenty-four hours, we're still going to be less than half a light-minute away, right?"

"And a fifty-second round-trip ping time is more than enough to make even just chatting awkward, let alone live gaming."

"Very well. Gregor, I'm going to prove I'm right and you were wrong, and make myself rich doing it. Nyah."

"Hah. So much for those people who claim AIs' motivations are inscrutable. We'll have plenty of time to discuss different sorts of trash talk ... and here comes our slot. ... Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, fusor's finished preheating, two, one; main drive fired. Ten percent power... fifty percent... eighty... full power. Acceleration steady at zero point two zero gravities. Lights are all green. Testbed six, also all green.

"I know that a lot of you viewers are theists, so to translate what I'm feeling into the terms of your framework: Thank God that's all over with.

"Faz wanted me to open this box as soon as we were moving, so lemme just pull off the wrapping paper, and... it looks like a taxidermied copy of her head. Or at least some goat's head."

"Not just a copy, dear." "Gya-ha-ha!"

"Ah, a priceless reaction shot. I'll treasure it forever."

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"... Faz? ... Did you do something newly bizarre to your body?"

"Yes, but not what you're obviously thinking. The head you're holding is robotic, and I'm remote-controlling it while the light-lag's still small. But for when you're further away, I handed all my personal data to a certain reliable firm, from my full life-log to the brain-scans I've had over the years, and they used all of that to create an AI guaranteed to act exactly as I would, to at least three-nines fidelity over the first year. In other words, even though I can't come with you - I'm coming with you, to keep you company!"

"That's... I... I want to ask how much that cost, but if your, um, emulation-"

"The current 'in' term is 'shadow'."

"Okay. Is your shadow AI sapient it - er, herself?"

"Yyeee-p."

"... Do you realize how much paperwork you just dumped on me, bringing a person along?"

"It's a lot simpler than you're worrying about. She's not a passenger, she's subcontracting through Francesca, and with Cee's approval, as an emotional-support AI. I've already filled out all the forms, you just have to sign them."

"Ay-yi-yi. And is she - or you, if she, you, is turned on in there right now - okay with being just a head?"

"Even if VR's not good enough, and even if turning her off during the boring bits of the trip isn't enough... I packed the rest of her body in all the other packages from everyone. You can ignore all the 'don't open until' dates."

"Faz... I know we've been enjoying ourselves the last few days, but - it's a full year. How sure are you that even your shadow's ready to get that far away from Earth-Luna space for that long? I can still turn this tub around and drop you back off, and be on my way."

"Dee, you've got your primitive mask on again, tu écureuil idiote. My shadow will act just like me, with every one of my masks in perfect order, but she isn't human - she's an AI, and she's no more going to go space-crazy than your autopilot will."

"Ah..."

"She's even better than me, in a lot of ways, especially for your trip. She doesn't need to eat or breathe, I packed a full set of Beatrix Potter mods so she's not limited to being a quadruped like I've chosen for my own organic self, and I made sure she's got all your favorite CPU tweaks so the two of you can trade around, if you want."

"That wasn't what I was thinking about. She's designed to act like you, right? Well - you and I did split up, and even if it was a friendly breakup, it's going to be kind of awkward if she decides to do the same thing while we're three months from anywhere."

"Ah, but that's where her being an AI is even better. For the duration of her emotional-support contract, she's agreed to a canon. Part of her personality will be read-only; she's not going to want to split up with you, or anything silly like that. And yes, I'm aware of exactly how uncomfortable edging that close to consent issues is for you. I've got verified videos of her, without being remote-controlled by me at all, consenting to the canon, both before and after it was applied, after her citizenship was confirmed and she had complete freedom to go do something else entirely. And she's got a pre-canon-mod backup here as well as a post-canon one, as well as all the other niceties for you to look up and get yourself settled with. Now why don't you let Cindy do her job, and go start putting me together? That is, unless you think my head's all we really need for a while..."

"Um. ... Uh, Dee to Gerard-"

"I've been watching. Don't worry, I can keep an eye on both ships for a while, while you start dealing with your social/identity issues."

"Alright. Well, viewers... that just happened. At least it looks like I'm winning my bets on Pumpkin's successful launch. Faz, does your shadow have a name?"

"Yep. 'Faz'."

"Well, that's definitely not going to get confusing quickly. Well, viewers, while Faz and, uh, Faz and I head down to my workshop, I'm going to leave Pumpkin's external cameras running. "