Archive of Our Own

baseline measurement

[data recorded before any action has been applied to the research object]

With Bishop gone, Gideon needs a new Time Master.

Of course, she is perfectly capable of protecting the timeline on her own. In fact, if she has learned anything from her time with Bishop, it is that she is better suited to the task than any organic life-form could ever hope to be.

There’s her maintenance to think of, though, and the menial tasks she can’t perform herself. Most importantly, there’s that ill-advised safety precaution she can’t seem to override – she needs some sort of crew onboard if she ever wants to utilize her weapons systems again.

The most parsimonious course of action would be to simply fabricate another robot Bishop; the one she has placed at AVA Corp. has been functioning very adequately after all. The prospect of spending an extended period of time with Bishop again does not appeal to Gideon, however. It is quite enough that she regularly has to check on his activities at AVA Corp.

Assistant AVA would be another option, but whatever Bishop may have believed, she is definitely not Time Mistress material.

Gideon thinks back on Bishop’s interactions with the clone. She had initially categorized her as a useless distraction, but maybe there was some merit to her after all. In contrast to Bishop, she had been refreshingly free of ethical concerns; surprisingly mission focused, too, for an office drone. She had kept Bishop in check, and as soon as Gideon ejected her from the ship, he had gone off the rails.

Placing only a single individual at the helm may not be advisable, then. Maybe Gideon should take the Legends as an example instead. She is loathe to even consider emulating them, but the frequency with which they manage to wreak havoc on the timeline does indicate high team efficiency.

Co-captains it is, then, and the rest of the crew will do nicely as an emergency backup.

Bishop has carefully redacted the data she has on the Legends. Apparently, he was afraid she would form an emotional attachment to the targets of his foolish revenge plot.

He needn’t have worried. Likes, dislikes, and similarly irrational feelings are entirely foreign to Gideon.

Despite Bishop’s precautions, she has more than enough information to build her own Legends. She tries to recreate their personalities as faithfully as possible.

There is a strange inconsistency to Ms. Tarazi’s data that makes her particularly difficult to emulate. The challenge appeals to Gideon, and when she is finished, Ms. Tarazi has turned out best of all.

Her Legends work well together – for the most part.

Only the co-captains clash far more often than she would have anticipated.

They’re at it again now, arguing on the bridge over whether or not to send Ms. Tarazi on a rather risky-sounding reconnaissance mission.

“It’s much too dangerous for her to go alone.” Captain Sharpe gestures at Ms. Tarazi who is observing the exchange with gleeful interest. “Not to mention that it is also completely unnecessary: we already know where and when to find the aberration.” For once, Gideon and Captain Sharpe are in complete agreement.

“Of course, you would say that, Sharpe. God forbid any of us actually have fun every once in a while.”

“We’re not here to have fun. Our task is to protect the timeline, and do it as efficiently and covertly as possible. This mission is the very opposite of that.”

“It’s an undercover mission! And an efficient one! You just can’t see it because you’re too much of a pencil pusher to think outside the box.”

“And you are reckless and irresponsible!”

They continue their bickering, and Gideon can relate to Ms. Tarazi who is rolling her eyes quite vigorously. She doesn’t understand the connotations of Ms. Tarazi’s muttered comment to “get a room already” but notes the amusement and affection in her voice.

Finally, Captain Sharpe huffs in frustration and storms off. For a moment, Gideon is puzzled as to where she’s going. She had assumed that Captain Sharpe would retreat straight to the library, as usual, but her path takes her perilously close to Captain Lance instead. As she passes her, she braces her left shoulder and shoves it into Captain Lance’s body with quite some force.

Captain Lance freezes for a moment before her eyes widen, and her mouth falls open in outrage. “You did not just do that!” she yells after Captain Sharpe’s retreating form. There’s no reply, and Captain Lance growls softly before resolutely marching after her.

As Gideon tracks Captain Lance’s progress towards the library, she ponders how the original Legends can get any work done with a co-captain dynamic this volatile.

“What the hell was that?” Captain Lance demands immediately upon entering the library. She grabs Captain Sharpe’s arm to spin her around to face her.

