Page 60 of Bound By Stars

Holding his fingers wide over the screen so the illustration separates into pieces, ILSA’s parts hovering independently, Jupiter glances over his shoulder, shaking his head and grinning.

ILSA rotates her head forward, her white dot eyes disappearing. “I grow in complexity every day through observation. My excellence is clear.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “No one likes a narcissist, ILSA.”

“False. Most narcissists are perceived as charming.”

“You have a point.” I can hear the smile in Jupiter’s voice.

“Don’t agree with her! You’ll make it worse.”

“Sorry,” he says, snapping the image of the bot back onto his tablet and taking a seat across from me.

“Try to observe some humility before we get to Mars, ILSA,” I say, opening my computer again.

“I continuously modify my speech and behavior protocols in real-time based on information obtained from my environment.” ILSA pivots toward me again, displaying a neutral expression. “The person with whom I spent the most time is you, Weslie.”

Jupiter chokes on a laugh.

I wipe my hand over my face. “I’m about over the both of you. ILSA, I think this is the perfect time for a reboot.”

“Rebooting.” Three dots trail across on her face screen and then it goes blank as her systems shut down.

If she gets snarky in front of the panel on Mars, they’ll probably find it amusing. Everyone else seems to. But if she delivers a mouthful of nonsense, they’ll absolutely think she’s malfunctioning. It’s not even a required feature. I only keep trying because it should be such an easy fix, especially for me. “That’s it. I’m going to disable the messaging. It’s the only option.”

“Whatever you feel is best. I’m only the artist and occasional test dummy.”

I run my hands over my face. I hate admitting defeat.

Jupiter comes around the table and takes my shoulders.

My breath catches in my throat. Intentionally or not, we’ve been keeping our distance after last night at the pool. Nothing happened. I teased him mercilessly. He was way too patient with me. We swam. End of story.

Thank god ILSA’s still rebooting, so she can’t announce changes to my heart rate.

He leads me off the stool. “Okay, time for a break. You have an hour and a half before the mock presentation. You’ve done everything you can. Let’s get some lunch.”

With ILSA docked in the lab, charging to full power for the presentation, the two of us make our way to the dining hall.

Jupiter follows me along the buffet. “I was thinking about the comm issue. Have you ever tried just asking ILSA about it?”

“Ask the smug-as-hell defective bot about their defect?” I narrow my eyes and flatten my tone. “Brilliant idea.”

“Oh! I completely forgot.” With his free hand, he reaches into his pocket and pulls something out. He opens his palm to reveal a small comm screen on a thick silicone band.

I shake my head. “I don’t want your charity, Big Six.”

“It’s old. No one is using it, and I figured, since ILSA isn’t great at getting you your messages, maybeyoucould.”

My gaze flicks from his kind expression to the comm again. It makes sense. I could communicate better with my friends on the ship if I actually receive their messages.

“Fine.” I set my first plate down on the edge of the buffet, snatch it out of his hand, and strap it to my wrist. “Thank you.”

As we sit down, Jupiter eyes my second plate.

“Don’t judge me.”

“Definitely not judging. I’m impressed.” He takes a forkful of his salad. “So how are you feeling about your presentation?”

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