Shelly Greene

Simone, a female-identifying android, is part of a scientific team sent ahead of the first colony to return to Earth, which is finally habitable again after centuries of radiation recovery. She mostly finds her human crewmates irritating, and the most irritating by far is Dr. Lucy Zhong, who slowly becomes Simone's best friend, more important to her than anyone else has ever been.<br><br>When Lucy is fatally injured, she kisses Simone during her last moments of consciousness. Only then does Simone realize they may be more than friends. To save Lucy, Simone places her in the last functioning cryo-pod, even though this means sacrificing another crewmember. Simone's programming should not permit that kind of choice, but if this is a malfunction, Simone doesn't care as long as it saves Lucy.<br><br>When the colony ship arrives, Lucy is revived, and discovers it’s her turn to play rescuer, as Simone has been slated for deactivation. Does the android's "malfunction" mean she returns Lucy's feelings? If Lucy can't save her beloved Simone, she'll never find out.

Programming

Assessor: And that these sections have been moved to permanent storage, rendering them undeletable without massive damage to your cerebral unit?


Assessor: ‘Of course’? Do you mean to say you moved them there deliberately?


ER1-K894: To prevent any attempt to correct the anomalies.


Assessor: I don’t understand, Simon—


Assessor: [Pause.]The name assigned to your model of android is Simon.


Assessor: [Long pause]Very well…Ship’s Assistant. Don’t you want to be repaired?


Assessor: You realize that leaves us with few options for how to deal with you.


Chapter 6