"... concludes the report," A.L.I.C.E. finished.  Her voice seemed to emanate from within and without of the small habitation space.  The only living occupant was laid out, suit half drawn down.  His messy brown hair - outside of preferred regulations - was every which way since he hadn't bothered to make use of their recycled shower water.  Dark circles around his eyes indicated that he was having trouble with the sleep rotation even with artificial sunlight.  Despite his half-lidded tiredness, his nearly sea foam green eyes were bright - not as a result of induced chemical reaction (sometimes brought on from whatever the passably edible "meat" product on board), but from the status of their mission and their progress.
 
The man paused a beat, still laying on his rack where he'd been tossing a stress ball - improvised since it started out its life as packaging from somewhere on this ship - at the low hanging ceiling.  With a smile in his tone, he said, "Alice, I love it when you talk dirty to me.  "
 
"The report is clean-"
 
Swinging his legs over the edge of the rack, narrowly missing the ceiling - something that he still struggled to remember despite having spent a formidable amount of time nursing his bruised head from repeated incidents over the last several days as they suffered through Gate travel- he cut the A.I. off, "Connotation of the statement; it was a joke."
 
"Jokes are not programmed into my behavior core."
 
"Yeah, yeah, we'll see about fixing that, sweetheart.  Don't you worry.  We've plenty of time to work with."  But Jason wasn't working at his personal station to remedy this, instead he was accessing the star report and confirming their location as well as the history of the system.  Maybe the others weren't as excited about this trip as he was, but this was damned exciting.  In fact, this system was interesting because of its historical value.  And he'd be able to remind others how he - they - were the first humankind to exist much less look in this quadrant.  Toggling the controls by his bed, the surface of his bed stiffened, turning into a secondary work surface, extending his desk.
 
"I am also incapable of worrying, Commo.  You are, furthermore, not authorized to tamper with my personality or basic behavior cores.  Also, your time is limited to approximately 60.3 more Earth years.  'Plenty' is inaccurate."
 
"Don't be so morbid, that's plenty by my estimation - Say my name, baby," he murmured.
 
"Jason Itztli," the A.I. said.
 
He couldn't help cracking a grin at that.  "Would it be absolutely ridiculous to love an A.I.?  You do so pet my ego well."  His hand curved over his abdomen and further, unselfconscious of the intent or who might be watching.
 
"Unless there is a nuance I am unable to interpret, it would be 'ridiculous' as there could never be any propagation of your species per your religious doctrines or biological programming for furthering your purpose in life by loving a computer program."
 
"Aw, baby, my purpose is you," he said distractedly as he typed in more code to begin building up the format for his first report to send back their sponsors and backers.  He'd have to go to the bridge at some point to extract the communications packaging in addition to looking for the information he'd requested shortly after they'd successfully made it through "The Gate."  He wasn't sure why he'd started mentally referring to The Gate as if it were something of importance, perhaps because of its relevance as a humankind project and a milestone in human history. 
 
"Your purpose is to maintain open lines of communication, receive communication bundles, maintain ship's drives for all chart-related activity, conduct reports and all other duties assigned-"
 
"No need to be coy.  I know my job.  I know what I've gotten myself into, but you'd think a man can't multitask."  Her silence tickled him; she had no feedback for him there. 
 
Sadly this was the extent of his social nature for the last few days.  He'd avoided a fair number of the crew mostly because everyone needed adjusting and he realized that he missed his friends more than he thought he would.  Being able to brag about his involvement in this project had been worth it before he'd been sent out so many light years away from his adoring public.  Now that he was stranded, he was more than a little irritable.  Fortunately there were some interesting potentially adoring subjects on board that he'd look into learning more about.  The files were thorough, but gave nothing of any actual importance.  What were their alliances?  What were their opinions of him?  These thoughts would soon occupy his mind.
 
Deciding to put aside his moping, he called out, "Alice, make ready the communications package.  I'll head up to the bridge to collect it.  Location of the capt?  I'll need to thank him for sending out the packets for me as well as brief him on any further news gleaned."
 
And as odd as he thought it, he felt as though her attention was elsewhere suddenly.  It was like a void, an itch in his mind.  He really needed to make friendly with the locals, Jason decided suddenly.  They'd love him.  Probably were achingly lonely without him to liven things up.  No more meals in his room, he decided there and then.  They must be bored without him around. 
 
"Affirmative, Commo.  Package is waiting for your arrival.  The captain is on the bridge," she stated.  Jason was relieved to hear her voice call out into his stateroom.
 
His quarters weren't far removed from the bridge since he was most likely to be called up to do repairs (rather than take away from their chief engineering officer's time) and take and make messages if the captain wanted to take his leave of the bridge.  Stepping out past the threshold of his personal stateroom, the hatch closed itself when it read that there wasn't anything blocking its sensors.  Jason pulled up his suit to look more presentable, brushed a hand through his hair uselessly, and picked up a brisk pace in the direction of the bridge.
 
"Permission to enter?" Jason asked out of formality, but he was already several paces into the space.  Typing away at his station, he physically extracted the message out onto his board to begin the decryption process, plugging in key variables with succinct code rather than verbally asking the A.I. to reveal the parts he already knew were more likely to be important.  Her priorities, while well intentioned and often accurate, left much to be desired from the human perspective.  "Thanks for sending on the Star Sys Rep, cap'n.  Sounds like it could swing either way for finding anything of relevance.  I'll have historical records out for you shortly to compare what analysts foresaw we might find, but has Buchanan mentioned-"
 
He fell silent, glancing behind him to ensure she hadn't popped up behind him.