What do you propose to do?
There was a pause. A long one, five seconds. We could kill them.
Well, that was an unusual approach to its dilemma. Kill who? Tlacey?
All of them. The humans here.
I leaned against the wall. If I had been human, I would have rolled my eyes. Though if I had been human, I might have been stupid enough to think it was a good idea.
I also wondered if it knew a lot more about me than what little was in the newsburst.
Picking up on my reaction, ART said, What does it want?
To kill all the humans, I answered.
I could feel ART metaphorically clutch its function. If there were no humans, there would be no crew to protect and no reason to do research and fill its databases. It said, That is irrational.
I know, I said, if the humans were dead, who would make the media? It was so outrageous, it sounded like something a human would say.
Huh.
I said to the sexbot, Is that how Tlacey thinks constructs talk to each other?
There was another pause, only two seconds this time. Yes. Then, Tlacey believes you stayed behind to steal the files for the tech group.