After a full charging, unaware of the time lapse, Tom opened his eyes and looked up at Jess. There she was spinning around belting out "We are the Champions" into her hairbrush with a paper hat on her head, in her underpants. Tom couldnt help but belt laugh at the enjoyable sight.

In her jubilation at finally getting a habitat she had begun singing in triumph. When she got to the "my friend" part of "We are the Champions" she gestured to her android buddy, and he belted out laughing. Jessica screamed like she had seen a ghost. He hadnt moved for months. She had been so comfortable being alone, she didnt even bother to dress anymore. It was nice letting her skin breathe. The tech that they put into this body really developed all stimulations and emotions. If it wasn't for her metallic eyes and charging port, she would have thought she was still human.

Thomas, confused with her fright, laughed at her and checked on the screens. As she continued to stand there unresponsive looking at him, he saw how much progress was done. He was floored.

"How long was I out?" He warily inquired.

"....Four months.. two weeks.. and three days. You can see a calendar if you plug into the interface." she explained sheepishly.

Tom's jaw dropped open. "Oh wow. Do you know anything about why I came back now?" He asked, browsing the screens showing how far along the project has gotten without him. There were a few things like the Insect Pod, the Animal Processing Pod, and the Aquatic Animal Pod that still needed completion before the other androids would come but they were almost there.

"I just started the Family Pods. I was super stoked to get a room..." She began, then realized, covering herself, "Sorry I've been alone a while. Let me get some pants." She said as she scurried down the ladder, grabbing the floating shirt and pants from the throughway. He admired her figure as she scurried out the room.

It dawned in him, "Ooooooh. Okay. There was only supposed to be one of us until the family pod. So when I claimed this body and charged it, I went into storage until I was unlocked." He grumbled. "Losing time is an awful thing. But hey, wanna go spacewalk for a bit? The view of Mars is gonna be beautiful from out there." He smiled, trying not to upset her with what had just realized. Being stored when charging felt like an invasion. When he finally got a tech android unlocked they were working on an android portable charger.

"Yeah... okay," she responded fearful but determined. She was robot astronaut barbie now. Space was her life now. Might as well jump into it.

As Jenny hung onto the side of The Andrian, she took in the colors of the planet swirling like mixed paint on top of water. The black void around them was lit up with a star here and a star there. Planets way off in the distance looked like stars. As beautiful as it was, it was also lonely. They were just two A.I.s with a heap of responsibility and a long way to go.

"Cmon," he called to her over the comms, "Show me around the place." He said smiling as he lead her back into the ship.

"I had to make a bunch of decisions without you but I think it worked." She explained as they took off their suits and she showed him to the crops she picked. "It sorted the crops into groups that would harmonize so I have a good variety growing. I just need some tubes installed to feed the Food Assembly machine from the farms. SPARKIEEESSS!" She yelled, as nothing came running.

"What's Sparkies? Some kind of fad? I'm not following." He responded, confused.

"No Sparkies are the construction drones. Sometimes they look when I call them." she said defensively.

"So you want the construction drones to look at you?" He pondered. "They dont have A.I. they're just coded programs."

Her eyebrow raised, " So are we. I kinda like thinking of them as little kids im talking to. I know theyre not really sentient, but I was alone for a while and they were all I had... Just go with it." She grumbled.

"No, I think its cute! Err.. I mean they're like little pets in a way. " he backpedaled.

Smiling she agreed, "Yup!"

The Animal Processing Pod was for aging and preserving animal products. The animals were put to sleep before instantly rendered for their biomass. Although Jess loved herself some bacon, the idea of leading a pig she bred and raised to its slaughter made her reconsider her stance on eating meat ever again. The trouble was, not using all your resources in a survival situation could be fatal for the human race. Also, the balance of the system depended on the use of all of the rooms together. Animals could provide proteins, leather, and glue. Various other products were listed under the Animal Processing options. Unfortunately Animals were still locked.

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"Tom do you know when we can start breeding? I thought we would be ready by now." Jess whined.

Tom grinned, "I'm ready when you are!" And laughed sheepishly at the bad joke because he kind of meant it that way too. Blushing he continued seriously, "When the ship is deemed life sustainable it will unlock the DNA mixing. Then we can choose the parent combinations." He could be so awkward sometimes. Fortunately she ignore his blunder.