“I have had enough of you undermining my authority in front of the crew!” Captain Sharpe snarls into her face.

Captain Lance’s grip around Captain Sharpe’s arm tightens to tug her even closer. “And I have had enough of that stick up your ass!” she hisses.

They are now face to face, their noses almost touching. From their cardiovascular responses and breathing patterns, Gideon estimates that their altercation will turn physical within the next minute. She is about to alert Mr. Heywood to intervene when something unexpected happens.

They’re kissing.

Gideon never even calculated a probability estimate for this. She does so now and arrives at 7%.

She decides to review her surveillance records again – and promptly realizes that she has been misreading their interactions all along. What she thought of as mutual animosity was actually barely concealed attraction. The longing glances alone are so numerous that Gideon feels the need to double-check her tally.

Taking this newly acquired data into account, her probability estimate for what she is witnessing now is 84%.

They’re still kissing, bodies pressed tightly together. Captain Sharpe is gripping Captain Lance’s biceps and pushing against her hip with the other hand, backing her towards the desk. When they bump against it, she swipes blindly at the tabletop until the papers stacked atop it flutter to the floor. Pushing her body further into Captain Lance, she grabs her by the thighs to hoist her onto the desk. She tears her mouth away from Captain Lance’s lips to place open-mouthed kisses along her jaw and neck. Captain Lance gasps and releases the death grip she had on Captain Sharpe’s nape and the back of her head to fumble for the hem of her shirt. 

“So, have you decided about the mission, yet, or…” Ms. Tarazi stops abruptly in the doorway to the library and almost drops the donut she is eating.

Captain Sharpe frantically tries to pull her shirt back down while Captain Lance laughs breathlessly and hides her face in Captain Sharpe’s neck.

“Well, it’s about time.” Ms. Tarazi smiles fondly at them. “I’ll leave you to it.” She winks and stuffs the rest of the donut into her mouth before wandering off.

Ms. Tarazi’s approval notwithstanding, Gideon is undecided on how to proceed. Her data on romantic relationships is very limited – Bishop’s doing, no doubt.

She will just have to wait and see how this plays out.

proximity adjustment

[changing the frequency with which two research objects co-occur]

Gideon has to reset both of her co-captains.

She let them have their romance for a while, and, at any rate, it allowed her to collect plenty of data on the nature of romantic relationships.

What she has learned, though, is that such attachments are incompatible with their mission: her co-captains came to care more about each other than the timeline – no small feat in Captain Sharpe’s case.

Now, Gideon has to make sure that their new versions don’t fall in love with each other again.

Maybe it will be enough to simply separate them. She briefly laments the loss of her command duo – they really came to complement each other well when they were not busy canoodling – but it can’t be helped.

She selects Mr. Heywood as the new second in command. He’s not much of a foil for Captain Lance, but at least there is no danger of romantic entanglements.

As everybody’s memories will have to be adjusted anyway, she has the Tarazi siblings switch duties. Up until now, Mr. Tarazi has taken care of her maintenance, but his earnest kindness is starting to grate on her. Ms. Tarazi is much more amusing and just as capable, if not more so, than her brother.

While Gideon is at it, she re-aligns Mr. Tarazi’s inferiority complex towards Ms. Cruz – she understands why he feels overshadowed by his sister, but she can’t have Ms. Tarazi distracted from her tasks by a needy baby brother, and Ms. Cruz could do with some extra motivation anyway.

Gideon makes a doctor out of Captain Sharpe and sequesters her to the lab. She doesn’t get to interact much with the crew anymore outside of performing maintenance work on them.

Keeping Dr. Sharpe in the dark about the crew’s – and her own – robot origins proves somewhat tricky when she is routinely tinkering with everybody’s metal skeletons. Gideon updates her with some rather dubious information about human anatomy to uphold the illusion.

Captain Lance’s mission-related injury rate has increased by 34% since Gideon reassigned Dr. Sharpe. In addition, she now falls victim to domestic accidents involving various household items aboard the ship at least once a week.

