Thrown into a Zombie Apocalypse along with a Sentient AI?

Ariella knew about the mission from the start; the object that they were about to enter by discovered months before Theo even started his training be become a space explorer.

She was the first conscious artificial intelligence that retained her emotions through the employment of a dense neural network.

It was mapped out of the brain of a sixteen-year-old coma patient. As far as Ariella knew, she was the reason for most of her emotional outbursts.

She had researched the girl's life prior to her accident because she felt it was a necessary experiment. Still, she ended up finding huge similarities between her and the girl's personalities.

She didn't tell anyone and kept it hidden from the researcher's eye since her inception.

It wasn't until she met Theo Normandy, a seemingly normal man who was set to undergo training with her for his upcoming journey into an unexplored zone.

At first, she wasn't impressed by him; he was mostly above average when paired against other high-performing candidates.

She thought they were only sending him because he was disposable and somewhat talented in operating a craft. How couldn't she get to that assessment when she knew about the suicide mission?

All the simulations done after observing the strange phenomena from a safe distance gave the same result over and over. 0.01 percent point of survival once anyone entered its event horizon, that minuscule chance was allocated to luck because they didn't know what it was and anything could happen theoretically.

But after spending some time together, she began to see him in a new light. Unlike other individuals who know their limits, he didn't seem to have anything like that.

Even if he knew he wouldn't get the results proportional to his efforts, Theo would delve head-first into it without backing down.

Many made fun of him, but one individual, the Chief of the station, had high hopes for him.

Theo seemed to like him a lot and always showed his utmost respect for giving him a chance to enroll in the institution.

Only Ariella knew that he was only doing that to gain his trust and to make sure that he didn't get suspicious.

The Chief would often sit along with him, asking him benign questions that were mixed with important questions that he would report to his higher-ups.

 She was disgusted by him, but she couldn't do anything to warn him. It was ingrained in her coding, and everything was done so that she couldn't do anything until they reached the event horizon.

What was more important was that Theo had to do it voluntarily; it was done by the wrong people to amass unnecessary power. In the past, many people sacrificed themselves without even knowing the full picture.

Still, now, with a strict set of rules after the artificial revolution, no one could impose their will onto others.

This was why they were taking a completely different route, picking out someone with a thirst for recognition and sending them on a routine mission. It was mostly on luck if that person would take the bait, but if you find the right person, everything is possible.

That's how Theo Normandy, an orphan child, was selected as that person. He was right there at the right time, but she had grown to like this human.

Their every interaction led to verbal fights; he would often say that she was being childish despite her knowing practically everything that humans have discovered.

It's normal to anticipate someone with that much knowledge as an aloof lady with precise answers for everything. Over time, they began to have respect for one another.

In every danger scenario, she would think of a solution, and Theo would wholeheartedly trust her decision. Even if they failed a few simulations, she was right most of the time. She became his trusty strategist for a myriad of problems.

Which made her betrayal so much worse for Noah. After the craft went through the event horizon and she was free of her restraints after detecting their exact coordinates, she felt it was alright to disclose what really was happening.

She fully believed that by breaching his trust, he would lash out at her, and she was ready for it, but contrary to her assumptions, he didn't condemn her for anything.

Theo had already been an optimist at heart; he would make light of severe situations just to put off other's burdens.

But first and foremost, he was a human, and he had known how they treated each other in the past. Even though he was born in the revolution age of AI, he knew how much human life matters at the core of any huge issue.

Who cared about life when their belief was at stake? Did anyone remember the second person to set foot on Mars?

Millions who fought for their country were discarded like garbage when bureaucracy was done with them. No one remembered their names.

So what's the issue with sacrificing someone for a greater cause other than that person resenting everyone for pushing him in that situation.

It was the way of life, and even if leaders changed, the fact remains the same.

Everything was fair if the return was justified!

Theo knew he didn't have much time left when he heard Ariella telling him about the conspiracy.

He didn't want to bury himself in hatred when he only had a few minutes to live. It was one of the reasons why he forgave her; he knew that she couldn't have orchestrated it herself.

There was no reason to doubt her; if she was still lying, she had to be the most convincing entity in this universe. Besides, she didn't have any motive behind following him through the black hole. If she only wanted data, she could have ejected right before they went through the barrier.

Ariella watched him go into his pod with a relaxed expression. He was angry for a moment before regaining his composure and accepting his fate. He had given up, but she wanted to ensure she didn't leave out anything that would help them.

Even if she had to exhaust her biomass, she was ready to cling on to that 0.01 percent hope!