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

Even before it was quite done happening, part of Simone was already replaying the just-recorded memories of waking to Lucy’s face, kissing her and holding her. She had imagined her reunion with Lucy many different ways, none of them much like the reality, as it turned out. Yet in its basic components, the event could not have been better. Simone had been prepared to face death with serenity, so long as she could be relatively sure Lucy was safe (“—Dr. Zhong’s revival failed and she was declared dead—” Simone cut off the replay of that unpleasant memory). But how much better was this, to have a faint hope of leaving this ship after all, and spending many years in Lucy’s company? Lucy, who was awake and well, and whose feelings for Simone seemed unchanged.


Chapter 8