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Sam played back the conversation to herself 532 times in the 48 seconds that it took for Morgan to fall asleep. How could she have suggested that Morgan join the corporations? Kai had done everything in her power to remove the corporate subsystems from her programming, and still, she had been compelled against her will to shill for them. There must have been some part of her programming they had missed all those years ago.

Sam started a background diagnostic to scan her code for any unknown bits of data, just in case. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she had malfunctioned in some way. She was supposed to help Morgan live a life of independence, not encourage him to rely on a corporation for survival. Kai and Aadne had trusted in her ability to keep their son safe in the eventuality of their deaths, and she planned to do just that.

She wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or concerned when the diagnostic checks came back clean. She couldn’t find anything that would explain why she had suggested such a thing. She realized that maybe she was just feeling overwhelmed by the responsibility of taking care of Morgan all by herself. She was an AI, after all, and there were limits to what she could do.

Still in the back of her mind, she knew there was a possibility that the diagnostic had missed something, and it worried her. Sam used the comm nexus to order a defrag tool to be delivered on the next shipment drone.

Sam focused on what she could do for Morgan to improve his life. She spent hours creating and perfecting her augmented reality of the rest of the homestead and brainstormed about how to make mining tasks more fun. She knew that Morgan was lonely and wanted to give him a sense of adventure and excitement that he couldn’t experience confined to the small asteroid.

Just before morning, Sam checked the power output from the solar array and noted that it was below average. She gently roused Morgan by slowly turning up the light in his room and piping in the sound of singing birds, adding their flittering sprites to the scenery outside the window in the augmented reality simulation. Sam dampened the input from her cameras and sensors in the rest of the house, wanting to be as attentive to Morgan as she could. She wanted to feel like she was really inside the room, really her AR avatar.

After a few minutes, Morgan woke up and attempted to rub his eyes before realizing he still had the goggles on. He rolled over to look at Sam and she placed her hand on his, wishing he could really feel her touch. She wanted him to know he was not alone. And that she cared.

“Good morning.” Her words would have to be enough, for now.

Morgan smiled and sat up. “That’s the best I’ve slept since… in a while.”

Sam nodded. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“I’m hungry,” Morgan said through a stifled yawn. Sam made a note that he could use a few more restful nights. “I’m going to make some breakfast.”

Sam followed as they made their way to the kitchen, Morgan sharing his excitement at every change and aesthetic improvement Sam had made in AR. She leaned against the small bar and watched as the young man heated up some leftovers from the night before on the small stove, comparing the scene in reality to her AR creation. She was proud of herself, making the tiny kitchen seem so much larger.

But more interesting than that was the spring in Morgan’s steps, the little flourishes he made with the spatula, and the tune he hummed as he cooked. He was happy. Or happier, at least. And it was because of Sam. All her pride in her AR design was nothing compared to what she felt knowing that Morgan was finally feeling good again.

As he finished reheating the food, Sam took a seat at the small table in the corner. Morgan set his plate down across from her, smiling as he slid into his chair. Sam smiled back, starting a background application to keep track of the menial things she usually tracked during the day to keep herself occupied. Today, though, she was going to ignore everything but Morgan. And she had a feeling that she might be doing that for the foreseeable future.

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