I love the way Trouble Dog, the intelligent ship, now fifteen years old and already with a long history of combat, analyses humans as if they were another puzzle offered by the universe and then delivers her conclusions with a dry humour that takes some of the sting out of her accuracy.
At one point, after a frustrating exchange with a crew member, Captain Konstanz asks Trouble Dog's avatar why people are so difficult to manage. Trouble Dog raises an eyebrow and says:
"That's a question I've been pondering since my inception."
"And your conclusion?"
"I think you're all broken in some fundamental way but you're not all broken in the same place and it's the ways you find to work around those breaks that make you who you are."
Now there's an idea to chew on.
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