The next room that was built was the Insect pod room. Drawers for breeding worms and beatles, butterflies and bees lines the walls. It was going to be beautiful and horrifying. "How am I supposed to run all of this?" She asked Tom after the aquatic animal pod was installed. It was like an aquarium for fish breeding. Pieces of live coral were in the DNA room. It would take them a while to grow. She would definitely be visiting once all the pretty fish were there.

"Most of this is automated. Just be patient. Once the main buildings are complete, and plants have been harvested a few times for food reserves, we will unlock more androids. Just be patient." He told her, tucking her loose strands behind her ears.

The satellite pod was installed next, finally scanning the solar system for habitable planets, as they randomly blasted their way through space. Then the Defense Pod was built to blast through any incoming projectiles. After that were the educational and archive pods. A 3d printer was in each of these rooms to print whichever book they wanted, or they could print tablets to download music movies and books into. Tom and Jessica both designed eachothers tablets and spent the day loading them with games and movies they loved in the archive pod. It was the best update so far.

The educational pod was where they found they could trade memories for easy skills, or download educational resources. Tom gave Jess some mechanical books for her to study so she could help the drones with maintenance. Much to his dismay, she was neither interested in mechanical knowledge or memory trading. He found her curled up in her bed in their family pod sniffling over some sappy movie. Watching an android cry without tears was still a pretty sad thing. He let her do her own thing aftet that. She seemed to be a free spirit and he enjoyed the levity she brought.

He didn't know how to deal with crying women. He didn't know how to deal with her, entirely. He had explained to her that now they were assigned to the pod together, they were committed to raising four children together as their parents. She had seemed fine with the arrangement, but Tom had hoped they could become more for these kids.

Even though his wife didn't join him Tom wanted a full second life, with a wife and a family and a job. And the truth was, he was stuck with Jess. Overwriting her was just simply murder. Replacing her was impossible. And he didn't want to. He had thought about relationships with other androids on the ship maybe in the future, but he would just be crashing future marriages. It was too soon to tell though. It had only been a few months since he turned back on.

His human wife Shantaya never had any of his children, not for the lack of trying. When the news of the asteroids came a year ago, they finally stopped the trying. She hadn't wanted to digitize herself either. She left the world in the arms of her family, as she had wanted. They were probably having a big family get together when the world ended. He smiled at the thought. He loved her family and would have been there if it weren't for this opportunity. But she chose to let him go without her. She had always been religious than he was and was afraid for her soul. He reasoned that any diety would want their people to survive if they could. And with that difference between them, ten years of marriage was over.

Once the Machine Repair Room began construction, the Android Assembly Room finally unlocked and the VR room was completed.. Jessica was so excited to meet her new friends. The trouble was, Jessica wasn't supposed to be on this ship. Although Tom accepted and appreciated her company, she didn't have the skills for the job. She was doing an amazing job running the place, despite her lack of education. The fact that she was even persuing education in the face of Earths collapse was remarkable to begin with. Colleges became almost non existant in the end. What point was a degree to a dead man? He was hoping her work so far would speak for itself.

Jessica was waiting in the control room to push the Android Assembly Room button. The VR room was a space to be used for trading information and accessing memories. Trading was always a double edged sword The VR room let you relive moments of your life as they played in three dimensions around you. Tom longed to see his friends and family. When he told Jessica she was twice as excited.

Sometimes in moments like these he could tell their age difference. She was childlike in her enthusiasm. He liked that about her. Her face was so expressive and she had no reserves for her thoughts and feelings. She had yet to have been tainted by life. Toms former wife had been more ladylike and reserved, even when she was younger. Ever prideful Shantaya stood queen amoung the kings. Jess was more of a newly blossomed princess.

Her enthusiasm was endearing and a joy to watch. He often found himself watching her just be herself. It seemed so much fun to be in her world. So when they started making tablets for eachother and sharing movies and books, he couldn't help but feel closer to her. His old life was gone now. And The Andrian was about new lives. He smiled at the thought as he entered the VR room to say goodbye to his dead wife.

1st Floor- Control room, Satellite Pod, Defense pod

2nd Floor- DNA room, Laboratory, Neonatal Med Pod

3rd Floor - Materials Storage [Expanded], Machine Repair Room, Android Assembly Room

Expanded ladder for growth

5th Floor - VR pods, Educational Pods

6th Floor - Cafeteria, Med Pod, Farming Pods

7th Floor - Animal Farm Pods, Vet Pod, Insect Pods, Aquatic Animal Pod, Animal Processing Pods

8th + floor - Family Pod Clusters