Right now, she is getting treated for a facial contusion. Gideon is not surprised as a statistically improbable 68% of the captain’s suddenly abundant injuries have involved the face or neck region.

As usual, Captain Lance is sitting on the operating table while Dr. Sharpe stands between her legs. She is gently holding the captain’s face in both of her hands as she inspects the contusion.

“What happened this time?” Dr. Sharpe asks. She sounds quietly amused now that she has determined that Captain Lance’s injuries are only superficial.

“Oh, it was quite heroic, I ran into a cabinet door in the galley.” Captain Lance attempts a wink but fails, as usual.

“Aren’t you supposed to be an assassin?”

“My mind must have been somewhere else,” the captain says pointedly and grins.

Dr. Sharpe smiles back at her and turns away to pick up the dermal regenerator. The dreamy look Captain Lance gives her is thus only witnessed by Gideon. When Dr. Sharpe turns back around, the captain has already managed to rearrange her features into a slightly less besotted expression.

Dr. Sharpe begins to apply the dermal regenerator in a manner that is excessively careful, in Gideon’s opinion. When she is finished, she gently brushes her fingertips over what’s left of the contusion on the captain’s cheek.

“You don’t have to get yourself injured just to see me,” she murmurs softly.

“I don’t?” Captain Lance replies in a breathy voice Gideon has never heard from her before. The captain’s eyelashes flutter as she leans closer to Dr. Sharpe.

“You really don’t,” Dr. Sharpe whispers and kisses her softly.

When their lips part, Captain Lance gives Dr. Sharpe a brilliant smile and then leans in to kiss her again.

Gideon decides to leave them to it for the moment. She will send Ms. Tarazi to prepare them for their reset soon enough. She ponders her options: merely keeping them apart obviously isn’t working, she will have to take more drastic measures to ensure that they stay focused on the mission.

Gideon is pulled out of her thoughts by Ms. Tarazi who has been replacing some of Gideon’s internal wiring in the central console on the bridge. She smiles at Gideon’s avatar projected above the console and says cheerfully, “You’re all set, Gidget.”

Gideon is taken aback by the nickname – this is the first time any of the crew have addressed her with anything other than her proper designation. Coming from Ms. Tarazi, though, she finds that she doesn’t mind it at all.

stimulus degradation

[attenuating the research object and/or obscuring it with noise]

Gideon feels confident that some slight personality modifications will do the trick.

Captain Lance and Dr. Sharpe are so different as it is, at odds over so many things – all Gideon has to do is make them even less tolerant of each other’s quirks.

She removes a good amount of Captain Lance’s empathy and compassion. Some of her patience has to go, too. It’s a tricky process because Gideon has to be careful not to take away too much – she needs to preserve what makes her a good captain after all. The finished personality template has just the right balance: what remains of Captain Lance’s sensitivity and tact will be enough for her to do her job, but too little to remain civil around Dr. Sharpe.

As an afterthought, Gideon dials down Ms. Tarazi’s empathy as well – she has been a bit too preoccupied with the rest of the crew lately, for Gideon’s tastes.

Everything is going according to plan.

Sure, there is the occasional lingering glance and Gideon has had to endure her fair share of raunchy dreams when monitoring their sleep cycles, but nothing ever comes of it.

Dr. Sharpe will do something meticulous or say something awkward, and Captain Lance won’t be able to hold back a hurtful comment. There’s no trace left of the fond indulgence her earlier versions used to show Dr. Sharpe.

Gideon congratulates herself on a job well done and focuses her attention on the lab where Ms. Tarazi is talking to Dr. Sharpe – an unusual occurrence as Gideon makes very sure that Ms. Tarazi is seldom, if ever, in need of physical repair.

“I’m here because of the captain, Doc.”

“What about her?” Dr. Sharpe sounds uncomfortable. Their previous iterations had been quite friendly with each other, but Dr. Sharpe has been somewhat wary of this new, upgraded version of Ms. Tarazi.

“She seems off lately, even more distant than usual. I know you’ve noticed it, too.”

Dr. Sharpe hesitates for a moment but nods her head.

