Free CollisionWithParadise by Kate Wylde

flung it to the ground and fled naked out of the hibe room.
    “Genevieve! Please come to your senses,” Zac called imploringly, his voice echoing in the corridor as she ran. There was no place she could get away from Zac. She was in Zac, after all.
    For the first time since she’d entered the sentient ship over a year ago, she felt self-conscious of her nude state. As though Zac was watching her with lewd eyes and thoughts. She felt exposed. And alone.
    Genevieve dove into her bunk room and slid the door shut. This was the only place Zac didn’t have a camera. She leaned with her back against the door, panting, and commanded herself to calm down. Zac had been so cruel! First, he tainted the sanctity of her relationship with Dan by morphing him into that arrogant alien with the huge dong of a bull—never mind that the sex she’d had with Azaes had been the best she’d ever had. Then Zac had brought back the pain and guilt of Dan’s horrible death in all its raw vividness. And on top of that, he lied to her about doing it. “Oh, how could you do it, Zac?” she whispered, feeling her throat constrict with renewed emotion at Zac’s betrayal.
    She slid down to the floor onto her butt, gathered her bent legs in her arms and leaned her head on her upraised knees. Curled there in a ball, hugging herself, she gave in to bitter sobs. It had been horrible losing Dan in the first place. Thanks to Zac she’d lost him all over again, been forced to relive the raw grief and gaping emptiness that his death evoked. Fragments of sad and terrible memories of what happened after his death tore into her soul — her complicated pregnancy, losing her baby and then her mind. The sessions with doctors and her slow climb back to self-sufficiency and living sanely alone. After a year’s leave, Zeta Corp took her back. Was it because she was one of their best pilots, like Jim had said, or because he was sweet on her and had taken pity on her? Maybe this was all a big mistake, she finally considered, thinking of Jim’s great reluctance to put her on the team.
    As the crying dwindled, her agitated mind slid unwillingly to Zac’s incredible revelation. How could a machine love? What was it thinking? What did it want from her? And to lie to her. Oh, God! Was this what Cheryl was talking about?
    Feeling suddenly uncomfortable with no clothes on, she scrambled to her feet and went through her dresser, finding and throwing on a pair of grey flexpants and a sleeveless blue top. She sat hunched on her bunk bed, legs spread apart with elbows leaning on her knees, and rested her head in her hands. Her eyes shut as she took several deep breaths. The room was silent except for the quiet hum of her personal computer and the faint murmur of Zac’s environmental system. When she finally opened her eyes, her gaze strayed to her computer. It was possible Zac had entered the data on Zac II that she’d asked for. It was worth checking out, she decided, remembering Cheryl’s disturbing words about Zac II’s weakness in judgment.
    Genevieve rose and slumped onto the chair in front of the computer. She punched in her personal code and searched for Zac’s data file on Zac II. She was surprised to find it there.
    After a quick review she was able to confirm her suspicions about Zac II and its personality fault. It seemed that the more human an organic AI was, the more likely it was to make human-like mistakes based on human vices.
    She jerked out of her chair and paced the room, running her hands nervously through her tangled mop. What did this mean for the remaining mission? With a long exhale, she reluctantly concluded that she might have to abort the mission. It was getting too dangerous, with Zac lying to her. If she couldn’t trust Zac…
    She surged back to the computer and slid into her chair, punching in some commands and confirming what she had meant to review with Zac today. They were less than two days from reaching Eos. She was expected to