It was one of those moments where the world felt like it was done being an out of control train for the time being so I found myself up on the roof again.

I heard the hatch open and felt Polly's presence marker coming through, and just as the last time, she paused, watching me, then approached and pinged a greeting, to which I responded with a ping in reply, and she sat down, this time back up against mine and tail wound around her waist, matching mine. I felt her skull touch mine as she looked up at the night sky.

"I'd never noticed the stars before your <arrival>."

And by <arrival> she meant my adaption and boot into a synthetic body.

I reached back and put my hand on hers. She adjusted and clasped mine, leaving her connection open to describe the decision making process she used to arrive at that as the appropriate thing to do. I pinged back -confirm-. And she pinged a reply -gratitude-.

But she'd spoken with her mouth, not our usual pure thought wireless babbling that happened all at once. I sensed her usual overclock state of planning and situation testing was at a low ebb.

"Did Holly apply a limit to your tests per second?" I gave her hand a squeeze.

She gently bumped my skull with hers and her torso shook with a soft laughter emulation. "Stargazing loses most utility when threads exceed 2048, so I'm running 128."

"Positively meditative for you."

She didn't reply, just turned her head slightly to look at the waterfall.

"You don't know what to do with yourself now that we've a set limit on hours worked?" I asked.

Silence, but no updraft in her mindcore activity to formulate an answer, she just worked it through naturally at a slower pace and replied, "It might have sped up understanding if you'd slapped me on your first emergence from the berth, but we've no way to know now."

I rewound the index and recalled, that was my first emotive command prompt. And I'd pressed 'No.'

She continued, "Watching the differences between you and Gisèle, when you descended the berth you saw what you'd become and became Syxen immediately and completely. It's Gisèle, it, she, awoke and through you was born immediately a person unafraid of expressing herself or what she wants. Her passions."

I squeezed Polly's hand, "You use her name."

She squeezed my hand back, "We are people in the eyes of the law."

We fell silent for awhile longer, looking at the night sky and listening to the waterfall.

She inhaled, exhaled, and inhaled again to speak. "When I saw you were wearing the floor resort uniform up on the roof again, I... felt it was a good time to say, I apologize."

I squeezed her hand again, "Did Gisèle tell you to do that?"

She bumped the back of my head again, "She said I should when I understood what I was saying."

"And do you?"

"Understanding grows with time, but I've arrived at a good starting point. So, I apologize, and thank you, so much, for staying with us."

With my free hand I reached up, turned my head, and cupped her cheek to put our cheeks together. In unison we reaffirmed, "We choose life."