They had been a partnership. Close. He’d thought of “her” as his dæmon from a story he’d read as a child. His soul. His companion. They’d talked about everything, worked together, laughed and even cried together. Inseparable. It was an emotional relationship. He realised that was odd. “She” was a machine, he knew that, but they lived and worked so closely, they were… he couldn’t quite find the words. But now The Company had changed it. It had changed. It wanted instructions, to be managed, to work for him. It still had the same voice, but it wasn’t the same.