Ethan vs the FLIGHTSUIT AI

My favorite scene from the book is the confrontation between Leo's surrogate fathers, one of whom is the alien Artificial Intelligence controlling the FLIGHTSUIT. The debate between Ethan and Brother (Leo's name for the AI) reveals their surprising common interests, as Ethan tries to explain what he wants out of his relationship with Leo…

“I guess I want to share what I know—what I’ve learned about life and what I think makes sense. I want what I’ve learned to be helpful to someone else. Someone I care about.”

The flightsuit was quiet.

“Maybe I want to see myself continued in some way,” Ethan said.

“If my programmed objectives were similar to yours, would you find this surprising?”