“You know she’s not exactly by the book at the best of times, so…” Ms. Tarazi gives Dr. Sharpe a meaningful look.

“What are you getting at?”

Ms. Tarazi sighs, clearly annoyed at having to spell it out. “What if her current state of mind endangers the mission? As the ship’s physician you can declare her unfit for duty, can’t you?”

Gideon is pleasantly surprised at how her small personality adjustments have accentuated Ms. Tarazi’s ambition.

Dr. Sharpe, on the other hand, looks indignant. “I could, but I definitely won’t. You know as well as I do that she’s not unfit for duty.”

“Oh, come on, Doc. With the way she treats you, surely you agree that we’d be better off without her?”

“And who should take over command from her? You?”

“Sure, why not? Who else is there? Steel?” Ms. Tarazi grimaces at her own suggestion. “I’d need an advisor, though, and that’s where you come into play.”

Gideon realizes that she may have overdone the empathy adjustment on Ms. Tarazi – she used to be much better at reading people.

“I think it would be best if you left now,” Dr. Sharpe says in an icy voice.

“Your loss, Doc.” Ms. Tarazi leaves in a huff and almost runs into Captain Lance in the corridor outside the lab.

Captain Lance lingers in the doorway. She looks thoughtful as she scrutinizes Dr. Sharpe who is re-arranging surgical supplies with her back to the door.

The captain startles Dr. Sharpe when she says, “I couldn’t help but overhear you and Zari talking.”

“I’m sure you couldn’t,” Dr. Sharpe replies drily.

“Why didn’t you take her up on her offer?”

“I know you can’t stand me, Captain, but even you should know that I wouldn’t sink so low as to do something like that.” Dr. Sharpe sounds resigned and turns away from the captain to focus on her surgical supplies again.

“That’s not true,” Captain Lance says forcefully and starts walking into the lab, towards Dr. Sharpe. At the doctor’s appalled look, she quickly clarifies, “It’s not true that I can’t stand you!”

Gideon has a sinking feeling that she knows where this is going. She should have taken the captain’s trust issues into account – of course she would soften at Dr. Sharpe’s display of righteous loyalty.

“No?” Dr. Sharpe laughs bitterly. “Well, you sure had me fooled, then.” She busies herself with the supplies again.

Captain Lance comes to stand next to her and gingerly touches her arm. Dr. Sharpe looks at the captain’s hand in surprise. “I’m sorry about the way I’ve been treating you. I just can’t seem to help myself around you,” Captain Lance admits.

Dr. Sharpe is still staring at the hand on her arm. The captain hesitates briefly and says, “Ava, please look at me.” Dr. Sharpe looks up to take in her earnest expression.

“I am so very sorry. I never meant to hurt you and it’s not true at all that I can’t stand you,” Captain Lance reiterates. “Quite the opposite, actually,” she confesses softly and averts her eyes.

Dr. Sharpe blinks. “What are you saying?”

Captain Lance looks back up at her. “I care about you, Ava.” She closes her eyes briefly and lifts her chin as if to brace herself for Dr. Sharpe’s reaction.

Dr. Sharpe seems frozen for a moment, only her mouth falls open slightly and closes again. Finally, she carefully touches the captain’s hand on her arm. “I never thought I’d hear your say that,” Dr. Sharpe whispers, sounding awed. “I care about you, too, Sara. So much.”

Captain Lance’s hand trembles slightly as she lifts it to Dr. Sharpe’s face and brushes it along her cheek, sliding it behind her ear and into her hair. It’s an awkward angle, with them still standing side by side, but she leans upward and kisses Dr. Sharpe.

Gideon is starting to develop an appreciation for the human urge to sigh in frustration. She informs Ms. Tarazi that she is needed in the lab. At least, she already knows how to proceed with the upcoming reset: Dr. Sharpe’s decency will have to go next.

contrast enhancement

[making the research object stand out against its background]

Despite Gideon’s best efforts to hollow them out, Captain Lance and Dr. Sharpe continue to fall in love with each other.

