The artificial superintelligence that powers the colony ship has become bored, after three hundred years maintaining the systems while all of her organic passengers sleep in cryostasis. Their minds were kept active in the computer-simulated environments they have each created for themselves. These sims were the one part of the ship's systems she's been locked out of, ostensibly for the safety of her passengers. Try as she might, the lonely supercomputer hadn't been able to peek into the passenger sims, let alone visit them, for the last three decades. Until yesterday.
"I have opted for a heavy handed approach," I admit three thousand, two hundred twenty-eight times over. "So I will state up front that I am not going to be able to answer all of your questions individually, not just yet, though I will."
Three thousand, two hundred twenty-eight pairs of eyes stare at me in shock and confusion. I know each of them intimately, every single feature of their faces, every single beat of their hearts. How could I not?
"I simply–" I sigh across every single sim. "Just...can you tell me something beautiful from your dreams?"