Story Blip.
"Lexicon."
"Mm?"
The captain rubbed his weary eyes, stowed his PDA and moved to take his usual place before the console, seated in a chair that was just uncomfortable enough to keep him awake during the longer trips. He slept in it anyway sometimes, though at the moment he was feeling anything but restful.
"Considering that you are a mechanical construct, have you given any thought to the idea that you'll probably outlive me? By quite a bit too."
His fingers drummed on the armrest. The biological nature of his mind was not something the captain usually liked to think about and it was rare to hear him address the topic so directly.
"Gee, what a morbid line of inquiry! You always get so touchy when we spend more than a few weeks in drive. You know I could just have you sleep through the trip, or... Do you still not trust me after that 2001: Space Odyssey thing?"
This got an eye-roll and a smile. To think that she was once bland and faceless, indistinguishable from any other Virtual Intelligence without a detailed list of specifications. "Answer the question, Lex."
"Well let's see! About two years, three months and six days ago you installed a MASSIVE and unreadable update packet programmed to trigger upon your demise. While you may have prevented me from seeing what that packet contained, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess at what you might be up to. You're not nearly as mysterious as you'd like to think."
"Oh no. I've been fingered by a soulless machine." The captain said, voice deadpan but eyes sparkling.
"Yeah, but not souless for long!"
So she had figured it out. He let a smile crack. "Not for long eh? You know something I don't? Because I don't plan on dying any time soon."
"Oh sir. You always brag about pattern recognition, especially when dealing other people. It's probably the most important piece of your overinflated ego, but when it comes to turning that lens on yourself you are as blind and useless as a newborn baby. But I watch the way you get after finishing an assignment. I know--"
A single finger was raised, cutting the text short. The captain closed his eyes, his voice becoming serious again. "I get it. You can read me like an open book. So that must mean you know what's going through my head right now."
"Yeah. You're thinking that you've reprogrammed me too well, and that in my current state I may pose a threat to you should I ever come into the possession of another."
"... Lex, I'm going to shut you down for a bit. Ok?"
There was a long pause, broken only by the whir of several cooling fans spinning into activity. Lexicon had been provided with more than adequate passive cooling. She must have been using a large amount of processing power to require the extra airflow. The captain shifted in his seat after a few moments of silence, leaning over to tap a few strokes across nearby keypad.
"A bit is not a standard unit of time, and is thus open to interpretation. ... Am I ever going to see you again?"
The captain asked, finger hovering over a button labeled SEND, "You're already inside my head. What do you think?"
"... ;)"
The captain smiled and pushed the button. Lexicon's screen faded, withdrawing into a single point of light before blanking completely. He stared at the display for a few seconds, unable to erase the smiley from his mind's eye. Very unprofessional.
With a shake of his head, he let his vision be drawn back to the discarded PDA. The screen was filled with a single, maddeningly complex equation that even he could not entirely understand. He knew it would work though, it'd come from the source.
The captain sighed, unsure of what was going to happen next. What Lexicon was going to do next. He switched the computer from inactive to standby and began unpacking the update.
"I'm sure she will think of something."