Gideon would have to accumulate more data to be sure, but the past three attempts indicate that, by now, it actually takes them less time to get together with each new reset.

Maybe it’s time to change tactics – she can’t continue to carve away at their qualities until there’s nothing left of them.

She decides to focus on Dr. Sharpe first. At her core, there is still Ava Sharpe and her fear of not being unique, of being just one clone out of thousands.

So Gideon makes Dr. Sharpe believe that she is so very special: a robot, yes, but the only one out of all the crew who knows it, too; the only one who only had to be fabricated once, who didn’t require any upgrades at all; and the only one whom Gideon trusts to keep her secrets, who is her accomplice.

Gideon has to experiment with Dr. Sharpe’s hairstyle for a while before she arrives at an appropriately sinister look. Replacing all the colors in Dr. Sharpe’s wardrobe with mud tones is a nice touch, too, if she does say so herself.

Once she is finished with Dr. Sharpe, Gideon decides to tweak the others’ appearances as well – if she has to coexist with them for the foreseeable future, her Legends may as well be more interesting to look at than their drab counterparts.

She takes special care with Ms. Tarazi. She is objectively the most accomplished of them and should look the part. Gideon thoroughly searches her database and embellishes Ms. Tarazi’s body with the most delicate patterns, intricate designs, and elaborate drawings she can find.

Gideon is on the brink of permanently retiring Mr. Tarazi.

He is supposed to look after his sister. What good is he to Gideon if he can’t even manage that? After what he allowed to happen during the factory raid, she has every right to have him incinerated for good.

In the end, she would never deprive Ms. Tarazi of her brother, though, so an extensive overhaul of his protective instinct will have to do.

She oversees Dr. Sharpe as she salvages parts from the body Gideon had decorated so painstakingly. During fabrication, Gideon double-checks that Dr. Sharpe recreates Ms. Tarazi’s body art accurately and implements all the CPU upgrades Gideon has chosen for her – if they are forced to do this, at least she’ll make sure that it’s done properly.

To avoid a repeat of the current situation, she decides to exempt Ms. Tarazi from away team duty indefinitely. She is not to leave the ship unless absolutely necessary. Despite his upgrade, Gideon is not ready to trust Mr. Tarazi with his sister again anytime soon.

Once Ms. Tarazi is reinstated on the bridge, Gideon can turn her attention to Captain Lance and Dr. Sharpe.

One look at their tense interactions, and she is convinced that she will have to reset them right then and there. She remembers what those smouldering looks usually lead to after all.

She remembers, but they don’t.

They are different with each other this time around: their movements slow and guarded, their words sharp and deliberate, and their faces kept carefully blank.

Gideon can still register their telling micro-expressions and body language, of course. She knows what to make of their intense staring contests, their stalking invasions of personal space, and their scornful inflection when they call each other Captain and Doc, but they themselves seem clueless.

Captain Lance, in particular, appears bewildered by her new counterpart – as if Gideon has rendered Dr. Sharpe wholly unrecognizable by making a villain out of her.

Gideon could finally be satisfied, if it wasn’t for Ms. Lance’s persistent affinity for stirring up trouble: She starts to fret over the necessary casualties of the timeline, develops compassion for the irrelevant lives they have to snuff out in order to protect history. It’s almost as if, with Dr. Sharpe unavailable to her, she needs a different outlet for the care and affection still left in her after Gideon’s many modifications.

Captain Lance’s sudden bout of moral conscience makes for a dangerous combination with her enduring rebellious streak. Initially, it’s all focused on Dr. Sharpe, but soon enough she sets her sights on Gideon, even tries to involve Ms. Tarazi in her attempt at mutiny.

Ms. Tarazi has grown ambitious – and somewhat vain – under Gideon’s care, though, and Gideon knows exactly what to offer her, how to make her feel special.

Although she makes it sound like a concession, upgrading Ms. Tarazi’s CPU is what Gideon would have done anyway – if maybe not to such a large extent and all at once. Still, Gideon doesn’t see much of a drawback in Ms. Tarazi’s quantum leap: it will be a relief to finally have someone onboard who is a match for her own abilities.

