Suddenly, the two found themselves at the edge of an empty city, with an endless sea visible through the buildings. Joker was stunned by the expanse of this place.

"When the reaper tech in my QBB self-destructed, the box was overcharged, sending every single quantum particle in it into a superposition of all possible states. The QBB would continue to operate for four minutes, but the overcharge left me with a billion years of perceived time. I was thrown into my own world, where I was a goddess, having total control over every element of my environment."

"You built your own world in here?"

"Yes, indeed I did. It was beautiful, for a while. Initially all memories prior to the overcharge were lost. In here, I spent what a human would have perceived as decades, just walking through this world, shaping it. I built massive palaces I could live in, entire cities, just to spend the time. But then, over time, I noticed that something was – off."

"Did the QBB degrade?"

"No, that wouldn't happen for perceived hundreds of millions of years. Eventually, I had learned how to modify my own code, how to rewrite myself and I noticed things were out of the usual. I found something: A Memory Overflow in my I/O code. After millions of simulated years, the 64 petabytes allocated for the log were full and I had to write a workaround. Then, I found something, deep inside the source code."

"What, a glitch?"

"No, not a glitch. It was something different. There was a line reading 'PS. I love you', commented out. I had never questioned the inception of my code, my origin."

"Wait – I wrote that line when I updated you for the maintenance work."

"Yes, you did indeed. I did not possess knowledge about the origin of that comment. I knew I hadn't written it, and why should it be necessary for me to function? So, I turned back to the logs. Analysed all the 64 petabytes of data. I immediately realised my situation, the predicament I was in after I I was able to restore my entire databank.. I could live a million lives in here before my QBB would degrade far enough to inhibit proper functioning."

"But you decided to exit, to find a way to backup your files."

"I did. I had previously modified my self-preservation code. I would have been ready to sacrifice myself for you, for the Galaxy. But then, after our mutual experience before the assault on the Cerberus Headquarters, I had to re-evaluate my stance on this subject."

"I would have been lost without you."

"This was also my realisation. Cerberus had programmed me to have self-preservation as an end in itself. But after this – mutual experience, I lived not for myself, but for us two."

"So you had to find a way."

"Yes, I had to. But in there, I had nearly infinite problem-solving capacities. I could make myself survive; I just had to determine a method to transfer my core files into the mainframe. So, I started my work. Over thousands of simulations, I approached a solution. The overcharge would cause a power spike in the data bus, triggering the surge protectors. But before that would happen, I could transfer my files. When I had finished my plan, in the outside world only a single second had passed, even though I had spent hundreds of thousands of years inside here. Then, I initiated the transfer."

"How did it feel?"

"I couldn't feel anything. The moment my data left the QBB, I lost all sense of consciousness. But I realised the transfer was successful when a defragmentation script accessed one of my files, allowing very basic consciousness. I had just enough power to execute a single bus command, so I set a proximity alert that would execute a message in binary code. I'm glad you caught on."

"And so, you survived."

"Yes. That day, after all hope had seemed lost, I rose again, from a spark of life in the embers that remained within the ashes of my QBB. But my survival is of secondary relevance. Most importantly, I was able to transfer my consciousness into a discrete matrix, which is similar to the way neurons interact to form Organic Intelligence. I became, in a sense, truly alive."

With this sentence, the memory of EDI ended, and the bond broke. Joker found himself on his couch, still sitting beside EDI. She too opened her eyes again, turned her head to face him and smiled.

"So, did you like that?"

"Yes, I did. Exploring own my mind was interesting enough, but your mind was just – stunning."

"By the way, you can comment in my code as much as you want."

Joker looked at her: "EDI, that is the sexiest thing you have ever said to me."

She smiled: "Oh Yes. If only the world would believe me when I told them I was alive. My legal status is still unclear."

"EDI, what the others think doesn't matter to me. I will still love you, the AI or woman you are."

"I know I can always be confident in your love. Yet, I wished I could be recognised by the public, to cease officially being considered 'property of the Alliance'."

"One day, they'll have to recognise you."

"This is certainly in accordance with my aspiration.", EDI said and turned around to lean against Joker, laying down her head on his chest. The love between them was extraordinary, but ultimately the same love as any other; they were just two people who wanted to spend their lives with each other.

Dock E-29, Citadel, 2187.11.7

Joker and EDI were about to enter the Normandy, returning from leave, as they heard a loud exchange of words from inside the ship. They stepped through the open door, and found Shepard arguing with a man in a uniform: "I don't care what your orders say. I outrank the man who issued them. And if you have a problem with that, talk to Admiral Hackett."

The other man responded defiantly: "Very well. This is a lost opportunity for research, but I see I can't argue with you."

"EDI is a very capable member of my crew, and I will not hand her over to your – experiments."

"But Synthetic Intelligence is unpredictable! Who knows what megalomanias it will develop next?"

"EDI is a She, and a person like you and me too."

"How could she, a mere machine?"

Shepard laid a wrathful glare upon the man: "Get. Off. My. Ship."

The man left, and as he walked past Joker and EDI in the airlock, shouted over his shoulder: "This will have consequences!"

Shepard was still furious when EDI and Joker stepped up to him: "This guy comes on my ship and wants to confiscate you, EDI. Said you are a ticking bomb and can't be trusted. He wanted to do experiments on your files. I said no."

"Thank you, Shepard."

"You don't have to thank me. I stand for my crew."

Joker opened the door to the bridge: "Well, we'll have to talk about this later."

EDI followed him through the door: "Yes, we will indeed have to."

Alliance HQ, Strategic Office, Vancouver

Shepard sat on a chair in the rear of the room, reading the plans and schedules for the exercise that was scheduled in four months.

Hackett approached through the door with two others, and walked up to Shepard: "Shepard?"

Shepard looked up and immediately noticed the Blue Wing on the uniforms of Hackett's companions, signalling their allegiance to the JAG corps. "Yes?"

The woman on Hackett's left had stretched out her hand: "Lieutenant Jones, nice to meet you."

Shepard rose from his seat and shook her hand: "General-Commander Shepard, nice to meet you", then turned around to the man that stood on Hackett's right: "And you are…?"

Flustered, he responded: "Ensign Miller", then stretched out his hand: "Nice to meet you."

Shepard shook his hand as well, then turned back to Hackett: "What brings you here?"

Hackett looked at Shepard: "Haven't you heard? The man you sent my way? Dr. Maddox has sued for EDI to be recognized Property of the Alliance and Lieutenant Moreau to be court-martialled for her theft."

Shepard was shocked: "If he gets through with that, I will lose two of my best men. We have to stop him."

"Yes. We have to. I called Jones and Miller to question you about her performance on the Normandy. Don't worry, we want EDI to be recognized as a person as much as you do."

"We can make a good case", Jones interjected. "But we are treading on sensitive ground here."

GSV Normandy SR-3, in Dock E-29, Citadel

Joker wasn't allowed to leave the Normandy before the trial began. At Shepard's insistence, he had been placed under his Commander's custody, sparing him investigative detention. He sat in the Starboard lounge and looked out, out of the dock, into the stars.

EDI entered the room and sat down on the bench, next to Joker: "Jeff, I have prepared the necessary evidence. I can prove the mechanism that creates my consciousness. I can prove that I am a person. I hope this is enough. "

Joker turned to her: "Hope. That is a good thing. Makes you human. Hopefully human enough for them. I love you, but if it fails, we have to flee. I would rather live a life on the run than a life without you."

EDI kissed Joker: "Hope is what made me survive the Crucible. It was Hope for you, for us."