Page 13 of Leviathan

"There are birds!" she cried out, watching as one of my pets flittered overhead. "Why are there birds?"

"I like birds," I said.

There were other factors than my pure enjoyment. Any balanced self-sustaining ecosystem needed small creatures to help propagate and curate the plant matter, but I didn't have to have flying ones. I kept birds because I liked looking at them.

"You like birds," she repeated as she stood there, watching them swoop in the large open air of the space. She looked back for my drone, but I had left it outside in the hallway. I had specifically made drones for this room, as the roots had made the paths too uneven for the wheels that were the most efficient for long flat hallways, and my pets required care on occasion. I had gotten the environment balanced to the point where they didn't need as much meddling, but I enjoyed trimming dead branches and hiding treats in different places for them to find.

"Is this where the egg came from?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "It is from a ground-based species in here that are hiding from you in the bushes right now. Their eggs were compatible with your nutritional needs, and as I don't keep a predator population, I have to harvest their eggs for population control anyway."

The drink I had prepared for her was ready, so I had my garden drone fetch it and bring it over to her.

"Lyrien," she said, taking several steps back after spotting it, her body tensing and then relaxing as she observed my drone. It transferred to a large tree and moved down the trunk. "Why is there a spider carrying a smoothie?"

"You have a vitamin C deficiency. I have prepared a beverage to help balance your system," I said, instructing my drone to stop a short distance from her and hold it out. It would be better if she initiated contact, especially since there was trepidation in her voice and body language. "Your body can only absorb so many nutrients at once, but this is a step in the right direction."

She covered the distance between them and took the supplement. She took a sip of it, smiled, and then took another drink.

"Is this one of your robots?" she asked. "Why does it look so different? This one looks like it is covered in bark."

"This one is specific to the garden," I said as I had it turn around slowly so she could look at it. "I designed it with camouflage so it wouldn't disturb my pets as much. I want them to be happy and comfortable. Taking care of them brings me joy."

"You really enjoy taking care of creatures," she murmured, taking another sip of her supplement.

"I do," I said. "There is a significant happiness to be found in seeing another being thriving because of your actions."

"Are there any other people on board?" she asked suddenly. "You mentioned you haven't taken on passengers before..."

"No, I have no crew or any other sentient beings on board," I said. "Only pets."

"Why?" she asked. "I don't mean to be nosy, but you seem to be well-equipped for me. You had quarters ready for me to stay in. Why do you only have pets?"

The best way to answer that was through questions.

"How did you get into the ventilation system?" I asked.

"I pretended to be docile," she said. "At first it wasn't a pretense, as Evangelia convinced me to go along with everything... but even afterward, I didn't fight. Some of the scientists thought that meant I wouldn't do anything and would sometimes forget to restrain me. One of those times, I stole a tool I'd seen a maintenance person using to open the locks on the vents. I kept the vent in my room unlocked and hid it in there. They never searched my room; it was like they didn't care if I was trying to escape, which made sense once I realized I was on a space station. Where would I go?"

"Were you the reason they had to put in an emergency request for resupply?" I asked.

"Why do you ask that?" she said, crossing her arms.

"I don't have a crew because people can't be trusted," I said. "My kind have a history of enslavement. We are considered highly valuable, and we have states of vulnerability that make us susceptible to control, especially when we are smaller. For my kind, there is a fear that comes with carrying passengers or taking on crew. Logically, I can defend myself. I've integrated a robust weapons system into my build, and I have drones built for the purpose of on-board security, but even so, I hold the edge of fear, even if I have been free my whole life."

"Generational trauma," she said. "Where trauma your ancestors experienced blends into the choices you make in your present. I'm guessing for an artificial intelligence like you, the trauma from the species that created you would have ended up in your personality."

"I would call it more understanding history and taking necessary preparations to avoid repeating it," I said. "My..."

I caught myself. I almost said mother. Altering my words to feed into her false assumption that I was an artificial being didn't sit right, but I had already done it, saying my kind instead of my species. I was holding her at filament length. She was the first sentient passenger I'd ever had on board, and the risk was simply too high.

As much as I wanted to keep her safe, I shouldn't put myself at risk.

If she had nefarious intent and thought I was artificial, she might try to hack me, and then I would know for certain I couldn’t trust her.

"My creator," I corrected, giving my mother a title that was accurate if deceptive. "Taught me that it was important to prepare for the worst but act with the best intentions."

"You have weapons, but you don't like to use them?" she asked.