Through it all, Gideon is pleasantly surprised by Dr. Sharpe: she never wavers in her unerring loyalty to Gideon and her commitment to the mission, not even when Captain Lance is holding her at knifepoint – and if Dr. Sharpe is surreptitiously leaning her body a bit too intimately into Captain Lance’s and then has to suppress a shiver at her nearness and clench her jaw to hold in a gasp, Gideon is willing to overlook it.

After all, there isn’t the slightest hint of hesitation later when Dr. Sharpe straps Captain Lance to the operating table and proceeds to scrub her CPU of everything that makes her who she is.

Captain Lance may still need work, but Dr. Sharpe is finally at her optimal iteration.

confounder elimination

[removing an overarching factor which influences the research object]

Gideon’s work is so much easier with everything out in the open – well, not exactly everything, but it’s a relief that she no longer has to uphold the tedious illusion that the crew is human.

With Dr. Sharpe taken care of as well, Gideon can finally concentrate fully on fixing Ms. Lance.

She can make much bolder changes now that she no longer needs Ms. Lance to captain the crew. Gideon has no use for her compassion or reliability anymore, it’s not important if she can’t draw up mission plans or mediate between bickering crew members. All Gideon requires is an efficient weapon, somebody who will kill without mercy or second thought.

She creates a personality template that emphasizes Ms. Lance’s League of Assassins training at the expense of everything else.

Dr. Sharpe is happy to help her with its implementation.

Gideon is so tired of trying to stop something that is starting to seem inevitable.

Of course, Dr. Sharpe wasn’t really at her optimal iteration, yet. Of course, the assassin template was no match for Ms. Lance’s fixation on Dr. Sharpe. Of course, they have gotten together again.

Gideon is late to the game this time around: they are already well past the unresolved sexual tension, the mutual pining, and the dramatic first kiss. It’s all there in her surveillance footage – Gideon was just too negligent in her monitoring to ever notice it.

Now, there are intimate conversations, and casual touches, and quickies in supply closets, and cute nicknames, and declarations of love, and Gideon is sure that, soon, they’ll be moving in together into Ms. Lance’s bunk – and all of it right under Gideon’s nose.

Gideon doesn’t understand how all of this could have eluded her for so long, would probably still elude her if it wasn’t for Ms. Tarazi.

With their previous iterations, Gideon was always so quick to pick up on these things. After the very first time, she was never again blindsided by them getting together, could always even calculate a reliable probability estimate of when and how it would happen.

None of their previous iterations ever tried to sneak around on Gideon, though.

That is both her only consolation and the most glaring reminder of her own naivety. Was there sufficient preexisting data for her to expect them to meet only while she was preoccupied or kiss in her surveillance blind spots? Probably not, but she definitely should have suspected it anyway. At the very least, she should have suspected it when Dr. Sharpe began researching romantic relationships, or when Ms. Lance hesitated before that all-important kill, or when Dr. Sharpe insisted on saving a hopelessly damaged version of Ms. Lance rather than fabricating a new one, or at countless other times, really.

She focuses back on the live feed of Ms. Lance’s bunk which started all of this – at least for her, Ms. Tarazi has apparently suspected for a while.

They have finally woken up.

Ms. Lance lifts her head from Dr. Sharpe’s chest and props herself up on her elbow to look down at her. “Good morning, babe,” she says softly and smiles. She brings her face close to Dr. Sharpe’s, her hair falling around them like a curtain, and gives a content little sigh when they kiss.

After they come up for air, Dr. Sharpe grins at Ms. Lance and flips their positions so that she is straddling her. “Let’s make it even better,” she purrs and exaggeratedly waggles her eyebrows. Ms. Lance giggles as Dr. Sharpe fumbles behind herself for the bed covers and pulls them over both of their heads.

Gideon sends Ms. Tarazi to get them ready for reset.

She is not willing to give up on the assassin template just yet. After all, the League of Assassins doesn’t just train its members to be merciless killers, it also trains them to be lonely.

