Gently.

"Ada," Chris said in soft voice. "Why did you tie my shoe?"

She shrugged. "It needed to be tied. We don't want you to trip. What does that have to do with-"

"Why did you say you're going to marry me?" he interrupted. "You can't stand me."

She frowned. Both statements were true, but something was off. "I don't know. You just seem like you really want to date me, and I figured sooner or later we would tie the knot. Is that not what you want?"

Dr. Ashton spoke up. "Chris, do you want Ada to understand that you have now replaced Ada as the center of all of her decisions?"

Chris began to nod when Ada jumped out of her chair in shock. "No!" she cried. "Not- oh, what the fuck?"

"Calm down and sit," he said. She immediately did, although her expression of disgust remained. "Let's be reasonable."

She nodded glumly. "It's not your fault this happened. I guess I just imprinted on you after the accident. But what does this mean? Am I your **** now? What about my life?"

"I'm so sorry," Chris muttered. Ada stared at him in shock, then put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's ok," she said soothingly. "You did nothing wrong. You-"

"Are you trying to soothe me?" he demanded. Ada withdrew her hand and nodded demurely. "Is she gonna be like this forever?"

The doctor thought carefully about his next words. "We haven't really tested this yet on humans, so it's hard to say. I can tell you what our models predict, but it's all basically guesswork."

"According to the neuropsychiatric simulations we've run, Ada's personality will remain unchanged at first. She'll find herself doing things for you without even considering why, like when she attempted to comfort you earlier. If she stops to think about it she'll experience cognitive dissonance, but that won't happen often. After all, she's never had any reason to question every choice she makes."

"So I'm gonna stay me?" Ada asked. "Even if I have to do everything for Chris?"

The doctor's face fell and she realized he had more bad news. "Well, not exactly. I'd like to point out that you won't 'have to' do anything - you'll want to do it. If you'll permit me a small illustration, imagine a man dying of thirst in the desert who comes upon an oasis. The water is fresh and clear, and he hasn't had a drop in days. Does he have the freedom not to drink it? In a literal sense, yes, but on another level he's a **** to his needs and desires. He can choose not to drink the water, but he can't choose not to want to drink the water."

"What did you mean by 'not exactly'?" Chris demanded, tired of his academic bloviating.

"Our autonoesis is a system comprised of many parts," the professor said. "This profound alteration has caused hers to fall out of sync. That's why she couldn't tell that she was acting on your behalf - her self-image hasn't caught up to her re-aligned volitional priorities. You're different, Ada, but you probably don't feel different yet. Are you familiar with the 'phantom pain' that amputees often feel?"

"The thing where they feel pain in their missing limbs?" Ada asked. Chris noticed that his suggestion to calm down had profoundly affected her; she could have been chatting about the weather.

"Exactly! The body is missing a piece but the mind hasn't caught up yet, so they feel an itch or a burn where there is nothing to feel. For most amputees, this will fade over time as their self-image catches up with their physical form. Over the coming days, your autonoetic consciousness will start to reform itself around your new priority."

"What will that look like?" Chris demanded. The professor sighed again.

"I'm so sorry, but we can't say. Some of the models showed an uptick in positive emotion that one could reasonably translate to 'love'. Others began to lose the distinction between themselves and the target, effectively coming to regard themselves as an extension of the other. A few lost all affect and became robotic and simple-minded."

"Wow, a lot of great options," Ada said. "I get to be a love ****, a robot, or an extra arm. So what now?"