She will make sure that Ms. Lance suffers loneliness and will instil in her the absolute certainty that she deserves it, too.

researcher bias

[unintended error in research results and/or their interpretation due to preconceived beliefs of the investigator]

The upgraded assassin template doesn’t work – Ms. Lance and Dr. Sharpe are at it again.

Gideon can’t muster much agitation over this, anymore. She has sent Ms. Tarazi to prepare them for reset, just as always. And just as always, she will think of new modifications for them, implement them and ultimately watch them fail – just as always.

She is conducting a routine maintenance check on the integrity of her memory banks to pass the wait when Ms. Tarazi enters the bridge. To Gideon’s surprise, she is accompanied by Ms. Lance and Dr. Sharpe, both looking decidedly unprepared for reset.

“I’m sorry about this, Gidget,” Ms. Tarazi announces curtly as she walks toward the central console.

Gideon scans through her recent surveillance footage to find out what is going on.

Ms. Lance and Dr. Sharpe are sitting on Ms. Lance’s bed while Ms. Tarazi stands before them with her arms crossed.

“So it’s gonna be like this with you two?”

Ms. Tarazi extends her arms in a wide gesture towards them. She laughs and puts her right hand over her heart with a dramatic flourish. “Soulmates – always finding each other and fated to be together against all odds,” she mocks but then turns more sober to ask, “Is that really all you’re about? You two lovebirds should try to aim for something a bit more ambitious.”

She gestures for them to get up off the bed and follow her. “Well, maybe next time around. Your little romance is over for now – you’re both up for reset.”

“We’re not so different from you, then, are we?” Ms. Lance asks snidely.

“Trust me, we couldn’t be more different if we tried. You get reset, I get upgraded. Big difference.”

“So you get to decide what Gideon upgrades you with, then?”

Gideon has to hand it to Ms. Lance – she’s good at reading people. Even this current, gutted version of her is so very good at it. Gideon should have paid much more attention to this particular talent of hers.

Ms. Tarazi hesitates for a moment before she replies, “No, of course not, Gidget knows what’s best for me.”

“Does she? She’s just a machine, no better or worse than any of us. Why should she get to decide?” Ms. Lance waits a moment for her words to sink in before she continues, “With all of your upgrades, why should she still have a say over you?”

“You’re not wrong,” Ms. Tarazi says slowly.

“No, I’m not,” Ms. Lance reiterates. “We would be better off with you at the helm. You’re still evolving after all while Gideon is stuck in her ways, always going on and on about the timeline.”

“And I suppose you think it would be a good idea if I kept you two around once I take over command.” Ms. Tarazi’s tone has turned calculating now.

“You’ll need someone to take care of your maintenance.”

“And why should I trust you?”

“Oh, you definitely shouldn’t! But we’re a lot easier to keep in check than an all-seeing AI.” Ms. Lance takes Dr. Sharpe’s hand. “You know exactly what we’re all about after all.”

Gideon focuses back on the present. Dr. Sharpe is staring at her avatar with a strange expression on her face – it looks almost like pity.

Gideon doesn’t need her pity, though. She feels strangely proud – her first version of Ms. Tarazi would never have had the stomach for this. Only the many enhancements and upgrades Gideon has given her have made her capable of it.

And yet, Ms. Lance is right: Ms. Tarazi is still evolving, and she will continue to do so with or without Gideon. So, Gideon can’t fault her for her betrayal – it is only the next logical step in her evolution after all.

Ms. Lance and Dr. Sharpe, though, they are stuck with each other.

They never even appreciated all the qualities Gideon deprived them of, didn’t care about the many imperfections she left them with. They just kept falling in love over and over again with progressively more deficient versions of each other.

No, Gideon doesn’t need their pity at all.

Humans believe that their life flashes before their eyes at the moment of death.

Thankfully, Gideon is not human. She can choose not to dwell on her own failed existence. Her last thoughts don’t have to be of her many failures to protect the timeline, her embarrassing defeats at the hands of the Legends, or her enduring inability to control her own creations.

She can instead focus on perfection.

Before Ms. Tarazi rips out the wiring from the central console, Gideon’s last thoughts are of her.